The Trump Chronicles, Volume 51: Wiretapping, Late Night Tweets, and General Paranoia

If we needed a microcosm of the administration of President Trump we found it early Saturday morning.

Friday we learned that Mr. Trump went ballistic on learning that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation of the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia. This came after Mr. Trump professed “total confidence” in Mr. Sessions.

In the wee, small hours of Saturday morning Mr. Trump tweeted that former President Obama wiretapped him.

It’s a pattern for Mr. Trump. When faced with negative attention he attempts to divert attention to something else. I’m pretty certain that’s what he tried to do.

But this time he overplayed his hand. This latest accusation created a firestorm that nobody seems to know how to manage. Like many of his tweets it caught everyone off guard, even his own staff. By Sunday morning several staff members attempted to regain control of the story. Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on ABC’s This Week. When asked where Mr. Trump is getting his information Ms. Sanders said this:

Look, I think there have been quite a few reports. I know that Jonathan and others earlier in the program mentioned that it was all conservative media, but that’s frankly not true. The New York Times, BBC have also talked about it and reported on the potential of this having had happened. I think the bigger thing is, let’s find out. Let’s have an investigation. If they’re going to investigation Russia ties, let’s include this as part of it. And so that’s what we’re asking.

When asked again for the basis of Mr. Trump’s charge, Ms. Sanders said this:

Look, I think the bigger thing is you guys are always telling us to take the media seriously. Well, we are today. We’re taking the reports that places like The New York Times, FOX News, BBC, multiple outlets have reported this. All we’re saying is let’s take a closer look. Let’s look into this. If this happened, if this is accurate, this is the biggest overreach and the biggest scandal.

I could go on, but you get the point. Mr. Trump tweeted that he “just found out this happened” but has not told us where he got it. When asked, his staff insists that a Congressional inquiry should look into it.

Perhaps they should ask him where he got this.

Mr. Trump, when you look back on the rubble of your Presidency, this past weekend will be instructive.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *