I’m sure you caught wind of Maggie Haberman’s piece in the New York Times yesterday about how Donald Trump is ready for his perp walk now, Mr. DeMille. Yes, we all rolled our eyes. Haberman went on to say she wasn’t sure if this was “bravado or resignation on Trump’s part.” Oh no, it’s neither. It’s television. Kudos to Mother Jones for getting to the heart of it.
According to sources hanging around Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s thinking is that any special treatment he could receive as a former president, whether it be extra security protections or the ability to appear via video, would weaken his image. Trump, a reality show entertainer at heart, is even reportedly dismissing the risk of getting shot at during a perp walk, telling people behind closed doors that taking a bullet would ultimately help him win the 2024 presidential election.
If true, Trump’s fantasy would seem to align with the argument that a Trump indictment will boost his campaign to retake the White House. Everyone from prominent Republicans to Chris Rock has been beating this drum. But I don’t buy it. After all, Trump already achieved the ignominious honor of becoming the first president to get twice impeached—and he still lost reelection. While MAGA-heads might relish the spectacle, I just don’t see how this convinces anyone on the fence that the guy in the mug shot is now their guy.
In any case, as the Times reports, it’s not up to Trump whether or not a perp walk happens. In all likelihood, the DA’s office and Secret Service want to avoid the very chaos Trump is apparently fantasizing about. Either way, I’m sure the circus will arrive in earnest anyway—diapers and all.
Weakness is the one thing Trump can’t show. He’s horrified to show it, because it is who he really is deep down, a weak, scared shell of a man. That’s what you see when you take off the Emperor’s clothes and you get down to the basic, unadorned guy, is that he’s a weakling. Ergo, at no cost can he allow that to be seen.
And what is paradoxical about this is that Mike Pence, the man who would be Trump’s successor, is also weak, always has been. That’s why he caved in to Trump on all things, other than blowing up the January 6 vote certification. A recent Atlantic article delineated this nicely.
On one side, I kept hearing, in these focus groups of Republicans who are still strong Trump supporters, that Pence was disloyal. And on the other side, the less Trump-inclined Republicans felt like Pence was too stained by his time in the Trump administration. What was interesting, though, is that everybody across the MAGA spectrum saw Pence as weak. And I think that that’s what you get when you refuse to take a stand. In trying to walk this line, I think he’s alienated everybody and has come off looking kind of spineless in a way that is not appealing to any voters.
That’s what Pence did to himself. What he did, by retraining the evangelicals, if you will, is empower Trump even more.
Pence accidentally conditioned the conservative Christian base to see as their ideal champion a brash, loud, charismatic, and morally dubious figure. Now that’s what they expect in a president. And the fact that Mike Pence doesn’t embody that persona now works against him.
Isabel: Right. He did too good of a job selling Trump.
McKay: Exactly. I’ve been writing about Pence for a long time now. When I profiled him back in 2018, it was clear to me that he had made this deal with the devil, this bargain that he thought would position him to eventually become president. And instead, all of the compromises he made to his principles ended up being his undoing. I think there’s a tragic irony in that.
Tragic irony, indeed. And now Ron DeSantis is looking like a fool because he’s Trump’s pushmi pullyou and he’s realizing how ridiculous that is. As we speak, the Piers Morgan interview is set to drop and the new, improved Ron To The Rescue DeSantis will make his appearance as a tough guy. Because he can’t afford to look weak either.
Which leaves Trump to defend his turf. Make no mistake. Trump intends to project a strong image, in contrast to the weaklings who would topple him and he intends to play the indictment to the hilt. This is reality TV to him. This is all a show. So Trump has to play the martyr in this new reboot, The Apprentice: Last Disco In D.C.
Martyrdom is his only political card left to play. I asked the rhetorical question whether Trump would bring the kool-aide to Waco this Saturday and people thought I was out of proportion. Maybe. In all honesty, I would not be surprised if Trump would pay somebody to take a shot at him. I seriously would not. That would allow him to gin up the rage he needs and evidently, he’s thinking about it.
The MAGAs are dizzy with anticipation of what Trump will do next and the rest of the GOP is lost and rudderless, so they’re waiting for anything to happen. They’ll jump any which way, for anybody, that holds the most chance of restoring them to power.
