Garbage In, Trash Out An embittered Trump can do a lot of damage before he's evicted for real.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Mother Jones

Trump has already trashed so many norms and laws and standards of decency that to confront what he might do now prompts both weariness and terror. Accelerate his family’s personal looting for sure. Hand out favors to contributors and flunkies, of course. Pardon more criminal toadies, racists, his family, maybe even himself. What will he do to punish political allies he feels let him down—to say nothing of the governors who stood up to him or the states that didn’t vote for him? Already he’s pushing people out. The chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was booted Thursday. On Friday evening, Trump fired Bonnie Glick from her post as deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, which helps global efforts to fight the pandemic. Why? “She was fired Friday because the White House would rather have its political allies in control of the agency than an establishment Republican with actual expertise and experience,” notes the Washington Post.

Who’s next? Likely contenders are FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspell, even Attorney General Bill Barr (okay, I’m fine with that). And which super stooges might Trump elevate? Maybe Hope Hicks becomes an acting Cabinet official—why not? Richard Grenell takes Haspell’s place—not impossible. But don’t let your imagination stop there. He retains the full powers of the presidency until noon on January 20. Though he never paid any attention to his presidential daily briefings, what’s to stop him from putting the nation’s most valuable national security secrets on a thumb drive and hold them hostage or put them on the open market? What if he orders federal troops into Portland or Philadelphia? He’s done it before. What if the next time he gets pissed at Iran or North Korea, he launches missiles?

We face a very dangerous next two months. Trump’s closest advisors won’t even tell him (or do not believe) that he’s lost; they’re certainly not going to dissuade him from further vandalizing the country. The Republican establishment has prostrated itself to him in exchange for tax cuts and judges and to avoid being on the receiving end of mean tweets, but party leaders view him with contempt, and the feeling is mutual. No help there. His kids are complicit. There’s no indication he takes counsel from his wife, and less indication that any such counsel would be wise.

Even if Joe Biden were tempted to pull a Gerald Ford and pardon Trump in exchange for a normalish transition (which would guarantee a meltdown on the left), Trump faces criminal charges and civil lawsuits in state courts. Some kind of blanket multi-jurisdictional promise was made to Spiro Agnew to get him to go away, but here’s the other thing: Trump does not want to go quietly. It’s not just that he has no sense of patriotism or personal dignity; it’s that his brand—his psyche—is built on bullying and bluster. He’s incapable of acting in the greater interest, and he’s not even able to recognize that going through the motions of such sentiments are in his own interest. (See: his treatment of John McCain and Arizona’s election results.)

[bullimiami]

1. Gerald Ford was Nixons VP and pardoned him. There is no comparison in asking Biden to do it.

This is on Trump if he is arrogant enough to try pardoning himself, or on Pence if Trump resigns to accommodate it.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

3. I think pardons of Stone, Manafort, et. al. are in the near future

..and yes, I think he will pardon himself. Part of me thought he'd say "f*** it!", turn over to Pence, and proceed to Mar A Lago. But honestly, I think he figures to fight kicking and screaming to the end.

[procon]

2. Didn't Trump threaten to nuke San Francisco? nt

[Buckeyeblue]

4. There is little he can do without Republican cooperation

The pardons, of course. I would expect that all his buddies will get pardons. He could do some executive orders but given the Biden will be sworn in in a little over two months, would those orders even have time to be implemented?

Anything else would require congressional approval.

He could declassify documents that could put undercover agents in jeopardy. Again, could such an order be slow-walked?

If he was smart, he would do nothing. I honestly don't care if he pardons his friends, as long as they are nonviolent.

If he wants to be able to point to something big post presidency, he should work with McConnell to push through a massive covid relief bill, so can sign it.

[empedocles]

5. More executive orders