Critical Trump Theory

Many on the right have embraced the idea that the system is rigged against the former president.

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463
FormerPresident Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, on June 13, 2023. Trump appeared in court in Miami for an arraignment regarding 37 federal charges regarding his mishandling of classified material after leaving office. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images.)

Dear Reader (especially any of you with insight into Joe Biden’s “God save the queen, man” signoffs),

Let’s start with this pardon talk (feel free to skip this section if you want the angrier stuff). 

Lots of people I respect—and many I don’t—are already making the case that Donald Trump should—eventually—be pardoned. Rich Lowry thinks so. As does my colleague Sarah Isgur. GOP presidential candidates are already being grilled on the question of a pardon. Nikki Haley says she’d be “inclined” to pardon him if convicted. Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s class beadle, wants everyone to sign his pledge to pardon him. 

Lowry and Isgur make the case from a high-minded and defensible desire for the greater good. Pardoning Trump, like Ford’s pardon of Nixon, “has a chance of sapping some of the poison out of the system,” Lowry writes. 

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  1. J.Barron

    "Surely, Trump is man enough to admit when he’s wrong, particularly if he’s going to ask for a pardon, which is an act of forgiveness. And surely, if Trump cares about America and draining the poison from our politics, that would be a small price to pay."

    Alas, Trump has never made it past adolescence, and has never had the maturity level of your average middle school student. And, of course, at the end of the day, Trump only cares about himself.

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    1. Chuck Almdale

      Trump has never admitted wrongdoing or even an error or slip of the tongue. It would be exciting to watch him have to choose between 1) admitting he lied and tried to steal the election, or 2) going to jail, another thing he has never done. I think he would prefer having a real stroke and spending the rest of his life in bed, never communicating to either of the above. Don't be surprised if he does have a stroke, even it's (more likely) a Big Lie fake stroke.

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    Tamaraster

    Here's what I don't get about your idea that Biden can make a deal to pardon Trump if the latter doesn't run for office again: how can Trump be bound? Trump wouldn't honor his own agreement or any contract. What is Biden going to do, sue him civilly over it? Who would care? Not Trump. Not his voters. And I don't think Biden can make it illegal for Trump to run, or prevent him from doing it. So how could this possibly work?

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  3. Mark

    On the point about Trumpists wanting to be lied to, I've never understood why they were so mad about Fox News calling Arizona for Biden. First, Fox's call turned out to be right. Second, the call was made after polls had closed, so it wasn't going to impact the outcome. And third, by the time the controversy reached its fever pitch, everyone knew that Fox was right, including the people who were pissed about it. So why were they so mad?

    Can someone steel-man that argument for me?

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    1. Chuck Almdale

      Mark: I don't know what "steel-man" means, but Trump supporters behave like those in thrall to a psychopath. All can be excused, the psychopath can do no wrong. They've been "groomed." (Google "psychopathic grooming.") Even psychologists very familiar with psychopathy, and very familiar with a particular psychopath can fall in thrall to them to their immense regret when they later come out of it.

      Until the psychopath dumps the enthralled devotee and moves on, their devotion remains. This is a fundamental flaw in human psychology, going all the way back to our early millennia as proto-humans when we were beginning to depend on survival within small cooperating groups on the African plains.

      Later, after being dumped, the now-ex-enthralled frequently say: What was I thinking? How did I believe such rubbish?"

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    Kari

    Jonah,
    When I read some of your columns such as this honest and spot-on view, I’ll admit that sometimes wish you were back at Fox on Bret Baier’s panel to offer sane and logical pushback to what I hear there now; that is when I *occasionally* tune in but that’s only to check the temperature. But then I remind myself of why you and Steve Hayes left and how much I admired your decision to take such a strong , public stand; calling out what was not only wrong but dangerous and irresponsible content for the country.
    Keep these opinion pieces coming, please. They give me some measure of relief, knowing not everyone who calls themself a conservative has lost their mind.

