;)
The Commentariat -- March 4, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Anne Gearan & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will not grant exemptions from its new aluminum and steel tariffs for allies such as Canada, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday, as he defended President Trump's sudden imposition of new trade premiums that are likely to hit Canada and Europe hardest."
... Luis Sanchez of the Hill: "British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday expressed 'deep concern' to President Trump over his announced plans to increase steel and aluminum tariffs. May told the president in a phone call that 'multilateral action was the only way to resolve the problem of global overcapacity in all parties' interests,' according to a ... spokesperson."
Everything Is Going So Smoothly. Kirk Semple, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump International Hotel and Tower [in Panama City, Panama,] is President Trump's only hotel property in Latin America.... In recent days, guests have witnessed ... yelling and shoving matches involving security personnel and others, the presence of police in Kevlar helmets, and various interventions by Panamanian labor regulators, forensic specialists and a justice of the peace. The source of the drama? The businessman who recently purchased a majority stake in the hotel wants the Trumps out. And the Trumps, who have a long-term contract to manage the property, are refusing to go. In a letter ... to the hotel's other owners, the businessman, Orestes Fintiklis, likened the Trumps to leeches who had attached to the property, draining our last drops of blood.'... The Trump Organization, in turn, has accused Mr. Fintiklis of using 'thug-like, mob-style tactics.'... This past week, Panama's Public Ministry said it was looking into whether there had been any 'punishable conduct' in the dispute -- which means that an arm of a foreign government finds itself in the extraordinary position of investigating a business owned by the American president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Trump Panama sounds just like the Trump White House to me: yelling & shoving involving security personnel (think, for instance, Omarosa's pounding on the residence door as John Kelly had security staff grab her & unceremoniously "escort" her from the premises), "thug-like, mob-style tactics" (Trump), "leeches" (Trump family), "investigating a business owned by the American president" (Mueller).
Quinn Scanlan & Andres Del Aguila of ABC News: Reince Priebus, "the former chief of staff to ... Donald Trump, said the president sees Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusing himself from the Russia probe as 'the original sin' and he will never 'let it go.'"
Kailani Koenig of NBC News: "Former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Sunday said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell 'watered down' a warning about Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election and defended the Obama administration's response to foreign meddling in the campaign. The language in a September 2016 letter from congressional leaders to state election officials was drastically softened at McConnell's urging, McDonough said in an ... interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press.'... Asked if it was watered down at the insistence of McConnell and only McConnell, McDonough responded, 'yes.'"
Gina Colata & C.J. Chivers of the New York Times: "Perhaps no one knows the devastating wounds inflicted by assault-style rifles better than the trauma surgeons who struggle to repair them. The doctors say they are haunted by their experiences confronting injuries so dire they struggle to find words to describe them.... What follows are the recollections of five trauma surgeons. Three of them served in the military, and they emphasized that their opinions are their own and do not represent those of the armed forces. One has treated civilian victims of such weapons in American cities. And a pediatric surgeon treated victims of a Texas church shooting last year."
*****
Conservative Peter Wehner in a New York Times op-ed: "The Republican Party is learning what should have been obvious from the outset: Mr. Trump’s chaotic personality can't be contained. Indeed, combining it with the awesome power of the presidency virtually guaranteed he would become more volatile and transgressive. His presidency is infecting the entire party.... At the national level the Republican Party has become a destructive and anarchic political force in American life. The president and his acolytes are championing conspiracy theories and sweeping, uncalibrated, all-out assault on our institutions. There is reckless talk by Republicans about 'secret societies,' 'silent coups' and the 'deep state.'... Most Republicans are silent, their moral and civic reflexes seemingly dead. All of this is antithetical to conservatism.... [Trump]won't change, and neither will the Republican Party. That's how institutional corruption happens, from the top down." ...
Trade wars are good and easy to win. -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, Friday ...
... Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump warned on Saturday that he would apply higher taxes on imported European cars if the European Union carried through on its threat to retaliate against his proposed stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum. 'If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter from Florida.... 'They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!' It was the latest indication that Mr. Trump, despite pressure from foreign allies and American business leaders, is standing by his decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from all countries. The action is likely to be signed this coming week.... The auto industry is a complex target for the president -- European automakers have plants in the United States and employ thousands of Americans.... Many economists warn that if Mr. Trump's actions lead to an international trade war, a global recession could follow." ...
