Once the bully gets a nickname he can't shake, it's over. Yeah sure that's BS but the math seems to add up to something. Here's the elements to add up...with a little surprise, capper:

• Trump goes government shutdown as a distraction to Russia/Mueller
• Manafort's lawyers screw the pooch revealing he passed info the Russkies
• Natalia Veselnitskaya gets pinched
• His oval office TV speech shows he's incompetent, lost it
• Rosenstein says he'll leave the DOJ, signaling Mueller finished his report
• The SCOTUS declines look at mystery foreign entity Grand Jury appeal
• The Dems take the house and dig in on subpeonas
• Mueller and AG appointee Barr are close personal friends. Their wives do bible study together

Trump must know the walls are closing in and thus the shutdown makes sense as a stall. He sure has to know what Manafort did. Rosenstein leaving signals Mueller either finished his report or has the "nails for the coffin" to finish. Any serious DOJ big wig wouldn't leave unless the situation is on solid ground or wrapped up. The SCOTUS declining to review the mystery foreign entity says GREEN light to Mueller. The Dems taking the House says the pressure will only get worse.

Mueller and Barr being best buds...now that's just weird. Like did Trump know this before because if he knows now it must freak the F out of him.

At this rate, I think we have 3 months until Mount Trump really goes off. But I don't know how it ends.

At 13:30 or so they start talking about Russian sanctions. A minute or so later former Watergate assist. prosecutor comes on.

Summary: Manafort info (voter data) given to the pro-Russian Ukrainians was then fed to the troll mill in Petrograd to micro-target voters in key states, the four midwestern states Hillary didn't mount a campaign and where the RNC suddenly switched all their resources to those states.

Mueller has indicted a dozen Russian nationals related to this, at the Petrograd troll mill. He knows where they sit inside their office.

The Russian end play is lifting of U.S. sanctions. Trump delivering. (with side deal that Russia pulls out of the Ukraine.)

p.s. If there's an open border to secure, it sure seems like the internet. Open channel is the same as an open border in the modern digital age. FB also delivers on this, open access.