Paul Wood

Trumpworld is spinning out of control

<span class="s1">The fate of the Trump presidency now hangs on what Michael Cohen says</span>

Donald Trump’s Twitter feed was oddly silent as the news came that his former campaign manager and his former lawyer were going to jail. Perhaps his staff have finally seized control of his android phone. Perhaps his lawyers have convinced him that every time he reaches for it to tweet on anything relating to the Russia investigation, he is dancing on the edge of a precipice, with Robert Mueller just waiting to push him off. Whatever the reason, this was the equivalent of Trump entering a stunned, catatonic state, while his world spins out of control around him.

The President merely tweeted to note that he was going to a Make America Great Again rally in West Virginia, slipping into a warm bath of affirmation from his most loyal supporters: ‘Thank you West Virginia!’ Here he was guaranteed an uncritical audience for his familiar arguments – more slogans, really – that the whole Russia thing is a ‘witch hunt’, a ‘hoax’, a ‘deep state conspiracy’. He did not comment on the terrifying news that Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and consigliere, may have flipped, accepting a plea deal.

Written by
Paul Wood
Paul Wood was a BBC foreign correspondent for 25 years, in Belgrade, Athens, Cairo, Jerusalem, Kabul and Washington DC. He has won numerous awards, including two US Emmys for his coverage of the Syrian civil war

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