After Dowd resigns, Trump wants to testify to Mueller - Polidicks

Here, muelley-boy, I brought you a sandwich

I can see Trump going in thinking he's going to ace this interview, and walking out however long later screaming "You're fired!" over and over again.

aside from how stupid you'd have to be to solicit a hitman while so politically vulnerable and also while President, what kind of hired gun would even take that job? i mean it's not like the CIA is gonna do it

I still see this as him preparing to fire Mueller. I can see the stupid plan. 1) I go in and testify to Mueller, proving that I'm a good man who has nothing to hide. 2) Mueller says some shit and I refuse to answer anything, he charges me or whatever I don't care. The whole thing is private and I'll assert my presidential privilege to ensure nobody can say anything about whatever goes on in court so nothing can get leaked anyway. 3) I emerge from testifying to Mueller stating with firm and complete authority that he's conducting a witch hunt and then fire him. After all, I spoke with the guy and I saw 'his notes'. First-hand evidence of corruption will sway my base and that evidence will be that I tell them they're corrupt and incompetent and partisan Democrat shills, just like the director of the FBI I had fired last week. 4) Collusion narrative finished, SCO dissolved, House/senate inquiries concluded. Done deal. I'll tell people to 'move on' if they try to bring it back up later.

He can't fire Mueller directly though. He'd have to go the Nixon route and fire Rosenstein and whoever comes next until he has a guy that's willing to fire Mueller for him.

He would be arrogant enough to do it directly - and once he finds out he can't do it directly then he'll fire anybody who is attempting to 'obstruct justice' by refusing to let the crooked, fake, investigation to end. It gives him unlimited justification in his mind to fire literally anyone who doesn't 'fall in line' and 'do the right thing'. Meanwhile Fox will back his play and the GOP will back his play and his base will back his play.

I'm guessing he just watched House of Cards and he's going to try to get Mueller to punch him

Wouldn't hurt Mueller in this case. I'm sure a good portion of the country would pay to see that. Hell, some would probably pay hefty prices to do it themselves.

Would be hilarious of Trump was so self-confident that he asked it be televised. I really doubt it, but it'd probably break every tv channel it was on.

Donald "The Dealmaker" Trump vs. Robert "Mueller Time" Mueller

Trump did not say he was going to testify, he said he wanted to testify. He's been saying that for months, and has yet to do so. I'm not hyped until a date is set.

I don't want to see Trump suffer any physical harm. Lordy, no. I only want to see his business and reputation crumble, his policies fail, his base abandon him, his sycophants turn on him, and his state-of-mind collapse into a black hole of shame and despair as he realizes he has no one to blame except himself for the fate that's befallen him, thus plunging him into a deep, suicidal depression from which there is no escape as he wallows in shame for the rest of his pitiful life inside a federal prison.

I'm half expecting him to keep saying this until he can get someone to oust Mueller and shut it all down, then he'll turn around and say "Welp, I was totally for really realsies super seriously going to meet with him and prove that I'm the most innocent anybody has ever been and that this is all a witch hunt but I guess Miniscule Mueller went and got himself fired! Sad!"

Any decent lawyer will always want their client to speak as little as possible. Every lawyer would advise against testifying.

I honestly dont think Mueller can be intimidated by him. I'm not trying to play up the "Mueller is basically batman" shtick I've heard about, I'm absolutely serious. It appears to me that Trump and Co. are the ones intimidated, they appear to be weak and desperate every time they respond to anything about the Russia investigation. Mueller obviously knows this, which is how he got so many people to testify and plead guilty already. If anything I could see the administration try one last attempt to intimidate before they inevitably fire him, seeing as that would be their last card to play. Even then, Mueller being fired wont completely subvert the Russia Investigation, and it would just make Trump even more guilty.

15 minutes on Twitter shouting for blood and Trump would have at least 5 volunteers who'd be willing to storm FBI buildings to kill Mueller. Of course, if we got "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome detective?" then holy shit there would be fireworks. It would be a tipping point for American politics as we presently understand it. I don't think Trump is that desperate, yet.

This should be good.

I worry that this will be used to further delegitimize Mueller's investigation. Like, just goes in and does the interview just so afterwards he can say "See? I interviewed him, told him THE TRUTH and they STILL try to take me down! END THE WITCH HUNT!"

"Donkey-brained" Trump thinks he can outmaneuver Mueller, I guess he hasn't heard about what happened to the Teflon Don. SAD!

What most people are missing here is if trump wants to testify, he's coming from a place where he's extremely covered. He's not goign to incriminate himself. This is a bid to close the investigation before it goes any further. Mueller shouldn't accept this. Trump is dumb but he's not that dumb. He's not going to walk himself into a jail cell mid presidency.

You think? He lies CONSTANTLY! About the most obvious shit possible. Things you can fact check within 20 seconds. Remember the whole inauguration crowd fiasco? And the way he reacts to ANYTHING that dares to shed not completely positive light at him (tiny hands)? This dude can't keep a story straight for his own sake and you think he'll be able to fool Muller of all people?

I don't think he has to fool Mueller in any sense. He just has to side step. As dumb as everyone thinks he is, he realizes the gravity of this situation and I can guarantee you he's not going to go into this in the same frame of mind as one of his tweets and larger than life claims. I want to see him go down just as much as anybody but there's an obvious red flag when the guy is WILLINGLY putting himself on the chopping block. Either he or his multitude of lawyers have figured something out and this is a big for a quick resolution to the investigation. A particular resolution that would be made before Mueller has enough time to figure out the important details I expect.

Didn't the GOP do a physcological profile on him and found he legitmately thinks he tells the truth even though he often lies out of his ass? I remember it being posted on oldpunch how he had an interesting relationship with the truth

I wish someone would suggest to him that it be televised, that way its sure to happen and we can get out the popcorn and watch him self destruct.

Narcissists have wildly inflated notions of their own capabilities. He can't conceive of a possible outcome where it turns out bad for him, because he has a constant lie running for himself that he is always winning. Anything bad gets blamed on others, usually through firing. In his mind he's going to go in there, say "executive privilege" to every answer, and come out riding a MAGA-hat-wearing T-Rex with Mueller's bleeding lifeless body dangling from the dino's mouth to a ticker tape parade as the Democrats and the FBI finally come around to supporting him and his job approval rating goes back up to where he believes it should be. He can't possibly envision that going to talk to Mueller is going to blow up in his face, and when it does it's going to catch him completely blindsided. Trump's relationship with truth and falsehood isn't anything like the one you or I have with facts. He will say anything if he thinks it's what his immediate audience wants to hear, but he cannot at all be relied upon to hold up his end of the commitment he made because he never had any intentions of backing it up; he's only doing it for attention. Narcissists have a two-track mind. They only care about impressing and winning the attention and acceptance of the people immediately around them, and avoiding shame at all costs. They will say anything to look good and avoid looking bad, and both the truth and lies are just means to an end. If he can tell the truth and come out looking good, then he'll tell the truth, but when the truth disagrees with him, you have things like Sean Spicer being sent out to lie about Trump's inauguration crowd.

elix I really do hope you're spot on about this.