Former Trump adviser explains why Donald Trump is going to resign

| 8:10 pm EDT October 6, 2019
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Palmer Report has long made the argument that if Donald Trump ever reaches a point where he doesn’t think his presidency is going to survive, and he fears the criminal charges that he’ll be hit with the minute he’s no longer president, he’ll do what he’s spent his entire life doing: he’ll declare “bankruptcy” by cutting the best resignation deal he can cut. Now it turns out we’re not the only ones who see it playing out this way.

If you want to know what Donald Trump will do with his failed presidency, just ask someone who has a history of working with Trump during many of his previous failures in life. Former Trump Organization vice presiden Barbara Res appeared on CNN today and said that while she “could very well be wrong,” she thinks he’ll resign before articles of impeachment can be voted on by the full House. That way he won’t have technically been impeached, just as Richard Nixon wasn’t technically impeached before he resigned.

Of course Trump’s decision making process is complicated by the fact that a New York grand jury is already targeting Donald Trump for criminal indictment on state charges, which can’t be pardoned, and Trump can expect to be charged and arrested the minute he’s no longer president. This means that, unless Trump is arrogant enough to believe he can beat the charges at trial, he’ll have to try to negotiate a resignation deal that includes some degree of reduced charges on both a federal and state level.

That means Donald Trump needs leverage. As his whistleblower scandal gets worse for him, and a few Republicans in the House and Senate are finally starting to come out against him, Trump is losing leverage by the day. We won’t be shocked if Trump starts making deranged empty threats to remain in office forever, or nuke Kansas, or other histrionic nonsense, as a way of trying to scare everyone into giving him full immunity as part of his resignation deal. But the nation doesn’t seem to be in the mood to give Trump anything beyond a prison jumpsuit.