Donald Trump waves the white flag

| 10:57 am EDT August 31, 2017
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When the news broke on Sunday night that Donald Trump had been trying to build Trump Tower Moscow during the election, we all knew what was coming: if not on Monday morning then certainly by Tuesday morning, Trump would wake up in a defensive rage and either begin tweeting about how it was all fake news, or begin waging some other cartoonish feud as an attempted distraction. Except that never happened.

Now, as the Trump Tower Moscow scandal enters its fourth full day, he still hasn’t bothered to fight back. In recent weeks I’ve pointed out just how long it seems to take news, even major breaking news, to reach his ears because of how isolated he is from real news sources. But by now even he’s certainly gotten word that his own personal involvement in the Russia scandal has been uncovered, and that things are looking worse for him by the minute. Instead of choosing to fight back, he’s waving the white flag.

Sure, Donald Trump launched an attack on Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill during a speech yesterday. But it was lifeless and half hearted, obviously concocted by his advisers. His lack of interest in what he was reading suggested that he barely even knows who McCaskill is. This wasn’t one of his fights. This was his handlers trying to script a fight for him, and all it did was reveal that he’s lost his fight.

Beyond that, the most controversial thing Donald Trump has tweeted this week was an ethically challenged plug for David Clarke’s new book. This is the guy who spent the election gleefully playing bully, and who spent the first few months of his time in office throwing flames? Now he’s reduced to “buy my friend’s book.” For all we know, the angry defiant Trump might start fighting back in the end. But for the moment, at least, he’s waving the white flag. It suggests that, if only in a brief moment of clarity, he’s figured out he’s lost.