It's hard to believe, how time flies. But Donald Trump's "working vacation" is over and he's heading back to Washington.
But sadly, although he did little or no work, just played golf, tweeted, and watched a lot of cable TV, his vacation wasn't very relaxing.
And I'm afraid we're all going to pay for that, because now he's crazier than ever....
The White House he's going back to is an increasingly lonely place...
And not only does the Oval Office look like the scene of a mob massacre.
Boss Trump is still under attack from all those Americans who were horrified to hear him compare Nazis to those who oppose them.
For it revealed the monster within...
It made him look like a Nazi himself. Or a maniac.
And there is now a widespread feeling that a line has been crossed, or as the Los Angeles Times editorial board writes, that enough is ENOUGH.
These are not normal times. The man in the White House is reckless and unmanageable, a danger to the Constitution, a threat to our democratic institutions.
With such a glaring failure of moral leadership at the top, it is desperately important that others stand up and speak out to defend American principles and values. This is no time for neutrality, equivocation or silence. Leaders across America — and especially those in the president’s own party — must summon their reserves of political courage to challenge President Trump publicly, loudly and unambiguously.
While the newspaper Trump likes to call the "failing New York Times," is now calling him the failing president.
With each day, President Trump offers fresh proof that he is failing the office that Americans entrusted to him. The rolling disaster of his presidency accelerated downhill last week with a news conference on Tuesday at which he seemed determined to sow racial strife in a nation desperate for a unifying vision.
This, in essence, is where we are now: a nation led by a prince of discord who seems divorced from decency and common sense.
And is also calling on Republicans to revolt.
The deeper question, to Mr. Trump’s remaining supporters, is not political but moral. It is whether they will continue to follow a standard-bearer who is alienating most of the country by embracing extremists.
And as if all of the above wasn't bad enough, then there's Steve Bannon, the man who likes to compare himself to a honey badger, who is now threatening to declare war on some in the Trump White House.
“Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt. I built a fucking machine at Breitbart. And now I'm about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”
And sounding as crazy as Trump himself.
It's an extraordinary situation and the eclipsing of a presidency...
But as Brian Stelter, CNN's media correspondent points out, many journalists are still avoiding the biggest question of all:
Is Trump mentally fit to be president, and if not WHAT?
It's a big question, but with every passing day I believe it's one that will become easier to ask.
A House Democrat introduced a resolution on Friday suggesting that President Trump undergo a physical and mental health exam to help determine whether he is fit for office.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren's (D-Calif.) resolution specifically calls on Vice President Pence and Trump's Cabinet members to "quickly secure the services of medical and psychiatric professionals" to "assist in their deliberations" invoking the 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential removal procedures.
And the answer should be obvious:
Donald Trump is a Nazi sympathizer and a maniac, or a mad emperor with no clothes...
He is totally unfit to be the president of the United States.
And he must be removed from office, by whatever means necessary, as soon as is humanly possible..
This is why I prefer Pence in the short term, as ghastly as he may be...
ReplyDeletehi anon...yes, although Pence is a scary religious fanatic, he does appear more stable than Trump, and is less likely to start World War Three. As they say, everything is relative, and survival is job one...
DeleteDo you think the media is biased towards Trump at all? Or do you believe they are being fair and balanced in their reporting?
ReplyDeleteIf someone is a total fucknut, and the media reports that he is a fucknut, it doesn't mean the media is biased.
DeleteThe network that claims to be fair and balanced IS biased towards Trump.
Delete@anon 3:20 Why do Trump supporters always blame the media for all the mistakes of their not so great leader? You might be able to fool your deplorables but you can't fool us.
DeleteAnon 3:20 here. There's only one network that claimed to be "fair and balanced" - Fox News. Are you trying to tell me that they're not biased towards Trump?
