Hullabaloo: He "genuinely believes he's innocent?" Yeah right.

This sounds like spin to me. He's had numerous outbursts on twitter about "Russia, Russia, Russia!!!" recently:

This account of how Trump and his senior staffers are privately grappling with the Russia investigation is based on interviews over the past week with nearly three dozen White House officials, lawmakers, outside advisers, friends of the President and sources familiar with the Mueller probe. It depicts a president genuinely convinced of his innocence and advisers preparing for him to explode early next year if the probe doesn't end as neatly as Trump expects.

"Genuinely convinced of his innocence?" How sweet. What a nice way of putting it. If he weren't a pathological liar this might even make sense. Please. If he is "behaving more serenely" which sounds like nonsense, but if is it's because he thinks he has an out. Pardons? Firing? Both? Maybe. Or perhaps he believes that they can't get him because they congress will never impeach him.

In private conversations, Trump still speaks dismissively of the Russia investigation, referring to it as "bulls---" and proclaiming "I don't know any Russians!" multiple sources told CNN.
But those outbursts are measured against Trump's belief that the investigation will soon wrap up favorably. That rosy picture has buoyed Trump's spirits in recent weeks, leaving him seemingly less frustrated and more even-keeled about the investigation even as Mueller's team landed a guilty plea and the cooperation of one of the President's former top advisers, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
"The President's mantra is 'All this Russia stuff, it's all going to wrap up soon.' He repeats it as fact," said one source who speaks to Trump. "Part of me is like -- 'Are you serious? You believe this?'"

Trump's legal team has told the President he will likely be cleared of wrongdoing in the coming months, according to a senior White House official and sources who have spoken with Trump. That optimism has left some of the President's friends and advisers worried the deadline could come and go, leaving Trump frustrated and more prone to rash behavior than ever before, including potentially firing Mueller. A number of Trump's allies have warned him that any attempt to fire Mueller could be a fatal blow to his presidency.

Three sources familiar with the President's recent conversations about the investigation said Trump has become convinced that he will receive a letter of exoneration, which would be unusual. One source worried Trump would have a "meltdown" if that doesn't happen[...]

Cobb declined to speculate on how the President would be publicly exonerated. He said he and the President had never discussed a letter of exoneration and said he had "no idea" where Trump got the idea.

Privately, Cobb has sought to assuage Trump and White House staffers by touting his connections to Mueller and members of his team, whom he has known in Washington for years, sources familiar with the matter said. He also cites his familiarity with the thousands of documents the White House has provided to Mueller's investigators, the sources said.

It turns out that Cobb doesn't have a clue about all the documents Mueller has. Oopsie. Nobody tell the toddler.

Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for the President's legal team, said he doubts Mueller would deliver a letter exonerating Trump before he has fully wrapped up his investigation. But he said pressure is mounting for Mueller to conclude his investigation as a result of reports that several members of his investigative team (who have since been taken off the investigation) have privately expressed anti-Trump sentiments.

"If you're Mueller and you want to have any shred of credibility, you have to find a way" to bring the investigation to a close, Corallo said. "If you reach the conclusion that the President of the United States doesn't have anything to do with this...he's going to have to find some way to make that public. We're at that point now."

Richard Nixon went before congress and delivered his State of the Union and demanded the investigation end declaring that "one year of Watergate is enough!" Didn't work out for him.

"The commotion around the investigation is morale-crushing to everybody," said one source familiar with the situation.

Senior staffers have borne the brunt of the anxiety. Many have hired lawyers and worked with them at length to prepare for their interviews with the special counsel's team...

For now at least, White House staffers are paying their legal fees out of their own pockets, a significant expense for government employees.

One source who has spoken with the President said he seems to be unaware of the anxiety among staffers.

"Everybody needs a pat on the back, some reassurances that the President is loyal to them, and he just doesn't do that well," the source said.

There's a shocker.. And, he's made it quite clear from the beginning that the only thing he cares about is getting personally exonerated. He cares nothing for anyone else. I'm not even sure he cares about his kids getting caught up in this thing.

"When you look at the committees, whether it's the Senate or the House, everybody -- my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, 'There is no collusion but we'll continue to look.' They're spending millions and millions of dollars. There's absolutely no collusion. I didn't make a phone call to Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. Everybody knows it," Trump told reporters gathered on the South Lawn of the White House Friday. "We've got to get back to running a country."

No they haven't said that and everyone doesn't know that. But h's revealing, in a way, one of the upsides of the congressional investigations. It keeps him from "running a country" ... totally into the ground.

Perhaps his biggest frustration is that he believes the investigations are hindering his governing prowess. Trump has told one senator repeatedly that the ongoing probes undermine his standing on the world stage and make it harder for him to work with foreign leaders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the calls.

This is my favorite of his delusions. His standing on the world stage is crap because he's a "fucking moron" as his Secretary of State would say. It has nothing to do with the Russia investigation. Not one thing.

Here's an argument for Democrats to win the congress in 2018:

If the President is concerned about the uproar over Russia drowning out his agenda now, experts said next year could prove even more painful if Republicans lose control of the House or the Senate.

"From an investigatory perspective, the paralysis that can be injected by the opposite party controlling Congress is so significant," said Jennings, drawing on his experience in the Bush administration. "I hope there is an appreciation for the fact that this presidency could come to a complete standstill in less than one year."

While Mueller's probe has focused on criminal wrongdoing, congressional investigators have much wider latitude. Democrats could try to unearth unsavory stories about abuses of power or efforts to shame public officials. And investigations that Republicans have largely led behind closed doors could be thrust into the public view, an outcome that would almost certainly be more damaging to the President's approval ratings.

"The most important difference at this point in the story between the Watergate scandal and 'Hackergate' or 'Russiagate' is that Congress is not holding public hearings," said Tim Naftali, a CNN presidential historian and the former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

"It was every day, it was public and people watched it," Naftali said of the Watergate scandal. "It was like a soap opera."

Actually Trump's presidency already is a soap opera. Or, actually, a terrible reality show, which is the same thing. But it would be nice to see congress do its job and educate the people about what happened and how to make sure it never happens again.