Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be arrested in connection with the yearslong investigation into a hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels and called on his supporters to protest any such move.
In a social media post, Trump, referring to himself, said the “leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week” – though he did not say why he expects to be arrested. His team said after Trump’s post that it had not received any notifications from prosecutors.
It appears that the former President is trying to get out ahead of the story, but prospects of finding a positive spin appealing for independent voters, particularly in the wake of the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Trump’s alleged mentor, Russian President Putin, seem remote. I expect this move is in defense of his influence over his base, without which Trump is a political nothing.
But the events between now and the potential trial should provide both meaningful information and quite the entertainment for the observant citizen. For example, will the former President attempt to rival former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) mugshot?
Infamous for his grin in the mugshot for his arrest on various campaign money violations in 2005, he was initially convicted, later reversed by an appeals court and the Texas Supreme Court, both Republican dominated institutions. Will Trump try his charm on a mugshot? He’ll become an endless subject of laughter.
Early on, the repercussions of this may also influence events:
His call for a protest in response to a potential arrest echoes his final days in office, when he repeatedly urged his supporters to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Some of Trump’s advisers had urged him privately not to call for protests, concerned about the optics of a mass protest in the streets of Manhattan growing out of control or resembling the 2021 insurrection.
CNN’s reporters fail to note the consequences of calling for a protest and suffering underperformance, instead. Then he’d have to make up stories about conspiracies to keep his followers away from him, rather than face the more likely explanation: they’ve figured out that he’s just a pathetic grifter.
That might just break the MAGA movement, although the MAGA sharks are already circling, awaiting Trump’s demise or discrediting, hoping to claim this mob of mislead citizens and predatory grifters as their own. Their names? Miscreants in Congress, mostly, with Rep Greene (R-GA) perhaps the leading candidate. (I must admit I have a soft spot in my head for her orbiting Jewish Space Lasers, a real favorite.)
The trial’s testimony, too, will damage Trump badly, as it’ll show his lack of respect for family values by patronizing a high-priced prostitute – cheating on one’s wife should not appeal to most MAGA-ites.
This will be an entertaining and even instructional few months leading to a trial – assuming he is, in fact, indicted.
