While Trump threatens to sabotage the November election, Never Trumper Tom Nichols advised that the best way to war game is to follow the competent people in the Trump administration, such as Bill Barr.
In a discussion about a recent bipartisan war game of the election, in which all the scenarios found the law "almost helpless" against Trump should he decide to ignore it, Never Trumper and Lincoln Project adviser Tom Nichols had some good advice.
First, Nichols agreed with host Jonathan Capehart that Trump is probably afraid of leaving office for fear of being charged with federal crimes. “I think he’s probably researching how to pardon himself forever and in perpetuity,” Nichols said.
But there are others who want to keep Trump in power by any means necessary:
But there's also a group of Republicans and conservatives around him. They're like remoras stuck to the belly of this dying, thrashing shark. They think that keeping Trump in power by any means necessary is kind of their last-ditch effort to save western civilization, to pack the courts … to try to keep moving forward with voter suppression so that they can enable minority rule for years to come.
As horribly depressing and frightening as that is, Nichols also predicted “a lot of that” will backfire. The fact that Sen. Mitch McConnell is telling Republicans it’s OK to distance themselves from Trump indicates that at least some people will balk, Nichols said.
That’s why the best way to game out election shenanigans is probably by watching Barr and other professionals on Team Trump:
And I keep saying, let's not get too distracted by Trump. Keep your eye on Bill Barr, keep your eye on some of the people around him who are a lot more competent, a lot less emotionally disorderered than he is and who know exactly what they're doing.
