Lewandowski Saga Gives Terrifying Glimpse Into Trump White House
For a man who built his celebrity on the catchphrase “You’re fired,” Donald Trump, it turns out, is terrible at firing people. It seems impossible to imagine a campaign for president that wouldn’t fire a campaign manager arrested and charged with simple battery for grabbing a woman. Especially if that woman was a reporter covering the campaign. Especially if the incident was caught on video.
But if there is one thing Trump has managed to do time and again since he launched his campaign by calling undocumented Mexican immigrants “rapists,” it is defy the human imagination.
The Jupiter, Florida, police arrested campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Tuesday, and the Trump campaign immediately issued a statement declaring the charges false and even denying he was arrested. (He was.) Lewandowski has put the campaign — and the candidate himself — in the position of lying for him repeatedly as they deny the assault took place. Lewandowski didn’t just grab now-former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields hard enough to leave bruises on her arm; he called her an “attention seeker” in a ham-handed attempt to smear her.
This isn’t an amusing sideshow to a carnival campaign. It’s a profound look into the kind of president Donald Trump would be and the kind of people he would choose to run his government. Trump is still the odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination. (There’s no reason to think this scandal will affect his chances more than the other six kajillion that came before.) If he wins in November, we’ll see a lot more Corey Lewandowskis — and this time they’ll have real power.
Lewandowski himself has reportedly bragged he’ll serve as Trump’s White House chief of staff, a position with incredible influence over the levers of the federal government. How will a man with Lewandowski’s anger issues — don’t forget, he grabbed a protester at a rally recently, which the campaign also denied — manage an administration?
More important, what does Trump’s standing behind Lewandowski say about the man who would be sitting behind the Resolute desk? Loyalty is honorable enough, but this isn’t loyalty. It’s closing ranks to protect a thug. It’s lashing out at the media and especially at a woman who had the temerity to ask him questions as he was leaving a room (a woman who, ironically, was working for an outlet so friendly to Trump she had to resign after they chose him over their own employee).
This speaks volumes about the kind of president Trump will make. Trump has built his entire business career on intimidation, shady practices, unpaid bills, misogyny, self-promotion and outright lies. His utter contempt for the law has been on display this entire campaign (he wants to bring back torture and punish the press for criticizing him); he honestly believes the rules do not apply to him.