Donald Trump Archives - Page 2 of 23 - Institute of History, Archaeology, and Education

Pity Poor Richard’s Pennsylvania Gazette

December 13, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Pity the Pennsylvania Gazette. It has been one step forward and two steps back. Normally an alumni publication such as this one serves as a proud showcase for what is going on at the University. There will be an editor’s page pumping up the contents to the publication. The President will have a column about whatever the President wants to write about. There will be news blurbs about what professors and sometimes students have accomplished along with notices of changes due to constructions and comings and goings in the administration and departments. Naturally, there will be sports coverage. Finally the accomplishments of alumns will be recognized in some way along with those who have passed away.

ONE STEP FORWARD

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize this year for the research they have done that lead to the development of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. They have been the subject of previous blogs (If Journals Were Online, There Would be No Vaccine, January 3, 2022). It still strikes me as extraordinary that the collaboration grew out of a chance meeting at a copy machine many years ago. Now with all the advances which have occurred to say nothing of remote work, who is to say how many chance meetings at the office water cooler no longer happen. We are indeed fortunate that it did.

Obviously this development is one that the Pennsylvania Gazette can take pride in. Look at us. Look at what a great university we are. Look at how two of our own saved the lives of millions.

DONALD TRUMP

One would think at first glance that having a graduate become President of the United States also would be something to brag about. However such is not the case. To the best of my knowledge, he has not returned to his old stomping ground. Nor has he been invited to deliver the commencement address. In fact, one would be hard pressed to document his matriculation at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. It is more interesting to know how much did Fred Trump donate to the school if not openly or through one of his companies so his son would be admitted. And who wrote the papers and took the exams for the very stable genius who is the smartest person in the room? We will probably never know the answer to those questions.

So instead of shouting to the rafters about how one of ours became President that connection is scarcely acknowledged. There have been no analytical pieces on his economic or financial actions from the relevant Wharton professors and nothing from political science or the law school about his actions either. It is as if he doesn’t exist. The alumni magazine is supposed to be about the positive achievements of graduates and not about how many times one has been impeached or indicted or otherwise wreaked havoc with social fabric of the country. The history department takes a leadership role in study of early American history but has not taken one in how Trump threatens to destroy what has been achieved.

It is hard to imagine a school not taking pride in one of its own becoming President but that is exactly what has happened.

ANTISEMITISM

When a college president makes the front page of The New York Times either the news is very good or horrendous. On Sunday, December 10, 2023, the college president made the news right next to the article about Shohei Otani signing for $700 million dollars to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which article would you read first?

The article reports the resignation of the recently arrived college president. It follows four days after an appearance before Congress on the topic of antisemitism on college campuses, specifically, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Regardless of what you think of the USNWR rankings, these institutions represent the elitist schools.

The performance of the three female presidents new to the job went viral. Especially powerful was the questioning of Republican MAGA Elise Stefanik (NY), a once promising real Republican who went over to the dark side on behalf of Orange Jesus. Even Democrats, even liberal Democrats openly acknowledged the withering question posed by Stefanik about calling genocide of Jews as an example of bullying and harassment. Even she was not prepared for the tightly-wound lawyerly answers of the three once shining lights of their colleges. Those exchanges will take on a life of their own to be repeated and mocked endlessly for the rest of their lives and afterwards.

Since that time there have been behind-the scenes exposes on what was happening at the University of Pennsylvania. Apparently she was on somewhat shaky ground even prior to the showdown at the Capital.

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT

Unlike The New York Times, The Pennsylvania Gazette has no such obligation to print all the news that’s fit to print about the college. The virtual absence of Donald Trump from its pages evidences that policy. However it is much easier to avoid dealing with the President of the United States then it is with the President of the University. It is difficult to see how the Gazette can ignore this story in its next issue but also hard to see how it will cover it. Investigative reporting is not its strong suit.

My guess is that the Gazette will outsource the reporting to professors. Fortunately by the time of the publication of the next issue, the resignation will already be yesterday’s news. Instead the focus will be on a search for a replacement. One may anticipate that each applicant will get the Stefanik question as a test of their ability to handle a crisis under fire. We will have to wait and see both as to how the next college president is chosen and how the official magazine chooses to report the news.

The State of the Republican Party

August 24, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Defining historical images for our era (NBC News)

One of the critical developments in the Republican debate was the admission by the longtime Democrat, Clinton supporter, and Cuomo bro was that he was not a Republican either … nor does he need to become one to get the nomination of the Republican Party.

One can understand why for tactical reasons, the front-runner chose not to participate in the Republican debate. There he would be simply one of nine. Instead he should be the center of attention. Therefore he chose to record an interview with former Fox opinion host Tucker Carlson and present it simultaneously on another media outlet in direct completion with the Republican debate. It is that extra in-your-face step that signifies that it is all about him and not the Republican Party. He does not need it anymore. He is not really a Republican anyway.

IT’S NOT 2016 ANYMORE

Who can forget way back in 2016, the rhythmic chant of “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!” about someone who had not even been indicted for anything … despite many, many, many hours of trying to so? Flash forward to 2023. Compare to the response by the candidates and the audience about supporting an indicted and convicted candidate. Now the mantra was hands raised (or almost raised), that of, of course, and impeached, indicted and convicted candidate would have their support.

What does this transformation mean for the Republic Party? Now it has been unleashed to defund the special counsel, remove the Fulton County district attorney, weaponize the Department of Justice to seek retribution after victory in 2024. In the meantime it will use all the power of the legislative bodies in the state and House on behalf of the longtime Democrat, Clinton supporter, and Cuomo bro.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY COMPOSITION

According to The New York Times, the Republican Party can be divided into six groups. One is the Moderate Establishment consisting of 14% of a party (that represents about 25% of the voting population). This group is home to the anti-Trumpers, Republicans who would not vote for Trump.

Think back to Georgia in 2020. Over 30,000 people voted for Republican candidates but left the presidential line blank So if one is looking for 11,780 votes, all one has to do is reach out to Republicans who will never vote for Trump. They would not necessarily vote for Joe Biden either. They are more likely to stay home or not vote for a presidential candidate if the nominee is an impeached, indicted, convicted, criminal dedicated on retribution (shades of Putin!) for 2020 and the subsequent criminal cases. It is unlikely that anything that happened in the debate or the recording is likely to cause them to reverse course and become MAGA.

