The Gaetz Report

 

We heard that the ethics investigation into Matt Gaetz would show illegal drug use (cocaine, molly), paying for (lots of) sex, including with a minor, and well, yeah. He did that stuff.  He left a pretty considerable trail of payments to women--$90K to various women. It's fairly unsavory:

The report noted that while all the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, one woman told the committee the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have "impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent."

Another woman told the committee, "When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated."

For his part, Gaetz had tried (unsuccessfully) to sue to block the report from coming out.  This is because he knew it would look bad--full stop. He's not unaware of his conduct, he's just unclear on why it should have anything to do with how people judge him.

You really do hate to see a person go so wrong from the unfortunate effects of a very comfortable and privileged upbringing. 

Could be Nothing, But...

 

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly hid free yacht trip to Putin's hometown https://t.co/8yf1w7OMJe

— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 10, 2024

I mean, it was 20 years ago. However, it was part of 20 years of corruption and undisclosed gifts on Thomas' part, so even if it doesn't mean something more sinister--how bad does it need to look?

I'm not sure how far AOC filing articles of impeachment against Thomas and Alito will go, or how far a request for the DOJ to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Thomas's possible tax violations will go, but something has to give.

(This post is a nice place to remind everyone that when 13 years of Justice Thomas's financial disclosure forms were amended about a dozen years ago, it was because he failed to include his wife's income from Hillsdale College and the Heritage Foundation. We've obviously been hearing a lot about the Heritage Foundation lately)

Sometimes It's Better to Remain Silent

 

Rudy chickened out of testifying. Rudy claimed he was going to prove Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss stole the GA election. He put on no defense. Here is Rudy when trial started:

“When I testify, you will get the whole story & it will be definitively clear that what I said was true.” pic.twitter.com/semCA8sKrs

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 14, 2023

Rudy Giuliani certainly promised that he was going to tell the whole story and prove he was right; on Monday he was still reiterating the exact same lies that he had no basis for. But at some point, he realized he was completely unsympathetic and needed to shut his damn mouth. Probably when the election workers he defamed explained how he ruined their lives over a lie. Definitely when his lawyers hammered home to him his fat mouth was screwing himself. He was already in thin ice with the court for not turning over information and being a no-show last week. (About the latter, sadly, my first thought was someone needs to do a wellness check...the man is not healthy and it shows.)

So, he did what his sometime boss, Donald Trump, did himself on Monday--he kept his mouth shut. The plaintiffs had been through enough and Giuliani's bank accounts were going to be going through more than enough.

He Can Take the Blame

 

Trump tells House Republicans to shut down the government of the United States in an effort to obstruct his criminal prosecutions. pic.twitter.com/kLqc6wCBMq

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 21, 2023

It's sort of breath-taking, isn't it? I don't know if I've seen something so puurely selfish oh, since some dumb damn eeeedjiot helped lose the midterms for his party's House and in, oh, late 2018, early 2019, shut down the government because he started to freak out about getting his border wall money.

And he never did get that border wall money.

Who was that, now?

It's one thing for an actual president to be behind a government shutdown. Wild as a mad goose to think a candidate would openly call for one...to stop his various prosecutions. But if he wants the credit for it, I don't mind him taking the blame.

TWGB: The Argument for a Speedy Trial

 

A few notable figures in the Fulton County case have requested a speedy trial--Ken Cheseboro (whose request for a speedy trial might have sent pangs through the legal teams of several of the other indicted individuals) and Sidney Powell. There's a benefit to a speedy trial, of course. The defense can work with still-fresh evidence and make their best case for what had happened. In the case where multiple people are indicted at once, it severs their trial from the rest--that's definitely a great idea in the case where one is providing evidence that others have more culpability for wrongful events--right?

It's a right of the accused under the Constitution. And one of Donald Trump's crack team of legal experts--the finest his political donors can pay for so far--has explained on television why even Donald Trump should think about going to trial as soon as possible:

He's very smart and has access to all the facts as well as anyone ever could! He doesn't need to be prepped! (He's incredibly intelligent as well as virile and good-looking, easily 6'3" AND A HALF if you add charisma! Like a 165 IQ. Easily.)

