What did Donald Trump do today?

He demanded that his political enemies be prosecuted "right or wrong."

Trump, who a White House aide says has been "on the fucking warpath" as the Epstein scandal widens, continued to lash out at his political opponents today in an overt attempt to change the subject. In particular, he demanded that President Obama and members of his administration be prosecuted for "treason" over their supposed attempts to steal elections: 

TRUMP: Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him, and so was, uh, sleepy Joe Biden, and so was—the rest of them, Comey, Clapper. They tried to rig an election and they got caught. And then they did rig the election in 2020. And then because I knew I won that election by a lot, I did it a 3rd time… but I won that all the same way in 2020.  

In other words, Trump's theory of the case is that Presidents Obama and Biden failed to "rig" the elections against him in 2016 and 2024, but succeeded in doing so in 2020 when Trump himself controlled the executive branch. (In reality, Trump attempted to foment an insurrection against the lawfully elected Biden administration, during which Americans died as Trump supporters attacked the Capitol to stop the certification of the vote.)

Trump has been campaigning on weaponizing the Justice Department against his enemies since the 2016 campaign—and complaining bitterly when investigations were commenced into his actual crimes for nearly as long. But today's remarks were extreme even by that standard: at one point, Trump demanded that Obama be prosecuted purely as revenge: "It's time to start, after what they did to me, and whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people."

If there were any doubt that this was an attempt to distract from the Epstein scandal, Trump himself put it to rest in other remarks, explicitly instructing Republicans to respond to questions about his links to Epstein by talking repeating his claims about Obama.

TRUMP: And remember, don't let them forget—it's so important—Obama cheated on the election. …Obama cheated, and—when they give you all the nonsense—Obama cheated, and his people cheated, but he was there, and you ever hear this, they talk about—if they ever even mention it, they never mention his name. Just the opposite with me, they only mention by name, but they don't mention any of you guys, they don't mention Tom, they don't mention Steve, they don't mention our great speaker, they mention Trump all the time. 

…But remember this, Obama cheated on the election, and we have it cold—hard—blue [sic]—and it's getting more so because the stuff that's coming in is not even believable.

Shortly after Trump's remarks today, still more new evidence linking him to Jeffrey Epstein was uncovered, including the revelation that Epstein was a guest at Trump's second wedding.

Why does this matter?

• Presidents need to be able to have literally any priorities other than their own self-preservation. 

• A president who is too busy trying to deflect from scandals to do anything else is unfit for office on that basis alone. 

• Donald Trump is literally the only person in the last 200 years of American history who has attempted a coup. 

• No matter how many times he tries it, using the power of the state to punish your enemies with phony "investigations" is dictator shit.