When Bad Things Happen to Bad People

I've been fascinated by reading articles about how conservatives are furious at Trump.  Mind you, I’m not fascinated because it means the GOP didn't do nearly as well as they hoped, but because it was they themselves who listened to Trump slavishly and believed his every word and even said, pretty much literally, that he was the Second Coming.

But now they listened to him a bridge too far and they themselves voted for the extreme-right, lunatic candidates he told them to in the primaries.  They did it.  They did what he told them to – as they’ve been doing for the past six years – and because it didn’t work out the way they wanted, they’re blaming him.  For what they did.

It’s so MAGA.  It’s so today’s Republicans. 

I mean, it’s a cousin to what Trump himself said on Newsmax before the election.  He was asked about his responsibility for the candidates he got on the ballot, and his answer was pure Trump.  "If they win, I should get all the credit.  If they lose, I should get none of the blame."

So, here are all the GOP conservatives voting for candidates in the primaries who lost in the general election – and it’s someone else’s fault for who they voted for.

Because the results were deeply below what Republicans were hoping for and even expecting – as much as 60 new seats in the House to take control and maybe five Senate seats which would give them control there – Trump is being perceived as badly wounded by the election results.  And all the more so since his biggest potential rival, Ron DeSantis, had a massive victory in Florida.  And it will be even worse if it turns out that Republicans lose the Senate and Democrats keep control -- because of truly horrible Trump-pushed candidates.  (Never mind that, as noted, Republicans happily voted to nominate them all during the primaries.  But I digress...)

In fact, conservative anger at Trump has been so bad that -- while I don't advocate him testing out my theory at any time -- I think that if Trump shot someone on 5th Ave. now, he would lose some support...

Left out of all the analysis and hand-wringing, though, about how deeply problematic this has been for Trump is that this is not only not the bottom for Trump -- it’s not even close to the bottom.  That’s because, lest we forget, he is in under investigation in three separate cases -- and is currently in court on trial in two others.  And that doesn’t count a sixth court case that he just settled less than two weeks ago.  Moreover, some of these investigations are profoundly major.  One deals with planning an insurrection to overthrow the government, another is about theft of classified government documents, and a third puts his company at risk of penalties up to several hundred million dollars.  And the two cases that are minor compared to that? They both involve criminal charges.

(How very real and even imminent is all this?  Just this morning, there was a headline for one of these latter, the active trial now on in Manhattan, which read, "Trump was personally aware of tax dodge scheme, testimony reveals."  And that's the least of his legal troubles.)

But all this together brought up a thought for me.

Before the Mid-Terms, there has long been the discussion about what happens if Attorney General Merrick Garland actually indicts Trump?  And what happens if Georgia D.A. Fani Willis indicts Trump?  And what happens if he’s found guilty in any of these trials?  Will there be rioting in the streets?  Will there be violence?

But that was then, this is now.  And now, it seems like a lot of Republicans – who are unhappy with Trump for now being a false prophet and leading them astray, while seeing DeSantis having success – would be extremely happy to find an exit ramp to get them away from Trump gracefully.  And if that means being grateful for Merrick Garland and Fani Willis helping them – and Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, and E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit – then it seems like some, or even many Republicans, rather than rioting in the streets, may be grateful for the helping hands of the judicial system, privately hoping the courts solve their "What do we do about Trump??" problem for them. They can still cry their devoted loyalty to Trump on the outside, while inside turn away from him and pine for Ron DeSantis.

To be clear, I don’t know if this is how Republicans will react to indictments.  And Trump has been so-covered with GOP MAGA Teflon that I wouldn’t count out his loyal acolytes staying loyal. 

But they do seem really upset at him right now.  And indictments seem less problematic for them right now.

The thing is – even if none of this comes to pass…it was still a Really Bad Day for Trump, and it’s going to get much worse.

And here's the other thing.  It may be worse for the Republican Party if Trump wants the nomination but doesn't get it, because of that whole "Be careful what you wish for" thingee.  That's because, as Joe Walsh commented yesterday, with his own "Here's the thing" observation --

"Here’s the thing: Either he’s the nominee, or he’ll burn the whole party down."

But then, being Trump, even if he decides not to run again, he may hate all the attention the GOP nominee gets and try to burn the whole party down anyway.  Because that's what malignant narcissists do.

The evangelical extreme right dearly love the End Times.  Who knows?  They may have created one for themselves.