Donnie at the bat

Following his incredible, fantastic middle eastern tour, our cleanup hitter set sail for Europe. Based on his behavior there, it would appear that he was severely affected by his encounter with the orb. Not since Woody Allen in "Sleeper", has an orb appeared to exert such power.

First stop was Rome for a Photo–Op with Pope Francis. Watching the video, one could not but wish to know what thoughts we're going through the mind of Pope Francis as he sat across the table from Donnie.

Then it was on to Brussels and a NATO meeting. All you need to know about that, and maybe all you need to know about Donnie, was captured when he rudely shoved aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro in order to be front and center for the cameras. I suppose it was also important that he continued to be rude and boorish to our allies as he laid out his new European strategy of screw you, it's America only. We don't need you guys and your stinking trade policies.

Finally, it was off to Sicily where Don Trumpleoni doubled down I'll his stupid and boorish behavior.

So we can summarize the trip. First he cozied up to a repressive autocracy that spawned and nurished Wahabbism. He also, perhaps unwittingly chose sides in the sectarian disputes twix Sunnis and Shia.(It is entirely possible that much of what Donnie does is" unwitting ". He is certainly witless). Next  he visited both Netanyahu and Abbas. He managed to avoid any mention of settlements, borders, an independent Palestinian State and Jerusalem. So how he claims that he advances the ball towards resolution by ignoring all the difficult issues. Finally, he went to Europe and insulted the best allies we have ever had.

Summing up, Donnie claimed he had hit a" Home run". We here in Mudville know that" Mighty" Donnie had struck out.

National lampoon presents Trump family vacation

Move aside Griswold's. It is that wacky Trump family off to the Middle East. First stop is Saudi Arabia, the heart of Sunni Islam. You will remember Donny's fondness for Muslims and his congenial remark" they hate us". You may also remember his criticism of President Obama for not using the phrase" radical islam terrorists" because if he had it apparently would have had some talismanic effect and would have gone far to solve all Middle Eastern problems. Oddly enough, Donnie forgot to use that term. In addition, Donnie apparently has a Manichaean View of the world where there is good and evil. Saudi Arabia,  repressive monarchy that allowed  Wahhabism to flourish is now in Donnies eyes on this side of the  good. Additionally, he has now decided to take sides in the Sunni/Shia religious dispute, backing the Sunnis.How did this happen? Well, Donnie obviously booked the Royal vacation which included pomp and circumstance, flattery and lavish banquets and even a a participation in a really nifty sword dance where are lots of old men hold swords and do a kind of dance step reminiscent of Elaine on Seinfeld or perhaps what Rodney Dangerfield called the dance of the dead. Apparently US foreign policy will now be  back autocratic Sunni States against Shia states, most particularly Iran.

Donnie also gave a speech in Saudi arabia that was surprisingly sensible. That is, the world of Islam needed to rid itself of terrorists. He didn't say how and perhaps he thinks that all that needs to be done is to wage war against Iran.

The family next to visited Israel and Palestine. You will recall Donnie thinks that ending the conflict between those two shouldn't be all that difficult. Both Abbas and Bibi expressed some optimism for ending the dispute. It is probably noteworthy that vexatious subjects such as settlements, borders, an independent Palestinian state and one or two capitals in Jerusalem were never mentioned. So, other than atmospherics, it's hard to imagine what it was actually accomplished.

Most importantly, the family had a great time and Melani and Ivanka got to wear a lot of swell new clothes. Also, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Donny was spared all that tiresome criticism and demonstrations. Most importantly,.he was having so much fun and flattery that he had very little time to tweet so that we all got too enjoy the Trump family Desert vacation.

Now, on to Europe. Donnie is going to tell those guys a thing or two.

The deal guy takes a trip

Donnie is off to see the world, somewhat like a college student on summer vacation. This will be the greatest most successful presidential tour ever. It will be a really really fantastic. The crowds and receptions will be the largest of all time and by far the most enthusiastic. Donnie will strike up  really really great friendships with mutual admiration, although more admiration will flow towards Donnie than away. He will make really great deals. Now that that is out-of-the-way we can move on.

