The White House is standing by Donald Trump's assertion that Barack Obama wiretapped him in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign. On Monday, Trump forces feigned ignorance of FBI director James Comey's Sunday bombshell. Comey told the Justice Department to publicly admit that Trump lied. Though true, Comey's notion was unprecedented. The White House responded in full stonewall mode. Sean Spicer told the New York Times, "I don’t think that we’re aware that that occurred."
The Trump day to day context
The Obama wiretapping narrative was hatched on right wing radio and made its way to the front page of Breitbart News on Friday.
Over the weekend the false "Obama did it" assertion became right wing dogma. Today you would never know there had been a Trump tweet storm on Saturday aimed at Obama, And you would have forgotten that Trump was apoplectic when he learned his faithful ally Jeff Sessions had recused himself from anything to do with Russia. The context is that Trump lives day by day and yesterday's storm is today's victory lap.
Blowing in the wind
This impunity on steroids forced New York Times columnist Charles Blow to insist that Americans force a pause in Trump's presidency. Blow's heartfelt cry trended number one on Twitter. But his proposal was impractical. The American people have little influence on Congress.
90 percent want improved of gun control, but legislators do nothing. Most Americans want to see Trump's tax returns, Legislators do not budge. Armed with talk radio and Breitbart, the right marches on and division continues its winning streak.
Buy American & hire American are the principles at the core of my agenda, which is: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Thank you @exxonmobil.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2017
As Tuesday dawned, an answer to the question of how this may play out emerges.
Spicer's feigned ignorance is Trump strategy. Today there are three new Trump tweets. One says jobs are the core of the Trump agenda. Another calls #Obamacare a nightmare. Another speaks of an "incredible spirit of optimism sweeping the country." Trump is telling us he can stonewall Russia till the cows come home and if Comey has the nerve to keep pressing, he just might be fired.
Not so fast
Russia will not go away so easily. Trump is gambling that his Obama big lie will not come back to bite him. What the President most fears is a full, nonpartisan investigation of the Trump-Russia connection. The stonewall may work and the threat of a firing may neutralize Comey. But Obama does not cave so easily. And the week has only just begun.
