IT WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME

Trump just screwed himself last night in so many ways it’s hard to count.

For starters, the fact that he went to the length of actually officially filing the paperwork for his candidacy with the FEC is a clear demonstration of just how terrified he is with the two different DOJ grand juries and the Georgia grand jury. The only thing he can think of to do is this, then go around shouting “I’m a for-real candidate! They’re persecuting me politically! It’s a witch hunt!” He hopes that will be enough to hold Attorney General Garland at bay.

His hopes will not materialize.

Garland has gone out of his way to point out that a declaration of a candidacy is not “the start of a campaign,” and that it has no bearing on what the Department of Justice will do. He’s going to be indicted at least on the Mar-A-Largo document theft. It’s clear the DOJ would like to get him for January 6, but no matter how good their evidence, that one will always be “iffy.” The document theft is clear-cut and the evidence is there; his defense has already proven itself bullshit.

The Georgia case for illegal tampering with the election is maybe even worse for him. For one thing, it’s a state case. Even if he should somehow make it into the White House in 2024, he can do nothing to stop this, and has no power to pardon himself after his conviction. Looking at the statements of DA Fani Willis, Joyce Vance wrote, “I’m reading this as an indication that her special grand jury, which is purely investigative, has completed its work and she has made a decision that she will present their work to a regular grand jury that has the power to indict cases.”

Additionally, his formal declaration puts him under FEC rules. He’s limited in his fund-raising and has to report his expenditures. He cannot coordinate with his PAC supporters. The days of fund raising without limit and without supervision are over for him.

But the bigger question is what he will be able to accomplish politically.

He’s not going to be treated the way he was in 2016, or even the way he was in 2020. When the NYT came out with a bland “bothsiderist” headline over the story of his announcement last night “Donald Trump announces a 2024 run for president, ignoring GOP warnings that his influence is harming the party,” they were shamed on Twitter into rewriting it into a headline that takes his crimes into account: “Trump Announces 2024 Run, Repeating Lies and Exaggerating Record.” In contrast, the Washington Post initial ede was “Trump, Who as President Fomented an Insurrection, Says He Is Running Again.”

NPR had it completely right from the beginning: “Donald Trump, Who Tried to Overthrow the Results of the 2020 Presidential Election and Inspired a Deadly Riot at the Capitol in a Desperate Attempt to Keep Himself in Power, Has Filed to Run for President Again in 2024.”

As to the announcement itself, it was almost pro-forma, as those who were there reported from the scene.

Trump’s spirits were obviously low from his body language as he slow-read prepared remarks in a monotone, digressing to riff on a non sequitur whenever one popped into his mind. The biggest names spotted in the crowd the grifters, deplorables and has-beens who have been hanging around him since he left office in 2021: Roger Stone, Madison Cawthorn, Mike Lindell, and Dick Morris. There were no major name Republicans in attendance and in Washington, only Striver Stefanik announced her support of his announcement. Even Quiverin’ Qevin remained silent even though there were those who said publicly that if he announced his support it would make it easy for him to get the 218 votes he doesn’t have to become Speaker. Hell, even Lindsay Graham, his toadiest toady in the Senate, said nothing.

There’s an old saying that “the absence of a message is a message.”

Reporters on hand noted that even this crowd of sycophants wasn’t enthusiastic. Many seemed bored and tried to leave before he even finished speaking. Others turned their back to him and continued talking with those around him through his remarks. Keep in mind, these people are ostensibly his most dedicated and connected aides and supporters.

Even though election denialism is clearly a political loser, as demonstrated in the mid-terms, Trump is incapable of moving on. However, this time around, his attacks on rivals like DeSantis don’t come off as alpha. Instead, they make him look fearful. And fear is a conspicuously bad look for an authoritarian who’s consumed with projecting strength.

For now, Trump has the spotlight all to himself, but that might not give him the advantage he imagines.

Some observers have posited this early declaration will backfire right in Trump’s face.

DeSantis will kick back for the next year since he has no need to declare his candidacy before January 2024, and greet every Trump attack with amused silence, believing correctly that those attacks do Trump more harm than good. They will contrast how panicked Trump is with how self-assured DeSantis is. It will alienate Republican voters who aren’t full-on MAGA who’ll resent seeing Trump take pot shots at a man who isn’t in the race yet and hasn’t uttered an unkind word about him yet. The inevitable ugly rumors about DeSantis that will begin to leak into the media will quickly be identified as to source and everyone will know come from Trump.

Imagine this sort of ineffective sniping going on for all of 2023, week after week, month after month, while a smiling DeSantis goes about enacting more base-pleasing conservative policies in Florida - like an abortion “heartbeat” bill. (Remember: Trump is a Trumpist; DeSantis is a full-on fascist)

Axios reported a Trump confidante saying, “The best thing for DeSantis is Trump gets in, DeSantis stays out for a while, and Trump runs a race against himself for the next six months.”

Trump has always framed his bullying politics of cruelty and dominance as him counterpunching enemies who picked a fight first, but at this point DeSantis hasn’t picked any fights with him. He hasn’t betrayed MAGAworld by promoting a squishy centrist agenda. Trump is the one starting the fight. To many on the Right who are not full-on MAGA, the counterpuncher will at last look like the bully he’s always been.

All that said, Trump is still the greatest threat to democracy and that threat has not gone away. The next two years have to be spent doing everything possible to oppose and defeat him before the election happens.

It was well-documented over the summer that there is a MAGA “shadow government” in existence, planning to do all the things from the first that were not done in their first term. He will only appoint total loyalists to cabinet offices. He will reach into the upper ranks of the federal bureaucracy to get rid of anyone he perceives as a threat or insufficiently loyal to him before their oath of office. He planned in 2020 to decapitate the Federal Executive Service with ‘Schedule F”, a category that would allow him to appoint who he wanted at will, to serve at his pleasure. He will do it in 2025.

This would destroy the U.S. Government as completely as anything done by Hitler in Germany.

Last night, he laid out four policies he would carry out in office:

He will send military force into American cities against their will. “I will restore public safety in American cities and other communities that need our help. And if they don’t want our help, we’re going to insist that they take our help.”

He will impose immediate, one-day trials for people charged with selling drugs and will execute all drug sellers. “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts. He didn’t specify drug kingpins or sellers who cause deaths. He said execution would apply to everyone who sells drugs.

He will eliminate early voting. “I will immediately demand voter ID, same-day voting, and only paper ballots. Paper ballots, same-day voting, voter ID.”

It’s also a given that a Trump Administration would not be holding a press conference of the Department of Defense and our allies, as is happening while I write this, in which strong support of Ukraine is declared and complete opposition to Russia is stated.

We know this traitor would remove the United States from NATO and likely ally with Vladimir Putin.

Trump. Must. Be. Defeated. By. All. Means. Available.

This time, we cannot say “We didn’t know.” We can’t say “Oh, the pressures of the office will make him conform.”

We. Know. He. Is. The. Enemy.

And so is every single defective, deplorable, Trump-loving wannabe-fascist in this country. There is no talking to them, no convincing them to change their minds. 30% of this country is people who need complete defeat. Like their traitor ancestors 150 years ago.

And so is DeSantis and any other possible candidate coughed up by the Party of Treason.

Point this out will be the goal of That’s Another Fine Mess for the next two years.

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