TWGB: Surrender, But Don't Give Yourself Away

 

I really felt underwhelmed by the speculation about what Trump's mugshot would look like and the "tale of the tape" regarding his height and weight. I mean, is it not enough that he's now standing at four indictments and 91 charges? No other president measures up to that, I can tell you!

But what anyone could also tell you is that he would use the mugshot to fundraise off of his situation. And of course he is, ironically using the slogan "Never surrender" when he Just. Surrendered. Himself. To. The Jailhouse. For. Processing.  His "Kubrick stare" into the Fulton County camera is supposed to show defiance. 

Eh. To me it looks like he's using "MySpace angles" to plausibly make his face look like he could theoretically stand 6'3" and 215 lbs. This is not me making a ding against his vanity (his bulletproof vanity!) but the credulity that we'd get an honest reckoning. This wasn't his physician's weigh in (Ronny Jackson only dared to tell us he was 239 lbs.) or the hype before a heavyweight bout. This is Trump's charitable best guess that he must have at least lost that much weight in sweat since his Manhattan indictment. 

TWGB: Many Whistles

 

I think tomorrow if things go as scheduled, Trump's lawyers will be discussing whether there are things that Trump should just shut the fuck up about, but the picture I've used is a sweaty man, a saline-injected rotisserie chicken, suddenly finding himself turning on a spit in the supermarket of justice alarmed at the constant heat. He's not going to not talk. He projects, he rages, he confesses. He's a tea kettle on boil. He seethes. 

He whistles. 

Who else whistles? Whistleblowers. We have one recently, an FBI agent who maintains that investigations into TrumpWorld were suppressed, especially the ones involving Rudy Giuliani (who I think foreign ops used like a human dead drop since he's basically just a hollow dignity wraith wandering the earth looking for relevance), Russian money, corruption. things that didn't make TrumpWorld look good. And Charles McGonigal is implicated, which makes nothing but sense to me. 

Third Time's a Start, Mr. Trump (UPDATED)

 

The above court sketch is Trump pleading not guilty at his third arraignment. His defense plan is to re-litigate the 2020 election, which doesn't sound like a great idea because, as I recall, his campaign legal team lost over 60 cases, and his supporters floated easily debunked lies about the dead voting and more ballots being submitted than had been requested than were requested, and some outright weird stuff regarding Italian satellites, German servers, Chinese thermostats, and Venezuelan voting machines haunted by the ghost of Hugo Chavez. 

In retrospect, the 2020 defense he wants to make still reeks of desperate batshittery and I guess I wonder what sort of lawyers are happy to make this case. But let's face it, Trump is going through lawyers like Kleenex at the moment.

For a fun glimpse into how it's going so far based on yesterday, the case is being made that the DOJ has to demonstrate that Trump knew he lost and that these charges are about Trump's freedom of speech, not his entering into a conspiracy to defraud. Well. That's supposed to be the case. But Alina Habba admitted that everyone knew Trump lost, and John Lauro admitted that Trump did enter into a conspiracy to delay the congressional proceeding on the basis of his false claims. 

So, you know. It's going gggggrrrreeeeeaaaattt.

Oh well. It's Trump fans that should be questioning his representation since, you know, they're paying for it. Same as they paid for the suit that clarified that yes, it is fair to call Trump a rapist. And the way they will pay for the hush money trial and the case against Michael Cohen that could incriminate Trump some more and the stolen docs trial....

UPDATED: Trump thought he'd be cute the very next day:

Donald Trump swore in court yesterday he would not attempt to influence or intimidate witnesses, retaliate against anyone, or in any other way attempt to obstruct the administration of justice.

“Are you prepared to comply?” the magistrate judge asked.

“Yes,” Trump replied. pic.twitter.com/UWxcz0nZ1d

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 4, 2023

We all know what he was trying there; I've pointed out that he doesn't have to be explicit for his little fan club to get the jist and that gagging him because of his fat mouth was always a likelihood--one Trump also would have expected. The above Truth Social post for all the world looks to me like he's threatening retaliation on prosecutors and witnesses, etc. And I would say there's a good argument for pre-trial detention because this unfit man either can't or won't help himself from doing and saying such things. 

