Now it was true that he could probably do nothing—not defend himself at all—and be acquitted. Very few Republican senators wanted to test his threat that he held their careers in his hand. He had gotten it into his head that he had the power of fratricide, nearly an absolute power to kill off any fellow Republican—and he was eager to use it. And while this might be half a fantasy, it was far from clear who would want to test which half was bluster and which was real. This reluctance held Senate Republicans in line and would keep them from convicting him, at least assuming he did not commit some further, unimaginable Trump offense. And even then …

At the same time, he wanted to defend himself. Or, at least, he wanted not to yield the limelight. He had a case to make: the election was stolen. Hadn’t you heard? The election was stolen! He wanted to tell the world himself. He seemed to have an obsessive need to repeat—and then repeat again—all the rumored, purported, and theoretical election offenses. And he seemed to believe this was electrifying to people, which for many it was, although, for others, it was a reason to worry about him.

Kushner felt that this was the one defense that actually could get Trump convicted—that Mitch McConnell so hated the former president and was so incensed at what he considered the raving lunacy of the election fraud nonsense (more proof McConnell didn’t need that Trump himself was a raving lunatic) that, together with the seven senators voting to convict, he could break the dam and pull in the ten more needed to convict. Mitch just might be willing to risk all-out, internecine Republican war to do this.

Lawyers were needed not just in Trump’s defense but also to keep him in line. That is, as always, he stood alone at an ever-unpredictable center of events—ever the wild card. As much as possible—and often, it was hardly possible—you had to surround him with process or, anyway, with people who might, out of caution and with the confusion of many voices, slow him down. This was the only hope for blunting the onslaught. At any rate, he could not be allowed to argue election fraud in the Senate.