The train wreck that is the Trump administration skidded and stopped in a loud messy heap last week in Wisconsin, when Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that Joe Biden was going to be the next President  of the United States because “some people don’t love me — maybe.” That sent a shockwave throughout GOP land and a few days later it was speculated, on Fox News of all places, that Trump might just resign due to his “fragile psyche.” Shazam.

Bear in mind, Trump talks to Hannity, we are told, on a nightly basis telephonically, where presumably, Hannity soothes Trump’s night terrrors, as he clutches his Trumpie bear and his crumpled MAGA hat for emotional support. Perhaps this is where Fox News got the tip?

And there are people openly suggesting that Trump resign now. One of his supporters, Mickey Kaus, who used to identify as a “centrist Democrat,” if you can believe that, then converted to Trumpism because he fears hoards of immigrants destroying the white American way of life, wants Trump to resign. Here’s what he said recently on his blog in paper #26, “Trumpism is more important than Trump.” Kaus sees “irreversible” doom, from a “mass influx of immigrants” who will act as “the guarantor of a more liberal electorate on into the future.” This is a good article to read in it’s entirety because it lays out white supremacist paranoia to a tee.

What is also interesting here is that Kaus’ rationale for Trump resigning actually makes a great deal of sense, and comports with Democrats’ and Never Trumpers’ ideas on the subject. Politics makes for strange bedfellows and the advent of Trump has found us lying next to Republicans who are anxious to be rid of Trump and now this white supremacist has crawled under the sheets and he’s making sense, too.

What happens if it’s a “Flight 93 Election” and your side is corkscrewing down into the earth? That’s the prospect facing once and possibly future Trumpists. It’s undeniable at this point: Trump’s falling behind and flailing. He’s alienating white voters, and not gaining enough of any other kind. One day he’s tweeting about cracking down on rioters, the next day he’s boasting about letting felons out of prison early….His campaign is run by an unfirable relative who has proven time and again to have the worst political judgment** since — well, it’s hard to find precursors because most campaign managers had to actually win one or two elections before getting the chance to blow a presidential re-election. […]

…the fantasizing about Trump abandoning his attempt at reelection should probably be taken seriously and even egged on — by those of us who voted for him as well as by anonymous “GOP operatives” who probably didn’t. Trump himself is clearly thinking a lot about losing these days, as when he mused, absurdly, that President Joe Biden would have to finish his border wall. “And he’s going to be your President because some people don’t love me maybe.”

What would happen if he decided to avoid possible humiliation? Well, the Democratic party, currently held together by antipathy to Trump, would lose its overriding purpose. The intensity level of the Dem campaign will instantly drop. Millions who might turn out to get rid of Trump will stay at home. The lightning rod having wandered off with all the electricity, everything will probably become very boring very quickly. The Democrats’ nominee is so weak that Republicans, depending on whom they picked, might still have a chance at retaining the White House. And they’d likely have a much better chance of retaining the Senate — the key to blocking any 2021 Gang-of-8 amnesty.***

The problem is, if Trumps going to do this, he should do it soon —  before the convention, while there’s time to consider possible replacements and let voters get used to whomever is picked. Pence would be the most likely choice, of course, but there are other possibilities.**** The trick would be to keep Never Trumpers, who wouldn’t mind a crushing GOP loss or a massive amnesty, from choosing someone suicidally swampy. But how many delegates do they have?

Kaus finishes up by saying what is at stake in this election, as he views it, and that is nothing short of “a fundamental national loss- — the same calculation, viewed from a different vantage point, that led so many to take a chance on an outlandish candidate four years ago.” So Trumpism, make no mistake, is all about keeping America white, which you knew. And Kaus is saying that that’s the reason a lot of people took a chance on Trump, which you also knew. So the identity of the base is not questioned. Kaus just ratified everything that we knew.

So is Trump going to resign? Let me share a few comments that have taken place in emails between myself and a few friends recently.

The reason Trump will walk away is that in his malfunctioning mind it is the only way he can’t lose. If he doesn’t play then he can’t be beaten. And I don’t think he wants be President. Or he wants the role alright. After all it’s the lead. But he doesn’t want to memorize all those lines. So he’s given himself the perfect out: “People don’t like me.” The polls (ratings) show that. So fine. “I tried to help you all. It cost me a lot of money. You don’t want me, I got much better things to do. Goodbye.” That makes it his choice. How can he be a loser if he chooses to walk away?
The man is gone.

