Donald Trump just gave something away about his Russian bounty scandal
For days, Donald Trump has been trying to avoid taking a position on the Russian plot to have Taliban terrorists murder U.S. soldiers. He tried claiming he’d never been briefed on it. He tried having some of his lackeys toss shade on it. But sooner or later Trump was going to have to take a position: would he side with the United States or would he side with Russia?
Jarringly, yet predictably, Donald Trump has decided to side with Russia. This morning he tweeted: “The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!”
So there it is. Trump has decided to write off this scandal as a mere “hoax.” In so doing, he’s accusing the U.S. intel community and the media of having made up the whole thing. We also suppose he’s accusing the murdered U.S. soldiers of not really being dead or something, which is offensive beyond words.
Donald Trump is also giving away that he has no idea how to respond to this scandal. No one outside his shrinking base is going to believe the “hoax” claim, and in fact his offensive position on this scandal should serve to turn more of the people in the middle against him. But if Trump were to take any other position he’d be offending Vladimir Putin, and Trump would rather throw away his presidency and his future than offend Putin.
