The President’s lawyer and campaign manager are now felons. None of this is surprising to people who have been watching the investigations post election, only the timing of both going down on the same day. It’s probably a safe bet to say that most of the present cabinet will be indicted for one thing or another in the next few years and that won’t be surprising either, they’ve been violating conflicts of interests and lighting money on fire in the form of private jet fuel right in front of our faces since day one.
I’ve got no idea what Trump will say or do to weasel his way out of this one but it really doesn’t matter because we know he’s guilty of a lot more than being a co-conspirator with Michael Cohen to break campaign finance law by paying off sex partners. Trump either abruptly retires, succeeds going full authoritarian or spends the rest of his life in jail or some combination of the three. He won’t succeed at going full authoritarian and so his Presidency is fatally wounded from here on out for one simple reason.
Trump got busted.
Now that Manafort and Cohen are officially guilty, Trump might as well have “busted” stamped on his forehead. The verdicts rendered virtually everything he’d said or tweeted about the investigation, Manafort and Cohen a lie. His every tweet conjures up the mental image of Mueller wearing an accountant’s shade as he adds up obstruction of justice charges, “there’s another one, there’s another one, there’s another one…”
Trump and everyone around him knows the jig is up. His friends are now in jail, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The only guessing that remains is how many years each of them will serve (I’ll take Cohen for 3 and Manafort for 10). Trump now realizes it’s only a matter of time before justice hammers him. He’ll turn to his friends for help but it’s too late, he’s been busted.
Nobody wants to face a criminal investigation and it appears to this casual observer that anyone the President comes into extended contact with is facing at least one. The opportunists surrounding him surely recognize this and are probably making a beeline to Mueller’s office this week. I’d expect a thinner crowd of sycophants around him in the Mar Lago clubhouse after golf. They may be ass-kissers but they aren’t stupid.
The Republican party won’t be able to rescue him, neither will Putin, the mob or the alt-right. The Nazis will not march, at least not in any numbers to make a difference. The climate of fear and intimidation Trump’s built around himself like a wall will crumble and evaporate, revealing a quivering and delicate center.
The President will soon be alone, on stage, naked under a blaring spotlight. It’s not a pretty picture but there we are. I’m sure Trump wishes for the first time in his life he could turn off that spotlight. He can’t. He’s been busted.
Wes Clark Jr. 