In a column for the Daily Beast, political observer Micheal Tomasky speculated -- and not without good reason -- that a frantic Donald Trump will do anything to remain in office and thereby avoid being slammed with criminal indictments once he departs the Oval Office for good..
As the columnist explained, impeachment seems inevitable and the president will likely take desperate measures and that he has already given hints about three paths he may take -- if not all of them.
Tomasky wrote, "It’s foolish to say that Trump thinks ahead about anything. The late journalist Wayne Barrett said many true things about Trump, but the truest ever was when he observed that Trump says whatever will get him through the next 10 minutes," before adding, "People around him of course are more strategic and are thinking ahead. And they’re all saying and doing and writing things right now that will, if the opportunity presents itself, pave the way for Trump to burn the Constitution."
Option number one, he explained is to declare impeachment unconstitutional -- a ploy his lawyers are already attempting with a letter to the Democrats.
"That letter from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, and Trump’s comments in its wake laid the groundwork for ignoring the results of the House impeachment process. The letter said the approach to impeachment is 'unconstitutional' and 'constitutionally invalid.'"the columnist wrote.
Calling the basic facts of the letter a lie, Tomasky speculated, "This lie will also enable Trump to ignore the Supreme Court should it rule that his administration has to honor all House subpoenas and challenge the other two branches of government: You and what army? There’s a chance that some Republicans will desert him if he does that, but most of them will parrot whatever lie Trump and Fox tell them to parrot," before suggesting, "And when Trump says that, next month or the following, what’s Mitch McConnell going to say? The same thing. And he’ll pass—on simple majority vote, which he can do—a resolution dismissing the articles and declaring that the Senate won’t even hold a trial. "
Option two, he wrote, is just keep lying and painting more and more pictures of a "Deep State" conspiracy bound and determined to pull off a coup.
"We’ve seen this play out many times. Every new revelation must be met with a counterpunch. The more shocking the revelation, the more dead-to-rights Trump is, the more Pravda-like the response," he wrote.
Lastly, and Trump has been promoting this since he first was elected despite losing the popular vote: "Delegitimize the 2020 election."
"This has started already, with the attacks on impeachment as an attempt to undo the 2016 election and as a preemptive strike because Democrats know they can’t beat him in 2020, which Trump said Thursday night in his Minnesota rally. By general election time next year, Trump’s third of the country will be well indoctrinated," he explained. "And so, if the election is in any way close or contested, if he loses but there’s the slightest excuse not to respect the results, we know what will happen. It might literally come down to the Army charging into the White House to drag him out of there."
As noted, you can likely expect to see all three options put into play if Trump's past actions are any indication.
You can read more here (subscription required).