It is obvious that the New York Times wants Donald Trump to be gone. It is obvious that Donald Trump knows the writing is on the wall when it comes to the Gray Lady. Sometimes the Times is a bit over-impatient. It will turn smaller to larger and give a hot headline to something less than worthy. But overall when history is written both Trump's enemies and friends will depend on the archives of the Times.
Where the Times excels
One reason why is that the Times more than any other medium keeps up a steady flow of detailed, investigative stories that are essential reading for anyone who dares to write opinions about what is true and what is false.
The story published today and noted below is a detailed look at the man who will, if anyone does, bring Donald Trump down.
What Robert Mueller Learned From Enron https://t.co/cYtLUnepGR
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) July 14, 2017
This is not good news for Donald Trump. The major point of the long and detailed article is that Mueller and his crack staff of prosecutors were aggressive to a fault. Turning lower level suspects into damaging witnesses against higher-ups was standard. Threatening to prosecute the wife of a big fish if he did not come clean was actually done.
Partial ruin?
Mueller proceeded slowly and surely and in the end, Enron lay in ruins, soon forgotten by most Americans. But there was a problem.
And because of the problem, Mueller is vastly more dangerous this time around. The Enron episode was not an unmitigated success.
Some of the prosecutions got reversed by higher courts. That registered in some peoples' minds as a semi-slam dunk. It means that Mueller will be as aggressive as ever in going through all the avenues that can reveal criminality.
But it may well mean that in seeking justice he will be looking for decisions that will be very hard to reverse.
Crime and punishment
Trump holds lots of cards. His biggest is his base which he can keep breathlessly supportive day by day with a tweet or two. He could try to fire Mueller but that might activate the Lindsay Grahams of the world and result in actions along the lines of the current House effort by Democrats to impeach Trump. He could also cut a deal to keep himself rich and un-jailed while associates and relatives do time.
Mueller is the man
For the moment Mueller is the focal point of resistance to Donald Trump. He is the man who will bring him down if anyone does. But Trump is fighting back. By design or not. the Times fuels Trump's fighting spirit. His ambition this morning as he reads this damaging piece is to end up the last man standing.
