Trump presidency may have already peaked
President Donald Trump's first year in office was presciently captured by former president George W. Bush's declaration after Trump's inaugural address: "That was some weird s---."
It accurately forecast the Trump we would see in 2017: eccentric, uncouth, clownish and vicious. Last year, however, could well mark the high point of his presidency. The worst may be yet to come. That version of Trump might emerge if special counsel Robert Mueller III's investigation into any links or coordination between the Russian government and Trump's presidential campaign — or (significantly, in the wording of Mueller's mandate) "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation" — happen to lead to allegations of wrongdoing against Trump or members of his family.
Should that occur, nothing less than the rule of law — or the absolute rule of Trump — will be put to the test.
Trump has already signaled that he doesn't believe he is accountable to the law. The government, including federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, all belong to him. His peremptory firing of FBI Director James Comey and his move in June to fire Mueller attest to that.
And he is working overtime to delegitimize Mueller's investigation, branding it a "witch hunt" fueled by Democratic opposition to his election — an accusation being dutifully used against the special counsel, the FBI and the Justice Department's career service by Trump sycophants on Capitol Hill and in conservative media.
Analyzing Trump's mental health is way above my pay grade. But all observable signs suggest he is less unstable and more crazy like a fox.
Trump is counting upon his denigration of the FBI and the special counsel's office to undermine whatever evidence of wrongdoing — cooperation with the Russians, obstruction of justice, illegal business dealings — the probe might unearth.
Trump, after all, is a master at smearing opponents with images that tear down their public personas.
His war on the press, as I noted nearly a year ago, was not a demagogic assault to influence news coverage; it was, and remains, a strategic calculation to bring us down in the public eye so that our reports and comments about him would be summarily dismissed, regardless of the evidence.
He has called us "scum" and the "most dishonest human beings on earth," repeatedly declaring, "The news is fake." His "fake news" invective is now received as an article of faith by his base. Some polls show that his belittling of the media is making headway beyond his core supporters.
The tactic is called branding, a reliable and much-used weapon in Trump's arsenal.
Trump makes no secret about what it is. He said at a rally in Boca Raton, Florida, in March 2016: "You know, you have to brand people a certain way when they're your opponents."
And he bragged about how he does it: "Lyin' Ted," spelling it out letter by letter; Little Marco, "L-I-D-D-L-E. Liddle, Liddle, Liddle Marco"; and "Low-Energy" Jeb.
"We started off with 17 people who were up on this stage," he told the crowd. They were all favored, he said. "Now Trump is favored."
"But," Trump said, "you've got to brand people."
And let's not forget Trump's "Crooked Hillary" branding iron.
Brand, degrade and take out the opposition. Question the motives of dangerous adversaries (in his mind) such as the Office of the Special Counsel and the FBI.
So if the possibility of the prosecution of a Trump family member and grounds for sending findings about Trump to the House of Representatives should emerge, will Trump feel free to exercise his pardoning powers? From all he's already said, we know he will summarily dismiss any case against himself by arguing that the investigation was a politically motivated attempted coup carried out in the interest of vengeful Democrats.
Should Trump go down that path, his actions, intentionally or not, would be a threat to the rule of law, but also a call to arms to his most rabid supporters. Goodness knows where that would take us. In July, Trump posted to his personal Twitter account a doctored video clip showing him beating up a man with a CNN logo over his head. Ana Navarro, an ABC and CNN commentator, criticized Trump's tweet as "an incitement to violence. He is going to get someone killed in the media." This week, a man was arrested after railing against CNN as "fake news" and pledging to travel to the network's Atlanta headquarters to commit a mass shooting.
Most fearful of all, public officials in control of the House and Senate, based upon their slavish obeisance thus far, would probably let Trump get away with it.
That is, if the ultimate possessors of political power — the American people — duck their heads, and don't raise their voices.
Failing that, 2018 may become one of the country's worst years in our lifetime, and 2017 may be a year we end up longing to relive.