TWGB: Some Indictments for Those Incitements

 

The waiting for Trump's indictment over the attempted overturn of the 2020 presidential election is over, and I encourage everyone (even Ron DeSantis if he still hasn't!) to go ahead and read the indictment. It's not long, and it is pretty thorough in laying out the case that despite no evidence of voter fraud, Trump spread that lie and attempted to overturn the election by means of litigation alleging fraud, encouraging state legislatures and slates of alternate electors to act on the alleged fraud, to halt the lawful proceedings of Congress on 1/6 and to encourage Trump's faithful to wreak havoc on the day. 

Trump lost. There was no proof of voter fraud that would have changed the result of the election. And no, Trump's belief is completely irrelevant, because whether he chose to believe he won or not, he was informed on various occasions that his theories of fraud ("conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership") were bogus, as outlined in pages 6 through 8.

If Trump persisted in his belief, he was delusional, and we should not excuse people on the basis of being delusional--nor should we continue to entertain whether they are fit to lead a country if they are. 

It's also irrelevant whether he understood the law well enough to know exactly what he was violating--ignorance of the law has been determined to be no excuse long before this. 

The World According to Trump

 

Trump says he thinks it would be a lovely idea if Congress were to withhold any future aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on the Bidens. Wonder where the hell he got that idea from? If that sounds an awful like the grounds for his first impeachment--why yes! It does sound like he wants the machinery of the US government to be used to his benefit in 2024, just like he wanted it used to his benefit in 2020. (And also, Russia? If you're listening?)

Now, of course, he's not completely stupid. My no! He knows he can't be impeached for this quid pro quo when he isn't even in office anymore. Yet. Who else has had two whole impeachments? He's like, the expert on it.

Although some of his other pronouncements, like claiming that his second impeachment inoculates him from federal charges for 1/6 under double jeopardy, are a bit specious.

(That's not a new whine from this old sack, either. Also, failing to be removed from office in his case is a failure of his GOP friends--a jury might feel quite differently).

Anyway, and regardless, he's not getting indicted because of himself. He's getting indicted FOR HIS LOYAL SUBJECTS  THE HARDWORKING PATRIOTIC PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.

That's why his donors are expected to pay his legal fees. And he's absolutely going to kick on some money for his 2024 campaign. Eventually. This is why the GOP loves and supports him so.  He is not either a rotting albatross around their necks. 

Whistleblowers Sometimes Fail

 

Whoops. Gal Luft, the GOP's new fake Hunter Biden "whistleblower," was just indicted by the Justice Department for arms trafficking, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, making false statements to federal agents, and being an unregistered foreign agent for China.

James Comer… pic.twitter.com/cgwcfPbDnE

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 10, 2023

You ever lose track of your very important witness to something and it turns out they were actually an agent of a foreign government just cutting deals left and right with what you might call hostile government entities? Because that's what seems to have happened with one of the GOP House Oversight Commitee's really big guns. You wouldn't have thought, right? 

Anyway, this guy was influencing TrumpWorld from 2016. 

 Among other things, in the weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, LUFT and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”), who is a Chinese national and worked for a Chinese nongovernmental organization affiliated with a Chinese energy company, created a written “dialogue” between CC-1 and Individual-1, in which LUFT wrote Individual-1’s responses and included information that was favorable to China.  The dialogue was then published in a Chinese newspaper online and sent to, among others, individuals in the United States, including a journalist and professors at multiple U.S. universities.  When LUFT was writing the dialogue, CC-1 told LUFT that “[i]n these articles, we do not want to spill all the beans yet, just enough to let ‘people’ know he [i.e., Individual-1] is in the corridor of power to be.  Just broad stroke policy consideration that leaves plenty of room for interpretation and imagination to be filled in later.”  After the purported “conversations” were published, LUFT told CC-1 that certain information, favorable to China, had been “tucked between the lines.”  Shortly after the 2016 election, LUFT and CC-1 also discussed possible roles Individual-1 might have in the incoming U.S. administration and discussed Individual-1 taking a “silent trip” to China.  LUFT responded that “[w]e are debating about his role in the new admin.  There are all kinds of considerations . . .We should talk ftf [i.e., face-to-face] as there can be a supremely unique opportunity for china.”

The Individual-1 looks to be Jim Woolsey.  He was in the loop for a little bit of fuckery. But I'm not saying I understand how all of those parts fit. I just know when the House GOP's witness is kind of a spy for China this is very not good for them.

