Donald Trump gives away that he’s panicking about the Senate Intel Committee and Russia
Like all terrible poker players, Donald Trump has a tell that gives him away every time. Whenever he fears that bad news is about to surface for him, whether it be from the media or from investigators, particularly in relation to his Russia scandal, he always begins tweeting toxic garbage in a desperate effort to reframe the narrative before it surfaces. This morning he gave away that he’s now in a panic about the Senate Intel Committee and Russia.
Here’s what Trump tweeted this morning, in amongst his usual nonsense: “Why Isn’t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!” His motivation here is clear. Yesterday the leaders of the Senate Intel Committee briefed the media in bipartisan fashion about their progress in uncovering Trump’s Russia scandal. Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner didn’t give away their full hand, because they’re much better poker players than Trump is. But they did make clear that the Trump-Russia investigation is progressing, and that it’s only going to get uglier for Trump as it goes on.
Recently, Facebook turned over thousands of political ads to the Senate Intel Committee that Russia had purchased during the election. Enough detail has already leaked out about these ads to make a few things clear. Russia was specifically targeting voters in Michigan and Wisconsin, two swing states that Trump “won” in impossibly suspicious fashion. The ads and targeting also demonstrated far too expert of an understanding of internal U.S. politics to have been pulled off without help – thus making it obvious that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia on these ads.
What stands out as most noteworthy here is that Donald Trump’s decision to preemptively attack the Senate Intel Committee, even before it’s released its full findings, suggests that he believes the committee has found far more damning evidence against him than is publicly known. As usual, Trump’s attempt at deflection has backfired.
