Trump's Seven Magic Tricks Revisited, again
"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August, 2018)
The subject of what I call "Trump's Seven [formerly Six] Magic Tricks" is one that I have visited a number of times in the past, most recently (a little over a year ago) in columns entitled "Trump's 'Constitution,' The Seven Magic Tricks, and the Republo-Fascists." As I have said, "[t]hey are the tricks of guile and gall that made him wealthy (on paper at least), successful (on paper, at least in the real estate business --- although in the others he tried, such as an airline, steaks, casinos --- not so much), the President of the United States, and the de facto leader of the Republo-fascist Party.
I do have to say that when I penned [to use a turn-of-phrase] that last clause, little did I know how increasingly applicable it was to become both to [Dictator-for-a-day] Trump and to what is left of the former Republican Party. E.g., have you heard that big sucking-up sound lately? One was made by the formerly "moderate" Rep. Elise Stefanik, going after both Judge Engoron and A.G. James in the New York State civil fraud trial. (These, of course, are prime examples of Trump's Magic Tricks, in this case #2: "Always attack; never defend." Stefanik is learning well. She might even get the V-P nod [that is if she can out-sycophant Sen. Hugh "Jews for Hitler" Scott]). And now back to the full Magic Tricks list.
1. Trump has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both.
2. For decades he has had a standard operating procedure when he faces an adversary of any kind. He learned it from Roy Cohn (who learned it from Joseph McCarthy): "Always attack; Never defend." A variation on this Trick is to utter a falsehood, and then just say it over, and over, and over again.
3. Also learned from Roy Cohn is the mantra: "when you run into a problem, just sue." You may not win, and it may cost you some money. But a) you might win and b) with the endlessness with which civil litigation can be drawn out in the U.S. legal system, that other side may just get worn out.
4. In the whole of his business life, Trump has never been responsible to anyone else, either above him (except for Dad, of course) or even alongside.
5. Trump has (for the most part happily) lived his life surrounded by enemies, whether in business, in his personal life, in his banking and financial life (except for a select few, like Deutsche Bank), certainly in politics, and not just at this time. In dealing with them, his "Art of the Deal" has not been deal-making, but attempted opponent-crushing. Negotiation is just not his thing.
6. Trump is history's greatest con man (a subject to which I have also devoted a previous column). And, it should be noted that the Con Man or Woman, by definition, always knows that what they are selling is lie. (In late 2022, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman published a whole book on the subject: Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.)
7. And, added more recently: "Oh woe is me; everyone's against me, and it's so unfair[!]"
So, let's see just how Trump is using his Magic Tracks now, as the legal walls, both civil and criminal, are closing in about him.
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In the text below, I use "TMT" as the abbreviation for "Trump's Magic Trick."
TMT 1. Trump has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both. As it happens, these are fading fast. In fact, I cannot think of one who is the equivalent of the list from his past that I am about to briefly review. Trump's father (Numero uno) and Roy Cohn (co-Numero uno) are both long-gone. Roger Stone, who, much smarter than Trump, gave him some of his best ideas, seems to have left him in the lurch. Rudy Giuliani, buried in his own deep pit of troubles, is of no more use. Bill Barr, his Master-Protector during almost all his Presidency, got out while the getting was good (and it is nice to contemplate, I must say, the predicament Barr would have found himself in were he still to have been around, around on "Jan. 6"). And of course, his "fixer" for so many years, Roger Cohen, his turned fully against him. As for his present crew of lawyers, they are either bumbling incompetents or have recently left. E.g., New York's Joe Tacopina, a defense lawyer with a good reputation, has just gotten out while the getting is still good. (See the reference for a list.) As or Allen Weiselberg, what is there to say? So, it would appear, this one isn't working for him, at least as of now.
TMT 2. For decades he has had a standard operating procedure when he faces an adversary of any kind. He learned it from Roy Cohn (who learned it from Joseph McCarthy): "Always attack; Never defend." A variation on this Trick is to utter a falsehood, and then just say it over and over and over again. Say it enough times and of course the MAGAs will believe it along with a few others here and there. It goes without saying that Trump is using this one incessantly, against any judges, prosecutors, news sources, politicians, what-have-you, who are opponents or who he perceives as opponents.
