Donald Trump knows he’s running out of rope
Donald Trump’s long running strategy for surviving political scandal has been grotesque but effective. When he fears a particular scandal might take him down, he distracts the public from it by creating another scandal for himself which – even if it might bring him more condemnation – might be less likely to harm him in the long run. But even that strategy requires having a manageable number of scandals to begin with. In the last few days in particular, we’ve seen signs that Trump knows he’s running out of rope.
Trump ostensibly got wind of the Wall Street Journal’s Russian collusion bombshell a few days before it was published, as the newspaper almost certainly asked his administration for comment before publishing it on Thursday night. That’s why Trump tried to create the mother of all distractions on Thursday morning by launching into a vicious personal attack on MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. Better to have the public buzzing about what a disgusting person he is than to have them buzzing about what a traitor he is.
Even that gambit failed. The WSJ only put out the first traces of its Peter Smith collusion story on Thursday night. Trump, seemingly knowing more was coming, made an even more desperate move on Friday morning when he admitted to having run a blackmail scheme against Brzezinski’s co-host Joe Scarborough. But even confessing to a felony wasn’t a particularly effective distraction, as the WSJ responded by still only publishing a few more pieces of the Smith collusion puzzle on Friday night.
Trump knows more is coming. It’s why he began tweeting more distracting garbage tonight along the lines of “My use of social media is not Presidential – it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL” – which has merely increased calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against him. But Trump doesn’t seem to know when the real collusion bombshell will hit the newswires. He’s sticking his neck out further than ever to try to fend it off. And even he knows he’s running out of rope. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
