that Trump will leave the USA at some point in 2021, and won’t return unless/until he thinks he’s not at risk for any criminal charges he can’t buy his way out of. He won’t say he’s expatriating; he’ll say he’s going on vacation, or touring his properties or looking at places to buy more properties, or visiting important world leaders, or something of that sort.
Whether or not he’s in the USA, Trump will continue to fund raise ostensibly for political purposes, saying that he’s going to make another run in 2024; but 3) he won’t actually do so.
By 2027 and possibly sooner, pollsters trying to find out whether and how the political mood has shifted will find an implausibly small number of people willing to admit that they voted for Trump in 2020.
If it’s any comfort, your last prediction is pretty much impossible. Even if the GOP ran the table and won all 34 Senate seats in 2022 (extremely unlikely given California and New York are electing senators that year), and convinced Manchin to flip, they’d still be short of the 67 needed to convict and remove.
The no-Cabinet part sounds too extreme. Biden is going to have to go through his entire presidency with no SecDef, SecState, SecEnergy, SecLabor, SecCommerce, etc.? I don’t think even the reddest Republican Senate would stoop to that level.
I predict before 2023 is over Donald J. Trump and Sarah Palin will do a political commentary show on cable news, radio, or as a podcast (but not on Twitter because Trump will have a lifetime ban soon). It will be billed as a ‘light banter’ format until they each go off on their incredibly ill-conceived, illogical, and contradictory individual hot button issues – but they each dig in fiercely and have genuine on air knock down drag out fights at a level of dysfunction previously unheard of. They will shoot for Regis and Cathy Lee but end up closer Bobbitt or Buttafuoco territory.
This show will have YYUUUUUGGG ratings - - - but not as good ratings as the Alec Baldwin Tina Fey parody show making fun of the two of them. After one season Baldwin and Fey (whom will also be producers of the show) will withdraw from making further episodes explaining there is no way to produce a parody of a show that is itself already a joke. (I want to see the parody show even if Trump and Palin do not create the original!)
I predict within two years of Biden’s inauguration, Trump will face his most serious legal crisis when it is revealed he contacted his prosecutor (or ADA or whomever) and on a recorded line told the official if the charges are dropped he will tell his throngs of highly motivated, highly armed followers to abandon any attempts at retribution. I further predict Trump will claim what he said is not illegal, that he was just trying to negotiate a cost effective close to the matter and save the government the cost of a trial he was surly going to win anyway. Even though the recordings of him threatening the prosecutor are released, some devoted Trump supporters will think the whole thing is a hoax and any attempt to press charges will be a witch hunt.
Those two are just for my pleasure; this one I actually believe is likely: I believe Trump will be at the inauguration and try to draw as much attention to himself as possible. He will also say or do insane shit that completely derails coverage and changes the story from a positive, hopeful start of an administration into a dysfunctional circus with him in the center ring. He will know by then this will be his last time on camera for quite a while and he will ride that adrenalin high into a part of crazy town we have not yet seen (nothing to lose by then). I suspect the Biden team will tell the Trump team it is okay if he doesn’t want to show and Trump will INSIST upon being present.
I predict Trump will issue himself a pardon. He won’t see it as an admission of guilt. He will see it as a demonstration of his power to break the rules, like cheating at golf.
I predict Trump will not be present at Biden’s inauguration.
I predict Trump will announce that he will be seeking the 2024 nomination. He will do this, at the latest, within a month of the inauguration but I feel he will do it sooner. His stated reason will be that he really won this election and that shows the people want him to have a second term. His real reason will be he wants the attention and he doesn’t want to give up his campaign funds.
I predict Trump will schedule a campaign rally at the same time as Biden’s inauguration. Biden will have told people to stay home for disease control while Trump will encourage his followers to come to his rally. So Trump will have a larger crowd but less press coverage. Trump will claim this shows that the mainstream media are conspiring against him but he has more popular support than Biden.
Oh yes, I want in on this prediction. I did say (and I believe) he will not run in 2024, but I was thinking of closer to the actual election season. So I’ll agree that he will announce within Little_Nemo’s time frame. But by March 2023 he will not actually be running, because he’s dead, incapacitated, in jail, or something.
