Let’s see? With Steve Bannon Donald Trump’s indicted, imprisoned or pardoned cohorts approach a dozen. Toss in a pair of sketchy lawyers, a handful of minion co-conspirators and the corruption relating to Trump’s administration rivals, if not surpasses, Nixon’s and Harding’s.
On Aug. 20 Forbes’s Jemima McAvoy summarizes:
- Trump Campaign Manger Corey Lewandowski has a battery of charges dropped.
- Paul Manafort is sentenced to more than seven years for “a slew of changes from Robert Mueller’s investigation including into Russian election interference, tax and bank fraud, and conspiracy against the United States.” August 18 USA Today reported a Republican-led Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee panel found, “Paul Manafort’s role of Trump Campaign Chair, his longstanding ties to people affiliated with Russian intelligence services and his willingness to share information with them ‘represented a grave counterintelligence threat’ during the 2016 presidential race.”
- On a plea bargain, Rick Gates spent 45 days in jail for conspiracy and making false statements.
- Erstwhile national security advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The case is in limbo.
- Former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos got 14 days and a year of supervised release for lying to the FBI about Russian contacts.
- For a half-dozen crimes, including, months before the 2016 election, buying prostitute Stormy Daniels’s silence about a Trump liaison, former Trump attorney and intimidator Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
- Roger Stone was sentence on seven charges, including lying to Congress and witness tampering. Long-time pal Trump pardoned him.
- Manafort and Gates associates Alex van der Awaan and
- Sam Patten plead guilty to funneling foreign money to Trump’s inaugural committee.
- Rudy Giulanai and two associates charged with campaign finance violations.
- Now Bannon is charged with fraud.
Does Donald know? Was he involved? Is the Pope Catholic?
Donald Trump’s boilerplate responses to troublesome information or allegations are “Hoax,” “Witch Hunt,” “Fake News,” “kill the messenger,” plead ignorance or flee the scene. When worldwide print and broadcast journalism concur, notions of some Grand Conspiracy, Hoax, Witch Hunt and Fake News—apart from Vladimir Putin’s—are absurd.
Assuming his patented “kill the messenger” scenario, Donald reverts to a pre-teen bully, arguing, insulting, name-calling, verbally strong-arming questioners, rarely giving truly reasoned responses.
Given a Narcissistic Personality, with exclusive focus on himself Trump’s ignorance pleas might seem a plausible. At the same time, his Narcissism demands being in command, constantly attending to what’s up. Laying any ignorance defense do rest.
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