To some degree, this group also represents the independent voters, especially the famous female suburban voter that the Republican Party has lost in recent elections. Again, what if anything that was said on Wednesday is likely to cause them to vote Republican. The Ohio voters rejected amending the Constitution which would have made it harder to end the abortion restrictions in the upcoming November election. That vote suggests that reddish states may go Democratic on this issue. Here is where abortion bans issue could be pivotal in 2024.

The second group identified in the analysis is traditional conservatives (26%) meaning pre-Trump Republicans. This group got their Supreme Court judges who now are wreaking havoc at the grassroots level over abortion. They got their tax cut to help rich people get richer. They support Ukraine and not Putin, immigration reform and not demonization, and morning in America over carnage. So while they were not MAGAs in the past, they are even less likely to be so in the future.

Again this is a group which might leave the presidential line blank in 2024 or stay at home. Here is where Bidenomics and a positive message about America’s future by the Democrats could produce positive results. After all, these people survived four years with Joe Biden and all the House Republicans have to show for their relentless war is Hunter Biden. Plus Trump could be knee deep in trials and convictions due to the testimony of actual Republicans by then. This group is even less likely to support Trump than in the past.

The third group powers the Party. The rightwing represents 26% of the Republicans. It consists of Fox, Newsmax, rightwing radio, the Freedom Caucus. With winner-take-all primaries, this group guarantees a Trump victory. They are loyal to him. They believe all his lies. They cough up money for all his scams. The election was stolen. The trials are just a witch hunt. They are happy to tithe so the billionaire does not have to spend his own money on elitist lawyers.

But there are limits. There are limits as to how much money they will actually fork over. And as is abundantly clear, there is a limit as to how many will man the barricades on behalf of their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his name. They have seen what happened and is happening to the January 6 insurrectionists. They did not turn out at all at any of the four arrests in response to the calls for them to do exactly that in cataclysmic terms. They will, however, still vote for Trump.

There is no way to get through to this group. They believe in apocalypse now. It is a religious belief. In the Scopes Trial, they prefer William Jennings Bryan. The challenge for the country will be what will these people do if Joe Biden wins again despite being practically dead? Even though they have worked themselves into such a lather, the call for rigged elections in 2024 will ring hollow given all voter suppression laws which have been enacted since 2020.

Still, this group is the base that nominates the candidate and which produces the lone wolfs, mentally ill or not, who make the threatening phone calls and occasionally do act violently.

The fourth group, the Blue Collar Populists (12%) is the one that paid the price for the hollowing out of the American manufacturing base. These were the overlooked flyover people the coastal elites disdained even as their communities disintegrated. On paper, this group could come back from the dark side provided the solid blue collar communities returned. If those industrial jobs with their strong sense of community, of belonging, of benefits, and security could be brought back the votes could follow, but that will take time. Here one would really need to hammer home the message that it is still morning in America and not carnage with our best days behind us. That would probably require a more dynamic and forceful leadership than the Democrats can provide.

The fifth group is the libertarian group (14%). Mainly what they want is to be left alone. They are not prime candidates to enlist in the MAGA insurrectionist army unless they feel threatened. As long as right wing media can cast any action by the Democrats as socialist, they are unreachable. Here is where it is important to provide them a choice instead of making something compulsory like masks. Ask them what compulsory program they would like to see ended, at least for them. Start with social security.

The sixth and final group is the newcomers (8%). One characteristic is their youth. They may have loans and feel overwhelmed by their prospects of living the American Dream. They are anti-woke.

How reflective of the Republican Party was the Fox audience for the debate? Of these six groups, which ones are the most likely to attend such an event? Gone are the days of three national networks dominating the news. Instead we have slice and dice audiences reaching a smaller and smaller percentage of the voting population. But it is one where one segment of the Republican Party makes the choice for the whole party while Team Normal remains trapped in Trumpland unable to return to the real world.

Donald Trump: The Law and Order Movie

August 15, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Will MAGAs move on when they face the truth?

Everyone is familiar with Law and Order. It is difficult to channel surf without coming across at least one Law and Order episode. Its two note theme is iconic. Its distinctive format divides a show into a police and courtroom sections. In Donald Trump: The Law and Order movie, we have now entered the courtroom portion of the show. It easily could run for years. It will still be going when we prepare to celebrate the 250^th birthday of the country.

What have we learned so far?

MONEY

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the money problems for the defendant in financing his defense in the multiple cases. Financial analyses show that the money coming in is insufficient to meet the expenses of the money going out to the lawyers. One presumes the lawyers know to get paid in advance and are paid on a timely basis. That is easy because the money is not the defendant’s. So the problem is not the shortage of money but that the ability of the defendant to scam MAGAs sufficient to match the ever increasing legal costs.

This condition raises a number of issues.

1. Now that all the courthouses have been identified, the legal expenses will increase substantially especially for the discovery process.
2. Will the defendant pay the legal bills of his co-defendants?
3. Will the defendant pay the travel expenses of his co-defendants?
4. How will his co-defendants react to the prospect of having to pay their own way just so the defendant can get away with his criminal activities?

The answer to these questions are not known at present. But, to venture a guess, some indicted co-defendants or people who will soon be indicted may disagree with the policy of DELAY, DELAY, DELAY. They do not have the money to support dragging the case out for as long as possible

CONTROLLING AN IMMATURE CHILD

As stated many times, the defendant is an immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old. Based on his brain scans he should be tried as a juvenile and not as an adult.

However, he is being tried as an adult. That means there now are figures of authority telling him where to go, when to be there, and what he can and cannot see. We are dealing with a situation where multiple chiefs of staff and counsel in the past have been unable to control him. Of course, they all worked for him. Still there is no reason think the defendant will act any differently based on the guidelines of the DC and Fulton County judges and possibly even the Trump judge.

The consequences of defying their instructions are likely to lead to charges of contempt. No ne knows when he will cross the line but it I virtually inevitable that he will. This means long before he faces the issue of prison time, he will be confronted with jail time. It probably will not take many days in jail to get the message across. A short time in jail may even have the effect of putting the fear of prison in him more than he has already. It is a place where he could be spending the rest of his earthly life based on the sentencing guidelines for the crimes he has committed. That fear and only that fear may be sufficient to get him to behave. However, once out on the campaign trial, it is hard to see how he can resist going one step too far.

DEMENTIA SENTENCE

The sentencing of people in their 80s is rare. There are people in their 80s in prison, but they had been sentenced at much earlier age. By coincidence, there was a huge article this Sunday in The New York Times on “Inside a Dementia Unit in a Federal Prison.” The article recounts how people in prison may not even know why they are in prison or even who they are. They, certainly may have lost the ability to groom and take care of themselves. Prisons in effect have become old age nursing homes.