Now here is the opposite viewpoint.

Trump is not going to resign for at least one yuge reason – the statute of limitations on a number of his crimes. As long as he remains president and protected from any criminal indictments, he can run out the clock on campaign finance and money laundering crimes. The millisecond Trump becomes a private citizen on 20 Jan 2021, he can be indicted by the US DOJ AND NY state for numerous crimes for which he could go to prison for. Do you think for one second that Trump would willingly expose himself to THAT?

These are both compelling arguments. Now read this further commentary.

My take on Trump’s resignation is pure speculation. Promoting it keeps my mind off a more likely and incredibly terrifying scenario:

Forgive me if what i am about to propose smacks of conspiracy theory, but give it a listen.

I have believed since soon after the 2016 election that some group had tampered with the results –this was before the Russia issue became news. Those three states that Trump won by a total 70,000 votes, the states that put him over the  Electoral College top,  were all states Hiliary was handily leading in at the end of October. [Editor’s Note: Hillary led by five points in Wisconsin, seven in Pennsylvania and eleven in Michigan.] The Trump campaign very suddenly and very publicly decided to put a large and expensive  effort there. I say “publicly” because they were roundly criticized for it, derided by a press that asked why they were throwing money away in those states when it was  so badly needed in close states Trump had a shot at winning. Their answer was something about how ‘internal polling” showed a different result and  they felt they still had a chance to win those states.. The pundits scoffed and Trump won those states. So my musing at the time wondered what their ‘internal polling was’. Then the Russia thing hit and so did my a-ha. My suspicions rose as news of things like Jug-head Jared’s collusion with the Kremlin, giving them polling info. Why the Fuck would he give them polling info? Now, I don’t need to re-hash the entire plot, but you get the idea.

Flash forward.

Trump knows he can rely on Russia again. That’s why he allows them to put bounties on Americans and pushes for readmittance into the G-7, and removes troops from Germany and, and, and. He knows Putin wants him in the WH and will do whatever is necessary to get that done.

Now here’s the terrifying scenario I promised. The only thing that stands in the way of this plan working is MAIL IN BALLOTS. Which is why DT gets so apoplectic at the possibility of wide spread use of them.

Beware — the fix is already in

This does make sense. And I’m not looking to foment conspiracy theory either. But it is a theory that fits the facts, conspiracy not withstanding. And remember, we deal with Russia and it behooves us to err on the side of caution. There is no such thing as paranoia in a scenario where Vladimir Putin is part of the conversation.

I share these thoughts, because I don’t know how this is going to shake down either. Only one thing is certain in dealing with this election and that is that historical precedent is essentially useless because we deal with the biggest anomaly in American politics. He got where he got because of a confluence of improbable factors, giant name recognition, coupled with preaching a gospel of hate and fear that appealed to people who felt themselves disenfranchised, and finally Trump was aided and abetted by a hostile foreign power to serve their agenda.

Yes, it’s true that no incumbent in recent history has been as far down in the polls as Trump and survived. But no incumbent had Vladimir Putin pulling the strings like Trump did in 2016, either, and who knows what is being cooked up for 2020? And consider the fact that Trump and Putin have spoken a lot on the phone this year and know that we find this out from our sources abroad — not from the White House. New Civil Rights Movement via Raw Story:

President Donald Trump engaged in an unprecedented – and previously unknown – “flurry of communication” with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a three-week period earlier this year, according to a sister-network of Voice of America.

“On March 30, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by telephone, the first of five calls between the two over a period of three weeks, a flurry of communication unprecedented during Trump’s 3 1/2 years in office,” reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL).

Only one of those five calls, according to research from NCRM, was shared with the press. None were posted to the White House website, a serious deviation from prior practice.

“For many Russia watchers, the flurry of behind-the-scenes phone calls and other communications is a clear indication that something’s going on,” RFERL’s Mike Eckel adds. He notes, “the two countries’ diplomats have spoken at least three times over that same period, which also coincided with an unusual shipment of Russian coronavirus-related humanitarian aid to the United States.”

