Trump calls it “fighting back.” His lawyers should be telling him it fits neatly into the narrative that Trump is obstructing justice.

As this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline update depicts, Trump and the GOP — with Fox News as their reliable delivery vehicle — are orchestrating a public relations assault on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former FBI Director James Comey. As Trump and his defenders flood the airwaves with chaos and confusion, it’s worth remembering the line that Gen. George S. Patton wrote in 1944 and legendary football coach Vince Lombardi repeated twenty years later: “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

Comey’s new book is a vivid reminder to a tired nation that he is a central witness against Trump in any obstruction of justice case that special counsel Robert Mueller might bring. Trump’s aggressive turn toward Rosenstein sure looks like a prelude to firing the deputy attorney general who supervises Mueller’s investigation. That would allow Trump to install a lackey who could limit or terminate the probe.

These are perilous times for American democracy and the rule of law.

Here are the latest Trump-Russia Timeline updates:

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015: Ukrainian Billionaire Contributes $150,000 to Trump Foundation

JULY 27, 2016: Stone Says Russians Leaking Hacked Clinton Emails

OCT. 7, 2016: Intelligence Community Publishes Statement on Russian Interference

JAN. 11, 2017: Trump To Comey: “Golden Shower” Claim Cannot Be True

MARCH 22, 2017: Trump Asks Senior Intelligence Officials to Get Comey to Back Off

MARCH 30, 2017: Nunes’ Sources Are Members of the Trump Administration

MARCH 30, 2017: Trump Asks Comey to ‘Lift the Cloud’ of the Russia Investigation

AUG. 30, 2017: Cohen Rebuts ‘Steele Dossier’ and REPLACED with: AUG. 14, 2017: Cohen’s Attorney Rebuts ‘Steele Dossier’

SHORTLY AFTER DEC. 5, 2017: Trump Considers Firing Mueller, Again

APRIL 9, 2018: FBI Raids Michael Cohen

APRIL 9, 2018: Trump Lashes Out After FBI Raid on Cohen

APRIL 10, 2018: Trump Tweets About Cohen Raid and the Russia Investigation 

APRIL 10, 2018: Zuckerberg Testifies Before Congress

APRIL 10, 2018: Trump Believes He Can Fire Mueller

APRIL 10, 2018: NRA Shuts Down Wyden

APRIL 11, 2018: Trump Tweets About $150,000 Payment to His Foundation

APRIL 11, 2018: Trump Tweets: “No Obstruction, (Other Than I Fight Back)”

APRIL 11, 2018: Trump Tweets About Mueller and Rosenstein Conflicts

APRIL 11, 2018: Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Mueller; Fate Uncertain

APRIL 11-12, 2018: White House Approves GOP Attack on Comey and Rosenstein

APRIL 12, 2018: Trump Won’t Sit for Mueller Interview

APRIL 12, 2018: Trump Tweets About Mueller

APRIL 13, 2018: Trump Tweets About Comey

APRIL 13, 2018: DOJ Inspector General Issues Report on McCabe; Trump Issues Bizarre Tweet

APRIL 13, 2018: Trump Calls Cohen, Pardons Libby

APRIL 13, 2018: Nunes, Gowdy & Goodlatte Demand Comey’s Memos from Rosenstein

APRIL 15, 2018: Trump Tweets About Comey, Mueller, and Clinton

APRIL 16, 2018: Trump Tweets About Clinton, Comey, and McCabe

APRIL 16, 2018: Cohen-Watnick Joins DOJ