Friends keep asking me why I think Donald Trump is doing this or that. I think it's safe to assume that whatever he says or does, it's because at that moment, he thought that would be good for Donald Trump. That seems to be the only reason he ever does anything…not because it would be good for his country, not because he thought it would be good for his party, not even because he thought it was true. He doesn't think about anyone but himself and he doesn't think about truth and he doesn't think too far ahead. That's pretty obvious.
But beyond that, who knows? Darn near everything about this guy is without precedent, which is why so many folks who try to predict what he'll do next come up short. It's like one of those scenes in half the detective novels I ever read where the officer in charge of the investigation explains how it's much, much harder to catch a criminal who's crazy than it is to apprehend one who's sane. At least the sane one's plans make some internal sense and you can maybe figure out his moves using a bit of logic.
So this morning, White House press secretary Sean Spicer says, "President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016." Then a bit later, he adds, "Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted."
Is that it? The idea here is to try and turn any investigation of Trump's Russian connections into an investigation of Trump being wronged by Obama? It's to throw out a charge, refuse to provide any evidence whatsoever and dump it in the lap of Congress, figuring that they'll take forever and never fully say there's no proof Trump was spied-upon. Is that it? Trump can go for months saying the Obama administration is "under investigation" and he's not going to comment? Is that the idea here?
Probably…because Trump loves the "other people are saying this" and "I'm just asking questions" kind of accusation. But with this guy, you can't be sure of anything except that at that moment, he thought that would be good for Donald Trump.