... Steven Mufson & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "In his expanding war over global trade, President Trump has aimed his harshest rhetoric at an unlikely target -- the closest U.S. allies.... The new tariffs and the president's truculent rhetoric triggered angry responses among the countries that are closest to the United States and that are part of the World Trade Organization, which has for years helped reduce global tariffs.... The country that escaped Trump's tweeting ire was China, the very nation the president has wanted to hit hardest and the one that is largely responsible for flooding global markets with cheap steel. In return, China, which provides just 2 percent of U.S. steel imports, has been the most muted among leading trading partners in its response to Trump's tariff threats.... And while Trump has promoted his new tariffs as part of an 'America First' plan, any benefit in terms of jobs could be far outweighed by increased steel costs for U.S. automobiles, wind turbines, shale oil and gas drilling rigs and more -- in many cases doing unintended harm to some of his own strongest domestic constituencies.... Trade experts say the president has exaggerated and oversimplified the trade issues with Europe." ...
... New York Times Editors: "President Trump has been spoiling for a trade war since before his election. Now, he has taken the first meaningful step with his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. And, as with so many other policies he has supported, he appears to have little understanding of this one.... The steel and aluminum tariffs are ostensibly aimed at punishing China.... But Mr. Trump's move will have a limited effect on China because much of the steel and aluminum the United States imports actually comes from allies like Canada, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico.... If Mr. Trump were truly interested in getting China to reduce its excess production, he would have worked with the European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea and other countries to put pressure on Beijing.... Top officials in Canada and the European Union are already threatening to retaliate forcefully against the new Trump tariffs.... Experts say for every new job at a steel mill or aluminum smelter that is created by this trade decision, the country could lose as many or more jobs at businesses that use those metals, which will now cost more." ...
... "Surpassingly Stupid." Paul Krugman: "... it's starting to look like we have a trade policy crisis on our hands. Trump has always had a thing about trade, which he sees the way he sees everything: as a test of power and masculinity. It's all about who sells more: if we run a trade surplus we win, if we run a trade deficit, we lose[.]... This is, of course, nonsense. Trade isn't a zero-sum game: it raises the productivity and wealth of the world economy.... A cycle of retaliation would shrink overall world trade, making the world as a whole, America very much included, poorer. Perhaps even more important in the near term, it would be highly disruptive.... So the idea that a trade war would be 'good' and 'easy to win' is surpassingly stupid.... In themselves, these tariffs aren't that big a deal. But if they're a sign of what future policy is going to look like, they're really, really bad." ...
... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "... Trump's staff is disintegrating amid a series of mounting scandals....This has led to a weakening of the personnel wall between Trump and his more outlandish impulses. This whole mess played out in the tariff case: A piece in Politico suggests that Rob Porter -- the former White House staff secretary who resigned amid multiple allegations of domestic abuse -- had been organizing meetings designed to block imposition of new tariffs. 'Porter's resignation removed a fierce opponent of the tariffs from the West Wing and revived the chaotic policy review process that defined the early weeks of Trump's presidency,' Politico reports. White House staff chaos is letting Trump be Trump. That means feelings dictating outcomes, policymaking by pique -- consequences be damned. It's bad enough that this approach yielded dangerous tariffs. Imagine if the next time Trump is angry, he starts thinking about North Korea." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Inside the White House, aides over the past week have described an air of anxiety and volatility -- with an uncontrollable commander in chief at its center. These are the darkest days in at least half a year, they say, and they worry just how much farther President Trump and his administration may plunge into unrest and malaise.... 'Pure madness,' lamented one exasperated ally.... This portrait of Trump at a moment of crisis just over a year after taking office is based on interviews with 22 White House officials, friends and advisers.... Trump seethed with anger last Wednesday night over cable news coverage of a photo, obtained by Axios, showing [AG Jeff] Sessions at dinner with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, and another top Justice Department prosecutor.... The next morning, Trump was still raging about the photo, venting to friends and allies about a dinner he viewed as an intentional show of disloyalty." ...
