Trump Proxies: They Obey & Carry Out His Dirty Deeds While He Escapes Justice

Trump's #1 proxy go-to guy for his dirty deeds

(Plus a few other close ones)

From Salon and also from Reuters – both with lots of info on Trump and his operations and how he handles lackeys around him who protect him while doing his dirty work.

More from those two articles below (formatted to fit the blog) with this headline from Reuters:

“Trump directly involved in plans to seize voting machines”

More horrible-but-not-surprising information about Trump's attempted coup has leaked out, this time through the New York Times, in a story that seems sourced heavily through Trump allies who are trying to shift some of the heat off themselves onto their boss.

Trump, the Times reports, had a direct hand in efforts to seize voting machines in swing states. It was under the guise of stopping “fraud,” but obviously the purpose was destroying votes for Joe Biden before they could be counted. 

Specifically, Trump ordered his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to call the DHS and ask them to “take control of voting machines in key swing states.”

This matters because it shows Trump “was more directly involved than previously known in this plot to seize voting machines.” 

FYI: Trump advisers drafted a second version of an EO directing the DHS to take control of voting equipment, the NY Times and CNN both reported. 

The first version, reported last month by Politico, called on DOD to take the machines.

The NY Times outlined a direct attempt by Trump to push the effort, citing people who were briefed by those involved or who had firsthand knowledge. Voting machines and most other aspects of U.S. elections are overseen by state and local officials. 

Federal involvement in elections generally falls to the Justice Department, which addresses matters like civil rights issues or violence, and the FEC. Reps for Trump could not immediately be reached for comment on the reports.

NY Times' reporter, Maggie Haberman, elaborated on Twitter that: “Trump allies have repeatedly painted him as essentially giving a hearing to but not really heeding some of the suggestions.”

In reality, as her report shows, it was the opposite: Trump was the one pressuring his lackeys to take action to steal the election, not the other way around. 

This, as noted in another tweet, Haberman destroys claims that Trump was merely “a passive observer” of his own coup. 

But even though this reporting shows Trump trying to mastermind a plan to steal the election from Biden, it also illustrates how focused Trump was on insulating himself from legal consequences. Every step of the way, Trump tries to get someone else to actually pick up the phone and make the call to break the law. 

He didn't have the nerve to call DHS himself, so instead he got Giuliani to do it.

He also brought in former AG Barr into the Oval Office and “raised the possibility of seizing machines,” clearly hoping Barr would take a hint and do his dirty work for him. Barr did not.

What Trump was doing isn't mysterious. 

By leaning on underlings and insinuating orders rather than giving them directly, he's setting his people up to take the fall if things go sideways. 

It's a strategy that Trump has used his whole life to great effect. 

Recall that Trump’s former lawyer “his fixer” Michael Cohen explained in his 2019 testimony before the House that “Mr. Trump doesn't give orders. He speaks in code.”

Cohen’s testimony highlights are here.

Cohen said Trump lets his wishes be known and hopes that his minions take the hint. That way, if the law starts sniffing around, Trump can play innocent and pretend that his flunkies were self-directed. 

That is one reason why, for instance, Cohen went to prison for the Stormy Daniels pay-off scheme and Trump avoided legal jeopardy. 

Henry Farrell of the Washington Post wrote: “It's the way that Mafiosi speak to each other, to avoid trouble.”

It's how the entire Ukrainian blackmail scheme Trump got impeached over was conducted. 

Trump never came out and told the Ukrainian president that he was expected to make false accusations to smear Biden, or Trump would cut off military aid. It was much more of the “nice country you got there, shame if something would happen to it” style of communication. 

Crucially, this latest story is a reminder of what a sniveling coward Trump is. 

He wants everyone else to take the risks for him, while he reaps all the rewards. This was most obvious on the day of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. 

Trump later on January 6 promised his riled-up supporters that: I'll be there with you when they marched on the Capitol. 

But, the weenie that he is, he did no such thing. 

Instead, he sat in the safety of the White House, watching the insurrection gleefully on TV and egging on the rioters with his Twitter account for nearly 3 hours.

Now they're all going to jail and he's walking around free, making mostly empty promises of future pardons like in his recent Texas rally speech (Saturday, January 29).

My 2 Cents: Yep – that weasel Donald J. Trump. 

Read the full articles linked above to get the complete flavor of Trump’s M.O.  As a side note and somewhat related is this article also from Salon with this attention-getting headline vis-à-vis those standing by and with Trump and whom he has endorsed for office in 2022:

“Meet the scariest Republican candidates of 2022: It wasn't easy to pick 'em”

The next wave of Republican freshmen could be the worst yet – and could pose a legitimate threat to democracy

Thanks for stopping by.