DeleteTrump supporters have been trained by years of Fox, Rush, Alex Jones and other RW hate mongers to blame all GOP mistakes on the media, liberals, "the left," "the Dems," women and minorities. As the old saying goes, "Conservatism can't fail, it can only be failed."
hi anon 10:12 am...I don't think the media is biased against Trump. If it seems that they are picking on him it's only because of what he says and does. Bot the New York Times and the Washington Post go out of their way to solicit right-wing views, which is more than Fox News does. For they are biased in favour of Trump...
DeleteDonald Trump is not insane, just a Republican at heart. We can not start saying that alternative thought is insanse. Its just wrong. Just like there is no such force as good or evil, just people.
ReplyDelete"We cannot start saying that alternative thought is insane"
Delete...unless it's the kind of thinking that says "Nazis aren't that bad, what about Black Lives Matter?" Anyone who says "Nazis aren't so bad" would be immediately disqualified for any private-sector position, yet scores of them occupy positions in the U.S. Government (and, I'm beginning to worry, Canada too).
These are not your grandfather's Eisenhower Republicans, any more than the hatewing Crappers are your grandfather's Diefenbaker Conservatives. This is a fully fledged NSGOP that went totally off the deep end when an "uppity boy" who failed their paper bag test got elected legitimately to the executive position. This is a party that equivocates between Nazis and people protesting Nazis. This is a party that spread vulgar lies, insults, and conspiracy theories about the nation's first president of African-American heritage and his family, including even his children. This is a party that refers to poor people as "takers" and even rationalizes eliminating the social safety net because you don't feed wild animals lest they become dependent. A party that dehumanizes anyone who isn't white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied, a complete sociopath, and/or of exorbitant financial means.
I guess "insane" isn't exactly the right word to use, because insanity requires that you don't know whether you're doing right from wrong. But it is a sickness, a perversity nonetheless. This party takes sadistic delight in the suffering of other human beings as long as they continue to rake in profits. They even take sadistic delight in pitting their ignorant "base" against "others" with false promises of returning "their America" to some halcyon 1950s fantasy world that never was. And keeping them ignorant with fears and superstitions involving simplistic definitions of "good" and "evil" -- by literally demonizing education, making it unaffordable for those who do want to go, and then ensuring that there are no good-paying jobs available for those who go all-in and take out loans that they will never be able to pay back.
This party is evil. "Insane" only in that they're an out-of-control hate group acting in ways and supporting things which ought to be considered unacceptable in a civilized society, and they sold out to the Evil Empire to put a terrorist in the White House. Not the "insanity" defense in that that they don't know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing, and that's what's so terrifying. They're enjoying this. They probably play the video of Heather Heyer's death on repeat and pleasure themselves to it. They probably think Triumph of the Will was the feel-good movie of the century.
There is absolutely a force for good and a force for evil, and right now there's an imbalance in the Force. That force of the Dark Side is called the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party of the United States.
Very good.
DeleteIs it news to anyone that decades of pandering to the ignorant by the Republican Party has created the conditions that made possible the election of a President as unfit as Trump? When he secured the nomination the only concern that Priebus and most of other guys who ran the party had was his electability. They'll continue to be led by that consideration.
Should the party ever decide to abandon Trump, they'll claim it as a moral triumph and it'll be up to the feeble opposition party to ensure that they wear all the shit he will have created. If, after having put the run on Trump, they continue to elect sufficient members to control the federal and state houses, they'll wear it quite comfortably. And this is a very possible outcome of whatever course the party's dalliance with Trump eventually takes, given that the Democrats couldn't make any of Bush and Cheney's nonsense stick to them with any durable adhesion and, most laughably, allowed and often helped them to fabricate a narrative extolling the wisdom of Ronald Reagan.
there is a difference between wrong and insane. The genocide of the Native Americans, no one says that was insane. It was immoral and unfathomable by current norms, but it was not insane.
