I was thinking about this battle going on between the DEMS and Trump…and what came to mind was one of those “Discovery Channel” features on Lions…specifically where you see this huge, mature Plain Buffalo injured and stuck in a marsh that he can’t get out of.
The Lions surround him, but never try a direct frontal assault… because one swipe of the Buffalo’s Horns can kill a Lion. Instead, they know that the more they pick and nibble at him; the more he will fight; and with patience and time, he will eventually tire out, at which point they go in for the kill.
This is what I think the DEMS “know”:
It strains credibility to think that Trumps Cyber-Security and that of the GOP was so much greater than the DEMS and Clinton’s that they were barely touched by hacking, Wiki-Leaks, and those that supplied the material and expertise. The net result is that even though the DEMS don’t know specifics…they know there is “something” there…and they are not letting up.
I actually think the DEMS know that Trump has as ego bigger than Trump Towers…and that he is therefore easily provoked. People easily provoked can often be goated into making mistakes.
I think slowly picking at Trump; and provoking him on almost a daily basis; is the DEMS game plan.
Political opinions aside, I would like to see the American public reject the type of allegations/conspiracy theory/train-of-thought communications that are coming out of the POTUS. Would this be allowed in any other serious position? I don’t want to turn this into a “but we put up with Obama” or “crooked Hillary” debate, this is independent of political stance.
How can the President tweet about illegal wire tapping without providing any proof? How can he listen to conservative radio hosts, get worked up, and then tweet this as news? I understand radio hosts (on both sides of the political spectrum) will drum up interest by playing up rumors and theories that are not substantiated, but how can we allow the POTUS to do this? One of the most important credentials a president (or empowered individual) can have is the ability to thoughtfully make decisions based on sound information.
I think a blind man walking on the moon could see that about Trump. It is one of the many reasons I didn’t want him. I think it is exactly as you suggest, and the strategy is ready made to succeed.
I mean, honestly, how could anyone not have seen this coming? This sort of attitude was clear as day with The Donald.
Bottom line: the amount of contacts between Team Trump and the Russians is simply too large to ignore. Couple that with the ousters of Manafort and Flynn, the recusal of Sessions (and potential ouster; I’ve read that Trump was not happy with him for recusing himself), the investigations that appear to be underway by the IC and congressional committees, and Trump’s staunch refusal to say anything negative about Putin/Russia or release his tax returns, something smells damn fishy.
Also, as far as I’m aware, Wikileaks has been utterly silent since the election.
I’m sure that’s part of it. It’s pretty clear where his weakness is (ego) and they know they cannot expect straight, honest answers out of him, so they’ll keep hammering this until they get some answers. (Trump also did himself no favors by demonizing the media and intelligence agencies.)
Just look at his tweet storm from this morning. The Russia story is clearly bothering him and he’s lashing out. And in doing so, might have just lent more credence to investigating him. As ED said in the 100 Days thread, if there was a FISA warrant to tap phones at Trump Tower, there was a damn good reason for it (getting that warrant is not in any way easy…especially for something as high-profile of a US presidential election).
But to your larger point, I don’t see this being looked at as a game by the vast majority of those in Washington. This isn’t a ploy to smear Trump (I don’t think Tom Clancy could have come up with this one); there are absolutely legitimate concerns here that demand thorough investigation. And there are more and more every single day it.
I think Trump is acting like a matador, as he did with his opponents in the primary. He baits them, they attack, he dodges, they trip over their own tongues and have to fall on their own sword.
A whole lot of what he’s doing is just waiving his cape to get the media to charge. They charge, he dodges. He calls them fake news and they charge, then he dodges and sticks a pike in their shoulder. Eventually either he’s going to get gored or the media is going to bleed out.
I can’t even guess what the end game might be for him. Looking at his history of either stellar success or catastrophic failure, maybe its just another game toward that end?
That is one thing I know for sure. It will be one of the two extremes for Trump, there is not going to be any middle ground. There hasn’t been for much of his career and these are easily the highest stakes he has ever played by several orders of magnitude.
It’s either going to be a grand slam or a crash and burn.
This is the crux of it. I think Trump is so incredibly confident that he thinks his abilities know no bounds and, not to put too fine a point on it, he is now way over his head. This is a whole other ballgame and he both underestimated the actual work involved in governing successfully and over estimated his capabilities.
Not to say that it’s impossible for him to pull out of, but he simply cannot continue on the way he has. He needs to be like he was last week when he addressed Congress, every single day.
That’s the game he’s still playing, but it doesn’t work on this stage. The primaries were a popularity contest, which was right up his alley. There are now actual stakes here outside of polling numbers.
If his filed taxes are okay to the IRS why do you assume something is fishy? You know the Obama administration used the IRS to target conservative groups right? If there truly was something unsavory Democrats would Have used it against him during the election
This is it. Trump is in way over his head. This isn’t scripted reality-television, and Trump is (unsurprisingly) struggling to move the chess pieces around to his benefit. He has no appreciation for the weight of his words and actions.
I think you’re right, and if for no other reason, because it’s the easiest game plan on the playbook.
Think about it - Trump reads a canned speech from the teleprompter without disintegrating into apoplexy and everyone considered it major milestone in his presidency. And his supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief. This is the new hope - the man elected to the most powerful post on the world can hold it together long enough to not throw a tantrum and deliver a staid speech to Congress.
The Democrats know he is a tinder box and will keep sending sparks toward him. It’s a layup.
There is plenty of “damning” pieces of information out there.
It would be more accurate to say that there hasn’t been anything publicly revealed that has shown direct collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
I hate to sound like the proverbial broken record…
But if there is nothing there…Trump needs to get on top of this and CRUSH it…the same if he was in fact illegally tapped…
Related to the latter; I agree with TB…he sure as hell better come up with some evidence. A sitting POTUS leveling such serious allegations on a previous POTUS is over-the-top even for Trump.
