The Beginning of the End?

Donald Trump has never been loyal to his people, and now he has abruptly broken with Steve Bannon after reports surfaced of Bannon calling the meeting Don Jr. had with the Russians treasonous and unpatriotic (via the Times):

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Mr. Trump said in the statement. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

Mr. Trump berated Mr. Bannon for the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama and said the former adviser did not represent his base but was “only in it for himself.” Rather than supporting the president’s agenda to “make America great again,” Mr. Bannon was “simply seeking to burn it all down,” Mr. Trump said.

“Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,” he added. “It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.”

The cause for this tirade was the publication of excerpts from a book called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff.

In the book, Mr. Bannon was quoted suggesting that Donald Trump Jr., the future president’s son; Jared Kushner, his son-in-law; and Paul J. Manafort, then the campaign chairman, had been “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for meeting with Russians offering incriminating information on Hillary Clinton during a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower.

Reportedly Bannon has also come to same conclusion that I have: Trump's downfall will most likely come from his history of money laundering for the Russian mob:

According to Mr. Wolff, Mr. Bannon also predicted that a special counsel investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and any coordination with Trump aides would ultimately center on money laundering, an assessment that could lend credibility to an investigation the president has repeatedly called a witch hunt. “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV,” Mr. Bannon was quoted as saying.

Money laundering is a lot easier to prove than collusion, even though it's becoming clearer every day that numerous members of the Trump campaign were actively working with the Russians on targeting social media messaging.

The book is filled with lots of gossip and dirt, but it's hard to know how much of it is true, since it comes from interviews with members of the Trump administration, every one of whom has proved to be a self-serving liar.

Trump accuses Bannon of having lost his mind, but every day another story appears questioning Trump's mental and physical fitness. Reports are surfacing that Trump is even having trouble drinking water, requiring two hands to hold a glass.

Trump is famous -- and widely mocked -- for the wild gesticulations that accompany his rants. Some have speculated that these hand motions have been adopted to mask tremors that would be more obvious if his hands were at rest.

As of this writing Bannon has not responded, and the article on Breitbart simply reports the White House statement.

But it makes you wonder how long Trump can go on like this, instantly stabbing long-time allies in the back very publicly instead of keeping a civil tongue, waiting to see how things shake out: this story could have easily been dismissed by both parties as "fake news."

But by lashing out at Bannon Trump proved the story is true, at least in Trump's mind.

Trump's lack of diplomacy and tact may be popular among the rubes, but diplomacy and tact are the grease that keeps the wheels of politics from squeaking. If Trump alienates Bannon and Breitbart, he will lose rank and file racists; in other words, his base.

Sooner or later even Fox News will grow tired of Trump's childish antics, and then what will Trump watch on TV? All My Children has been off the air for years.