We have all seen them, the pathetic old bastards in public life who have been getting away with bad (and criminal) behavior for most of their lives. Then at an age when they should be kicking back to enjoy a retirement funded with ill-gotten gains of earlier years, there comes (at last) a criminal charge or two (or more) and all those well-made plans come crashing down. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was one. Former Illinois Governor George Ryan was one. Former Lake County Sheriff, John Buncich was one. They don’t always die in prison though they always should.
It is the expectation of the CLB that former president Donald Trump will be convicted on multiple counts of the criminal charges against him. He will not be rehabilitated, not by prison and certainly not by less punitive measures. It is a theory of the CLB that Trump realized at some point in his life that he could behave badly and treat people poorly without substantial consequences. To Donald Trump, his liberation from the limitations of legal behavior, the truth, and reality itself was a winning formula for success in business and in politics. Now it’s all about to come crashing down. The accumulation of deceit cannot stand against light and gravity.
Do you remember the Trump promise to 1. build a wall and, 2. have Mexico pay for it? It wasn’t Democrats in Congress who got in the way of that promise. Trump later confessed, as if it were nothing, that he had no such plan. To the CLB Trump’s 2016 election victory came only because his opponent was Hillary Clinton, who had way too much baggage (including Bill but not limited to him).
Now is the time to end the Trump infatuation of the disaffected by 1. Taking his money; 2. Exiling him from the New York business world; and 3. Putting the pathetic old bastard in prison (where he belongs) for the rest of his life.
The Nikki Haley secret that is not discussed in the news media is that Trump may be declared ineligible to take office by reason of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment¹ and his contribution to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol Building. What then?
The answer to my hypothetical is that the GOP will be in a hurry to get behind someone else. Nikki Haley could be that Plan B candidate.
Meanwhile Trump defender Alina Habba will be replaced. Trump is looking for another law firm to regret ever having agreed to represent him. My advice to lawyers is to RUN! My advice to Trump is to keep a list of warm-climate nations that lack an extradition treaty with the United States.
Though his narcissism seems to supercede the reality that binds the rest of us, Trump is at least consistent in some respects. If you vote him into office, you know what you’re getting. I recall one circumstance that actually enhanced my low regard of Trump. On January 6, 2021 he announced to the crowd on the White House grounds that he would be joining them as he dispatched them to the Capitol Building. He did not join them. Then I learned that he made the apparent effort to join his mob but that the Secret Service refused to drive him. Imagine, if you will, newsreel footage of Trump there at the Capitol Building leading his mob and carrying a noose for Mike Pence.
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¹ The CLB pondered Trump’s eligibility back on May 23, 2023 in the Featured Article titled “Looking at the 14th Amendment”.
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