Category Archives: The Darnold

Oct 17 2019
2 Comments
Adrastos, Congress, Fog Of Scandal, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold

The Week In Stupid Trumper Tricks

President* Trump is on a roll. He’s done a lot of stupid shit this week even for him. He was the one who tweeted the Pelosi picture with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s Unhinged Meltdown,” when he was the one who had the meltdown. What a lame decision, lame nickname, lame everything. Like Tom Cruise’s character in A Few Good Men, the Insult Comedian cannot handle the truth. Apologies to Jack Nicholson.

The meltdown occurred when the Speaker, quite correctly, pointed out that the Putin regime is the beneficiary of the impulsive and stupid policy shift in North Syria:

Today’s stupid Trumper trick was the announcement by acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, that the G-7 *will* be held at Trump Doral in Miami. Are they that stupid? Is Trump that greedy? Those were rhetorical questions, of course they are.

One more thing. Why the hell is Mulvaney still acting Chief of Staff? The position doesn’t require Senate confirmation. Is he acting out or acting up?

This week’s final stupid Trumper trick was the release of the letter Trump sent to Turkish President Erdogan. It was so OTT nutty and semi-literate that reporters were skeptical that it was real. The White House confirmed its authenticity. Dipshits.

One wonders what Erdogan thought of this incoherent epistle. It was probably some Turkish variation on, “I’m gonna get you, sucka.”

The last word goes to the Kaiser of Chaos with the last two sentences of the Erdogan letter: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool.”

An exclamation point was withheld to protect the guilty.

Oct 14 2019
1 Comment
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Cold Turkey edition

Well, this was an extremely interesting week over at Free Republic, I must say.

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

(composite thread)

REPORT: Turkish War Planes Strike Kurdish Targets in Northern Syria
GP ^ | 10/07/2019 | Cristina Laila

Posted on 10/7/2019, 4:16:25 PM by mplc51

Turkish war planes carried out airstrikes against Kurdish targets at the Semalka border crossing between Syria and Iraq.

Shortly before the air strike, US defense officials shut down Northern Syria airspace to Turkey in a statement to Anadolu.

“DOD spokesperson confirms the CAOC has pulled Turkey off the air tasking order and stopped the ISR feed, meaning Turkey is effectively cut out of the airspace along the border with Syria.”

“Turkish artillery bombards PKK/YPG targets in Malikiyah,” reported Israeli journalist Amichai Stein.

President Trump earlier Monday morning warned Turkey, a NATO ally, that he would destroy their economy if they did anything Trump “considers to be off” in a pair of tweets.

TRUMP: As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!

1 posted on 10/7/2019, 4:16:25 PM by mplc51

Aaand – we’re off!

To: mplc51

“… I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!”

Smells like a pile of bovine excrement.

Doesn’t it, now?

POTUS doesn’t talk this way, it’s likely an exaggeration by locals opposed to the US.

5 posted on 10/7/2019, 4:25:25 PM by Hostage (Article V)

“POTUS doesn’t talk this way”
.
Where the hell have you been for the last three years?
To: Hostage
I just checked his twitter feed. This was taken exactly as he posted it.

FWIW, I think the “in my great and unmatched wisdom” is just more trolling of the opposition.

7 posted on 10/7/2019, 4:27:29 PM by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)

At this point, the Freeperati start casting around for justifications:
To: xkaydet65

in my great and unmatched wisdom

This is dad humor, and a subtle way of saying (not to his opposition, but to normal people with common sense): “ya’ll just chill out, I’m acting in America’s interests”.

25 posted on 10/7/2019, 5:14:05 PM by scottinoc
Ah – yeah.
.
Because if there’s one thing The Darnold is famous for, it’s his self-deprecating sense of humour.
To: scottinoc

He is my Pres, not my dad. Someimes he just has to grow up and understand it’s not the Howard Stern Show.

26 posted on 10/7/2019, 5:29:27 PM by xkaydet65

Good luck with that.
To: Reno89519

So we are siding with the Turks over the Kurds that protected and provided shelter for Syrian Christians? Yikes.

21 posted on 10/9/2019, 4:45:02 PM by Sam Gamgee

NoShitSherlock
Of course,  when in doubt…
To: Zhang Fei
Bomb them, Turkey!
posted on 10/12/2019, 10:29:19 PM by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
And the response :
To: ConservativeMind
“My comments stand.”
********************
Yes indeed, your comment “Bomb them, Turkey” stands as evidence of your ignorance and your cruelty.

