From Trenchant Observations, April 1, 2023

Donald Trump, after rereading some articles on the subject of “Where can Trump go to escape the law?”, published here in The Trenchant Observer and in the Trenchant Observations newsletter on Substack, felt glad that he had resisted the temptation to flee abroad in those last days in December, 2020 and January, 2021. It certainly seemed tempting at the time. But after the January 6 patriotic “demonstration” (not “insurrection”), his intuition had told him he would be safe at Mar-a-Lago.

And he had been absolutely right! Joe Biden didn’t have the guts for a fight with him, TRUMP, and Judge Merrick Garland had proved to be the meekest Attorney General in U.S. history.

While Trump had been prepared to jump on his plane and hop over to Nassau in the Bahamas at the slightest hint of a potential arrest, after a couple of months it became clear that Garland was no crusading prosecutor, and that he didn’t dare take on Trump and his supporters. After that realization, Trump had been able to relax, a fact reflected in his golf handicap.

Recently, however, his lawyers—who lacked Rudy Giuliani’s optimism—had been warning him he was in serious legal jeopardy, more from the Manhattan D.A,’s office and from that crazy woman prosecutor in Fulton County Georgia, than from Judge Garland himself.

To be sure, the judge had appointed an aggressive Special Prosecutor, but Trump knew Garland would have to act on the Prosecutor’s recommendations, and probably would find some excuse not to.

The judge would weigh the pro’s and the con’s and would take a long time doing so, so long a time that the primary and presidential campaigns would be underway or about to begin. And then the judge could cite the Justice Department policy against taking actions that could affect a political campaign, and say he was deferring any action on the recommendations until after the 2024 elections.

“I can live with that,” Trump thought.

Trump believed he would win the presidential election in 2024, and as president again he would be protected from any prosecution by the DOJ for at least another four years.Maybe the statute of limitations would run out on the alleged federal crimes, as it had on all those phony “obstruction of justice” cases Robert Mueller made such a big deal of in his report.

But Trump was still troubled by the risk represented by the indictment secured by the Manhattan D.A. and what that crazy woman prosecutor in Georgia might do. After all, she had the tape recording of his telephone call asking an election official to just “find” some 11,000 votes.

Anyway, it was with these thoughts in mind that Trump decided on Saturday, April 1 to take a little weekend vacation in Nassau before being booked at his arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday, August 4.

He was a man of action, he thought to himself, and so he was now—at this very moment—flying on the TRUMP jet to the Bahamas. As he looked out of the window of his plane and at the vast expanse of ocean below, Trump mused that life in Bahamas would be pretty good, with big business opportunities in resorts and gambling, great golf courses, and opportunities to slip in and out of Mar-a-Lago for a well-planned dinner from time to time.

He could also run his campaign for the presidency in 2024 from Nassau or one of the golf resorts he might build on one of the other islands. He could have virtual political rallies which would be sure to bring out large crowds at venues in the U.S.

Oh, and what fun it would be to tell the Manhattan D.A. that to arrest and arraign him on his so-called indictment would be an attack on America. “You want to arrest me? Well, just try. COME AND GET ME!”

“Mr. Trump,” the gorgeous blond stewardess said as she gently tapped him on the shoulder, “We’ll be landing very soon. Please fasten your seat belt.”

Had it all been a dream, he wondered, telling the people in Manhattan to “COME AND GET ME”?

Well, he didn’t have to make any decisions before his vacation. Even when his plane takes off for New York on Monday night, he thought, he can always order his pilot to turn around and fly to the site on the other island his people have been preparing for him.

Still, Trump worried and became anxious. “What if they make me wear an ankle bracelet, or say I can’t leave the State of New York? I’ve got to at least be able to live at Mar-a-Lago. Well, I see I have a lot of thinking to do between now and Monday night.”

“What if that crazy Manhattan D.A. asks the Court not to grant bail because I represent some kind of a ‘flight risk’? How ridiculous can they get, when they are carrying out an attack on America? ‘Flight risk’? Oh yeah!”

The plane touched down, and Trump’s thoughts turned to his golf game on Sunday. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Trump thought to himself, “Nassau….Bahamas. Not bad at all!

The Trenchant Observer