Trump's Ego May Land Him in Prison

Trump Would Be Well Advised to Plead Guilty and Cut a Deal and Listening to His Lawyers Might Help

Trump apparently thinks he is still hosting the Apprentice and calling the shot on who is fired, and his over-inflated ego causes him to not listen to anyone with more intelligence and understanding than himself. These two traits have caused our 45th President to be a criminal defendant in his Indictment by a Miami federal Grand Jury.

And our combative former President apparently thinks the lead up to his trial and eventual trial before a jury of South Floridians will present a new fund-raising opportunity. What it actually presents is a serious risk of Trump being found guilty of espionage putting national security at risk, obstruction of a federal grand jury investigation and conspiracy to retain high level national security documents in his Mar-A Lago and Bedminster Clubs. And how did Trump get himself in this predicament? Largely by following his inclination to reject the opinion of others and his belief, as he often said, that he was smarter than everyone else: all functions of an over exaggerated ego as his niece Mary Trump, a professional psychologist, has written.

Having read the Indictment of Trump by the Miami Grand Jury and the evidence it recites, including recorded meetings where Trump exhibited contingent military attack plans of Iran, prepared by the Defense Department, to persons without any security clearance, keeping high level security papers describing, among other topics, U.S. nuclear capabilities and the nuclear armaments of both allies and potential adversaries in haphazard condition and in places frequented by his Club members, including the stage of a ballroom used for weddings and events, and in deliberately hiding national security documents from his own attorneys and the Justice Department, leading to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, authorized by a U.S. Magistrate, one comes to the conclusion that Jack Smith has strong evidence that could result in Trump being found guilty and sentenced to a lengthy term of incarceration.

Though I have largely had a civil law practice for 51 years, reading the Trump

Indictment, if I were an attorney for Trump, I would do my best to impress upon him the gravity of the situation he is in, of his own making, and getting him to understand the high probability that he will be found guilty and sentenced to a major term of incarceration. Of course, Trump will not want to hear such a presentation as he always wants to surround himself with sycophants who will only tell him what he wants to hear. But Trump needs to suppress his ego and listen to his lawyers’ analysis of the facts and the law. Can he do that? Those who tried to give him a comprehensive and credible analysis were probably rejected or shouted down. Trump needs to only hear from Dr. Pangloss, and he does not appear capable of believing that he could be found guilty and imprisoned.

So, Trump’s ego will likely prevent him from hearing and believing the truth, and unless someone can break through that Trumpian ego and convince him that he needs to take a different path than his typical combative approach, Trump may end up as federal prisoner 67998.

Will Jack Smith entertain a negotiated guilty plea deal even if Trump were to change course, who knows? When defendants hide evidence from their own lawyers, the FBI and The Justice Department, as the Indictment alleges, Trump may not even be able to strike a plea deal even if he sees the proverbial writing on the wall.

Are any of Trump’s current attorneys or attorneys being interviewed to be retained by Trump after the major Trump Team resignations, able to focus Trump on the seriousness of his predicament? I have my doubts because anyone willing to represent Trump knows they are taking on a very difficult client who will mislead them and act contrary to his own interests if doing so satisfies his ego.

And Trump has not changed and is unlikely to change. In the 1980s I had a major construction arbitration case, and one attorney involved in the case represented Trump in other matters. So, I asked him, what was it like to represent Trump, and this tough New York lawyer said, it is terrible: he lies to you, he refuses to settle, he likes to push his opponent to the wall, and he doesn’t pay his legal fees.

Now for once I am sad that I missed an opportunity to serve on a jury. In May, 2023 I was summoned to serve as a juror in federal Judge Cannon’s Courtroom in Ft. Pierce, Florida, and I truthfully answered the Jury Questionnaire and was promptly informed that I was exempted from jury duty. So, I lost the opportunity to be a Trump juror and have a reserved seat at what Trump still thinks will be the Greatest Show on Earth.

