TRUMP CONVICTS HIMSELF

Today, the Orange Menace posted on his Truth Social Twitter ripoff:

CONGRESS, PLEASE INVESTIGATE THE POLITICAL WITCH HUNTS AGAINST ME CURRENTLY BEING BROUGHT BY THE CORRUPT DOJ AND FBI, WHO ARE TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL. THIS CONTINUING SAGA IS RETRIBUTION AGAINST ME FOR WINNING AND, EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY TO THEM, ELECTION INTERFERENCE REGARDING THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. IT WILL BE THERE UPDATED FORM OF RIGGING OUR MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION. LOOK AT THE POLLS – THEY CAN’T BEAT ME (MAGA!) AT THE BALLOT BOX, THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN WIN IS TO CHEAT. STOP THEM NOW!

He’s screaming becaus. as John Kelly pointed out, he’s got the shit scared out of him now.

This was the same day that Special prosecutor Jack Smith noted in his letter of transmission of the discovery evidence in Trump’s coming trial dryly noted that DOJ will provide to Trump, quote, “public statements made by defendant Trump.” Most prominent of these is the “Bedminster Tape.” That recording of a meeting at his Bedminster club in July 2021, captures Trump discussing a classified document in a manner that suggests he was showing it to others in the room. That recording, first reported by CNN, is described in the 37-count indictment, and prosecutors included quotes from the transcript such as, “This is secret information. Look, look at this … See as president I could have declassified it...”

That’s right. It t urns out the best witness against Donald Trump is Donald Trump.

In speeches, social media posts, and friendly TV interviews, Trump has continued to make clownish admission after admission of confessions that are admissible against him in the Mar-a-Lago case.

The Sunday and Monday interviews Brett Baier on Fox were an extended confession of guilt that significantly increased Trump's criminal exposure for unlawfully retaining defense secrets.

It’s been a running joke for a long time now that Trump is his own worst enemy, but this is a whole different version of self-own.

Seen this way, Trump’s presidential campaign IS his defense strategy. The factual evidence is overwhelmingly against him. He has few legitimate legal arguments to make. But running again puts in play, among other things, “Trump as a victim,” “election interference,” and his double reverse “DOJ weaponization” argument.

He announced his campaign early last winter in order to put his favorite rhetorical gimmick fully in play: Biden and DOJ are interfering his election! Trump has raised this argument in court ever since last August, when he tried to use U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to thwart the Mar-A-Lago case.

Trump’s best chance of preserving his own freedom is to win re-election and scuttle the federal prosecutions against him by some combination of hiding behind the notorious OLC opinion that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted, ordering DOJ to stand down, or pardoning himself.

That his devastating public admissions help him politically - increasing his support from the GOP base - even though they hurt him legally, that is not some evil genius move. It’s just another sign of his self-delusion and desperation; for all his previous life, these two things have perversely resulted in his self-preservation. That was when his problems came at him one fuckup at a time.

But now he may be in overload. The New York felony trial against The Trump Organization is set for November. The judge in the civil defamation case has set a January 15, 2024 trial date for E. Jean Carroll’s other defamation lawsuit against Trump. The civil trial in New York City against the Trump organization is set for early Febryuary. The NYC DA’s trial for the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels is set for March 8, 2024.

The problem facing the GOP is clearly demonstrated by the RNC’s requirement that potential presidential candidates must sign a statement that they will support the eventual nominee REGARDLESS. They know who it’s going to be, and they are powerless to face the fact that they are - all of them - complicit in Trump’s crimes.

To be clear, if Trump’s enduring support among Republicans continues he will be the party’s nominee. That support is a sign the political polarization in the U.S. has become so intense that most Republican voters appear to care more about loyalty to Trump than about the possibility that he damaged national security by allowing sensitive intelligence to circulate.

But the existence of an enduring pro-Trump Republican majority is not the only important conclusion from the recent polls.

There are a few other points in recent polls that are more worrisome for Trump.

There are more Republicans who consider the charges serious than Democrats or independents who do not think they’re serious.

The indictment divides Republicans more than it divides Democrats.

A basic rule of politics is that you win when the public debate is focused on issues that divide your opponent’s supporters and unite yours.

You do not want a situation in which Republicans who think Trump should have been charged with a crime outnumber Democrats who think he should not have been.

The GOP is faced with a multitude of problematic subjects: Trunmp’s crimes; health care access, particularly with the House GOP now campaigning on cutting Obamacare and Medicare, despite their previous promise in January to not do so; the minimum wage; same-sex marriage; and most especially, abortion bans.

Another problema for Trump is that the number of Republicans bothered by his legal problems is growing. This is also happening among independents. More voters are bothered by the case against him than by the earlier New York State charges related to hush money for a sexual encounter:

In the 2022 midterm elections, a minority of Republican voters weres unhappy enough with Trump’s behavior and the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling that they defected and helped Democrats keep control of the Senate. Trump lost in 2020 partly because 11 percent of Republican voters supported Joe Biden, up from 9 percent who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to Catalist, a data firm.

We don’t have to convince all the GOP that he’s a criminal. In fact, letting the GOP nominate him, and force all GOP candidates down to dog catcher to sign loyalty oaths will likely result in the most sweeping Democratic victory since LBJ’s defeat of Goldwater in 1964.

If there’s anything Trump could do to forfeit the allegiance of the GOP - any crime he could commit, any dictatorial power he could claim - it hasn’t yet been found. For Republicans, he could shoot Alvin Bragg on Fifth Avenue and they’d still vote for him. The knuckle draggers aren’t interested in policy; after 30 years of Fox propaganda, they want to “own the libs.”

We can’t count on Trump to defeat himself. We’re going to have to work harder than we’ve ever worked in any election. But we should recognize that win or lose the GOP nomination, Trump will inflict massive damage on the GOP and all their candidates.

If you are sitting around worried about Joe Biden’s challenges, the relevant question is always, “Compared to what?”

A good answer is “Compared to a self-incriminating twice-indicted convicted sexual abuser who must destroy his fellow Republicans to have any hope of staying out of jail.”

In an electorate as evenly divided as we are now, that is good news for Democrats every day of the week!

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