It’s Friday, and so far, Trump has not ordered the “Investigation into the Investigation” that is surely coming, only a matter of time now. Evidently, Trump doesn’t believe he’s softened up the field enough to order that investigation, needs more time to play to the crowd, a few more episodes of Hannity looking like his head might explode as he re-directs his audience to whom they already know to be the real enemies of the United States, that bastard Obama and his wench Hillary Clinton.
Trump, in his own “sentence-like word strings,” brought to us by Politico.
“The Democrats are now alluding to the the [sic] concept that having an Informant placed in an opposing party’s campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be,” the president wrote in a series of tweets. “But what about an ‘Informant’ who is paid a fortune and who ‘sets up’ way earlier than the Russian Hoax?”
He added: “Can anyone even imagine having Spies placed in a competing campaign, by the people and party in absolute power, for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain? And to think that the party in question, even with the expenditure of far more money, LOST!”
We’ve mocked this argument before, principally that if one is going to “pay a fortune” for a spy, especially one setting up a Russian hoax, they do so in order to use that information, not make sure it stays wholly secret. Second, we’ve also already pointed out that the only person that truly had spies in the campaign is the Hillary Clinton campaign who had FBI agents routing through Anthony Weiner’s laptop at just the perfect time, to find what? EMAILZZZZ that might threaten U.S. security! (This by a man who will not give up his phone to an improved one with security, because he’s Trump, that’s why.) Third, it is not illegal if they have probable cause to believe a crime is being committed, and they did.
But, Trump may well be walking his arrogant oval ass into trouble. I’ve spoken before about the 20% – the 20% is the key. Again, half this nation – 50%, are going to believe Robert Mueller’s report, and know that is the only issue, the issue as to whether Trump disqualified himself from office. 30% are going to believe Trump, no matter what he says. If Trump said he knows the moon is made of cheese, they will swear we need to get up there and start processing it. That leaves the 20% that will decide Trump’s fate (assuming Mueller has the damning evidence we believe him to have.
Each time Trump talks “spies” he firms up his 30% that don’t need firming up. Each time he does so, the 50% shake their heads. And for that critical 20%, he builds expectations, because right now they’re thinking “I’ll hear them both out.”
Remember “The MEMO”? The ground-breaking, bigger than Watergate MEMO? I know, I barely remember it either, because it was a giant dud. Trump didn’t play up the memo. Hannity and Russian bots (we later found out) pushed the #releasethememo crap. Trump is pushing this one hard.
What happens when the 20% understand the difference between an informant (which has been known for at least six months, that the FBI had informant very high up in the campaign, hear from people who agreed to cooperate with Mueller? What happens when they hear from Flynn? What happens when Flynn confirms what the “spy” says? What happens when Kushner confirms what the spy said? And Manafort’s partner?
What happens when Trump refuses to honor a subpoena? If it’s all spies, and he’s the hero, why not go talk?
When the testimony from people within the campaign starts to align with why the “informant” says, and the testimony is as damning as we presume it to be, that Russia funneled money into the campaign, that there was a quid pro quo, and that Trump is fully guilty of tax evasion and laundering Putin money, how many of that 20% are going to be furious that Trump wanted them to worry about a “spy”? How many of them are going to take their rage out on “being played” by a fake “spy” scandal when it was all about protecting Trump’s guilty ass?
The country is on a teeter-tatter, it takes a majority of the House to impeach, it takes 66% of Senators to vote guilty, to remove from office, and we’re back to that 20%. Because ultimately, the Republicans who are keeping their mouths shut now are doing so out of fear of what Trump does to people who cross him. That fear will be gone if there is more fear of the 70% of their constituents enraged that the president is a criminal and they protected him.
Each time Trump talks, he sends the “already-convinced” into greater delirium. Each time he talks, he increases the expectations of the 20%. If he can’t match those expectations, and he can’t, he increases the likelihood they’ll want revenge for being “used” as pawn in his own game, conned, just like those who enrolled at Trump University.
And if it’s all a hoax, go explain it to Mueller.
