Everyone always caves

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Roger Stone really wants us all to believe that he’s never going to cut a plea deal against Donald Trump. Maybe Stone even believes it himself. But here’s the thing: we’ve heard this story before, and yesterday was as good a reminder as any of how the story always ends: everyone caves to Robert Mueller when it’s all said and done.

Stone’s pal Jerome Corsi probably thought he’d never cave either. But yesterday he confirmed to the media that he was indeed negotiating a plea deal with Mueller. Of course the weirdness playing out on Corsi’s Twitter account last night suggested that perhaps he was having a hard time with finalizing the decision. That’s understandable, considering what’s at stake when it comes to these kinds of plea deals: take a shorter prison sentence and sell out everyone around you, or take your chances in court with a prosecutor who never seems to lose?

There was surely a time when Paul Manafort thought he’d never cave. He even seemed to be holding out for a mythical Trump-Russia pardon, even though it’s gradually become clear that Donald Trump isn’t going to take the enormous risk of trying to pardon anyone in this scandal, or least not anyone outside of his own family. But Manafort caved, and he cut a cooperating plea deal. Michael Cohen found out he was about to be arrested, and he caved. Rick Gates Caved. Michael Flynn caved.

These are hardened people, some of whom have been (allegedly) running with the Russian mafia, some of whom have been committing serious crimes for their entire lives. But in the end, when faced with prison sentences that could have gobbled up most of their remaining natural lifespans, they’ve all caved. Not one of them has been willing to go down for Donald Trump. Now that Corsi is apparently caving on Roger Stone, is there truly any reason to expect Stone won’t cave on Trump?

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.