Recent history, let’s say, the last three election cycles, have shown the GOP the wisdom of staying tied to Donald Trump but maybe they haven’t learned it yet.
All I can say for sure is that this is political terra incognita. That’s all my tea leaves tell me. But there’s always a new pot to boil and more tea leaves to read, so let’s see what the morrow brings.
I don’t think Trump has the guts to authorize someone faking an assassination attempt. It would take two things he doesn’t possess – courage and trust (in the sniper). Someone taking the shot would have to aim close enough to make it seem like they really were trying to kill Trump but “only” wind up shooting and/or killing someone standing really near him or sitting behind him. He wouldn’t care about that of course. However, it would take enormous trust in the sniper to be accurate enough to make it all look the way Trump would need it to look. And in Trump’s mind the worry the sniper would “miss” and accidently hit HIM would overwhelm any other considerations.
That thought occurred to me. What also occurred, and I think this is the big deal, somebody doing a faux assassination attempt would be immediately caught. WHO would do that for him? I don’t think anybody. If one of his loyal MAGAs did it, then it would be found out easily that it was a ruse.
He also raised $1.5 million over the weekend. The poor MAGAs, pouring money into this mess. God, I feel sorry for these people being so lost. And then I feel sorry for us, having to watch them pollute our political narrative.
excellent piece, Ursula.
I honestly wouldn’t want to be anyone, anywhere near him at any upcoming events. (NOT that I would want to be ANYWHERE near him anyway) What if he’s seriously considering something like this and trying to determine WHO would be a sufficient “sacrifice” to prove there was an attempt on his life? I doubt any family member would be safe, unless it’s possibly Treason Barbie. All the others are expendable and one, in particular, would represent the elimination of prenup payments and potential alimony. That should surely earn him the “sympathy vote”, shouldn’t it? Imagine the fund raising should anything like that occur! I don’t put it past him.
I have read that the political pundits believe that an indicted and even an incarcerated person can serve as president, although being incarcerated adds another whole level of difficulty (does the secret service share the cell, get the ones adjacent of just not go?).
What would it do to Trumps being the front runner if a well aimed shot DOES occur? Will the GOP elect a man in a casket? It wouldn’t surprise me. At the very least, it would almost guarantee him to get the nomination…and a full 1/3 of the voters would vote for him.
This is how insane the dialogue has become, with Alan Dershowitz, who I assume you speak of, saying that Trump could govern from prison. Sheer madness.
And just on a practical level, how would Trump attend functions, do a SOTU address — from a cell? “The nation is doing fantastic, the best it’s ever been as I guide it from my cell.”
The fact that we’re even having this Twilight Zone discussion makes my head want to spin.
The really pitiful part of all of this is the fact his act, and it is an act, of being strong, etc. is being lapped up by his magats like so much cream. He is a weakling in every way and shows it every day just as he has all his miserable life. His base buys the act, the q crap, every bit of bull shit they see and hear. We are not a nation of intellectuals and that is extremely depressing as well as being extremely dangerous in the 21st century-intelligence is needed now more than ever. It is in short supply now when we need it most.
A bullet? Fine by me. I have never shed one tear for Hitler taking one. I won’t over this evil bloated bag of child destroying evil shit.
I’d go more for a bomb scare than a sniper. The bomb would be rigged in such a way that it wouldn’t actually explode while Don John was close – a ‘faulty timer’ or a bad detonator would make it look credible (with no danger of a soiled diaper).
Better still – a detonator going off but not actually making a big earth-shatteriing ka-boom (it fell out of the dynamite – mistakes happen)
during the summer of 1974 Nixon took a tour of the middle east. Egypt, Jordan Saudi and Israel. it has been speculated that he made that your in hope that someone would try to assassinate him to take the heat off Watergate. no such luck. he resigned in August.
Geez, folks, don’t give them any ideas!
This makes my head spin just a little. Here we have people discussing outlandish scenarios of things a would be president might pull to “UP” his numbers. And you know what? I think any and all things are possible with this contender! How low can the bar go? All the way baby, we may need to start digging!
How low? With Don John that low even a flatworm would have problems