Putting side the general social question of what should be done with older prisoners, let’s focus on the defendant and co-conspirator #1. These two men in the late 70s now. By the time the prison door clangs shut on them they will be in their 80s. I do not know the ages of the other defendants but age may apply to them as well.

Consider what prison would mean. Imagine what prison life will be like for some so fastidious about his appearance. His hair color will become normal. His hair style may be more unkempt. His bald spot may become more obvious. His attire will be standard issue and not custom order. He will be the center of attention only to the Secret Service agents assigned to watch over and ensure he will not commit suicide.

Plus the change will be abrupt. One moment he will be living the life of luxury in one of his own homes. Then PUFF, in an instant, he will give all that up for federal prison life. The change will be swift and traumatic. A short stint in jail may sober him up to the stark reality of the rest of his life in prison but you never know. On the other hand, it is easy to imagine even babbling “the election was stolen” and the most corrupt in American history.

Keep in mind that 2022 became an election about whether the election of 2020 was stolen. Sometime next year, we will start hearing about how the election of 2024 is rigged despite all the efforts at voter suppression. So it is only natural to expect him to keep reciting these mantras for the rest of his life.

A TALE OF TWO JUDGES

The concurrence of two federal-level cases involving the same defendant will allow for a case study on judicial behavior. One judge appears to be a no-nonsense judge dedicated to moving the case along. The other seems to be a Trump judge.

In each case there will be motions and counter motions with the defendant seeking to DELAY, DELAY, DELAY the case until after the presidential election in 2024. The reason he does not want a speedy trial that concludes prior to the convention presumably is because he knows he is guilty. Otherwise he would want to enter the Republican arena as the victorious warrior who vanquished the vaunted deranged witch hunter. Obviously that possibility has never crossed his mind.

Instead the judges will perpetually be in his crosshairs as he files motion after motion to delay the trial. The judges already know this is his modus operandi so it will be interesting to see how they respond. Will they take the bait? Apparently one judge gets legal advice from watching Foxhub.

THE BUS

Who will be thrown under the bus?

For the Georgia co-defendants, they may be quite willing to throw the defendant under the bus. These people led comparatively normal lives and would like to return to them. Some of their colleagues already have by cooperating. There is life after Trump in Georgia as multiple state officials have shown. The Georgia defendants have nothing to gain by being loyal to the defendant who is not loyal to them.

One might say the same for 79 year-old Giuliani. What is he waiting for?

For others, they may be waiting for the 2024 presidential election. Hope springs eternal. If Putin can hang on until then so can they. Only when all hope of a pardon is gone will they begin to think about abandoning their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed be his name. And if he is not paying their legal bills, they may even choose to abandon ship even earlier.

FATIGUE

Right now the MAGAs can say it is all the cases are political and dismiss them from their minds. But there may be a breaking point.

As they watch co-defendant after co-defendant flip to the dark side, how long before MAGA’s see the light?

As they watch one Republican witness after another for the prosecution, how long before MAGA’s see the light?

For even the most devoted of Law and Order fans, there are limits as to how many one can watch. Binging has its limits. At some point relitigating 2020 as the basis for a political platform may not be enough especially if it is not working. At the end the movie Truman, when people who had watched that show for years, saw the truth being revealed, they changed the channel and moved on. It will take a while, but eventually Donald Trump: The Law and Order movie will no longer be enough for people who want to move beyond 2020.Then and only then will they denounce Trump. Otherwise we may have to wait for the election in 2028.

Trump versus Lincoln: The Battle Is Engaged

August 3, 2023
by Peter Feinman

The Mount Rushmore President and the Mount Rushmore Wannabee (https://ctmirror.org)

Finally. Finally. Finally. After years of talk about the civil war in the United States, it has now officially arrived. The events about to unfold in the trials of Trump and the 2024 election will determine what kind of America will exist when we celebrate the 250^th birthday of the country on July 4, 2026.

Right now there is no way to know which side will prevail in the war. The details of what it means to “win” in this remain also will be a point of contention. Given how often pundits use the term “unprecedented” for the actions of or related to Donald Trump, one may reasonably anticipate the same term will apply to the outcome of the war. But make no mistake about it, we are engaged in a conflict to determine if the United States can long endure of if we have reached our expiration date.

WHERE’S THE MILITARY?

Where is the military in this war? When I first started writing about political action thrillers on January 3, 2021, I had the military in mind. Generally, such thrillers involved the military in some way. Coups or attempted coups automatically bring to mind the military. Think of the current events in Niger or Sudan as examples.

The attempted coup here did consider bringing in the military. One way was the long-known proposal to seize the voting machines in areas (meaning Democratic cities in battleground ground states). That initiative never went anywhere in practice. But the very fact that it could be reasonably considered by the Commander in Chief demonstrates how seriously this unconstitutional action was taken.

The second way is more recently exposed. This would be the application of the Insurrection Act whereby the President of the United States would be authorized to deploy military forces against Americans, specifically Americans who would rioted against the seizure of power by the Loser Incumbent. Again it never happened. And again, people very very close to the Commander in Chief were casually recommending it as a course of action to be taken.

One notices that both recommendations were coming from civilians. Contrary to the traditional political action thriller, the real military was nowhere to be seen in such deliberations. The loyalty of the military was to the Constitution and not to a coup plotter. Presumably the same would be true in 2024 should a similar circumstance would arise which is unlikely given the current President.

WHERE’S THE WAR ROOM?

One of the fixtures of the attempted insurrection was the infamous war room. How many times have you seen the clip of Bannon admonishing us to strap in because the next day is going to be like nothing anyone expected. We need to keep in mind that the original plan was for the President of the United States to crash the Capitol meeting with his possibly armed followers. It was only because the Secret Service declined to draw him there that the intrusion did not occur. Remember the President grabbing the steering wheel and agent in the attempt to make this drive.

The war room planning for this event included among others Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Mark Meadows by phone, and possibly some Congressmen. So far, no of them appear to have been included in the indictment.

My recommendation, which counts for nothing has been that the indictments be divided into parts:

Interference with the state legislators
The fake electors
January 6.

The indictment so far covers the first two but not the third. We know that the unnamed co-defendants will be indicted at some future date. It is still possible that the sedition indictment is an ace up the sleeve waiting for the dust to settle on the existing indictments before being revealed.

