2018

When anyone says that Trump chooses impulse over strategy they don’t realize that impulse is a strategy.

Our preoccupation with what Trump meant and what Trump will do next is exactly what Trump intends. Characterizing Trump’s ‘actions’ as impulse over strategy misses the obvious: behaving impulsively is his strategy. The only question then is “strategy for what?” War with Syria, a trade war with China, sending troops to the border, a third reich style military parade in DC and the kitchen sink are all the calculated distractions of an increasingly desperate and therefore an increasingly dangerous man. Nothing is off the table for Trump if it will put an end to Mueller’s investigation. Redirecting our attention from the bonfire in front of us (The Investigation) to the campfire (he started) behind us is his intent. Every action, every tweet, every WH leak is calculated to galvanize support for Trump’s direct or indirect firing of Mueller. He will take his chances with the much-exaggerated “constitutional crisis” that many say will result. He may escape tbe consequences of his crimes if he fires Mueller. He won’t if Mueller completes his investigation.

I thought Trump finally met his match in Robert Mueller, a man committed to the rule of law who could not be bribed, extorted or intimidated by Trump or Russia.  The media presented Mueller as a morally upright, if low key, by the book guy.  We had high hopes for the Mueller probe.  But the “good” guy proved a victim of his own “goodness”. He thought that Trump would be bound by some version of the rule of law. A grievous error.  Instead, Trump refused to allow government officials to testify, wouldn’t appear in person, subverted the AG’s office, bullied the GOP into a not just sham but non-existent trial.  Mueller didn’t release his report directly to the public so we got our first distorted taste of the report from Trump’s AG. In any statement about the probe or his findings, he parsed his words almost to the point of silence.  He had one job for two years and he blew it.

Trump delayed sanctions against Russia for as long as possible before imposing modest-billed-as-sweeping sanctions.  A post lessater post less than a year after this one, I Less than a year later he lifted the sanctions.  So fearful is Trump of Putin that it has been two months since it was first reported that Russia paid Taliban a bounty for each American and coalition forces killed and Trump has yet to ask Putin about this.
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Absent from the by-name list of Russian perpetrators for obvious reasons is the kingpin who orchestrated it all: Putin. And what does it say about our resolve to punish Russia for interfering in our Presidential election when the Administration waits 8 months after they were mandated by law to impose ”sweeping” new sanctions on the one hand and the President congratulates Putin on his own sham election win and then invites him to the WH for a “how-am-I-doing-so-far-sir” meeting on the other hand. Meanwhile the State Department has spent $0 of the $120M allotted to prevent Putin from interfering in November’s election. What a joke. If this is all we will do to protect our elections from a foreign aggressor , we don’t deserve them.