What To Expect in Trump’s Last Days

Gary Tulie writes from his home in Buckinghamshire, England:

I think the best thing Trump could do for his remaining few days as President is to (in an open secret kind of way) quietly disappear from the spotlight, and go play golf leaving Mike Pence de-facto running the country. After Joe Biden’s inauguration, he should declare that he is retiring and will have no further involvement in politics. That way, perhaps he will do no further harm and with him no longer involved, his followers may no longer be interested in pursuing his various conspiracy theories.

Can’t see it happening, but such a move might allow him to save face enough for him to consider – especially if it were informally agreed that in exchange for such, certain legal issues might not be pursued.

Thanks for your insight here, Gary.

I can’t see it happening either, for a variety of reasons:

If Trump proceeds like this, it will the first calm and rational thing that he’s ever done. Of course, there is a first time for everything, as they say.

He couldn’t care less about his supporters or the well-being of the country in general.

He’s aware that he’s under a ridiculous amount of legal jeopardy at both the state and federal level, and, though I have no direct line of sight into this, I don’t think any such deal could be made.  There are prosecutors lined up around the block champing at the bit to indict Trump.  If he’s in the U.S. after Biden’s inauguration, he’s very likely to be arrested and held without bail as a flight risk.

In the last 48 hours, it’s become clear that the Republican Party is quite anxious to distance themselves from Trump, so as to begin the laborious task of appearing like sane and law-abiding people.  Exactly what this means is unclear, but some people are suggesting that this impeachment may result in his conviction and removal from office.  Even if that doesn’t happen, it’s not good for Trump.

We’ll see.