THE LAWYER COUP

The attempted coup was perpetuated by lawyers of all people. It was not to occur due to tanks rolling the streets but to supposedly legal actions through the courts and legislatures. At this point we know that all the legal machinations failed. Instead the lawyers who participated in such court proceedings look like legal fools.

Some lawyers decided to take it to next level. In these instances they sought to influence the legislatures in battleground states with direct appearances that crossed the line on what is legal. They sought to weaponize the Department of Justice in clearly illegal ways to intimidate the battleground state legislatures to do what needed to be done to reverse the vote in their states. These efforts failed and these people are now co-defendants. That means they will be charged in the future once the main case against the Boss is underway.

The lawyer coup as opposed to a military coup does show it a strange way that we are a nation of law. Think back to the Brooks Brother brigade in the 2000 presidential election. Now we have lawyers who are the prime actors in the coup whereas once upon a time priests may have been the ones involved in the battle for power at the capitol.

The presence of lawyers at the center of the attempted coup (plus one political consultant) attests the place of lawyers in American culture. Think of the Devil and Daniel Webster where an individual is more than a match against Satan versus the more traditional match between priest and Satan in the The Exorcist. Clarence Darrow in history and fiction in Inherit the Wind looms large in American culture as does Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mocking Bird. Of course these are all lawyers for the defense like Perry Mason and Ben Matlock, not lawyers who sought to perpetrate a crime. Even the Dream Team lawyers who helped O.J. get away with murder did not actually participate in the murder itself.

In this case the lawyers were the prime movers in the assault on America. They had to be restrained by Team Normal in some very contentious meetings. Still the presence of these lawyers at the pinnacle of extra-judicial power telling the moron child what he wanted to hear shows how perilously close we came to there being a successful coup.

WHERE’S LINCOLN?

When the indictments were first announced, I saw and heard Chris Hayes, MSNBC, passionately speak out on behalf of Lincoln. He recited parts of the Gettysburg Address, one of the most sacred texts in American history. He reminded us today that Lincoln knew of the fragility of the American experiment, of how the current generation in his time was being tested to determine if it could long endure just as we are now being tested. In so doing, Hayes raised the stakes (or rather recognized that they had been raised) to the level of an existential threat to the continued existence of the United States.

While Hayes was right in what he said, what he omitted also is important. Hayes was acting if all Americans recognized and accepted the validity of the message Lincoln delivered at Gettysburg. Even in his own time, Lincoln did not represent the views of all Americans. Even in his own time, Lincoln did not represent the view of all northerners. To this very day Lincoln is not a hero in the Confederacy. The Lincoln Memorial is a union memorial where Union people hold great events. Mount Rushmore Lincoln is in the north, Stonewall Jackson is in the Confederacy.

What Hayes omitted was something else Lincoln said about a house divided not being able to stand. We are that house divided. True the multiple trials may cumulatively undermine the passion to put one’s life on the line for Trump, but it does not change the fact that we are a divided country.

WHO LOST GEORGIA?

All the fuss over the votes the Loser implored the Georgia state officials to find obscures the truth of the voting in the state. Republican candidates did win sufficient votes in the down-ballot elections. What happen was over 30,000 people voted for Republican candidates except for the one at the top. These people may be prepared to do the same again in 2024 provided the down-ballot candidates are not also stolen election denying MAGAs. The same polls that show the size of the MAGA base in the Republican Party also show the number of Never Trumpers and pursuables in the Party.

Here are some questions to ask Republicans who are open to moving on.

If Trump is such a fighter, how come he never takes the stand to defend himself?
If the Department of Justice has been weaponized, how come all the people testifying against him are Republicans?
Who would testify on his behalf? Jim Jordan? Scott Perry? Roger Stone? Steve Bannon?

If the civil war is to end peacefully in 2024, it is essential that these Republicans make their voice heard. Back in 1861, people had plenty of time to prepare for what they would if Lincoln became president. Similarly, in 2025, the same would be true if Biden won again.

When the Confederate states seceded upon Lincoln’s inauguration, not every adult in the state had the right to vote. Any state, even Alabama, which rejects a Biden victory if he should win, will discovered a strong Union minority that does accept the result and wants to remain part of the United States. All the bluster “not my President” and secede may come to naught not simply because of the number of Democrats who do not want to secede, but because of the Republicans in the Confederacy for whom secession is a line too far to cross.

August 13, 2021 to August 14, 2023: Mike Lindell to Jack Smith

June 22, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Pillowhead's Cyber Symposium just before Trump's return to office

AUGUST 13, 2021

It seems like only yesterday when Pillowhead was championing August 13, 2021, as the day when the real President of the United States would return to the White House and resume his position as the rightful POTUS. He never got around to explaining exactly how this restoration would occur. Séance Sidney was of little use here either. But somehow it was going to happen.

These modern day Millerites were doomed to unrequited dreams just as happened back in 1843/1844 when the world did not come to an end as predicted. If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try, again. Eventually, those who prayed/thought their savior would be restored to power, faced the hard reality that no such moment of truth would occur on August 13, 2021 or even afterwards during Joe Biden’s term. In fact, nothing would occur except Pillowhead making a spectacle of himself at his own symposium. His evidence instead showed that there was no there there.

On April 19, 2023. Mike Lindell was ordered to pay $5 million to a software expert who proved that Pillowhead’s data was bogus. A real computer forensic expert had shown the data Pillowhead presented was gibberish and nonsense. Naturally, in the true Trumpian tradition, Pillowhead refused to pay the winner of the “Prove Mike Wrong” contest. The case is now being litigated. Of course, what is $5 million compared to the $1.3 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion. The true mystery is how Pillowhead came to believe that he had real data that would blow the stolen election case wide open and return Trump to the White House. Is it possible for someone’s product to be smarter than its marketer?

AUGUST 14, 2023

Now flash forward two years and one day to August 14, 2023. In a surprise move, the so-called Trump Judge set an early date for the commencement of the Mar-a-Largogate trial. Given the standard tactic of “delay, delay, delay,” one would have expected a date off into the future. A date less than eight weeks away was truly a speedy trial date. Of course, August 14, 2023, is merely a target date. It is not the date when the trial actually will begin. Still, the setting of this early date, suggests that the Judge will not be the path to acquittal or at least post-election trial that many people once feared. It is still too early to tell, but as of now, the prospects are full speed ahead.

