By Arun Kumar
Washington, June 24 (IANS) When Narendra Modi comes calling on Donald Trump Monday, one can say "with a high degree of confidence" in spook lingo that the POTUS would face at least one question about Russia.
That seems to be the standard drill for the Trump baiting main stream media (MSM) whether a White House visitor is from Romania or India. So is the case at the daily press briefings that have now gone largely off camera.
And pundits are sure to talk their heads off around what the President said or didn't say about Russia as they did after White House spokesman Sean Spicer came to face the much complaining scribes after eight days.
"Does President Trump believe that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 elections?" asked one intrepid reporter demanding "just very plainly, a yes or no answer."
Spicer's response that he and Trump haven't talked about it lately was quickly translated as "Spicer won't say if Trump believes overwhelming evidence of Russian election interference."
For MSM there is no 'masala' in India and it's the Russian vodka that wins them the eyeballs - millions of them.
Evidence: Former FBI chief James Comey's 150 minute tell-all tale about his firing was so riveting that even some avid porn addicts tuned in to the June 8 Senate hearing.
PornHub's analytic team has reported an over ten percent decrease in their online traffic in the Washington region starting with a dip at 10 am when Comey's testimony began.
But the prophets of doom on the left still reeling under Trump's incredible victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton have met more than their match in the former reality TV star who has mastered the art of changing the conversation.
After teasing the media for 41 days, the POTUS who had "warned," as MSM would have it, Comey "better hope there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" cleared the mystery in a tweet.
Trump "admitted" that he "did not make, and do not have" recordings "of my conversations with James Comey," but he also dangled the tantalizing prospect of his own spooks eavesdropping on him.
"With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are 'tapes' or recordings of my conversations," he fired.
Even as critics went hoarse crying "witness intimidation," Trump told Fox News he "bluffed" about having tapes to keep Comey honest.
With a possibility of tapes, "I think his story may have changed," said the President suggesting his "not very stupid" move may have forced Comey to admit publicly what he had told Trump thrice privately that he personally was not under investigation.
There was "no collusion" with Moscow, Trump asserted again asking, "if Russia was working so hard" to meddle in the 2016 election during the Obama administration "Why didn't they stop them?"
Amidst the never ending Russia circus, a noted legal scholar Alan M. Dershowitz declared "Trump's bluff: perfectly legal." As a lawyer, even "honest Abe" Abraham Lincoln had resorted to bluff to get at the truth.
Calling it "the most absurd of the many absurd charges levelled against Trump by those out to get him without regard to the law," he asked how a move to induce someone "to tell the truth be witness intimidation?"
And even if the Trump campaign did coordinate or "collude" politically with Russia, it would be no crime under law as it stood today.
He also offered some sane advice to "those out to get President Trump" to stop concocting "'crimes' out of the most innocent behaviour."
"Remember that today's use of the criminal law against a president you don't like may become a precedent to using a criminal law against a president you do like," cautioned Dershowitz, who is no Trump supporter.
Trump on his part gladly escaped from the "Washington swamp" to hold a campaign style rally in Iowa rally to regale his die-hard base about his crusade against "Crooked Hillary" and the "fake media."
Meanwhile, with activists gunning for Trump at the drop of a hat - or without - a group called DC Local Ambassadors that helped organise "March for Truth" is offering help to plan more protests in the capital. But can truth prevail in a fractured America?
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
About VDC
Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.