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**DECEMBER 7, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Get Trump Out Before He Blows Up the World

****

It's evident that Trump is, as the English say, barking mad. There are
an agonizing 44 days to go before Biden's inauguration, and Trump will
only get crazier.

We can hope that the generals will restrain Trump, if he decides in a
fit of petulance and self-pity to push the nuclear button. But there are
many other ways that Trump could start World War III by degrees.

For instance, he could egg on Netanyahu, who is almost as desperate as
Trump, to launch the kind of attack or assassination that would produce
a counterattack on Israel and then draw in the U.S.

Or Trump could opt for one last provocation of China that could lead to
a shooting war. Or he might decide to show that little twerp Kim by
taking out his missiles, which could lead to a North Korean attack on
South Korea.

You get the idea.

There are two ways to get Trump out. One is the 25th Amendment, and the
perfect guy to do it is Attorney General Bill Barr, now in royal
disfavor. And the AG needs to move fast before Trump gets around to
firing him.

Barr is perfect. He is reminiscent of any number of crafty Shakespearian
henchmen who turn against the boss. A bit of Iago. A little Brutus. (Et
tu, Barr?)

Shakespeare often ends not just in the fall of the king but in general
catastrophe. That's why it's called tragedy. The

**Times** quotes Shakespeare scholar Jeffrey R. Wilson describing
Trump's isolated, wrathful paranoia as "classic Act V behavior
."
Best to get this done while we are still in Act IV.

The way the 25th works, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet
can remove the president for incapacity. That can happen instantly, as
soon as a majority signs an order and transmits it to Congress.

Have we ever seen a president more incapacitated than Trump? But can
Pence, who would succeed Trump, discover his inner Brutus?

The other route is for Trump's children, son-in-law, and legal
advisers to remind him that it's not at all clear that a president can
pardon himself. What if Trump does pardon himself, which is likely, but
the pardon is disallowed by the Supreme Court?

The high court, speaking of faithless courtiers, has had a bellyful of
this guy. Then Trump is really up Schitt's Creek (which I can now say
in a family magazine thanks to the TV series and the general coarsening
of the popular culture).

But I digress. Many of us have long suspected that Trump's endgame
could be his resignation in favor of Pence, in exchange for a blanket
pardon deal. Though Trump richly deserves multiple prosecutions, I've
always thought this would be a good bargain.

The pardon covers only federal crimes; New York could still prosecute
him for state crimes. A Pence pardon sure beats Trump blowing all of us
to hell.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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