Rumors

Resign

So let’s dispel some rumors going around.  The first is that Donald Trump is so overwhelmed by the Presidency and his crashing poll numbers that he will cut a deal with Mike Pence and resign from office.  The deal:  a blanket pardon, for anything he may or may not have done, like Nixon got from Gerald Ford.  

Trump certainly seems disappointed by his poll numbers.  But to be overwhelmed by the Presidency, he would have to be aware of his own shortcomings.  Whatever else you think about Donald Trump, self-awareness has never been on the list.  This is the same man whose businesses have gone bankrupt six times. We shouldn’t expect that he would have an epiphany and realize he can’t handle the job.

Polls

And keep in mind that Trump has only a tangential relationship with polls.  He believes in the good ones, he discounts the bad ones.  Trump expects that Fox and other “friendlies” will put out only polls favorable to him. He anticipates that those “mainstream media outlets” CNN, MSNBC, NPR and the like will find the least favorable ones.  He even sent a “cease and desist” letter to CNN for publishing a poll.  But when Fox puts out the bad news, that’s when the President seems crushed.

By the way, Trump has some right to question polling.  After all, he was elected (or chosen by the Electoral College) in spite of months of terrible polling.  That should put into some perspective the incredible impact of the Comey letter on the 2016 electoral results.  From October 6^th to October 28^th, Trump was done.  From October 28^th to November 8^th, Election Day, all of the polling closed to within the margin of error.  The final polls weren’t wrong, just completely reversed from three weeks before.

He’s not leaving.  That would require him to admit failure.

Defeat

The second rumor is that Trump is setting up a rationale to deny electoral defeat.  The constant drone of “fraudulent” mail-in balloting is part of that.  In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox the other night, Trump actually outlined a plan for the Chinese to counterfeit mail-in ballots, discussing the quality of the paper and the layout of balloting materials.  It echoes 2016, “…China, if you’re listening, you need to print mail-in ballots!” (Fox).  

Trump will absolute claim any loss as a “rigged” election.  He was doing the same in 2016, when he refused to tell Chris Wallace in the last debate that he would accept the election results.  This isn’t about some dark plan to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States.  This is all about the number one Trump trait:  victimhood.  He is always the victim, always the wronged individual.  

He was that way as a businessman, refusing the pay contractors because they somehow “wronged” him in their work.  And he was that way with the banks, suing the only bank in the world that would work with him, Deutsche Bank, even while owing them hundreds of millions of dollars.  So he is the victim now, of “Mainstream Media”, “Antifa” and “the Deep State”.   

When he says the election is rigged, he really is just planning his retirement.  It’s “Trump TV” with the former President talking to his twenty percent core about how he was screwed out of office by “the powers” they can’t control.  That’ll bring in enough money to keep Deutsche Bank at bay (Bloomberg), and let the man who made a living as a reality TV star stay in the only limelight where he’s found success.

Military Takeover

And the final, scariest rumor is that the US military will somehow step in, backing Trump’s claims that the election was “rigged”, and maintain him in office after Joe Biden wins. There was a moment, when General Milley was examining the “battle space” walking the streets of Washington, DC, and he and Defense Secretary Esper followed Trump across the pepper sprayed Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church, when that seemed real.  But both Esper and Milley, with the admonition of dozens of former Defense Secretaries, Chiefs of Staff and Four Star Generals (NBC), walked that back quickly.  They made it clear that the military had no intention of intervening in American politics.

What is more concerning is Attorney General Bill Barr’s willingness to use the Justice Department to maintain Trump’s power.  Barr too is raising the cry of fraudulent mail-in balloting, despite admitting there is no evidence that it is occurring (NPR).  Barr is also willing to use every asset of the Justice Department to achieve his political goals:  the anonymous black shirted riot “troops” on the streets of Washington are a clear example (Salon).  Were they from the Bureau of Prisons as Barr stated, or were they private mercenaries as others have suggested?  Either way, Barr had his “guys” on the streets.  

That may be the real worry.