Trump is a master of distraction. Don’t fall for it.
President Trump just doesn’t care.
He does not care about the Constitution; he does not care about process; and he does not care about the truth.
Then there’s the volumes upon volumes of what he doesn’t know. And he doesn’t care about that, either.
His latest tweet heard ’round the world, that his predecessor President Obama ordered Trump Tower wiretapped during the campaign, was made without proof, evidence and only the say-so of Breitbart News and conservative talk-show host Mark Levin.
That’s it. But that was enough.
It’s displaced the mounting pressure on the Trump administration over its multi-tentacled connections to Russia and President Vladimir Putin on the front pages; it’s left Congress scratching its head, again. By attempting to smear the former president, Trump, too, has dragged the FBI in the mud. Even director James Comey, who pounded nails into the coffin of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is so alarmed that he asked the Department of Justice to declare the allegation false.
President Obama, his R&R most definitely over, denied the allegation, making clear presidents do not order wiretaps. Courts grant that request.
Of course, it’s all about Russia. At this point, it probably makes more sense to ask who didn’t have a chat with Russian diplomat Sergey Kislyak.
On Friday, moments before traveling to his mansion in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, Trump raged at the increasing pressure from questions about the administration’s ties to Russia. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from participating in any probes given his own omission of the substance of his contact with Kislyak.
And on Saturday, Trump lashed out at Obama, accusing him of ordering taps on Trump Tower telephones during the election campaign. He added, incredibly, that Obama was a "bad (or sick) man."
The accusation was as unexpected as it was incoherent. Trump is a master of distraction. But neither Congress nor the American people can fall for it. This is a fraught moment for our democracy, and it must be handled with bipartisan resolve to protect it.
We were pleased to hear Sen. Marco Rubio, a lawmaker with his finger too often in the political wind, make clear on CNN Sunday, that he had no idea what the president was talking about, and that "facts" must drive the conversation. Absolutely. If Obama, indeed, is culpable, he’ll have to be called to account. If President Trump is delusional or willfully lying, he, too, must answer for it.
The reality is that Russia’s attempt to sway the U.S. presidential election and Moscow’s contacts with Trump’s circle of advisers cast an ominous shadow on the current government.
Indeed, at this perilous juncture, the best way — the only way — to proceed, is for an independent investigation to be engaged. The Republican-led Congress simply has too many lawmakers still willing to do the president’s bidding.
That would be unacceptable. Bad. Sick.
This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Trump is a master of distraction. Don’t fall for it.."