Joy-Ann Reid: Donald Trump Knows Just How Bad the Russia Investigation Can Get

[babylonsister]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/20/donald-trump-knows-just-how-bad-the-russia-investigation-can-get

Donald Trump Knows Just How Bad the Russia Investigation Can Get
It’s all a mess, but one that was predictable with the election of a needy and juvenile man who won’t read more than a page of bullet points.

Joy-Ann Reid
05.20.17 12:00 AM ET

snip//

It’s all very intriguing, suggesting a presidency that is crumbling before our eyes under the weight of its inherent corruption. And the sheer, leaked disgust of his own team makes it clear that even Trump loyalists understand that there is only one man to blame.

During the campaign, Trump surrounded himself with creatures from the shady foreign cash bog: the Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Rudy Giuliani swamp; along with the Bannonite meme-Nazi fringe. Is it any wonder that his administration is a circus of third-rate political operators, amateurs and deplorables?

It was Trump who brought the three-ring circus to Washington, complete with his eldest son and Twitter enforcer Biff Tannen, his see-no-evil, pay-no-decent-wages daughter and her son-of-a-felon husband, whose family isn’t above hawking foreign corporate visas and who’s not so good with his Foreign Agent Registration Act paperwork. Jared apparently does excel at getting the Saudi sweet arms deals with American companies. But his other portfolio item: solving Middle East peace may have to wait until the Israelis get over Trump spilling their intel to the Russians.

It’s all a mess, but one that was predictable with the election of a needy and juvenile man who won’t read more than a page of bullet points with his name sprinkled liberally throughout to keep him interested, and who brags without thinking in order to make people like him—even if the people are spies for a hostile power—and who’s friendlier with the thuggish autocrats of Turkey, Egypt, and the Philippines than with Canada.

What’s also clear is that Trump, while not the canniest or most articulate fellow, fully understands that the investigation into his campaign and his friends presents a clear and present danger. He is hugging Flynn close because Flynn could hurt him. He repeatedly tried to recruit Comey into The Family to keep Comey from bringing him down. He’s keeping the whole band of misfits on the ship to keep them from scratching out holes in the hull.

snip//

The problem is that Trump thinks the danger of Russiagate is merely to his plan and to his pride; his desperate need to believe he won the election because of his sheer awesomeness and not through a confluence of unfortunate events. What he fails to comprehend is that the real danger is to his presidency itself, and to the country he doesn’t have the slightest idea how to lead.

[Miles Archer]

1. Of course he does, that's why he's actively and aggressively trying to "undermine" Meuller.

The Flynn "stay strong" nonsense is pretty transparent...talking about re-hiring him when he's "cleared"...my guess is that Flynn was not granted immunity because he didn't serve up the "money shot," the "big reveal" that would have been a game-changer in the investigation.

Manafort and Flynn will act out of their own self-interests, but the one to watch will be Kushner. His daddy went to prison. That's how he got handed the keys to the kingdom. That's why he was successful in his goal to lock Chris Christie out of any position in the administration. It will be interesting to see how hard he is squeezed, and if he'll choose "family loyalty" over saving his own silver spoon backside.

[oasis]

2. Joy Reid is in no way showing signs of letting up on Trump's sorry ass.