Here’s the thing about Donald Trump’s monstrous “I hereby demand” meltdown

| 8:06 pm EDT May 20, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

It’s always been difficult to put a timeframe on Donald Trump’s demise, because the political process and criminal justice process each tend to stick to their own unpredictable internal clocks. With his scandals worsening by the day, and his allies increasingly distancing themselves or flipping on him, it’s safe to say that Trump’s demise is inevitable but not imminent. Today it appeared Trump got tired of slowly losing, and decided to slam his fist down on the chess board just to see what would happen. In the process, he had one of his most monstrous meltdowns to date.

Here’s what Trump tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Wow. This is despotic even by his standards. It’s worth pointing out that this tweet is full of big words that don’t appear to be in Trump’s vocabulary. This tweet also correctly spells “hereby” despite Trump’s infamous and repeated inability to spell “hereby” or even grasp that it’s one word and not two words. So the odds are that Trump didn’t write this tweet. But he certainly signed off on it, because he just bet his life on it.

Make no mistake here: Trump is trying to force the issue. He’s decided that whatever his fate is going to be, he wants it to happen more quickly. This is a surprising turn of events for Trump, as thus far his illegitimate presidency has largely consisted of him loudly whining, and then doing nothing about it, as the investigations continue to close in on him. Something changed today, and Trump decided he’s tired of his fate being dragged out.

It’s still possible that Donald Trump will revert to his true tepid nature by tomorrow, and decide not to try to force the DOJ to investigate its own investigation of his crimes. But at this point even the delusional Trump can’t possibly think he can win this. That means he’s decided, for the moment at least, that he wants to hurry up and lose. But Trump is as flaky as he is tepid, so yeah, maybe he will back down by tomorrow. At this point the only thing Trump still controls is how he’s going to lose.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.