The events of last week–Cohen, Manafort and Trump's accountant being given immunity–have caused the members of the chattering class that appear on the endless daily panels to claim that an "inflection point" has been reached and the end is insight for Donnie. They really like that term" inflection point". In fact, donnie's approval rating has hardly been affected.
We had over the weekend the death of John McCain. It is useful to compare McCain to Trump, particularly since McCain left instructions that Trump not attend his memorial services. That was a good idea because if Trump were to attend and speak he would probably say something along these lines." McCain was taken prisoner in the Vietnam War and was unable to contribute to the war effort. He also ran unsuccessfully twice for president. I only ran once and had an overwhelming victory and also had the highest ratings ever for a reality TV show."
All we need to do is keep in mind two memories and images. The first is John McCain during the campaign telling one of his supporters at a rally that Barack Obama was" not an Arab but was a decent man, a family man." This second is Donald Trump at his endless rallies, which have not stopped, cheering on his supporters as they chant "lock her up". We might also remember how he demeaned and belittled all of his primary opponents.
It is hard to characterize or categorize his current supporters. It is relatively easy to understand why diverse people voted for him. His opponent was highly flawed and ran in a bad campaign. He made extravagant promises with no substance and falsely portrayed himself as some sort of populist. Inevitably there is a block of voters who want" change". His current level of support however is not as easy to explain. He has demonstrated that he is not a populace and continues to lie about his nonexistent programs for the benefit of the middle and lower class. It should be obvious he is lying and always did. He is definitely not a conservative and real conservatives such as George Will despise him. He is certainly not a liberal or progressive. He undoubtably has support from people who we could label plutocrats or maybe more accurately kleptocrats driven largely by greed and self-interest. So, it appears his supporters are those who are either too ignorant or lazy to look at what he is and does or simply those are driven by greed and self interest.
The polls suggest that a majority a voters disapproval him and believe him to be a liar. That doesn't mean that the Democrats will win elections. First there are gerrymandered congressional districts. Second, the Senate is a totally unrepresentative body, in which States generally backing trump are highly overrepresented. The Democrats have a lot of work to do. They need to beat the drums exposing trump and offer better policies and programs of their own, such as job training and infrastructure building. They had better get to work and forget about inflection points.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Thursday, August 23, 2018
The Donald–Deluded, Deranged and Dangerous
Today, the focus of the usual suspects' endless chattering is the I word-" impeachment." The springboard to this is Donnie's current status as an unindicted criminal conspirator. This has even got Donnie's attention. Today on radio Moscow, AKA fox news, Donnie's primary delusion was on full view. He explained to the current pretty blonde Fox lady that absent him, the company would go down the drain. He pointed to his head and claims that it is only his brilliance that keeps the country rich and stable. His delusion about his own competence and abilities is dangerous. He apparently accepts advice from practically no one, unless that advice is to say" you are absolutely right". He is demonstrably inept, incompetent and somewhat dim. His recent trips to Europe and Singapore demonstrated he could not negotiate any kind of complicated problem. He doesn't have either the knowledge or attention span.
He is clearly spinning out of control. This is a person who arises early to watch television and tweet. He responds to FOXNews and other news programs with anger and frustration. His tweets are repetitious, Basically saying" fake news, no collusion and witch hunt". He claims anybody who disagrees with him is stupid and corrupt," it is so sad and a disgrace."His grip on reality becomes ever more tenuous. He has perhaps the most important and difficult job in the world which he doesn't start until 11 AM and then spends most of his time in photo ops and making stupid and inaccurate statements. He apparently ends the day yelling at the television set and making the same ridiculous tweets.
As the noose tightens around him he becomes ever more dangerous. His only response is to attack. Recently his targets have been the justice department and its most prominent principals–Sessions and Mueller. It would not be surprising were he to fire both of them as well as Rosenstein. Although Republican senators and congressmen have said that would be over the line , don't bet on them doing anything. He is also focused on Iran, and the two countries Best debt pandering to him–Saudi Arabia and Israel want Iran to be brought to its knees. So far Donnie is only using sanctions but don't bet against him launching a military attack.
The problem with impeachment, should the Democrats get control of the house, is that not enough Republican senators would vote to impeach. Not only that, impeachment brings us Mike Pence, not much of an improvement. The only good answer is at the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. If, given what we have seen we voters do not bring in Democrats we are in deep shit.
He is clearly spinning out of control. This is a person who arises early to watch television and tweet. He responds to FOXNews and other news programs with anger and frustration. His tweets are repetitious, Basically saying" fake news, no collusion and witch hunt". He claims anybody who disagrees with him is stupid and corrupt," it is so sad and a disgrace."His grip on reality becomes ever more tenuous. He has perhaps the most important and difficult job in the world which he doesn't start until 11 AM and then spends most of his time in photo ops and making stupid and inaccurate statements. He apparently ends the day yelling at the television set and making the same ridiculous tweets.
