PMSNBC's Chris Matthews Suggests Trump May Resign in Deal to Spare His Children Prison

Huge "Bushie" and suck-up to the Washington neoconservative political class Chris Matthews has now officially floated the idea of a "grand bargain" to end the Trump presidency without Trump family prosecution. Trump would have to resign apparently, not just choose to limit himself to one term. Is Matthews privy to something? Probably not. He is likely just offering his own wishful thinking, and maybe getting some second hand info from the Bush expats who now fill the punditocracy over at PMSNBC. Maybe Meacham told him something. A grand bargain of some sort, however, is not out of the question eventually. Simply because it would save the GOP from an internal civil war over a Trump 2020 campaign. The daytime crowd over at PMSNBC are already chattering about whether a "brave hero" will challenge Trump in the primaries, and even FAT!Rush today on his radio show offered the idea that Trump ought to consider not running for reelection and shut down the government over the budget (something that apparently is now not going to happen).

(thewrap.com) - “Giving up the presidency in exchange for acquittals all around,” Chris Matthews says, promoting a novel legal idea.

Chris Matthews floated a novel legal theory on his MSNBC show “Hardball” Monday evening suggesting President Trump could resign as part of a deal with prosecutors to spare his children the possibility of being indicted and sent to prison.

“The president’s children stand right in the line of Mueller’s investigative progress — they stand as the next dominos to fall. But therein lies the problem, where earlier Mueller subjects have given Trump up, these two lack the option to do that,” Matthews said. “They can hardly testify against their father, which brings the country to the reckoning. If the prosecutor will not be stopped and the kids will not fall to him, we see the president’s adult children heading to prison.”

“But what if the prosecutor were to offer the president an alternative, what if he were to say he would let the children walk if the old man does the same?” he continued. “They get to go scot-free if he’s willing to take the Agnew way out. That would mean giving up the presidency in exchange for acquittals all around, not just for himself, but for all his kids.”

The “Agnew way out” refers to President Richard Nixon’s twice-elected vice president Spiro Agnew, who was forced to resign his office after growing questions about tax evasion in 1973.

Matthews floated at the end of his segment that this timeline could all play out in “the coming weeks.” So far Robert Mueller’s investigation has yielded multiple indictments including against former Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn. READ MORE

Not So Fast! Trump Mocks Closure of ‘Never Had a Clue’ Bill Kristol’s The Weekly Standard: ‘May It Rest in Peace!’

Bill Kristol's "political war machine" just ran off its tracks apparently. JEB! 2020 is probably not off to a good start. Selling JEB! will require a lot of voter suppression and rule rigging. And Trump's impeachment and conviction.

(thewrap.com) - Dec 15 2018 - Donald Trump took aim at The Weekly Standard a day after the conservative magazine announced it would shut down on after 23 years.

“The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard, run by failed prognosticator Bill Kristol (who, like many others, never had a clue), is flat broke and out of business. Too bad. May it rest in peace!” the president wrote on his Twitter account Saturday.

The magazine, founded by commentator Bill Kristol in 1995 but which has suffered in recent years as a rare conservative voice of anti-Trump opinion, confirmed the closure on Friday. The last issue will be published on Dec. 17. READ MORE

Bushie Bill Kristol is building a political war machine and seeking a Republican candidate (JEB!?) to take on President Donald Trump in 2020

(CNBC) - One of President Donald Trump's most vocal opponents is creating a political war machine to take on the commander in chief when it comes time for him to run for re-election in 2020.

Bill Kristol, who served in the administrations of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, says his nonprofit organization Defending Democracy Together is seeking a GOP candidate to run against Trump in 2020.

"We are thinking of and doing preliminary work to prepare for a primary run against Trump," Kristol said in an interview on Thursday. "People aren't going to say they will run against Trump unless they have the infrastructure but I've been trying to persuade people that it may not be that difficult," he added. READ MORE

Here is a (probably totally fictional, but highty entertaining) scenario for 2020

Will Trump be impeached?  Can Trump survive Mueller? Will Trump be the GOP nominee in 2020? Here is a scenario worthy of reality TV.