Your new good buddies the Turks have been subverting America’s and the West’s interests for several decades. And what have the Syrian Kurds done to America or you in particular? Did they do something for you to jubilantly cheer on the Turks to bomb them. You embarrass yourself and make me ashamed that you are a fellow FReeper. I find your attitude and your heartlessness to be REPUGNANT,

23 posted on 10/13/2019, 12:01:17 AM by House Atreides (Boycott the NFL 100% — PERMANENTLY)

OtherwiseOkMandy
.
More cold Turkey at the link below…
.

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Oct 11 2019
2 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of Scandal, Law/Justice, Political Crack, The Darnold

Adventures In Trumper Lawyering

I started this post earlier this week but there’s a new example of crazy Trumper lawyering every day. I gotta give them credit for creativity as well as chutzpah for making some uh, inventive, arguments. The client is driving the train and it’s Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train; either that Casey Jones is at the wheel. Driving that train, high on cocaine…

ALL ABOARD THE LEGAL CRAZY TRAIN.

The Trump v. Vance case led off the week. The Insult Comedian’s lawyers were suing to prevent Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. from obtaining the holy grail of Trumpistan: the tax returns. The case should have been filed in state court since it involved an issue of state law, which is where the judge tried to bounce it back to before Team Trump appealed in federal court. I had a great conflicts of law professor, that’s why I remember this stuff. Hats off to the late Luther Love McDougal.

The craziest argument in this case is that a sitting president CANNOT BE INVESTIGATED. Judge Victor Marrero (not to be confused with the Louisiana town) wrote an opinion that was a giant fuck you to Team Trump:

The president asserts an extraordinary claim in the dispute now before this court.  He contends that the person who serves as president while in office enjoys absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind.

Bared to its core, the proposition the president advances reduces to the very notion that the founders rejected at the inception of the republic and that the Supreme Court has since unequivocally repudiated that a constitutional domain exists in this country in which not only the president, but derivatively, relatives, and persons and business entities associated with him are in fact above the law.  This court finds aspects of such a doctrine repugnant to the nation`s governmental structure and constitutional values.

Repugnant? That’s some strong stuff for a federal judge. Repugnant arguments result in indignant opinions.

You’ve all heard about the White House counsel Pat Cipollone’s nutty letter to the House leadership denouncing the impeachment inquiry. It read more like a campaign screed than a legal opinion. The effective bottom line of this remarkable document is that the constitution is unconstitutional. I shit you not: the impeachment inquiry is unconstitutional even though it’s in the document itself. So much for originalism.

The next lunatic argument comes from the Department of Justice. You know, the place where Bill Barr orchestrates the Trump cover up. DOJ lawyers argued that the 1974 Watergate grand jury case was wrongly decided. They did everything but invoke the Nixon-Barr doctrine:

On Thursday, two of Rudy Giuliani’s criminal associates were indicted by the Southern District of New York. The crazy came from one of their lawyers: former Trump mouthpiece, John Dowd. He claimed executive privilege before Congress because of their work with Rudy in Ukraine. Seriously?

You cannot make this shit up:

Only days ago Dowd told congressional investigators that his clients would not cooperate in their impeachment inquiry. But beyond that blanket resistance he said that there were specific issues which would make any discussion of cooperation take a long time untangle. The key one was attorney/client privilege. With the client being the President of the United States.

<SNIP>

Dowd explained that Parnas and Fruman worked with Rudy Giuliani on his representation of President Trump and thus were shielded (at least on some topics) by the Attorney/Client privilege between Giuliani (Attorney) and Donald Trump (client).

Oops, it wasn’t executive privilege, it was derivative attorney-client privilege. Is this like when Paul Drake (not the cat) worked as a shamus for Perry Mason? Does Hamilton Burger know about this? How about Lieutenants Tragg, Anderson, or Drumm?

My mind is still reeling from the legal crazy of the week. I mentioned two rock songs at the top of the post: Ozzy Osbourne and Warren Zevon & David Lindley get the last word.

 

Oct 10 2019
3 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, The Darnold

New Tea About The Tillerson

Image by Michael F.

Texas oil tycoon and former Trump Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is back in the news. I’ve missed Rex and was thrilled to see this bombshell story about another potential impeachable offense:

President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office.

Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the trader, Reza Zarrab, according to the people. They said other participants in the Oval Office were shocked by the request.

Tillerson immediately repeated his objections to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in a hallway conversation just outside the Oval Office, emphasizing that the request would be illegal. Neither episode has been previously reported, and all of the people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conversations.

