In a series of morning tweets, Donald Trump again attacked the Mueller investigation, citing the firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok. But Trump went beyond calling for shutting down the investigation into Russian influence in his campaign. He mocked the justice department, made it clear that he wants to extend the purge of anyone suspected of being anti-Trump, and called for turning his ongoing persecution of opponents into criminal prosecution.
The firing of Strzok exceeded the discipline recommended by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and came at the hands of David Bowdich, who stepped into the FBI Deputy Director after the firing of Andrew McCabe. The firing on top of firing shows just how much the FBI has already become Trump’s instrument, with those who fail to support him coming in for action that perfectly equates failing to support Trump with a crime.
But Trump isn’t satisfied with seeing his ego overwrite standard proceedings at the FBI. Now that he’s feeling more comfortable that the FBI is his to hurl against perceived enemies, Trump is determined to use this overstep to ensure another. Rather than being embarrassed by his role in hounding a long-time agent when there was exactly no evidence of any action taken by Strzok, and despite the fact that Strzok was only on the Mueller team for less than six weeks before Mueller had him removed, Trump presented this as evidence that the entire investigation is “corrupt” and made multiple calls for the investigation to end.
Stopping the Mueller investigation is only step one. Trump put the word “Justice” in quotes when describing the Justice Department. He also included an attack on former director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Bruce Ohr for “helping” Christopher Steele who Trump claims is “disgraced.” Trump then turned his attacks on Attorney General Jefferson Sessions.
Trump: If we had a real Attorney General, this Witch Hunt would never have been started! Looking at the wrong people.
Even that is only the start of what Trump presented in his morning call for authoritarianism. His tweets made it clear that he wants to: Shut down the Mueller investigation, purge the government of anyone not loyal to himself, and prosecute his enemies. Taken as a whole, it’s a showcase of dictatorial overreach. Putting aside the Mueller investigation, in any normal year these tweets alone would be reason to impeach.
In a series of statements, Trump:
♦ made it clear that firing a long-term FBI agent for expressing insufficiently pro-Trump views isn’t enough. Trump also wants Strzok “and others” to be “criminally investigated.”
♦ left no doubt that he wants the Mueller investigation halted, claiming that it would never have started without “machinations” from Strzok, which is patently untrue, and was dependent on the memos from former British intelligence office Christopher Steele, which also a blatant lie.
♦ called on “the courts” or “honest prosecutors” to reject the Mueller investigation—a message clearly intended for the judge in the currently active Manafort trial.
♦ again alleged that Mueller is “conflicted” and his investigation consists of “17 angry Democrats,” which isn’t true.
♦ made it clear that he expects his opponents, both inside and outside the government, to be investigated by his FBI, saying “the Dems are the ones who should be investigated” and “Strzok and others at the FBI should be criminally investigated” and the investigation is “looking at the wrong people.”
Trump’s initial brace of morning tweets cited a trio of his reliable sources—moneyman turned Trump ranter Lou Dobbs, the consistent fact-twisters at Judicial Watch, and of course Fox & Friends—but he laced those quotes with frequent inserts of his own. The combination makes it clear that, just as Trump calls any news unfavorable to himself “fake news,” any legal action that doesn’t support a pro-Trump position is now “Justice” in quotes.
These statements may seem like more of the same, but taken as a whole, Trump has made no stronger case for his own despotism. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers should reference rule number one of Masha Gessen’s “Autocracy: Rules for Survival”:
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says.
Pretense that Trump is just tweeting, and that he doesn’t mean to make over the whole of government into an instrument of his ego isn’t just willful blindness, it’s acceptance.
Trump is telling everyone what he will do. And he’s not subtle.
And while he was busy attacking the justice system and the rule of law, Trump tossed in one tweet in which he called a former White House employee a “crazed, crying lowlife” and a “dog.” Because he’s also racist … something else everyone will pretend isn’t true for another day.
As of this writing, Trump was continuing to repeat and emphasize his earlier statements. Because it’s still “executive time” and always will be.