Donnie's first stop will be Saudi Arabia. There are things we need from Saudi Arabia. That country is content to blast off the face of the earth the Shia Isis elements in Yemen, but has shown no willingness to participate in the struggle against Sunni Isis forces in Iraq and Syria. That needs to change. What Saudia Arabia most wants from the US is that Iran be reduced to at best a third rate nation. Saudi Arabia wants to be the predominant Arab country in the Middle East. We can expect the Saudi to remind Donnie that the deal made by six nations, including the US, was the worst deal he had ever seen. They will tell him a man of his great abilities can certainly do better. Donnie right now is wounded by what has happened to him in his own country. He is highly susceptible of manipulation. He may well make some stupid commitments to the Saudi's.

On to Israel. He will be told by Netanyahu how much greater a president he is than Obama. Netanyahu did not have any great affection for Obama because Obama was properly doing his job. As Henry Kissinger has written, the US role in the in the Middle East must be one of a balancing power brokering between the various factions. Obama understood that Israel was our greatest ally in the Middle East but that the interests of the Netanyahu faction and the US we're not coextensive. I am no great fan of Henry Kissinger but he is wise and experienced in  and has a consistent theory of how  world order can be maintained. That puts him way ahead of most, certainly ahead of Donnie and his advisers. Donnie's meeting with Netanyahu has all the promises of a replay of his session with the Russians where Donnie does something stupid and gets nothing in return.

One may wonder who is briefing Donnie and whether he is paying any attention. Notwithstanding the events of this week, we have to hope that his  NSA and the career diplomats can take out their cranial drills and prepare Donnie.

Trump Sacrifices a Good Man

It is the job of the national security adviser to give the president information and advice on matters affecting the security of the United States. It is not the job of the NAS two explain away or attempt to justify National security indiscretions of the president. Yet that is exactly what the president and his inner circle of incompetents instructed HM McMaster to do yesterday. McMaster is a widely if not universally respected soldier and geopolitical expert. But after yesterday, he will never quite look the same. McMaster is a soldier and as such he follows orders from the Commander-in-Chief as he did yesterday.

McMaster was given an impossible task. In a typical careless and impromptu fashion, Trump revealed to the Russians "code–word" intelligence. That designation means it was received from the intelligence Service of another country and cannot be shared without express  approval of that country. That was not obtained.

McMaster stated that the new York Times article was wrong or false because the Trump disclosure did not reveal sources or methods nor did it discuss any nonpublic military operations. The article never said it did. It only talked about revealing code word information. Thus McMaster made not so much a denial of the story but an attempted obfuscation. He then attempted obliquely to justify Trump's disclosure of code word information by stating Trump didn't know where the intelligence originated. Assuming this to be true, it begs the question "Why didn't he know"? Is it shoddy briefing? Or is it the case that Trump's attention span is so limited that he can only be given bullet point briefings without normal detail? Or did Trump merely forget while enjoying a moment with his Russian buddies? My money is on door number two but maybe number three.

Trump is now off to see the world this week and because of recent events will be groveling for stature. Lord only knows what he might trade for that. Keep in mind he apparently got nothing in return from the Russians.

It was reported this week that at least one fact checker has chronicled nearly 500 lies from Trump since his inauguration. Also, most of the corporate expansion and job creation that Trump is claiming credit for were announced in 2015. Finally, speaking of surrogates, kellyanne apparently has outed herself, disclosing her distaste for Donnie. I doubt we will be seeing much more of her.

Russians Play Trump

Yesterday's headline was Trump revealing to the Russians classified information received from an ally. There seems no doubt that he should not have done this but he has a right to declassify any information. So yesterday and today the battle rages in the media and Trump's National security adviser is protecting him and also mischaracterizing the Washington Post article. What the outcome of this is going to be is no harm no foul.

But, this argument about a specific event, it's importance, the ramifications of Trump's reckless act, Etc. misses the point. What this demonstrates is that Trump's fragile ego, inattentiveness and ignorance makes him highly susceptible to manipulation. It's not hard to see what happened. The Russian Foreign Minister and ambassador jollied up to trump, told him how great they thought he was and that he is being unfairly treated and generally said we big important people really know what is going on. Trump, in the glow of such treatment started to prove how important he is and the nifty thing is he knows. The Russians must've loved this.

