Here’s how I know Donald Trump is going down

| 9:08 pm EDT March 28, 2018
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More than ever, the optimists within Donald Trump’s base, and the pessimists within the anti-Trump Resistance, are convinced that Trump is going to fire Robert Mueller, pardon all of his own people, start a war against North Korea or Iran, and somehow magically get away with it all. Perhaps this notion of Trump being invincible is a result of him having survived in office for fourteen months without having yet been hauled away for his numerous crimes. But when you look at the facts and reality, it’s more clear than ever that Trump is going down, and it’s clear why. Two major stories from today served to underscore this.

Today we learned that sometime last year, Trump dangled pardons in the faces of Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, in the hope of convincing them not to cut plea deals. Flynn knew better than to trust the offer, and he instead cut a plea deal with Robert Mueller. Manafort never did cut a deal, and half a year later, Trump never did pardon him. In fact the attorney Trump was using to dangle the pardons, John Dowd, has now resigned from Trump’s team.

This is merely the latest confirmation that Trump is a man of dishonest words and meaningless action, but he’s not a man of consequential action. He’ll pardon some random guy he saw on Fox News because he knows he can get away with it, but he hasn’t been willing to take the risk of trying to pardon his Trump-Russia co-conspirator Paul Manafort. He’ll fire cabinet members on Twitter because he knows he’ll get away with that too, but he hasn’t been willing to take the enormous risk of trying to fire Robert Mueller. He keeps starting trade wars, instead of taking the far bigger risk of trying to start actual wars.

Donald Trump keeps settling for safe moves that do nothing to help him. He’s consistently demonstrated that he’s afraid to take the risky moves that might have a chance of getting him off the hook, for fear of the consequences if those moves backfire. Trump is sitting back and twiddling his thumbs as Mueller moves ever closer to taking him down, as Trump continues to cling to the increasingly feeble hope that he can somehow get off the hook by pure magic, without having to take any risks that would be required to give himself any real chance.

If you’re still not convinced that Donald Trump is incapable of doing what’s necessary to give himself a fighting chance, take a look at today’s other big story. Trump fired beleaguered VA Secretary David Shulkin, and instead of seizing the opportunity to make himself look solid in the eyes of the public by giving the job to someone respected, Trump instead gave the job to the doctor who claimed Trump only weighed 239 pounds. Trump is in the fight of his life, at risk of losing his presidency and his freedom, and instead he’s worried about repaying the guy who was willing to lie about his weight. This is where Trump’s focus is, even as his world comes crashing down on him. He’s unable to give himself any chance of surviving this. He’s going down.