Trump redefines Washington scandal

If there is a Washington Art Donald Trump It has been perfected, it must be scandal management. After two impeachment, four prosecutions and more controversy than anyone can count, his script of denial, deflection and distraction is very familiar – although it should be noted that, given what he said and did is scandal, the label usually loses its meaning when applied to his presidency. During his second term, Trump now also benefits from his survival from the most political stories. How could he not? A man who can win a redraw after inciting supporters of the mob Storm U.S. Capitol Almost not to be reduced by more Quotidian crimes, such as profiting the White House for its own purposes or Publicly oppose court orders. All of this raises a definitive question: Is this still a scandal if the defendant may face any meaningful consequences?

However, during the six months of Trump 2.0, the president was stranded by a real transfer. scandal In a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender of the deceased. It has all the classic Washington elements: a thriving cover, a destructive story every day, anonymous index of senior administration officials, bipartisan congressional demands for investigations, and a demand for investigations everywhere. Phrases such as “explosion bombshell” and “full trash fire” are being thrown. It is said that the Attorney General and the FBI deputy director shouted at each other. Trump himself reportedly denied knowledge of Epstein’s criminal misconduct, but reportedly resigned for a few more weeks – “They will fuck me anyway,” he said in front of recent Republican visitors, Every politics.

Speaker Mike Johnson revisited the House early on Tuesday for a month-long August recess to avoid political damage related to Epstein’s chaos. This is a very dramatic move in Congress panic. (“What we just want to do here is give him cover,” Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said of Trump’s murder in the Senate upstairs, saying that it didn’t stop the president from getting worse. A day later, the adjournment was cursed, and the Housing Oversight Subcommittee voted 8-2, subpoenaing the Epstein Department of Justice recorded the Trump administration’s refusal to release.

Recording is the close reason for all fuss. Earlier this month, the Trump Justice Department said it would not release them, which hit the president’s most passionately Magazine The assistants hope he can help prove their years of conspiracy theories about Epstein’s famous democratic pedophile and deep facilitator. A new one Wall Street Journal story– The above-mentioned bombshell – a reason sharply raised: In May, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy told him privately that his name was in Epstein documents, the fact that he was asked earlier this month to lie publicly. “No, no,” he said on July 15. Now, we are shocked – shocked – the answer should be: Yes, yes, what?

On the surface, this is a classic Washington trap. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of predictable fanatical allusions about Howard Baker’s most compelling Watergate moments. These political feeding madnesses almost always come down to Baker’s questions about what the president knows and when he knows. But this is the Trump we are talking about and I regret to let you know that this scandal has not reached that level. In fact, we already know that Trump’s dirty deal with Epstein over the years, a particularly terrifying aspect of this particularly terrifying story has to be watched over and over again, a video of their two parties in 1992, which are recirculated online, each step-by-step new development. During Trump’s first term, he served as Labor Department chief Alex Acosta resigned after a dispute over his role as a former Florida prosecutor to give Epstein a sweetheart plea deal. And remember when Trump talks about Epstein’s accomplices, Ghislaine Maxwell“I wish her all the best”? Five years later, we are here, Trump’s deputy attorney general and former private attorney Todd Blanche visited Maxwell on Thursday in a federal court in Florida, allegedly for other evidence. Hmm. . . .

Therefore, the scandal is not that Trump is a friend with a sex monster, because it is not a revelation. The president also doesn’t lie to the American public, which is what he does with his excellent frequency. No, the novelty here is that millions of people who know Trump is friends with such a horrible person who voted for him anyway, now seem to have decided that in the choice between Trump and his favorite conspiracy theories, they may stick to the conspiracy theory.

This is hardly good news for the Republic, even if it has problems with Trump’s political status, and that’s true. According to GallupAt the second-level low this week, it received only 37% approval. Trump’s almost unwavering loyalty Magazine The base provided him with all the previous scandals. It reveals this political state Salliance The cover-up of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein may end up being a wedge between them?

Trump’s strategy of winning the base inadvertently reveals what he thinks of them – lying, the new makeup lies are meant to replace the old makeup lies and package them with as much inner hatred and rough racism as possible. The purest distillation is an AI-generated video where former President Barack Obama was handcuffed in the Oval Office and Trump promoted it on his social media account over the weekend.

This repeated clip seems to represent the final Trump imagined Magazine Fever Dreams – Ritual humiliation and demeanor of the first black president of the United States. The subsequent videotape is a meticulous new conspiracy theory launched by Trump and subsequent advisors, involving Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, former leaders of the U.S. intelligence community, former presidential elections, and the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. The “coup” attempt to fight Trump is still in progress.

Even many of his Republican allies openly stayed away from themselves during Trump’s first semester. There is squirming. There is an awkward silence. not now. If there are Republican lawmakers condemning disgusting Obama videos, I’d miss it. As far as I know, not even a single person would even make a Susan Collins-style “focus” statement. Including Susan Collins. Instead, senators such as Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn asked Thursday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations, apparently forgotten that there was already a special prosecutor – John Durham, who spent more than three years not promoting Russian Russian theories like the Obamas and everyone, and now it is not like the Obamas and well-known. It is worth noting that Cohen, who is also a member of the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, signed a bipartisan report, explicitly speaking, Russian representative Trump intervened in the 2016 election.

The point is that as long as they don’t conflict with one of the other crazy stories, they are still willing to get along with Trump’s lies. That’s for Magazine Senator and Magazine Basics – This explains why we are so confused. Sorry, Jeffrey Epstein Truthman; this is the biggest scandal of all. ♦