The Art of the Deal

An opportune moment for Trump to plead guilty.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump visits a restaurant in Miami after being arraigned on June 13, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

The president is caught in a lie.

Catching him in a lie barely qualifies as news most of the time, but this lie is special. It has to do not with policy or politics but with a federal criminal prosecution.

Of his own son.

Last month in an interview with MSNBC Joe Biden was asked how it would affect his presidency if the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden led to an indictment. It won’t have any effect, the president answered. “My son has done nothing wrong,” he insisted, implying that charges wouldn’t be brought.

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  1. Mathias

    Thanks for the analysis, Nick, depressing though it be. You may want to ask for some extensive vacation time to detach from politics and find things to smile about in the world. Your beat is one of the most relentlessly dark I have ever seen – not that I am finding fault with your diagnoses or most of your conclusions.

    One thing I have to mention, though: You wrote that "mercy should be earned." If you'll pardon my saying so, mercy is precisely that which is not earned. Since you have written in the past that you are not a religious person, I can understand how the concept is less familiar to you than it would be to a lifelong devotee. Mercy is a gift, freely extended to one who does not deserve it. It is not getting the consequence which we do deserve and have richly earned. It is the mirror image of grace, which is getting something good which we do not deserve.

    However, like all gifts, mercy must be both extended and received for it to be efficacious. And that's the rub in this case: receiving and accepting mercy involves admitting that you need it. You can't stand on your own justification and simultaneously accept forgiveness for your crimes. First you have to admit that you were wrong; then if someone extends you mercy, you can humbly accept it. That is why a pardon for Trump would be impossible: he won't admit wrongdoing in anything he has ever done. A pardon in such a case would not be a pardon at all: it would be an overturning of the verdict, an admission of wrongful prosecution.

    May we all have mercy extended to us for the things we have done in our lives; but in order to receive it, we must each confess our guilt and not vainly try to justify ourselves before G-d and our fellowmen. Don't forget this.

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  2. Donroth45

    Instead of working on the rock pile in prison ala The Three Stooges, could Trump make pillows at the MyPillow factory?

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  3. Goatprairie

    After sampling numerous pro-Trump "conservative" websites (virtually all of them except for TD and NR) the general consensus with the cultists appears to be..."well, they're HIS!!! documents...he's the legal president.... Biden is an impostor.....Trump won the election by eleventy billion votes......he can do with them whatever wants."
    There's no second-guessing or demurrals with these people on the issue.....no matter the facts, Trump is always right and innocent. TRAITORS!!! are out to get him! So there....I guess we told you.

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  4. Genehoward92603

    Thanks for this very thoughtful examination of the differences between the Trump and the Biden situations.

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  5. Dustin M

    I just have to say, "hit me from all sides & angels" is now one of my favorite Trump typos of all time. Finally a confession that he is not one of the good guys but is literally fighting against angels!

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  6. Kevin M

    Here's a deal: plead guilty to to one count (e.g. incitement) under 18 USC 2383, pay a $50 million fine and accept a 5 year suspended sentence, requiring a time-out from politics.

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    1. Ken Motamed

      Why would Trump plead to something the government cannot prove?

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  7. Raincheck

    Trump’s dream outcome is that he goes to jail, the GOP galvanizes behind him, he wins the election, and pardons himself.

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    1. Kevin M

      He can't pardon himself, but if he can't serve (due to being in prison) his VP can pardon him, appoint Trump the new VP and resign.

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      1. Ken Motamed

        Devious.

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    Stephanie

    It's kind of disingenuous to say Trump faces 400 years in prison, as sentences are not calculated that way (sequential) and it's all up to the judge anyway, if he ends up convicted.

    The estimates I've seen are minimum 10 years, but again the judge could lower that.

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    1. Ken Motamed

      As you said, it's up to the judge whether the sentence is served consecutively or concurrently.

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  9. Leswatkins2013

    Playing golf - not “golfing”

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    1. Mathias

      Would a golf player's child be a golfling?

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      Njh2005

      Thought I was the last fighting that fight.

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      1. Ken Motamed

        Are you also fighting this fight? "Golf player not golfer."

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    3. Deleted Comment

      This comment has been deleted

  10. Dougrhon

    It's impossible to imagine Trump logically acting in his own self interest. He is self immolating at this point and will likely take the entire Republican Party and possibly the country down with him. I am not exaggerating when I say that every day I pray that SOMETHING will pop the balloon and lead to his Joe McCarthy moment. I am not confident my prayers will be answered.

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    1. Ken Motamed

      I'm quite sure both the Republican Party and the country will be around regardless of what happens to Trump.

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