Former president Donald Trump is rejecting a request for his testimony at the Senate impeachment trial that begins next week.I question whether he'd show up even if he were subpoenaed. After all, he's unilaterally declaring this impeachment unconstitutional, even though there's precedent for putting an impeached former official on trial in the Senate. As we saw in the vote on the legality of this proceeding, most Senate Republicans agree with Trump.
“The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding,” spokesman Jason Miller said Thursday.... The House impeachment managers had asked for testimony from the former president, but the managers do not have subpoena power.
(That vote to prevent a trial failed, because a majority of the entire Senate agreed to proceed. But if you're a Republican, it doesn't matter what a majority of any body that includes Democrats believes -- all that matters is what a majority of Republicans believe. And when I say "any body that includes Democrats," I'm not just referring to a Democratic Congress -- I'm also referring to the American electorate. If voters in America elect a Democratic president, or voters in a state choose a Democratic governor, or Democrats win Congress or a house in a state legislature, that election is illegitimate by definition, according to Republicans.)
So Trump believes the impeachment trial is illegitimate. Let's see what he says in the next few years, when he's likely to be facing civil or criminal trials.
I have a possibly crazy theory about that.
Before Trump left office, many people asked: What country do you think he'll flee to in order to evade the law? And I always had the same answer: Florida. He'd go into "exile" in Florida.
My theory: Trump will go into exile if he loses - but to Florida, not overseas. DeSantis will make up a bullshit "states' rights" reason that no one can compel Trump to leave the state to face arrest or trial, and will threaten to deploy law enforcement to protect Trump.
— Steve M. (@nomoremister) September 29, 2020
If my theory is correct, DeSantis will say every legal proceeding against Trump is "fake" and "presidential harassment." He'll insist that exemption from legal accountability is Trump's right as an ex-president -- or perhaps because Trump is the legitimate president. This will make his popularity skyrocket among Republican voters, in his home state and nationwide.
Would he and Trump really dare to do this? I don't know -- but I wish it seemed too far-fetched to imagine.
I also believe -- as I said last November -- that putting Trump on trial could result on violence on the part of Trump supporters.
Someone will try to ensure that Trump is never brought to justice. It might be MAGA terrorists, or Ron DeSantis, or both. That's what I think.
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