Donald Trump granting himself an unconditional pardon is unmitigated genius.
Which I wouldn’t attribute in any way, shape or form to Trump, who doesn’t come across to me as being anywhere close to savvy enough to know what he’d be doing.
No, Trump pardoning himself would be about just getting himself out of harm’s way. He sees the here and now.
But then he wakes up tomorrow, ostensibly, takes a look at Twitter, and sees the response from Democrats and the Fake News types.
And lashes out.
Failing @nytimes and Dems don’t care that Crooked Hillary illegally got debate questions, just that I pardoned myself from Witch Hunt Russia investigation. Sad!
And thus it begins.
A few things that we know.
- This Russia investigation isn’t going away, and it’s only going to get worse for Trump. That private meeting with Putin at the G-20 summit last week, for instance. Whoo, boy. Sure, it was about adoptions. Think up another code word, seriously. Now Bob Mueller is starting to look at Trump family finances, hinting that he’s going after those long-lost tax returns.
- How to end that? Obvs! Pardon yourself, Donnie. You’ve already pretty much admitted to everything. You copped to getting rid of James Comey because he kept pushing the Russia investigation, for instance. And you just said this week that you wouldn’t have nominated Jeff Sessions for attorney general if he’d have told you he was going to recuse himself on Russia stuff. Forget about firing Mueller; just do what you’ve always done when the going gets tough. A presidential pardon is akin to filing for bankruptcy.
- The fallout: the sound of crickets chirping. Does anybody honestly think Paul Ryan is going to allow an impeachment investigation in his House of Representatives? Ha! Speaker P90X has his eyes on the prize: making sure his billionaire overlords get their tax cuts. As for the impact on public opinion, how far removed are we from Mexican rapists, blood coming out of Megyn Kelly’s wherever, John McCain isn’t a hero because he got captured, grab them by the pussy, and I’m leaving out a lot here? The word Teflon doesn’t do this guy justice.
- Bottom line: this only makes too much sense. So, Congress does nothing, and a few tweetstorms from the Bloviator-in-Chief about Fake News, Witch Hunts and Crooked Hillary, and his Deplorables are back out on the offensive. This is shooting fish in a barrel, it’s so easy.
The key is doing this as soon as possible. Because, yes, there is risk, though minimal. Maybe Democrats get out of their own way long enough to actually win control of the House in 2018 …
I’ll pause long enough for you to wipe the tears of uncontrolled laughter from your eyes.
Better? Hey, it’s possible.
(See: 2006.)
The sooner Trump falls on his sword, the more Republicans can turn the machinery of Congress, the executive branch and Fox News against the Clintons, the Black Panther Party, that kid in Virginia who got caught trying to sign dead people up to vote, whatever, whoever.
The sad thing: admit it, you know I’m right.
Column by Chris Graham
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