The real interplay between the Republican political class and Trump has always been one of fear and loathing. Always.  They fear their own voters that Trump has marshaled against them (and their Crown Prince John Ellis Bush with devastating success in 2016). No GOP apparatchik, not Mitch "The Turtle" McConnell, not Paul "Feel The Burn" Ryan, or "Bawb" Corker wished to be the next JEB! Bush, humiliated and marginalized in their own party, the party they created and owned, and the party Trump stole from them.

McConnell dealt with Trump in a way you would expect of a creature like him.  He stayed out of his way, kept his reptilian mouth mostly shut while he stroked Trump to pass his tax cuts and other elite friendly policies.  McConnell, like all Republicans, likes Trump's corrupt privatizing, deregulatory policies, and McConnell has now transformed himself from one reptile into another, now a viper, and is waiting for the right moment to strike the interloper he privately despises.

Ryan and Coker chose the "out" route, getting out of the way entirely until the political class reasserts control of their political country club and kicks Trump out. Ryan can always run for something again, president probably in a few years after pretending to leave politics so he can "spend more time with my family," etc.  Coker's elective political career is likely finished in Trump Country Tennessee, which will alway hate him going forward, but Coker probably has designs on at minimum a very lucrative lobbying career, or perhaps Secretary of State if the Republicans can ever manage to elect another actual Republican president again.

Lindsey Graham chose yet another route.  Becoming a massive "suck up" to Trump.  Perhaps that comes naturally for Lindsey, but the various conspiracy theories floating around the 'net about Russian or Mossad "kompromat" fed to Trump about Lindsey's well guarded romantic life seem farfetched. More likely Lindsey thought it best to play Gollum to Trump in order to get the "ring" of power as the new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but like the mythical Gollum, he will turn flamboyantly against him again when Mueller makes his case, and will join the Viper Club to hold that ring.

How will it play out? How about this way.

The GOP is quietly looking for a way not to have to nominate Trump again in 2020.  One way perhaps to avoid that fiasco is to allow Viper Club Bush Republican Mueller to work out a "grand bargain" with Trump quietly when he has finished assembling the "goods" on him.  Show Rudy a draft of the indictments coming against Roger Stone, Junior and Jared, and the draft report on conspiracy with Russians, and offer Trump a deal: Don't run in 2020, and also don't say anything in public, including social media, against the process or the nominee.  Keep out of it, and the feds will leave you and your family alone, and we can also bring New York state into this and they won't prosecute you and your family either.  If you will just spare the country any more of yourself.

As far as Roger Stone and others are concerned, to quote fearless FBI agent Harvey Keitel from National Treasure, "somebody's got to go to jail." If you don't believe JEB! and the entire Bush family would love to see Roger Stone in prison, then you need to read THIS BOOK to find out why they do.

If such a deal is offered Trump, and he accepts it, end of story.  Pence runs, maybe JEB! runs too. Either might be the nominee, and either steal the general election, or lose it because Trump's people don't show up sensing he was "forced out."

There are "middle ground" options where Trump might agree to such a deal, then break it by attacking Pence, etc.

Then there is the option where either the deal is not offered, or Trump refuses it if it is, knowing he can't stay out of the way probably, or he simply doesn't trust Mueller. or his ability to guarantee such a grand bargain.

It's in the "no deal" or "no acceptance" options that things really get exciting and entertaining.

Let's say Trump goes ahead and runs.  Mueller indicts Junior and Jared at a minimum for process crimes, and potentially as part of a conspiracy with Russians or obstruction of justice.  Mueller's indictments and report are brutal on Trump and name him an un-indicted co-conspirator on obstruction and/or conspiracy counts.

The House eventually impeaches Trump, and Pence decides to run against him in the primaries, or more likely JEB! enters the primary race as the anti-Trump, and Pence joins the Viper Club and waits for a convention draft.

With JEB! running in the primaries and getting 35 percent of the vote, and Pence coiled and ready to strike later, Trump decides he will run as an independent in the general election if Republicans dump him in the convention, either for JEB! or Pence. He makes those intentions clear.

This is the scenario where a Senate conviction by Republicans becomes a certainty.  The moment the Viper Club strikes.

Convicting Trump and removing him from office sometime in early 2020 would save the GOP from having Trump "trump" them by running third as a sitting president if they don't re-nominate him after a devastating encounter with Mueller.  If Trump is removed from office, he can be indicted and arrested, and won't be able to run in 2020 as anything.  The Republicans might well lose the election by doing that, but they will have their country club back under their control.  They can change the nominating and primary rules to make sure someone like Trump never steals their party again, and hope that in 4 or 8 years they can sell another "compassionate" Bush or some other "aw shucks" and "Jesus is my favorite philsopher" plutocrat enabler over on the rubes in the country with prostituted religion, a return to "coded" racism, or whatever.