TMT 3. Also learned from Roy Cohn is the mantra: "when you run into a problem, just sue." You may not win, and it may cost you some money. But a) you might win and b) with the endlessness with which civil litigation can be drawn out in the U.S. legal system, the other side may just get worn out. This one isn't working well for him either. First, of course, he is now involved in four major criminal or crime-related cases, that is: the E. Jean Caroll sexual assault case, which he compounded by civilly defaming her almost immediately after his conviction (without giving it a second thought, presumably because he has gotten away with such behavior so many times in the past); the "Documents Case" in Florida (which his "friendly," shall-we-say, judge seems to have slowed down just as much as she can, and no more); the "Jan. 6" case in Washington, and the so-called "hush money" case in New York (where the crime was not keeping the porn-star payoff secret --- such payoffs are by themselves legal --- but criminal rather in the manner in which [cover-up again] just how the payments were made [which is where Roger Cohen comes in]). And so, in criminal matters, there is no one for Trump to sue (at least within the criminal justice system). However, there is of course an equivalent tactic here: using the legal system to engage in his favored tactic of delay, delay, delay. But even for Trump this has its limits, as we are beginning to see play out in all of these cases.
TMT 4. In the whole of his business life, Trump has never been responsible to anyone else, either above him (except for Dad, of course) or even alongside. Again, that's fine when you are dealing with civil crime. It just doesn't work when it is a system --- that is the criminal justice system (here, in several different settings) --- to which you are being held accountable.
TMT 5. Trump has (for the most part happily) lived his life surrounded by enemies, whether in business, in his personal life, in his banking and financial life (except for a select few, like Deutsche Bank), certainly in politics, and not just at this time. In dealing with them, his "Art of the Deal" has not been deal-making, but attempted opponent-crushing. Negotiation is just not his thing. Again, because presently it is in the criminal, not the civil, justice system in which his enemies reside, as much as he tries to do so, he can no longer use such figures as useful foils, to bounce off. Attorney General James, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, District Attorney Willis are folks whose beings you cannot turn to use to your own advantage: the have The Law behind them. (This is true except in his propaganda circles, of course. There, Trump is indeed using them to a fare-thee-well, primarily to enhance his grifting; see TMT 6.)
TMT 6. So far Trump does retain his title as History's Greatest Con Man. He is actually raising money from the MAGA crowd (some of whom, at least, don't have that much of it) to help pay for his rapidly-mounting legal fees. (It is said that he is no longer able to use the side trick that he has used in the past --- not paying his attorneys. He apparently now has to pay them up front.) With all of his various products (none of which were ever very successful, except for some of his real estate, his golf courses, and his "brand" [which he is currently boasting about --- one wonders just how long his "brand" will last), he still has to continually come up with new ones, like the shoes and the cologne. Of course, the biggest Con is the story that he still promotes from time-to-time (and certainly numbers of political allies-operatives continue to do so as well) that he actually won in 2020. Of course, that's his biggest con, and if he is able to rig the election, and the vote-counting, better next time than he did the last time, he may just become President again.
TMT 7. The "Woe is me" trick doesn't need any further explanation in this instance. BUT, it is one that he is using with increasing frequency and intensity, in his speeches, in his on-line jabberings, in interviews (oh yes, Hannity is still an acolyte and course so is Carson), sometimes in court (when he can get away with it), and in his fund-raising.
As I have said more than once in this space, I think that Trump is going to flee the country, with as much of his money as he can manage to take out with him. As is well-known, he must put up very significant sums in both the New York State fraud case and the E. Jean Carroll case. And then, unless he has a lot more available cash than most everyone thinks he has --- and if he did, why did he ask for a 30-day delay (quickly denied, by the way) before being required to put up a bond --- if he is going to get out (of the country) with any kind of a substantial sum, he is going to have to do this soon. If he does, of course he will continue his political campaign from overseas. How that would/could work and how much of the Republican political leadership/elected officials would stay with him, would remain to be seen.
(But you can bet your bottom dollar that a whole bunch of the MAGA crowd would. After all, he is still their Racist-in-Chief, and until someone else comes along who is as convincing a racist as he is comes along, a significant chunk of them will stick with him, even if he is enjoying the beach-side, not at Mar-a-Lago of course, but somewhere on the Persian Gulf [to be sure in nation there that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States: Click Here, see Appendix II]).
Bottom line? Trump still has his Seven Magic Tricks. But as we have seen above, as he ages, so do they, right along with him. Trump is in deeper in all kinds of [waste-matter] than he has ever been before in his life. To repeat, he never before has faced criminal charges. He, and we, are about to find out if the Magical Seven will work as well for him this time around, as they have on virtually every occasion in the past, in the civil arena. I, and many others, of course hope very much that they will not. But, who knows? He still holds the title of "History's Greatest Con Man." He may just have one more Con, this time the Con-to-beat-all-Cons, in him.