First-time readers, the dialogue in this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020).  Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution.  More about Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1.  List and general description of entries to date.  Annual assessment if Revolution plausible.

Note: most characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations.  Profile of characters.  You’ll catch on quickly.  Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.

Scene: Jordan’s office in Washington a few days after the dinner meeting with Gelly, JC and Greenie.  (Lead-n.  Last comment in conversation, Entry #252, JC said, “Follow the money.”)  (Series “Who Took Out the Donald?’ begins Entry #244.) 

Greenie:  “JC, I agree that a lot of people in Congress have been influenced by money.  Trump certainly was, too.  But…”

JC:  “…but you think there’s more, right?”

Greenie:  “I don’t want to sound as if I’m beating a dead horse but I want to come back to Jordan’s theory about the FBI.”

JC:  “When you said dead horse, what popped into my head was the classic bedroom scene from the ‘Godfather.’”

Greenie:  “Probably a good scenario.  Think about the relationship between the movie director, aka Trump, and the mob boss, in this case the FBI.  Not suggesting James Comey was a mob boss…well, you get the idea.”

Jordan:  “We get the idea.  The movie director sticks his finger in the eye of the mafia don, thinking he can intimidate him.”

Greenie:  “The movie director’s problem?  He was either too stupid to realize the potential consequences or had too much hubris.  And look what happened to the director’s prized possession.”

Matt:  “I’d never thought about Trump’s behavior that way.  The comparison to the movie guy in the ‘Godfather’ is an interesting one.”

Greenie:  “Think about it.  Trump insults Comey publically.  He also tries to convince Comey to drop any investigation into Trump’s cronies.”

JC:  “Then Comey testifies in Congress about Trump’s behavior.  How does Trump react?  Trump and his lawyer claim Comey lied and Trump was completely exonerated by ‘Comey-the-Liar’s’ testimony.  Apparently Trump and his high-priced real-estate lawyer didn’t listen very well.”

Matt:  “In fairness to the Donald, there was no smoking gun in Comey’s testimony…at least his public testimony.”

Greenie:  “Matt, c’mon.  I know you’re a reporter and want to be fair, but you sound like you work for Fox News.”

Matt:  “Since when did Fox News become a real news organization?  Anyway, Comey’s testimony did not provide clear-cut evidence of obstruction of justice.  Questionable behavior by Trump?  Definitely, but no clear-cut evidence of obstruction.”

JC:  “There was clear-cut evidence Trump did not understand how government works.  You know the stuff we were taught in 8^th grade civics class.  Donald, were you asleep the entire semester?”

Matt:  “What I think Trump failed to realize and certainly didn’t appreciate was the out Comey gave him.”

Greenie:  “You mean the out that women use all the time?  All Trump had to do was keep the Twitter account in silent mode and, then if he had any brains, say he was sorry that he stepped over the line that separates the responsibilities of different branches of government.  I mean, how hard was it to make an apology?”

Jordan:  “I hadn’t thought about that.  An apology could have sucked most of the air out of the investigation.  It certainly couldn’t have hurt.”

JC:  “But, no, the Donald thought he was doing another episode of the ‘Apprentice.’  Scowl and look mean.  For some reason he couldn’t apologize and took the opposite approach by ratcheting up the negative rhetoric.”

Jordan:  “He also set up a no-win situation for himself – claiming yet again there were recordings of the conversation with Comey that exonerated him but never showing the evidence.”

Matt:  “And then offered to testify under oath about Comey and other issues.  Trump made some really stupid comments but still not enough of a reason for the FBI to take him out.”

JC:  “Jordan, the FBI is your theory.  What about Matt’s question?”

Jordan:  “We’ve talked about this before.  The FBI, in my opinion, considered Trump to be mentally spiraling more and more out of control.  We’ll probably never know the entire story but according to credible reports, when Trump would watch TV in the living quarters of the White House, he would scream at reports he didn’t like.”

Matt:  “Sounds like Nixon but how about some more examples, please.”

Jordan:  “Reacting to Comey’s testimony was the most obvious at the time.  But two other critical areas were out of control.”

Greenie:  “I’m guessing diplomatic relations was one.  And for #2, I’ll go with defense.”

Jordan:  “Greenie, you’re two for two.  Take diplomacy.  In short order, Trump managed…in the most polite terms…to give the finger to our strongest allies – Germany, England, France and Israel.  Then he chastised Qatar for supporting terrorists.  Did he realize the US had a major military base in Qatar?”

JC:  “Probably not.  Did he even know Qatar was a country…let alone where it was?  And the country he supported instead of Qatar?  Saudi Arabia.  Mmm, the Donald must have forgotten about where the 9/11 terrorists came from.”

Jordan:  “I think worse than the public chastising of Qatar was Trump publicly ignoring efforts and statements by the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State.”

Matt:  “He did make Tillerson and Mattis each look like a fool.  Each had worked hard to convince NATO allies that the US was committed.  Then during the meeting at NATO, Trump claims…incorrectly I might add…claims that US taxpayers were footing the bill for other NATO countries.  Worse still, at the NATO meeting he refused to support Article 5…the key to NATO.”

JC:  “Article 5 is the one where each country commits to defend other members, right?”

Jordan:  “Yes and Article 5 is the cornerstone of NATO.  Within a few days of insulting secretaries of Defense and State…and NATO allies…he throws the Attorney General under the bus.  Why?  Because in Trump-world the AG displayed ‘weakness’ by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.”

Greenie:  “Can’t have the Attorney General following the law.  Have to be tough.”

Matt:  “I think it was the next week…maybe two weeks later…he started trashing the Robert Mueller, special counsel leading the investigation, and Rod Rosenstein, the second in command at Justice who was managing Mueller.  Trashing those guys was not smart.”

Jordan:  “This had Watergate written all over.  In fact, and I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but as I recall, most of the Trump outrages against the special counsel and Justice occurred mid-June.  I remember it was after Memorial Day and before the 4^th of July.  And when was the Watergate break-in?”

Greenie:  “Mid-June.  I remember because we’d just moved to Alexandria…Virginia, not Egypt.”

JC:  “So the guys at the FBI, who have extensive experience analyzing bizarre behavior, look at Trump and concluded he was too dangerous to stay in the job.”

Greenie:  “Then one of the FBI reps went to meet the reality TV star and make him and offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Jordan:  “You mean ‘Donald, do yourself a favor.  Resign and go play golf.’  And, oh, by the way, if you do resign we’ll also quietly drop all but the most egregious illegal money transactions with the Russians.”

JC:  “But like the movie director in the ‘Godfather,’ Trump refused, which left the FBI no choice but to take him out and save the country.”

(Continued)