The more White House & Executive Branch leaks there are, the more paranoid Trump will be

[Tom Rinaldo]

Less than a month into his presidency whispers about possible impeachment at some future point are becoming murmurs in the press. The institutional State Department is in open opposition to his policies. The internal White House leaks and off the record reporting about some Republicans in Congress becoming increasingly uncomfortable with him will just fuel Trump's paranoia.

I predict a death spiral as Trump reacts to perceived less than full loyalty from members of his administration and Republicans in Congress. If Trump had the psychological ability to open up his decision making process to strive for consensus, among all of the important players that any Administration needs to depend on to succeed, before he made significant policy decisions - perhaps he could turn it around. That should be the lesson that Trump learns from his first two weeks in office. But he won't. He's incapable of not nursing grievances - he thinks others are out to get him, and the more he acts from a basis of that fear, the more accurate that fear will become. His inner circle will shrink as his suspicions grow, which will result in more, not less, poorly vetted decisions. And that in turn will further feed the death spiral.

What will happen when Trump begins to believe, accurately or not, that "key Republican leaders" are quietly laying the groundwork in secret discussions to cut their losses and transition toward a Pence Presidency? Paranoia can induce its own self fulfilling reality. We face dangerous times. Another 5 to ten point drop in Trump's approval ratings could trigger off a chain reaction sequence of destabilizing events, as Republican leaders come to view support for Trump to be a greater political liability to them with voters than opposition to him is currently.

[Phoenix61]

1. At this point I don't think it is paranoia

They are out to get him. Just a matter of time and how big of a mess he will leave for us to clean up.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. I agee, but the number of those within that circle will keep growing

I imagine, in Republican circles, that is it similar to being a coup plotter in another country. Who can you trust to talk to? Who can keep their mouth shut until the time is ripe?

I suspect that some Trump cabinet appointees are being confirmed with such solid Republican support in part because those who harbor doubts about Trumps new administration don't want to be exposed for the degree of their "disloyalty" to him prematurely.

[Yavin4]

3. This is Trump in six months

[okieinpain]

5. +1 n/t.

[okieinpain]

7. you just had to bring this up. now i'm looking at old movies.

[okieinpain]

4. yep n/t.

[dogman]

6. I'd bet on misinformation.

The more "moderate" Bush team used it on Dan Rather. We can only imagine how much greater it is with Bannon's role. There is a supposed leaker on Twitter who is most likely a mis-info/parody account.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Used to shore up his power?

Probably. But ultimately I think it will fail, and when it does that attempt too will be used against him. It's pretty straight forward for Trump to vilify Democrats and leftists using misinformation, it gets more complicated when he has to use that tactic either against fellow Republicans and/ or elements of the business community that see him as a dangerous loose cannon. Trump can buy himself some time by vilifying Democrats especially. But the corporate community and old line internationalist Republicans, especially those reared on anticommunism, are not happy with how Trump is overturning the world order that they have acclimated to and profited from. And I am convinced that they have sufficient goods against Trump to use against him when the time is right to pull that trigger. They have the ability, much more easily than Democrats do who can be discounted on partisan grounds, to cast Trump in a light that will make him appear dangerous to increasing numbers of voters who had supported him with some reservations, and there are a lot of those.

[dogman]

9. To destroy credibility.

Like the story of the immigrant's mother who is reported to have died before the EO.
Steve Forbes wrote an op-ed about the GOP using him as a scapegoat after he does the dirty work for them. They are already using the phrase that he is not a "normal" President and that is why he was elected. His abnormality is likely to be used against him soon.

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. Got it. Yup

Fueling the distrust of Trump with strategically embedded spin that will pave the way for is downfall and replacement by Pence. I hadn't thought of that angle, but I was expecting the Republicans to attempt to cast themselves as the good guys, putting nation over party, when the time came to remove Trump. I was musing about that aspect in an earlier OP:

"Republicans will cut Trump loose for a President Pence. .. They will spin that they are true patriots, putting the interests of the nation over a president of their own party. They will saddle Trump with the blame for everything that goes wrong in and for America during his administration, and then throw hm overboard... By then Trump will already have signed off on their conservative domestic agenda. Expect Pence to pose as a Gerry Ford after Nixon type figure temperamentally. He will be framed as a calming return to normality. The window dressing will suddenly improve dramatically and America will feel relieved when our VP is elevated to the presidency

The daily scandal that Trump now throws out is the perfect set up to normalize the rule of a President Pence, by way of contrast, after he takes power. When asked what took them so long to deal with a rabid Trump presidency that they in fact enabled, Congressional Republicans will cite a respect for the will of an electorate that chose Donald Trump to be President. After the fact they will claim that they were always keeping a keen eye on Trump and were preparing to defend our Constitutional Republic from him if need be..."