Duty To Inform
@DutytoInform


As usual, George Conway nails the ugly dynamic between Trump's psychopathology and the current morally - compromised GOP. There's a storm coming. But also, after, perhaps, a cleansing.
@gtconway3d

 

Trump "will be convicted of multiple felonies":

George Conway on the bumpy road ahead

Longtime GOP lawyer says Trump won't take a deal and will call for MAGA violence — but his time is almost up

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer

...Conway [believes]...that Donald Trump may finally be prosecuted, convicted and perhaps even imprisoned (1) for violations of the Espionage Act and related crimes. Contrary to the opinions of other legal experts and political observers, (2) Conway believes that Trump's ego will never permit him to admit guilt as part of a plea bargain agreement. He warns, however, that as Trump faces more pressure from the Department of Justice and other investigations into his obvious criminal wrongdoing, (3) he may order his followers to unleash violence and destruction.

(1) agree
(2) agree
(3) agree

Conway also reflects on his own previous level of denial about the danger to the country embodied by Trump and the Republican fascist movement — and discusses how he went from thinking that Democrats and other members of "the left" were "hysterical" to realizing that their warnings were largely correct.

Toward the end of this conversation, Conway predicts that if Donald Trump faces incarceration or other serious punishment, he will turn against the Republican Party and seek to destroy it in an act of revenge. Ultimately, Trump's lasting legacy may be the destruction of the Republican Party as the political monster turns against its host and creator.

The Republican Party? Who cares? It's the COUNTRY he will turn on with violence and seek to destroy! Why does George think Trump had all of that classified material at MAL?

George:

I do think it's going to get better. But it's going to get worse before it gets better. Trump is basically a cornered animal. He's got all these legal proceedings bearing down on him. ...He is a pathological narcissist...

Trump is in a downward psychological, emotional and physical spiral. His embrace of QAnon shows how extreme his deterioration is. But here is the problem for the rest of us: Donald Trump is not going to go away immediately. He is going to try to use the electoral process, and threats of violence, to regain power and influence. Then Trump will say that he can't control what people do because they are so angry at how he is being treated...Trump is going to make things much worse in this country before things finally get better. 

If America were actually healthy, then Trump would be gone, a non-factor. In all likelihood, I believe that Trump gets the Republican nomination in 2024, unless he goes to prison before then. If Trump is convicted or it looks like he is going to be, he will try to take down as many people as possible with him. That's what malignant narcissists do.

...I believe we should take some solace, (1) in that the reckoning is finally coming. (2) At the very least, the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation is the most dangerous thing facing him. Almost from the moment it came out, I felt it was the shortest distance between him and an orange jumpsuit, for the simple reason that it is a simple case.(3)

I agree with George on numbers 2 and 3 but I take no solace that a "reckoning is finally coming." I do not take solace in people dying, in the country being endangered; Trump has, or had, documents on our spies abroad and on another country's nuclear weapons program, my guess is that it's North Korea's, but he had/has those docs on our human intelligence and those docs on whose ever nuclear program they're on, for a reason and it's no reason that is good for the United States.
...
Given the details of the case and all the related charges, I don't know how the DOJ doesn't prosecute Trump. And I don't know how Trump is not convicted, especially if he is tried in the District of Columbia. (1) I think the danger is going to come from the fact that the legal process will take at least a year. With all the other legal peril Trump is facing, he is going to threaten violence as a way of getting out of trouble. (2) I don't know whether or not he will be as successful as he was on Jan. 6, (3) but there is going to be some real pain in this country caused by Trump calling for violence by his followers. (4)

(1) George is a trial lawyer, I was a trial lawyer. I agree that Trump will be prosecuted and convicted but a trial lawyer never knows for sure if he will be successful, that's the nature of the jury system. O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife and Ronald Goldman in a murder case that was all about the third rail of America, race. The prosecution of Trump will be of even greater emotion than race was in the Simpson case. A trial lawyer never knows for sure and we have all been shocked with verdicts. Of course Trump could be acquitted. That is simply fact. And what if he is acquitted? What if, improbably, but more probable than acquittal, the jury hangs, causing a mistrial? It only takes one juror to hang a jury. George mentions one of the contingencies, venue: "especially if he is tried in the District of Columbia." Where would a MAL case be held? Wouldn't it be in the federal court in the state where the crime occurred, that is FLORIDA? Both of us think it highly likely Trump will be convicted wherever the case is tried but less so if the case is tried in Florida. 

