Donald Trump is apparently convinced that he can tweet his way out of impeachment, and while some Republicans are pressing for an actual impeachment defense effort, Trump’s inner circle is predictably claiming that his plan—such as it is—is The Best. That means threatening the whistleblower, teasing the idea of civil war in Trump’s defense, and a lot of whining. All in the grand plan!
Get a load of this: “There are different ways to bake the cake, depending on what sort of cake you want,” a senior administration official told The Washington Post. “Different flavoring, different temperatures, different ingredients yield different types of cake, and the president as the master baker is testing recipes and deciding what type of cake he wants.” To that end, the official said Trump is, as the Post reported it, “sounding out a range of advisers for different options, speaking to friends, outside confidants and Republican lawmakers to get advice about how to proceed.” Translation: He’s ranting on the phone to anyone who will listen without seriously challenging him.
Trump’s campaign echoed his weekend invocation of civil war, with a campaign official telling the Post, “We are not on the defense for impeachment,” but rather, “We are on offense to show the American people this is a coup d’etat by elitist bureaucrats and Democrats.”
This is all leaving Republicans outside Trump’s inner circle a little concerned. According to one Republican congressional aide, “It’s such a cliche that Trump doesn’t think anyone can defend him the way he can defend himself, but they need to try, because right now it’s just him tweeting about Adam B. Schiff.” And Team Trump thinks that’s fine.