The Desperate Clinging to Power… No Cost Too Great

When Donald Trump ran for President in 2015, it was widely understood that the primary objective was a massive marketing play, a chance to elevate his brand to new heights and parlay the effort into a new media power. Nobody, including Trump and his associates, believed that he would actually win. It wasn’t particularly clear that Trump himself wanted the job.

And yet, here we are.

A tumultuous four years later, Trump is running for re-election like a man possessed, pulling out every possible trick and risking the lives of everyone around him, as well as his own. There is a transparent desperation that permeates everything that he says and does, and almost every late night, all caps tweet. In preparation for this election, he has cleared the decks of anyone who might exert restraint, and with his rabid lap dog Barr, has thrown the nation into whatever division and turmoil he imagines might help his chances.

Despite it all, the polls are not kind. Joe Biden has held a stubborn and substantial lead throughout, one that has expanded recently to new heights. Recent indicators are that the Senate is seriously in play, and that the House will expand its Democratic control. Compared to his race against Hillary Clinton, Trump is well behind even those daunting deficits. Revelation after revelation, from Woodward’s painful tapes to a litany of former officials adding their own anecdotes, and recently the damning tax and debt reveals, push against any recapturing of momentum.

Against that background, Donald Trump pushed to leave the hospital early, and is pressing to resume his campaign. His belief in his ability to motivate his fervid base is as strong as it is reasonable, given their demonstrated and uncritical loyalty. As long as he has the machinery of the conservative media combined with the levers of government and a compliant Senate, it is impossible to count him out… and he is playing every card in the deck. He is running like a man possessed, and for a couple of years now has appeared incapable of thinking about anything else but reelection.

Many have sought the office and the power. Many have sacrificed too much of their values and their dignity at times, but none in our recollection (with the likely exception of Nixon) were as single-mindedly obsessed and exclusively focused as our current President. 

It could be the match of a decidedly egomaniacal personality to the ultimate audience. It could be an almost pathological fixation on avoiding the “loser” tag, and the accompanying self-analysis that inevitably follows. It could be that he enjoys the service at the White House. Or, it could be far more logical and dangerous.

With the Presidency comes a level of scrutiny unmatched anywhere in the world. The urgent investigations into what was previously a private life has been less than flattering, and it does not take much imagination to visualize the life that awaits Trump if he loses in November. Let’s remember that, along with moving back to Trump Towers comes the removal of executive immunity, and the forced separation from his bulldog Barr. A quick summary:

First and foremost, there are apparently about $420 million problems with his name on them, the personal obligations that are coming due in the next few years. Despite the Time’s expose, we have no understanding of who that money is owed to, and what else has been agreed to that wasn’t opened up in his taxes. As long as he is in office, there are limits to his vulnerability… but as a private citizen, those protections vanish. Does his complicated and shaky financial empire have the wherewithal to survive that impending crash? Unknown.

Then there are a number of court cases, both state and federal, that have been held in abeyance by his subservient Justice Department, with related limitations on discovery and access to records that will, again, go away post defeat. There are undoubtedly hundreds, if not thousands, of lawsuits that have been delayed in filing given the futility of suing a sitting president. There is a particularly fraught DNA request that has begged the obvious question: if a DNA sample would clear him of serious charges, why battle so hard to refuse to give it? In the days and weeks after he leaves office, the full weight of his accusers -- both public and private -- will come crashing down unforgivingly.

Then, there is the loss of control over the internal records of his time in power, turned over to a potentially vindictive Democratic authority that he has railed against and provoked since his first days in the Oval Office. Hundreds of civil servants, long restrained by the proven threats of retribution, would be freed and encouraged to step forward. Others, already punished for their blowing of whistles, would be given new microphones and supportive committees to emphasize what has been hinted at before. The rush of revelations would likely be torrential, and unpleasant for both Trump and those who did his bidding. 

Life post-presidency has an air of the apocalypse for Donald Trump, a personal hellscape of uncountable adversaries drooling at his newfound vulnerability, and a mass of governmental power eager to repay his oppressive and heavy hand in a fevered environment of victory. No matter how self-delusional critics consider Trump, all of this has to be obvious to him. It has to be growing in evidence and volume as the reckoning approaches. 

It has to make him desperate.

There lies the extreme danger of the moment. A desperate man, facing his own demons and then some, knowing that the only sanctuary that he has is in staying where he is, for as long as he can bar the door. A man with immense official power and a supporting team of sycophant allies, searching for more furniture to move behind the doors to keep the pitchforks and torches at bay. 

The nation must be prepared for that coming war, and the possibility of a terribly difficult siege. Logically, there is no reason for Trump to accept defeat knowing the personal costs; logically, he should take America down with him, kicking and screaming, before he accepts eviction. Given what he must see, what he must know, the quaint idea of a peaceful transfer of power has little attraction or purpose; Trump should, and given his lack of concern over history or national good will, exhaust every last means of preserving his position. 

There must be a sharing of that logic, and a preparation of the nation for what is to come. It can’t be couched in niceties, distracted by assurances to the contrary… America must look clearly at the motivations and threats sitting in the White House, and be prepared for the ugliness that is now inevitable. While there is still leverage to be applied in terms of reelections, the Senate has to understand how personally they will be held accountable for their part in the process, and the media -- not the most partisan, but the national and international -- has to take on this story and shine a clear light on what’s to come. 

We cannot be surprised by such a predictable outcome. We must be prepared, understanding the logic and level of concern that it is provoking, and guard ourselves and our nation from the coming efforts, whatever and wherever they are.

The hard days are coming, for Trump… and for America.