Ed Kilgore catches Lindsey Graham talking about his Dear Leader’s plans for the future:
Mulling Trump’s prospective status in an interview with Peter Nicholas, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham (who once said of Trump, “I think he’s a kook. I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office”) uttered words that may have been prophetic while carefully stipulating that Trump hasn’t lost just yet:
He has a lot of sway over the Republican Party. If he objects to anything Biden [does], it would be hard to get Republicans on board. If he blessed some kind of deal, it would be easier to get something done. In many ways, he’ll be a shadow president.
The notion of a “shadow” opposition leader, common in parliamentary systems, has never had any place in the United States, where defeated presidents (or presidential candidates) have no office to fall back upon and no formal status. On January 21, Trump will be a private citizen, albeit one with a Secret Service detail. If the idea spreads in Republican circles that Trump deserves quasi-official status as the victim of a “stolen election,” it could make him the most powerful ex-president since Theodore Roosevelt (or maybe more powerful, since Teddy had to cede party leadership to a designated successor).
Those Republicans who have privately hoped to rid themselves of Trump by jollying him along in his postelection misconduct really need to rethink their strategy. The only thing worse for them than a 2024 Trump comeback effort is a scenario in which he never goes away at all. A moment’s thought should convince everyone that becoming a “shadow president” is exactly what Trump wants if he cannot just continue to hold the White House by adverse possession.
I’ve been saying he planned to sell himself as the “president in exile”, as if he’s a deposed dictator of a third world banana republic, for months now. These Republicans, with their acquiescence to his nonsensical election fight, are making it easy for him. It’s worked out well for them up until now. But I wonder if they’ve rally thought it through.