And I had thought it was pretty bad when one of their whistleblowers was just dead. 

Anyway in other news, the Trump-appointed US Atty investigating Hunter Biden's tax things says he was as independent as independent could be, which would have been my linchpin story if not for the China agent thing. Which lets you all know how well the GOP Oversight stuff is going right now. 

We've Found Some Weaponization

 

Trump discussed having the IRS and other federal agencies investigate two FBI officials involved in the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia, John Kelly says in a sworn statement. ⁦@nytmike⁩ https://t.co/IIhuPpY19B

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 8, 2023

I remember when, during the Obama years, there was an IRS scandal that turned out not to be one at all--someone at the agency noticed there was a whole ton of new 501 (c) 3 and 4 orgs cropping up and wondered if they were all legitimate non-profits and not actually political and gave that paperwork more scrutiny. It turned out, they weren't even targeting specifically conservative organizations but certain keywords, that included "occupy" as well. The IRS apologized and settled with the organizations and processed all their applications. 

Anyway, conservatives acted like this was the worst, top-down oppression against conservative institutions by the Obama Administration in cahoots with the Deep State that anyone ever saw. It wasn't. But I'm pretty sure the legend remains in the minds of the people who always think the Deep State is in cahoots with Democratic presidential administrations.

Anyway, Trump personally wanted to sic the IRS on people he didn't like. I'm ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN the anti-government weaponization folks in the Freedumb Caucus will get right on that, of course? 

Heh. The House weaponization fixation is about using Congressional oversight (and your tax money) to investigate Biden. No amount of money (they seem to believe) should ever investigate the guy who lied about the 2020 election, cause an insurrection attempt, and stole classified documents.  But they will absolutely get on the lil' baggie of blow and Hunter Biden, because absolutely no one in the White House staff, or with the WH press correspondents, or a tourist from anywhere outside of the White House, even has some coke and smile anymore.

I'm just saying sometimes the hypocrisy really hits one in the face. Or it should hit somebody...

TWGB: A Few Offerings

 

I'm trying to clear my tabs, so I'll make this march--you know what I think is funny? There was no standing order to declassify documents. I'm not sure who among you may have believed it (color me a skeptic!) but we now have confirmation that appears to have been bullshit. But wasn't there just a little corner of your brain thinking "But what if he told the truth about something for once?"

Nah. Didn't think so.

Here's something--Giuliani sat down voluntarily with DOJ for a proffer. The man at the center of Trump's fateful push to overturn the election, the fraud regarding "the steal" and the fake electors. I guess he kind of stretches the definition of "reliable witness" in some ways, but he really seems to be in some real difficulty--and could be what you might call motivated? All I know is, he's not the only one. Mike Roman has a bit to do with that ill-fated enterprise as well.

And you know what else? Jack Smith is still investigating the documents probe--which I guess shouldn't shock anyone. After all, we don't really know why he had some of these docs and it might be helpful to understand who he was showing them to.  Another non-shock? Trump and his allies could be facing another few dozen or so indictments for various things.

I think he might also be charged for mishandling docs in New Jersey.  That's not subject to "loose cannons".

Is it "hot accountability summer" yet?

TWGB: The Tale of the Tape

 

"I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case you know.... Except it is like, highly confidential."

That's a quote from the tape CNN played last night as an exclusive. It's Trump, at Bedminster, talking about one of the documents that proves his case. What case--does it absolve him of the Russia Hoax or the first impeachment? 

Nah. Just a pissing contest he's having in his own mind with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, FGen Mark Milley. 

That audio comes from open pissing and moaning about, among other things, Trump's need to be right, and a discussion about how, supposedly, Hillary Clinton handled secret documents. "Please print" was a joke between Trump and a suck-up aide of his that can be heard on the tape. Irony of ironies: he knows having this stuff printed out is wrong, and here he is, with the actual paper in his hand.

