Trump meets his real foe and it’s the truth and facts
WASHINGTON >> Can he survive? This became the central issue in American politics late Tuesday afternoon. It’s also the only subject President Trump cares about.
With Michael Cohen implicating his former client in a potential felony, the president’s strategy of diversion and evasion collapsed. Compounding his troubles was the nearly simultaneous conviction on eight charges of Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager.
Trump basked in chants of “Lock her up” at a West Virginia rally Tuesday night, but Hillary Clinton is no longer his adversary. His enemies now are facts and truth. Trump and his defenders are reduced to arguing that truth doesn’t exist.
There has been a habit since Election Night of 2016 to assume that revelations that would destroy any other politician will never touch Trump.
The manifest corruption of his associates and his administration won modest notice as Trump jammed the system with incendiary public comments and frightening tales of immigrants as “vicious predators and violent criminals,” his formulation Tuesday.
Trump’s speech was a gauge of his fight-back plan: He will make his survival synonymous with the aspirations of voters who despise liberals, fear cultural change and see Trump as their last-ditch defender.
“The Democrat Party is held hostage by the so-called resistance: left-wing haters and angry mobs,” he declared. “They’re trying to tear down our institutions, disrespect our flag, demean our law enforcement, denigrate our history and disparage our great country — and we’re not going to let it happen.”
Trump hopes to bait his foes into engaging on matters far more favorable to him than a discussion of the payoffs he offered, in violation of campaign finance laws (not to mention the morals of many of his champions).
Yet Trump’s usual approach will be difficult to execute now. He’s aimed most of his fire at Robert Mueller’s inquiry. This effort took a major hit with Mueller’s team convicting Manafort. But Cohen’s plea inflicted damage of a higher order because it tied Trump to a crime. This was a direct hit.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer,” Trump tweeted Wednesday, “I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
He dug the hole even deeper with another tweet channeling a Mob boss, praising Manafort for refusing to “break” and being “brave” and trashing Cohen.
Those seeking to hold Trump accountable need to combine relentlessness with discipline. An attack on corruption may unite the Democratic Party, appeal to less partisan voters — including Trump’s 2016 “drain the swamp” constituency — and highlight the broad range of misdeeds by the president, his advisers and his administration.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was the latest Democrat to put forward an anti-corruption program with an announcement Tuesday. The timidity of congressional Republicans in responding to the twin blows to Trump’s integrity will strengthen the Democrats’ case.
The argument for impeaching Trump suddenly became very strong, but turning 2018 into an impeachment election may not be prudent. It may not play well in every state or congressional district.
The adage that one shouldn’t interfere with an enemy who’s destroying himself certainly applies here. Insisting on accountability and letting the ongoing probes go forward unobstructed by a lawless president are, for now, enough.
As the peril to Trump grows, the danger that he will behave ever more recklessly increases. Might Republicans in Congress and at least some members of his administration try to contain him? There’s little reason to believe they will.