Deletehi Steve...I'm sorry I don't agree with you. If we can't tell the difference between good and evil, we're in real trouble and no better than wild animals. And as for Trump being a Republican at heart, I don't believe he is that either. I don't believe he has any ideology except what is good for Donald J Trump, which in the threatened world we live in is both evil and insane...
Deletehi anon 6:40 pm...very well said:
DeleteThis party is evil. "Insane" only in that they're an out-of-control hate group acting in ways and supporting things which ought to be considered unacceptable in a civilized society, and they sold out to the Evil Empire to put a terrorist in the White House. Not the "insanity" defense in that that they don't know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing, and that's what's so terrifying. They're enjoying this. They probably play the video of Heather Heyer's death on repeat and pleasure themselves to it. They probably think Triumph of the Will was the feel-good movie of the century.
There is absolutely a force for good and a force for evil, and right now there's an imbalance in the Force. That force of the Dark Side is called the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party of the United States.
I worry about overusing the word "crazy" mainly because I don't want to insult the mentally ill, who in the vast majority of cases are no threat to anyone. But also because it suggests that Trump can't help being evil, when as you point out the real evil is the ideology. However, I do believe that Trump's extreme narcissism, and his inability to care about anyone but himself, is what aggravates the situation and makes him so dangerous. The problem we face is bigger than him, but right now he is the one with the power to destroy us...
hi John...I agree with you that the Republicans made a bargain with the devil and are the agents of their own misfortune, or soon will be. And I also agree that the Democrats, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, have failed to carve out a clear alternative. However, I am hopeful that all this collective trauma will eventually result in something new and different, and it will come down to a very clear choice between revolution or fascism. And since only a revolution can save the planet, it's not really a choice. The only question I have is whether you and I will live to see it, for you can be sure it will be bloody...
DeleteIs Trump mentally fit to be president? Of course he is. He hasn't stroked out, gone into a coma, or otherwise had his mental function impaired to the point where he can't carry out his duties. Amend. XXV depends on incapacity, not poor performance. Even Reagan in an Alzheimer's decline didn't qualify. Lofgren's resolution is just political theatre.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump's going to go, it'll be Robert Mueller that lays the groundwork, not Zoe Lofgren.
Mueller is the man
Deletehi anon...maybe you're right but maybe you're not. It can be hard to know when a president is mentally unfit to be president. Ronald Reagan got away with it because his precarious state was covered up by his aides, and the American people had no idea what was going on. But along with some of my doctor/medical school friends I do suspect that Trump is suffering from some kind of mental condition that is aggravating his extreme narcissism, which if he is ever placed in a crisis situation could be dangerous. The president of the United States has the power to destroy the earth, so one can't be too careful..
DeleteSimon, it's clear to everyone outside his family and the 30% of Republicans that are beyond reason that Trump's unfit to be president. But the legal question isn't whether he's unfit but whether he's unable.
DeleteAs long as he's able to sign his name on whatever crappy laws they shove in front of him, Republicans will consider him able. And his cabinet will protect him for the same reason Reagan's did - their jobs and their ability to conceal their crimes depend on it.
Some of us would like to think Trump is crazy and by some standards he maybe. However, he is not unfit to fill the position he occupies if we are to apply the standards for removal. we may not like what he says and does, but that does not make him incompetent to full fill the duties of the position. There isn't a job description. the duties, roles, etc. the President carries out were established for a few hundred years. When there is a national crisis, we expect the American President to go out and comfort his nation. However, there is nothing which says he has to. Nothing says he can't pour "fuel" on the fire. Just because his predecessors acted in a different manner doesn't mean his is "wrong".
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Bannon left to protect his "brand". We may not like Bannon, but he is an extremely good strategist. As such, I believe he saw the writing on the wall, with declining support in states such as Wisconsin, 34%. Leaving made sense, to protect his 'brand'. if he were to go down with the ship, so to speak, he will be viewed as a looser. By leaving now, he will be seen as the smart one, getting out before being fired, etc.....