Never underestimate the intelligence or the knowledge of the American voter.  You can bet Mitch, Mike, JEB!, Paul and others in the Viper Club won't ever again.

Trump's Search for a New Chief of Staff Has Reality TV Feel - "Fat & Furious" Demurs

Even right wing media outlets like Newsmax are reporting a "circus" like atmosphere surrounding the current "hunt" for a new Cirque du Trump Ringmaster. There was only one viable option.  Chris Christie. However, in a sure sign of real trouble ahead for Trump, Christie apparently doesn't want to be the big rat that breaks the towline in a scrabble off the burning "showboat" of the Trump presidency.  He met with Trump today and told him, "thanks but no thanks."

(Newsmax) - Serious contenders are hiding from view. Celebrity hangers-on are applying via Twitter. Fresh names circulate practically on the hour. And the man in charge is stoking much of the confusion.

President Donald Trump's hunt for a new chief of staff has taken on the feel of a reality TV show.

No leading name has emerged in the days since Trump's preferred candidate to replace John Kelly bowed out. But the void has quickly filled with drama. British journalist Piers Morgan suggested in a Daily Mail column that he would be a good fit, while former major league slugger Jose Canseco tweeted his interest to Trump. Speculation has swirled around an array of Trump associates, prompting some to distance themselves from the job.

When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited the White House this week, he insisted it was merely to see the Christmas decorations.

Trump met Thursday with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to discuss the job, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. READ MORE

(Faux News) - Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie withdrew from consideration Friday for White House chief of staff, saying he has asked President Trump to take him out of the running in the search for John Kelly's successor.

“It’s an honor to have the president consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief of staff,” Christie said in a statement. “However, I’ve told the president that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked him to no longer keep me in any of his considerations for this post.”  READ MORE

There Actually May Be A Way Forward For (The Still?) Crown Prince in 2020

Believe it or not, the idea of JEB! 2020 may not be as absurd as it seems. Here is the deal. Next year will be make or break for Trump. If JEB! were to enter the race against him later in the year, it seems likely there will not be a big field to dilute his anti-Trump vote as was the case in 2016.  Probably no Little Marco. Pence won't (likely) run as long as Trump remains president, so JEB! might have to contend only with, say Jeff Flake who would not have support with Republican primary voters.  He would get the Poppy sympathy vote.  He would say "Chaos president, I told you so!" Jon Meacham might write a quick glowing clip job biography and position book for him.

If JEB! ran as the only real "protest" vote against Trump, he would be guaranteed at least 30 to 35 % of the disaffected primary vote as the fallout from the Mueller investigation, etc. diminished Trump.  If in the end the GOP then decided, once JEB! is safely the only other viable primary option besides Trump, to throw Trump under the bus in 2020, JEB! will be the one standing to take his place as the nominee.

JEB! would need to enter early enough to dissuade  from running the only real problem for him and
that strategy, and that would be Nikki Haley.  He would need her to stay out and then agree to be his running mate should he be there to take Trump's place.

If something like this were to happen, would JEB! stand much of a chance in the general election?
Probably not, but you never know when a Bush is on the ballot. If you think you saw a lot of Republican voter suppression and fraud in the last midterm election, in places as diverse as Kansas, North Dakota and North Carolina, you can't imagine what you would see if they had a chance to put another Bush in power, and Brett Kavanaugh would be there to help out from the Supreme Court bench if needed.

Trump vs. the Bushes: A political rivalry of its time

The sitting president and his party's most distinguished family have made no secret of their mutual loathing.

(Politico) - President Donald Trump had nothing but words of praise for George H.W. Bush in the hours following his death Friday, dubbing the 41st president a public servant of “sound judgement, common sense, and unflappable leadership” who “always found a way to set the bar higher.” But there has been no shortage of enmity between the Bush family and their most immediate Republican successor in the Oval Office. Here’s a look back at some of the sharpest barbs exchanged between Trump and perhaps the GOP’s most storied political dynasty. 
READ MORE