LONDONDERRY — A man like Donald Trump who can't see beyond himself is bound to run into a wall - and I don't mean the one he wants to build on the Mexican border.
The Mueller investigation could be such a wall. With its possibilities of uncovering illegal collusion with a foreign nation, obstruction of justice stemming from the dismissal of James Comey, or other illegal financial manipulations, the investigation could well mean the unseating of President Trump.
But the most impervious wall he may hit could be his own wife, Melania Trump.
There are many perks to being a First Lady: prominence, wealth, a place in history, a public pulpit, etc. But one has to wonder what price Melania Trump is paying for her enviable position, since it's contingent upon marriage to a misogynist, a philanderer, a solipsist, a compulsive liar, and a man devoid of empathy - a possible sociopath.
When seen with her husband, as she frequently is, she plays a compliant role by appearing as a plastic appendage - a beautifully featured and meticulously coiffed and dressed, yet a somewhat sullen and expressionless, piece of “arm candy.”
This is no doubt what Donald wants: a beauty that makes him look good and desirable who is simultaneously a “dumb broad” who won't give him any lip.
But apparently, that isn't the real Melania - and indeed, there are signs of discord.
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When Trump ruthlessly separated children from their immigrant parents, Melania voiced sympathy for them, to the extent of visiting a “holding pen” for the children; and recently, in a disguised disapproval of her husband's incessant and nonsensical tweeting, she advised a less promiscuous, less frivolous, and more meaningful use of social media.
Melania, however hesitantly, also seems to be supporting the women's insurgence, expressing itself politically in the unprecedented electoral victories women are enjoying - the vast majority of whom oppose the president.
This kind of opposition from his own wife would seem to nettle someone as touchy as Trump, who rails at the slightest criticism. Isn't he the one who demands oaths of loyalty from everyone around him, no doubt including his wife?
Melania's opposition must gall him, as his stupidity, infidelity, mendacity, and egocentricity must her. So why does she put up with it?
A divorce would no doubt mean a handsome settlement that would keep Melania in her designer duds for the rest of her life. With all the reasons for such a severing made public, it could possibly undermine Trump more than any outcome of the Mueller investigation. And imagine the fortune reaped from her honest telling in a book, My Life with Donald!
Perhaps Melania's hand is stayed because White House living is a fantasy realized more ecstatically by someone not born in the U.S.
Or perhaps there's an untold under-story: a pathetic, insecure man cowering behind the scenes in the arms of his surrogate mother, Melania, who is too bolstered by the role to abdicate it.
In Trump world, anything seems impossible - except knowing the truth.