Trump trolls his critics with tweet: 'I hereby demand' investigation of DOJ-FBI infiltration or surveillance of his campaign

By Thomas Lifson

President Trump clearly loves driving his fanatical critics into a frenzy. He understands the dramatic elements that make for audience engagement and build a continuing narrative into a dramatic story arc lasting through many episodes. That is what he did as the most successful reality TV producer in the history of the medium, and it is what he is doing as president of the United States. In place of Gary Busey and Meatloaf on Celebrity Apprentice, he provokes Democrat pols, media lefties, and self-righteous enemies into untenable positions.

Gary Busey on Celebrity Apprentice.

Yesterday, he used Twitter to provoke his critics by exercising his power as chief executive of the Executive Branch in manner unlike any of his predecessors:

I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018

As Twitchy chronicled in a post wittily titled, "Shortest constitutional crisis, ever," the haters rose to the bait and went out on a limb as Rod Rosenstein fired up his chainsaw. A couple of examples of the outrage:

The Department of Justice must refuse to comply with this untenable, politically-motivated “demand” from @realdonaldtrump or risk plunging this country into a constitutional crisis. https://t.co/HiPFCrD4UJ

— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) May 20, 2018

This is not the action of an idiot or a madman. It is an intentional attempt to subvert the rule of law. I bet @realDonaldTrump knows something big is coming. https://t.co/L0mtxOS8jX
— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) May 20, 2018

Benjamin Wittes, a close friend of James Comey allowed that yes, as chief executive, the POTUS does have the power to direct the DOJ but claimed that "good conscience" would prevent compliance:

There is also no doubt in my mind that neither the attorney general (who is recused anyway) nor the deputy attorney general nor the FBI director can in good conscience comply with such an order. And I don’t believe they will. /4/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018

Within a few hours, Wittes and the others were proven wrong and now are on the record demanding no investigation of potential wrongdoing: