Trump's Aides Reportedly Staged A Twitter Intervention

Here's a headline you don't want to see about the leader of your country: according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump's aides held an intervention about his tweets, urging the 70-year-old to restrain himself on social media lest he place himself in legal peril. It's yet another report suggesting that people close to Trump are under increasing pressure and stress, thanks in no small part to his own actions and statements.

Needless to say, it sounds like an impossible task. Get Trump to stop tweeting inflammatory things? That sounds like an impossible mission if there ever was one, so you should probably file this under "I'll believe it when I see it." But still, it's notable that this information leaked to the press, given what an embarrassing story it is for Trump to have out there.

Specifically, the report claims that Trump's aides warned him that inflammatory tweets of the sort that he sent on the morning of March 4 ― falsely and baselessly accusing former president Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower before the 2016 presidential election ― could "paint him into a corner," both in terms of politics, and in terms of the law.

If you're working for a president who needs to be strenuously told to get off of Twitter because things are getting too hot, both politically and legally, it's fair to guess that you're neither working in an administration that's neither smooth nor efficient. That this story leaked at all, despite the extent of the behind-the-scenes discord it implies, says a lot, in other words.

According to Rebecca Ballhaus, who authored the report alongside Eli Stokols and Louise Radnofsky, the intervention in question took place weeks ago. Since May 12, Trump has issued some similarly wild-eyed tweets on the subject of former FBI director James Comey's firing ― suggesting he may have secretly taped conversations with Comey ― as well as regarding freshly appointed special counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump is currently just beginning his scheduled eight-day trip throughout the Middle East, Europe, and the Mediterranean, and as such his aide just might get their wish for a little while ― presumably, the president's attention will be busy with other things until he returns to American shores. There's no guarantee, however; if anything's been a reliable character trait for Trump both as a candidate and a president, it's his propensity for early-morning Twitter meltdowns, and there's now more domestic political pressure bearing down on him than ever before.