The obstacles to a speedy trial are well known. There is the need for the defendant to decide on his legal team. There is a need to obtain various security clearances once all the players are identified. There are various legal claims and challenges the defense may offer, many of which already have been discussed endlessly on cable TV and elsewhere. Undoubtedly, such actions will push the trial date back considerably. Once the trial does get underway, it should be the slam dunk many commentators have been predicting. So far there are no witnesses for the defense. The defendant acts like a witness for the prosecution every time he opens his mouth. In this action, he is joined by many other people from his home who will be testifying against him. At this point, the best thing the defendant has going for him is a MAGA juror.

DISCOVERY

To highlight the speed at which the trial is unfolding, Jack Smith presented the Trump defense team with much of the testimony and evidence from the grand jury which will be used in the actual trial. This information includes the names of the people who will testify against the defendant, videos including the defendant’s own performances on cable TV, and other videos. As one might expect, the defendant’s own words will form a powerful part of the testimony against him without him even taking the stand. This evidence, with more to come, delivers the message that it is really is a slam dunk case with the outcome of prison time for his convictions on multiple counts.

Here is where the human element becomes a factor. So far the analysis has tended to view the defendant as person immune to the reality in which he is now living. He is treated as if he is THE DONALD who can triumph over anything the corrupt Department of Justice in the real world throws against him.

As a result, we have been hearing more about Eugene Debs running for President from jail then what it would mean on a human level for THE DONALD to be declared a loser in the court and sentenced to prison time even if house arrest.

Similarly, we have been hearing about his base of support which cannot be moved under any circumstances.

The human factor is being overlooked. Some commentators have expressed their faith in the jury system. Once people take an oath and sit in the courtroom, the gravity of the situation takes over. And if a juror fashions himself to be Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men, the situation is quite different here. The defendant already has admitted his guilt as will be shown to the jurors. All the witnesses against him will be his own people. No one will take stand on his behalf. As most recently exhibited in his interview on Fox with Bret Baier and in his deposition in the successful civil case against him, he should never be allowed to speak under oath. His natural venue is the professional political wrestling arena. There he can feed off the energy of the MAGA crowd while he spews his nonsense. He will not have that opportunity in the Mar-a-Largogate trial. Instead he will be a tired shrunken old man cringing at what is unfolding before him.

For a person who demands loyalty, the first batch of evidence must have been a shock. Forget about the abstract notions of move and countermove with motions to delay the trial. What the defendant now sees is that he cannot trust anyone. This is far beyond the Michael Cohen case. At this point we do not know how many of his own people will be arrayed against him. We can only imagine shock he already has experienced. While he is not capable of reading the prosecution evidence in the discovery, his lawyers can and have. They already knew their client was guilty. Now the magnitude of the evidence against their client has been dumped on them. Surely they know if this case goes to trial, they will lose. Surely they knew the penalty for losing will be prison time. Surely they have communicated this to their client.

The issue now is not whether the defendant will spill the names of the people who will testify against him. He might just as well read the employment roster from Mar-a-Lago. What this mountain of evidence means is that the 78 year-old defendant can see prison time for the rest of his life looming before him. Something transformative is happening. He is transforming from the alternate reality in which he and his MAGA followers have been living to the real world. As he hears about people who did his bidding on January 6 being sentenced for 12 years, the stark reality of leaving the alternate reality for the real world sinks in. Forget about the actual dates for the start of the trial, the discovery process is the ghost of Christmas future where his world will be a horrible one for him. This time when his lawyers suggest a plea deal, THE DONALD may be much more willing to accept one if it keeps him out of prison. Jack Smith has poured a bucket of water on the wicked witch of the White House leaving the defendant a timid, incoherent, babbling mess desperate for a way out. And there is still Georgia and other federal cases to come.

The impact of THE DONALD accepting a plea deal will be momentous. It will change the dynamic in the House. It will change the dynamic in the Presidential election. It will change the dynamic among the MAGA. Their Lord and Savior, Blessed Be His Name, only he can save them and deliver divine retribution will shrink in size to being an old defeated loser. And if he does not enter in a plea agreement then the alternate path will be prison which will derail him even more. Now THE DONALD has discovered the truth in real world and it scares and frightens him.

Beautiful Mind Classified Boxes, Linus Blanket, and Stuffed Animals

June 20, 2023
by Peter Feinman

A beautiful mind can connect dots that do not even exist (https://i.imgflip.com/2fg4dr.jpg)

One might think that the arraignment of an ex-President of the United States for the first time in American history would be a day of metaphorical fireworks if not actual violence. Instead the day was routine, not wild. If one did not know that something historically momentous was occurring one would not know it from the events at the Courthouse. Maybe it was just another O.J. or some other Hollywood figure arriving to plead his case.

The real fireworks began after the arraignment. In one short day, the defendant travelled from being on his home turf where he is in-charge to a courthouse where the judge makes the rules to being back home-sweet-home in New Jersey. Quite a whirlwind experience.

What are the lessons to be learned from this day and its aftermath?

1. The media-hyped threat of violence has been overblown. So far there have been two cases in New York and now one in Florida with no violence in sight. Certainly there has been social media chatter about violence and there always is the possibility of a lone wolf, mentally ill or not, of exploding in violence. But so far there is no sign of any repeat of January 6. My prediction still is that this pattern will continue with subsequent arraignments. By this point in time, people are used to the idea of him being arraigned. It has become no big deal. It isn’t as if he is being hauled off to prison or even to jail. He is still free to roam around the country and without an ankle bracelet or having to surrender his passport.

2. The loudest voices have come from Congress … or at least these are the people the media interviews or whose tweets they read. These people can be subdivided in different groups:

The people who are going to be indicted themselves or at least subpoenaed as attention shifts to January 6 and the fake electors
The people who genuinely lack the mental necessities to understand the magnitude of the criminal actions undertaken by the Loser
The people who are political cowards who know that he is guilty through and through but lack the courage of their convictions
The people who seek to exploit the crime for their own gain by being front and center in the media to vouch for the criminal.

These people thrive on making a spectacle of themselves secure in the knowledge that supporting the Loser is no crime but an obligation.

3. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the prosecution wins the battle of public display hands down. The bathroom image resonates with everyone. When the Unpresidential Library (Fox & Friends and the Unpresidential Library April 30, 2018; The Unpresidential Library: The Adolescent Room July 30, 2019; Presidential Shrine versus Unpresidential Library for the Former Guy March 2, 2021) is built dedicated to the criminal activities of the Loser President, this image will hold a prominent place. During his career, the Loser has been the master media manipulator. With the bathroom boxes, he may have met his match.

