Donald Trump gives away that he’s hosed

| 9:05 pm EDT August 20, 2018
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The first rule of leverage is to never reveal to your opponents what you’re not willing to do to them. Donald Trump must have been absent from class on that day, because he’s consistently shown he has no idea how to deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Trump was also apparently absent on the day they taught how “Counsel” was spelled, but that’s another matter. The important part here is what Trump, in an effort at bragging about his own supposed power, just gave away about his own prospects.

Donald Trump told Reuters today that he’s “totally allowed” to take over the Trump-Russia investigation if he wants. Apparently, however, he doesn’t want to: I’ve decided to stay out. Now, I don’t have to stay out, as you know. I can go in and I could… do whatever, I could run it if I want.” This remark, while nonsensical, actually tells us a lot.

Let’s say I made a point of telling you that I could be the next James Bond if I wanted to, but I don’t want the role. You’d interpret that as meaning that I really do want to play Bond, and that I resentfully know I could never land the role. Here we have Trump telling us that he could take over the investigation into his own crimes if he wanted to, but that he doesn’t want to.

Translation: Donald Trump really wishes he could take over the investigation, but he knows he doesn’t have the muscle to get away with it. Worse, he just admitted to Robert Mueller that he knows he can’t pull it off. You never admit to your opponent that you’re not willing to try the most severe option, or that you know you wouldn’t get away with it. Yet that’s precisely what Trump just did.