Donald Trump's presidency has been mired in scandals, most notably, the alleged Stormi Daniels affair and the accusations of treasonous collusion with Russia during the 2016 election. However, the man is surprisingly resilient, like Super Mario after an invincibility star. The scandals appear to cause no damage. His base still loves him, and the vast majority of Republican politicians continue to support him.
Yet Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation continues, and this was not a good week for President Trump. His former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on ten criminal charges. This includes five tax fraud charges, two charges of bank fraud and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts. Manafort faces a maximum punishment of 80 years in prison.
To make matters worse, Trump's longtime personal attorney and close confidant, Michael Cohen, pled guilty to eight crimes. These range from tax evasion to campaign-finance violations, springing from the payoff for the alleged Stormi Daniels affair. Reportedly Cohen, who is said to know a lot of Trump's secrets, has "flipped." This news has given Trump critics hope that their fantasy of impeachment might become a reality.
However, they want to hold back on impeachment. In an interview with Fox News' Aisnley Earhardt, President Trump revealed what would happen if the Democrats regained control of Congress and removed him from office: The stock market would crash, and "everybody would be very poor."
"If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor. You would see numbers that you wouldn't believe. ... You know, I guess it says something like high crimes and all -- I don't know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job."
Sounds logical to me! When asked what grade he would give himself on his performance in office, President Trump said, "A plus." Pretty humble - he could have said A plus plus plus, but he held back.
"I give myself an A+. I don't think any President has ever done what I have done. We haven't even been 2 years. Biggest tax cuts in history. Soon to be two unbelievable Supreme Court justices, I'm sure that Justice Kavanaugh will be approved. Justice Gorsuch has been a star.
"You look at all the things we have done with regulations, the economy is the best it has ever been in history. The only thing I'm doing badly in is the press doesn't cover me fairly."
Well, according to Politifact, Trump's tax cuts were not the biggest in history. Critics would argue that those tax cuts mostly benefited the rich, and that the economy is booming thanks in part to Barack Obama's policies, and that Justice Gorsuch should have never been confirmed, since that Supreme Court pick was rightfully Barack Obama's, and outrageously stolen from him by a petty, petulant Republican-controlled Congress. But hey, that's the divided USA! One side grades Trump an A plus, while the other side grades him an F minus.
In the interview, the president also decried confidants "flipping," equating it to lying, and arguing the practice should be illegal.
"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal... I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go."
Few people predicted Donald Trump would become president, and few can predict how this FBI investigation will end. Impeachment seems unlikely, though, since it would require consent from the House and two-thirds of the Senate, which Republicans dominate.
Also, only two US presidents were impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, and they both were acquitted by the Senate, meaning they did not have to leave office. (Richard Nixon resigned, rather than face a vote from the Senate, which likely would voted to remove him from office.)
