In his pre-presidential life, Donald Trump was a known quantity–a predator on the prowl for vulnerable prey as he daily/nightly roamed the dark netherworld of New York City’s high-stakes real-estate industry.
His was a totally transactional, zero-sum world in which there were few–if any–ethical guardrails or moral guidelines and virtually no willingness to stay within the bounds of the few that did exist. Its currency consisted of fraudulent claims, broken contracts, unkept promises and non-stop, 24/7 lying. It was populated by grifters in $10,000 suits, dirty public officials, suspect bankers, union officials with their hands out, connected lawyers and organized crime bosses/thugs.
Trump navigated this swamp with the ease of a 14-foot alligator born and raised in its ooze. It is a matter of public record that, unapologetically and with no ethical/moral qualms, he lied to investors [a felony], ripped off those investors [a felony], stiffed banks, stiffed small business owners, stiffed vendors, stiffed laborers, illegally brought undocumented persons into the country to work as laborers (“the Polish brigade”) at half the going-rate and then stiffed them, walked away from debt, filed bankruptcies, dry-cleaned huge amounts of money for questionable foreign associates [a felony], [by his own admission] bribed public officials, occasionally enlisted the help of mob associates, did the dirty with porn stars and Playmates, raided the coffers of his “deal me” foundation [a potential felony which he evaded by agreeing to “shutter” what was, in reality, nothing more than a personal slush fund] and cheated the “students” of his fraudulent “university” [a potential felony which he evaded by settling a $25 million class-action suit].
That he was able to escape the consequences of his civil and criminal difficulties relatively unscathed further evidences his ability to navigate the muck of that underworld. He blustered. He bloviated. He threatened. He intimidated. He smeared. He lied. He lied some more. He threw wrenches into the machinery of the legal system. He simply paid off people to make uncomfortable situations disappear.
And, by-and-large, his playbook worked for him.
[It bears mention that Donald Trump has been a principal in over 3,500 litigations and counting. The same Donald Trump who interminably and falsely characterized his 2016 election opponent, Hillary Clinton, as “Crooked Hillary”—a practice he continues to this day. It also bears mention that, despite Republicans and the whack-job conspiracy theorists who populate the far-right media Fun House—remember “Pizza-Gate?”—making her the target of constant scrutiny, baseless accusations and numerous investigations over the past three decades, Ms. Clinton has never been a principal in a court action save those in which she was serving as counsel for someone else. Never. Not one.]
But Trump’s thuggish tactics, so well-honed and effective in the corrupt, soul-less world of high-stakes real-estate, have not translated well in the world of a high-stakes national security investigation directed by an authentic American patriot who is undeterred by threat, intimidation or personal smears. And, even more notably, has proven himself over a long and distinguished career of public service to reside in that rarified air reserved for those who are quite simply unavailable to corruptive influences. Unlike Trump and partisan hacks/enablers with last names such as Giuliani, Nunes, Jordan, Meadows, Goodlatte, Ryan, Pence, et al, Robert Mueller is lionized in the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities for his personal integrity. His body of work unquestionably testifies not only to his character but to his belief that protecting the distinctly American institutions and norms that provide the framework necessary for our democracy to exist requires a commitment to “eternal vigilance” per the sanctity of the rule of law.
It is, in fact, because of his personal credibility and reputation for integrity that Robert Mueller, without even trying, has taken up residence in Donald Trump’s head—right next to Barack Obama. After all, what could be more threatening to a transactional player with a closet full of skeletons than being investigated by an honest actor who is immune to the bullying and impervious to the twitter-screeds of an autocratic huckster more at home in the slime of the Okefenokee than the venerable and venerated environs of the Oval Office?
Cadet Bone Spurs doesn’t like it one bit that the combat-tested, bemedaled former Marine whose record as a relentless federal prosecutor and Director of the FBI is as spotless as his posture is ramrod straight won’t bend to the malignantly narcissistic will of an amoral/immoral #EmperorWannaBe. Indeed, it has become apparent from the volume and vociferousness of The Twit’s tweets—and the laughable combination of contradictory statements, pronouncements and, uh, threats made by his disgraceful, diamond pinky-ringed court jester, Rudy Giuliani—that Trump is growing increasingly frustrated by his failed efforts to fully weaponize the powers of the presidency in order to (1) rid himself “of this meddlesome priest” and thereby (2) autocratically strangle the quaint American notion that “no man is above the law.”
However, Trump is not only increasingly frustrated.
Trump is scared.
Trump is scared about discoveries already made and discoveries that might be made by Mr. Mueller and his All-Star Team of federal prosecutors/investigators. In the vernacular of the millennials with whom my son hangs, “Trump is in a ‘world of hurt’ and he knows it.” One can almost smell the fear.
