President Trump will ignore his most ardent followers ensuring his post-Presidency is never cast in the spotlight again.
In a little over twelve hours, it is expected that President Trump will unveil roughly 100 pardons on his last full day in office. The Sunken Parlour wrote previously on the pattern of Trump's pardons and predicted who might be in those remaining 100 pardons. Although there is an expectation that these remaining pardons will be controversial, what will be of more significance is how a lack of pardons will ultimately cement President Trump's post-office decline.
His Base is All Trump Sought
President Trump has consistently coddled his 'base' of supporters, through inflammatory rhetoric or controversial, xenophobic policies. Now, in the wake of the January 6, 2021 insurrection of Capitol there are calls for Trump to pardon his base and that those charged claiming they were simply following the President's directions.
Such calls and claims will go unacknowledged by Trump for two reasons:
Trump never takes blame for anything
Pardoning the rioters could put Trump in legal danger
The Blame Game
Trump has never taken the blame for anything going wrong including in the face of hundreds of thousands on deaths on his hands. Trump's mindset is the backdrop to a pardon free stage, such that he would have to admit that his supporters did something wrong.
Peril of Pardoning
The real danger in pardoning any of the rioters is that he would be condoning their behaviour and in effect condoning insurrection. As much as Trump would have perhaps loved nothing more than to have had his people succeed in delaying certification of the Electoral College in favor of Joe Biden, he knows that doing so would cost him any future chance at running for office again in 2024, or worse yet for Trump potential criminal charges, if possible.
Post-Presidency
The cost of ignoring his supporters, The Sunken Parlour predicts, will be devastating. By not pardoning those he 'followed his direction' and stormed the Capitol, Trump will lose what he appears to value most - loyalty.
If a President, who for four years, has claimed to do nothing but fight for Americans, to Make America Great Again, he will feel their wrath. The Trump Base will abandon Trump just as he did to them. There will be calls that he is weak or controlled by others. They will snub his rhetoric or at least take it with a grain of salt rather than as gospel going forward. They will no longer pledge their monies to his businesses. Trump will begin to lose his influence over his base, the GOP, or any establishment as of January 20, 2021.
The Darkness
Trump's life post-Presidency, we believe, will not include a 2024 run for office. His move to the gated communities of Florida will remove him from public view and with it he shall be forgotten. What he leaves behind will be some 70+ million voters looking for someone or something to step in and fill the void of vitriol and xenophobic conspiracies.
Although Trump may be leaving and ignored for the rest of his days, it is what fills that void that ought to concern Democrats, Republicans, and rational Americans alike.
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