Bannon is now free to do as he pleases and he is not finished by a long shot. He is 63, still young enough to find another "project" to change the American political landscape.
We will now all wait to see what Trump has to say about his military options. omg. time to have a drink.
hi e.a.f.... Because an American president has the power of life and death over us all, I think Trump's mental state should concern us all. We're not talking about a president who is merely bad, we're talking about a man who could be suffering from a mental condition that makes him dangerous. So I'm not prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. And neither am I prepared to call a weirdo like Bannon a great strategist. He did manage to save Trump's ass after the groping controversy by counselling him to attack Hilary Clinton even harder than he was already doing. But that only worked because the MSM failed us so miserably, and Bannon's desire to tear everything down can only lead to fascism...
DeleteI look at strategists in a different way. If they accomplish the goals they set out to then they're doing a good job. It may not be a job I agree with at all. It may be a strategy I think is disgusting, but it still doesn't distract from a person's skill set and that is why I consider Bannon a good strategist. Don't like him. Don't like what he stands for. I'd be happier if he went to take up basket weaving, but his ability to move groups of people to accomplish his goals, he's good.
DeleteTrump's mental state is of concern to me also, but the peramatours which will be used to asses him as not fit for the position will not be consistent with what we consider sane or not so sane or insane these days. Just because Trump is dangerous doesn't make him crazy in the legal sense.
On top of everyone else questioning Trump's sanity, Republican Senator Bob Corker has publicly questioned his competence and with good reason. Trump's grip on reality is fading fast and unless they invoke the 25th ammendment(cuckoo clause) they will watch this train wreck melt right before their eyes.
ReplyDeleteWill it be tonight at the Presidential Address? Or tomorrow night at his ego stoking rally in Phoenix?
I feel it's no longer a matter of if Trump descends into a drooling, babbling idiot, it's when.
JD
hi JD... I wouldn't be surprised if his Phoenix rally is where he will finally cross the line, and convince even many Republicans that he is unfit to be president. His polls are now so low that even the grubby GOP must see the writing on the wall. And when a Republican like Bob Corker questions Trump's fitness for office, it tells me that where there is smoke there is fire. As you know, I like to compare Trump to the story of the emperor with no clothes. But sooner or later that state of denial must end....
DeleteMaggie Trudeau called it back in October. This can't be posted enough.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/10/19/margaret-trudeau-analyzes_n_12562672.html
She urged him to seek help not only for his own sake, but his family's -- and especially that of the country.
Trolls cruelly insult Maggie for her mental illness, but she's been very brave and courageous in her activism and she definitely sounds like the sane and sensible one here.
Too bad the 65 million escaped asylum inmates who voted for him didn't bother to listen and weren't going to bother, either because they won't listen to a woman at all, won't listen to a woman who's the mother of a leader they hate, or don't even know who the hell she or Justin are (let alone be able to find Canada on a map of Canada), but see the name "Trudeau" and think she must be married to that damn liberal Doonesbury cartoonist.
They only think transgender identity and liberalism itself are mental illnesses anyway. They are, like their Dumpenfuhrer, deliberately and dangerously ignorant of and hostile to science and experts.
Trump is a reflection of the collective psychosis that is a good half of the American electorate itself. Perhaps the point of no return. Then again, that would assume either they or Trump have brains to be damaged in the first place. If there ever was a zombie apocalypse in America, it'd be short-lived, because the zombies would all starve. Not much in the way of grey matter to chew on.
hi anon...I have very fond feelings for Margaret Trudeau. She suffered a lot, but survived to become a great advocate for the cause of the mentally ill., which is a great and noble cause that badly needs all the help it can get. I also agree with you that Trump is a reflection of the collective psychosis of many Americans, who are looking for a saviour in all the wrong places.
ReplyDeleteHowever,I am still hopeful that our decent neighbours, and there are many of them, will be able to rescue their country. And I will do everything I can to help them...