By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
As the deep state plays out its plans to use the phony allegations of conspiracy with Russia to oust President Trump — as we explain in our new book Rogue Spooks— there are increasing signs that the deep state is taking over the Trump Administration and controlling what the president does and says. Chastened and battered by the worst press any president has ever had, is Trump pulling in his horns to get a break and serve out his term in peace?
The New York Times reports that General John Kelly, Priebus’ successor as Chief of Staff, is controlling access to the president more tightly than any of his predecessors since H.R. Haldeman policed the gate to the Oval Office under Nixon. Nobody goes in or out without Kelly’s permission. Nobody can send Trump a memo or even news clippings unless they go through Kelly. Reportedly, Kelly has even sought to limit access to the president by members of his family — Jared and Ivanka.
Moreover, his presidency has been marked in the past few months by policy announcements and positions totally at variance with those on which he campaigned. Foremost among these was his decision on July 17th to certify that Iran was in full compliance with the nuclear deal — a step the president must take every ninety days or the agreement will lapse. Having called the treaty “the worst deal ever,” his supine acceptance of Iran’s outrageous conduct is quite odd. At the time of his certification, he was at great pains to stress that he had acted contrary to his instincts but was persuaded that he had not adequately consulted with our allies who also signed the agreement.
Three months earlier, on April 12th, another Trump campaign plank was reduced to sawdust when the president reversed his campaign position and refused to certify China as a currency manipulator. During the campaign, he had based his charges that Beijing was playing dirty in trade on its manipulation of the currency to reduce the value of the yuan so that its goods and services would be cheaper in the U.S.. Now, he said China had improved and hinted that he was trimmings sails to win Beijing’s co-operation in disciplining North Korea. That’s working out real well isn’t it?
And then their was his prime time address to the country explaining the commitment of thousands of new troops to Afghanistan, again flouting his campaign positions.
In each case, it sure looks like Trump has had his arm twisted by the deep state to do its bidding.
Is he so gun shy and battered that he fears the negative press that would aimed at him should he fail to change his positions?
Has the deep state forced on Trump the services of H.L McMaster who is using his power as National Security Advisor to fire people whose sin was that they followed the president’s positions, not McMaster’s?
Will this change of heart spill over into domestic policy? Will he deal with the Democrats on Obamacare to adopt cosmetic changes to the program so he can claim victory even while preserving the program? Will he pass this charade through Congress by using a combination of Democrats and RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), leaving conservatives out in the cold?
Similarly, will he make minor modifications in NAFTA and declare it fixed?
Will Trump stop being Trump so the deep state can declare a cease fire and spare his presidency?
Someone needs to do some analysis, possibly even long-distance psychoanalysis, of Trump’s strange, self-destructive behavior. What’s with him? One possibility that has occurred to me is that he never wanted to accomplish anything substantive in his role as chief executive of the government. Rather, perhaps he wants to be “commentator in chief, and “provocateur in chief” rather than play an executive policy-making role. He may be trying only to shake things up, and in so doing expose the snobbery and hidden power of the “deep state,” which he realized early on is incompatible with democracy. He may have intended from the beginning of his campaign that if he one, he would shake things up for a few months and then resign, with the prestige of being an ex-president adding to his prestige and influence as a political commentator and perhaps traveling public speaker. Of course, he probably did not expect to win until a few weeks before the election, when his internal polls began to show he might just make it, and he intensified his campaign. But he probably thought that even being an unsuccessful candidate would greatly enhance his prestige and influence as a commentator, And of course he basks in the attention that he has received, first as a candidate and now as President. And he obviously loves the opportunity spar publicly with the press and tell them to their face just what he thinks of them. This would at least make a coherent explanation of his motives in seeking the Presidency and then serving in office for a brief time before resigning in favor of his vice president, whom he knows is a competent politician with views similar to his.