It isn't necessarily his awful handling of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson and his grieving family. It's not even his inability to be nice to a room full of reporters and their kids, pointing out how SHOCKED he was that any of them were cute based on their horrific parents, and then questioning the kids if they get tough interviews and coverage at home like he often gets from their parents.....or something silly to that effect.
Besides the moment being as awkward as Trump's last so called "fun" press event, the Obama era correspondence dinner in 2011 that turned into a not so impromptu roast of "The Donald", a moment that is believed to be the animus for his eventual presidential pursuit, it was a clear sign to me of the crumbling infrastructure of a presidency that has yet to be fully formed.
Disregard his inability to be decent to kids or to get it right with Gold Star families. The notion that this man would let the evil press disrupt and denigrate his image and disrupt the life that afforded him so much time to grope and golf makes the prospect of a second run at the presidency less likely than avoiding the brunt of this Russia mess. Especially after today.
Today, Trump's fired campaign chair, Paul Manafort, and Manafort's top aide, Rick Gates- who stayed on the campaign team even after his boss was let go- have both been charged with multiple crimes, crimes that most of us anticipated against someone even if we had no clue exactly who would be charged first.
The shocker was that the first charges came months ago when campaign aide George Papodopolous was secretly indicted on a question of collusion that he lied about twice. Papodopolous has been sharing details with Bob Mueller for months, presumably to assist with his guilty plea and to calm a prosecutorial pit bull who just sent a message to potentially uncooperative testifiers.
The discovery of the Papodopolous news seems a shock to everyone, including team Trump. Whether this trail of tears and indictments reaches the very top is a matter of speculation still, though it seems clear that Mueller is using concealed weapons to blow open the reluctant truth in this matter as multiple Trump subordinates have lied, some while under oath. Insiders believe these verifiable crimes and lies should have been enough for the courts to unseal Trump's taxes too, which might be another weapon Mueller now has at his disposal.
Regardless of the criminal outcome, Trump, Pence and Putin will not be able to collude for another election effort, something that appears to have been vital to Trump's victory.
WHY SO SAD??!!
Meanwhile, Democrats are so hell bent on ousting Trump, no matter what Meuller uncovers, they seem unaware that they still need to wait for 2020 to find a way to replace him with a president progressives prefer.
The murkiness of the Russian involvement question doesn't change the results of our last election or point a path towards the next. If Trump goes, he will be replaced by Pence and Paul Ryan, not Hillary Clinton. If Mike Pence, the lying head of the Trump transition team goes too, Ryan and President pro tempore of the Senate, Orrin Hatch, will take over. This could be why Hatch announced he's not returning for reelection last week (stay tuned on that).
Pussy grabbing and wall building was never a winning message, except for the small caveat that it still worked, or didn't hurt bad enough for a little collusion to do the rest.
Whether the Democrats message got lost in the slimy sauce the Donald cooked up is hard to know because most of us simply can't remember what their message was in the first place. Actually, I recall so many messages to so many people that I am not sure which group of voters Hillary Clinton and the Dem's thought could sway the election in their favor.
Now, the same messaging problem remains minus the notable face to deliver it. They may find someone noteworthy, but has our electorate grown weary of familiar political faces anyway? Were millineals really ready for the Socialist, Bernie Sanders, or is anything except more of the same likely to gain traction in today's political climate?
Republicans might be forced to pass some kind of tax plan just to deal with the Socialist reality that has now made universal healthcare permanent. If Democrats need a silver lining, the wages WE all deserve will soon happen, or the last scoop of dirt will go on top of trickle down economics, killing the theory forever.
Before you liberals gain comfort in that thought, gerrymandering promises functional control of politics for Republicans at every level below the presidency for years to come. Unless progressives find a person and a message, today's indictments won't do much to swing upcoming presidential elections either.
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