It’s all fun and games until you become president

I think, ultimately, the reason for Donald Trump’s persistent Russia problem is this: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails.”

Trump later said that was a joke. But then, it seemed to come true. Leaked emails conveniently kept bubbling up in the final weeks of the presidential election.

That’s not evidence of collusion, but it is evidence that the universe has a sense of humor. Because between his joking and his naive admiration for Putin, Mr. Trump essentially ended up framing himself.

Now he’s under more and more pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to clearly state, once and for all, that our system was and is under attack by the Russians. It’s what all the intelligence agencies have concluded.

But think about it. This is a man who spent the first weeks of his presidency insisting, against all evidence, that his inauguration crowd was the biggest ever. And who on Monday compared his first months in office to FDR.

If Donald Trump were to admit Russia has been deliberately hacking our election process, then the man who claimed again and again the system was rigged would be admitting it was rigged in his favor.

So he has to dismiss the Russia investigation as a witch hunt. It’s getting tougher to do that, now that even Jeff Sessions has acknowledged it’s not.

“I truly believe it’s more important than I ever did before.”

But for Donald Trump to admit Russia tried to help him win? It would be like admitting to having small hands, which he doesn’t. As far as I can tell.

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