How Long Can He Get Away With It?

John Bolton's book is now floating around in manuscript form. Peter Baker writes in The New York Times:

In another time, in another Washington, this might be the moment that changed the trajectory of the presidency. A former national security adviser confirms that the president, despite his denials, conditioned security aid to a war-torn ally on its cooperation against his domestic rivals, the issue at the heart of his ongoing impeachment trial.

At first glance, at least, John R. Bolton’s account of President Trump’s private remarks sounds like an echo of the so-called smoking gun tape that proved that President Richard M. Nixon really had orchestrated the Watergate cover-up and ultimately forced him from office. But this is Mr. Trump’s era and Mr. Trump’s Washington, and the old rules do not always apply.

The reality show star who was elected president even after he was captured on an “Access Hollywood” tape boasting about sexual assault has gone on to survive one revelation after another in the three years since, proving more durable than any national politician in modern American history. So will this be the turning point or just one more disclosure that validates his critics without changing other minds? Will it be another smoking gun or another “Access Hollywood”?

That really is the question. Bolton's revelation should sink Trump's defence. But, in the Senate, the outcome has been pre-cooked. As Adam Schiff has suggested, moral courage is nowhere to be found in the Republican Party.

So one has to ask: How long can he get away with it?

Image: NBC News