You know something is sleazy when the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil refused to follow presidential* orders. It’s scary when a story makes one nostalgic for the Tillerson-Mattis-McMaster-Kelly era. They all had lines they wouldn’t cross. There’s nobody like that at the White House right now, which is why Trump’s poorly coiffed head finds itself in the impeachment guillotine.

It’s time for the fearful foursome to break their silence about the perfidious conduct they witnessed in their time in the administration. Their reputations have already been damaged, it’s time to retrieve some respectability from the mire of the Trump regime.

The last word goes to Cat Stevens with a song from Catch Bull At Four:

Oct 09 2019
Adrastos, Film, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Language, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold

Mandate Of Heaven? Regicide?

Trump’s supporters are becoming as unhinged as their dear leader. They’re having a hard time dealing with impeachment of the man who would be king. They’re increasingly incoherent as one of them shows signs of defecting from the MAGA cult. Can one undrink the Kool-Aid? That’s an existential question best left for another day.

We begin with teevee evangelist Pat Robertson. He’s distressed over the betrayal of the Kurds. He described his distress in rather colorful terms:

“I believe … the president of the United States is in danger of losing the mandate of heaven if he permits this to happen,”

Mandate of heaven? Is Trump the emperor of China now? They need to make up their minds as to whether Trump is Pu Yi or George III. They both had swell movies made about them: The Last Emperor and The Madness of King George. Life under Trump is truly stranger than fact-based fiction. As far as I’m concerned, he’ll always be the Kaiser of Chaos:

Speaking of kings, one of Trump’s nuttier fans, lawyer Joseph DeGenova was on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show and defended his demented liege:

“What you’re seeing is regicide. This is regicide by another name, fake impeachment. The Democrats in the House want to destroy the President.”

Impeachment is real, only your king is fake, Joey, baby. Given that you’re up to your eyeballs in the Ukraine mess, you might want to STFU. Silly me: that’s as impossible for Trump apologists as it is for Trumpberius himself.

Speaking of deranged Roman emperors, veteran biblebanger Ralph Reed has a new book in which he makes the case for the religious right’s continued obeisance to the Insult Comedian.  The original title is what Archie Bunker would have called a Real Pip:

According to the book’s description, obtained by POLITICO, the original title for the book was “Render to God and Trump,” a reference to the well-known biblical verse, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” The message from Jesus in Matthew 22, has been used in contemporary politics to justify obedience to government — or in the case of Reed’s book, to Trump.

Blind obedience is just as dangerous as blind ambition. Ralph Reed has exhibited signs of both pathologies in his long career as a wingnut.

What’s next? Will they call Trump a Pharaoh? His border wall is a monument to himself much like the pyramids, after all.

The last word goes to Richard Thompson:

 

Oct 07 2019
5 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Political Crack, The Darnold, Twitter

Betrayal By Tweet

Image by Michael F.

President* Pennywise has been melting down for days. His Twitter feed gets crazier by the second. He wants to impeach people who are not subject to that process: Romney, Pelosi, and Schiff. He wants to jail Adam Schiff for being so damn articulate and right about everything. If only he’d threaten to hold his breath until he turns blue. That way he’d pass out and give it a rest.

The Insult Comedian has a nasty habit of agreeing with the last person with whom he speaks. He spoke to Turkish President Erdogan, then did his bidding by giving the Turks a green light to enter Syria and “deal with” the Kurds.

I’m not one of those Greek-Americans who pathologically hates and mistrusts the Turks BUT the Turkish strongman has those feelings about the Kurds. There’s a long history of enmity between the Turks and Kurds of which  President* Pennywise is ignorant. His ignorance could get people killed as well as ISIS prisoners released. It’s that bad, y’all.

Speaking of bad, President* Pennywise failed to consult with the military brass or any of our allies other than Turkey before firing off that Tweet. It’s madness. Speaking of which, this may be the craziest thing Trump has ever tweeted:

Great and unmatched wisdom? More like great and unmatched stupidity or great and unmatched lunacy. My hunch is that he’s parroting something Erdogan said on the phone. Turkish is a florid language. Trump speaks Jerkish, the only thing florid about him is his face.

An old friend of mine had an excellent response to that unhinged Tweet:

This isn’t the first time that the United States or another great power has betrayed the Kurds. BUT  in the past, it was done out of cynical calculation of national self-interest. This was done as part of a presidential* tantrum over impeachment. It’s President* Pennywise’s idea of notching a win that he can brag about at his next rally, which happens to be in the Gret Stet of Louisiana.

