SOMEONE TAKE HIS BOXCUTTER:

One should never underestimate Trump's capacity for self-harm, of course. This is the man who, in May, 2017, fired James Comey, the director of the F.B.I., in a fit of pique, thereby siccing a special counsel on himself and everyone around him for the next two years. This week's blooper may not compare with that blunder for the ages, but it was epic nonetheless. To begin with, consider the timing. Just two days before Trump sat down with Stephanopoulos, the House Judiciary Committee began its quest to build a public case against him on the basis of Volume II of the Mueller report, which focusses on possible obstruction of justice. In a hearing devoted to legal experts, John Dean, who was Richard Nixon's White House counsel and went to prison for his role in the Watergate coverup, compared the special counsel's report to the grand-jury report to Congress that played a significant role in Nixon's downfall--the so-called Road Map. Like that document, the Mueller report "conveys findings, with supporting evidence, of potential criminal activity based on the work of federal prosecutors, F.B.I. investigators, and witness testimony before a federal grand jury," Dean said in his opening statement.

But if Monday's hearing annoyed the President--he lashed out at Dean in advance of his testimony--it didn't necessarily represent any new threat to him. Dean and the other witnesses had no news to impart. Nor could they provide any firsthand accounts of the incidents contained in the Mueller report. The hearing produced no blockbuster moment, and there were subsequent reports that some Democrats had questioned the wisdom of calling Dean. So far, so good for Trump, but then came his Rose Garden sitdown with the ABC News anchor.

It all started to go wrong for the White House when Stephanopoulos brought up Donald Trump, Jr.,'s closed-door appearance on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Stephanopolous asked Trump if his son should have contacted the F.B.I. when, in the summer of 2016, he received an e-mail from the British publicist Rob Goldstone offering him a meeting with some Russians connected to the Russian government who allegedly had the goods on Hillary Clinton. As he has done before, Trump defended Donald, Jr. Then he doubled down and tripled down. By the time he was done, Trump had said that "you don't" call the F.B.I. in such circumstances; asserted that the current F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, "is wrong" to suggest you do; and vouchsafed that in the 2020 election, if the Chinese or Russians offered him information on his opponents, "I think I'd take it."

Tweet   @brothersjudd