ANALYSIS — Deflect, distract, delay. Then depart.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republican leaders have been forced to pivot from celebrating a string of legislative and foreign policy wins to doing anything possible to distract angry “Make American Great Again” loyalists. On both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, there appears to be an eagerness to run out the summer clock on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, with Trump heading to Scotland, the House already on recess and the Senate likely not far behind.
At the White House, the strategy has been threefold: one part business as usual, one part deflection and another part distraction as officials on Wednesday did not deny reports that Trump was told in May that his name was on a contacts list associated with the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. Over in the House, it was time to depart — early, on Wednesday, rather than Thursday as initially planned.
