Trump’s Vulnerability

There is, I’m guessing, about a one-in-three chance that Trump’s criminality and betrayal of his oath of office will be so brightly illuminated that fellow members of the pack of hyenas who haven’t dared challenge the presumed alpha will see that he is so blazingly discredited in the public mind that it will be safe to break from him and run against him for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. The Republican Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is sufficiently consumed with that idea that he’s already snarling and baring his teeth. Other members of the pack, like Senator Ted Cruz and Texas governor Greg Abbott, and half a dozen or so others are equally eager to stop sniveling in Trump’s presence, nip sharply at his heels, and leap ahead of him and battle for the spoils. Only Trump’s most devoted followers, particularly ones who know that they may be in need of a presidential pardon, would be unhappy if he fails to win the nomination. There is a fair chance, if not a satisfying likelihood, that he will fall very far very fast.