4. It would appear that the document boxes are his stuffed animals, Linus blanket, and night light all wrapped into one. His staff called them his “beautiful mind boxes.” In the past I have used the phrase “beautiful mind” to refer to MAGAs and Sean Hannity (MAGA’s Have “A Beautiful Mind:” There Is No Cure, February 20, 2023; What Do Seth Rich and the Ukraine Have in Common? Answer: Sean Hannity October 6, 2019; Hannity versus Mueller: Who Is the Better Dot Connector? January 29, 2018). By that, I was referring to Hannity’s skill in connecting the dots to see conspiracies that did not exist, for example, Seth Rich. The immature child who could only connect two dots therefore outsourced this higher level of thinking to Hannity who could connect multiple dots.

5. The most damaging and scary words come once again from the Loser himself. The axiom of when you are in a hole stop digging, does not apply to the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year-old who is being told play time is over and it is time to face the music. He now is facing the most dangerous time in his life. He knows that he is guilty on all counts. He knows that his own words will be used against him once again. And he knows that there can be real consequences, yet he cannot stop nor can his lawyers stop him.

As one listens to the Loser fulminate, one has legitimate cause to be concerned for the fate of the country. His platform for 2024 is quite clear:

Lock her up
The stolen election
Retribution.

Whether or not these items align with either the Republican Party or the country, does not matter. They are what he wants. He will campaign on these slogans and given the plurality-primaries of the Republican Party, they well may carry him to the nomination.

6. Chris Christie is exactly right when he calls Donald Trump a child loser… even prior to the arraignment. Considering how the Loser handled the news of his loss of the election, one should really expect he would go ballistic as soon as he recovered from the trial ordeal. Christie needs to carry that description forward whenever he talks about his opponent. The loser is a child who is behaving exactly like a child when the parent (the law) tell him playtime is over.

Unfortunately Christie remains a lone voice in the wilderness. Almost all the other candidates are hanging back, letting the process unfold. If enough of them took to social media and campaign appearances to similarly denounce the three-time child loser who is leading the party over a cliff, then perhaps the dynamic would change.

7. All the witnesses against him will be Republicans and/or people who worked or who still work for him. The constant drumbeat of one witness after another exposing the criminal activity of the Loser will deliver a powerful message of guilt. We already had one trial where his own words provided some of the most compelling evidence against. The same will be true this time. Whether it is his own public words about classified documents from the 2016 campaign, his own public words about owning the documents and declassifying them in his mind, to the actual testimony of a wide array of people, it is easy to see why this is a slam dunk case that will only take a few weeks.

Exactly who will the Loser call as a witness? He certainly won’t testify himself on his own behalf. His lawyers will tie him up and gag him before they would allow that. It will be challenging enough coping with his social media messages and campaign appearances. It is no wonder his some of his lawyers have abandoned ship and other lawyers have refused to even board. Each and every day bears the risk that their will further incriminate himself and dig himself even deeper into the hole he dug for himself.

His rhetoric is likely to become ever more vehement, vicious, and vituperous as the steady drumbeat of arraignments, court appearances, and cases continues. There will be a cumulative effect on him, his apologists, and even MAGA as the legal saga continues. One should keep in mind that he never will be able to defend himself in court and there will be more and more restrictions on what he can say out of court. At some point, it may even sink in that yes, it is a witch hunt and Jack Smith is his Dorothy.

Apocalypse Now: The Seal Is Broken

June 19, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Countdown to Armageddon (Bible Study Notebook)

Donald Trump is not considered to be a religious person. He did, however attend church when he was growing up. First he attended a local church in Queens, First Presbyterian Church. Later he attended the more famous Marble Collegiate Church, on Fifth Avenue, where Norman Vincent Peale was the minister. According to legend, Trump met Marla Maples, his second wife, there, the woman who looks the like woman who successfully sued him because she was not his type. He did attend Sunday School classes at First Presbyterian and later donated $10,000 church in recognition of the good memories he had of his childhood experience there.

One may speculate that it was there that he first encountered the Book of Revelation although it may have occurred later. You never know what bits and pieces of Scripture will stick in someone’s mind. Perhaps something in the story of the ultimate showdown appealed to him as did who would be the victorious savior.

Revelation 6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”² And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.³ When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”⁴ And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and he was given a great sword.⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand;⁶ and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm oil and wine!”⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”⁸ And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne;¹⁰ they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.¹² When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale;¹⁴ the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?”

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.² Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,³ saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”⁴ And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel,….⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!”¹¹ And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,¹² saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.”¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?”¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.¹⁵ Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence.¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Now the seal has been broken. Now we have witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country. This day will go down in history. The time of divine retribution is at hand. I am the only one who can save this nation.

It is difficult to know how the mind of this immature child actually works as he plays his games of being grown-up. One consideration should be the impact of how religious images from his youth have defined how he sees the world and his place in it. All the more reason to be petrified if he returns to power and begins casting judgement on those who disobeyed his every wish.

Would Jim Jordan Rather Be Institutionalized in Congress or Prison?

June 8, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Dorothy, You have changed! (Greg Groesch/The Washington Times)

Play time is over. It was a lot of fun defying Congressional subpoenas, investigating the Biden criminal conspiracy, and appearing on Foxhub to spout nonsense. But now the party is over. The time of adult supervision has arrived. There really is law and people who are dedicated to enforcing it. That means the moment of truth has or will soon arrive for all the people who participated in the in the planning of the insurrection and the attempt to steal the election.

The standard Mafia rules apply. Start with the small fish and work your way up the food chain. That applies not only to the hundreds of people who physically assaulted the Capitol, but to the people who organized the event and who were responsible for Mar-a-Lagogate.

THE SPECIAL COUNSEL

We have been distracted from what has been going on behind the scenes. The civil case in which Trump was held liable and the “small” indictment in New York City that so many people wished hadn’t gone first obscured where the action was. Even the “imminent” case in Georgia which now apparently means August still seemed like a long way off making people wonder if Trump ever would be held accountable for his actions.

