President Pence or President Pelosi?

No one knows where all this madness will lead. But one thing is for sure: The walls are closing in on The Don and this may be the one time his inner Houdini will be foiled. The narcissistic and sociopathic, lying, scamming, delusional bully may have run out of real estate.

So what will The Don do when he is cornered like the rat he is and there is nowhere to go? Well, let’s imagine.

Before we let our imaginations run wild, let’s look at the real stuff. Let’s review the current investigations bearing down on him.

Of course, there is the witch-hunt of Robert Mueller. In that domain, issues of collusion and obstruction of justice loom heavily on The Don’s psyche.

Then there is Michael Cohen’s testimony in the Southern District of New York. Cohen stated unequivocally that The Don was involved in the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal and that the payments were hush money to help his campaign. Cohen’s testimony is also supported by David Pecker, CEO of AMI, publisher of The National Enquirer. Cohen claims more corroborating evidence exists.

There is now an investigation in to the $100 million dollars raised for The Don’s inauguration. Supposedly, 40 million of it is not accounted for and there is suspicion that donations came from foreign entities which is a big no, no. Also, it puts our dear Ivanka in its cross hairs, as she is known to be involved with the flow of this money.

The Attorney General of New York is also looking in to the Don’s business organization and his foundation, where he will most likely find a treasure trove of malfeasance. Eric, Don Jr. and Ivanka are very much involved as well. The beauty of a NYS investigation is pardons don’t work there.

There are currently lawsuits in to The Don’s violation of the emoluments clause. Unlike Jimmy Carter, who sold his peanut business when he became president to avoid any conflict of interest, The Don in his brazen way, in full public display, has been cashing in on his presidency.

And I promise, when all is said and done, Prince Jared’s financial shenanigans and Russian dalliances will implicate him as well.

This is how a wise friend of mine, Dan Shapiro, riffed on what could happen with The Don.

Last night I got a deja-vu from my memories of the trajectory of Watergate.  It now feels to me like the momentum and snowballing effect we’re seeing can’t be stopped.

If it becomes clear that Trump will be indicted when he’s out of office, he might well pull a Nixon and make a deal with Pence.  Resign for a pardon. That said, I doubt that Pence would agree if there wasn’t significant time in the term left for him.  Pence would realize that pardoning Trump would probably ensure that he couldn’t be re-elected (as pardoning Nixon did for Ford) so why would he do it just for a few month cameo as president.  My best guess is that the Trump resigns in the next 6 or 7 months.  Of course Trump may remain in denial that the feds can get him or remain delusional that he can win in 2020 (and let the time run out on statute of limitations on his crimes), and decide to stay in office.  Then hopefully, when he loses the election, we get to see him go to jail!

Let’s stay with the Pence pardon scenario. It is conceivable that as more and more irrefutable evidence is revealed, The Don will revert to his transactional self and like his numerous bankruptcy filings, decide to divest (of the presidency), somehow claim victory (America doesn’t deserve me!) and try to cash in on all the nefarious business deals he worked out while president.

In this scenario, Pence pardons him and the man who calls his wife ‘mother’, assumes the presidency. It will be known as the Mommy and Me presidency.

But let’s allow our imagination to run wild for a moment.

So far Pence has seemed to elude the tentacles of the expanding Russia investigation. If you recall, Mike Flynn was finally terminated from his job as the Director of the N.S.A. because he lied to Pence about his contacts with the Russians. But Pence replaced Chris Christie as the head of the transition team and it seems a bit fishy to think that he didn’t know what was going on.

Let’s say Flynn, in his testimony to Mueller, revealed that Pence knew about the Russia connection and the plan to remove sanctions from Russia. Now we are in to a whole new twist of plot, as Pence morphs from the “I see nothing” Sgt. Shultz, to a co-conspirator.

His recent performance in the meeting with The Don and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, where he played the part of an attachment to a chair, was brilliant. Brilliant, you ask with incredulity? Hear me out. Mr. Mommy-and-Me is biding his time and waiting for The Don to implode so he can assume the mantel of the presidency. He has welcomed the role of being mute and invisible hoping that no one will pay any attention to him. He is hoping that no one will imagine that he was well aware of what Flynn was up to and is part of the cover up. Problem is that Flynn has spilled the beans to Mueller and maybe, just maybe, he has told Mueller that Pence knows a lot more and is tainted, stained, like everyone who enters The Don’s orbit.

With Pence implicated, he too must abdicate. And then the fantasy is realized. As the next Speaker of the House, and next in line, Nancy Pelosi becomes the president! Pelosi, the woman who is reviled by Republicans almost as much as Hillary, becomes Madame President. Besides The Don and his clan going to jail, there could be no more satisfying scenario. In this time of despair, we can all use a bit of fantasy to help us get to the other side.