Presidential friends and foes alike can easily see how the tent will come down on President Donald Trump’s sordid Cirque du Decay.
Trump this weekend reprised the role of the sleepless and hounded Richard Nixon in 1973, who then infamously taunted the media while addressing the threat of impeachment and growing criminal allegations against him.
“People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook,” Nixon told reporters. “Well, I’m not a crook.”
He was a crook. And he was so much more.
Saturday, Trump phoned in to one of this friendly FoxNews TV personalities to address stunning stories by the Washington Post and New York Times. The Times story focused on how the FBI was so worried about Trump’s bizarre behavior after being installed as president, that they began investigating whether he was undermining national security by secretly working for Russian interests.
Read: treason.
The same day, the Post revealed that Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the nation, including his own cabinet and staff, from knowing what he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have talked about when they’ve met.
The questions of whether Trump is a Russian asset has become so obvious for so long, that even Fox’s Judge Jeanine had to apologetically inquire.
“I’m going to ask you, are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?” Pirro asked.
Trump’s response was not, “no.”
Not unlike a busted adulterer confronted about infidelity by a suspicious spouse, Trump’s response was that he is shocked and dismayed at the outrageous insult of the very question itself.
Even Fox News, the propaganda arm of the Trump White House, has detailed since before Trump’s installation the long, long, long list of astounding and worrisome allegations and instances of where Trump acted like a manipulated Russian asset.
The smoke from Trump’s White House dumpster began choking off his credibility and presidency even before he got into the Oval Office.
How could the FBI not suspect Trump is either a motivated treasonous traitor or a bumbling treasonous buffoon? How could anyone in this country not suspect the same thing?
Trump told the Russians in his Oval Office how good it was to get rid of a big part of the FBI investigation into his Russian ties, collusion and obstruction. He has worked feverishly, and almost certainly illegally, to discredit and end the investigation. He has repeatedly flabbergasted members of his own party, his own White House staff and most of the world by backing Russia and President Vladimir Putin over his own nation and national interests. In an unprecedented move, he prevented his staff from sitting in on a private meeting with Putin in Helsinki, allowing in only an interpreter. After, he took the interpreter’s notes and instructed the interpreter not to disclose anything heard between himself and Putin, according to growing news reports.
No U.S. president has ever done anything like that ever.
For the love of reality and common sense, folks, Americans deserve to know “whether or not” their president is a treasonous Russian asset.
Monday, after White House officials that they “regretted” Trump forgot to deny the allegations, he said he’s never worked for Russia. Thanks to the president himself, the entire world knows how much Trump’s word is worth these days.
For the sake of future historians and late-night talk shows, we’re going to need more.
Say it, Mr. President. Say it with us, “I am not a treasonous Russian asset.”
Perhaps Trump can just tweet it. Or maybe the Kremlin can just disclose it in a statement.
Maybe you think this is all premature, given that the Mueller FBI investigation, nearly years in the works, still isn’t complete. We’ve been down this road with a corrupt U.S. president before, however, and the toxic smoke then came from a smoldering criminal fire.
Trump needs to explain to America now how he’s not the traitor he increasingly appears to be, and that he only acts like one.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on Twitter or Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com