Trump explodes at Nixon comparisons as he prepares to leave office

[hlthe2b]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/donald-trump-presidency-ending/index.html

Trump has been consumed by the unraveling of his presidency during his last days in office, according to people around him, which included a casual discussion among advisers recently about a possible resignation. Trump shut the idea down almost immediately. And he has made clear to aides in separate conversations that mere mention of President Richard Nixon, the last president to resign, were banned.

He told one adviser during an expletive-laden conversation recently never to bring up the ex-president ever again. During the passing mention of resigning this week, Trump told people he couldn't count on Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him like Gerald Ford did Nixon, anyway.

Eager for a final taste of the pomp of being president, Trump has asked for a major send-off on Inauguration Day next week, according to people familiar with the matter, before one last presidential flight to Palm Beach. But the signs of his impending departure are everywhere -- including right outside his window. Workers hung bunting Thursday that read "2021 Biden-Harris Inauguration" from temporary stands across from the White House North Portico. It was visible from his third-story residence.
Inside the building, Trump has been weathering a second impeachment and growing isolation from his onetime allies in sullen desolation. He has grown more and more worried about what legal or financial calamities may await him when he is no longer president, people who have spoken to him said, fueled by warnings from lawyers and advisers. He is weighing pardons, including for himself and his family, as he attempts to muster a legal team for another impeachment trial. And he is resentful of Republicans who he feels abandoned him in his hour of need, including the GOP leaders of the House and Senate.
Aides have pleaded with Trump to deliver some type of farewell address, either live or taped, that would tick through his accomplishments in office. But he has appeared disinterested and noncommittal. On Thursday, it was Pence carrying out tasks ordinarily left to a president, like visiting national guardsmen posted at the US Capitol or visiting White House operators to say farewell.

Worth reading the whole piece at the link above.

[muntrv]

1. Except Nixon had a brain.

[Blue Owl]

2. Oh Donny...

Roger Stone has a new tattoo...

[RainCaster]

3. Nixon never got impeached. nt

[msongs]

4. nixon was probably a much better human being, for all his flaws nt

[C_U_L8R]

5. Fat Nixon says what?

[Baclava]

6. Cornered and shaking like a shithouse rat, ahh the pomp of a send off would be grand!

[Vogon_Glory]

7. Let me say this about that

In less than a week, you will not be the President.

(Sorry, my Richard Nixon imitations work better on audio).

[Jarqui]

8. Hope it is true that Pence is reluctant to pardon him

That killed Gerald Ford's political career.

Trump may not even pardon himself though I suspect he'll blink and do that.

Trump probably will not live long enough to get past all the legal troubles he's about to face.

[hlthe2b]

9. I worry more about him pardoning all the Insurrectionists

[Jarqui]

10. They're going to try to work up the chain of commend

to get to Trump.
If they're pardoned, they can't plead the 5th.

If he pardons some of them, the rest will be pissed off.

If he pardons all of them, it is a broad admission that they all committed a crime - which is not good for his own impeachment nor for his liability from the the civil lawsuits that are likely to follow, naming him as a defendant.

If you're Congress and he pardons all of them and himself., they're looking at this event occurring and not being able to hold anyone to account. So the pressure to impeach him would be enormous. A pardon cannot nullify an impeached offense.

He's not in a good place. But I'm sure he'll take the path that looks like it will benefit him the most because he doesn't give a crap about anyone else.