Let me offer a thought that I haven’t heard anyone give yet:

Trump’s legacy would have been better off had he been removed from office after the impeachment trial. He sort of screwed himself by getting acquitted.

Hear me out ...

Trump was acquitted by Senate Republicans on February 5th. At that moment, the market was still doing well. The jobs reports, though not as good as what Trump claimed (see https://twitter.com/thevaluesvoter/status/1225809680200499201?s=21) were still at least decent. https://twitter.com/thevaluesvoter/status/1225809680200499201

Within two weeks, the market started to crash because of Coronavirus fears. Within two months, millions had lost their jobs and thousands were dead, in part because of his mismanagement of the crisis early on (see https://twitter.com/thevaluesvoter/status/1257910898221551616?s=21 and https://twitter.com/thevaluesvoter/status/1242115577738641409?s=21). https://twitter.com/thevaluesvoter/status/1257910898221551616

Thinking purely from the standpoint of Trump and his concern about what people think of him and his legacy, things would have been better for him had he been convicted and removed from office on February 5th instead of acquitted.

Why?

(Stated purely from the standpoint of Trump’s narcissism):

- He could have shifted the blame to Pence and the Democrats. (“The economy was great when they launched their ‘coup’ against me, blah, blah, blah”)

- He would not have been remembered for his erratic leadership during the worst crisis in at least the past 75 years.

- His jobs record would have remained at least average. Right now, with this crisis, he’s now seen more job losses than any President since at least 1965.

- The mystique about him and the economy that buoyed much of his Presidency would have remained intact. People would stay things like “I don’t always like him but I like what’s happened to my 401(k)!” And now that’s gone. He could have at least had that.

- And he could have played golf uninterrupted for every day of his life while doing what he loves to do best - play the victim. “They stole the Presidency from me!” “It was a coup!” “Mike’s doing a great job but the economy would be better if I was still there!” Now he can’t.

Removal from office would have been a bailout for Trump. Up until that point, he had never faced a crisis as President that he didn’t largely or entirely create. He inherited a bull market. Job growth. Economic growth. He could have cried “NOT FAIR!” and rode off into the sunset.

But since his buddies in the Senate refused to do their jobs and acquitted him, it’s all on him. And he’s showed more Americans, more than believed it before this, that he’s not up to the job.

And now his unpopularity is threatening the job security of the very Senators who acquitted him even though some of them admitted that he’s guilty.

It’s almost Shakespearean.

Besides the future of Trump’s political career, what’s going to be the future of the Trump brand? Anyone want to buy a shirt and tie that reminds them of the time they got laid off? A purse that reminds them of when they couldn’t buy food?

He lost by winning.