Are Trump’s receipts coming due?

As his criminal trial looms, Donald Trump, once a staunch anti-abortion advocate, appears to adjust his abortion stance amid electoral pressures. His notorious inconsistency and bravado face rigorous legal and public tests, potentially eroding his robust supporter base.

T houghts on the eve of the first criminal trial of a former United States President:

Remember the day Donald J. Trump met with then-President Barack Obama after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016? Go watch the video again. The look on his face was “OMG! I won? Now what?”

You can almost see the same look on Mr. Transactional Man now on the issue of abortion. The Architect of the Overturn of Roe v. Wade now is backpedaling faster than anytime in his entire backpedaling life.

For years, GOP presidential candidates have called for the overturning of Roe, knowing it wasn’t likely gonna happen.

Until it did.

That’s what nominating three anti-abortion justices will do. And that’s what Donald J. Trump did. By the time of the election this year, Trump will be pro-choice, again. But this is one issue where you just don’t get away with bouncing from one side to the other or spinning.

In pre-historic days, when I was involved in Republican politics, the guidance we gave to candidates on the issue of abortion was: “Decide your position. Announce it.  Stick with it. And stop talking about it.”

It was good advice because abortion is an issue of conscience, whichever side you’re on. To some, it is a religious conviction. To others a health care/freedom of choice conviction. But you can’t mealy-mouth your way around it.

Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, he has mealy-mouthed his way throughout his nearly 80 years of life. It’s catching up with him. Not just on abortion but in his trials.

Accountability is a bitch.

And Trump is being held accountable both on abortion and in his alleged criminal life. There is no hiding from either.

He likely won’t be allowed to get away with his dramatics inside the courtroom. His threats to testify are just that. He will not testify. Trump testifying is Trump Untethered, on the record, with a judge and a jury. His lack of impulse control. His viciousness. No lawyers tells her client before they take the stand, “Make sure you are vicious and that you give the first answer that comes to mind.”

He also can’t do what others might do in his position. Cut a deal. He couldn’t admit guilt if he was caught on 5th Avenue shooting someone. In his mind, he has done nothing wrong.

— Donald Trump.

It will all be exposed if he testifies. Like it or not, the system is working.  Trump is getting his day(s) in court. He will be found guilty or not. That is how the system works. It will work that way for him too. As it has in his recent civil trials.

Trump will never accept accountability. He is a narcissist.

(By the way, The Mayo Clinic lists, among symptoms of narcissism: “An unreasonably high sense of self-importance and require constant, excessive admiration; feel that they deserve privileges and special treatment; expect to be recognized as superior even without achievement; make achievements and talents seem bigger than they are;  be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate; be critical of and look down on people they feel are not important; expect special favors and expect other people to do what they want without questioning them; take advantage of others to get what they want; have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others; be envious of others and believe others envy them; behave in an arrogant way, brag a lot and come across as conceited; insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office.”)

The question is whether any of those who support him will accept it.

Oh, he’ll do his best performance art when it comes to his trials. He’ll play the victim. He’ll point to the great Deep State Conspiracy against him. He’ll claim “Biden’s doing this is to me, but it’s just to get at you.”

It won’t work unless he actually can beat the clock with the election so he can make it all go away – side-stepping accountability one more time. Pardoning himself, because who else is good enough to pardon him?

But, in the courtroom, he will be held accountable. Will the “Stormy Daniels’ trial” be enough, assuming he’s found guilty, to convince even a portion of his die-hards that he isn’t what he says he is?

We won’t know unless and until it happens.

Sources:

▪ This piece was first published in The Screaming Moderate and re-published in PUBLIC SQUARE UK on 14 April 2024 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity.

▪ Cover: Flickr/Gage Skidmore. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)