THE NOOSE TIGHTENS AS TRUMP FLOUNDERS IN EVERY DIRECTION

News is breaking so fast, on so many fronts, that it is difficult for micromanaging Trump to stamp out all the fires. Mueller is allowing, for the most part, the legal system to do the talking, while Trump is focussing on attempting to neutralize his former acolyte Michael Cohen. 

All this is taking place to the background: 

*of the crucial midterm elections that could spell disaster to the Presidency, 

*the ratification of the controversial nomination of Supreme Court Judge, Brett Kavanaugh, 

*the on and off invitation to Russian President Putin in the light of the disastrous Helsinki meeting, 

*the trade tariffs that have caused panic amongst the faithful, 

*the crisis precipitated by the cruel, inept and incompetent border policy where hundreds of children are destined never to be united with their parents, 

*the growing braziness of the security establishment to openly oppose his denials on the Russian intervention in his favor in the 2016 Presidential elections, 

*the revelations that Trump knew about pay offs to shut women up prior to the election that could have contravened the Electoral Act - just to mention just some of the problems facing the POTUS as he tweets about the indecisiveness of the National Football League to act against players who are protesting in favor of “Black Lives Matter”

Then of course there is the breaking news that the Russians have begun their hacking, in spite of Trump’s reassuring noises. This action was detected by Microsoft. The first known target being Claire Mc Caskill from Missouri, who is the most vulnerable Democrat in the upcoming Senate elections

WHOSE HELPING THE LEADER?

The bleak assistance The Donald is getting includes a few House Republicans who have sought to impeach Mueller supervisor Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein while his deranged television lawyer Rudi Giuliani seems to believe that if he releases damning information on his client first it doesn’t count. Even the ranks of the Murdoch Empire are thinning with the Wall Street Journal joining the Washington Post and the New York Times in devastating exposes. Murdoch’s New York Daily Post is increasingly critical and even Fox News just couldn’t tolerate his Helsinki fawning and throwing his own Security Establishment under the bus in favor of an American adversary, Vladimir Putin. Only Sean Hannity remains firm in the Trump firm. 

THE INDICTMENTS OF THE TWELVE KREMLIN HACKERS

Looking at the indictments thus far it does not take rocket science to join the dots and see what a vast Russian conspiracy there was to support The Donald. MSNBC’S Rachel Maddow is the mavin at this past time.

 If one surveys  the detailed indictment of the twelve Russian hackers, from the heart of the Kremlin, and their liaison with Wikileaks and juxtaposes it with the fact that Trump basically won the Presidency by seventy thousand votes in a few Mid West states, the argument by former Intelligence Agents that the Russians indeed gave Trump the Presidency begins to ring true. For starters the Russians backed Bernie Sanders against Hillary in the primaries. They then trolled big time that Bernie Sanders supporters shouldn’t back Clinton in the Presidential. They supported the total nonentity, Jill Stein, with a vengeance. In two key states that Hillary lost, Michigan and Wisconsin, Steins’s vote was far more than Trump’s majority over Clinton. 

Then guess what happened a day after the Russians hacked the Democratic Party analytics? You guessed right if you said the Trump Campaign  cancelled a ton of advertising and moved the money to the key Mid Western States that gave The Donald the Presidency. One other juicy tit bit hidden in the detailed indictment was the flood of Democratic and Hillary hacks that were unleashed soon after Trump exhorted, “Russia if you listening, release Hillary’s deleted e -mails…

THE RUSSIAN AGENT

Straight from a spy novel there is Maria Butina who in the daylight penetrated the inner sanctums of the GOP, its closest institutional ally the National Rifle Organization and the National Prayer Breakfast, which is a happening that involves a whose who in the Evangelical Movement.  Again there was an unusually detailed indictment of an agent whose controller was a close associate of Putin. The indictment more than hints at the close association certain Republicans had with Russian figures.  Just focussing on the NRA where Ms. Butina was a special guest of its President, in the past, it has been more than alleged that Russian money was laundered through that organization to support Trump’s election bid. Thirty million dollars was the NRA cost to support Trump, an extraordinary sum for the organization. She apparently cohabited with an Eric Erickson who she used to assist her in getting Russian infiltration into the NRA.

Although this charge is ostensibly independent of Mueller there is no doubt that it will be linked sooner or later and there are more and more revelations to come.

OTHER TRUMP HASSLES

*While Paul Manafort, Trump’s Campaign Manager’s trial is principally about his illicit financial dealings it has been leaked that there will be insights into the campaign. Remember he is credited with engineering the change in the GOP election platform to soften sanctions against Russia. His life long deputy Rick Gates, who was also his back up for the Trump gig, is giving evidence for the State. There are also five others who have been given immunity to spill the beans.

*Trump’s first National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn is still leaking like a sieve as is his former political advisor George Papadopolous.  There are persistent rumors that his other political advisors Roger Stone and Carter Page are on Muller’s radar screen for their “collusion” with Russia. 

*The Cohen revelations to pay offs to a porn star and another Playboy affair have to be hurting but even more significant is what else is out there on Cohen’s tapes. The fact that Giuliani is allegedly leaking some of them cannot be improving Trump’s cause. The fact too that the POTUS”S life long Financial Officer and tax preparer has been subpoenaed in the Cohen investigation has to send chills down his spine.

*Michael Avanti, the porn star Stormy Daniel’s lawyer, is reportedly representing three other women Trump payed off. Avanti has hinted that the money exchange was motivated by concerns of pregnancy.

*The courts have allowed the Emoluments charges against him to go ahead which could expose the conflict of interest that exists between his businesses and the Presidency.

*Kim Jong Un is still stringing him along and his threats to blot out Iran are empty. All this and Putin detracting from what is left of his strongman image. 

*His one hope for major backing, the House of Representatives, has let him down. Paul Ryan refused to take up the motion to impeach Rod Rosenstein. The reality that he cannot axe the witch hunt is finally hitting home

*The GOP legislators are none too exited by his “welfare offer” to farmers to compensate for lost income as a result of his trade wars.

TRUMP FINALLY BOWS TO POLITICAL GRAVITY

None of this can help the mid term election hopes and he has to stand by and just hope Mueller hasn’t the goods. In addition he has realized that the Trade Wars and Putin’s visit are not vote catchers. He has bowed to pressure to abandon some of these for another day. Trump has also backed off on axing the Obamacare provision protecting those with preconditions. His destructive threat to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his own way is now off the table - all too little too late.

At the end of the day there are just to many moving parts to this and there is naught for his comfort. The biggest revelation will be when, it is politically expedient, he will be abandoned by the Republican legislators whom he has not hesitated to ridicule in the past.

So for the most part Trump will focus his bile on Michael Cohen not learning that he is not the putz he was perceived to be. “The Fixer” took insurance against Trump instead of taking a bullet for him. All this a distraction and not designed to persuade Independents to vote for his party in the midterms.