# What's Trump's end game for the last 14 days of his presidency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 3, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599 "2021-01-03T22:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/221 "2021-01-10T18:10:18Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > It now occurs to me that if he is impeached and removed, he loses his lifetime protective security detail. He’d have to be removed before the end of his term, which right now seems unlikely. If he makes it to 1/20 at noon, a subsequent impeachment and conviction won’t affect his status under the Former Presidents Act — he’d keep the perks. (Congress and Biden could change the act, of course.) I suspect the perks are important to him. This is someone who used his charity foundation to pay his son’s Boy Scout dues. A free protective detail and a six-figure pension are things of value; he would put serious effort into keeping them by running out the clock. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/222 "2021-01-10T18:16:53Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I’d still prefer to see him formally impeached, and soon followed by his key enablers in Congress but I doubt the Senate will be able to muster the votes. Yup. Just do your jobs Congress. Though of course the Senate will balk at this many probably voting ‘Present’. Pelosi : “Oh, you need proof of more crimes? Ok, we’ll send it over” Impeach him now and fast. This might help the USA as being taken seriously on the world stage that we support democracy. It’s a start. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/223 "2021-01-10T18:25:38Z")
I’ll just point out that – from a security perspective – there’s no more ideal situation for the Secret Service to protect of a former President than an isolation cell in a federal prison. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/224 "2021-01-10T18:46:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This why I laugh every time I hear conservatives saying Nikki Haley is the ideal Republican candidate. It shows a stunning lack of awareness of who the Democratic base will vote for and who the Republican base will not vote for. Given four years for the RW media to work on it I suppose they could convince the rubes that Nikki Haley is totally Caucasian. Hell, they managed to convince the rubes Trump was presidential material. Twice. A minor fib like “Haley is Caucasian” ought to be easy. The fact she looks the part helps. But probably even that isn’t strictly necessary for the fib to succeed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/225 "2021-01-10T19:11:27Z")
According to traditional racial categories (Caucasian, Ethiopian/Negroid, Mongoloid) South Asians like Haley _are_ Caucasian. Those from northern India are also Aryan. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/226 "2021-01-10T19:27:56Z")
Thanks for the correction. Heck, that may help the RW media sell the fib. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/227 "2021-01-10T19:37:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Given four years for the RW media to work on it I suppose they could convince the rubes that Nikki Haley is totally Caucasian. Hell, they managed to convince the rubes Trump was presidential material. Twice. A minor fib like “Haley is Caucasian” ought to be easy. > > The fact she looks the part helps. But probably even that isn’t strictly necessary for the fib to succeed. But the whole theory rests on the conservative belief that Democrats are helpless when confronted by race and gender; we’d have to vote for Haley because she’s vaguely non-white. It’s the siren call of identity politics! This is an example of conservatives drinking their own koolaid. The Republicans are the ones who are wrapped up in identity politics; as I noted above they only vote for white men. Democrats don’t obsess over race or gender; we can vote for Joe Biden or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris. We vote for a candidate based on their abilities and ideology not based on their skin color or genitals. So Democrats wouldn’t vote for Nikki Haley because she’s a conservative and Republicans wouldn’t vote for her because she’s a non-white (by their standards) woman. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/228 "2021-01-10T19:39:39Z")
Republicans/conservatives aren’t that dumb - they’re perfectly aware Democrats would never have voted for Palin, for instance. Rather, they are trying to use the hypocrisy angle - _“these liberals claim to be feminist, yet here they are savaging a woman.”_ It was one of their primary reasons for wanting Barrett to be nominated for Supreme Court; the optics of Democrats criticizing a female nominee. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/229 "2021-01-10T19:44:05Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > [@dtilque](#): > > > > He could federalize them and order them home. > > The president can call the National Guard into federal service for certain conditions, but I’m not sure that means he can order them to stand down when he’s not the one who called them in to start with. If that happened it would probably result in a court case to establish a precedent. The precedent is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas\_National\_Guard\_and\_the\_integration\_of\_Central\_High\_School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_National_Guard_and_the_integration_of_Central_High_School) OK, that’s not a court case, but it is a precedent. