The leader of North Korea has made threats before and this one concerning Guam is certainly provocative but make no mistake President Trump hyped it up with all the blowhard rhetoric he could drum up, ie fire and fury, locked and loaded etc. As usual these dramatics have usually been employed to facilitate distraction from something particularly threatening to Trump himself.
You may recall back in March, chairman of the House investigation into Russian involvement in our election, Kevin Nunes, finally recusing himself from that investigation.
At the start witnesses were lining up to be cross-examined and suddenly we began getting strange behavior from Nunes shuffling back and forth with the White House. The allegations relative to the investigation were explosive and the stage was set for the nation to witness the testimony about Russian involvement in the election and then Nunes goes off the rails delivering secret messages to the individual he was supposed to be investigating.
This conundrum between Nunes, the committee and the nation awaiting, went on for weeks and months without beginning any testimony. This committee was setting up to interview key individuals among them Paul Manafort.
Operatives for Trump were concerned about it all but especially Manafort, one because he had deeper dealings with Russia and two, he was Trump's campaign manager last summer. Many believed the testimony of Manafort could begin the fall of the Trump presidency and some Republicans were nervous but one thing continued on; Nunes remained the chairman of the committee even though he could have and should have been removed as chairman and the testimonies of Manafort and the others remained in flux.
The prevailing thought at the time was that the Republicans essentially delayed this committee because they were very afraid that Manaforts testimony could bring the Trump administration to a functional and political standstill meaning a conservative SCOTUS, repeal of Obamacare and the Republican agenda would be shelved for the foreseeable future. The Manafort testimonies in the Nunes House committee investigation never occured.
Fast forward a month and the Republicans got their SCOTUS nominee. Fast forward to now and the repeal of Obamacare is itself shelved. The point? These two major issues for the GOP are no longer in play. Any threat from investigation into Paul Manafort is now minimized.
It is at this time that Kevin Nunes's House committee investigating Russian involvement in the election has become irrelevant and the independent investigation by Robert Mueller is turning up the heat on Manafort big time.
The focus on Paul Manafort had to come but it is coming now that the two big issues for the Republicans are out of the way. The Manafort investigation still if not more now has the very real potential to take down the Trump administration.
The focus now on North Korea is an unnecessarily exacerbated distraction from what they fear will come from the emerging explosive publicity revolving around Paul Manafort's involvement with both the Trump administration and the Russians.
The more shiny objects popping up in the news now, the less that explosive publicity reaches the public and takes it's toll on Trump. Seen these political tactics before?
You think Trump is different but he's not and neither are his politics.
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