Wall Street Journal trashes Trump for thinking he can threaten and lie his way out of Stormy Daniels scandal

In an uncharacteristic attack on Donald Trump, the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal took the president to task saying that his past indiscretions with an adult film star and a Playboy playmate, coupled with the chaos he has sowed in the White House, will lead to him being impeached.

According to the editors, "Every sentient voter in 2016 understood that Donald Trump had a bad history with women. He survived politically because his opponent had spent 20 years denying or apologizing for even worse behavior by her husband. But mistakes of character tend to catch up with everyone, and that’s what is now happening with President Trump and his many women."

It should be noted that it was the Journal that broke the bombshell story that revealed Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, paid adult actress Stormy Daniels -- whose real name is Stephanie Clifford -- $130,000 a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that banned her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Stating "CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday still has the potential to harm Mr. Trump. That’s not because of the 2006 hookup or its mockable details," the Journal asked, " why did his lawyer Michael Cohen go to such lengths to keep it quiet before Election Day in 2016?"

"It’s impossible to predict how all of this will play out politically. Many Trump partisans will refuse to believe it or claim it’s irrelevant," the editorial explains. "But our guess is that at the margin this contributes to a growing public belief that Mr. Trump’s personal flaws are undermining his chances for a successful Presidency."

"Two months ago he had emerged from a tumultuous first year with the triumph of tax reform and rising poll numbers. The strong economy had Republicans closing the gap with Democrats on who should run Congress next year. But Mr. Trump can’t resist promoting White House strife and making himself the center of political tumult," the editors lamented.

"His recent selections of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo for his security team are first rate," the piece continued. "But Mr. Trump’s reality-TV dismissal of their predecessors was nasty and chaotic. On Friday he threatened to veto a budget bill his own staff had been negotiating for weeks—further souring voters on the GOP Congress. Doesn’t he realize that if Democrats win the House, they will vote to impeach him?"

Noting that Trump is unable to retain any quality lawyers to represent him in the investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller because he reportedly won't listen to advice, the Journal said Trump has only himself to blame for his problems.

"The Stormy Daniels case is typical of Mr. Trump’s pre-presidential behavior in thinking he can, with enough threats and dissembling, get away with anything. He’s never understood that a President can’t behave that way, and this may be the cause of his downfall," they concluded.

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