Would Trump Being Indicted Be A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing For The Democrats?
Might it be better for the Democrats if Trump isn’t arrested until sometime after 2024?
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
Let’s Be Clear About My Personal Feelings
To begin with, I don’t know if the proper phrase to capture the essence of Donald Trump’s character is The King of Snakes, The King Of Liars, The King of Narcissists or The King Of Megalomaniacs. If there were a word that encompassed the traits of unbridled dishonesty, selfishness, greed, narcissism and egomania I would use it.
The Germans seem to have a talent for inventing a single word that captures a complicated emotion — Schadenfreude meaning the joy experienced when learning of the pain suffered by someone you dislike and Backpfeifengesicht — a face badly in need of a fist.
So, maybe the Germans have a word that would describe the toxicity of Mr. Trump’s character. I’m open to suggestions.
But I digress.
If Trump Is The GOP Nominee, The Democrats Hold On To The White House
The point that I’m angling toward is that no matter how much you dislike Donald Trump and no matter how much you would love to see him convicted of a felony and locked up in a federal (or state) prison for a significant number of years, maybe that’s not in your long-term best interest.
I think it’s pretty clear that unless the Democrats nominate a frail Joe Biden or a massively empty suit or a candidate who is socialist adjacent, Donald Trump will not be able to defeat the Democratic Presidential nominee and the Democrats are almost certain to hold the White House in any campaign where Mr. Snake is the Republican nominee.
It follows then that anything that prevents Donald Trump from being the Republican nominee, like a felony conviction or worse, incarceration, could be a very bad outcome for the Democrats.
Even though in 2020 Trump was widely known as a dishonest, terrible, horrible person, Joe Biden barely beat him. If only a few tens of thousands of votes had switched in a few states, the madness of the electoral college would have put Trump in the White House for a second term.
If A Competent Republican Is The Nominee, The GOP Could Win The White House
If the Democrats have to face an equally pro-top 1%, pro-massive corporations, pro-pharmaceutical companies, pro-energy companies, pro-fundamentalist religion, pro-assault rifle Republican candidate in 2024 who isn’t obviously and clearly a conscienceless, dishonorable, megalomaniac, the Dems could be in big, big trouble.
If the Republicans pick a Trump clone who has had the stinky parts pared away, who is reasonably intelligent, reasonably competent, reasonably articulate, who has not been accused multiple times of being an axe-murderer or a pedophile, e.g. someone like Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence, the Democrats could lose the 2024 Presidential election.
Viewed one way, Donald Trump could be the savior of the Democratic Party, the next Harold Stassen, the next Ralph Nader, the spoiler, the toxic loser who’s too much of a megalomaniac to admit that he cannot win and is more than willing to take the rest of his party down with him.
So, given all that, would it be better for the Democrats if Trump didn’t suffer the criminal apocalypse that he so richly deserves?
Knowing This, Why Would The GOP Nominate Trump Again?
The next, obvious, question is, Why would the Republicans ever nominate this toxic buffoon as their doomed standard bearer?
Why do people pay terrorists not to press the Big Red Button? Because the alternative is mass destruction.
You see, Donald Trump has his own Big Red Button. It’s his clueless herd of cult followers who will drink the poisoned Kool Aid if he asks them to. And the Republican Party brass knows it.
Suppose the GOP declines to nominate Donald Trump. Will he vigorously campaign for the actual nominee? No. Will he support the party’s nominee? No.
If He’s Not The Nominee, Trump Will Sabotage The GOP Candidate
He will claim that he is a victim; that the nomination was stolen from him; that it’s up to him, and him alone, to save America. He’s got at least a $100 million war chest that he collected from the fools who contributed to his Stop The Steal campaign.
He will get himself on the ballot in as many states as possible, and those that he cannot qualify for will be the target of a write-in campaign.
More than half of all registered Republicans believe Trump’s election lie. At least half of them are members in good standing of his personality cult and they will absolutely chug down his poisoned lemonade, namely they will vote for him instead of the Party’s nominee and that will siphon off 20% to 25% of the popular vote, leaving the result as: Democrat, 50%; GOP 25%, Trump 25%. Winner, Democrat.
All Trump has to do is pull that trick in a few key states like Florida, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Georgia and it’s adios GOP Presidential candidate; hello to four more years of a Democrat in the White House.
This Is The GOP’s Dilemma
Trump knows this. The GOP leadership knows this. So, do they give in to Mr. Snake and let him probably lose the White House for them a second time, or do they tell him to pound sand and let him not only lose the White House for them a second time but also, potentially, drown the down-ticket Republican candidates with him?
If Only The GOP Had Driven A Stake Through Trump’s Heart When It Had The Chance
Not an easy choice, which leads me to wonder if many of those spineless, self-serving, short-sighted GOP Senators who voted to acquit Trump at his second impeachment trial might not be regretting their choice.
Had they voted to convict him, one of the punishments would have been a prohibition for life on ever again becoming the President. A conviction that would have sent Mr. Snake into political exile, an Elba from which he would have never eturned.
But, nooooooooo, they were afraid of pissing off his base and maybe being primaried out in the next election cycle. Did I mention short-sighted?
They should have driven the stake through the vampire’s heart when they had the chance. Now he’s beginning to rise from the grave all over again.
Now the Republican Party has to deal with The King Of Snakes (I had to pick just one) demanding the nomination or he will blow the party out of contention for the 2024 White House.
Will No One Rid Us Of This Meddlesome Egomaniac?
I suspect that there are more than a few Republican Party leaders who now secretly wish that some big shiny bus or a dose of super-duper COVID would appear out of nowhere and solve their problem for them.
I’m reminded of King Henry II muttering, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” and bingo, bango, Thomas Becket wasn’t a problem any longer, or wouldn’t have been if Henry hadn’t gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.
Mitch McConnell, are you listening?
Which Way Do The Democrats Want This Thing To Go?
Back to my original question:
Do the Democrats want
- (1) The immense, massive, colossal pleasure of watching Donald Trump wither away in a twelve by twelve cage someplace in the bowels of Leavenworth if that means also
- (2) Seeing Ron DeSantis sipping a martini on the White House back lawn, or
- (3) Do they want the King Of Megalomaniacs (I thought I would switch it up there) running around claiming victim-hood while it’s a Democrat who lazes, feet up, on the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk?
Sweet payback is so alluring, but as far as the Democrats are concerned, perhaps the old saying has it right:
— Revenge is a dish best served cold, say maybe sometime after 2024.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
