I read something really frightening yesterday. The opinion piece was entitled, “The Real Reason Trump is Failing to Overturn the Election.”1 I have touched on some of the points made in this article in previous posts, but Timothy Frye, the author, really distills it down. It is not only frightening for what is going on now, but it is frightening when looking forward to future elections. It’s hard to imagine someone being elected who is potentially more dangerous to American democracy than Trump has been, but what if someone more popular than Trump got elected and then embarked on the same type of effort to undermine American democracy? As Timothy Frye points out, it has happened in Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Hungary. These are just a few of the examples of countries where leaders were elected more or less democratically and then became the head of authoritarian regimes by using their popularity to dismantle democratic guardrails. By the time people fully realized what had happened, it was too late. Fortunately, Trump was not a widely popular president and that might have been the only thing that saved us.
One of the things that is most frustrating to me is that it seems like many people don’t seem to understand how close to the edge America is. American democracy is sitting right on the brink of falling into the abyss of authoritarianism and it just seems like most people are just in the ‘Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump,’ mode. And while most people are just tolerating him, ignoring him and hoping he will just go away, he and his little cabal of enablers (all of whom are white you might have noticed!) are actively working to undermine democracy in this country. All authoritarian leaders have their own reasons for heading down that path, but I have no doubt in Trump’s case, the primary driver is to be in a position to save his own ass – at the expense of the country. As I have pointed out more than once, he is facing a ton of legal and financial problems when he leaves office.
I found it extremely interesting yesterday when it was reported that Trump’s personal bankers at Deutsche Bank, Rosemary Vrablic and Dominic Scalzi, were resigning. As a reminder, the Trump organization recently lost a law suit and a judge ordered Deutsche Bank to turn over records regarding the Trump Organization that have been subpoenaed by the AG of New York.2 The timing is most interesting. A few years ago, the commercial arm of Deutsche Bank stop doing business with the Trump organization and any banking was turned over to their private banking division. Vrablic and Scalzi were Trump’s primary contacts there for years. A judge ordered Deutsche Bank to comply with the subpoena, Trump lost the election (and his ‘presidential shield’), and just now Trump’s (and Kushner’s) bankers resign after being on the job for several years!
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence – not! One of them resigning might be a coincidence but not both of them at the same time. Something smells! I suspect they both know that once the requested documents are turned over to the New York AG, the proverbial shit will hit the fan. Perhaps they are concerned that when the documents see the light of day they will be fired by Deutsche Bank and this is a preemptive escape? Or perhaps they are concerned about potential investigations and indictments waiting in the wings? Will they sing like canaries in some sort of a plea deal to save their own butts? That must be one of Trump’s (and Kushner’s) worst nightmares! I would be willing to bet huge sums of money that they have both ‘lawyered up’ and are preparing for the next shoe to drop. Stand by. This story line is bound to get more interesting.
The televangelist, Pat Robertson, who has been a staunch Trump supporter throughout his administration come out publicly and said that the electoral college has spoken and its time to move on. He said that Trump is living in an ‘alternate reality.’ Think about that. Evangelical Christians have been one of Trump’s most loyal voting blocs (which still baffles me) and now one of the most famous televangelists is telling Trump that the gig is up. If Trump’s evangelical Christian base starts to crack and abandon him, that’s a pretty big deal.
The Attorney General, William Barr, resigned after he incurred Trump’s wrath for not backing up the President’s false claims about election fraud – among other ‘sins.’ And he has broken with Trump more recently when he said he didn’t see a need for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate election fraud or Hunter Biden. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, broke with Trump recently when he said that the recent hack into government computer systems was most likely a Russian led effort. Mike Pence has been quiet as a church mouse and certainly hasn’t jumped on the ‘the election was stolen’ bandwagon.
I would expect a continuing parade of people trying to jump off of the ‘Good Ship Trump’ as it gets closer to January 20th, Inauguration Day. As people around him start to bail, it will only add to his desperation. As it’s been said many times before, ‘desperate men do desperate things.’ It was reported last night that Trump, who has not been involved at all in the latest stimulus relief bill that Congress has been working on for months, is now threatening to veto the bill. He is demanding that Congress increase the $600 stimulus payment to $2,000 amongst other things. Any way you look at it, this would seem to be a completely irrational move on the President’s part given that the Congress has a veto proof majority of votes behind this legislation. However, if Trump is trying to increase his popular support by dangling dollars in front of people, then it’s just another publicity stunt, that he knows will fail but will make for good TV. He has had months to weigh in on the negotiations for this bill and now that people are beyond desperate, he throws this ‘grenade’ into the punch bowl.
This is just another example of Trump demonstrating once again that he doesn’t care about ‘real’ people at all, but is totally consumed with his image, his popularity, and his TV ratings. There is no argument that people would prefer $2,000 to $600 but if you are about to be evicted, can’t buy groceries or are struggling in any way to provide for your family, $600 in your hand right now is going to be more welcome that $2,000 at some unknown point in the future. This blatant attempt to buy popularity will more than likely backfire, but given that Trump’s strategic horizon is no further than the next Fox News broadcast, he continues to live in the land of the clueless.
Just how crazy will Trump get during the next month? Let’s just say that if you’ve ever seen the movie, The Shining, with Jack Nicholson, Trump will likely make Nicholson’s character look like a model of tact and decorum! “Here’s Donny!!!!”
If there is an Antichrist, Trump is the Devil incarnate.