Trump Says He Might Leave the Country If He Loses

President Trump has begun grappling in public with the
possibility he may lose the election. At a rally Friday night, he
floated the prospect of fleeing abroad. “Could you imagine if I
lose?” he said. “I’m not going to feel so good. Maybe I’ll have to
leave the country, I don’t know.”

Trump said this in a jokey manner, but he doesn’t make jokes, at
least not in the ordinary manner most people do. His “jokes” are
almost always the barely disguised expression of underlying
distress. His running “joke” about staying in office for more than
four more years, for instance, is a way of airing grievances over
his treatment by the media and investigators and asserting some
sense of dominance over his tormentors.

Trump’s rally material has recently used a new bit about how he
will never again visit the various swing states he is currently
touring (i.e., “I may never have to come back here again if I don’t
get Iowa.”) This, again, is a joke that isn’t a joke. His
relationship to states in the Midwest is transactional, based on
their love for him. If they betray him by failing to yield
electoral votes, Trump will respond the way he responds to any act
of disloyalty. He won’t be back.

His joke about leaving the United States can be seen as a
version of the swing-state joke, writ large. And yet, it is notable
that he did not joke about leaving the country if he lost in
2016.

Perhaps one thing on the president’s mind is the developing
criminal case against him. He faces serious legal jeopardy by
prosecutors in Manhattan and New York State for what seems to be,
on its face, fairly cut-and-dried criminal fraud in his private
business dealings. It is also possible that, having left office,
prosecutors may turn over some rocks and discover more criminal
behavior as president of the United States. (The Department of
Justice has a policy of not charging the president with crimes, but
that expires if he leaves office.)

Musing onstage about leaving the country is a strange theme for
a president who wraps himself in nationalism to the point of
literally hugging American flags. He may simply be revealing some
fear of hurt or rejection at his prospective defeat. But he may
also be giving at least fleeting thought to a real plan. In the
face of likely criminal prosecution, a defeated Trump’s best option
may well be to leave the country and never return.

President Trump has begun grappling in public with the
possibility he may lose the election. At a rally Friday night, he
floated the prospect of fleeing abroad. “Could you imagine if I
lose?” he said. “I’m not going to feel so good. Maybe I’ll have to
leave the country, I don’t know.”

Trump said this in a jokey manner, but he doesn’t make jokes, at
least not in the ordinary manner most people do. His “jokes” are
almost always the barely disguised expression of underlying
distress. His running “joke” about staying in office for more than
four more years, for instance, is a way of airing grievances over
his treatment by the media and investigators and asserting some
sense of dominance over his tormentors.

Trump’s rally material has recently used a new bit about how he
will never again visit the various swing states he is currently
touring (i.e., “I may never have to come back here again if I don’t
get Iowa.”) This, again, is a joke that isn’t a joke. His
relationship to states in the Midwest is transactional, based on
their love for him. If they betray him by failing to yield
electoral votes, Trump will respond the way he responds to any act
of disloyalty. He won’t be back.

His joke about leaving the United States can be seen as a
version of the swing-state joke, writ large. And yet, it is notable
that he did not joke about leaving the country if he lost in
2016.

Perhaps one thing on the president’s mind is the developing
criminal case against him. He faces serious legal jeopardy by
prosecutors in Manhattan and New York State for what seems to be,
on its face, fairly cut-and-dried criminal fraud in his private
business dealings. It is also possible that, having left office,
prosecutors may turn over some rocks and discover more criminal
behavior as president of the United States. (The Department of
Justice has a policy of not charging the president with crimes, but
that expires if he leaves office.)

Musing onstage about leaving the country is a strange theme for
a president who wraps himself in nationalism to the point of
literally hugging American flags. He may simply be revealing some
fear of hurt or rejection at his prospective defeat. But he may
also be giving at least fleeting thought to a real plan. In the
face of likely criminal prosecution, a defeated Trump’s best option
may well be to leave the country and never return.