64 Comments

Or maybe he’s got a very cool exit strategy via Putin to leave the country to avoid prosecution and retire in Hungary with his buddy.

Expand full comment

If he DOES actually lose (meaning, his GOP vote-counters fail, the Proud Boys are arrested, and the Congress Critters have to face facts), then, YES, he will flee to a nation where the dictator will shield him from extradition.

Expand full comment

Yes.

He has already stated his intention to flee the country if he loses the election.

The Mueller Report documented extensive efforts by Usurper Trump and his allies to obstruct justice. This is a pattern with him and his cronies. Deny, deflect, obstruct, and ignore!

That's why this "isn't it past your jail time?" t-shirt will NEVER get old 👇 🤣

https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/jailtm

Expand full comment

Hungary or Russia should do the trick.

Or North Korea.

Expand full comment

Heather, he said if he lost we would never hear from him again last time. We can't be that lucky.

Expand full comment

Good riddance!

Expand full comment

I really don't think any of his so-called friend dictators will have anything to do with him if he is not or has any chance of being president. He has just been their useful idiot, especially Putin.

Expand full comment

Right here. This.

Expand full comment

As long as he doesn't win the election. He doesn't realize that he would be much safer in a cozy American jail than anywhere in Russia.

Expand full comment

Maybe there or Venezuela. He's been talking about them a lot lately. Definitely someplace without an extradition treaty. 🤨

Expand full comment

So if he flees, can we force him to take Melania with him, or at least pursue her for immigration fraud if she refuses to leave for Slovenia?

Expand full comment

Why would Pooty-Poot give two shits about a twice-failed phony billionaire idiot? Where's the ROI?

Another failure by Dumpty and he's out of influence and in court.

Expand full comment

He'll need a bigger plane. The one he has can't get more than 3000 miles without refueling.

Expand full comment

He may well win because all the shenanigans gop and von trump cultists have put in place. Scotus will give him the white house at the end of this highy tensed and disgusting election campaign. Results will be denied and court cases brought up everywhere unless trumpy dumpty wins! A shame. But… vote blue massively. Forza Kamala and fuck trump.

Expand full comment

No, he isn't trying to win, at least not by actually winning. I think the plan all along is to mess with the Electoral College and throw the election to SCOTUS or the GQP-controlled House. He thought he could make it a close election running again Biden. But when Biden dropped out that upset his "strategy". Now it all rests on cheating and legal maneuvering, which will be more difficult if the popular vote is a landslide, but it doesn't mean that they won't succeed.

Expand full comment

Well written, but what I think is missing is that in 2016 Trump was a "relatively" unknown candidate, and often seen as a joke without much chance of actually winning. So he had to aggressively sell himself in order to be elected, and his rallies delivered a constant stream of "can you believe that he just said that?" from the media and self-respecting politicians.

Fast forward to 2024, and we've had 8 long years of Trump, and he's dominated the national conversation for the entire time. At this point, MAGA meatheads know exactly who he is, what he stands for, and why they want to vote for him. Trump doesn't need rallies to persuade any of them to vote for him.

I think this - and Trump's inherent laziness - explains the significantly fewer number of Trump rallies in 2024.

Expand full comment

Yes, he is very much a known quantity by now.

Also note that he is not making much effort to reach beyond his base.

The latest idiotic remark about being a "protector" of women...just won't fly beyond MAGAt men.

Expand full comment

I subscribe to the Guardian US Edition. The Harvard Poll shows Harris well ahead of young voters: "Kamala Harris is 23 points ahead of Donald Trump, and 31 percentage points ahead among likely voters." Also in this live blog I've learned that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio have filed a defamation lawsuit against trump and vance.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/24/biden-trump-harris-election-updates

And , Meidas Touch or another group had a huge billboard outside a trump rally in Pennsylvania with him dressed as a chicken. Also, The New Republic reports President Obama raised $27 million for Harris-Walz Saturday evening in New York.

https://newrepublic.com/post/186261/kamala-harris-donald-trump-debate-chicken

Please subscribe to Marc Elias, Democracy Docket if you haven't already. He provides daily updates on the legal cases. If you are a paid subscriber you can ask questions once a week in his special email. Thank you.

Expand full comment

Absolutely.

However, he knows he will not win at the ballot box in the standard fashion, so he is depending on Republican vote-counters, Proud Boys, and Congress Critters to override the will of the people, if necessary, by force and violence.

It makes campaigning less critical. He knows that the more he talks, particularly after that debate, the dumber he sounds.

It's the Roy Cohn strategy.

Expand full comment

Win or lose he will say, and continue to say, he won. Hopefully he will be saying all while he’s in prison.

Expand full comment

Yeah, tell it to the Judge, Donnie.

Expand full comment

My nightmare explanation is that trump knows he needn’t bother with an honest, vigorous campaign because his team + Putin + whoever else have got a scheme in place so devious, something that no one has considered; a plot that guarantees his “victory” without any effort on his part.

Expand full comment

There's no need to work for anything when you steal everything.

Expand full comment

Since he visibly slowed down and became even less coherent, and certainly since the debate, my opinion has been that trump isn’t planning to win votes. He’s planning to win via the mechanisms you describe here: removing Georgia from the race, contesting every result, and eventually moving the decision to the House. By cheating, in other words.

It’s good to see other people discussing this more widely, though I don’t know what we can do about it beyond turning out in record numbers.

Voting down ballot is also essential. IF trump cheats his way to the White House, having a blue majority in the House and Senate will be the only way to limit the damage.

Expand full comment

I believe that Harris should be ahead by at least 30 points based on character alone. The fact that things are still so close says to me that he still has all his supporters from the past who will vote for him no matter what. How any woman, minority or reasonable person can still support him is beyond me. I do think that perhaps all your well-reasoned theories can be in play and maybe the polls are just way off base especially as they prob ably include few if any of the large numbers of the newly registered.. It is hard to put a real perspective on things especially when so many seem to be going against their own best interests - those who don't like the administration's position on Gaza, don't understand the economic recovery, the position on health care, Social Security and Medicare and so many others. Nothing seems to make any sense these days. I hope that my concerns will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot, but remember 2016!

Expand full comment

I agree with all the comments saying Trump's lazy, a narcissist, etc. B U T, I also think Trump is very confident he will win because they have something big planned. I don't trust them.

Expand full comment

It is scary to me.

Expand full comment

He was always a lazy slacker as President, but now he seems to be continuing his do nothing but golf act. Maybe he realizes that his hate rallies are boring the cult members and his fragile ego can't handle watching the cult members waddle out of the arenas early?

Expand full comment

I think the minute Joe and Kamala switched out. He knew he was finished.

Expand full comment

"Trump has learned a lot since 2020." No, Trump has learned nothing since 2020. Whatever limited knowledge he had in 2020 about how elections work in the U.S., is long gone. But, the Heritage Foundation / Project 2025 folks definitely learned a lot since 2020 and are working hard to getting their brainless stooge back in the White House, by any means necessary.

Expand full comment

Very elucidating, if dispiriting. Thank you. And the truth shall set you free. Better to know than remain ignorant & powerless. Our system of government, while great in theory, is proving a nightmare when put to the ultimate test. It’s too convoluted. I wonder if there’s any way, should we ever get the chance, to rectify & simplify it so it’s more functional & straightforward.

Expand full comment