The delusion of the colluding...

Collusion delusion

By Bill Maher

Trump asked Russia for help on TV during the 2016 campaign: “Russia, if you’re listening…” By the way, it’s in the Mueller Report that Russia tried for the first time to hack Hillary’s emails later that day. More recently, Trump asked Ukraine for help. Earlier this month he asked China for help, again, on TV.

This is Trump's feral political genius. His original quid-pro-quo to the Ukrainian President was made during a private Oval Office call, with the transcript immediately stored in a secure server. It took a whistleblower to expose it. Rudy Giuliani's "befuddled crime boss" act and the revelation of a second whistleblower intensified the sense of impropriety. So how does Trump respond? By repeating it in broad daylight. And just like that – at least in the public's mind – an impeachable abuse of presidential power doesn't feel so naughty. After all, if something's done so openly, it can't be that bad. 

Here’s my question for Republicans: why does Trump need so much help? Republicans keep saying Democrats need to impeach Trump because they can’t beat him at the polls. But really, it’s Trump who can’t beat the Democrats fairly. He needed foreign help to eke out a win last time, and clearly he needs it again.

Trump also keeps saying Democrats have a “collusion delusion.” If you can’t see the collusion here – with multiple countries, on TV – you’re the deluded one. Moreover, the Russia collusion and the Ukraine collusion are the same story. He’s trying to get Ukraine to admit it meddled in our election in a crazed attempt to cover up the well-established fact that Russia did. I still don’t think people quite get that.