I have to think that Trump’s ego and past history will result in Trump’s prosecution before a South Florida jury and before Judge Cannon who he nominated to the bench. But Judge Canon, having been strongly rebuked and reversed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the initial Trump documents case, may want to attempt to resurrect her posture as an unbiased District Judge, by being tough on Trump and his lawyers. Then there are news reports that Judge Cannon was selected by the random selection process. That has caused many to worry that Trump may get relieved of criminal liability again if Judge Cannon continues her obvious bias in favor of Trump. And in light of the severe adverse publicity she received in the first Trump documents case, she might recuse herself from Trump II.

Then there are reports that Judge Cannon may only handle pre-trial matters with a subsequent transfer to another federal judge. That is rather unusual but could be a limitation imposed by the Chief Judge of the SD Florida to prevent Judge Cannon from further embarrassing herself.

Now not only is Trump in serious jeopardy, but the Republican Party is so fixated on their partisan attack on nearly anything Biden or House or Senate Democrats. To the GOP, power is everything, and how they get it is of second or third rate importance. So because of this partisan attack fixation, which was initiated by Senator McConnell, the day Barack Obama took office as President. McConnell worked hard to undermine anything Obama tried to do, hoping it would lead to a Republican presidential victory in 2012, but that was not to be. Nevertheless, he kept focusing on opposing anything the Obama-Biden Administration sought.

Now McConnell’s tactic of opposition without a platform of their own, has resulted in the current House GOP focusing on anything where they can score political points, in their view. So weaponization hearings are the thing in the House, so they make false allegations for which evidence is lacking, cite Jim Jordan.

Now the Republicans have their biggest challenge: what to say about the very serious indictment of their overwhelming 2024 presidential favorite, Trump. So instead of thinking through the issues, they react with knee jerk partisanship, defending Trump no matter how serious the charges. Pence claims the indictment of Trump is a partisan attack by the Biden Administration. Kevin McCarthy says the Trump Indictment is a Biden Administration attack on our beloved Republican frontrunner, forgetting that a Special Counsel was appointed who actually presented the case to the Miami Grand Jury that voted a True Bill for Indictment. But, of course, the 2023 Republican Party lives in their own post-truth world.

Then there is presidential wannabe, Ron DeSantis, who claimed that God himself called him to save the nation. DeSantis does not want to directly challenge Trump on anything, fearing that Trump will best him in a confrontation. So he takes out his GOP talking points memo and says the Trump Indictment represents the weaponization of the Justice Department, apparently since he just found out that they can issue compulsory subpoenas.

So, seeing an opportunity, former Governor Chris Christie sees an opening, and hoping that everyone has forgot about Bridgegate, he attacks Trump for not properly handling national security documents but adds an attack on Jared and Ivanka about their earnings while working in the White House and how Jared used his position working for his father-in-law to get $2 billion from the Saudis for investment, when Jared has no major investment experience.

But Republican House members walk in lock-step with Speaker McCarthy claiming that the Trump Indictment is merely a made-up file storage problem and evidence of weaponization of The Justice Department.

Does the Republican Party really want to stand for irresponsible use of major national security documents? Do Republicans support sharing DOD contingent military attacks with people having no security clearance? Do Republicans believe people should feel free to hide national security documents which have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury? What do Republicans believe and how can they square their 2023 views with the past national security focus on protecting national security?

Unless, Republicans become comfortable with truth and break their Trump fever, they may find that even their voting restrictions and gerrymandering may not be sufficient to win elections.

If Trump reversed course and agreed to negotiate a guilty plea, as did General Petraeus and Sandy Berger, he might be able to reduce any potential sentence. If Republicans return to supporting national security and enforcement of restrictions on possession and use of national security documents, regardless of who mishandled them, they may improve their standing.

Do I think Trump will negotiate a guilty plea? No. Do I think Republicans will abandon lock-step support for Trump? No.