As Jennifer Rubin points out, there’s been lots of speculation about how Trump’s trials will work out well for him. The base will stick by him, and even be more motivated when they witness the Passion of the Trump, tortured and crucified … because he’s fighting for them! He’d turn his trials into a theater with himself as the star. Beating the rap would be bad; even the appearance he’s being targeted as a political leader would rebound to his good.
Trump’s blatant defiance of gag orders without any repercussions (a regular defendant would be in jail) had me thinking that we do indeed have a two-tier system of justice (a popular Republican whine), albeit one that works in his favor. However, as Rubin points out, he’s still a defending in a criminal trial which means he’s not in charge. Judges, even if they’re disinclined to throw the book at him over the gag orders, don’t tolerate disrespect in the court: “Trump is an ordinary criminal defendant no matter his former job.”
Paul Campos thinks Trump may be done as a political force (though a later post says that’s not showing in the polls, if so). That’s significant to me because Campos was one of the first people to say back in 2015 that Trump could win the Republican nomination, and the White House. Admittedly it took a tone of lucky breaks (the FBI’s bullshit investigation into Clinton’s email practices, the media endlessly discussing the emails) but Campos was right. Among the factors are that Nikki Haley got 17 percent of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary. That’s a lot of Republicans willing to vote against Trump even when they know he’ll win; a few of them may vote against him in the general election. That’s not inconsiderable.
I am, however, in complete agreement with Campos that “I’m NOT saying that his political collapse is inevitable. I’m arguing for the OPPOSITE of complacency. At this most perilous moment, the opportunity to drive a stake into the avatar of revenant fascism in America is just that.” Trump could win, by fair means or foul (they’ll cheat if they can). There’s the possibility of violence if he loses — though there’s guaranteed to be violence if he wins. To the worst of the right-wing, everything’s an excuse for lashing out.
Jessica Valenti said last month that it’s easy to start thinking of where we’re at as normal: “How did small children being forced into pregnancy become something controversial rather than unthinkable? The average 10 year-old girl is just over 4 feet tall—too small to ride some roller coasters, yet big enough for a grown man to demand she risk pelvic fractures and fistulas so that he can keep his A+ rating with a local ‘pro-life’ organization. ” We must not let that happen.
Likewise just because Trump’s endless corruption and Republicans spineless caving to it is now routine, the impulse to say “well that’s the Republican brand.” Don’t let it become acceptable. We deserve better.
What happens to Republicans after Trump? As we’ve seen this past year, most of the wannabe cult leaders are bush leaguers; if DeSantis was all they had, would they settle or await for the new creepy fascist to arrive? Their bigotry, homophobia and misogyny won’t disappear but it’s better if they lie fallow, without a Trump telling them it’s okay to be evil.
Vote. Speak up. Contribute to candidates. Contribute to GOTV efforts. Whatever works for you to push back. Even if we don’t win, it’s better to be right than collaborate
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