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/230 "2021-01-10T19:45:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So Democrats wouldn’t vote for Nikki Haley because she’s a conservative and Republicans wouldn’t vote for her because she’s a non-white (by their standards) woman. Agreed 100% on the first half. As to the second, my point was the power of RW media is such that given 4 years to work on it, the typical Republican could be made to believe Nikki Haley is as uppercase-W White as the late Barbara Bush. You’re of course right that’d still leave that whole pesky being-a-woman thing as a reason for R voters to not vote for her. My point, such as it was, was meant semi-facetiously. But only semi-. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/231 "2021-01-10T19:56:00Z")
I’ve addressed this in a little more detail elsewhere, but they also have a big problem in that Trump and his hardcore supporters own the RNC and all the fundraising platforms, and they apply strict pro-Trump purity tests on candidates they fund and endorse. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/232 "2021-01-10T20:15:52Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Trump and his hardcore supporters own the RNC and all the fundraising platforms Please share a reference to your post on the above. I’d like to read more about this. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/233 "2021-01-10T20:36:01Z")
Here you go — > **[Trump’s ‘WinRed’ Donation Platform Could Funnel Millions To Ex-White House...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-winred-kushner_n_5d27bcf8e4b0060b11e9cbf5)** > > Trump and GOP officials ignored an existing system that already has thousands of Republican candidates as clients. > **[Trump takes control of the GOP machine](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-republican-party-takeover-states-237075)** > > The White House and its allies are taking over the Republican infrastructure, one state party at a time. > **[Trump’s Takeover of the Republican Party Is Almost Complete (Published 2019)](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/trump-republican-party.html)** > > The Trump campaign has helped install allies atop the most significant state parties, and has urged them to discourage conservative criticism of the president. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/234 "2021-01-12T03:06:52Z")
Well, there’s one thing he planned that he won’t be doing… > **[Bill Belichick on Medal of Freedom: Will 'not move forward'](https://theathletic.com/news/bill-belichick-presidential-medal-of-freedom-patriots/agofT8v4lcIQ/)** > > New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick released a statement saying he will “not move forward” with receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/235 "2021-01-14T17:36:46Z")
Down to 6 days. He just stiffed Rudy. Probably can’t afford to pay him. But maybe Rudy will get mad and tell all. He is the most impeached president ever. World record. NYTimes headline today in 60 pt type: IMPEACHED ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/236 "2021-01-14T17:46:53Z")
I’m wondering about the order to stiff Rudy. He’s Trump’s personal, private attorney. What involvement do White House staff have in his billing? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/237 "2021-01-14T17:57:15Z")
It could just be Trump being a petty dumb-ass. Trump just wants everybody to know that Rudy isn’t get paid, regardless of who has actual authority to pay him. I could easily imagine that Trump doesn’t even know who’s supposed to be paying him. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/238 "2021-01-14T18:06:34Z")
At this point I imagine Trump is just shouting orders into the air, or maybe at his hat rack. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/239 "2021-01-14T18:12:36Z")
Now we know why Rudy wanted 20K/day. He surely knew that maybe he’d get two or three billables in before Donald screwed him over. > [@Deeg](#): > > It could just be Trump being a petty dumb-ass. Trump just wants everybody to know that Rudy isn’t get paid, regardless of who has actual authority to pay him. I could easily imagine that Trump doesn’t even know who’s supposed to be paying him. > [@flurb](#): > > At this point I imagine Trump is just shouting orders into the air, or maybe at his hat rack. He has always come across as the kind of top boss who sort of says to the room in general, to everyone and no one in particular, what he’d want to happen, and then see whoever falls over themselves trying to figure out how to make it happen. So the hat rack is perfectly within the scope. More likely the TV. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599/240 "2021-01-14T18:17:47Z")
Don’t most people pay a retainer to their attorney? If Rudy did not insist on that, he is the dumbest person in the world. I know… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-end-game-for-the-last-14-days-of-his-presidency/929599.md?page=13)