Repeat after me: Donald Trump is mentally ill. It’s time to fit him with a straitjacket, invoke the 25th Amendment, and remove President* Pennywise from office. I know it won’t happen but I can dream, can’t I?

The last word goes to the Kinks:

 

 

Oct 07 2019
Adrastos, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, Television, The Darnold

The Fall Guy?

It was a busy weekend on the fog of scandal front. The Insult Comedian is flailing, looking for a phone call fall guy. His minions leaked a story to Axios blaming a cabinet secretary who has been largely out of the spotlight: Rick Perry.  The former Texas Governor has not been an overly energetic energy secretary, which is something we can all be grateful for.

Back to the Axios story on Rick Perry:

President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make.

Trump made these comments during a conference call with House members on Friday, according to 3 sources on the call.

Per the sources, Trump rattled off the same things he has been saying publicly — that his call with Zelensky was “perfect”and he did nothing wrong.

But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: “Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant,” one source said, recalling the president’s comments. 2 other sources confirmed the first source’s recollection.

It’s as if they looked for someone as dumb as Trump to blame for the “perfect call.”

It doesn’t appear that Perry is ready to jump back on the bus after being thrown under it: he’s planning to leave the cabinet and may be willing to talk to House investigators. Does anyone really think that this guy could talk President* Pennywise into doing something he didn’t want to do?

The ceiling appears to be caving in on the administration. People who are not in elected office have come to the realization that Trump has ZERO loyalty to his underlings and will throw them in a pond full of piranhas to save his ass. Exhibit One is Michael Cohen who once said he’d take a bullet for his dear leader. That misguided loyalty landed the former fixer in a fix and behind bars.

The notion of Rick Perry as Trump’s patsy evokes images of the old Lee Majors TV series: The Fall Guy. Majors played Colt Seavers, a movie stunt man who had a side hustle as a bounty hunter.

In this instance, the bounty appears to be on Rick Perry’s head. He should lawyer up and decline to take the fall for Trump. That would be the smart move. It’s unclear if the twice failed presidential candidate is capable of doing the smart thing. He does, however, look pretty good in a cowboy hat side-by-side with Lee Majors:

The Lee Majors character who could really help Perry is the Six Million Dollar Man:

Where have you gone, Steve Austin?

INSTANT UPDATE: My suspicions that Rick Perry is incapable of doing the smart thing have been confirmed. He says he’s not resigning. Way to mess up my post, Rick.

Oct 03 2019
2 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of Scandal, Law/Justice, Political Crack, The Darnold

Crazy Rudy’s Daffy Dossier

Rudy Giuliani has always been an asshole but not long ago he was a well-respected asshole. He was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York when the office decimated the top ranks of the Five Families. He was a two-term NYC Mayor who was dubbed “America’s Mayor” after 9/11. He was even the pre-season frontrunner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. In 2019, he’s become a punchline even in his hometown:

New York is a tough town even if it’s “the town so nice, they named it twice.”

I’m uncertain if it’s the Trump effect, lingering bitterness over Hillary Clinton winning the Senate seat that he coveted in 2000, or if he’s simply gone bat shit crazy. The result is the same: Rudolph Giuliani has become a laughingstock except in those quarters where “owning the libs” is as important as life itself. He’s become the Pagliacci of our national politics, a sad clown beating on a drum for the Insult Comedian.

That brings us to Rudy’s latest misadventure. There was a whole lotta hype on Tuesday and Wednesday about the State Department Inspector General’s request for an urgent meeting with relevant Congressional committees. It was widely speculated that the IG had gone rogue.

Instead, the IG turned over what is best described as a propaganda dossier in support of the discredited notion that the real 2016 scandal was Ukraine helping the Democrats. The mystery of where the hell this fakakta thing came from was solved when the artist formerly known as Mayor Combover took “credit.” Crazy Rudy strikes again.

I must give Team Trump credit for originality. They’ve spread the fog of scandal to Foggy Bottom. Watergate never touched Nixon’s national security team because he kept them away from the White House Horrors. President* Pennywise lacks Tricky’s gift for deviousness: he’s a spoiled brat used to getting his own way. Just ask the President of Finland.

In recent days, the Insult Comedian seems bound and determined to take his obsequious Veep, Mike Liar Liar Pence On Fire, down with him. Publicly criticizing and implicating the man who can pardon you strikes me as stupid even for Donald Trump. It’s what happens when you lack either long-term plans or impulse control.

