Will the Fire and Fury Fizzle and Die?

Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

As another day plays out in the United States of Trump, the swamp deepens and widens, threatening a toxic, oozing, greasy destruction across the neo-liberal wasteland. As much as I harp on the Trump regime as being merely a symptom of a much more nefarious and noxious disease, the more I think that this ancillary infirmity could lead to our actual demise, kind of like an infection doing a person in after a routine surgery goes bad.

The furious rapidity of the leaks, stories, anecdotes, denials, reprisals, articles, interviews, etc. over the past couple of days has most everyone’s heads spinning, trying to parse all of the information into making some kind of sense. And that’s the big, unsettling question—What is really going on here?

I’m having a difficult time trying to see the competing motivations of the various factions, unless, of course, it’s all predicated on self-promotion and self-preservation. That would be too easy, though. Not surprising, but much too easy to explain away the happenings of the past few days. So back to the question—What is really going on?

The media-hyped bombshell tell-all “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff has exploded onto the scene, dominating the news cycle with the furious feud between Mr. Trump and his former White House staffer, Steve Bannon. According to pre-release press, Wolff used his access to the West Wing to compile a trove of salacious tidbits highlighting the complete dysfunction of the Trump regime, relying heavily on revelations made by Trump’s inner-circle, especially Bannon. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, claims that Wolff had “zero” access to the West Wing and that Bannon has “lost his mind” when he was unceremoniously expelled from the Trump brain trust. Over the weekend, Bannon has since begged for forgiveness from his benefactors, issuing a mea culpa that centered around his not really attacking Don, Jr. but, instead, former campaign head, Paul Manafort.

In interviews, Wolff asserts that much of the Mueller investigation into ties with Russia revolve around Jared Kushner, Don, Jr, Deutsche Bank, Trump properties and money laundering. According to media teasers, Mr. Trump, fearing light being shown on his and his family’s shady dealings (is it a surprise Mr. Trump has continued to refuse releasing his tax returns?), attempted to divert (or is that obstruct?) the investigation by ordering Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself and by firing James Comey. In other words, Wolff supposedly has been connecting the dots between the Mueller investigation and what he purportedly heard as he roamed the halls of the White House unfettered.

Is what Wolff claims true? I don’t know. Perhaps? Possibly? Probably? Some of it? None of it? All of it? To quote the old Tootsie Pop commercial, “The world may never know.” But what the world does know is that Mr. Trump continues to live perpetually in damage-control mode, constantly deflecting, demonizing and demonstrating his vast number of accomplishments to whomever will listen. Oh, and that he is like, very smart and a stable genius.