On the eve before Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate, the interview of Politico with Newsmax Chief Executive Christopher Ruddy came out. The confidant of U.S. President Donald Trump hinted that the president may terminate special counsel Robert Mueller.
He said it could trigger something beyond anything imaginable such as an impeachment process. Ruddy said it will not be a smart move. The Washington Post viewed the interview as a trial balloon to see how the stakeholders and the public will react to it, as well as a warning.
Not ruling out the possibility
The White House immediately distanced itself from what Ruddy said. The Newsmax CEO just came from a White House visit after which he made the comments about Mueller, The Washington Post reported. Other political observers, such as Jason Miller, the former communication director of the Trump campaign, commented it would be a bad idea to fire Mueller
Reports say Trump has been advised against firing the special counsel, but the president has not ruled out the possibility. He could be considering extreme measures to save his embattled presidency but is not beyond firing Mueller since he already did it to FBI Director James Comey. The daily newspaper warned firing Mueller could be the straw to break the camel’s back.
Business is different from democracy
In an opinion piece, The Washington Post noted Trump has not acted like a president because he has failed to understand that running a business is different from ruling a nation. It explains why the president likes autocrats like himself who despise the media, the opposition, and the independent judiciary.
He lived in a transactional world where everything is a deal which is why he demanded loyalty from Comey and praises from the cabinet on Monday.
It was in the same meeting when Trump praised himself as doing more than other presidents in a period of crisis, with the exception of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The billionaire’s delusion of grandeur, however, has the Republican party partly to blame for feeding Trump’s gigantic ego, with the Monday praise session as the best example.
Missing sense of propriety
Among the reasons cited by The Washington Post why Trump has turned into a despot is the lack of real leaders in the GOP whose sense of propriety are offended by Trump, unlike the Watergate days. Another reason is Republicans cower in fear of Fox hosts who are not in the News department that GOP members refuse to keep a distance from the president.
Despite the advice of well-meaning political experts, Trump continues to do it his own way and wins most of the time, from the GOP nomination to the presidency. He even managed to get the party to unite behind him, which is a recipe for hubris, the influential newspaper warned.