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    Kyzyl Tuva

    The opportunity costs of 8 years of Trump discussions sucking the oxygen out of us is astounding. Imagine if all of those "man years" of time were put to something more useful. In this case, "more useful" is a very low bar, but far better than this constant cacophony of Trump.

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  6. Angelo Gentile

    Hi Jonah
    I know this is naive but there has to be a way to get moderate Republicans to the polls in the primary to keep this narcissist (I was gonna say douche bag but that wouldn’t be professional) from getting the nomination.
    Couldn’t the Dispatch and NR play a role in some sort of mobilization effort?
    Why is it assumed to be a fait accompli that the radicals overwhelmingly vote in the primaries?
    There has to be a way, right?

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      Ben Connelly

      I mean, NR tried in 2016

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  7. Zjim0608

    One of your best. What is English for die V...........

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    SandyG

    Great piece Jonah. This took my breath away: Trump embraced a culture of losing by creating a cult of lying. All cults are built on lies.

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  9. Gpdoyle4

    Thanks for all of your thoughts on Trump and the Republicans pardon arguments, et al!! Most of all your eulogy for your dear father!

    Question though, who do you feel should be elected President/V.P. in 2024? Seriously, a candidate that can win and correct some of the mess we are in now! Examples of course: open boarders, despite the fact that the often repeated mantra is "the Immigration System is Broken!', thereby breaking the existing law despite the fact that last year, if I'm quoting reliably; one million legal immigrants who waited patiently, followed the law and probably understand more American civics then most citizens born here were sown in. If the system is broken, fix it, stupid, to coin a phrase. Establish a thoughtful Energy Policy that would achieve all the desired goals that the current dysfunctional administration is stupidly trying to pull off. And so many more, but you have the idea here.
    Thanks, as always for your salient opinions!
    Greg Doyle

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    KAM

    But Trump HAS indeed been systematically abused in many of the institutions mentioned: "law enforcement, Congress, the media...." We know that.

    Trump is also a criminal, a jackass, and a thoroughly bad man deserving of much of the treatment he has received.

    Both are true. It is possible to mistreat an evil person, and that has often happened.

    Why is that so hard to understand?

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    1. Scianti7

      I don't think he has been mistreated. I think he has occasionally had to partially reap what he sows. These are consequences. If fraud is your business, as he put forward on national tv in saying about shorting his contractors "why pay more than I have to?" (Answer because it's fraud if you don't!)" 1. Why would anyone believe you? 2. If fraud was a business strategy, what other shady crap is there?

      Because lets be honest, Trump has been shady for a very long time. He is the slimiest guy from the 1980s & 90s. He clung to notoriety by saying vulgar things on Howard Stern, & feuding with people more famous than himself.

      When I see someone who is patently dishonest gain a great deal of power, I very much want them to be scrutinized. Trump likes to dance over the line of legality & pretend it's not wrong.

      Trump is a victim of his own behavior & words. There is nothing intrinsically making him a victim. He invites scrutiny with his words & actions.

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        KAM

        Bill Barr says he's guilty of the charges in the indictment AND ALSO... "Trump has been the victim of witch hunts by obsessive enemies willing to do anything to bring him down. On those occasions—most prominently Russiagate, and more recently the civil and criminal actions against him in New York—I have never shied away from defending him. As his attorney general, I witnessed firsthand the unfair and venomous treatment he, and those in his administration, often received."

        I'll take his analysis over yours, thanks anyway.

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          JDW

          I won't. The day the FBI thinks a presidential candidate or his family meeting Russians in his apartment is something to ignore is the day we turn out the lights on this country. There is nothing wrong with an investigation. There was plenty happening. They did not prosecute Trump on that point so I don't see it as persecution but rather due diligence. That is the problem with MAGA. The start of an investigation is wrong if all the evidence is not already in hand. That is ridiculous.

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    2. Dougrhon

      It's not. But to the Trump cult only the former is true. To the anti-Trump cult only the latter is true.

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