Did Donald Trump just hint at his exit strategy?
Donald Trump has the kind of poll numbers that give him zero chance of reelection, and he’s facing the kind of worsening criminal scandals that give him essentially no chance of finishing his current term. The real question is what he’ll do when the time comes. Once he realizes he’s going to be ousted, will he defiantly play the victim, or will he announce he’s accomplished everything he wanted to, and resign while claiming victory? He may have just provided a hint about that.
Bear with me on this one, because you’ve got to think it through before it makes sense. Trump is going to need help selling the idea that he’s resigning because he’s already achieved more than any president ever has. Really, there’s no way to sell that to anyone but his own base, but in his deluded mind, if he can make a convincing enough argument, he’ll convince himself that everyone believes it. One of the strongest ways to bolster his argument would be to lay the groundwork that no politician should be in office for very long.
So when I saw Donald Trump tweeting this today, it made me perk up: “I recently had a terrific meeting with a bipartisan group of freshman lawmakers who feel very strongly in favor of Congressional term limits. I gave them my full support and endorsement for their efforts. Drain The Swamp!” First of all, Trump doesn’t just go around meeting with no-name groups of Congressmen; he’s barely doing the job in general. Second, Trump doesn’t do anything on a bipartisan basis unless it’s for show. Third, this is such a weirdly specific topic for Trump to suddenly care about, when he never cares about these kinds of issues.
Finally, it’s fascinating that Donald Trump is now suddenly marrying the idea of not remaining in office for very long to the notion of cleaning up political corruption. It’s been my experience that in the Trump era, when something weird surfaces like this tweet, we always find out later that it means a whole lot more than we thought. So keep an eye on whether Trump keeps pushing this idea of the virtue of politicians being short-timers. This weekend Trump admitted at a rally that he thinks he’ll be impeached if the Democrats win the midterms. So he knows the end is coming. The only question is whether he’s already trying to frame the terms of his exit.
