Trump Saturday morning tweet roundup: fart jokes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and more DOJ rants
It would be tempting to compare Donald Trump to a triumphant boxer taunting his opponents and daring them to try to take another hit at him, given his post-impeachment acquittal behavior.
However, in a quote from Peter Baker of The New York Times that the president tweeted out this morning, another comparison is made — one that is both more threatening and revealing of Trump’s authoritarian, imperial ambitions.
…..biggest test of his presidency emboldened, ready to claim exoneration, and take his case of grievance, persecution and resentment to the campaign trail.” Peter Baker @nytimes The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2020
While the tweet is likely the closest Trump will ever come to the familiarity with the works of the 19th-century transcendentalist philosopher, the message of defiance he sends suggests laying down a gauntlet to his political opponents with a reminder that their next attempt to take him down had better be successful or that Emerson’s reference to a king may become quite literal.
While Baker probably did not intend his description of Trump’s “case of grievance, persecution and resentment” to be a positive element of the president’s post-impeachment behavior, Trump instead uses it as a validation and amplification of his paranoiac propaganda campaign.
Trump’s authoritarian tendencies were even more marked in his next tweet.
Ignoring the public furor over his unprecedented interference in the Justice Department investigations of his political enemies and the investigators of his own shady activities, Trump reacted strongly against the news that the Department has decided that it did have a strong enough case to prosecute one of the president’s favorite early “deep state” targets former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over a media leak.
IG report on Andrew McCabe: Misled Investigators over roll in news media disclosure…Lacked Candor (Lied) on four separate occasions…Authotized Media Leaks to advance personal interests…IG RECOMMENDED MCCABE’S FIRING. @FoxNews @IngrahamAngle
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2020
The misspellings in this tweet practically guarantee that it came straight from the tiny thumbs of Trump himself, leaving readers wondering whether McCabe’s “roll” in the news media disclosure was buttered and what “Authotized” means.
While the Justice Department Inspector General did indeed recommend firing the former FBI official — the timing of which was carefully chosen to prevent McCabe from being eligible for his full retirement benefits and stank mightily of political retribution — the DOJ’s decision to drop the case indicates that the comments from a federal judge months ago that McCabe’s case was looking like a “banana republic” prosecution suggested a lack of prosecutable evidence.
Despite the two gems above, the most outrageous post that Trump sent this morning was his retweet of a video of toilet humor that no president in history, mindful of the dignity of the office, would dare to be associated with in a public forum.
THIS IS HILARIOUS
Mayor of Georgetown in the US excused himself to go & use the washroom in the middle of a meeting & forgot to switch off his mic on his tie & this is what happened. pic.twitter.com/zXuyBxTo7E— Paul Samuel (@PaulSam27131285) February 14, 2020
No matter how hilarious the video may be, the president’s scatological retweet — on the same platform with which he announces his official government proclamations in lieu of a functioning White House press department — is a new low for a man already tainted with the most garish and tackiest sensibilities of any modern president.
The post, however, demonstrates how unfiltered and unrestrained by any voices of reason that this president has become after his acquittal.
In the next battle, the Democrats need to heed the advice that Trump has presented them with — make sure that they kill the King or face the consequences.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