It is disheartening that McMaster, at least publicly, acted as he did. He knows better and is one of the few people around Trump that we hope can protect us from Trump. Trump, with his extended metaphor that any criticism is" fake news" has effectively insulated himself from what most of us would consider objective reality. It is become clear that he really believes the crap that he says. It will not be lost on other foreign governments, including the new dictatorial president of Turkey who makes with Trump today, that Trump is highly susceptible of manipulation. Trump is a highly dangerous person who has mainly surrounded himself with sycophants. It is also apparent that the Republican Congress considers Trump on balance an asset to their aims and will not confront or control him. If McMaster and a few other adults in the room cannot figure out how to control Trump, we are in for a few more unpleasant surprises. I see no reason for optimism.

TW3

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive".

The predominant question that the events of this week highlights and reinforces is" Is Donald Trump merely an unrepentant serial liar or is he also seriously and dangerously delusional?" There have been many opinions offered that he is narcissistic and that he suffers from ADD but those are basically clinical conclusions made without proper clinical foundation. But there are comments which can be legitimately made without indulging in faux psychological analysis. First he is extremely petty and obsessed with attacking any statements which purport to diminish his importance and competence. Many of these are unprovoked such as his insistence that is inauguration had the largest crowd in history, that he is been wiretapped and that he would have won the popular vote absent voter fraud. A similar thing is his multiple comments that he was a much better host on the apprentice than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Then there are his outlandish claims of knowledge and confidence such as only he can save America, He knows more about Isis than the general's, he can single-handedly revive moribund industries and he has a health plan that will provide coverage tomorrow Americans add cheaper cost to them and with less deductions, an impossibility unless he would propose a single payer plan which he would not. Then there are his claims of the accomplishments of his administration which are nearly nonexistent. He has signed a lot of the executive orders, many of which are nothing but theater any has a lot of meetings. Those meetings don't seem to result in anything other than photo ops.

There is a general notion, particularly among his supporters that he should quit tweeting. I disagree. Those tweets provide valuable insight into his thinking and limitations. First, they are impulsive and demonstrate his inability to handle criticism or even faint praise. Another thing they demonstrate is that 144 characters are more than sufficient to present his entire analysis of any problem, no matter how complex. Those tweets tell us who and what he is and that is the last thing his supporters want revealed. As Gertrude Stein once said, there is no there there.

One bright spot lately has been the public appearances and comments of  James Clapper. Among all the talking heads and strategists and experts and spokespeople he seems the most knowledgeable /thoughtful and nonpartisan of them all. It is obvious that he is driven by his respect for and concern for our institutions of democracy. He would make a great person to direct the FBI through the next few years. I doubt he will be offered the position and perhaps he would not take it if offered. But it would sure be nice to see him in that position.

Trump–The Art of the Lie

Director James Comey of the FBI was fired yesterday by Donnie in a manner unusually tacky even by this administration's standards.

 Donnie essentially says he had nothing to do with the decision but was merely following the suggestion of a newly minted deputy Atty. Gen.

Two questions arise. First, could Comey's firing have been justified by his actions during the campaign? The answer is yes. Second were the reasons contained in deputy attorney general Rosenstien's memo and the notion that Trump was only following Rosenstein's suggestion true and accurate? The answer is no.

The story being advanced by the White House talking heads, including vice president Pence whose sole marketing skill appears to be that of a consummate bullshitter who can do so without blushing, is as follows. The new Deputy Attorney General who is been on the job for two weeks decided on his own to analyze whether Comey's actions in October would justify his being fired. Now that is a pretty big decision to make and it beggars belief that someone new on-the-job wouldn't jump into that frying pan. That is particularly true considering his ultimate boss, Donnie, had through January generally praised Comey and particularly lauded Comey's reopening his investigation of Hillary Clinton publicly 11 days before the election. Those are among the actions where ask to believe caused Rosenstein to come to his independent conclusion of his independent investigation. One also has to believe that the FBI investigation of Trump and Trump's associate's connections with Russia and his recent testimony had nothing whatsoever to do with the independent decision of Rosenstein which Trump meekly followed. In other words, we are asked to believe that Trump had nothing to do with the decision and that it was solely based upon events occurring six months ago and not the current actions of Comey  and the FBI. Jeffrey Toobin, who is long experience in reporting on events in Washington was nearly apoplectic about this transparent bullshit.

