Thread by @DirkSchwenk

Dark Dirk dons a DonJT hat and ponders the next moves. A thread.

I periodically try to peer into the crystal ball and guess what's happening down the pike. When I put on the Trump hat, I'm usually wrong, because I ALWAYS underestimate how low the slithering bottom feeders will go to please dear leader ... but let's look.

So ... first, Trump (and Trumpists) will never concede defeat. ever. The lies are too lucrative and Trump gets off on the pain suffered by his minions and his opponents. forbes.com/sites/jemimamc…

Second, Trump, Inc. knows the first attempt at overthrow doesn't always work, but the second might. Hitler made a comeback. Even though Trumps out of office, he has successfully taken over the GOP; has Right Wing Death Squads at his disposal; and a fundraising MACHINE.

It should also be apparent that he has power over all(?) the republicans currently serving in national office? And the keys to Qanon. And the backing of Russia and America's enemies. He has a lot of chips to play yet.

He also has a lot of potential legal trouble -- but Trump's instinct and best skill is always to go on the attack, so he's not going to take a nap and play defense - he is going on offense as soon as he is acquitted.

We've already seen a hint of the plans - both Trump and Melania have set up "The Office of ______" as if those are real things. And at least parts of the press are covering that like they are real things.

And we've already seen that even after the insurrection, Trump can make important congressional leaders come to him and kiss the ring. EVEN AFTER ALMOST GETTING HIM KILLED BY A MOB AND THE SUPPOSED BIG TELEPHONE FIGHT nytimes.com/2021/01/27/us/…

And millions of (apparently insane) american citizens still believe that Trump is the legitimate president. cnn.com/videos/media/2…

So what's next? If I was Trump, here's what I would do. I'd continuously expand "The Office of ___"'s scope and make it's legitimacy the next Big Lie. Go on TV, say "I'm the rightful POTUS" ... AND MAKE GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS KISS THE RING.

So as soon as impeachment is over, Congressional Rs will start going to Mar a Lago, kiss the ring, and tell the press that Trump is the one true POTUS. The press will lap this up and say it's "nuts" while wildly boosting the signal.

At the moment, we are extremely lucky that Twitter, Facebook, etc. have all taken down Trump's feeds. But if they reverse that voluntary decision ... this will grow like wildfire.

Trump already has numerous PACs and SuperPACs fundraising for him. If it helps fundraising, he will declare for 2024, but it may be better to tease that for a while. He will continue to convert the fundraising infrastructure into a messaging platform to replace twitter, etc.

As soon as criminal charges or civil litigation starts, he will use that to raise funds and play the victim. No strategy is beneath him, so prosecutors and political opponents can expect attempts at bribery, extortion, coercion, honey-potting, threats of violence, etc.

And let's face it - law enforcement has a lot of sympathetic and likely compromised individuals embedded in it. No matter how thorough the Biden admin is, it's going to be tough to find them all. Trump has power over a lot of people. And he's ruthless.

So ... two years out. Lots of Republican officials will be pretending/declaring Trump is the "real" president. Trump will be playing the victim and fundraising in the face of litigation/prosecution. He will use those funds to bribe support.

We will be facing the midterms in which every disloyal R is attacked from the Trumpist flank. Trump will be the leader of the corpse of the R party. Will millions of voters buy in? I fxn hope not.