Thread: Donald Trump is becoming trapped

Donald Trump is becoming trapped

By Michael Goodwin
July 29, 2017 | 9:09pm

Early last week, a friend who is generally supportive of President Trump offered his view that the president had only one move remaining — firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

By week’s end, my friend had a different view: The president is in a box without a clear escape hatch. “I’m not sure how he gets out of this,” he said wearily.

Those conversations bookend the worst week of the Trump presidency, which ended with another shake-up. By removing Reince Priebus as chief of staff and replacing him with Gen. John Kelly from Homeland Security, Trump aims to bring a semblance of military order and discipline to the White House.

Given Trump’s respect for Kelly, the move could mark an important turning point in focusing the president’s time and efforts. Too many days have been squandered by leaks and conflicting and even contradictory messages.

But to understand the complexity of Trump’s challenge and the limits of what Kelly can fix, it is useful to divide the president’s problems into two baskets.

The first basket includes the low moments of last week — the collapse of the ObamaCare repeal effort, Anthony Scaramucci’s profane attack on Priebus and Steve Bannon and the fact that Trump’s declaration of a ban on transgenders serving in the military caught the Pentagon off guard.

Kelly, if Trump lets him, could fix or prevent all that.

Yet as significant as those events were, the problems in the second basket are potentially more serious. They center on the rupture between Trump and leading Republicans over Mueller and the president’s battering of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump repeatedly calls the probe a “witch hunt” and has discussed firing Mueller, while most Republicans trust Mueller and are willing to let his investigation run its course.

Similarly, GOP leaders like and respect Sessions and believe Trump’s attacks on him are unfair. They don’t believe Sessions deserves to be fired.

One sign of the rupture came from Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary committee, who said in a Wednesday tweet that the panel’s schedule is set for the year and there is no time to confirm a new Attorney General.

The point was clear: Trump shouldn’t even think about firing Sessions.

The next day, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina upped the ante, saying, “any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency unless Mueller did something wrong.”

He added that he will introduce legislation to block any attempts to fire the special counsel without judicial review — and said he was certain all Democrats and many Republicans would support him.

The sense that Trump is being curbed and isolated was bolstered when bipartisan, veto-proof majorities in both houses agreed on legislation that requires congressional approval to lift the latest round of sanctions imposed on Russia. Until now, the president could unilaterally remove them.

Trump’s predicament recalls a scene in Ernest Hemingway’s novel, “The Sun Also Rises.”

“How did you go bankrupt,” one character asks another, who responds: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

So it is with Trump. Problems, some of them self-inflicted, that looked temporary and manageable have been compounded over time and are reaching a crisis point. Most important, he is losing flexibility to act just as Mueller expands his probe into Trump’s business empire as well as his 2016 campaign.

Various reports say the special counsel, who is amassing a small army of prosecutors, is going through Trump’s career, including his taxes and property sales, to find any connections with Russians that might indicate collusion in the election.

I believe Trump is rattled by those reports and by the fact that one of his sons, Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been dragged before congress; both also are likely to be summoned by Mueller.

I also believe Mueller’s aggressiveness helps explain Trump’s stepped-up attacks on Sessions, whose recusal led to Mueller’s appointment.

When Sessions, citing Justice Department regulations, stepped aside from any matter involving the 2016 campaign, he put the power in the hands of his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller after Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

More than a month ago, I urged Trump to replace Sessions so he could have someone to oversee Mueller and keep him from going beyond the initial assignment. But the revolt by the former Alabama’s Senator’s colleagues has blocked that path, and Sessions has rejected invitations to resign.

Hence, the conclusion that the president is trapped with no protection or escape from Mueller.

Trump, of course, has been counted out many times in the last two years, but always managed to bounce back. He could do it again because he retains enthusiastic support among most of those who voted for him, and less White House chaos and a big victory on tax reform could fuel another comeback.

As a bonus, strong public support would keep congressional Republicans in his corner.

But the uncertainty about where Mueller is going and what, if anything, he is finding adds a unique dimension to Trump’s troubles. That’s what makes this situation so perilous.

http://nypost.com/2017/07/29/donald-...oming-trapped/

President Trump isn't the one trapped, the American People are the ones who are trapped. Donald Trump nor anyone else in his campaign colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 Presidential Election. Everyone with 2 live brain cells still connected knows that, they knew it before this witch hunt began, they've known it every day during it to this day.

Yet, Congress has spent more time investigating the Russia nothing-burger and attacking Trump than it has on health care, immigration, trade, jobs, infrastructure, military, economy, tax cuts, terrorism, Syria, North Korea, Middle East and everything else of great importance to fixing our country combined.

As for Mueller, he's wasting taxpayer money, exhausting the nerves and patience of most Trump Supporters, intruding and invading the personal and business lives of private citizens for political reasons, and genuinely degrading the US Department of Justice, at a time when degrading this outfit further seemed unlikely because under Holder and Lynch it had sunk as low as one would have thought possible.

So is Trump trapped? No, the Americans are trapped and there is only one person who will rise to the rescue to set us loose, and that is our Raging Bull, President Donald J Trump. Hold on to your seats and stay tuned. The Joy of Winning when all odds are against you is about to begin.

judy
trump know what he is doing he not trapped just let him do his job your post is very good ty

Pat Buchanan had an article along these lines. IMO the Republican Establishment has tied him in knots, just as much as the Media. I was getting the Sentinel calls every Monday from Heritage until I concluded it was mostly a one note samba. Always about Obamacare. And I am not discounting the inherent problems in that legislation, nor the misinformation spread by the Media ( "22 million Americans without healthcare...."). But if they are simply counting constituent votes, and not backlash AND the media propaganda machine, I think they are making a big mistake.

But it's time for RealPolitiks. People are going to believe what they believe, even if it is insidious and stupid.The way to fix healthcare is to bring costs down. There is so much novelty and groundbreaking treatment being offered, that providers will exploit this for the maximum profit. Yet all technologies eventually fall in cost when they have been on the market long enough. I think we need a federal commission to figure out how to get those costs down quicker. A Brains Trust on Medical Costs. Also going overseas can bring a lot of costs down. I just got an estimate for one dental implant for almost $9000. But I have defied dentists before and come out the winner, and sometimes I have lost, too. This actually could be done in Cancun or Tijuana or Hungary for about $2000.

When I was going for my degree my professor showed us the formula for figuring out how to charge for a Relative Value Units (RVU's). Relative Value Units (RVUs), used to calculate compensation for physicians using a set formula tied to various services. It has to be the stupidest formula I have ever seen. We all sat there like how can anyone work threw these and how does anyone know if the charges are right? This is one example of how complex they make the medical billing process. There is really no set scale. Which there should be.
http://www.physicianspractice.com/rv...ur-rvu-payment