On Trump and Norway

I think supporters are selling Trump short when they call his remarks a joke.. He knew exactly what he was doing. It fits with the pattern of walking back on numerous statements (criticism of intelligence officers, Giuliani and his facts, etc., etc.) Trump is a master at controlling media and what better way that to make outrageous statements (do you really want foreign countries to influence American elections? His use of Norway was calculated and not stupid.) He gets publicity both ways: by the original silly statement and then the walk-back which his supporters always just say the original was a joke. That a president would make these kinds of jokey statements when his words are scrutinized thoroughly as policy is not good practice. If a CEO were to make such comments regarding his company, the impact on the stock would be considerable, and the SEC would start investigating (see Musk as an example,) and he would lose his position as CEO.

He brilliantly labeled the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt, focusing attention on himself when the charge to the investigation was to investigate whether there was Russian influence and attempts to sabotage the election. More than a dozen indictments resulted. The charge (remember it was started by a Congress dominated by Trump’s party) originally had nothing to do with investigating Trump; the investigation did find some links that several people in his administration lied about, plead guilty to, and now face jail time.

It’s clear from Trump’s own actions that he is terrified of investigations into his business practices which resulted in the bankruptcy of everything he touches. Hence all the obfuscations and spin and steering of the media from looking at that. Why else insist on not revealing his tax returns and refusing to turn over any documents to a lawful request by Congress. That the Mueller investigation morphed into an examination of links between the Trump campaign and Russia was because there *were* those links.
Trump cleverly redefined the purpose of the investigation, spinning it to be about “collusion” which everyone knows is not a crime. Foreign interference with US elections is, and by using Norway, a US ally as an example of a source, he cleverly focused attention away from the real bad actor, Russia, which Mueller conclusively showed had indeed interfered with the election, making the whole thing seem harmless, and the “walking back” more jocular.