What Donald Trump’s “I’m not going anywhere” meltdown really tells us

| 3:30 pm EDT June 28, 2018
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This morning Donald Trump woke up and decided that he needed to announce to the world that “I’m not going anywhere.” It immediately evoked memories of all the aging athletes who had to publicly deny they’re about to retire, or the team owners who have had to publicly deny that they’re about to fire a struggling coach. If things get to the point where you have to say it, you’re in trouble. But what was really going on with Trump’s meltdown this morning?

Just a few hours later, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy shockingly announced his retirement. We know that Kennedy did go to speak with Trump shortly before making his announcement. Trump would have been told before the meeting that Kennedy wanted to see him, and he would have figured out why. So the question of course is whether Trump already knew about Kennedy’s retirement at 7:18am eastern time this morning, when he declared that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Maybe Trump knew and maybe he didn’t; we’ll never know for sure. If he does think that Kennedy’s retirement is going to be his salvation, we’ve already pointed out the numerous ways in which his upcoming Supreme Court pick could backfire and blow up in his face. The larger picture here is that, for all his bluster and increasingly deranged antics, and for all the good luck that’s conveniently come his way over the past two days, Donald Trump is still on the defensive – and with good reason.

The Paul Manafort trial is about to begin, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is already using it to put Donald Trump on trial by proxy in the court of public opinion. Michael Cohen is closer to flipping on Trump than ever. If Trump had a way to magically stop these criminal investigative proceedings from closing in on him, he’d have done it by now. Everything is about to go completely to hell for him. No wonder he’s defiantly and defensively shouting about how he’s “not going anywhere.” It’s what people yell when they fear they’re indeed going somewhere.