Donald Trump to America: Please impeach me – USA TODAY

Learn the laws, steps and votes needed in the Presidential impeachment process. An earlier version of this video incorrectly identified one of the presidents who was impeached. USA TODAY

President Trump shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the White House, May 10, 2017.(Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry Photo via AP)

Donald Trump is doing an excellent impression of a president who desperately wishes to be impeached. Congress should grant that wish, or figure out an evenquicker way to bring this tragicomedyto its inevitable end. If there arent enough smoking guns quite yet, just wait a day or two. They're coming at usfaster thanrounds from a Kalashnikov on full auto.

Could Trump'ssignals be any more clear?He's not even having fun. "No politician in history,and I say this with great surety,has been treated worse or more unfairly," Trump said at the Coast Guard Academy commencement. That was just a few hoursbefore Deputy Attorney General RodRosenstein named former FBI directorRobert Mueller as a special counselto oversee the FBI's Russia investigation, and a day before Trump tweeted that"this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!"

Suffice it to say the job is only going to get less fun.

Given all we know about Trump himself the disturbingreal time glimpses into his mind viaTwitter;his Tourette-like tendency to blurt out exactly what most presidents would know they shouldnt;his relentless ignorance of policy, government and our nation's founding principles we shouldnt be shocked by recent developments.

No one but a person hunting for an escape hatchwould admitin a national TVinterview that he was thinking about the made-up Russia storywhen he fired FBI Director James Comey; would ask Comey tostop investigatingformer national security adviser Mike Flynn's contacts withRussia, possibly violating his oath of office; andwould askComey to pledge loyalty to him, even thoughFBI directors have 10-year terms precisely so they canoperate independently of presidents.

Only a president eyeing the door would summon the ghost ofRichard Nixonbyfiring Comey and then tweeting: James Comey better hope that there areno tapes of our conversationsbefore he starts leaking to the press! Only someone intent on getting ousted would fireComey over Russia and thenthe very next daymeet withtop Russian officialsinthe Oval Office under a painting of George Washington, let theirphotographer in while barring the U.S. press, share with them highlyclassified information about ISIS, describeComey to them as a "nut job," and confide that firing him took the pressure off.(Each part of thatsentence begs belief.)

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The latest tough stuff, from Trump's perspective, is the foreign tourhe's on."Mr. Trump, a confirmed homebody, has expressed dread about the trip," The New York Times reported before he left Friday.

And who can blame him?The itinerary started with SaudiArabia, a hotbed of, you know, the kind of people he's trying to keep out of the USA, followed by Israel,reportedly the source of the top-secret Islamic State of Iraq and Syrianintelligence that Trump spilled to the Russians. Trump will be in Rome to see Pope Francis, who has indicatedthat Trump is not one of his favorites. The president hasnever had much nice to say about NATO, its member nations or their leaders, but he'll be in Brussels to meet with them,too.

Not fun! No wonder Trump decamps nearly every weekend to his own golf clubs and resorts and luxury digs. Why does he hate Washington? Has he ever even laid eyes onCamp David?

The presidentneeds an exit strategythat makes him look like a winner. He doesnt deserve one;in fact, he may well turn out to deserve impeachment. But that would make him a loser and he'dfight it to the end, and the end would be a long time coming.

What would entice him to leave soon? Trump is not going to turn into a world-classphilanthropist(a course I once envisioned for Mitt Romney). And Trumpwon't become head of a university (been there, done that, and it wasnt pretty).Nor can I see him growing a beard (Al Gore), promoting Viagra (Bob Dole) or taking up painting (George W. Bush). And Id be shocked if Trumpdecided to devote his post-presidency to, say, fighting gerrymandering or poverty (Barack Obama).

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Only one suitable option comes to mind: Somebody sellthis man a TV network. He seemed to be musing aboutTrump TVbefore a comet struck Earth and he won the presidency. Its been done think Gore and Current TV. Trump TV would, of course, be much more yuge and would never, not ever, dare to morph into Al-Jazeera America or anything with a name like that.

Trump could brag about its large size and amazingly great American greatness. He could hire as many beautiful women as he wanted,present whatever content he wanted, star inas many shows as he wanted,and do it all right from Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower. Hed never have to leave home.

Tom Nichols, a Russian expert and professor at theNaval War College, says it's dangerousthat a raw feed of Trumps thoughts, emotions and reactions to stress is available to foreign intelligence analysts worldwide on Twitter. For better or worse, all of that isalso available to we, the people. And to me themessage, amplified by countless interviews, newsconferences and leaks from panicked associates, is clear: "Get me out of here."

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY and author ofThe Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock. Follow her on Twitter:@JillDLawrence

You can read diverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers on theOpinion front page, on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our dailyOpinion newsletter. To submit a letter, comment or column, check oursubmission guidelines.

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