The Trump Script

As allegations of wrongdoing by Trump, his campaign, and his administration become public, a script for dealing with these allegations has emerged. In general, the script follows the following steps:

1. Negative story or allegation comes to light
2. Complete denial
3. Claim "Fake News"
4. Attack the accusers
5. Claim "Fake News"
6. Less emphatic denial
7. Claim "Fake News"
8. Attack the accusers
9. Claim "Fake News"
10. Discredit the investigators
11. Claim "Fake News"
12. Maybe the accusation is partially true
13. Claim "witch hunt"
14. Discredit the accusers
15. Claim "witch hunt"
16. Admit the accusations after corroborating evidence comes to light
17. Offer confusing reasons and alternative stories
18. Claim "witch hunt"
19. Fully admit the accusation
20. Contend that the actions in the accusation are not a crime
21. Continue to claim "witch hunt"
22. Continue to discredit accusers and investigators
23. Create a new crisis as a diversion

Not every step is invoked for every allegation. Sometimes steps are repeated multiple times. These steps are carried out via Twitter, Trump statements, Sarah Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, Rudy Giuliani, or numerous other administration apologists.

It is a pattern that has been repeated often enough that even Trump supporters should recognize. 

Every negative story or report about Trump, his administration, and the GOP is not "fake news". In fact, very few from the mainstream media have been even erroneous let alone fake. 

While I don't pretend to know what the next big story or allegations will be, I can confidently predict that the above "wash, rinse, repeat" scenario will be employed. 

wjh