As she often does, Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post has written a compelling piece  entitled, The trifecta that could sink Trump’s favorite defense https://tinyurl.com/3xrvzdam As often happens in criminal conspiracy cases, some of the defendants, in this case three former Trump attorneys and an Atlanta bail bondsman have proffered evidence against Trump in exchange for plea deals. Uncommonly, videos of some of their statements to prosecutors were leaked to the press by one of their attorneys. Time will tell what effect that decision has on the lawyer’s future.

But what is clear as the proverbial bell here is that three of Trump’s co-conspirators have chosen to save themselves at Trump’s expense. Anyone watching Trump for the past seven years can readily anticipate how he will react, but what is most interesting is the impact of their proffers on Trump’s defense that he truly, genuinely, authentically believed he won the 2020 election and that he lacked the necessary criminal intent to overturn the election through extra-legal or illegal means because he was acting on the advice of his attorneys.

The testimony of many participants in Trump’s scheme are aligning now in close harmony around a couple of key ideas: (1) Trump’s attorneys did not advise him that he won the election; indeed, many of them advised the opposite was true; Trump simply chose to act on the statements of those who told him what he wanted to hear but which he had every reason to know was false; (2) even if Trump somehow truly believed he won, for which point no credible evidence has thus far emerged, that belief is not a defense to the several unlawful actions he took to overturn the election result through extralegal means, such as offering phony electors and the January 6 assault on the certification process.

The legal system provides methods by which proper challenges could have been brought and, indeed, more than 60 were filed in courts across the country. None of them succeeded.

Trump’s most effective defense, the one on which he has principally relied for his entire life, is delay. In that he has a chance. The Fulton County Georgia DA has just requested an August 2024 start date which, if adopted, will virtually assure that the trial is ongoing at the time of the 2024 election. If the country were to lose its collective mind and elect Trump to the presidency, he would almost certainly try to pardon himself and would offer, for a price, pardons to everyone who might still be a threat to him. The notion that a president can pardon himself is preposterous on its face but with the current Supreme Court stacked with Trump appointees, there is no assurance he would not be “exonerated.”

The obvious and best solution, other than Trump’s earlier conviction and sentencing in one of the other felony cases, would be for him to be defeated at the ballot box. He would, of course, claim the election was rigged and start the challenge process all over again, perhaps including another attempt at a violent coup.

This pathetic situation has resulted, in part, due to the failure of the various charging parties to coordinate their activities and, in part, due to the pro-Trump preference demonstrated repeatedly by Judge Aileen Cannon in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. All the judges in all the cases are putting up with conduct that would never be accepted for any other defendant than Trump. If it is true that there is a two-tiered justice system, as many Republican Trump worshippers have claimed, it favors Trump rather than prejudicing him.

Time will tell, as usual. Meanwhile, the best offense against Trump remains producing an overwhelming election defeat in 2024. There may be no other way.