... BUT Trump's Golf Game Is Going Well. Lindsay Gibbs of ThinkProgress: "Almost fourteen months into his presidency, Donald Trump has reached a dubious milestone that none before him have achieved: He's spent his 100th day at a golf club bearing his own name. Considering he's only been in office for 408 days, that means he's spent almost 25 percent of his time at a Trump-branded golf club...." Mrs. McC: Free advertising for his golf resorts, too!
This Russia Thing -- Is Expanding
Mark Mazetti, et al., of the New York Times: "George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has hovered on the fringes of international diplomacy for three decades. He was a back-channel negotiator with Syria during the Clinton administration, reinvented himself as an adviser to the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and last year was a frequent visitor to President Trump's White House. Mr. Nader is now a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III.... In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller's investigators have questioned Mr. Nader and have pressed witnesses for information about any possible attempts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to support Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The investigators have also asked about Mr. Nader's role in White House policymaking, those people said, suggesting that the special counsel investigation has broadened beyond Russian election meddling to include Emirati influence on the Trump administration.... In one example of Mr. Nader's influential connections, which has not been previously reported, last fall he received a detailed report from a top Trump fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, about a private meeting with the president in the Oval Office.... Mr. Trump has closely allied himself with the Emiratis...." ...
... Jonathan Swan of Axios first reported on Mueller's interest in Nader on January 21. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's a critical connection I missed in the Kushner News of the Week. Jed Shugerman in Slate: "A Qatari fund acquires major assets from Russia Kushner's business seeks money directly from Qatar. The nation, though, does not deliver to Kushner. The U.S. changes its political posture against Qatar at Kushner's urging, with the alarming possibility that the seemingly manufactured conflict could have escalated into war. (Fortunately, it did not.) Several months later, the Qatar-backed Apollo Group delivers $184 million to Kushner.... The Steele dossier alleges that Russians made a deal with Carter Page in the summer of 2016 to sell 19 percent of fossil fuel giant Rosneft, a multibillion dollar deal, and secretly transfer benefits to Trump officials.... On Dec. 9, 2016, a month after the election, Russia made a deal with Qatar to sell 19.5 percent of Rosneft.... The deal falls squarely in the middle of a time when Kushner, Michael Flynn, and Page were communicating with Russians.... All this new Kushner news connects more dots in the Steele dossier's core allegation: that there may have been a quid-pro-quo of Russian oil money for Trump policy change on sanctions.... In light of the Steele dossier and how Qatar might implicate Russia, Kushner and Trump have even more to answer for." ...
... Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner: "President Trump will face an obstruction of justice charge from special counsel Robert Mueller, former Attorney General Eric Holder predicted. 'You technically have an obstruction of justice case that already exists,' Holder, who served under then-President Obama, said on HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher.' 'I've known Bob Mueller for 20, 30 years; my guess is he's just trying to make the case as good as he possibly can. So, I think that we have to be patient in that regard.'"
Michael Shear & Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "On Saturday afternoon, President Trump took another swing at his favorite punching bag. 'Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world,' he tweeted. 'They've gone CRAZY! On Saturday night, however, Mr. Trump donned his tuxedo and joined the very journalists he loves to malign for an evening of humorous -- and sometimes uncomfortable -- verbal sparring at the 133rd annual Gridiron Club Dinner.... For Mr. Trump..., his participation in the dinner was striking because the club is the Washington embodiment of political correctness. Its credo is that the roasts at the dinner should 'singe but never burn.' This year, Mr. Trump leaned into the flame." Mrs. McC: Some of Trump's scripted jokes are actually pretty funny.
"Donald Trump's Know-Nothing Science Budget." Alan Burdick of the New Yorker: "Trump's newly proposed federal budget for 2019 continues the assault on knowledge and reason. Funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the E.P.A. would each be cut by eighteen per cent or more, compared with the final 2017 budget, which was drafted by the Obama Administration and amended by Trump. The Institutes of Health would see its funding remain flat while it absorbed the work of three agencies from the Department of Health and Human Services. The National Institute of Mental Health would see its budget slashed by thirty per cent, despite Trump's recent avowals that better mental-health treatment is the solution to gun violence. NASA's budget would stay roughly the same, but a number of important Earth-science missions would be eliminated, and Trump would attempt to defund and privatize the International Space Station by 2025."