For so long we have been hearing about how aggressive Jack Smith was as a prosecutor without any overt sign that anything was happening. Yes, there was witness after witness being subpoenaed and called to testify … apparently more than we knew, but no indictments seemed forthcoming. Meanwhile the presidential election cycle commenced. More and more candidates came forward. Finally even one willing to confront Trump and his criminal family by name declared his candidacy. It was as if everyone else was holding back, waiting for the dam to break, waiting for the moment when Trump became not only a loser but a federally indicted loser as well. Now we are at that moment as well. It is time for people to decide whether they wish to join Trump or does self-preservation come first. Does Jim Jordan really want to go to prison?

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

These past few days have witnessed a flurry of activities. Some of them are witnessed in the present of their occurrence. Some of them are events which happened in the past but are now seeing the light of day.

We know that in Georgia we should not be surprised about the number and names of the people to be indicted.

We know that Georgia judges have been informed to clear their schedules for August.

We know that the Special Counsel has communicated to Trump’s lawyers that he is the target for Mar-a-Lagogate.

We know that former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has testified before the grand jury. We don’t know how cooperative he was. Presumably he was made to realize that there already is enough evidence to convict him so his best deal is not to plead the 5^th but to tell the truth. He seems to have pleaded guilty to at least some charges.

We know that Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed. In previous blogs, I have used him as an example of what does he have to gain by going down with the ship. He knows that loyalty is a one-way street with The Donald. He knows that The Donald would have no hesitation to throw him under the bus. So why give him that opportunity?

The same applies to the other members of the inner cabal. I am referring to the people in the so-called War Room. I am referring to the members of the House of Representatives to whom Trump referred in his call to Georgia. At some point these people will realize that this witch hunt is for real. It is time to start thinking about saving their own skin.

THE DAM HAS BURST

We may be witnessing the beginning of a deluge. The number of people willing to fall on their sword for Trump is probably far fewer than expected. Remember how Michael Cohen once pledged eternal loyalty and like some Secret Service agent and would take a bullet for The Donald. We are long past that point now.

It’s amazing how suddenly and abruptly the actions of the Special Consel have changed the dynamic. For so long there seemed to be as little movement as on the lines between Russia and Ukraine. Then in an instant, everything changed. By the time Roger Stone is subpoenaed, he may be begging for a deal. Everyone knows that incumbent elected officials in Washington do not want to give up their perks. How much less to they want to do so to defend the criminal actions of Donald Trump? This week, the damn has broken open. Everyone who was part of the criminal conspiracy has been put on very short notice that the time has come for them to put up or be shut up in prison.

There is always a risk in writing a blog like this because by the time it is posted and then distributed it may be obsolete. The Mar-a-Lago indictment could be any moment now be it in Florida or Washington. The witnesses for the Prosecution will be either Republicans or people who worked for him at Mar-a-Lago. The MAGAs won’t know who to attack first or even who to attack at all. The Donald, of course, will not take the stand to defend himself or any other of the people charged. He will however continue to rant and rave on social media digging himself ever deeper into a whole. The odds are Jim Jordan and the other conspirators are not going to want to jump in with them. Instead they will be more likely to help bury him. The Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024 will become a wide open contest. Everything is different now.

CNN New Hampshire and January 6, 2025

June 1, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Only the technology has changed (Sony tape recorder used to tape conversations in the White House, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration)

CNN has taken a lot of flack for providing free airtime to a person incapable of telling the truth except by accident. The ratings were not spectacular and there is no indication that this will be a repeat of 2016.

In many ways, CNN did the nation a favor. Think back to the trial which had just ended the day before. His own testimony under deposition helped hold him liable. No matter how well prepared his lawyers might have been, no one could have anticipated that he would confuse E. Jean Carroll with his second wife Marla Maples. The lesson to be learned is the more he talks the deeper into a hole he digs himself. CNN provided an opportunity for him to defame Carroll as a wack job whom he did not know. The result has been an increase in the amount of damages sought against him. Good thinking immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old, just keep talking.

And now there are tapes.

The same applies to one exchange that has not received the attention it deserves. He was asked if he would accept the results on the 2024 election if he lost. The answer was “No!” In his terms he replied only if he decided the election was honest. Translated in to English, that means if he loses again to Joe Biden (assuming he is the nominee) he will not accept the results.

So what? His Arizona gubernatorial candidate has not accepted the results that she lost and what impact has it had? Unfortunately it does mean a possible Senate candidacy for her. If she should win that then the Senate could have its own counterpart to Marjorie Taylor Greene.

HE’S A LOSER

One should keep in mind that the wannabees will be spending months tarnishing the image of Criminal Loser Liar Trump. They already have begun referring to the losses experienced by the Republican Party due to him. Every time they refer to the Republican Party as a loser party, they are indirectly attacking and rejecting his claims of being a winner.

He did not win the popular vote in 2016.
His party did lose the Congressional elections in 2018.
He did not win the popular vote or electoral vote in 2020.
Election deniers did not win in 2022.

In short, everything he touches dies. At some point, people in the Republican Party are going to place winning over fealty to The Donald. Survival trumps obedience. The story will not be the same everywhere. But the more Republicans face the threat of losing in a state despite all their efforts to suppress the vote – or because they have a conscience – the more resistant to blindly following the Criminal Loser Liar will. Certainly with all the presidential candidates, some will hammer home the message that The Donald is a loser. Especially if one wants to stand out on a crowded debate stage, the greater the likelihood of confronting the Criminal Loser Liar head on. Given the winner-take-all format of Republican primaries, such attacks may not be sufficient to prevent him from wining a plurality even if he is under multiple indictments. What it does mean it that Democrats don’t need to spend much effort attacking him until after the Republican convention, the Republicans will be doing it for them.

JANUARY 6, 2025

Despite all the legal threats and attacks from Republican presidential candidates, he still could be the nominee. What are the options then if he loses again to Joe Biden? They would seem to be quite limited.

Will he unleash Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the state legislatures again? Unlikely since they are likely to be on trial for their efforts last time around.

Will he seize voting machines as he failed to do last time? No, he would have no power to do so?

Will he create alternate electors to stealthily cast votes on his behalf? No, the fake electors from last time will be on trial or have sought immunity deals for themselves for their actions. It seems unlikely that anyone would try that route again.

Will state legislatures with Republican super-majorities openly declare alternate electors if necessary? Meaning if they calculate the electoral votes needed and coordinate their actions with other states with Republican super-majorities sufficient to close the gap? Unlikely although it remains a possibility depending on how the Supreme Court rules. Even if it rules in their favor it would be such a brazen step to steal the election, I question whether such a maneuver would even work. Even as I write this the current Texas Attorney General who might be expected to lead the charge may find himself removed from office.

