Is Trump the fool? There really are only two possibilities regarding President Trump. Maybe he’s a liar and a criminal. Did he collude with the Russian government in the 2016 election? If he did, that could never be fully hidden, and crime after crime would inevitably ensue. The whole thing would inevitably blow up. Would that explain his possibly “asking” former FBI Director Comey to “just let Mike Flynn go?” Perhaps. Could that explain his subsequent firing of Comey because the FBI was relentlessly pursuing the collusion thesis? Or maybe the FBI was just getting too close to the hard proof of collusion (though we doubt Trump would know it)? Again, perhaps.
But we have an alternative theory. It’s a simple theory. Perhaps President Trump is just a fool. Not even a knave – it’s just Trump the fool.
Evidence of the Fool – Praising the Russians Will Only Buy You Trouble
Trump benefited early on from the Clinton email investigation so he piled-on praise about the Russians, “urging” them to find and release more. He’s got nothing against Putin, after all. Putin’s a good leader.
Trump didn’t realize, in his foolishness, that he gift-wrapped the Russians a ticking time-bomb over his future presidency. What presidential candidate, after all, would suggest that one of America’s greatest adversaries should actively insert itself into the American presidential contest? Trump exposed himself. The Russians evaluated him and concluded that here was a man that they could manipulate. Here was a man, an American president, that they could exploit.
Trump handed the Russians tools that they could use to compromise him. Tools that his political enemies would certainly use, and are now using, to destroy him. And the Russians seem to be around just about every corner in Trump’s madhouse.
Russians, Russians Everywhere
They induced him to meet with their Foreign Minister and Ambassador, smack in the middle of the collusion investigation and in the burning aftermath of the Comey firing. Amazingly, with all of his arrogance and in his foolishness, Trump accepted. And he agreed to exclude American media, whom he deplores, just to add a little tinder to the fire.
Surely only a fool would invite the Russians to the White House at this time and in these circumstances. Trump, we suspect, actually believed he had an opportunity to improve relations with the Russians. Perhaps, deal-maker that he is, he thought this would give him a further chance to “size them up.” Maybe he was just “planting some stakes” for negotiations yet to come.
Then, fool that he is and apparently with no deep forethought in the excitement of the moment, he compromised deep Israeli intelligence. He had a little secret and it just wanted to burst out. He shared detail about some type of ISIS airplane threat. After all, as H.R. McMaster pointed out later, the Russians had an airliner taken out by militants. That must have been on the President’s mind at the time. We are told that before he made this “gift” to the Russians, he asked the Vice President and the Attorney General to leave the room. We wonder whether they knew what was to follow. Perhaps someday we may know.
The Russians, not wanting a naïve, manipulable, and increasingly foolish American President to leave the scene, graciously offered a full transcript/recording of the details of this conversation. Just in the spirit of conviviality to prove that Mr. Trump didn’t compromise any American state secrets. Just to help along in any American investigation of the whole sordid affair. That should take the heat off Mr. Trump. Or might it just add a little more tinder? What are friends for, after all?
The Comey Affair
Why did President Trump fire Jim Comey? There were tons of good reasons, and Rod Rosenstein, by all accounts a great lawyer in the finest traditions, laid them end-to-end for all to see. Not that any of that mattered, as the President had already made up his mind. And only Trump the fool would admit as much, for why bother marching Mr. Rosenstein around if it didn’t matter anyway. In one brief (and shining?) moment Mr. Trump tried his best to tarnish Mr. Rosenstein’s excellent reputation.
We don’t abide by the “Comey is a great man” narrative. We choose to ignore these words and look at the man’s actions. And at every step along the way from the Hillary investigation to the pending release of his secret memo we see evidence of power-grabbing and incompetence. J. Edgar Hoover would be proud. We need not recount the Hillary investigation details here; just read Rosenstein’s memo or review the detailed public record. Comey was the country’s lead investigator, not its lead prosecutor.
Comey’s Actions Don’t Paint A Picture of Integrity – No, It’s a Giant Ink Stain
For now, we are left to wonder why, if Comey felt the President was improperly pressuring him on the Flynn investigation, he reported it to no one. Not to the Attorney General, not to the head of the Criminal Investigation Division, not to anyone in the Justice Department, and not to any member of the Senate or House intelligence committees.
We certainly don’t buy, and neither should you, the nonsensical justifications bandied about on the major television networks that Comey held this information to preserve the “integrity” of the Flynn investigation. Complete and utter balderdash.
Obstruction of justice by the President of the United States would be, as it is now, the major investigation. The President, and rightly so, would immediately become the largest target in any FBI criminal investigation. Comey has a lot of explaining to do here. But neither he, nor the President, have much if any credibility left. What a circus it will be when Comey takes the Hill – Democrats will swear fealty to the great patriot Comey; Republicans will call him a liar.
If It’s Obstruction of Justice Than Comey Participated
If the FBI Director believed that he was improperly pressured by the President, he had an unequivocal obligation to the Constitution to do something about. After all, as reported, he refused to swear loyalty to President Trump (and rightly so). So why just the secret memo? Was Comey trying to create his own insurance policy, in the finest Hoover tradition, against a whimsical and unpredictable President? That certainly seems as plausible as anything else. He just didn’t get a chance to use it, not realizing that this President would fire him without any kind of warning.
Comey Must Go. No, Really, He’s Got to Go. I Mean It!
So why did Trump fire Comey? Trump’s political enemies think him a fool and much worse. He is unstable, they say, and much worse. And perhaps they are right. Maybe that’s the reason. Maybe it is Trump the fool. Perhaps it’s just as simple as President Trump, in fact, did not collude with the Russians. Hell, he’s not capable of pulling it off. And he just couldn’t take the investigations and the political firestorm any more. He just wanted it to all go away so he could wake up in the morning and work this job. After all, who would have thought it’s much harder than being a CEO? Comey couldn’t make it all go away for the Donald, so the Donald made him go away.
Trump the Fool
Yes, we think that’s as plausible as anything else here. Politics is a war game that goes on and on. It’s not a board game that ends after an hour and we can then all go home. This President seems incapable of playing a real game, not to mention winning one. It may turn out that Trump is a criminal. For now, we think the better theory is, Trump the fool.