(2) agree
(3) In my view Jan. 6 was not all that successful. In my view there is more and there is less to be concerned about in a Coup Part Two. More, because Trump and his followers have had a dry run; Less, because Trump no longer has the power of the state behind him. A "coup d' Etat" is literally a "blow of state"; Jan. 6 was a blow of the state at the state; a repeat would not be a blow of the state but a blow at the state. Trump has far, FAR less resources to throw at the state this time around: fewer foot soldiers, with so many arrested and convicted, none of the apparatus of the state, all of that in fact would be directed at the rebels.

(4) Agree, however, I have no doubt, ZERO, that the FBI, et al, are MUCH more prepared for violence, have infiltrated Trumpist cells, etc. than they were for Jan. 6.

...

As a society, what do we do about the Trump cult?  

I honestly don't know. I'm just hoping that at some point it will exhaust itself and fade away. But that is not going to happen for a while, if at all. The only thing the rest of who are not in the Trump cult can do is to keep telling the truth.

It ends like most cults end, with the death of the Leader.

...

I finally realized that there is something deeply wrong with Donald Trump. I am not trained as a psychologist; I don't really understand how a mind like his works. But I've read about Hitler, Stalin and other tyrants. I didn't make the initial connection between them and Trump, but after a while I finally did. 

...

What does it mean to be a Republican right now?  

I don't think it really means anything right now. For a lot of people, it means supporting Trump. That's one of the main reasons why I left the Republican Party and registered as an unaffiliated voter in March of 2018.  At that point it was clear to me that the Republican Party had become a Trump personality cult. Four years later, it's much worse. I don't know what the Republican Party stands for now, other than placating Trump and opposing anything that the Democrats do just for the sake of opposing them. There are no real principles involved. The Republican Party doesn't even stand for America's national interests anymore. Look at what some Republicans have been saying about Russia's war against Ukraine. 

...

I don't think it's going to take them [DOJ prosecutors] very long to put together a case on the classified documents. And I don't think they have a choice, even if they wanted to resist prosecuting him. It's going to be sooner rather than later. Trump could easily be under both federal and state indictment at some point between Election Day [Nov. 8] and New Year's Day.

I don't believe that Trump is going to plea bargain. I think he could go to prison, but it is more likely that he will serve home confinement. (1) In all likelihood, he will be convicted of multiple felonies. I don't know if there's ever going to be a perp walk, but I don't think it's a fantasy either. There's a good chance that Trump will end up with a felony conviction. ...To reiterate, I do not believe that Trump will plead out. This all goes so much to the core of Trump's identity that he will try to tear the country apart before he settles one of these criminal cases. (2)

(1) agree completely
(2) agree completely, which is why I find no "solace" in a morning after.

Donald Trump will incite violence on his behalf. He will try to pretend it is something spontaneous. Does Trump have enough power and influence over his followers to threaten the republic? I don't think so. But I do think it's enough to be dangerous. Trump has enough influence that people could get hurt.

Agree with EVERYTHING there.

What keeps me up at night is the violence that Trump could potentially cause. The danger of violence will increase as the 2024 election approaches. What gives me hope is that the legal reckoning (1) is coming. Donald Trump has brought many people together. That is one of the great ironies of all this. People on the left and right have come together to oppose Trump and his movement.( 2)

George is correct on number 2 and I had never thought of that before!

On number 1: Boy, I was a practicing lawyer for at least as long as George has been but I just do not see the law as the panacea for the Trump disease. WHAT IF HE IS ACQUITTED, GEORGE?