Michael Avenatti just responded to Trump’s attacks with an epic shutdown

Michael Avenatti, the first adversary who has successfully opposed President Trump using Trump’s own hyper-aggressive attitude and media-savvy tactics against the president, slammed back at Trump this morning after the president attacked him on Twitter.

After finally releasing the latest sexual assault accusations against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh this morning after a prolonged period of dangling their imminent release, Avenatti perfectly timed the divulging of the details of the allegations and the name of the woman making the charges to coincide with Republican attempts to force a vote through on Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Friday.

Avenatti’s strategy allowed Trump’s nominee to go on national television to categorically deny ever being present at any party where girls were drugged and gang-raped before the lawyer—best known as Trump’s porn star paramour Stormy Daniels’ attorney—submitted a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury from his client Julie Swetnick alleging that Kavanaugh’s denials were complete lies.

President Trump was livid about Avenatti’s metaphorical jumping on the pile of accusers who have come forth since Dr. Christine Blasey Ford made the initial allegations of sexual assault, allegations that began the slow crumbling of Kavanaugh’s carefully conducted, media-trained choirboy image and now threaten to derail his confirmation.

He tweeted an attack on Avenatti that was both vicious and personal.

Trump’s assertions that Avenatti has made false allegations against him will face a skeptical public after the president’s frequent denials of ever having had affairs with Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were proven to be lies by the admission of his own former lawyer Michael Cohen in his plea deal.

Avenatti for his part did not take the president’s attacks lightly and shot back immediately on his own Twitter feed.

Avenatti’s retort to Trump’s slanderous tweet was right out of Trump’s own playbook. At last, Trump is facing an opponent who knows every trick the president has in his bag and then some, and isn’t afraid to use each and every one of them.

Now the Kavanaugh nomination has become a game of chicken with Senate Republicans rapidly approaching the potential midterm electoral disaster of alienating millions of women across the country by refusing to fully investigate the allegations by three separate women with similar stories about the hard-partying nominee.

The question remains—as rumors of Republican defections from a yes vote on the confirmation begin to swirl around Capitol Hill—will they blink and postpone the confirmation vote and allow the FBI investigation that all of the female accusers have requested to take place? Or will they rush forward to confirm their deeply-flawed nominee into a lifetime conservative seat on the court against the swell of public opinion that rapidly turns further against them each passing day.

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Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.