Donald Trump’s tweets have been the subject of derision, consternation, self-inflicted wounds, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer crying himself to sleep at night, both before and after Trump entered the White House. Today, Trump demonstrated that he’s still learned nothing about how he can, actually, be held accountable for the things he says, whether in person or online, despite how thoroughly his Muslim ban failure illustrated it.
On Twitter, Trump again took to accusations of a “witch hunt” when referring to the investigation he now says he’s been swept up in: “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.” I guess former FBI Director James Comey didn’t really have to worry about the “duty to correct” that would be created if he’d publicly made it known that Trump wasn’t personally under investigation at the time—Trump would gladly have tweeted about the change himself, in any case.
Trump’s tweet seems to confirm reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is, indeed, now investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, although Trump gets all his information from the media he hates so much, so it’s possible he’s taken those reports at face value and doesn’t know any better than we do. Indeed, that’s already the defense that’s being used, but the amazing thing is that Trump still just can’t stop talking about it.
Whether he meant to confirm those reports or not, it sounds like he and his minions are trying to build up a case for getting Mueller fired, and Senator Dianne Feinstein is having none of it. She released a statement condemning the actions he seems to be telegraphing online:
Scorching statement from Feinstein on Trump’s tweets — says she’s concerned he’ll attempt to fire Mueller and Rosenstein pic.twitter.com/aBBaHJi7qo
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 16, 2017
But Trump is assured of the vast power his social media presence has to sway public opinion in his favor. He also tweeted this morning about his 1oo million-person reach, though his Twitter account is currently at about 32 million, the POTUS account about 18 million, and his Facebook page about 23 million. Even all of those combined don’t equal 100 million, and there has to be some overlap in those numbers.
He’s not alone in his tweet-based failure at self-awareness, either. Newt Gingrich is suddenly very concerned with Mueller’s investigation, despite how he initially praised Mueller’s integrity and said that his involvement should calm everything down.
Mueller is setting up a dragnet of obstruction, financial questions and every aspect of Trump’s life and his associates lives.very dangerous
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 15, 2017
He’s conducting a thorough investigation based on the hole that Trump dug himself! The horror! Not only did he forget that the Internet is forever and his quick change of stance on Mueller is easily visible, but it’s especially rich given the thorough documentation of his real-world past:
I’m old enough to remember Newt Gingrich arguing that President Clinton should be impeached for…obstructing justice. https://t.co/W29s9EKDhp
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 16, 2017
Trump can’t actually fire Mueller, as Senator Feinstein pointed out, and would have to go the route of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and replacing him with someone who would be willing to do so. I look forward to Trump’s inevitable tweet about what a “bad” and “sick” guy Rosenstein is for enabling Mueller before he fires him for totally unrelated reasons—and then goes on TV to say it was totally about the investigation.
(image: Ildar vector / Shutterstock.com)
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