Trump And His Swamp Want Mueller To Go Away: Not Gonna' Happen

In his pre-presidential life, Donald Trump was a known quantity---a predator on the prowl for vulnerable prey as he daily/nightly roamed the dark netherworld of New York City's high-stakes real estate industry.

His was a totally transactional, zero-sum world in which there were few, if any, ethical guardrails or moral guidelines and virtually no willingness to stay within the bounds of the few that did exist. Its currency consisted of fraudulent claims, broken contracts, broken promises and non-stop, 24/7 lying. It was populated by grifters in $10,000 suits, dirty public officials, suspect bankers, union hot-shots with their hands out, connected lawyers and organized crime bosses/thugs.

Trump navigated this swamp with the ease of a 14-foot alligator born and raised in its ooze. It is a matter of public record that, unapologetically and with no ethical/moral qualms, he lied to investors [a felony], dipped into investor funds for personal use [a felony], stiffed banks, stiffed small business owners, stiffed vendors, stiffed laborers, illegally brought undocumented laborers into the country to work as laborers (the infamous "Polish Brigade") at half the going-rate and then stiffed them, walked away from debt, filed bankruptcies and walked away with his pockets lined, dry-cleaned huge amounts of money for questionable foreign associates [a felony], [by his own admission] bribed public officials, enlisted the help of mob associates, did the dirty with Playmates and porn stars, raided the coffers of his "deal me" foundation [avoiding legal action by agreeing to shutter what was, in reality, nothing more than a personal slush fund] and cheated the "students" of his bogus "university" out of millions of dollars [avoiding further legal action by settling a $25 million class-action suit.

If we know this from the public record, imagine what we might find if Trump released his tax returns---which, of course, he will never do.

That he was able to escape the consequences of his civil and criminal difficulties relatively unscathed further evidences his ability to navigate the muck of the swamp in which he operated. He blustered. He bloviated. He threatened. He intimidated. He smeared. He lied. He lied some more. He threw wrenches into the machinery of the legal system. He bribed those who could make uncomfortable situations disappear.

And, by-and-large, his playbook worked for him.

[It bears mention that the same Donald Trump who falsely characterized---and, still does---his 2016 opponent as "Crooked Hillary" and to this day leads rally-goers in chants of "Lock her up!" has been a principal in over 3,500 litigations and counting. It also bears mention that, despite Republicans and the whack-job conspiracy theorists who populate the far-right media Fun House---remember "Pizza-Gate"?--- making her the target of constant, unending scrutiny, baseless accusations and endless, politically-motivated investigations over the past three decades, Secretary Clinton has never, save those in which she was serving as counsel for someone else, been a principal in a court action. Never. Not one.]

But, as effective as Trump's well-honed thuggish tactics have been in the corrupt world of high-stakes real-estate, they have not translated well in the world of a high-stakes national security investigation directed by an authentic American patriot who is undeterred by threat, intimidation or personal smears. And, even more notably, has proven over a long and distinguished career of public service that he deserves to reside in the rarified air reserved for those who are, quite simply, unavailable to corruptive influences.

Unlike Trump and partisan hacks/enablers with last names such as Giuliani, Nunes, Jordan, Goodlatte, Meadows, Ryan, Pence, et al, Robert Mueller is lionized in the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities for his personal integrity. His body of work unquestionably testifies not only to his character but to his belief that protecting the distinctly American institutions and norms that provide the framework necessary for our democracy to exist requires a commitment to "eternal vigilance" per the sanctity of "the rule of law."

Indeed, it is his personal credibility and reputation for integrity that have enabled Robert Mueller to, without even trying, take up residence in Donald Trump's head---right next to Barack Obama. After all, what could be more threatening to a transactional player with a closet full of skeletons than being investigated by an honest actor who is immune to bullying and impervious to the twitter-screeds of an autocratic huckster more at home in the slime of the Okefenokee than in the venerable and venerated environs of the Oval Office?

Cadet Bone Spurs doesn't like it one bit that the combat-tested, bemedaled former Marine officer whose record as both Director of the FBI and a relentless federal prosecutor is as spotless as his posture is ramrod straight won't bend to the malignantly narcissistic will of an amoral/immoral #EmperorWannaBe. Indeed, it has become apparent from the volume and vociferousness of The Twit's tweets---and the laughable combination of contradictory statements, pronouncements and, uh, threats made by his diamond pinky-ringed court jester, Rudy Giuliani---that Trump is growing increasingly frustrated by his failed efforts to fully weaponize the powers of the presidency in order to (1) rid himself of "this meddlesome priest" and thereby (2) autocratically strangle the quaint American notion that "no man is above the law."

However, Trump is not only frustrated.

Trump is scared.

He is scared about discoveries already made and discoveries that might be made by Mr. Mueller and his All-Star team of federal prosecutors/investigators. In the vernacular of the millennials with whom my son hangs, "Trump is in a 'world of hurt' and he knows it."

One can almost smell the fear.

