Perjury Trap: Deeper into the Tar Pit

Trump stays the center of attention.   He is already on the down slope and into a slow death.

Donald Trump has stepped into the tar pit.   A wolf has bitten into his leg. 

Trump's weaknesses were locked in even before he takes office.  His independence from the GOP establishment was a strength, a sign of independence, but it means he lacks the loyal allies he might need when he gets into trouble.   He was a real estate and show business personality rather than a politician--how refreshing--but it means he has the history and temperament of a tabloid celebrity, and that history might come back to light.  Trump is interesting and one of a kind--a strength--but not beloved, a weakness when he gets into trouble.

Bison in a herd.  Safe from wolves.

This blog has noted that Trump seems unassailable at this moment.  He had bested some 15 credible Republican opponents, then Hillary Clinton, plus the media establishment, the academic establishment, the establishment of his own political party.   Donald Trump's collapse is not happening in the manner of great showdowns, a High Noon gunfight on Main Street, or David vs. Goliath, or Achilles vs. Hector.  But it is beginning already.

Isolate, gang up, bring down.

He will be brought down in a manner less grand, like Willie Lohman in Death of a Salesman, one little lie and one little spot on the shoe at a time.   "He’s a man way out their in the blue riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple spots on your hat and you're finished."

How it is done every day.

Nature shows how the great animals are pulled down and devoured: isolate the great animal and a dozen jaws hang on.  Wolves survive because it works, and readers can watch it on YouTube clips from the Nature Channel:    Click Here

Donald Trump has a special vulnerability due to his history in show business and an element of personality.   Donald Trump does not apologize.  He doubles down.  When criticized, he accuses rather than admits.   He made a dangerous enemy.

Perjury Trap: There is a special vulnerability for men with a secret sexual history.  The legal system exploited it perfectly with Bill Clinton.   It was the angry woman from the past, her legal counsel, depositions, publicity, and the perjury trap.  To remind readers who followed the news only after 1998, let me review the confluence of unlucky events that caused Bill Clinton to be impeached and disbarred.    

****It required a former secret sexual partner who reveals the secret, Paula Jones

****it required Bill Clinton to deny wrongdoing and say the accuser was lying.

****it required politically motivated legal team with deep pockets happy to use the woman as a weapon.

****it requires her to be willing to file a lawsuit and then get the full protection of the law in getting data from the accused, including documents and testimony under oath on other matters which might show a pattern of behavior.

****it required a Supreme Court to say that being president did not exempt him from the burdens of the law and the lawsuit can go forward.

****it required a president who was politically or legally or maritally unable to admit openly the full ugly truth.

Result:   Bill Clinton gave misleading testimony in a deposition, leading to impeachment.  Donald Trump brought Paula Jones to sit up front at the second debate to send a warning to Hillary that description of Trump's misdeeds would be countered with Trump discussing Bill Clinton.   Trump is exquisitely aware of how to weaponize an accusing woman.

Click Here to watch her. Trouble for Trump

Now it is Trump's Turn

A wolf has grabbed onto Trump's hind leg.

A former contestent on "The Apprentice," Summer Zervos, accused Trump of groping her.   Trump denied it and said that she and other accusers were liars.   She resented what Trump said and says it defamed her. She found eager attorneys to help her, and she has filed a lawsuit.

Trump, via spokesman, has doubled down and said she is lying.  

As a litigant she has a right to demand production of documents, which would include outtakes from the show, plus depositions from Trump under oath.   Trump asserted flat out and without qualification that the accusation by her and others was a lie.   Trump was married to Melania at the time.

Zervos has taken away the opportunity to delegitimize her as a mere fortune hunter, because she says she does not want a penny.   Trump cannot settle this with money, she says.  She demands a full admission of guilt and an apology.  She wants vindication.  

Her statement suggests she will not accept a vague "in case anyone might have been offended" apology which essentially blames the victim for being over-sensitive.  She wants Trump to admit he lied in the campaign, that he lied about her, and that he is a sexual predator of the kind he accused Bill Clinton of being.   

This will be tough for Trump.  And it may get tougher.  Other women may come forward.

Possibly he will escape the tar pit by admitting everything, saying he lied, oops, sorry, she is right and I was wrong, I was a predator then but now I am reformed.   At this point in his presidency it might work to push reset and clear the decks. I suspect that would get him out of the tar pit, but I also suspect he won't do it.  It would be deeply embarrassing, an admission of a crime.  Moreover, Trump's behavior on criticism suggests he would rather fight than escape.  This will pull him deeper into the tar.

There will likely be out-takes that will be unlovely if and when they are revealed. Hundreds of hours of careless talk on camera between scenes will have moments that will embarrass Trump.  It could do to Trump what the hacking did to Hillary's campaign, behind the scenes comments never meant for publication.  Plus it will likely provide more evidence for other litigants.  A lawsuit and deposition will put Trump in an ugly position--the one we saw Bill Clinton in.  He will be asked directly who else he groped, list them all.  He will not want to do so and he will want to leave out and "forget" incidents, or misrepresent them and there will be contemporaneous witnesses who will contradict him.

Can a lawsuit actually force a person to list and admit to every sexual encounter and misbehavior over some long period of time?  Even if that person is president?   Apparently yes.  Ask Bill Clinton.  Ask the Republican office holders back in 1998 who are still around, the people who insisted that it was absolutely fair and just and reasonable that we do so and that we are a country of laws not privilege.  

Worse, for Trump, he is isolated, like the bison or the elk in the nature films.  An animal in the middle of a defensive herd can survive.  Trump defied the GOP herd.  Americans liked this in the campaign.   Now it is very dangerous for him.

He did not make friends with the herd and a great many of them were part of the accusing and indignant critics of Bill Clinton, so they will have a hypocrisy problem if they rally behind Trump.  Fox News leaped into popularity by being all-impeachment-all-the-time critical of Bill Clinton.   Their media stars will be on tape insisting that presidential sexual misbehavior is reprehensible and reason for removal from office.  The things Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity said about Clinton will still be around to compare with what they say about Trump.  The Christian ministers and morality spokespeople who criticized Clinton are on tape.  This will be awkward and very, very interesting television.

It could be another great year for CNN, once again starring Trump.

The GOP herd will have a hard time protecting Trump, even if they wanted to.  Besides, as this blog reported last week, Mike Pence is available as Plan B.

Trump is in the tar pit.   It is slow but inexorable.  At first glance this lawsuit seems petty in relation to the matters of state that Trump is now involved with.  But this is how great animals become the dinner of smaller ones and it is how fossil bones are preserved in tar.  The powerful animals are pulled down and pulled under.