Now here’s a final dot to connect. As you may have read here, the Voice of America has been taken over by Steve Bannon crony Michael Pack and he’s bringing in Sebastian Gorka as well. If the Voice of America turns into a Trump organ, we are truly screwed, which is what I said two weeks ago when it happened. Russia is a hostile foreign power, and all of the stories referenced herein, and the personal opinions derived from these stories, paint a bleak picture for this upcoming election. John Bolton said that Trump asked China to interfere in the election, we know he asked Ukraine, and it’s a foregone conclusion that Russia is planning a repeat performance of 2016.

Therefore, returning to the main point, I don’t know if Trump will resign. He is a creature of impulse and so if his ego is off kilter one day, more than usual, he might throw in the towel. Or, he may try to double down and hang on, because his BFF Putin is telling him to do so. Hillary called Trump Putin’s puppet and she was right — although Putin’s good right arm might have been a more accurate way of describing the situation. On that basis, Trump may want to resign and he may have said as much to people in his circle. And many others would like him to resign. We’ve heard from one of them, above, and we will hear from more. But as to whether Trump will resign? My best instinct today is uh uh. Because Putin wants him right where he is. Vladimir Putin is running this reelection, not the GOP. Let that thought rattle around in your cranium and see how well you sleep.

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1 COMMENT

  2. The thing that stands out the most about the Democratic primaries in 2016 was Michigan….going in, polls showed Hillary leading Bernie by a whopping 22 points….when all was said and done, Bernie won by 2 points. I think we’d all agree that even a 10 point error is unlikely, but possible….but 20 points!!!….ummmm, no. That was a trial run. Strange too that Michigan ended up being one of those close shave states in the end.

    As far as railing against mail in ballots…..there is absolutely NO other reason to put that much resistance against them than you need the vote to go through the machines for the fix to be in.

    As far as Trump-O resigning, never happen. As stated that would open him up immediately to prosecution. What is more likely is he would announce a health concern which would force an LBJ moment…” for this reason, I will not seek, nor will I accept the nomination, for another four years as your president.”

    Trumpism lives on for the physical martyr of their messiah and, like an immature person, Trump-O postpones the inevitable by postponing the prosecutions.

    • Oh please. We know the GOP wanted to run against the unelectable Bernie — they even ran ads promoting him in Iowa — but it’s a stretch to say the Russians helped him win a primary.

      And once again, there is no indication than any votes were changed on any machines in any election in the U.S. or that it’s even possible. Please don’t go there; this is where we start to sound crazy. In most locales, this is literally impossible. (I worked at a board of elections in 2012 and this just can’t be done). This is why they invest so much in voter suppression. Their game is preventing voters from being able to vote, not changing votes after the fact.

      • PJ, strange too that they are starting the “silent majority” talk again this year as in 2016 …..where these Trump voters will suddenly materialize on Election Day.

  3. Putin has gotten everything out of Donald that he’s going to. I remain convinced that the former cut the latter loose already. To assume otherwise is to buy into a couple of notions that I refuse to: 1) that Putin is an all-powerful demigod rather than another delusional old man who’s slightly more together than Trump and 2) that our current situation is enough of a mirror for 2016 that it could work. The COVID 19 right outside my door alone is enough to tell me how much has changed.

      • As in do a few opinion pieces here, Blue? I’ve thought about it, to be certain. Maybe you’re right and it’s time for me to jump in the pool.

        • Hey, Bareshark, I wrote ONE piece for Ursula and it was very satisfying. I am an author working on finishing a book by the end of the year. I’m waiting for inspiration (and free time!) to write some more pieces. Very rewarding! Just do it!

          • As a ghostwriter, I’m writing books on a regular basis myself, Meg. I’ve one piece in the pipeline that I want to wait until the right moment to cut loose. But I too need proper inspiration to go there.

    • Bareshark, I like your thinking. I believe tRump’s frequent calls to Putin were probably more along the lines of desperation than collusion. Putin might be making Donald THINK he values him, but I think Putin is probably quite satisfied with how f’d up the US is now. Biden is a wonderful man but he’s sure got his work cut out for him to turn this nation around. It won’t happen in four years.

