Gaming the future of Donald Trump: What we can learn from Nicolas Sarkozy's fate

Sarkozy with Mohammad bin Salman, Gianni Infantino and Juan Carlos Varela at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, 14 June 2018, by Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69947468

It's well known that no American president has ever been indicted or tried for crimes he committed while in office. Richard Nixon came closest, and as part of his deal to resign, his successor Gerald Ford pardoned him. Other countries are less blinkered.

Yesterday, the corruption trial of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy began in Paris. A quick rundown of the charges against him:

French magistrates have spent years investigating allegations of corruption dating back to Mr Sarkozy's election campaigns and period in office.

This case is linked to a long-running investigation into the right-wing politician's suspected use of secret donations to fund his 2007 presidential campaign.

The prosecution alleges that Mr Sarkozy and lawyer Thierry Herzog sought to bribe Gilbert Azibert with a prestigious job in Monaco in return for information about that investigation.

Sound familiar? Much like Donald Trump was impeached for trying to get the Ukrainian government to fabricate a case against President-elect Joe Biden, Sarkozy got caught for trying to get information on a long-standing corruption investigation into his past.

And, of course, Sarkozy isn't the first French president to be brought before the dock. Before him, his immediate predecessor, Jacques Chirac, also faced an indictment. In 2011, he was found guilty of corruption, and given a 2-year suspended sentence due to his declining health.

What does this mean for Donald Trump? 

Again, as I stated, US presidents seem to have an immunity from prosecution even after their terms are done. Much to the chagrin of certain sectors, Barack Obama's Justice Department didn't go after George W. Bush. I'm not here to argue the validity of that instance. But it seems to me that Trump is in a different league.

His crimes are so multifarious, and so damaging to the Republic, that a comeuppance is necessary for the country to move forward.

Trump has a couple of plays he can make. He can resign before the inauguration, and have temporary president Mike Pence pardon him. That move, of course, might engender a court case, as being obviously a corrupt enterprise. Or, he can try and do what no president has ever done, and pardon himself on his way out the door. That choice will undoubtedly draw a response in court from Biden's incoming attorney general. Needless to say, neither option is good for him.

However, unlike France, the US is a federal republic. It has several layers of power and authority. And while Trump might try to quash any federal cases against him, he can do nothing about the cases now under consideration in New York, both on the state and local levels. Him being brought to the bar by the feds is an open question. Biden will let his attorney general make a determination on that, assuming that Trump isn't pardoned or doesn't pardon himself beforehand. But Trump can do nothing about Tish James or Cyrus Vance. 

Vance is concerning, due to his previous close ties to Trump's world. But, as the poet said, if you want a friend in politics, get a dog. The New York County District Attorney knows that Trump is loathed in the city of his birth. If the DA wants to win re-election, bagging a former president for gross corruption would go a long way to another four year term.

As our friend Dr. Robert Ellis was wont to opine: Trump wanted a job in television, and he got the worst job in television. His whole run in 2015-2016 was a con job, like his entire life had been a con job. He wasn't supposed to win. Then he did win. But being who he was, he was constitutionally incapable of recalibrating to a new reality. He knew he had a mansion full of skeletons, but he was emotionally and psychologically incapable of adjusting to the new reality which was the presidency. He treated it as one more con, one more grift. And for all its faults, the system lumbered into opposition against him. He didn't learn that he couldn't conduct the business of the country the way he did his sham real estate empire. Or, he did learn, but didn't care, or couldn't see the necessity of changing strategy. 

Trump will be an abject lesson in that old truism: When God wants to punish you, he grants you your prayers. He thought the presidency his by right if that Black guy could get it. He had the superior genes. Instead, he and his degenerate family are facing utter ruination—if not from a new Attorney General, then from the state and city in which they were born. A writer better than I will craft this story into a Shakespearian tragedy. Except there will be no flawed hero as the main character. The sympathy will lie with the people he abused, not with the character on the title page.

We can look to Nicolas Sarkozy's travails and hope they are inflicted ten-fold on Trump. It's the least he deserves.