A Perilous Time

This is a most perilous time.President Trump sees himself as alone. Gone are all those who would stay his worst impulses and irrational outbursts, those who would counsel caution, ignore or slow walk his destructive directives, even remove from his desk impending orders. The few who remain feed his frenzy and cater to his basest instincts. The 40% of the populace that view him as the champion of their racial, xenophobic, militaristic and environmental beliefs remain loyal and a driving force in his decision making. His only source of information, a coterie of cable commentators who daily confirm that he is being victimized by Deep State conspirators, a hateful media, an irrational and disloyal opposition, faithless allies around the world and a rigged, two-tier justice system that spares the real wrongdoers even as it plots his unjust comeuppance.

As the Mueller investigation reaches crescendo and its denouement nears, Trump knows better than anyone the nature and details of the information provided the inquiry by such insiders as Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Alan Weisselberg and others. He knows that Mueller knows all. He recognizes that Putin and the Russians have him in a vise and that, however obvious his appeasements, he is captive to continued concessions lest his secrets be exposed. Only Putin knows what Trump has taken pains to conceal even from his closest advisers, confiscating notes taken by an interpreter present at their clandestine meetings.

Faced with the prospect of being seen as weak and, still worse, as a loser, Trump has begun to react by shuttering the government, tearing apart essential alliances, stoking fears and resentments by his incendiary rhetoric, appointing hawkish emissaries and installing sycophants likely to do his bidding in derailing or limiting Mueller.

Most frightening is what this egomaniac who feels beset, betrayed and unappreciated, may yet do to fend off his impending fate. We are all hostages to the unimaginable means of destruction wielded by this wounded and amoral being as he thrashes about in his final throes