Why did Donald Trump abruptly fly to Washington DC tonight?
Donald Trump has apparently flown to Washington DC this evening, arriving with no advance notice or stated reason, looking like he just walked off a golf course. Given that he’s under active federal criminal investigation and appears to be near DOJ indictment, speculation and anticipation are swirling across social media about what might be going on.
If Trump has traveled to DC as part of some two bit scheme against the DOJ, it might produce some silly headlines, but it won’t help him or amount to anything. If the DOJ has forced him to travel to DC, it’s not going to announce the reason unless it’s arresting him. We may not get an explanation as soon as we’d like.
If the DOJ is behind this, the best hope we have for a swift explanation is if Trump himself blabs about it on his social network. But in such case we wouldn’t know whether to believe any of what he says anyway.
If Trump is faking a sudden health issue because he mistakenly believes that checking into a hospital will save him from being indicted and arrested… yawn. Short of that, why would Trump abruptly decide to voluntarily rush to DC, still dressed in golf course clothes, looking more frazzled than ever? I can’t think of any reason that would interest me. Meeting with a new incompetent lawyer? Yawn.
Some have speculated that the DOJ is forcing Trump to testify to a grand jury. The target of a criminal investigation usually isn’t put in front of a grand jury. The DOJ reportedly has numerous Trump-related probes. It could, for instance, be forcing Trump to testify to a grand jury in a probe that’s targeting one of his businesses but isn’t personally targeting him. Like, say, his social network – which is reportedly under DOJ investigation.
But even then, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the DOJ abruptly says “you must come testify immediately” and then Trump walks off the golf course and jumps on a plane to to testify. Things don’t work that way. Subpoenas are fought in court and such.
It’s possible Trump is always wearing golf course clothes and golf shoes and looking this disheveled while he’s at Bedminster these days. He does look worse and worse in every Bedminster photo that surfaces.
So it’s possible what we’re seeing in those photos of Trump getting off the plane is not a guy who rushed off the golf course to fly to DC, but instead an increasingly disheveled half senile man who has no one to tell him to go clean himself up before flying to DC.
But the bottom line is that anything short of grand jury testimony or his arrest, it’s likely to be a yawner. And if it is grand jury testimony, the DOJ won’t tell us about it any time soon. Maybe the media will get lucky and sniff it out.
If you’re staying up late tonight in the hope that you’ll get some bombshell answer before the night is over, his arrest is probably the only thing that could give you that tonight. So you have to ask yourself what you think the odds are he’s being arrested tonight.
The DOJ is in a fast moving court battle with Trump right now over evidence in the most serious known criminal probe against him. Could the DOJ have said “screw it” and decided to just arrest him now? That’s for you to guess, if you care to guess. I’m not even going to guess.
Short of the DOJ forcing him to be in DC, keep in mind that Trump is a weird incoherent person who increasingly does weird incoherent things that don’t amount to anything. Most of what he does these days has no strategy or reason or coherence or explanation to it.
While you’re waiting to find out why Trump is in DC, one thing you can do to pass the time is sign up to volunteer remotely for a Democratic candidate in a competitive midterm House or Senate race. Get started here.
