Donald Trump just blew it big time
Donald Trump had a predictable Twitter response to his former campaign manager and convicted felon Paul Manafort’s light sentence last week, claiming that somehow the length of the sentence proves the familiar all-caps refrain “NO COLLUSION” while fawning over the disgraced operative, calling him a “brave man.”
The apparent misapplication of justice by Judge T.S. Ellis, who surmised that Manafort lived a “blameless” Christ-like life and was but a victim of circumstance who innocently ran afoul of Russian crime bosses before defrauding the government and others of millions of dollars, gave Trump some surface-level cover to telegraph false messages about the unfairness of the growing number of investigations into his criminal behavior before and after November 2016.
While Trump’s blithe and limp “no collusion” defense doesn’t have much impact anymore, oft repeated and retweeted as it is, his newly announced budget request is sure to land with a booming thud. That’s because it calls for more than $8 billion for – you guessed it – a wall on the southern border among domestic cuts that weren’t popular when Democrats swept into the House last November and, if anything, have become less popular as newly announced presidential candidates have emerged to credibly eviscerate Trump’s failed policies daily.
First, this budget request isn’t happening. It’s Donald Trump providing himself a fig leaf for his total failure to secure wall funding, which has led to a somewhat satisfying Twitter fight between Trump and fellow xenophobic profiteer Ann Coulter, as the country hate-watches. And that’s the second reason Trump shouldn’t have bothered with this nonsensical request: it reminds America of that failure during a week when he’ll need to come up with some response to a second Manafort sentence among other dropping hammers.
Trump certainly isn’t prepared for what may come down the pike with respect to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who is facing a Wednesday sentencing hearing, though similar status hearings have been delayed in the past as Mueller’s team continues to pump Flynn for more information. Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates, who has been quite verbose in his cooperation with investigators, also has another hearing scheduled Friday. Like Flynn, Gates has had several hearings delayed as he cooperates with ongoing investigations. Big announcements on either front are bad news for Trump now. No news on either front means bad news later, as both men continue to provide information. No winning there.
So, while Manafort’s very temporary and limited gift from Judge Ellis gave Donald Trump and his base a bit of gristle to chew on, Trump has already blown it by announcing a budget that reminds everyone of his most glaring defeat while continuing to antagonize one of his biggest media supporters, a self-inflicted awful start to what already looks to be a punishing week.
Chuck is a former community reporter, columnist, and Army veteran