Donald Trump’s resignation is now more realistic than you think

| 4:30 pm EDT August 25, 2019
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It would be the most shocking development in modern American politics. It would be so shocking in fact, it would even be shocking for the Trump era. But I’m here to tell you that the possibility of Donald Trump’s resignation is more realistic than ever – and in fact last night we were just reminded why.

If you don’t follow football, you may not be familiar with the hubbub surrounding the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck. No one walks away from the NFL while they’re still an elite starting quarterback and they’re only 29 years old (for reference, Tom Brady is still playing at age 41). Yet that’s precisely what Luck did. You’re asking what this has to do with Donald Trump.

Here’s the thing. Andrew Luck’s decision to retire was shocking – but in hindsight it was entirely logical, and we probably should have seen it coming. Luck has become injury prone the past few years, and that was only going to get worse. So instead of spending a few more years getting paid to continue getting hurt, he’s walking away while he can still walk. He’s already a multimillionaire, so he didn’t need the extra money remaining on his contract. He simply did what made sense to him.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, is heading to prison once he’s no longer in office. So for him to resign right now would arguably be the worst move he could make for himself. But if you look at what this guy has been saying and tweeting for the past week, there’s nothing rational or coherent about him. He’s so far gone, he probably thinks he can beat the rap, or that he’s so beloved he won’t actually get indicted.

And if Trump has merely been faking his increasingly unstable behavior, it’s probably because he’s trying to lay the groundwork for being found not guilty by reason of mental defect. If that’s the case, he’d probably also want to resign right about now, so his lawyers can point to his most recent behavior as evidence that he’s not quite right.

I’m not saying Donald Trump is about to resign. It’s certainly not probable. The odds of it happening are small. But I’ll put it this way: the odds of Trump resigning are certainly not zero. It would fit right in with the impulsively incoherent behavior and fractured logic that has governed everything else Trump has done lately. And it wouldn’t be anymore shocking than Andrew Luck’s retirement.