What I bet is Trump strategy now is to negotiate for a non prosecution deal.
I will concede and stop all stirring up shit, if you don't charge me with a crime.
I remember watching John McCain's concession speech in 2008, and having been deeply impressed at the time by the dignity, integrity and sincerity - and the tone and content - of his delivery.
Good job you remember it since that's not likely what one from Trump will sound like, assuming someone can even get him to sign off on any proposed drafts.
Maybe (and needing a pardon herself) Ivanka could get him to go for a "patriotic statesman" pose and promise him that his concession and early resignation from office while first "magnamimously pardoning any who may have erred in managing a tumultous administration yada yada yada" will result in a golden-hued legacy for all time as the most patriotic American since George Washington. That should do it. He always thought he had topped all those guys anyway.
Whatever they promise him has to look good enough to endure one more instance of 90 seconds' worth of reading something off a teleprompter that someone had practically frog-marched him out there to do, during campaigns and a presidency perpetually marred by impulsive or poor decisions and scripted walkbacks.
Meanwhile that infernal lackey Graham is talking about a half million dollar donation for Trump's fight to stay in office via court fights.
One wonders really how knotty a set of problems the GOP is about to face.
Trump will not want to concede.
Trump will not want to resign early just to get a pardon himself from Mike Pence.
But Trump will likely want to pardon his crime-fam in the West Wing and campaign staff plus his entire administration (including past employees) assuming he even admits anyone in his court full of lackeys ever did anything wrong.
Of course Trump could solve a lot of these hassles himself by just completely melting down and netting himself a full-throated GOP cabinet exercise of the 25th Amendment... and let Pence figure out who he feels like pardoning before attending (as outgoing acting President) the inauguration of Biden. But as enticing as that might sound, it would not sit well with Trump's constituency, which has cast more votes for him in 2020 than they did in 2016.
So I'm sure glad I'm not wearing a hat in the RNC at the moment, never mind be one of the inner circle who will have to help a decompensating narcissist thread the needle to a grand and glorious finale to his presidency... one that always seemed to me to be one godforsaken wee hours tweet away from catastrophic.
They should start by shutting down Trump's tweetbox with a statesman-like remark that in the interests of a smooth transition, his further communications during the transition will be via the White House Press Office. And then they should fire Kayleigh McEnany and let someone reasonable in there put out press releases that Mike Pence authorizes.... not Pence's office (where Stephen Miller's wife works), but Pence himself. The head of the RNC is a Trump lackey, so she's not a reliable ghost-writer of White House statements during the transition.
