Donald Trump begs Rick Perry not to flip on him
Donald Trump spent the morning tepidly saying nothing at all. Then he spent the middle of the day lashing out at arbitrary targets like Adam Schiff while tepidly avoiding saying anything negative about any of the Senate Republicans, White House underlings, and military figures who have spent the past twenty-four hours turning against him. Now Trump is finally speaking about Rick Perry’s departure, and it’s even more tepidness.
U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified to the House impeachment inquiry yesterday that he, Rick Perry, and Kurt Volker were disappointed in Donald Trump’s decision to route U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine through Rudy Giuliani. This confirms that Trump was indeed behind Rudy’s corrupt scheming, and that Rudy wasn’t merely doing all of this behind Trump’s back. Before the day was over, Perry officially announced his resignation accordingly. As we’ve explained, Perry’s only path forward is to testify to the impeachment inquiry himself, and to vouch for Sondland’s version of events, in the hope that it’ll get them off the legal hook for their role in the crimes that are going to take Trump and Rudy down.
Trump surely knows that Rick Perry is about to flip on him. So it’s notable that Trump just posted this tweet: “I want to thank Secretary of Energy Rick Perry for the outstanding job he has done. He will be leaving at the end of the year to pursue other interests. Rick was a great Governor of Texas and a great Secretary of Energy. He is also my friend! At the same time, I am pleased to nominate Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette to be the new Secretary of Energy. Dan’s experience in the sector is unparalleled. A total professional, I have no doubt that Dan will do a great job!”
In other words, Donald Trump is begging Rick Perry not to flip on him. He’s using words like “outstanding” and “friend” in the hope of buttering Perry up into remaining loyal to him. Fat chance. Volker’s testimony meant that Sondland had to flip on Trump – which he did – and in turn, Sondland’s testimony meant that Perry would have to flip on Trump.
