Perish the thought, but what if Agent Orange takes the pre-emptive strike to pardon all his current/former advisors (from Manafort, Flynn, Page, Session, Kushner, et al,) alleged to have communicated w the Russians during the campaign ? Then, there is no need for the FBI investigation to continue. It is within his power as the POTUS. this was an idea originally put forth by Newt Gingrich in Dec 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...gests-trump-pardon-advisers-who-break-the-law, before the Flynn firing, the belated admission, begrudgingly, by AG Sessions that he had communicated w the Russian, testimony by Comey that there has been an on-going FBI investigation into the Trump campaign since July 2016. IMHO, this nuclear option, should Agent Orange choose to exercise it, would only accelerate the impeachment proceedings in Congress
If these adviser are convicted, it does not matter if they get pardoned or not, Trump impeached or not does not matter either, GOP can kiss 2018 and 2020 goodbye.
This. People assume dems have a chance in two years. Acting like roadkill isn't an effective speed bump.
2018 they lose the House and they likely lose Trump if Trump does this, and acts so careless with the law. The House can hold an Impeachment hearing at any point, and they can with the Emoluments clause in their back pocket even if the FBI finds no fault in the Russian scandal. But I do think that in 2018 if Trump is kind of where he is now, and the Dems take back the House, they will only operate by the book and pursue Impeachment if he is convicted of a crime by law enforcement or a special prosecutor finds that he committed a crime. Because at that point he will have little power, and will be an easy defeat in 2020. If they impeach and they don't get 2/3 vote to get him out, that's not good. If they impeach, and Pence cleans up the WhiteHouse and actually turns things around for the Republicans going into 2020, he could easily win another term because if there is one thing the Trump voters and the traditional Conservatives can agree on... its they both love Mike Pence. Point being... I don't think Trump would go Nuclear (pardons) at this point. It signals he's guilty as hell, and will a self inflicted womb in 2018 if the Dems win back the House & oversight.
The question is... what is the unexpected with Trump anymore? What would actually be surprising at this point? IMO that would be him actually getting convicted.
Looks increasingly likely that Trump will be the first President in 20 years (Since George Bush Sr.) that doesn't get re-elected. Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama all served 8 years.
the unexpected that should be expected?... he sees the end coming, he would pull the pardon cards on all, including himself. Or launch a nuclear attack on NK, hope for a nuclear war and declare martial law.
Yeah way too premature for that. He's still widely popular among registered Republicans, and don't forget that we still have a major problem with media misinformation, and the political upperhand he has with being the President where he has the power to order things that make him look different that he would be able to do as just a candidate. Look at what happened just a bit ago. - Devin Nunes came out and made a big stink (by himself) to the media about unmasking of Trump campaign officials and maybe Trump himself that were caught up in routine surveillance. This is NOTHING we didn't already know but he's confusing the American people and giving Trump a bone to cover his own a#$ with the infamous Wiretap Tweets. We already know Flynn was unmasked. We know others were too. We don't know yet why they were unmasked which is pretty damn important. ^ Point being.... Trump has powers that he wouldn't normally have as President going into a re-election campaign that give him an upperhand in the election. That's why I've been saying all along that 2018 is the most important election because it can give back the House to the Dems where Trump will not have open season for corruption with no threat of impeachment. If the Dems do NOT win back the House, my money would be on Trump getting Re-Elected... not a clear favorite, but still a favorite by the fact that he STILL has overwhelming Republican support, and the powers of the presidency.