Yesterday's Durham Hearing Was Interesting

 

MAGA wants Durham to be someone he is not and say something he cannot. pic.twitter.com/AJFhrKDf3a

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 22, 2023

There's the rub--at bottom, you can't actually deny the evidence of Russia interfering. What you can do, is ignore the evidence of willingness to accept that interference on behalf of the Trump campaign, but at the risk of seeming out of one's depths--as if it were possible to investigate an investigation and come up knowing nothing about it. Even fash-friendly five-head Matt Gaetz was wondering what Durham had been doing with this time. (ALthough he alleged a "cover-up".)

Or you can make false statements to congress because there are just some things you can't say about Trump and Russia--you know, like it never was a hoax. 

After all, Congressional Republicans just censured Rep. Adam Schiff for just that--telling the truth. And for what it's worth, for all the giddy Republicans who noted that Trump's poll numbers and fundraising could benefit from the indictments against him--how do they think a transparently unfair censure of Rep. Schiff is going to make loyal Democrats react? 

This is where the House GOP is now, Speaker McCarthy barely has a grip on his folks, and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were inches from a catfight over the privilege and pleasure of impeaching President Biden for...something. Eating crackers, I guess. (They also want to expunge Trump's impeachment, but we will always remember the "perfect phone call.")

What's that tv quote going around? These are not "serious people".

TWGB: The Notorious Box-Grabber

 

Baier: Why not just hand them over? Trump: Because I had boxes, I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things pic.twitter.com/PwW85wlTzH

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2023

They are his things! His precious! And he wanted to keep the things!  Trump had them, and didn't want to give them over. He was told they weren't his things, he felt differently. How do we know? He keeps telling us:

He wanted them back in 2022, he wants them back now. 

They are his "Beautiful mind" material.  What the whole hell:

During President Donald J. Trump’s years in the White House, his aides began to refer to the boxes full of papers and odds and ends he carted around with him almost everywhere as the “beautiful mind” material.

It was a reference to the title of a book and movie depicting the life of John F. Nash Jr., the mathematician with schizophrenia played in the film by Russell Crowe, who covered his office with newspaper clippings, believing they held a Russian code he needed to crack.

The phrase had a specific connotation. The aides employed it to capture a type of organized chaos that Mr. Trump insisted on, the collection and transportation of a blizzard of newspapers and official documents that he kept close and that seemed to give him a sense of security.

They were his PRECIOUS! And we keeps the preciouses close we does. 

TWGB: Sedition and Espionage

 

Before I talk Trump, I just want to discuss the sentences of Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs. The Oath Keepers were found to be guilty of a seditious conspiracy. They acted in the belief that it is acceptable in a civil society to take up arms in the case of a political disagreement over an election on the basis of lies--and I don't think they cared whether those lies were lies or not. The "tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots" types never seem to note that in a representative government, sometimes your particular flavor of "patriot" isn't winning elections and violence isn't so much a revolutionary action as a pity party gone badly wrong. They said, basically, "Fuck who voted for Biden, we want our Trumpy Bear," and somehow convinced themselves that was exactly on a par with what our founding fathers would have wanted. 1776, you guys! 

Stewart Rhodes, Yale-trained lawyer, was especially prolix on the subject of a "divided nation", and in reply, the judge pointed out that Rhodes presented an ongoing threat and raised the "t-word"--treason. To undermine our government because one can't fathom that other people differing in opinion are allowed to protest, speak, and vote, even win elections lawfully, and not have those elections overturned by the force of a determined few, heedless of the knock-on effects to our civil society, is an exceptional lack of a grasp on basic civics, let alone law. 

A Tale Told by an Idiot, Full of Sound and Fury, etc.

 

I'm not literally calling John Durham an "idiot", mind you, because I don't think he is. I also think Jake Tapper probably has the capacity to read and think critically, and you know--I can technically use stairs and take the elevator at every opportunity. What I think is that Durham was given an assignment that was distinctively difficult: try to make an investigation into a critical national security issue seem like it was unnecessary and unfair to a particular 2016 Presidential candidate.

And the very best Durham could do was suggest that, although DOJ and the FBI don't need to do anything different, and even though out of three cases he got exactly one conviction (sentence: probation) the bottom line is his opinion is that the FBI could have been a little slower before going into an investigation that was like, probably just great to be a preliminary investigation based on the little they knew from Downer and the Aussies. 

And after all the Mueller investigation convictions and the Senate intelligence report into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the DOJ IG investigation report, I'm going to just laugh and say: "Well, you tried." 

