Last night, I was talking with a friend who was bemoaning how little public traction Trump's "shit hole" comment got, pretty much disappearing after a week or two. He said that White House spokespeople merely described it as nothing more than kitchen table-talk, and it was gone.
No, I said, that's not why it went away. It's because days later Trump had an even bigger outrage. And then another bigger outrage. And another one. And people moved on to those. And my friend started wearily laughing, and said, "You're right." I mean, seriously. In any other Real World, when there's a story that the President of the United States has had a year-long affair with a porn star while his wife is pregnant and then pays $130,000 in hush money, that story is not going anywhere else but the front page banner headlines until the president is impeached and gone. In Trump Land, though, that's 4 to 5 days tops. And I know I'm not saying anything new here that most people haven't long-since figured out. That's why the 10-bell, stop the presses headline story last night about Trump having ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired last June -- major news as it is -- will be gone in the public eye sometime next week. It'll be really old news by then. Besides, it's about something that happened last June, after all. So, it's literally "old news." To be clear, though, there are a lot of stories that disappear from public attention that actually remain major stories, because -- even if the public has moved on from them to something even worse -- the Special Counsel's office has not moved on from them, and added the news to their "To Do" list. Worse for Trumpin this case, the Special Counsel is far ahead of reporters and the public and knew about it long ago. So, even when we've all moved on, and Trump Folks think they weathered yet another storm, ha ha, this will still be the gift that keeps on giving. Not that anything inherently illegal was done, ordering Mueller fired. It's all about intent. And that's the big problem for Trump with this, because the story now marks the third time Trump has done something like this that isn't inherently illegal but shows a pattern of trying to obstruct justice -- when he fired FBI Director James Comey, when he tried to get Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fired, and now ordering Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired. Together, those all show state of mind. And worse for Trump, they also remove the defense that he is a neophyte who doesn't always understand the implications of his actions. You can maybe, possibly use that gambit once, at best. But no, not three times. Anyway, I wanted to be sure to write about this today because...well, honestly I wasn't sure if it would be old news in a few days...
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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