About That "Einstein Visa." Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Each year, thousands of foreigners try to persuade government officials that they are among the best in their field. The prize if they succeed: a green card, and with it, the right to live permanently in the United States. Reports that the first lady, Melania Trump, received an immigrant visa reserved for 'individuals with extraordinary ability' in 2001, when she was a model, have thrust the EB-1 visa program into the spotlight. The news, first reported by The Washington Post [and linked here last week], raised questions about whether Mrs. Trump had truly qualified for the visa.... Mr. Trump has championed an immigration overhaul that would replace the current family-based system, which he derides as 'chain migration,' with one based on merit, emphasizing skill and educational level. His proposal would have made it impossible for the first lady to sponsor her parents for a green card, which she did after obtaining permanent legal residency herself."
Emily Holden & Alex Guillen of Politico: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt dismissed evolution as an unproven theory, lamented that 'minority religions' were pushing Christianity out of 'the public square' and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005. Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, also described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a 'judicial monarchy' that is 'the most grievous threat that we have today.' And he did not object when the program's host described Islam as 'not so much a religion as it is a terrorist organization in many instances.'" Mrs. McC: Hey, at least he's not just a climate-change denier. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Perfect! Michael Biesecker of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Friday tapped a chemical industry insider to run the Environmental Protection Agency office that oversees emergency response to hazardous spills and cleanups of the nation's most toxic sites. The White House announced that Trump has nominated Peter C. Wright to serve as EPA's assistant administrator for Land and Emergency Management. Wright has worked as a corporate lawyer at Dow Chemical Co. since 1999. Despite Trump's campaign pledges to 'drain the swamp' in Washington, Wright's nomination is the latest example of the president appointing corporate lawyers or lobbyists to supervise federal offices that directly regulate their former employers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Perfect! Anne Branigin of the Root: "William Otis, a former special counsel to President George H.W. Bush and a current professor at Georgetown University Law, was nominated by Donald Trump this week to serve on a federal commission that sets policy on how to punish criminals.... Otis is a staunch supporter of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' hard line approach of imposing mandatory minimum sentences and resurrecting the war on drugs. But Otis, thanks to his popular legal blog, 'Crime and Consequences,' has also made his racist beliefs both explicit easily searchable. As the Washington Post reports, Otis once defended a federal judge who was called out for saying black people and Latinx were more violent than white people."
Presidential Race 2020. Emily Stewart of Vox: "On Saturday, Trump is launching a fundraising initiative that mimics a tactic employed by former President George W. Bush to raise money, according to a report from Alex Isenstadt at Politico. Trump is appearing before Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago to kick off the plan that rewards donors who have 'bundled' thousands of dollars in contributions, meaning they gather campaign contributions from others.... This marks a new step in campaign fundraising for Trump's 2020 campaign, which has already been taking in millions of dollars in donations. His campaign committee ended 2017 with $22 million in cash, having brought in $6.9 million in the fourth quarter of the year alone. Per FEC data, his campaign committee raised $32 million in 2017.... A significant chunk of the reelection campaign's money has gone to legal fees -- about a quarter, according to the New York Times.... Trump has kicked off reelection efforts unusually early compared to his predecessors." ...
... Kevin Liptak of the CNN: "... Donald Trump bemoaned a decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton after the 2016 presidential election, decrying a 'rigged system' that still doesn't have the 'right people' in place to fix it, during a freewheeling speech to Republican donors in Florida on Saturday. In the closed-door remarks, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, Trump also praised China's President Xi Jinping for recently consolidating power and extending his potential tenure.... 'He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great,' Trump said. 'And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day.' The remarks, delivered inside the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a lunch and fundraiser, were upbeat, lengthy, and peppered with jokes and laughter. But Trump's words reflected his deeply felt resentment that his actions during the 2016 campaign remain under scrutiny while those of his former rival, Hillary Clinton, do not." ...
... Mrs. McC: Actually, this is yet another jab at Jeff Sessions. Looks as if the speech was one big fever dream of dictatorial powers.
... Thanks to unwashed for the link. Mrs. McC: Unwashed & I very much hope you'll show a little more sympathy for Devin now.
Beyond the Beltway
The Paradigm for Empty Gestures. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "The Florida Senate on Saturday voted down a bill to ban assault weapons, then immediately pivoted to a moment of silence for victims of the shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school last month."