Because that's me, a person who has been paying attention. And I know that for people who were inclined to believe the Russia, Russia, Russia thing was a hoax based on whatever Trump had to say about it are very inclined to take Durham's word that despite the lack of any connecting of dots to support his conclusion that the investigation still seems hinky to him and will fast-forward to that conclusion whether there is any strength to that argument. 

Trump, CNN and the Power of Sufficient Cable

 

The CNN town hall featuring former president Donald Trump and former Daily Caller employee Kaitlan Collins was a shitshow as expected. The network stocked the audience with Trumpists because that's obviously fucking normal. And then he got to saw away at his special hobby horses, which was just fun to watch with little to no pushback when you pause to consider this is a twice-impeached racist sex pest who absolutely fumbled COVID-19 and the economy in his last year in office.

This bitter, lying, indicted, tarnished, twice-impeached, treasonous, shambling reprobate should in no way be considered a viable candidate for office and should, in fact, be made a figure of mockery everywhere his grotesque bulk lurches, and yet, he is also the best shot the GOP has for 2024, so the cable news dickheads are going to try and make him...credible? 

So, what we were treated to, one day after a jury unanimously after but three hours of deliberations awarded E. Jean Carroll damages for his sexual battery and defamation of her (and not rape, because it was uncertain whether she noticed his thimble dick actually penetrating her nor ejaculating, leading us to wonder if his small fingers actually brag on him, not the opposite--which is not intended to be defamatory because I am of a scientific aspect and am merely asking questions of a delicate anatomical nature) was more defamation, and rather gross as well.  And the Trump-friendly studio audience loved it. 

I don't know how that resonated with you, Gentle Reader, but it makes me bloody-minded, and I mean more so than usual. It's one thing to despise Trump heart and soul. It's another to take in the values of his fanclub in full and realize they are complete gutter-dwellers with little to redeem them. Deplorables, by choice. 

But maybe a silver lining exists in the sound bites created by the fact of Trump being given adequate cable (which, like saying "hoist on his own petard" suggests the concept of "enough rope"--which is what I think he definitely wished on 1/6 for his running mate, Mike Pence, not that that gormless SOB appreciates it).  He did admit Mike Pence did something wrong in his mind in this little chat. He said he believed that the Georgia SOS owed him votes. He reiterated that he did take documents to Mar-A-Lago, it was great of him to do that, and definitely had the right to declassify them--although whether he did and how and what he took and why he's so pleased with himself stays a mystery. 

We can wonder whether the fluke of this gasbag becoming president was the fault of outlets like CNN giving him "sufficient cable"--platforming him and taking him "seriously, not literally." The image of CNN cameras focusing on an empty podium where the celebrity candidate had grabbed their attention by its figurative lowest chakra remains a sticking point with me regarding their failure to be serious journalists because they wanted his ratings power. 

But in the course of this shitshow, he delivered several soundbites that would certainly be of interest in at least three of his ongoing criminal investigations and at least one civil complaint. 

Maybe it's possible that this creature could be both raised up and brought low by the quality of sufficient cable. 

TWGB: Credibility Gaps

 

Imagine being Fox News, in the midst of trying to settle a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit while still retaining some credibility as a news organization, even to the extent of running a full-page ad in the New York Times trying to bolster their reputation (which is bullshit, actually) while the ratings cash cow they fraudulently supported keeps mooing at them to go and lie some more.

Their bum steer has them on the horns of a dilemma, one might say? 

Probably not. I've been saying this regarding the GOP and Fox alike--your Trump problem is you made him, but you also can destroy him. He's a Golem--rub out the magic words that got him moving and fear him no more. The GOP has stuck themselves to him such that other potential 2024 primary candidates are disadvantaged in trying to challenge him (an imaginary box created by the delusion he can't be criticized or called on his bullshit in any way) and so has right-wing media. 

And yet, Trump exists because of attention--he's trying to have all his trials be made in the court of public opinion. This isn't how anything works--for example, his bid to have his defamation/sexual assault case delayed because of all the unwanted attention following his Manhattan indictment has been rebuffed for the simple reason that he is the one who keeps calling attention to all his trials, and also, there are so many trials he's got going on a delay isn't doing him or the courts any favors.