Donald Trump’s ugly endgame gets underway now that he knows he’s lost

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It took some folks awhile to get there, but we now all seem to be on board with the reality that Donald Trump was never going to magically overturn the election, and that he was merely using that farce to try to distract us from whatever corrupt endgame he’s been pursuing behind the scenes. Fortunately, now that we’re all paying proper attention, Trump’s quiet endgame moves are coming under the proper spotlight.

For instance, last night we all learned that Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has been trying to secretly shift nearly half a billion dollars in pandemic aid money into a fund where he can presumably find a way for him and his pals to pocket it. Now that he’s been caught, he’ll have a harder time pulling it off. Just as, now that Trump has been caught trying to destroy the airplanes used in the Open Skies treaty, he’ll have a harder time pulling that off.

One thing that Trump has to do in the open, and simply hope that no one pushes back against, is his pardon endgame. Trump leaked last night that he’s about to pardon Michael Flynn. No surprise, as Trump has always considered protecting Flynn to be a top priority.

More such pardons are coming. But as we’ve explained, pardons will only be partially effective for Trump, and they’re not magic wands. It’s simply the only thing that Trump has left to try. The more loudly we push back against the corrupt nature of these pardons, the more cover it’ll give the DOJ to go ahead and challenge these pardons in court once Trump is gone from office.