The Paradigm for Meaningful Action. Michelle Krupa of CNN: "One by one. That's how Philando Castile, who was killed by a police officer during a 2016 traffic stop, used to help kids who couldn't afford lunch. The school nutrition supervisor would dip into his pocket and pay the bill. Now a charity run in his name has multiplied his mission by thousands, wiping out the lunch debt of every student at all 56 schools in Minnesota's St. Paul Public Schools, where Castile worked."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Propelled by an ever-lengthening stride and extraordinary willpower, the lanky British medical student Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. He pitched over the finish line at the University of Oxford's Iffley Road track on a dank, blustery day -- May 6, 1954 -- and electrified England during its post-World War II doldrums. Dr. Bannister, who died March 3 at age 88, became a national hero...." ...
... Bannister's New York Times obituary is here.
New York Times: "At east eight people died after heavy snow, rain and high winds ripped through the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic on Friday, snarling travel and bringing major flooding to parts of Massachusetts. More than two million people in 17 states and Washington, D.C., were without power as of Friday night, the United States Energy Department said on its website. By about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, at least one million people were still dealing with electricity failure."
Entertainment Weekly: "M*A*S*H actor David Ogden Stiers died of cancer on Saturday, his agent confirmed. He was 75."
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Reader Comments (8)
Think a mention of Pruitt here last week contained the nugget of insanity I incorporated into a letter I sent to another publication when it printed an article about the persistent tempest in the academic teapot over what its author called "post-modernism."
"As a recent example of how religion and capitalism have joined forces to strangle reason, here's this from the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, whose evangelical Christianity mocks all we know about the environment that sustains us.
"The idea of 'dominion' is about mastery: Human beings have the
right to take what they want from the earth, in terms of natural
resources, without regards to how it might affect other species.”
Are science and reason vastly undervalued in 2018 America? With leaders like Pruitt, who could reasonably deny it? Has post-modern academia, with all its constructing and de-constructing, made some small contribution to the present state of affairs? Maybe a tad.
But as long as we accept the preposterous claims of religion and refuse to examine the assumptions and effects of the economic system we’re all beholden to, we won’t need the permission of professors to act more than a little nuts."
And I wrote that before I knew how thoroughly nuts Pruitt is.
That Pruitt is a piece of work. Just the kinda guy you want running a government agency that wouldn't have been created and certainly can't do the job it was, dare I say, intelligently designed to do without its scientific underpinnings.
When expunging a few hateful words like "climate change" won't do, I guess you can expunge an entire agency if it bothers you enough.
Like what I'd like to do to the NRA.
Trump has been braying for years now that he is the greatest negotiator of all time. Maybe he has confused his position as a mark for the real operators as proof that his “deal making” chops are pretty nifty. Anyone who’s ever been conned will tell you that, at least for a while, everything was coming up roses. They just never checked to see if the roses were plastic.
What Trump has lost, while he was masking such “savvy deals” with Russian bankers and shady underworld characters is the ability to act independently and ethically. This was only a personal tragedy while he was a private citizen. Now that he’s president, it’s the American public and this nation’s standing in the world that are paying the vig on Trump’s fabulous “deals”.
But like the moron he is, Trump believes that because he was able to negotiate the temporary placement of a band-aid, for his personal finances, he is qualified to perform open heart surgery on the nation’s economy. “Open heart surgery is good! Make a little cut, pull out the heart, do a thing here, another thing there, put it back, couple of stitches and you’re done. It’s easy!
Name me a single great deal Trump has made while in office. One. You can’t. He keeps saying how much he likes bilateral trade agreements. Put him in a room with the other guy and winning will be so easy. Like the deals he made with Russia. He’s an idiot. An easy mark for the real players. And they know it. You know who doesn’t know it? The even bigger idiots who voted for this fraud and the entire Republican Party. There’s no shame in being conned by a really smooth operator. But if you get conned by a guy in a clown suit with a painted face and weird colored hair, you deserve to be taken. But the rest of us don’t. We didn’t believe the clown could win. What we didn’t know was that this clown had help.
And now we’re all paying for his “smart deals”.
