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"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August, 2018)
"A Vote for 'ABBB' (Any Body But Biden) is a Vote for Trump and Republo-Fascism" (S. Jonas, March, 2024)
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In the "selection of images for 'tricks,'" that one has access to on the OEN site, this one is entitled, simply, "Red Squirrel." I'm not sure what the trick is, but the squirrel sure is a cute one.
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In the past on a number of occasions I have written on what I have termed "Trump's Six [then seven] Magic Tricks." It is a list of the thought-patterns, strategies, and tactics that brought him from being the not-terribly-high-achieving-on-his-own son of a successful New York City real estate developer to the Presidency. Their use, at multiple points along his life-pathway, is what has also brought him, as both an Ex-President, and presumptive-nominee of his party (now rebranded as the "Trumpublicans"), for the possible return to that office. Getting in the way of that return are three factors. One is of course the vote to be held on next November 5. Another is how the real results of that vote are going to be handled, should they on paper at least go against him. Third is what he and his troops (real and figurative) would do in the latter case.
Obviously, the paragraph above contains the stuff for a number of future columns. For this one we shall stick to the "Seven Magic Tricks" themselves, with observation/analysis of how Trump is using them, and how well, or not, they still work for him.
To review, here are Trump's (first) Six Magic Tricks.
1. He has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both.
2. For decades he has had a standard operating procedure when he faces an adversary of any kind. He learned it from Roy Cohn (who learned it from Joe McCarthy): "Always attack; Never defend."
3. Also learned from Roy Cohn is the mantra: "when you run into a problem, just sue." You may not win, and it may cost you some money. But a) you might win, and b) with the endlessness with which civil litigation can be drawn out in the U.S. legal system, the other side may just get worn out (or run out of money for lawyers' fees [which Trump, for one reason or another, never seemed to do]).
4. In the whole of his business life, Trump has never been responsible to anyone else, either above him (except for Dad, of course) or even alongside. In the end, he has still been able to escape from one legal (and other) scrape after another, as long as he has had a protector/enabler (see 1., above), also known as the "fixer," on his own.
5. Trump has lived his life surrounded by enemies, whether in business, in his personal life, in his banking and financial life (except for a select few, like Deutsche Bank), certainly in politics, and not just at this time. He has thrived on that state-of-being. In dealing with his enemies/adversaries, as he told us in the "Art of the Deal," the key to winning for him has never been actual deal-making, but rather attempted opponent-crushing. Real negotiation is just not his thing.
6. Trump is history's greatest con man (a subject to which I have devoted a previous column).
To which I added a Seventh Trick "Oh woe is me; everyone's against me, and it's so unfair[!]"
Of course the Seventh was added to the list as the indictments, in four separate criminal cases, began to add up. But before we go through the list and how Trump is at present using them, or within the limits of the state and Federal criminal justice systems trying to use them, to me it is fascinating that Trump hardly ever says, in response to the indictments (except to a degree in the "Florida Documents" case --- in which case he is claiming, before trial, that the Presidential Records Act simply doesn't apply to him), "I'm innocent."
This not the plea with which he is going to go to the public. The reason likely is that above anyone else, it is he who knows just how guilty he is, in each and every case. Instead, as is well-known he is constantly saying: "this is a witch-hunt," "Biden is out to get me," "the 2020 election really was stolen," "I had nothing to do with 'Jan. 6,' and anyway, all those people in prison (convicted, in court, for breaking various Federal statutes) are 'hostages'," and so on and so forth.
Now, when he is asked to plead in the New York falsification of financial records case that will change, for he will have to plead "not guilty." But until then he will be using, or trying to use one or more of the 7 Magic Tricks. In the Georgia election-fraud-RICO case the same analysis will apply. (And do note, that in both of those cases, the prosecutor is an African-American [and one them female to boot]. Thus, right up until the moment a pleading is required he will be in the all-out attack-the-prosecution, life-is-so-unfair, mode, with a strong helping of racism.) As for the "Jan. 6" case, of course he is hoping that his far-right-Republican Supreme Court will let him off the hook. But if somehow or another five justices will deny him the "immunity" cover for one or more of those charges, he will have to plead "not guilty," that is if one or more of those charges ever get to Court.
BUT, for now he has fallen back on The List. So, let's see how they are working for him.
