Donald Trump stands by Reince Priebus over obstruction, showing how deep Russia scandal runs
Two weeks ago, Donald Trump cut off his own pinky finger by nudging his National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to resign after he had been exposed for colluding with the Russian government, hoping it would stop the bleeding. Now that Reince Priebus has also become a major liability in Trump’s Russia scandal by getting caught up in attempted obstruction of justice over Russia, one would have expected him to be dispensed with in similar fashion.
After all, Flynn was merely exposed as being a part of the original crime; Priebus was exposed as having broken the law by trying to cover up the original crime. Reince couldn’t possibly be more tainted. So why not merely cut off another pinky finger by nudging him into resignation as well, and try to buy some more time in the process? After all, if Trump sacrifices enough of his own pawns over Russia, the people in the middle might lazily conclude that the guilty parties have been dealt with, leaving Trump’s detractors with less to work with.
But it hasn’t worked out that way. Flynn’s ouster was supposed to put Trump-Russia to bed, at least for long enough to allow the Trump administration to find some temporary solid footing. Instead it was an instant bodyblow to Trump’s presidency, validating the claims of those who had insisted all along that the Trump campaign was dirty on Russia — and it motivated the media to keep digging into the scandal all the more vehemently.
And so now we’ve already reached the stage where Donald Trump believes there’s no longer a point in sacrificing Reince Priebus, or presumably anyone else in his administration who gets implicated the Russia scandal. He’s figured out that whatever his fate is on Russia, he can’t change it by ousting any more of his conspirators. Worse, Priebus was part of the coverup – which means that if Trump did oust him, he would be admitting there was a coverup. This gets worse for Trump by the minute. Help us investigate Trump-Russia!
