The Week in Washington: Subjects and Targets
Was it only last Monday that the president stood between a life-size rabbit wearing goofy glasses and Melania Trump (no spectacles) and pontificated about how “our military is at a level where it has never been before. . . . Just think of $700 billion because that is all going into our military this year,” to an audience of 4-year-olds? It was the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, typically a nonpartisan affair since the audience won’t be voting for at least another decade, but as usual, the president was unable to just shut up and deal.
Three days later, on Air Force One, he once again succumbed to an impulse to blurt: Feeling bouncy after a lovefest in West Virginia, a state that voted overwhelmingly for him in the last election, he moseyed to the back of the plane where the press corps hangs out and finally commented on the Stormy Daniels imbroglio, denying that he knows the least little thing about why the adult film star, who recently described her affair with DT on 60 Minutes, was paid $130,000 in hush money.
In other events of the week, Sinclair Broadcasting sent out a pro-Trump script to its nearly 200 affiliates and insisted that anchors read it on air word for word, resulting in a very amusing—in a horrifying sort of way—Deadspin video of newscasters from all over the country reciting the identical copy. (On Monday, the President weighed in, tweeting: “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”) Devoid of even the slightest trace of mirth is the president’s decision to send National Guard troops to the southern border, in response to a noncrisis; also completely unfunny is his threatened trade war with China, to which the stock market has responded with wild gyrations.
Speaking of gyrations: Just this morning, Trump offered a rare criticism of his putative pal Putin, tweeting, “Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad.” This was followed shortly by another tweet: “If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” which is, by the way, the opposite of his former position. In August 2013 he tweeted, “What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long term conflict? Obama needs Congressional approval,” and in September of that same year, he followed up with, “The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria, fix U.S.A.”
But back to whispers of Washington intrigue, and EPA head Scott Pruitt, of whom the President, in that same chatty visit on Air Force One, said, “I think he’s done a fantastic job. I think he’s done an incredible job. He’s been very courageous.” Pruitt’s enthusiastic spending of money not his own—some might call this courageous, though other words spring to mind— includes a 19-vehicle security detail, the $200,000 he has racked up on personal trips, and—okay, here’s a savings!—the mere $50-a-night condo room he rented from a former energy lobbyist. (In March of last year, his security team broke down the door of this place, believing for some mysterious reason that Pruitt was unconscious inside. The EPA subsequently paid the condo association $2,460 to replace the door.) Even John Kelly has allegedly had enough of this guy, and reportedly threatened earlier this week to quit over Pruitt’s continued employment.
When does a subject turn into a target? According to at least three unnamed sources, the President is currently merely a subject of the Mueller investigation into Russian election meddling, but this does not mean he can breathe easy at the McDonald’s take-out window. Even Trump himself doesn’t seem to think so: CBS News reports that he is being informally coached for a potential interview with the special prosecutor, and woe to the tutors working with him. Those with long memories may recall the frustration felt by the luckless crew in charge of readying him for the debates with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Kellyanne Conway, for once a master of understatement, told the Washington Post back then: “He’s an unconventional candidate, so debate prep in the classic sense doesn’t apply to him.”
Still though he stumbled and snarked his way through those sparring matches, and though no one thought he had bested her, he now occupies the highest office in the land. But for how long? Go ahead Donald Trump, sit down with Robert Mueller!
