Donald Trump just tipped off how afraid he is that Reince Priebus is selling him out to Robert Mueller
Several days ago, Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus spent a full day voluntarily interviewing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It came much sooner in the process than would have been expected, and it suggested that Mueller had skipped ahead of lower-rung witnesses because Priebus had indicated he wanted to cut a deal. Now it’s become clear just how afraid Trump is that Priebus is indeed selling him out to Mueller.
Trump and Priebus have long despised each other. They hated each other back when one was a Republican candidate and the other was RNC Chair. They still hated each other when Trump reluctantly asked Priebus to be his White House Chief of Staff, and Priebus reluctantly accepted. That was all before Trump forced Priebus to resign after having spent months treating him terribly. Yet today, after Priebus announced that he’s taking a new job at a law firm, Trump bent over backward to kiss up to him, tweeting “Congrats to Reince Priebus, a really good and talented man. We’re proud of you Reince!”
Even though dozens of senior people have left Donald Trump’s administration this year, it’s been extraordinarily rare for Trump to publicly issue them well wishes on the way out the door. He did it for Michael Flynn, because he feared Flynn – who is facing a litany of serious criminal charges – would flip on him. He did it for Steve Bannon, because Bannon knows all his dirty campaign secrets. The only reason for Trump to have done this for Priebus: he fears Priebus is in the process of selling him out to Mueller, and he’s hoping that buttering him up might convince him to change his mind.
No rational person seriously believes that a cooperative subject in a criminal investigation can be persuaded to change his mind based on nothing more than a friendly tweet. But Donald Trump is no rational person. He narcissistically believes this kind of thing can work – and it’s clear that he fears Reince Priebus is selling him out. What Trump doesn’t get is that it’s already probably too late.
