The memo was supposed to give Trump political cover. Instead, it triggered a mentally unstable president to claim that the FBI is an Obama/Hillary Clinton conspiracy against him.
Trump tweeted:
The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans – something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018
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“You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team.†Tom Fitton, JW
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018
Republicans are trying to use the memo to kill the Russia investigation, but this concept appears to be too complex for Trump, who is only capable of seeing everything through a paranoid and need good or bad for me lens. The memo wasn’t supposed to trigger Trump into a meltdown. It was intended for use as a political weapon.
The document hasn’t even been released yet, and Trump has already bungled the messaging. The White House was freaking out because they realized that the Nunes memo might be a dud that can’t save them from Mueller’s investigation. Trump’s paranoid rant only served to make things worse.
Trump has destroyed any chance that the memo will be taken seriously by the rest of the country because he lacks the basic self-control and personal discipline to stick to a simple message.
The memo was intended to get Republicans out from under the Russia scandal cloud, but all it really did was set Trump off on a delusional conspiracy rant that alienated the majority of the country.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association