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Another Exceptional Tiny Desk Concert: Half•alive

82
Jay C8/20/2019 7:11:25 am PDT

re: #44 Dr Lizardo

So, some shower thoughts for August 20th 2019.

Let’s say Trump loses come next November (knock on wood!); would he resign and in return, Pence issues a blanket pardon for Trump and his family - and cronies - for any Federal crimes committed during Trump’s presidency as Pence steps in as a caretaker President until the new Democratic POTUS formally takes office in January 2021?

I was thinking in that scenario, Trump could well resign as early as a week or two after Election Day.

Now granted, there’s absolutely nothing Pence could do regarding pardoning state-level charges, so on that, Trump would be on his own. So in order to avoid any consequences for state-level crimes, Trump and company would have to flee the country to another nation that has no extradition treaty with the United States. Quite famously, Russia has no such treaty with the USA……and who knows? Maybe that’s what Trump and Putin talk about on the phone and in private - we have no way of really knowing, do we?

Great - if somewhat overwrought* - scenario: but unlikely for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s likely Trump will have spent probably the entirety of the actual campaign making hysterically shouting baseless claims of “ELECTION FRAUD!!!” : it’s more likely he is going to stick it out screaming and yelling til the last minute (and then suddenly decide - on January 19 - that he’ll leave quietly “for the good of the country”). Remember that comment he made in 2016 about how he believes the only “legitimate” election is one he wins?? Like so much else, it was waved-away as a bad joke: but unfortunately, this is Donald Trump: he and his cultists actually go for this line….

2. A resignation-and-pardon scenario is basically going to be seen (however frantically the Admin and GOP may try to spin it otherwise) as an admission of guilt. One thing Trump has NEVER been known to do (NDA settlements notwithstanding).

*or would have been, pre-Trump-Era