As the noose tightens around him he becomes ever more dangerous. His only response is to attack. Recently his targets have been the justice department and its most prominent principals–Sessions and Mueller. It would not be surprising were he to fire both of them as well as Rosenstein. Although Republican senators and congressmen have said that would be over the line , don't bet on them doing anything. He is also focused on Iran, and the two countries Best debt pandering to him–Saudi Arabia and Israel want Iran to be brought to its knees. So far Donnie is only using sanctions but don't bet against him launching a military attack.
The problem with impeachment, should the Democrats get control of the house, is that not enough Republican senators would vote to impeach. Not only that, impeachment brings us Mike Pence, not much of an improvement. The only good answer is at the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. If, given what we have seen we voters do not bring in Democrats we are in deep shit.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Book of Job
If God be kind benevolent and watching over his children, why is Aretha Franklin dead Donald Trump alive?If God be kind benevolent and watching over his children, why is Aretha Franklin dead and Donald Trump alive?
Talk about the I words, not the N-word
Among the current hot topics about the fool in the White House, is whether he has used the N word. Obviously this is going to be a hot topic but in the scheme of things it really isn't. We have several years I'll his disgusting use of language to degrade or defame is ever growing number of critics. Whether he use the N word or not is in context relatively unimportant. It certainly isn't going to affect any of his supporters. It appears that nothing will affect his solid base but there are those marginal voters that carried him over-the-top that can be persuaded to dump him but one more example of his bad behavior probably will not do it.
The DNC and the democrat candidates need to be talking about the I words–ignorance and incompetence. That is the sort of thing which they carry the day and it is not a hard sell. His ignorance was manifest during the primary and general election campaigns. Particularly during the primaries, when asked about any strategies policies or programs all he could say was they will be "huge". He obviously had nothing. During the general election campaign he Maska rated has some sort of populist claiming he had a great healthcare program that would provide more benefits and cost less. He also claimed to know more about the Mideast wars than the generals. Upon being elected all he focused on apparently was the size of the the inauguration crowd, the amount of the total vote he received and whether he had better ratings than Arnold Schwarzenegger on the apprentice. He also was going to provide a big tax reform package. What did he come up with? His health plan was so bad even the Republican majority wouldn't pass it; his big tax reform plan meant to healthy lower and middle class was nothing more than Paul Ryan's giveaway to corporate America; and he said he had asked the generals to prepare some comprehensive release plan in a matter of days or so.
Subsequently he has demonstrated his incompetence either way he is insulted our allies, Gay funding obsequious behavior to our enemies such as Russia and North Korea and generally made extravagant claims all of which tend to be proven false immediately. He could not even competently respond to his critics. His only response is to yell" fake news". In a sense he is right because what the media primarily presents and which he calls fake news are his own statements and claims which are fake. In short, he has done nothing to show that he is remotely competent to be president and that he is totally ignorant about things he needs to know. This is compounded by the fact that he appears to be delusional and unwilling to listen to people who do know things. This is what should be brought to the attention of the voters and not more redundancy about the disgusting and stupid things he says denigrating people. That has been more than evident and doesn't need constant repetition.
The DNC and the democrat candidates need to be talking about the I words–ignorance and incompetence. That is the sort of thing which they carry the day and it is not a hard sell. His ignorance was manifest during the primary and general election campaigns. Particularly during the primaries, when asked about any strategies policies or programs all he could say was they will be "huge". He obviously had nothing. During the general election campaign he Maska rated has some sort of populist claiming he had a great healthcare program that would provide more benefits and cost less. He also claimed to know more about the Mideast wars than the generals. Upon being elected all he focused on apparently was the size of the the inauguration crowd, the amount of the total vote he received and whether he had better ratings than Arnold Schwarzenegger on the apprentice. He also was going to provide a big tax reform package. What did he come up with? His health plan was so bad even the Republican majority wouldn't pass it; his big tax reform plan meant to healthy lower and middle class was nothing more than Paul Ryan's giveaway to corporate America; and he said he had asked the generals to prepare some comprehensive release plan in a matter of days or so.
