Rattled

In public, Trumpworld is casting the Democratic impeachment inquiry as more white noise.

In private, White House aides and allies say the impeachment momentum now presents a serious threat to the rest of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, to his negotiating strength with world leaders and to his concentration.

  Politico

It surely can't make his concentration any worse.

Trump advisers and senior administration aides pivoted any discussion of the president’s call and ensuing whistleblower complaint to focus on the Bidens — in an effort to turn the attention to a rival.

[...]

Like any public relations guru, he has sought to get out ahead of the Ukraine story, set the boundaries of the narrative so that Biden is in the bull's-eye, and overwhelm Americans with new and often conflicting information so the details change by the hour — and always at his bidding.

[...]

“Our country’s doing the best it’s ever done. They’re going to lose the election,” Trump told reporters before a bilateral meeting with the Iraqi president at the United Nations.

“They say it’s a positive for me,” he added about the impeachment proceedings.

Haha. They'll tell him anything to keep him from blowing his stack in public.

The White House is betting Trump can ride out this “outrage du jour,” as one senior administration official called it, and move on just as he has skated through the release of the Mueller report; concerns of late about a possible recession; the Charlottesville, Va., uproar; Stormy Daniels; the explosive “Access Hollywood“ tape; and dozens of other threats to his presidency.

[...]

But current and former administration aides believe Trump will view the latest impeachment inquiry as a major blow to his ego — and the proceedings will likely distract him, cloud all his meetings and halt any agenda for this fall, including the passage of a major trade bill heading into an election year.

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“We’re so polarized and in our tribes that people will look through their current lens and determine either the president did something wrong, or Joe Biden did something wrong. The facts won’t be particularly relevant.” [ said Whit Ayres, founder and president of North Star Opinion Research, a Republican polling firm.]

Sadly true.

Still, the impeachment proceedings could lead to other revelations that are even more distracting for Trump and the GOP agenda.