It is very much a comfort, thanks. Pessimism is almost a religion for me, and in a moment of extreme devotion I actually forgot conviction took a 2/3 majority. ::smack::
You don’t think Trump knows how to focus attention upon himself?
Let me ask you this, until this week, in the time since the election was declared who has gotten more press Biden, or Trump??? It was not the incoming President Elect (he is moving forward under difficult circumstances – now back to you in the studio). It was the outgoing loser has been (he has no public events, and he golfed today – used his sand wedge quite a bit, he tweeted his intention to…, he may try to pardon himself, he took credit for record breaking DJIA closing numbers even though it had nothing to do with him, his cases were dismissed with prejudice, called into a rally they are calling a ‘hearing’, has pardoned one of his cronies today – are more pardons coming, he sent out a tweet taking credit for allowing Biden to begin fake term in stolen election, he is drawing down troops against the recommendation of the generals, he has fired most people who have ever pissed him off, his legal defense fundraising effort is a scam, etc. Stay tuned there is more brewing at the moment.)
Anchor: What is happening with the Biden team?
Reporter: He has named fully competent professionals to fill posts in the new administration and it will be almost impossible to deny any of them confirmation. Biden has already done more to combat the pandemic than Trump has since it started, back to you in the studio.)
Anchor: Anything new with Trump?
Different reporter: Lots more golf, he is contact foreign leaders and embarrassing our country further, fired a lawyer he is now claiming was never part of the team, trying to fire others and further destabilize the Executive Branch for the incoming administration, more family and staff have Covid – none are distancing or quarantining, wearing masks at the White House have become a firing offense, the few Secret Service Agents he hasn’t infected with Covid are determined to remain professional and protect him, I have sources telling me…
If Trump is at Biden’s Inauguration – he will find a way to make it about himself. Even highly trained and disciplined veteran journalists will turn their microphones and cameras toward him when he [does something we can’t even imagine now]. I am certain he is STILL trying to get Hunter Biden arrested, would that make news at the inauguration?
The guy who is currently the President of the United States got more press coverage.
So here’s a tip; expect Trump’s press coverage to sharply drop around noon on January 20, 2021. Donald Trump will not be the star of Joe Biden’s inauguration.
You yourself think he is going to try to steal the spotlight away from Biden. If he is at the inauguration he will try to steal it there, if not he will attempt to distract from it elsewhere.
Trump stopped being the president in all but name when the race was called. He was even less the president when he lost or withdrew his legal challenges. He is not getting media coverage because he is the current president – he is getting media coverage because he is doing insane shit from a position of authority. In short he is an attention whore and he is less incompetent as an attention whore than he is at anything else. I am on record saying Trump will fade away after he is out of the White House, and he will. But he is not getting attention now because he is POTUS, he is getting attention because he is a train wreck it is hard to look away from him.
You do have a point here, he is yesterday’s news and the media is trying to distance themselves. But he makes it hard to ignore him. That is why if he does go to the inauguration he will turn that into some kind of spectacle that will focus on him. (it will literally be his last chance to be the man right up until Biden raises his hand.) If he is not there he will likely do something else to distract from Biden’s moment.
Senior California Senator Dianne Feinstein will not run for reelection in 2024. Sometime between the November 2022 midterm election and June 30, 2023, she will announce she is retiring at the end of her term. (I’ll consider myself correct if she announces or leaves earlier due to health reasons. Either way, she won’t run in 2024).
Fair enough.
Two things – it is the only reason I can imagine for Trump to be there, and as I said above - making himself the center of attention is easily where Trump is most competent. (Of course he will blather on and be ignored moments later, but if he is there I fully expect him to shift focus at some point.)
He may reach into his pocket and pull out a presidential proclamation declaring by Executive Order that this inauguration is unlawful and needs to be postponed until a full investigation has been completed. I don’t think he will be THAT crazy, but I have underestimated him before. He may try to declare martial law and have Biden arrested for spying on his 2016 campaign – whatever it is will be batshit crazy. He does not think about the long game so he will not be constrained.
The coverage is not “Today the President drew down troops” or “A Presidential Pardon has been issued”.
Instead the coverage is; “Can you believe Trump abused his power to issue a pardon??” or “He fired half the Pentagon to finally get someone to allow him to draw down troops!!” It is a significant difference if you see it or not. I am done discussing it, agree, disagree – I don’t care.