Trump’s China-truce theatrics blew up before lunch

Edition · December 4, 2018

Trump’s China-truce theatrics blew up before lunch

On December 4, 2018, the White House spent the day cleaning up President Trump’s overhyped China claims while Mueller’s team handed his former national security adviser a legal lifeline that still made the president look worse.

The day’s biggest Trump-world screwups were a familiar pair: trade bluster that needed immediate cleanup, and a Russia-investigation filing that reminded everyone how deep the Michael Flynn mess still ran. In both cases, the White House and its allies tried to spin strength and ended up advertising confusion, weakness, and legal exposure.

Closing take

Trump’s problem on December 4 was not just that his people stepped on rakes. It was that the rakes were all pointing back at him: the trade war, the lies, the investigations, the improv that passes for strategy in his orbit.

Ranked by how bad the fuckup was

5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.

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Mueller’s Flynn Memo Keeps the Trump-Russia Wound Open

Flynn liability Confidence 5/5

★★★★☆Fuckup rating 4/5 Serious fuckup

Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a sentencing memo for Michael Flynn saying the former national security adviser deserved little or no jail time because of his substantial assistance. The filing helped Flynn, but it also kept Trump’s Russia-era national security scandal in the center of the page. For a White House that wanted the story gone, the document was another ugly reminder that Flynn’s case is still a live political liability.

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Kudlow Has to Clean Up Trump’s China Tariff Fairy Tale

Trade walkback Confidence 5/5

★★★☆☆Fuckup rating 3/5 Major mess

The White House spent December 4 walking back President Trump’s claim that China had agreed to cut tariffs on U.S.-made cars. The cleanup came fast because the original boast was vague, unconfirmed, and immediately useful only as stock-market bait. By afternoon, the administration was left insisting there had only been an opening round of talks, not a signed deal.

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