  4. Wow, wow, wow!! Agree with Tin woman1 but glad it is morning here on the East Coast so I did sleep last night. I’m torn between wishful thinking that he may throw in the towel and my hard-headed realism that his narcissism and wacked out pride will not let him. Hoping the polls continue to plummet so far down that he doesn’t see any other off ramp. And must say I disagree with Kaus.
    He is guilty my view only of wishful thinking on drugs:

    “What would happen if he decided to avoid possible humiliation? Well, the Democratic party, currently held together by antipathy to Trump, would lose its overriding purpose. The intensity level of the Dem campaign will instantly drop.”
    Laus goes on to posit in effect that those opposing Trump will stay home and thus the Republicans will win the presidency by neglect and default on the part of the Dems. Good luck with that fella. We ain’t staying home for any reason. If anyone stays home it will be Trump loyalists.

    • Carroll Ann, I will not let myself believe that we Democrats are only motivated by our disdain for tRump! We are motivated to DUMP the GOP power machine before our Democracy goes down in flames!

    • I agree. That’s nonsense. It’s what’s happened in the last four years that’s energizing Democratic voters and will continue to do so. The idea of putting in someone else to continue to non-policies of Trump is horrifying to most Democrats and many others.

  5. My take is that Putin is done with trump. He is too psychologically damaged and weak. Trump never got sanctions on Russia lifted. Russia will never be welcomed anywhere. This feels like a last gasp for Russia, as well, Covid is ravaging Russia too. Maybe it is wishful thinking on my part. I could never shake the thought that Putin isn’t as smart as everyone thinks, because he chose trump.

    • Not wishful thinking, Cmae…actual thought. Russia has never had a better opportunity to pull ahead than in the last three and a half years. And the sanctions and frozen assets (the latter being courtesy of the Magnitsky Act) were always the grand prize. It’s just Putin made the same miscalculation everybody else did about on the subject of Trump’s reliability. Fear and bribes only go so far with an narcissistic incompetent.

      An irony that both of the old Cold War adversaries are sinking nearly one hundred years after the start of their rise, yes?

    • I’m agreeing here and there, so no hard line vision for the near future, BUT here goes anyway … Putin has to be some what pragmatic about day-to-day mechanics of being the ultimate, “MAN”, in Russia … his fortunes in grift in his own way, stealing and re-assigning funds to his plans, with of course, taking a cut on many transactions, is always a process of doing large scale projects with an assured income on his behalf …

      Several things are applying shade to his pristine position of International goon … a two-way street with DJT sometimes works, but lately, Trump has confirmed he IS more of a danger than useful puppet, as he cannot and certainly will not, set aside his maniacal, malignant narcissism, until he is being tarred and feathered by a joint Congressional face slapping by the committees in our house, showing his HUGE failure as a president, including his direct responsibility for virus deaths on a galactic scale … a failing economy in very simple to understand terms, because, yet again, he has shown total ignorance and absolute idiocy in every thing he has done/not done — playing golf/being a president with answers, hope for the challenged, sympathy and empathy, and a plan put in place and activated against the virus as soon as it started … it has worked in So. Korea – New Z. , they are in great condition, plenty of time to develop medicines against the virus …

      Trump exacerbates the effects of the virus, has under-performed with stealing supplies, not ordering front line PPE’s in large quantities, NOT ordering ANY testing equipment-supplies – [might hurt his numbers …]

      And now, the kicker, not lifting one finger to interfere with Putin’s plan to award bounties to people killing our own troops …. the frosting on that terrible sour cake, the whole world KNOWS just what is going on with Trump and his good old GOP buddies against our security, our Constitution, our rules of laws, and our suffering Citizens … Putin is revealed, simply by Trump’s floundering in a sea of guilt now and feeble attempts to once again, be the, “MAN”, himself, has begun a shorter slide to total infamy … the first, “rock hard” path to his involvement/non-involvement with the Putin bounty program, should result in a perp walk out the WH door, maybe in his tear streaked orange face as the escort crew is collecting him at the WH, he can manage a witnessed, “I resign as the POTUS, this very minute”,.

      PEACE to all …

  6. The “fix” has been in ever since the Europeans committed genocide, stole the land, wrote up paperwork (The law), then created a country where only rich white guys have a true voice. They realized they had too much land & not enough labor. Solution? Kidnap 400k africans, breed them to 4million, then fight to the death to keep it that way. Yep. The fix is definitely in. Trump will not voluntarily leave office & if you can be responsible for more deaths in a few months than all the wars since korea, and you remain in power, so what exactly will the citizens do? Other than write, whine, & check their emails. We are no more capable of ousting a tyrant than the Germans were. I sincerely hope we can find our way out, BUT, we, as a culture, allowed this to occur.

