If the Justice Department, congressional Republicans, the White House or the president’s supporters think the appointment of a special counsel to deal with the ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign will put a lid on Washington spin on the issue, they need to think again.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller may well get to the bottom of any allegations and conclude there is nothing actionable about any of the now months-old rumors, but such a fishing expedition will keep the media cauldron boiling for much of the rest of the president’s term instead of tamping it down.
The Washington media, after all, was burned by Trump. He was a joke and was supposed to lose in a landslide to their candidate. Not only did he not lose, but he had – and has – the temerity to upbraid the media for the partisanship they display.
He is public enemy No. 1 in their eyes and must be taken down.
When Trump said at the Coast Guard Academy Wednesday that “no politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly,” the Washington media had a field day hooting and hollering in derision.