The mood at the White House on Tuesday night was ... jubilant. Trump returned from the Capitol shortly before midnight to find his staff assembled in the residence cheering him. Finally, they all thought, they had seized control. The president had even laid off Twitter outbursts — a small victory for a staff often unable to drive a disciplined message.But the White House couldn't get momentum from the speech:
“He nailed it, and he knew it,” said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president.
The merriment came to a sudden end on Wednesday night, when The Washington Post first reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with the Russian ambassador despite having said under oath at his Senate confirmation hearing that he had no contact with the Russians.That's why I think the craziness, of this weekend has done more to shore up the Trump base than a speech was seen as successful. You and I see Trump as a half-mad king making wild accusations with no evidence. The base thinks he's going on offense against the most hated enemy of all. To the base, he's not vulnerable to a new cycle of bad news; instead, he's seizing bad news and jiujitsuing it to his advantage. The base was ready to love "presidential" Trump not because base voters want him to be presidential, but because they want him to vanquish those of us who think he can never really pull presidential off. So that seemed like a win to them. But they think this is better: He's going on the attack and he's taking the bad news head on.
No, really, that's how they see it.
TRUMP IS A GENIUS
— Boca Vista (@bocavista2016) March 5, 2017
The more Dems dig into him over #RussiaGate
The more they'll bury Obama over #ObamaGatepic.twitter.com/uHYPWg2fW1#MAGA
NEWT GINGRICH: "All this stuff smells to high heaven despite the best efforts of the elite media to cover it up." #ObamaGate #FISA #Wiretap pic.twitter.com/Yajzpb8jkZ
— Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) March 5, 2017
Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino: #ObamaGate is going to blow wide open this week https://t.co/hyFw5XMrD6 #PresidentTrump #MAGA pic.twitter.com/H7ufJP8dSe
— 🇺🇸Jojoh888🇺🇸 (@jojoh888) March 6, 2017
Obama claims he never ordered surveillance of a US citizen. He also claimed that you can keep your doctor.#FISA #Wiretapping #ObamaGate
— America First! (@America_1st_) March 4, 2017
A sitting POTUS #wiretapping the campaign of an opposing party before the election is Soviet Union level corruption... #DrainTheSwamp !!!!! pic.twitter.com/Mcky3SCtgK
— oregon4TRUMP (@shawgerald4) March 5, 2017
.@POTUS One the the press keeps forgetting- Our current President doesn't back down from a fight. #WireTapping #YellowJournalism @YDP
— Darth Vengeance (@mrwilliamsworld) March 5, 2017
If Obama can wire tap Trump Tower and find no dirt, then President Trump is the man for the job! #wiretapping #ObamaGate #FISA
— Scott Presler VA (@ScottPresler) March 4, 2017
Twitter is censoring!! Get it trending!#WireTapping #ObamaGate #ShadowGovernment #ObamaForPrison#DeepState pic.twitter.com/Hqe0NPeQGI
— ProudTexanGal💃🏻 (@ProudTexanGal) March 4, 2017
So would it be appropriate to start #wiretap of Obama & Valerie Jarrett in their new Washington spy house then? #wiretapping #FISA #tcot ☎️🎚
— Politically Stripped (@politstrip) March 5, 2017
In the long run, I suppose this is still a mess for Trump. In the short run, in the Trump bubble, the president looks like a winner. He's the tough guy they wanted. Going after Obama is "draining the swamp." The chants are going to change to "Locxk him up" soon.
To make base voters happy, Trump doesn't have to bring back manufacturing jobs or build the wall or defeat ISIS. He just has to give them their own facts, angrily and at the top of his lungs.
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