While Trump has lacked any sort of redeeming virtue from the time he was old enough to understand right from wrong, his original sin -- in terms of the country as a whole -- is racism. (If it isn't racism, then it's misogyny, but I'd bet racism was the deciding factor.) For all the times Trump threatened to run for president, he had been prudent enough not to do so until 2015. I'd like to think that deep down, he knew he couldn't do it. And this was back when he might not have been so insane.
But his hatred for President Obama had to be based solely on racism. It isn't possible to hate Barack Obama for who he is because -- as much as any of us is -- he is a virtuous person. As we all have, Trump had criticized presidents before, but he had never -- as far as I recall -- launched a vendetta against any of them. But his racism is so virulent that he could not abide a black president. So he latched onto one of the stupidest -- and already disproved (as if disproof was necessary) -- conspiracy theories of all: that Obama wasn't even eligible to be president because he wasn't a "real American." I don't know that Trump ever believed the birther story, but he did believe that a black person did not have the right to run the country. (He may also believe that a woman doesn't have the right to run the country; it was clear that Hillary was the leading Democratic candidate when Trump entered the race in 2015.)
There are 100 million Americans who aren't president, not because they don't have the ability to figure out how to run a campaign, but because they know they don't have the skills to run the country. Trump had to know he had no managerial skills, that he was ignorant of policy on the granular level it is necessary to make executive decisions, & that he didn't have the right personality to make sensible, sensitive decisions on complex matters. He had run his own business into the ground numerous time because of his bad decisions on the one subject on which he could claim some experience -- real estate development. A real estate developer can have bad luck once -- say, an unanticipated downturn in the market -- but not half-a-dozen times. It may be good business for a salesman to pretend he knows what he's doing, but anyone with Trump's track record has to know he's really not good at what he does.
And yet. Because of his racism (and/or his misogyny), Trump made a conscious decision to foist his ineptitude on the country. I suppose it's possible for an inept person to "run" the country by choosing topnotch people to do the actual work & make the actual decisions. But Trump purposely chose a bunch of losers & lackeys.
Trump's first act of treason -- or "conspiracy against the United States" -- occurred on June 16, 2015, when he descended the escalator at Trump Tower & announced his run for the presidency. It has continued every day since.
Poor Devon's having a big sad on Faux News because Stephen Colbert made fun of him. (It was pretty funny.)
I have been wondering when the idiot would cross the line. The trade war might be the line and he certainly crossed it.
And I disagree with some of news posts. "surpassingly stupid" should just be another Trump moment. This stupidity is just routine.
Our European allies? We no longer have any allies in Europe. They have been replaced by Turkey, Philippines and Saudi Arabia.
The good news is that Trump wanted a war and he went with trade.
The bad news is we are going to lose big time.
And I would bet the house that the POTUS had no idea where we get our steel and aluminum from. That is the scariest part.
The thought came to me this AM as I mulled over the Pretender's huffing and puffing on trade, trying to find some pattern other than childishness in it.
NAFTA negotiations in hiatus, trial balloons about re-joining the TPP (under the right circumstances, of course), outright trade barriers erected (how else?) by decree, and threats of ratcheting retaliation and re-retaliation until we will have our wall, just not that kind of wall.
I can make no sense of it other than as a reflection of the Pretender's personality disorders which lead to his simple-mindedness expressions of grandiosity. It's much the way I felt about Bush II's Iraq invasion, that sane observers knew could only end badly.
The path the Pretender seems to be following on trade is so chaotic it recalls the physical concept of Brownian movement, a term used to name the random dance of molecules in a solution, which has also been called the drunkard's walk (the title of a novel by Frederik Pohl).
How else to describe the successive lurches?
Maybe the government of a nation by whim only because that nations means nothing to its leader but what his dark urgings allow him to see in it.
We are the Pretender's Rorschach Test, and the test is not going well.
Ken, just tell Pruitt that Noah did a great job managing to put the about 8 million animal species on his boat. And ask him why his god decided to kill off and bury dinosaurs in just a few days so that the people of Genesis would not see them.
Yes, many humans live in delusional state. All that is required is that you hide from the facts.
Good to see the NYT publicizing the effects of high-energy military rounds (e.g. AR15). Too many people don't understand how nasty these are compared to "regular" bullets.