All bets are off
If Donald Trump had truly been “emboldened” by his acquittal, as so many pundits have suggested, we’d be seeing him corruptly abusing his office to try to make himself unstoppable in the 2020 election. Instead what we’re seeing from Trump is something frantically and almost incoherently stupid. It’s a relief in the sense that he’s definitely not helping himself, and a concern in the sense that there’s no telling how stupid this could get.
Donald Trump just gave pardons or clemency to a bunch of convicted criminals in his personal orbit. Former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was on Celebrity Apprentice. Financial fraudster Michael Milken, who hosted fundraisers for Trump. Former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, his old pal. If Trump were trying to pick names that would make him look as bad as possible, he’d come up with basically this same list. Trump is handing a very easy talking point to his 2020 opponents by doing something this obviously corrupt, in the kind of blatant manner that leaves no doubt about his intentions.
Pundits are busy trying to spin these pardons as “laying the groundwork” for Trump pardoning his own co-conspirators like Roger Stone – but pardons stop being magic wands when your co-conspirators are involved. Whenever one of Trump’s co-conspirators is about to be arrested or sentenced to prison, Trump always pardons someone who’s not involved in his own crime spree, to try to get his co-conspirator to believe that a pardon is coming. Paul Manafort fell for it, and he’s wasting away in solitary confinement.
The question at this point isn’t even whether Donald Trump does something like pardoning Roger Stone, which would be a huge mistake – but at least it would be a coherent mistake. What we’re seeing from Trump right now is the desperate desire to do pointless idiotic nonsense like pardoning the most notorious criminals he happens to know. We’re literally one step away from Trump pardoning serial killers, or just running around Washington DC with a blowtorch and setting fire to American monuments.
Again, none of these bizarre antics will help Donald Trump, and some of them will likely hurt him. It’s not that this is a failed strategy for 2020; it’s that there is no strategy. If this guy were trying to win, he’d be making moves aimed at boosting his approval rating so he’s at least within cheating distance in the election. Instead he’s either decided he can’t win, so he’s seeking arbitrary revenge, or his mind is screwed up to the point that he thinks this kind of nonsense will actually make him more popular. Either way, the danger here is the incoherency of his behavior. Trump’s flamethrower is really pointed at himself – but that doesn’t make the prospect any safer for the rest of us.