Will he call upon his patriotic tourists to assemble at the Capitol with the cry that “it will be wild”? Unlikely. This time the Capitol will be fully prepared for the arrival of his tourists, his good people whom he loves. Those people will have seen what happened last time. They have seen the arrests. They have seen the convictions. They have seen the sentencing. All this talk about pardoning the tourists from 2020 are a constant reminder of the consequences of their attempt to steal the election. Consider the outcry over his first indictment in New York. It was a big nothingburger.

As one examines the various options available to the two-time loser, one sees that they are quite limited. They are more in the style of Kari Lake. She can huff and puff all she wants but she cannot undo the election results. By this point, even his own followers expect him to be indicted.

In short, it is good to have on record on his unwillingness to accept the results in 2024 unless he wins. It is something his fellow Republican candidates can criticize the big baby for in their own campaigns. So the bottom line is if he calls for a national effort to steal the election in 2024 so he can win, nothing much will happen. He would just be a laughingstock as he continues to defend himself in court(s) from the last time he tried to steal the election.

At least this time he telegraphed his punches and CNN should be thanked for giving him that opportunity to expose himself.

Of course, it is also possible that he will win the election.

Jim Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and Donald Trump: Knowing When to Leave the Stage

May 22, 2023
by Peter Feinman

When do you leave the stage? Do you have to die first? I thought about this because of three people who were in the NYT on May 20, 2023, print.

Hall of Famer Jim Brown who had died (front page)
Senator Dianne Feinstein who is deteriorating before our very eyes (front page)
Former President Donald Trump.

As I was reading the various articles, I realized there was a connection whether by chance, coincidence, or design or some combination.

ATHLETES

When should an athlete hang up his/her cleats? Oftentimes the decision is not up to the athlete. Sometimes a person does not make the team or no longer can make the team. People may find at age 25 that their sports career is over. What do they do next? Suppose they have no high school degree? Or no college degree except maybe showing up for class. What are they going to do for the rest of their life?

Jim Brown went out on top. He was still capable of years of high level performance as a running back in the NFL. Yet he chose to leave that career and pursue other actions such as movies.

Sandy Koufax was another athlete who retired at the top of his game. In his case, it was for medical reasons. He simply could not do what he had been doing without destroying himself.

Lately tennis has provided multiple examples of people leaving the sport. They seem to do so not while they at the top of the game but while they have faded and no longer are a relevant force at the championship tournaments. Roger Federer, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams all played past their prime. They play on when injuries and surgeries had replaced winning as their reason for being in the news. Now Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the French Open, his tournament so clearly his end is in sight. It is time for him for retire or take a farewell tour.

Sometimes people retire because they have nothing left to prove and a lot to lose if they continue to play – see John Elway and Peyton Manning.

And then there are Tiger Woods and Tom Brady.

But eventually time catches up with all athletes. That does not mean they know when to leave the stage; sometimes they need to be pushed.

POLITICIANS

Politicians don’t come with expiry dates. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein both became Senators from California in 1992, the Year of the Woman. Boxer stepped down last cycle and sometimes can be seen as a talking head on cable news. By contrast, not only did Feinstein run one cycle ago when she could have stepped down after a long and successful career; she ran again. She pledged to step down next time and not run in 2024. Already candidates are stepping up to run in that election.

Feinstein also is gambling that she will make it until then. Her deterioration has become quite noticeable. Her most recent public appearances have been shocking. Her physical appearance was of someone in a senior living home close to hospice. She clearly is not capable of doing her job right now yet alone continuing for another year and half. She would be the winner of the Strom Thurmond Award for the most physically and mentally diminished Senator of the year. Even 89-year-old Chuck Grassley is robust by comparison.

We are at the stage now where the kids have to tell mom and/or dad that is it time to stop driving before they hurt themselves or someone else or both. Unfortunately there is no one to do so in the Senate. To be fair, it is possible that situation will change at any moment. Just because she says she wants to remain in office until the end of her term does not mean will do so.

As a result, the Governor of California never knows from day to day if he will have to a momentous decision.

As a result, the Senate Majority leader never knows from day to day what the status of having a working majority will be.

As a result, the Vice President never knows when she will have to be on standby for a critical vote in the Senate.

Clearly Feinstein is no Jim Brown, Sandy Koufax, or even Tom Brady.

DONALD TRUMP

Determining when the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three year old will leave the stage is much more problematical. He needs to be at the center of the stage. He needs for the attention to be on him. He needs to be packing in audiences and filling arenas so he can brag about how he is still the one around whom all the wannabees circle. So far nothing has happened to thrust him off the island. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen prior to the Republican convention. That doesn’t mean on a Republican debate stage the other candidates won’t gang up on him with the cry, “You are a loser. You’re fired.”

Now people are waiting with baited breath for the big indictments to follow. When will the Fulton Georgia District Attorney invite him and a slew of people to make themselves available? Apparently the beginning of August. Although everyone knows it is coming, it will still be shock when all the names are read, the charges are made public, and the people scramble to show up. The experience will cement his image as a loser, and a whiny loser at that.

Then comes the heavy artillery at the federal level. Mar-a-largogate is likely to be another blow to the head. Even his own lawyers are abandoning ship.Everytime their client opens his mouth he digs himself deeper in to a hole and undercuts the work of his lawyers. It is not as if the indictment in August will of one individual only. It is not as if the indictment will be for one charge only. The rooster of people who have received immunity also will be a shock. And all the witnesses arrayed against him will be Republicans including people who had worked for him.

But wait! There is more.

There is the federal indictment for seeking to influence the election at the state legislators.
There is the federal indictment for the fake electors.
There is the federal indictment for January 6.

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani will be accumulating indictments of his own.

In short, the pressure for him to leave the stage will mount. I have no idea what will happen then. I do not know how the indictments will change the political landscape. I suspect these indictments will take their toll and provide real Republicans the cover they need to push him aside. Real Republicans are even reluctant to run if there will be a MAGA RINO at the top of the ticket or running in a primary against them. It is quite possible that it will be the Republicans themselves who finally push him offstage as the indictments pile up and he rants and raves in response.

And he is being sued again now for $3 million. He can’t keep his mouth shut. I do not know how the indictments will impact him physically and mentally. I do not know what will happen if the immature child with the emotionally maturity of a three-year-old erupts on his media outlet, is shut down by multiple judges, and defies them. We will have to wait and see.

One thing we can be sure of, he won’t leave at the top of his game.

Donald Trump