The other explanation for why Comey was fired is rather simple. It is step one in slowing down and eventually extinguishing any investigation of Trump, his associates and the Russians. Occam's razor and even a nodding familiarity with Trumps'modus operandi would also support this simple conclusion.

Today, what is truly disturbing is that most of the republicans in Congress who know better are going to support or at least not to contest seriously the White House bull shit. There will be some Republican leaders who will be saying" oh dear, this doesn't look good". But nothing will happen. There will be no independent investigation, Trump's tax returns will not be released and we will see more of the same from this arrogant, incompetent disgrace of the president and the morally and intellectually bankrupt Congress.

Trump's "Mission Accomplished" moment

Because there was no aircraft carrier convenient, nor could trump fit in the rear seat of a Carrier based plane, Trump had to settle for a rose garden victory celebration. As his golden hair glinted in the sun, Trump announced that he had caused to be passed by the house a really really great, fantastic healthcare and protection plan that would provide everyone with better coverage at a lower cost. He was able to get the house that has approximately 40 more Republicans than Democrats to finaly pass a health care plan they had only been working on for eight years. This plan  squeaked  by , probably because with late amendments the members of the House had no time to read it nor had it been scored by the CBO. Trump was so enthusiastic about getting a plan passed by the house, that he was spared embarrassment earlier when he attempted to sign a lease that had flown and the window.

When asked if the plan really provided great protection Trump enthusiastically said it really did." With the late amendments, all difficult decisions have been pushed down to the states including how to deal with pre-existing conditions and a shrinking Medicaid amount. Now if the plan doesn't work as I promised, I have complete protection because I can blame it on the states." When asked whether they senate would pass this really really remarkable healthcare plan Trump stated" who cares?". That's just another level of protection. I can blame the Senate for any imperfections caused by their meddling with my really really great plan. As you know, he said I really value protection. For instance, when I am in the tanning booth or having Tan sprayed on my face, I always wear goggles. That's why I look somewhat like a raccoon.

When asked to discuss the basic provisions of the plan, Trump responded that it is a really really great, a fantastic plan. Let the celebration begin.

Blonde Airheads

There were I recall lots of blonde jokes. The target of these jokes were supposedly ditzy blonde women who are real airheads.(Of course, ultimately the joke was on us because they all became fox TV reporters.) Recollection of these jokes recently sprang into my mind. The prescient among you can probably guess what provoked this. Now it is not true that every thing that Donnie says reminds one of the other blonde airheads, it just seems that way.

His most current mental meander concerns the Civil War and his notion that people don't think about what caused it and how it might've been prevented. It is accurate that that does not tend to be a hot current topic of discussion. But, actually, for some reason a while ago the conservative Republicans seemed to be reviving that topic. Their contention was that the Civil War had little if anything to do with slavery. It was about the Constitutional Rights of states vis-à-vis the federal government. In the run up to the Civil War, there was the issue of the right of the states to nullify Federal law.John C Calhoun, for instance wrote a defense of the state's right to do so. But what this had to do with was the right of the southern states to resist any attempt of the federal government to end slavery by nullification. So there is no doubt, particularly when one reads contemporaneus statements of southern leaders urging secession, that it was all about slavery and the rights of southern states to keep that institution. Although Donnie, who apparently doesn't read much, might not know it, the topic of how and what caused the Civil War has probably been as extensively researched and written about has any subject of American history.

Lest you think I am being unfair to Donnie by comparing him to blonde airhead jokes, he is not alone. I don't know if the republican state politicians in Texas are blonde, but they are certainly airheads. Legislation has been introduced purporting to give the state of Texas the right to nullify Federal law that does not meet their liking. There have been mutterings of a similar nature in other states in guess what part of the country.

So, it is probably unfair to revive the metaphor of blonde airheads. Donnie is probably not an airhead because he is blond, Should he change hair colors the way he changes ideas and concepts , he would still be an airhead. And, it would be totally unfair to blonde Women to compare them to Donnie in this respect.