Subsequently he has demonstrated his incompetence either way he is insulted our allies, Gay funding obsequious behavior to our enemies such as Russia and North Korea and generally made extravagant claims all of which tend to be proven false immediately. He could not even competently respond to his critics. His only response is to yell" fake news". In a sense he is right because what the media primarily presents and which he calls fake news are his own statements and claims which are fake. In short, he has done nothing to show that he is remotely competent to be president and that he is totally ignorant about things he needs to know. This is compounded by the fact that he appears to be delusional and unwilling to listen to people who do know things. This is what should be brought to the attention of the voters and not more redundancy about the disgusting and stupid things he says denigrating people. That has been more than evident and doesn't need constant repetition.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Words Trump can understand
I feel very very strongly that wacky Donald Trump is a really despicable lowlife. I have had many people tell me that, really very intelligent incredible people tell me that. In fact people come up to me on the street and say "that Donald Trump is really a despicable lowlife". These are exceptional people, really remarkable and intelligent people. I also feel very very strongly that he is a low IQ person. I primarily based that on the stupid things he keeps saying and doing but I have also had many really remarkable, very intelligent people say to me" that Donald Trump is a really low IQ person".
He really seems more like an animal that a person, probably a braying jackass.
Many people, very fine people, have told me that he is a crook and that he and his companies were probably engaged in money laundering. People have asked me, "why doesn't he released his tax returns?" They say he is a real braggart about his accomplishments and that if he were a successful businessman he would publish his tax returns on the front page of national newspapers, after first discussing them with Sean Hannity on FOXNews. This I can tell you, anyone who puts his name on anything within reach is not about to be a shrinking violet what it comes to demonstrating his success
Very fine people I know have said that they could arrange for me to play golf with Trump but I would have to sign a nondisclosure agreement, agreeing to never discuss how well or how badly he played golf. I have talked to some very fine people, and good golfers who have played with Trump. When I asked about his golf game they merely roll their eyes and say they are not allowed to talk about it. This I can tell you, if he were good he would want them to talk about it.
This I can tell you ,I feel very very strongly about this.
He really seems more like an animal that a person, probably a braying jackass.
Many people, very fine people, have told me that he is a crook and that he and his companies were probably engaged in money laundering. People have asked me, "why doesn't he released his tax returns?" They say he is a real braggart about his accomplishments and that if he were a successful businessman he would publish his tax returns on the front page of national newspapers, after first discussing them with Sean Hannity on FOXNews. This I can tell you, anyone who puts his name on anything within reach is not about to be a shrinking violet what it comes to demonstrating his success
Very fine people I know have said that they could arrange for me to play golf with Trump but I would have to sign a nondisclosure agreement, agreeing to never discuss how well or how badly he played golf. I have talked to some very fine people, and good golfers who have played with Trump. When I asked about his golf game they merely roll their eyes and say they are not allowed to talk about it. This I can tell you, if he were good he would want them to talk about it.
This I can tell you ,I feel very very strongly about this.
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Trump's" working" vacation
Trump is now on an 11 day working vacation. In fact that phrase could be a metaphor for his entire presidency, with the emphasis on the word "vacation". The role of president of United States is probably the most difficult job in the world. A president has to deal with an incredible range of subject matter area–the military, the environment, Health and Human Services, the domestic economy, International trade issues, foreign relations with both enemies and friends–the list is endless. I have worked on litigation involving expert ties to testimony, Typically in my case economic testimony but also from time to time testimony of experts in various areas of commerce and industry. It is a difficult task because you have to spend enough time to become at least conversant with the terminology and the structure of thinking the experts use.
Donald Trump came into the presidency with nearly total ignorance of all important areas. He demonstrated that during the primary and general campaigns when he refused to indicate when his policy or thinking was on nearly anything. Then when he became president he showed a total disdain for knowledge and the work necessary to gain knowledge. For instance he said he knew more about the middle east wars then the generals and he could devise a health plan for the US that would be less expensive with less deductibles and more coverage, clearly not a possible program other than maybe under a single-payer plan which he does not want. He was also going to totally reform the tax code and we have seen what he actually did. Prior to his meeting with Kim in Singapore there was concern as to whether he was adequately prepared. Is response was that His entire life had prepared him any pretty clearly did nothing in preparation. Then he spent maybe an hour alone with Kim and announced he is solved problems in the Korean Peninsula and we need not fear North Korea. It has become obvious that that was complete bullshit. You did not prepare for his meeting with our allies in Europe and instead disrespected him and said stupid things and then went off to meet with Putin in Helsinki with no preparation. Either the public or his National security adviser Dan Coats knows what was said at that meeting.
In short, Trump treats the presidency as a part-time job that requires neither preparation nor close attention. He has this delusion that the force of his personality as all that is necessary. He is now doing the one thing that he loves, campaigning. He loves it because he is surrounded by his most devoted followers to whom he can lie with impunity. He follows this by claiming that any criticism of his lying and stupidity amounts to fake news and appears to be on a mission to have the free press eliminated as much as possible. We will have elections in the fall of 2018 and then in 2020. If the Democrats cannot by 2020 have regained control of the presidency and at least either the House or Senate we are really without hope. At that point were I not so old and were it not so difficult to arrange for all my children and grandchildren to accompany me I would probably become an ex-pat.
