By Patrick Robinson

In any negotiation or venture you normally weigh the risks and benefits. From getting married, to buying a car, to having a medical procedure done, there are things that can go wrong. A downside. 

But in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election he can see no downside, because for him, there isn’t one. At least not as far as making the effort. No charges will be filed, no monetary penalties will be levied. That’s true for Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson as well. Lodging serious charges of fraud ought to carry some downside for those making the charge if they are proven wrong. But in this case they don’t. They won’t lose any money, they won’t face a perilous political future, they won’t be charged with libel or slander. In short, why not? The upside is huge. He stays in office.

In theory, in today’s social media environment we could launch a theory that a senator or mayor or anyone had been getting regularly supplied with crack cocaine. We don’t need to prove they used it. Just that it disappeared once shipped to them. The inference is all that’s needed. That’s why actual proof matters. Real facts on paper. Not assertions in pixels.

The inference unspoken here is that somehow Joe Biden, colluding with apparently hundreds of people from state Governors to election officials somehow got all of them to secretly put the fix in and change ballots. But what’s the downside for Biden? He’d face serious charges of election tampering as would all those in this supposed cabal. What’s the downside if he actually just plain lost? Nothing. He’d go home and resume his normal life.

But for Donald Trump, as he himself has said, where does he go from here? He’s very unlikely to take up painting like George W. Bush. Going back to “running” his failing business empire is a major step down. He would not be the most powerful man in the world any longer. Just a business man facing nearly $500 million in debt from people you don’t want to be in debt to.

He is facing charges from the Southern District of New York for hush money payments made to two women who claimed to have affairs with him. Now forensic accounting experts will sniff out the money trail. He faces a serious defamation case in the E. Jean Carroll case in which she claims he raped her in a department store dressing room. He called her a liar. But oddly enough she still has the dress she wore that day and it’s never been cleaned. He has refused to provide a DNA sample. If he’s innocent wouldn’t you think he would want that proven? If the DNA is a match then not only does her defamation case gain credence but he could be charged with rape.

The downsides for Donald Trump are drawing ever nearer and when they arrive in the coming months they have the potential to make the national divide we have been witnessing even greater. His supporters are unlikely to believe anything but what he says. That’s the power of the cult of personality. If you find yourself compelled to reflexively object to that idea, or want to leap into "what aboutisms" about Biden or any other politician, you are part of the cult.

And for this nation, that’s a major downside.