'Struggling' Trump spirals as 'usual playbook' fails to get him out of jam: report

 President Donald Trump's proven method for getting out of a scandal he claims is a "hoax" or a "witch hunt" is falling flat this time around mostly because of his own doing, according to The New Republic.

Writer Matt Ford posited that Trump is "struggling to an unusual degree" as he's unable to shake his association with sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein because of his very own executive orders.

"It is striking how poorly his usual playbook will work for the Epstein files debacle," Ford wrote, adding that Trump "cannot credibly claim that he is the victim of some kind of 'witch hunt,' even though he is trying to do so."

Ford continued, "This line of attack worked well enough when he had tangible adversaries on the other side of the equation," citing special counsel Robert Mueller, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis, and special counsel Jack Smith.

Now, however, Ford wrote, "Those days are over; there are no more witch-hunters" because Trump has gotten rid of them all.

"Trump’s executive orders destroyed the post-Watergate tradition of independence at the Justice Department and the FBI, and his appointees have pursued and ousted any employees who are deemed insufficiently loyal to the president’s agenda," Ford argued. "Both chambers of Congress are also under Republican control, depriving Democrats of a means to subpoena Trump or even hold hearings about his actions. This scandal is entirely a self-inflicted wound."

Ford wrote that Trump's own actions have dispelled a "mythology" that MAGA "had constructed to justify supporting him no matter what."

Without a worthy opponent to blame for his woes, however, Trump may appear as less of a heroic "crusader" to his base, and more like "just another politician looking to get out of a jam."