Freak Out Friday – November 30, 2018

Robert Mueller is closing in on Trump, and Trump knows it. That’s why for something like four straight days he railed on about Mueller, falsely claiming that an investigation which has nailed over two dozen people is false and a waste of time. He’s been changing the amount of money that he claims it costs, and has been shouting “No collusion” with such intensity and frequency that you would have to be blind, deaf and dumb–in other words, a Trump supporter–to believe that he hasn’t been in bed with the Russians. A couple of years ago he claimed he wasn’t; now he’s saying that he wasn’t but, hey, if he was, he had the right to be and it was no big deal. I can assure you, whenever anyone says, Even if I did it, there was nothing wrong with it,” that means he did it and he knows damned well there’s something wrong with it.

So let’s see how his week has been going.

1). Here come the judge. Six states plus New York City provide sanctuary for immigrants, and Trump incredibly declared that he was going to cut them off from receiving public safety grants because, well, he’s a dick. Except a New York Federal Judge came back and reminded him that such a decision is completely beyond his power. Trump has still not been able to realize or accept that the powers of his office do not include the ability to come down on people just because they disagree with him. He can’t send the Justice Department after Hillary or James Comey, and he can’t unilaterally decide to withhold Federal funding just because someone isn’t as dementedly harsh against immigrants as he is. This, of course, is why he loved dictators. They can do whatever they want, get rid of whoever annoys them, and people remain loyal out of fear. That’s what he wants in this country, not a position where checks and balances rein in his attempts at spite and revenge.

2). In his defense, he does have a substantial gut. In addition to claiming that his brain is far more majestic than that of pretty much any other mortal, Trump further asserts that his gut is more knowledgeable than the brains of pretty much everyone. He asserts that his gut knows that climate change is a falsehood, despite the fact that pretty much the entire scientific community and his own investigators are telling him otherwise. He also claimed that his gut is more aware of property monetary policy than the Federal Reserve. So he basically put forward his reasons for never listening to anyone who is smarter than he is, which is–let’s face it–pretty much anyone. It seems his instincts are far more reliable than the knowledge of everybody else. I’m sure you remember the old adage about surrounding oneself with smart people who disagree with you. It doesn’t matter who Trump surrounds himself with because he remains convinced that he doesn’t need to listen to them because his gut is far more reliable. I swear, if the words “The Planet is messed up” appeared in burning letters on the Congressional dome, Trump would claim it was David Copperfield.

3). Car, Car, C-A-R. So General Motors has announced that they are firing fifteen percent of its workforce and shutting down five plants. Why? Several reasons, not the least of which is that Trump’s tariffs have driven up the price of steel. So every worker who trusted Trump to protect his or her job is getting a nice kick in the face for the holidays. Trump, meanwhile, not only takes no more responsibility for this than for the farmers who are declaring bankruptcy but instead has responded with threats. He threatened to remove GM’s electric car subsidies, which will naturally be harmful to anyone getting tax credits for buying electric cars. And he went on to announce he wants to tax foreign cars coming into the US, an idea which sucks monumentally. How would he accomplish this? By declaring that all foreign cars are a threat to national security. Yeah. Great notion.

4). A Trump lawyer lied? Inconceivable!. As Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to congress about Trump and his business contacts in Russia, Trump responded by declaring that the “Mueller witch-hunt” should be terminated. Here’s the problem with calling it a witch hunt: no one in a watch hunt ever pleaded guilty. Mueller has enough guilty pleas than an entire season of “Perry Mason.” It’s not a witch hunt; it’s a dedicated investigation that is tightening the noose around Trump’s neck every day. And he’s panicking.

Did he do anything right?. Hard to tell. He declared that he wasn’t going to meet with Putin because of Russia’s activities with the Ukraine. Except I don’t recall Trump especially giving a damn about what his beloved strong men do in order to cause trouble. Russia’s take is that it was cancelled because Cohen admitted to lying about his involvement with Russia, and considering that Trump cancelled the meeting mere hours after Cohen’s admission, I have to admit that makes a lot of sense.

PAD