The gravity of Trump’s situation gets clearer

[Bloomberg]( Today’s Agenda - Michael Cohen’s latest guilty plea is a [nightmare for Trump](. - America [doesn’t have to go to war]( with China. - Sedans aren’t dead; [just American ones](. - Coal is the [junk food of energy](. - Maybe don’t rush back into [emerging markets]( just yet. Trump’s Cohen-Shaped Problem The man who once said he would “[take a bullet](” for President Donald Trump just blew a hole in the president’s Russia-probe defenses instead. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, today [pleaded guilty]( to lying to Congress about his involvement in a Trump real-estate deal in Moscow. In a [court filing](, Special Counsel Robert Mueller said Cohen admitted to talking to Russian officials about the deal over several months in 2016, even after the presidential nomination was well within Trump’s grasp. He also seems to have kept Trump in the loop about it. All of this contradicts Trump’s public statements and Cohen’s testimony to Congress. While it may not prove a crime on Trump’s part, writes Noah Feldman, it shows [Mueller tying Trump’s business and political interests and Russia]( into a big, ugly, conflicted, potentially impeachable knot. Trump responded that Cohen is a liar and a “[weak person](.” Such statements reveal Trump’s growing anxiety about the case, as Tim O’Brien [wrote]( yesterday. They also keep pulling Trump into [hotter and hotter water](, Tim writes in a new column today: “The president's comments Thursday, during which he flatly dismissed Cohen's statements and guilty plea as a tissue of lies – despite evidence documenting them in the information Mueller's prosecutors have made public – are likely to cause his lawyers to pull out their collective hair.” To be sure, even before we know all the dirt Mueller has on Trump’s Russia dealings, the president has already made a strong case for his own impeachment, just by flagrantly and [routinely displaying his disdain for the rule of law](, Jonathan Bernstein writes. Like Richard Nixon, Trump’s impeachable offenses aren’t in the past but living, evolving entities. Unlike Nixon, Jonathan writes, Trump evinces not a jot of shame about them. Further Trump Trouble Reading: - Deutsche Bank AG is in [time-out again](. Hey, guess who has a long relationship with Deutsche Bank and [could be smeared in an investigation]( of the bank? Hint: Rhymes with “Gump.” – Tim O’Brien - Hate sleep? Spend a few minutes trying to [imagine Trump handling another financial crisis](. – Ferdinando Giugliano - On the bright side (?), historians worry about Trump [more than economists do](. – Tyler Cowen We Don’t Need Another Cold War Eighties nostalgia will never die. We’re even trying to revive the Cold War, this time against China. The country is a bad actor in a lot of ways, crushing dissent and the free flow of information, flexing its muscles around the world, and not playing fair in technology and business. But we don’t have to [respond by turning China into a blood enemy](, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. America needs China’s help in confronting climate change, North Korea and other difficult problems. And both countries can thrive economically without hurting each other. The U.S. should be militarily strong, but also strengthen global alliances and institutions that can hold China accountable without isolating it and ratcheting up conflict. This weekend’s Trump-Xi summit is an opportunity for a strategic reset. Sedans Aren’t Dead; Only American Ones General Motors Co. got on Trump’s bad side this week for closing plants and laying off people as it stops making small cars. But Joe Nocera points out this goes much deeper than the average spat with the pugnacious POTUS. Starting way back in the 1970s, GM and Ford Motor Co. began losing car-buyers to foreign competitors. Japanese sedans were simply better than American ones, and U.S. auto makers [never really gave them reason to think otherwise](. Coal Is Junk Food Climate change is the biggest problem facing humanity, and coal is one of the biggest contributors to that problem. And yet a lot of countries just can’t seem to quit coal, sort of like how I can’t seem to quit eating burgers and fries, no matter how much I know they’re going to kill me. This is more than a metaphor, as Liam Denning writes, with help from this Elaine He chart; some countries, like some people, [need the quick, cheap bursts of energy]( coal provides: This is bad news for humanity. But the good news is that healthier energy options such as solar and wind power are getting cheaper by the day. Further Energy Reading: Crude oil fell below $50 a barrel today, and [OPEC likely won't do much]( to stop the bleeding at its next meeting. – Meghan O’Sullivan Tiptoe Back Into Emerging Markets After what has been a mostly brutal year for emerging markets, people are turning bullish about them again. Mark Gilbert lays out some reasons for hope, including the Fed nearing the end of its rate-hiking campaign and the recent [outperformance of an asset manager specializing in EM](. But Shuli Ren argues that no one should rush back into EM without first getting a better sense of [what’s going to happen to China](. And that is still a bit of a mystery. Telltale Charts Altria Group Inc. took its sweet time, but it finally seems to be [making some plays for relevance]( in the 21st Century, Tara Lachapelle writes. The cigarette maker is reportedly considering stakes in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. and cannabis producer Aphria Inc. Next up, Tara suggests: a reunion with Philip Morris International Inc. If Apple Inc. is going to stop telling us how many phones it sells, then it should at least [give us some other data]( about its strategy, Shira Ovide writes. Oh, and also those phone sales still seem pretty relevant: The Fed seems pretty copacetic with corporate debt levels; [but they are quite high again](, and there are reasons to worry about this in an economic downturn, warns Stephen Gandel. One reason wealth inequality persists for generations: the ability of the rich to give all their money to their kids. We should be taxing this more, but instead [we’re moving in the wrong direction](, writes Noah Smith. Further Reading Is the “gig economy” taking over America? [Depends on what you measure](. – Justin Fox This Fed tightening cycle may look [a lot like the 1994-95 one](. – Tim Duy Deutsche Bank’s latest legal troubles suggest [nobody is in charge](. – Lionel Laurent Theresa May’s Brexit plan is no compromise; [it’s a needless surrender](, and it should be voted down and Britain given a chance to vote on Brexit again. – Clive Crook Polls repeatedly show Americans don’t agree with Trump on trade; [Republicans abandoned free trade for nothing](. – Michael R. Strain Studies suggest people use thoughts and [prayers as substitutes for actually doing something]( about a problem. – Cass Sunstein Emantic Bradford Jr.’s death should [put to rest the NRA lie]( that the good guys with guns will protect us from bad guys with guns. – Francis Wilkinson Just in time for Christmas, here are book recommendations for [aficionados of con artistry](. – Scott Duke Kominers ICYMI Trump’s still [hacking away at Obamacare](. Millennials are [just as consumerist]( as their parents. But they’re also poorer; many have to buy t-shirts and jeans on [installment plans](. Kickers The heart- and torso-warming story of how [one man brought flannel back]( to America (h/t Alistair Lowe) Luxury shoppers [can’t tell the difference]( between a Payless store and a fake one called Palessi. Just in time for Christmas, you can now buy an [Alexa-enabled Big Mouth Billy Bass](. (h/t the previous two kickers to Scott Duke Kominers) Area woman gets the can for [merely opening a can](. (h/t Mike Smedley) Why [extra packaging]( is this year’s hottest toy. Very young kindergarteners are more likely to be [misdiagnosed as having ADHD](. Here are the 100 most influential [horror-movie scenes](. Note: Please send flannel, suggestions and kicker ideas to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. New to Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022