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Donald Trump learned at the knee of Roy Cohn, who was advisor to Joe McCarthy. When the bad guys are closing in, you go on the offensive. If they accuse you of fake news, you say, "No, you're the fake news!" If they accuse you of corruption, you say, "No, you're the corrupt one! Lock her up!" and so on and so forth. He takes accusations against him and flips them around - or at least tries to. I suppose next, he'll claim that it was leftists who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. Oh, wait, he already went there.
The Russian Collusion thing was sort of put to bed. While there was a litany of smoking guns, it seemed that no one was willing to do anything about it, as courts were reluctant to get involved in what they deemed to be political squabbles and Congress didn't have the votes to convict on two impeachment trials.
So, that's all water under the dam, right? Well, no. Seems the shit is about to get real, and perhaps with the imminent fall of the Putin government, documents might come out that impugn Trump. Manafort has already been pulled off a plane trying to leave the country. Others may follow suit. Investigations are still ongoing into Trump's business affairs and taxes.
So, what to do? The classic Trump playbook is to hit the ball back to "their" court. But this time, it may be a fatal error.
Trump has filed a civil suit against Hillary Clinton, among others, claiming that the Russian Collusion investigation amounted to a tort against him and a RICO violation. Big Mistake. You see, by filing suit, this means the opponents can depose Trump (and he can't weasel out of that or claim executive privilege) and also he has to hand over documents and other materials, including, presumably, his tax returns and financial records. In other words, he has opened up a door he has tried to nail shut for over five years now.
What's more, this gives the media a chance to air Trump's dirty laundry once again, including whether or not he starred in the "Pee-Pee Tape" and if so, what was in it. Rather than let sleeping dogs lie, he has sicked a nest of hornets on them. This will not end well - for Trump.
It is highly doubtful that even under the standard of preponderance of the evidence that he would succeed in his lawsuit. And even if he did, it would be a Pyrrhic victory - the entire Russian Collusion thing would be once again brought front and center for everyone to discuss and think about. It would give voters on the fence another reason to move away from Trumpism and back to a more traditional view of Republicanism.
Worse case scenario could occur if Putin is ousted and a new, more Western-friendly government is installed, and documents from the Kremlin come to light. Russia has nothing to lose at that point by admitting to interfering in the election - and much to gain in terms of lifted sanctions.
This case reminds me of the Oscar Wilde prosecution. Wilde filed a libel suit against the Marquis of Queensbury, whose son he was banging. The Marquis had called him a poofter (which he was) and Wilde lost the suit. Sadly, by bringing attention to the matter, Wilde ended up prosecuted for sodomy and spent a few years in a hard labor prison, which essentially broke him.
They say the best defense is a good offense, and maybe that is true - sometimes. Other times, if you can just slink away and get away with what you did, that might be a better option.
Who the heck is advising Trump these days - Giuliani?
