Donald Trump is rattled
“President” Donald Trump is suffering from derangement syndrome. The right likes to speak of everyone else having Trump Derangement Syndrome, but Trump is definitely worried and knows that his time is up. Robert Mueller made it very clear in his statements on Wednesday that for now, because he occupies the White House, he is Teflon Trump – but that Teflon is not going to be able to go unscathed in this. Whether the feckless GOP does anything is open to question.
One sign that Trump has lost it was in his statements today to reporters: “It came out that there was nothing to do with Russia. The whole thing is a scam. It’s a giant presidential harassment. And honestly — I hope it goes down as one of my greatest achievements. I’ve exposed corruption like nobody knew existed.”
In tweets today, he is trying to paint Mueller as a “never Trumper” out to get the president, tweeting: “Robert Mueller came to the Oval Office (along with other potential candidates) seeking to be named the Director of the FBI. He had already been in that position for 12 years, I told him NO. The next day he was named Special Counsel – A total Conflict of Interest. NICE!”
Trump also tweeted: “The Greatest Presidential Harassment in history. After spending $40,000,000 over two dark years, with unlimited access, people, resources and cooperation, highly conflicted Robert Mueller would have brought charges, if he had ANYTHING, but there were no charges to bring!”
As usual, Trump is using his best Mad Magazine embodiment of “people unclear on the concept.” Mueller explained very clearly in the report, but even more so yesterday, that the Office of Legal Counsel opinion on a sitting president is the only thing that prevented any charges. In addition, the special counsel statute provides that the special counsel is to report findings to Congress, and they then have the obligation to pursue justice. Trump is unhinged and rattled, and Nancy Pelosi et al need to ensure that he is not only rattled, but that justice is brought.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.