The Witch Hunt Catches Some Witches

August 21st may go down as the tipping point toward the end of the Trump presidency, either by impeachment or resignation or, if he foolishly hangs on, a landslide in 2020. Within an hour, his ex-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of tax and bank fraud, and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to eight counts of violating federal election laws. The second of these is most significant, because for the first time this connects Trump himself to a crime, as Cohen stated he paid off two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, to keep their mouths shut to help Trump during the campaign.

Trump has repeatedly called the Mueller investigation and other peeks under his rock a "witch hunt," but there are almost as many guilty pleas, verdicts, and indictments as there were people killed in Salem. Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulis--all have plead guilty. David Pecker, who runs the National Enquirer and is one of Trump's best buddies, has been given immunity, so he must be about to spill a mountain of beans. I googled "witch hunt Trump" and found dozens of political cartoons of Trump wearing a pointed black hat and either riding a broom or stirring something in a cauldron. The head of the coven is on thin ice, to mix metaphors.

That Trump is a crook is no surprise, I argued this with my mother, a Trump supporter, which only got me yelled at. But his ties to organized Trump are well established, and at the very least he's guilty of not paying several contractors. To be involved in the construction business in New York is to be dirty (see the scene in Back to School when Rodney Dangerfield tells off the economics professor about dealing with waste management).

So where will this go? The Republican party is still clinging to him like a piece of jetsam (or is it flotsam) while dry land is only a few feet away. But aside from some retiring legislators no one is brave enough to cut the cord. If the Democrats take back the house, as expected, they will certainly impeach him, but he will likely be acquitted in the Senate (it takes a two-thirds majority). He might resign before a trial, because at heart he is a coward, and he might want to try to keep his children from going to jail.

The Resistance Pipe Dream: Trump is impeached and convicted. Before Mike Pence can choose a Vice-President, he's impeached (there's already reports of evidence he's tied to the Russia scandal). If the Democrats re-elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, she becomes President. That would be so fucking funny.