[Irish Times] Then it comes to presidential obstruction, at least Watergate started with a crime. A stupid crime, but a crime.
After 675 days, more than 2,800 subpoenas, nearly 500 search warrants, $30 million spent, endless jaw-jaw on cable and countless whiny Trump tweets, we have come down to one fundamental truth.
And it’s the same truth that has been terrorising us all along: Donald Trump’s dirtbag machinations are driven by insane vanity.
The First Narcissist’s all-consuming blend of braggadocio and insecurity has turned Washington and its rickety institutions into a dystopian outpost of his id.
President Trump obstructed on nearly every page of Volume II of the Mueller report, even though Robert Mueller was too lost in legalese to throw the book at him. The report counts as the Worst Exoneration Ever, replete with incrimination.
And Trump’s motivation for trying to subvert justice and turn the White House into a writhing nest of liars? His ego.
He did not want people to think that the Russians were responsible for his election and that he was an illegitimate president.
And why was this the burr under his sociopathic saddle? Obviously, because he thinks he is an illegitimate president. He never expected to win.
The idea that he is in the Oval Office under false pretences plays into his twisted sense of victimhood. The spoiled scion of Fifth Avenue somehow always finds a way to be aggrieved, a victim of the media, the deep state, "dirty cops", note-taking aides and the elites ‐ all out to get him. |