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State of American History, Civics, and Politics

Epstein and The Donald: What Will He Do?

The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Future

On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan. When I heard about it, I immediately thought of THE DONALD. What would he do when it was his turn?

Think of the life Epstein had been living excluding the criminal actions that landed him in jail in the first place. Think of the places he had visited. Think of the places where he had stayed. Think of the people he had met. Truly he had lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

And then he wasn’t. Rather abruptly. Everything changed. Now he was confined to one small sparse space. His menu selection was limited and the quality of food was to die for. The less said about his new wardrobe the better. And no more girls. What did he have to look forward to? Nothing so he took the only way out he could.

THE DONALD

How does THE DONALD handle being restricted to small spaces? When he was confined to the White House during the lockdown, he commandeered the coronavirus press conferences. When he was in the hospital he was chomping at the bit to get out. When he was restricted to the White House living area, he was chomping at the bit to get out. When he was alone in the White House, he invited crowds to join him. Now he has launched a non-stop last-ditch effort to salvage his campaign by returning to states he won in 2016. He needs the big crowds. His needs that energy. He needs that adulation. He needs them as much as Epstein needed young girls. Take that away from him and he would go bonkers.

As a loser, he will face different circumstances after January 20, 2021, than he does now. If the fading reality-TV star goes on a nostalgia tour, who will pay for it? Who will give him free media time? Who will push him off the stage so Trumpicans can begin planning for losing in 2022 and 2024?  And, of course, if he lacks the mobility he has now because he is confined to his residence in New York and his hotel in Washington, DC and is wearing an ankle monitor, he won’t be able to go on tour anyway.

The more the real world closes in on him, the more erratic his behavior becomes. As Mary Trump just suggested, he has nowhere to turn. There is no one to bail him out this time of the mess he created for himself. The pressure is mounting as V-DT Day approaches and the world gets ready to celebrate.

His ability to cope in an adult manner is nonexistent. He has become the proverbial teenager who is invulnerable and immortal, throwing caution to the wind. His only options are to lash out, to have a hissy fit, to yell and to scream. His managerial incompetence makes herd immunity the best fit for his shortcomings. His enemies must be prosecuted now. The miracle vaccine must be released now. The polls are fake news. But nothing is working.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Barr knows what he has to do and is not delivering. He is going down in history “as very sad, sad, situation” if he does not indict Biden and Obama for the greatest political crime in the history of our country.

He’s got all the information he needs. They want to get more, more, more, they keep getting more. I said, “You don’t need any more.”

Consider the past ventures into the absurd. Remember Seth Rich? Nothing. Remember how the Fox triplets salivated over the Horowitz report? Nothing. Remember how the Fox triplets salivated even more over the Unmasking as the “biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal” in American history?

“The unmasking is a massive — it’s a massive thing. It’s — I just got a list. It’s — who can believe a thing like this?”

Nothing. No Obamagate. No spying. No nothing. No report even issued. Good thing Trumpicans have no memory or awareness of Hannity’s perfect .000 batting average!

There will be no indictments of Biden, Obama, or “Crooked Hillary” either. No matter how much the embattled President demands it of the Attorney General, no matter how many emails Pompeo (“I’m not happy about him.”) releases and no matter how much Hannity demands it, it’s not going to happen in the real world. There will be no indictments of the Deep State either. Apparently Durham knows what he was tasked to do, knows that there is no “there” there, and decided it is in his best interest to wait until after Biden wins the election to announce the results. What can anyone do against him then?

THE RED WAVE

Back on June 19, 2019, I wrote about some early polls:

The results are worth noting. The polls show a slew of Democratic candidates who would win a national election based on the popular vote. The polls range from a high of 57% for Joe Biden to in the 40s% for a variety of figures. One key to interpreting the meaning the polls is the relative constancy of the vote for the incumbent. He consistently polled at 41-42% of the vote.  These numbers put him 5-6% below the 2016 vote and suggest that no matter who the Democratic candidate is, that is the best he will do. The range for the Democratic candidates probably reflects how well known these candidates are. My prediction would be that as they become better known, the undecided in the polls will swing Democratic and the 50s to 41/42% will become the norm…unless more revelations from the investigations drive them even lower or events in the real world expose him as a con artist even to Trumpicans.

Now here we are two weeks from Election Day and the polls consistently show a double-digit lead with Biden in the 50+% range.

I also suggested back on June 8, 2020, that Mitch McConnell had a decision to make (Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course [Go Down with the Ship]). It turns out he did make a decision in August, just not the one the country needed him to make. He hasn’t been to the White House since August 6 due to its mismanagement of the pandemic. WEAR A MASK! However, he made no decision to preserve the majority status in the Senate. Now it may be too late. The red you see on the political maps is not the vaunted red wave that has been predicted. It is the Trumpican Senate seats that are burning up. When you have to fight for your life to hold South Carolina, you know you are in trouble.

JANUARY 20, 2021 CHOREOGRAPHY

Back on September 17, 2018, I wrote:

Suppose the very stable genius is wrong about 2020 (assuming he is still in office and chooses to run again)? Will the President honor the election results? Will the President leave the White House voluntarily? Will he demand a full investigation into the rigged results? Will he remain in the White House until the investigation by his Attorney General (not a stupid Southerner) is completed? (Can he go without playing golf for that long?)

While there is a lot of effort to scope post-Election Day scenarios, the post-Inauguration Day actions remain undefined.

Who Will Be Biden’s Attorney General? (7/29/20): If Joe Biden is sworn in as the new President, where will the former President be at that moment? He will not be there to watch the sleepy-creepy-corrupt person who has lost his mental faculties take office. It will be difficult enough for the current President to accept the concept that THE DONALD is a loser. Especially if he is a loser to someone who received more than 306 Electoral College votes. The loser will not participate in a public ceremony before a crowd bigger than his own inaugural crowd in 2016. He will not have the image of him as a loser become a defining one for him.

What will he do if white suburban women don’t save him or like him even though he saved their neighborhoods?
What will he do if he loses to the worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States?
Why did he set himself up with words that will come back to mock him?

Coping with reality is not his strong point. There is no Plan B if he has to give up his fake world for the real one. Just ask Epstein.