Trump’s Loyalty Demands Are Driving His Crew Into Prosecutor’s Arms

Trump is famous for many less than stellar qualities. One of them as you know is his insistence on total, blind loyalty from those who work for or with him. It’s equally well known that this Trump loyalty thing is a one way street leading straight to him. That he will will throw anyone, and I mean anyone (that’s about to include wannabe Princess Ivanka if as expected her testimony hurts him) under the bus. In Trump’s mind people should be eternally grateful to SERVE him, up to and including going to jail for him if need be. We’ve seen what he does when someone “betrays” him by telling the truth on him. Just ask Michael Cohen.

Trump still has people who believe in him that are co-defendants, or unindicted co-conspirators who if they don’t cut cooperation deals will wind up being criminal defendants themselves in due time. Hell, he’s shelled out a lot of money providing lawyers to people who he knew could hurt him if they revealed what they knew. Sometimes though someone, Cassidy Hutchinson for example takes a cold, hard look and decides financial expense be damned, it’s time to get a lawyer that will put THEIR interests first instead of the guy (Trump) who hired them. Hutchinson was the first high profile person to realize she was being thrown under the bus and to get the hell out of the way. Others have followed and each and every time the walls wherever Trump is wind up stained with ketchup.

When you consider what Trump has said about people he considers “traitors”, you have to wonder about the pressure and even threats (both to his minions directly and their loved ones) in private. He damned well expects them to cover his ass including going to jail if need be. However according to a piece by Rolling Stone this evening Trump’s bullying is actually driving an increasing number of people to turn their back on him. To look out for their own interests instead of Trump’s. His bullying still is working on some, but others have finally seen him as the would be tin-pot dictator he is. As the title of the linked article says Trump’s demands are backfiring.

The article starts off by noting that throughout all his problems Trump has expected his minions to stay fiercely loyal to him. It even states that people who’ve talked to him say he’s expressed his belief they should in fact be willing to go to jail for him, as I noted earlier. However, more and more people are realizing that Trump really WILL throw them under the bus, cut them loose without a second thought. And the more they think about it the more pissed they get about his loyalty demands because it’s finally dawned on them it’s a one way street:

As he’s faced an array of criminal charges, Trump’s demands for aides and lawyers to martyr themselves for him hasn’t saved him. If anything, it’s done the opposite, driving several possible key witnesses to consider throwing Trump under the bus before he gets the chance to do it to them.

The article goes on to say they’ve spoken with seven witnesses ensnared in Trump’s criminal prosecutions and that Trump’s willingness to hang them out to dry is fueling their sense of legal self-preservation. In fact:

Three of these sources say that Team Trump’s comically unsubtle search for patsies and fall guys – MAGA die-hards who would take the blame and possible prison sentences in lieu of Trump – drove a larger wedge between the ex-president and many of his former fellow travelers.

The article cites one who summed up what a number of former Trumpkins now feel:

“If I went to jail for Donald Trump, if I did that, what would that do for me and my family?” says a former Trump administration official who has been interviewed by special counsel Jack Smith’s office. “I don’t think he would even give us lifetime Mar-a-Lago memberships if I did that for him.”

It’s a long article but I think it’s worth your time to read the whole thing. What matters is that the recent rash of guilty pleas in GA (with more likely to come) and while the signals are mixed Mark Meadows is cooperating to some degree. I think he’s trying to do a Manafort and give just enough to get off the hook, but that didn’t work out so well as he became what many called “Manaf**cked.” If Meadows is playing the same game (I’m convinced he’s trying) he won’t have Trump to pardon him.

Still, when you look at people like Powell, Chesebro and Ellis all cutting deals within the span of a week and Rudy running around begging to get one (sorry Rudy, way to late and way too many dollars short) and reports of a half-dozen more in Georgia along exploring plea deals, not to mention the IT guy in Florida who flipped and of course there’s all manner of stuff we don’t know going on in DC Trump has good reason to be both crazy angry and terrified. His threats and bullying don’t get the kind of results he’s gotten his whole life. Instead, as more people have learned more about his life of screwing other people (including family members) over, as they realize he’ll do it to them in a heartbeat Trump’s tactics are backfiring! More and more of his people are growing less and less afraid of him, and seeing him like the joke pictured in the title image.

A giant ball of excrement is rolling down a long hill covered in shiite and headed right for Trump. Increasingly fewer people are willing to stand in the way to stop it from reaching him.