Why else his obsessive attacks on and attempts to delegitimize the Special Counsel’s investigation by repeatedly gaslighting it as a “hoax,” a “witch hunt, “fake news” and worse when he calls into the slobbering, groveling hosts of TrumpTV’s “Fox and Friends” or has his nightly hot-chocolate-and-cookies bedtime phone conversation with BestBestie Sean Hannity or takes the stage at one of his regular adulation/make-me-feel-secure rallies or puts his tiny fingers on the keyboard of his cell phone and twitters out another tweet?
Why else his Banana Republic tactic of attempting to weaponize the Department of Justice against Mueller’s investigation by threatening his own Attorney General—who only refuses to resign because he is now free to put in place the racist, xenophobic policies that reflect his poorly concealed sympathies for white supremacy that actually cost him a seat on the federal bench during the 1980’s—and persistently demeaning him as “weak” and, this past Saturday, “missing in action.”
Why else his half-baked and disgusting efforts to smear his predecessor, his 2016 election opponent, the federal judicial system, the federal law enforcement system and the entire federal intelligence community if not to raise suspicion/cast doubts about or distract us from the ongoing investigation into himself and his own campaign?
According to White House staffers, he has taken to raging about it as many as “20 times a day”—which, considering the brevity of his workday (“executive time” and all that), would seemingly make it the singular focus of his presidency. Why else the foul mood if The Donald isn’t all puckered up?
I mean, if Trump thinks there to be no wrongdoing on his part, why not let the investigation proceed without hindrance so that his name can be cleared? Indeed, if he has done nothing wrong, why not sit down with Mueller under oath and answer the Special Counsel’s questions? [Let’s be clear: Unless forced to comply with a subpoena, Donald Trump will never sit down with Robert Mueller and, under oath, do anything other than take the Fifth.]
It was left to the likes of Trey Gowdy, the retiring Republican congressman from South Carolina whose barber should have long ago been either sued for malpractice or arrested for styling hair while under the influence (SHUI), to put Trump’s dangerously high pucker-pressure in context by advising him to “stop acting like you’re guilty if you’re innocent.”
MEMO TO TREY: He can’t because he isn’t.
Predictably, Republican sycophants such as the reprehensible Devin Nunes and the equally reprehensible Mark Meadows have joined with Trump’s assorted circus of wild-eyed, fact-averse media mavens to call for Mr. Mueller to bring the investigation to what would be, in actuality, a premature end. Their rationale is two-fold: (1) It has gone on long enough and (2) it has produced no evidence of wrongdoing.
Allow me to respond to these comedic hypocrites by pointing out that Republicans seemed to have no problem initiating, at last count, 9 separate investigations per the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya—read, 9 separate, wholly political attempts to find something, anything, they could use to “bring down” and delegitimize Hillary Clinton. Those investigations continued for over four years and resulted in nothing more than the GOP playing politics over the dead body of an American ambassador and an avalanche of conspiracy-mongering. Republicans wagged their fingers for the television cameras but could not find enough evidence of malfeasance to justify even an official rebuke.
While I’m at it, I might as well note that the multiple, GOP-initiated investigations and the single Democratic DOJ/FBI investigation into Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server continued for over two years and resulted in nothing close to a single indictment. Indeed, the lack of transparency by the Trump White House as to written records, visitor logs, phone logs, emails sent via private servers and the absence of read-outs per the president’s private meetings is, in cumulative terms, far more egregious and threatening to national security than Ms. Clinton’s issue with her server. What is Trump hiding from us? And, why is he hiding it from us?
On the other hand, the Special Counsel investigation—initiated by a Republican-ruled Department of Justice, run by a Special Counsel (who is himself a Republican) appointed by a Republican Deputy Attorney General—into a wide variety of known/suspected irregularities/illegalities per Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as well as known/suspected irregularities/illegalities per actions taken by him and others in his circle prior to and since his election to the presidency has just now entered its 16th month. And, it has thus far resulted in the filing of well over 100 separate charges, 5 guilty pleas, 34 indictments of individuals, 3 indictments of corporations, and a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York per the president’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. And there seems little doubt but that the hits are just going to keep on coming—the supposition is easily made that there are those close, very close or, at least, once-close to the president who lie awake at night listening for the “thump, thump” of FBI agents coming down the hallway, subpoenas and/or warrants in hand.
That’s a pretty efficient, effective, productive and impressive investigation. I mean, who knew there were that many “witches” out there?
Messrs. Nunes, Jordan, Meadows, Goodlatte, Ryan, Pence and Giuliani—and let’s not forget fellow toadies Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders—might want to think twice before they continue to screech to the shrinking Trump base via TrumpTV that Mr. Mueller’s investigation should be “shut down” because “there’s no there there.” Robert Mueller and his All-Stars have already shown that “there’s a lot of there there” and even the bookies in Vegas are calling it a lock that “there’s a lot more there there.” Indeed, my guess is that the Special Counsel and his All-Stars already know “the lot more there that is there.” And that the real reason Trump and his cronies want the investigation “brought to a swift conclusion” is that they’re guessing the same thing.
“Thump. Thump.”