      • I just wish people read more, & studied history so we could take advantage of our rights, since we have little recourse when we don’t put in the effort for freedom.

        • Scott, I don’t agree with everything you said in your first post, but you are right on in the second post. Democracy is a participatory government, not for the lazy. The GOP has worked hard to dumb down the electorate and tRump’s election was a perfect storm (clearly aided by a foreign power). Our citizens need to wise up and come out and vote with their brains.

        • People are aware, thank you. There’s no value to saying “We did horrible things in the past so there’s no hope of getting better now.”

  7. There are two major reasons that trump won’t bail. First his gigantic ego won’t let him. And thanks to Barack Obama joining Joe on the campaign trail. That just welded new supports on the sinking ship. And second more importantly he’s still raking in campaign cash and with the heat on and his favorite bank under scrutiny he can’t launder cash as fast as his donors are handing it to him. Which will figure into the final days. I just can’t quit, they are still giving me money.

  8. I have many thoughts on this.

    First, I think it’s being pushed by the media because they need a sexy narrative that gets people talking now that everything’s been said about Biden’s potential VP, and once he picks, the discussion is over.

    Will Trump resign? No. It’s exciting to think about the potential ramifications, but he won’t. If he did, who would the GOP “pick”? In order to not have horrific chaos, they’d have to go with Pence. And anyone who thinks Biden is a boring, unexciting candidate hasn’t seen Mike Pence. But then, that depiction of Biden, I think, is wrong. He’s appealing because he comes across warm, compassionate and caring, and the attempts to smoke him out of his basement so they can attack him feel desperate and stupid. Everyone has been in their basement. They get it.

    Also, there is no Trumpism without Trump unless you just mean racism, which is baked into our country anyway, and is currently being blasted to shreds in a way it never has before. Trump is, as one person said, a post-policy president. His only policy is “what’s good for me.” So post-Trump Trumpism is just garden-variety racism without the guy that many of his supporters worship cultishly.

    That means that rather than Democrats — outraged over four years of what Trump has done — losing steam and motivation to vote, its far more likely that TRUMP supporters would do so. I have never before seen entire stores at fairs and resort towns devoted to single candidate merch. I have never seen people dressed in head-to-toe gear for a candidate — shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, hat (I have a picture!) His supporters are a cult of personality who aren’t interested in anyone else, and would sit home engaging in outlandish conspiracy theories.

    • One other thing: the idea that actual ballots are being stolen or votes being changed after being cast is left-wing conspiracy theory. Voter suppression is the game, and we see it happening. It’s to prevent that that mail-in voting is being promoted, not some nefarious scheme to change votes after the fact, and it’s the degree to which it prevents much voter suppression that is galling Trump.

      Also, the late October polls didn’t show those huge leads for Hillary. She was leading by less than 4 points in the aggregate polls in Michigan by late October. The other figure is from earlier that month and there was a sudden dramatic change in late October. In Pennsylvania, the same scenario prevailed: she took a big dip and ended up with a lead of barely two points. In both states, her big lead was destroyed the last week in October. What happened then? Hmmmm …. let me think. Hey there, James Comey and NY Times!

      Wisconsin was less dramatic; she led by 6 points and there wasn’t as much of a dramatic swing. But that state also had the hugest voter suppression drive led by governor Scottie “Gerrymandering is democracy at its finest” Walker. They have estimated as many as 100,000 people who wanted to vote may have been able to because of voter purges and new ID rules.

      • Stolen ballots – that’s been done. By the GOP-T.
        Changed after being cast – it’s definitely possible. We can’t tell, because in the most likely places, the machines were taken away before they could be examined, and all the records of votes cast were locked up or destroyed. Three states, and 80K votes, were enough last time.

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  11. I hope that whoever leaked the Russian bounty on US soldiers story has LOTS more stuff to reveal. Democrats cannot count on Biden’s lead in the polls. They may have to sling as much mud as possible (something Republicans routinely do) to stop Trump’s mad power grab.

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