Trump’s treatment of Sessions shows he's running on fear

Trying to figure out what’s going on in President Donald Trump’s head is generally pretty difficult, but that’s not the case when it comes to the president’s recent behavior toward Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

This one’s easy. Trump’s afraid.

Commentators and pundits have it wrong in saying Trump is angry at Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into possible collusion between Trump team members and the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election.

If Trump were merely upset, why would he just now be making Sessions squirm? Sessions recused himself back in March, after all. Has Trump ever waited four months to express his displeasure about something?

Of course not. Trump’s lashing out now because he’s scared, and with good reason: The Russia scandal is hitting closer and closer to home, thanks to recent revelations about the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump team members and Russian operatives. That meeting has started to seem like a clown car, as more and more participants are revealed. The scorecard currently reads at eight, including Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Add the news that Trump has inquired as to whether he could issue pardons to himself and his family members, and this scandal is producing more smoke and flames than Deepwater Horizon.

We need to get this straight as a nation: The only reason to inquire about a presidential pardon is if you’re pretty sure you’ll be convicted of a crime. Trump’s interest in his self-pardoning powers is an admission that he’s involved in something very dark, knows it’s going to come out and is looking to escape the consequences of a federal conviction.

Enter Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is aggressively investigating Trump-Russia ties and has undoubtedly become the star of Trump’s nightmares these days. Trump has criticized Mueller and warned him not to investigate his family’s finances, but under the law that authorized Mueller’s appointment, the president can’t fire him.

Good, because Mueller wouldn’t be out of bounds to examine Trump’s family finances. If Trump has had improper financial dealings with Russian interests in the past, he’s compromised. To see Trump’s utter desperation to stop the investigations, just realize that if the Russians have something on him, he’ll give Russian President Vladimir Putin almost anything to prevent it from coming out.

So Trump is hemmed in, and Sessions can’t give Mueller the boot, either, because of his recusal. To get rid of Mueller, therefore, Trump would need to get Sessions out of the way and name a successor who would be amenable to dumping the special counsel.

But with several of Sessions’ former Republican Senate colleagues expressing support for him, Trump can’t dismiss the attorney general without potentially incurring political damage.

All of which brings us to Trump’s attack on Sessions, an obvious attempt to force him to resign.

It’s a clear sign that fear is sinking in for Trump. If he has nothing to hide — if the Russia scandal is a witch hunt and a product of fake news, as he’s stated — why is he taking such extreme actions?

Trump hasn’t fully explained why he’s pressuring Sessions. In a recent tweet, he complained that Sessions and Mueller hadn’t investigated alleged crimes involving Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, but that’s about it.

Here’s the real reason: The walls are closing in, and the president is running scared. No doubt, he’s also angry — at the media, at his political opponents, at members of his inner circle who have been unwilling to throw themselves under the bus for him.

His attitude toward Comey, Sessions and others in the nation’s law enforcement structure — that officials’ loyalty should be to him instead of the public — is prima facie evidence of his desire to obstruct justice. If this is what he does in public, God only knows what he does in private.