Why else his obsessive attacks on and attempts to delegitimize the Special Counsel's investigation by repeatedly gaslighting it as a "hoax," a "witch hunt," "fake news" and worse when he calls in to talk with the slobbering, groveling hosts of TrumpTV's "FOX and Friends" or has his nightly hot-chocolate-and-cookies bedtime phone conversation with BestBestie Sean Hannity or takes the stage at one of his regular adulation/make-me-feel-secure rallies or puts his tiny fingers on the tiny keyboard of his cell phone and twitters out another tweet?

Why else his Banana Republic tactic of attempting to weaponize the Department of Justice against Mueller's investigation by threatening to fire his morally despicable, Bible-abusing Attorney General and persistently demeaning him as "weak," "missing in action" and "useless" because "he won't protect me?"

Why else his half-baked and disgusting efforts to smear his predecessor, his 2016 election opponent, the federal judicial system, the federal law enforcement system and the entire federal intelligence community if not to raise suspicion/cast doubts about or distract us from the ongoing investigation per the possibility that he and his own campaign were compromised by a foreign entity?

According to White House staffers, he has taken to raging about Mueller's probe as many as "20 times a day"---which, considering the brevity of his workday ("executive time" and all that), would seemingly make it the singular focus of his presidency. Why else such a foul mood if The Donald isn't all puckered-up?

I mean, if Trump thinks there is no wrongdoing on his part, why not let the investigation proceed so that his name can be cleared and his legitimacy confirmed? If he has done nothing wrong, why not sit down with Mueller and, under oath, answer his questions? [Though, to be clear, Donald Trump, unless forced to comply with a subpoena, will never sit down with the Special Counsel and, under oath, do anything other than take the Fifth.]

It was left to the likes of Trey Gowdy, the retiring South Carolina congressman whose barber should have long ago been either sued for malpractice or arrested for styling hair while under the influence (SHUI), to put Trump's dangerously high pucker-pressure in context by advising him to "stop acting like you're guilty if you're innocent."

Predictably, Republican sycophants such as the reprehensible twosome of Devin Nunes and Mark Meadows have joined forces with Trump's assorted circus of wild-eyed, fact-averse media mavens to call for Mueller to bring the investigation to what would, in actually, be a premature end. Their rationale is two-fold: (1) It has gone on long enough and (2) it has produced no evidence of wrongdoing.

Allow me to respond to these comedic hypocrites by pointing out that Republicans seemed to have no problem with initiating, at last count, 9 separate investigations per the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya---read, 9 separate, wholly-political attempts to find something, anything they could use to "bring down" and delegitimize Hillary Clinton. Those investigations continued for over 4 years and resulted in nothing more than the GOP playing politics over the dead body of an American ambassador and generating an avalanche of crazy conspiracy theories. Republicans wagged their fingers for the television cameras amidst their typical investigative clown-shows but, in the end, couldn't find enough evidence of malfeasance to justify even a simple rebuke.

While I'm on a roll, I might as well note that the multiple, GOP-initiated investigations and the Democratic DOJ/FBI investigation into Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server continued for over 2 years and resulted in nothing more than a statement that she had been "careless."

Indeed, the lack of transparency by the Trump White House as to written records, visitor logs, phone logs, emails sent via private servers and the absence of read-outs per the president's private meetings and phone calls is, in cumulative terms, far more egregious and threatening to national security than Ms. Clinton's issues with her server---such as they turned out to be. Which does raise the question of why the Trump White House is so opaque. Hiding something?

On the other hand, the Special Counsel's investigation---initiated by a Republican-ruled Justice Department and overseen by a Special Counsel (who is, himself, a Republican) appointed by a Republican Deputy Attorney General---into a wide variety of known/suspected irregularities/illegalities per actions that occurred prior to and since the president's election has just now entered its 16th month. And it has thus far resulted in the filing of well over 100 separate charges, 5 guilty pleas, 34 indictments of individuals, 3 indictments of corporations and a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York per the president's attorney, Michael Cohen. And there seems little doubt but that the hits are just going to keep on coming---the supposition is easily made that there are those close, very-close or, at least once-close to Trump who lie awake at night listening for the "thump-thump" of FBI agents coming down the hallway, warrants and subpoenas in hand.

That's a pretty efficient, effective, productive, impressive investigation, don't you think? I mean, who knew there were so many "witches" out there?

Messrs. Nunes, Jordan, Meadows, Goodlatte and Giuliani---and let's not forget fellow toadies Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders---might want to think twice before they continue to screech to the shrinking Trump base via TrumpTV that Mr. Mueller's investigation should be "shut down" because "there's no there there."

Robert Mueller and his All-Stars have already shown us that "there's a lot of there there" and even the bookies in Vegas consider it a lock that "there's a lot more there there." My own guess is that the Special Counsel and his team of Five-Star Recruits already know "the lot more there that is there." And that the real reason Trump and his cronies want the investigation brought to "a swift conclusion" is that they're guessing the same thing.

"Thump. Thump."