1. He has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both. Of course, he does have one or more of the six standard-issue-Republicans-and-further-to-the-Right-Republicans on the Court. And as noted, by every Trump-trials observer, Left, Right or Center (although how one can be "center" on Trump is beyond me), his protectors-enablers on the Court could well get him of out of one or more convictions in the end. But until then, his coterie of high-profile public protectors/enablers has vanished.
I am not referring to the Trump-Claque on TV and on-line. They talk a lot but for the most part they are heard only by the already-pro-Trumpers. (Except, that is, when they are actually engaging in on-air jury tampering [see FoxNews].) I am referring rather to the last-in-the-line major one, Katy-Barr-the-Door, Bill Barr. In the last of his protect-Republican-President efforts, he made mince-meat-in-public of Bob Mueller and his Report. But knowing that his support had a false basis from the git-go, and certainly looking to be able to put together some sort of post-Trump career, he refused to jump on board the "stop-the-steal" truck from the beginning. And after Barr, there is no one else "big" out there for him. (Pipsqueaks like Alan Dershowitz don't count, even if they are at Harvard.) They are certainly not to be found among that rag-tag set of lawyers he presently has representing him in the Four Cases.
2. He is obviously using "Always attack; never defend" to a fare-the-well. Plus, it's variant: "look over there," as in going after Judge Merchan's daughter in the New York City election fraud case. This one is being used to a fare-thee-well, and is the most important one that he has left from the list. Just watch his performance each and every day, in Court, outside of it, on TS, and on Trump-TV.
3. This Magic Trick, also learned from Roy Cohn is the mantra: "when you run into a problem, just sue." In observing Trump's behavior in facing the four sets of felony charges (all of which carry significant penalties for an overweight/out-of-shape 77-year-old man with failing finances that he does), one has to remember that while being in-and-out-of-court, either as a defendant or a plaintiff, has been part of his normal operating procedure, he has never been the subject of, not just one, but four, criminal procedures. So, this Trick is of no use.
4. The "being-not-responsible-to-anyone-else" trick, as in 3, doesn't apply here either. He is now responsible to the criminal law, at both the state and Federal levels.
5. Again, the "surrounded by enemies" trick has often worked for Trump, as he has wiggled/wriggled out of one contretemps after another, in the Civil sector: winning the case, or with losing the case with minor penalties --- as when one Chris Christie, then the New Jersey Attorney General, vastly reduced the Trump-penalty in the Atlantic City bankruptcy/tax-fraud case. But then he blithely went on to the next, indeed often surrounded by enemies. You know that list, the suits for: Trump wine, Trump Airlines, Trump ties, Trump University, and etc. Again, Trump this time is also surrounded by enemies, but not ones that he can just make go away, with help-from-a-friend, say from a many-years-tenured private banker at Deutsche Bank to the leader of the first industrial- feudalist nation in the world.
6. "History's Greatest Con Man?" That one is still working with his base and a very significant number of Republican elected-officials-and-wanna-be same. But again, on a broader scale, and in particular in dealing with the state and Federal criminal justice systems, not.
7. And finally, with the major gaps in the effectiveness of a significant number of the first Six, the Seventh has come to play a major part for Trump: "Oh woe is me; everyone's against me, they are all after me, and it's so unfair[!]" This is now the essence of virtually every one of his rants, whether in his "election campaign" speeches, in his in-front-of-the-court-house whining's, in his on-air appearances-with-only-friendly hosts, and certainly on "Truth (ho, ho, ho) Social."
Yes, indeed, for the first time in his adult life (at least since the end of the Roy Cohn era), Trump has had an increasingly shrinking selection of his Magic Tricks working for him, for an increasingly shrinking audience. Of course, with some help from his friends (especially those on the Supreme Court plus one particular District Court Judge in Florida) he may be able to once again wriggle out of what is now the biggest mess of his life, maybe even all the way back to the Oval Office.
But if he does, that will be due to those friends-in-high-or-relatively-high places, not to his set of Magic Tricks, which are becoming less magical by the day. Or, in the Noo Yawk vernacular (which Trump does not speak, by the way --- that's one thing he hasn't soiled by his presence), "How's dose Magic Tricks doin' for ya, Don? Well, not so good --- Hey Don?!"
(Article changed on Apr 19, 2024 at 1:41 PM EDT)