Donald Trump came into the presidency with nearly total ignorance of all important areas. He demonstrated that during the primary and general campaigns when he refused to indicate when his policy or thinking was on nearly anything. Then when he became president he showed a total disdain for knowledge and the work necessary to gain knowledge. For instance he said he knew more about the middle east wars then the generals and he could devise a health plan for the US that would be less expensive with less deductibles and more coverage, clearly not a possible program other than maybe under a single-payer plan which he does not want. He was also going to totally reform the tax code and we have seen what he actually did. Prior to his meeting with Kim in Singapore there was concern as to whether he was adequately prepared. Is response was that His entire life had prepared him any pretty clearly did nothing in preparation. Then he spent maybe an hour alone with Kim and announced he is solved problems in the Korean Peninsula and we need not fear North Korea. It has become obvious that that was complete bullshit. You did not prepare for his meeting with our allies in Europe and instead disrespected him and said stupid things and then went off to meet with Putin in Helsinki with no preparation. Either the public or his National security adviser Dan Coats knows what was said at that meeting.
In short, Trump treats the presidency as a part-time job that requires neither preparation nor close attention. He has this delusion that the force of his personality as all that is necessary. He is now doing the one thing that he loves, campaigning. He loves it because he is surrounded by his most devoted followers to whom he can lie with impunity. He follows this by claiming that any criticism of his lying and stupidity amounts to fake news and appears to be on a mission to have the free press eliminated as much as possible. We will have elections in the fall of 2018 and then in 2020. If the Democrats cannot by 2020 have regained control of the presidency and at least either the House or Senate we are really without hope. At that point were I not so old and were it not so difficult to arrange for all my children and grandchildren to accompany me I would probably become an ex-pat.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Is it 25th amendment time?
As Trump swings into his campaign mode he is becoming even more uncontrolled, erratic and inconsistent. His campaign speeches more and more resemble tent revival meetings with overtones of hallucinogenic drugs. Is early morning tweets become more and more preposterous. He also claims more and more to have made incredible deals when it is clear he has accomplished nothing.
The usual suspects in the usual panels chatter endlessly about what his strategy is and will it work and is he only playing to his base, Etc. I think they are overlooking the obvious. He appears to be becoming more and more delusional and mentally unstable. I am not so naïve to think that the Republicans and the members of his cabinet are going to deal realistically with his behavior. They seem content to simply shrug their shoulders. Meanwhile, Trump's current mania is to reverse any regulation made during the Obama administration. It appears as though he is motivated to prove how great he is by obliterating all traces of his predecessor. He also continues to be obsessed with attacking Hillary Clinton. He is given credit for this being a diversionary tactic. I think the more likely explanation is that it worked during the campaign and he wants to live in the moments of the last campaign, perhaps dimly recognizing that he is totally incompetent in his job. He claims to be a" stable genius". Is pretty clearly neither stable nor a genius.
Those in a position to exercise some control over him appear most often to be either unwilling or unable to do so. Their remedy is consistently to try to clean up the mess created by Trump by verbal sleight-of-hand tactics.
Trump is our version of King Lear standing on the cliffs raging against the wind. We are in some sort of race to gain some measure of control in 2018 and hope that he is voted out in 2020 and in the meanwhile does not do Irreparable damage to the republic. It is hard to be optimistic.
The usual suspects in the usual panels chatter endlessly about what his strategy is and will it work and is he only playing to his base, Etc. I think they are overlooking the obvious. He appears to be becoming more and more delusional and mentally unstable. I am not so naïve to think that the Republicans and the members of his cabinet are going to deal realistically with his behavior. They seem content to simply shrug their shoulders. Meanwhile, Trump's current mania is to reverse any regulation made during the Obama administration. It appears as though he is motivated to prove how great he is by obliterating all traces of his predecessor. He also continues to be obsessed with attacking Hillary Clinton. He is given credit for this being a diversionary tactic. I think the more likely explanation is that it worked during the campaign and he wants to live in the moments of the last campaign, perhaps dimly recognizing that he is totally incompetent in his job. He claims to be a" stable genius". Is pretty clearly neither stable nor a genius.
Those in a position to exercise some control over him appear most often to be either unwilling or unable to do so. Their remedy is consistently to try to clean up the mess created by Trump by verbal sleight-of-hand tactics.
Trump is our version of King Lear standing on the cliffs raging against the wind. We are in some sort of race to gain some measure of control in 2018 and hope that he is voted out in 2020 and in the meanwhile does not do Irreparable damage to the republic. It is hard to be optimistic.
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