Trump's Game

He could fire them all.  Close down the investigation.  Bust all the Obama holdovers down to buck private, or simply get rid of them.  But he doesn’t, and the question is why?  They constitute a chronic thorn in his side… a stone in his shoe… a speck in his eye.  The irritation and aggravation must be tremendous, and yet he puts up with it.  So… assuming that he’s not oblivious and completely out to lunch, the question remains. 

Oh, we can’t assume that, you might say?  My answer is that anyone who can not only survive the rough-and-tumble world of New York City real estate but make a fortune there can, basically, handle anything else the world might dish out.  For decades, he’s been dealing with state and local officials of varying levels of competence (my guess is mostly low), with a regulatory structure than would make the FDA green with envy, with bankers, and (out of sheer necessity) with the Mob.  If the average Congressman were parachuted into that environment they’d last about as long as a paper airplane flying into Kilauea.

So “fugeddaboutit”, as they say Trump’s home town -- this guy is the toughest of the tough.  He has to be -- and the best evidence is that he’s survived and prospered in, arguably, the toughest town on the planet, compared to which Washington, D.C. is the Land of the Lotus Eaters. 

So, again, what’s his game?  Theory #1, which is pretty much the conventional wisdom, is that it’s all about political impact.  A field littered with the remains of slain enemies might look good to Trump’s hard-core supporters, but it could turn off a lot of people who voted for him and, this year, are likely voters for Republican candidates.  Ironically, in this respect Trump is showing more consideration for the Republicans than they’ve ever shown for him; he really wants them to win in November and doesn’t want to spoil their chances -- which is more than you can say for most of them two years earlier. 

Of course, you could say that his main motivation for supporting Republican candidates (or for staying out of the way, as the case may be) is that he knows that if enough Congressional seats are “flipped” in November his impeachment is going to instantly become Job One (as if it isn’t already).  And as circuses go, that would make the Mueller investigation look tame and downright boring.  Well yes, that certainly has to be on his mind.  But he’s under the impression (not shared by most Republicans) that what’s good for him is good for them, and vice versa.  He’s being a team player, in other words -- but on his own terms, which is probably why he’s still getting so much resistance from the Republican mainstream. 

Rush Limbaugh is, as far as I know, the originator of Theory #2, which is that Trump actually prefers being seen as the victim -- as David to the Opposition’s Goliath.  Or, I would add, being seen as someone who can get things done despite their best efforts -- almost like relegating them to side-show status.  If you think about the various voter groups out there, it makes sense -- his hard-core supporters seem to be more firm than ever, and the “gray middle” is even starting to appreciate his endurance, according to some of the polls.  On the other hand, to fight back -- to topple Goliath -- would, again, please his core but might cause everyone else to retreat in dismay.  Plus, paradoxically, the closer his enemies believe they are to victory, the more deranged they get.  You’d think they could start to relax a bit at this point, the way a football team will put some of their second-string people in when they are way ahead in the fourth quarter.  But this is not happening, and all I can imagine is that frustration is mounting that, as day after day goes by, Trump remains in the White House, and when they hear the words “President Trump” it’s as if someone was pouring a bucket of burning coals on their heads.        

Now, please note that these are not mutually exclusive theories -- they can both be true, and can be working in a symbiotic manner.  He holds off on punishing his persecutors, which should be seen as a show of loyalty to the party and its candidates, while at the same time garnering support from people who see him as a victim of  the many-headed hydra known as the Opposition.

And then there’s Theory #3, which is, again, perfectly compatible with the first two.  The longer this investigation/farce/witch hunt lasts, the more obvious it becomes that there is profound corruption at at least the senior levels of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the various intelligence agencies.  Their credibility suffers more each day, and it’s a wonder there hasn’t already been an uprising from the ranks in favor of stopping all this nonsense.  (I understand there is plenty of “murmuring” going on, however -- and that’s at least a start.) 

Now, one could say (as many have), what good does it do the country for all of this corruption to be exposed, and thus for the organizations in question to be weakened?  But don’t the corrupt aspects of these operations deserve to be exposed?  And as far as “weakening” is concerned, that’s like arguing that removing a tumor “weakens” the patient and that it should, therefore, have been left alone and allowed to continue to grow.  Better to have these outfits suffer a few blows but then given the chance to recover and regain not only their integrity but a sense of their actual mission (as opposed to the current one of deposing a president, which, it seems, is taking up all of their time these days, to the detriment of who knows what sorts of far more important work). 

So yes, the organizations are being exposed, but so are many individuals, who, as I’ve said before, are becoming more fanatical every day and getting to the point where they’re willing to pretty much put it all on the line for the sake of this crusade.  And many have already fallen by the wayside, while Trump is still on the defensive; imagine what would happen if they finally ran out of ideas and had to deal with a still-intact, and re-energized, Trump and his administration?

This brings me to Theory #4, which is also compatible with the other three.  I call it the Rope-a-Dope Theory, and if you’ll recall the famous strategy of Muhammad Ali, it involves sitting back and taking non-lethal blows, and letting your opponent tire himself out, at which point you come back to life and finish him off.  This is not the same as the sheer accumulated degradation of Theory #3; it’s a pure matter of energy and will.  (Robert Mueller has to sleep sooner or later, right?) 

So we see signs of each of these theories pretty much every day in the news.  Trump is playing the victim, but a strong one.  He’s doing his best to prevent political catastrophe.  And he’s using the best weapon he can against the Opposition -- namely, allowing them free rein -- in other words, allowing them to prove to the American public what sorry specimens they are (and, by implication, what sorry specimens any politicians rooting for them are).  As his enemies grow more and more deranged and desperate, Trump can come off looking downright cool and rational -- even if still feisty and a back-talker.  If he had tried to pay the Democrats to make Stormy Daniels the new face of their party, it would have been considered sheer lunacy -- but now that they’ve done it to themselves, well… it just represents even more sinking into the muck.  And they’re not finished yet, you may be sure.  But then neither is Trump. 

So yes, it’s a game, and it’s for keeps, and it’s worth our attention because it offers a rare opportunity to see the true power structures and relationships of the government and its facilitators in the “private sector” exposed as seldom before.  We have a chance to meet the Deep State, up close and personal.  And if they’ve taken the gloves off, they’ve also doffed their accustomed masks, and that is a remarkable thing indeed -- seen perhaps once in each generation, if that.  The very fact that they are willing to risk so much tells us that there is a lot to risk -- much more than the average citizen could ever have imagined. 

And!  Unlike certain other “crises” involving certain other presidents over the years, this doesn’t even seem to be having much impact on Trump’s pursuit of his agenda.  Richard Nixon was distracted, to put it mildly, for many months by Watergate, and Bill Clinton had no problem dropping everything to defend himself against impeachment.  But both of those episodes had a predictable outcome -- Nixon’s downfall and Clinton’s survival.  In this case, the outcome is not so certain, and that’s what makes it interesting (kind of like a close election, come to think of it).  I doubt if Trump uses up very much of his day worrying about these matters; he’s got better things to do, and he is, in fact, doing them -- to the extent possible given a comatose Congress and a hostile court system.  Someday even his enemies may be forced to say, “Never have so few accomplished so much against so many.”