Cross

     Donald Trump's been crossing his arms a lot, lately. And while body language experts say that not arm crossers do it for the same reason, a cop trained in interrogations and the body language presented will tell you that Donald Trump (who will soon be interviewed by Robert Mueller) has a lot to hide.
     Take the fact that when he crosses his arms, he always hides his hands, which one can construe as further proof that he's been being closed-minded, guarded. Or, as others have intimated, he could be hiding hand tremors, as incipient palsy is common among the elderly.
     It seems the only time this fucking idiot doesn't cross his arms is when he's supposed to, as this not at all embarrassing photo from the recent ASEAN summit attested.

     In fact, it appears to the astute observer that Trump's newest habit of crossing his arms in public is a sign that he feels the growing pressure as the silent, leak-free Mueller Russia probe reaches its glorious apotheosis. His inner circle has been given the third degree from Mueller and his investigators, including Sessions, Michael Flynn, his son in law Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, in short, just about everyone who significantly contributed to Trump's rise in this Richard Conden/Stephen King crossover novel of an administration.
     I'm sure these people all dutifully went back to Trump for the usual debriefing and reported to him or his legal counsel what was asked of them and the answers they gave. But missing from Trump's legal strategy are the conclusions Mueller's team drew from these interviews. Add to that the pressure, as it was just revealed today, that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who'd sicced Robert Mueller on Trump's slime trail, had earlier requested the extension of the FISA surveillance on Carter Page after it was learned he went to Russia in July 2016 (the month of the GOP convention in Cleveland).
     Now Trump is privately fuming, again, that he wants to fire Rosenstein and for the same reasons he wants to fire Jeff Sessions: Because Trump, the ultimate oligarch, thinks the Justice Department is there to provide him with cover, as if the Department of Justice itself is his private law firm whose sole remit is to provide him with legal indemnification. In fact, one would be surprised to learn that the Russia probe wasn't related at all to Andrew McCabe resigning today as Deputy Director of the FBI.
     Frankly, I also wouldn't be surprised if Trump delivers his State of Union Address tomorrow with his arms crossed the entire time. As it is, I think much of it will consist of him saying, "One year of Russiagate is enough," just as Nixon had said 44 years ago tomorrow that, "One year of Watergate is enough."
     He may be keeping his cards close to his vest, as guilty men ought, or he may be hiding palsy hand tremors. Or perhaps he's preparing for that inevitable day when he's finally fitted for a strait jacket.

     As it is, I'd be very surprised to not hear, as we pick through the historical ash heap of this administration, that Trump was muttering to oil portraits of his predecessors during this time just as Nixon had.