Cornered, Lashes Out
By John Cassidy
12:30 P.M.
... The Trump transformation lasted twenty-four hours. Shortly before 7 a.m.on Thursday morning, he was back to his old ways on Twitter. Responding to news reports that Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, is now investigating him for possible obstruction of justice, Trump wrote, “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice.” About an hour later, he posted another message: “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA”
Trump’s fury didn’t diminish as the day went on. “Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?” he wrote in a mid-afternoon tweet. In a follow-up message, he added, “Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, ‘bleached’ emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction?”
... The “rational actor” explanation is that Trump and his allies are engaged in a deliberate campaign to destroy the credibility of Mueller, a Republican and a former director of the F.B.I., by depicting him as a friend of James Comey and the Democrats. Newt Gingrich, a key Trump surrogate, has been taking this line in recent days, and Trump’s mention of “very bad and conflicted people” seemed to be a reference to Mueller ...
Yet there is a second way to read these attacks on Mueller. It is possible that Trump, having seen his decision to fire Comey boomerang on him in spectacular fashion, is simply ranting and raving ...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trump-flashed-a-presidential-sideand-then-went-back-to-ranting
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