Back to Rudy Giuliani. I enjoy kicking him around, but I feel sorry for him. He used to be a man to be reckoned with instead of a national joke. He’s lawyered up but I still expect him to testify on Capitol Hill. Rudy never met a camera or microphone he didn’t love. He’s never turned down a chance to be on teevee and he’s not about to start now.

I referred to the packet in question as a daffy dossier for a reason. Both Trump and Giuliani are Toons. The problem is that they’re both Daffy Duck when one of them needs to be Bugs Bunny. Someone needs to stay in control of their emotions, especially when Porky Pig Pompeo is in charge at Foggy Bottom. Bill Barr probably thinks he’s Bugs when instead he’s Elmer Fudd hunting for wascally wabbits in Italy. Suffering succotash, what a mess.

I resisted the temptation to post a clown song as the last word. Instead, a song that’s about who Rudy used to be before he threw it all away to become Donald Trump’s patsy:

Sep 30 2019
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Eat a Impeach edition

Good morning, everyone! All things considered, I’ll say the Freeperati took last week’s news fairly well.

Initially, from Clown Hall :

Reports Of A Change In Tune? Speaker Pelosi Is Feeling Out Caucus On Impeachment
Townhall ^ | 09/24/2019 | Matt Vespa

Posted on 9/24/2019, 1:06:43 PM by SeekAndFind

For the most part, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been a rational bastion in the ‘get Trump’ fever that has overtaken House Democrats. The calls to impeach Trump have been drumming for nearly four years has always been met with skepticism from Pelosi, who knows the risks. It will galvanize the GOP like no other, push away Independent voters, and will offer loads of ammunition to be used in political ads. With the presidency in Republican hands, along with the bully pulpit, the GOP has the advantage in this fight, especially if the reasons to impeach are seen as politically driven. The fact is that they are politically-driven; they just don’t like Trump. He is being impeached because he won the 2016 election. That’s it. The Trump-Russia collusion myth was their best shot—and Robert Mueller torpedoed that.

(snip)

Let’s see what happens.

1 posted on 9/24/2019, 1:06:43 PM by SeekAndFind
Yeah – let’s see what happens.
.
TrumpPhoneCalls
.
From the 13th-dimensional chess brigade :
To: SeekAndFind

 

I don’t know how many moves ahead Trump has planned, but I am convinced he and his team actually launched this “Ukraine Whistleblower” narrative.

It seems to be working perfectly. Its got even CNN talking about Biden’s corruption in Ukraine, thus hobbling Biden even further. Its got the media once again chasing a completely BS story. Its got his GOP opponents saying stupid things which will come to nothing.

The Dems going bonkers on “impeachment” may be yet another PR benefit.

11 posted on 9/24/2019, 1:10:33 PM by PGR88

What a cunning stunt!
To: SeekAndFind

 

The Democrat House impeaching Trump does not worry me as much as the thought of those snake Republicans in the Senate pulling a last minute “McCain” attempt to save their jobs.

14 posted on 9/24/2019, 1:14:03 PM by Trumpnado2016 (Welcome to Trump World.)

FIFY.
.
And then – suddenly, this summer :

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expected to announce impeachment inquiry MSNBC ^Posted on 9/24/2019, 1:50:30 PM by janetjanet998

The Washington Post reported Tuesday afternoon that Pelosi would announce a formal impeachment inquiry after meeting with Democratic lawmakers.

1 posted on 9/24/2019, 1:50:30 PM by janetjanet998
Damnit, janetjanet!
To: goldstategop

 

It might not get to that, we may see 2 million armed angry people in Washington before then.

6 posted on 9/24/2019, 1:52:50 PM by cowboyusa (America Cowboy Up)

Bwahahaha
Or to put it another way :
More Freeper hysteria and histrionics after the you-know-what…

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 27 2019
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Music, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold

Whistleblowin’ In The Wind

It strikes me as a good time to quote John Fogerty quoting Yogi Berra, “it’s like deja vu all over again.” Fogerty was referring to the Iraq War. I’m referring to Kremlingate: The Sequel aka Donald & Rudy’s Excellent Ukrainian Adventure. Duuuuuuude.

I grew up during the Cold War; like Vladimir Putin, I didn’t expect the Soviet Union to disintegrate so rapidly. Unlike Putin, I don’t have any nostalgia for the USSR. Putin is a KGB man at heart who pines for the glory days of the Soviet Union and wants to reassemble its lost empire. This irredentist stance led to the invasion of the Crimea and the pollution of the American political system by Putin and his little buddy Donald Trump. Every ventriloquist needs a dummy.

We returned to the scene of the Crimea this week with the release of the damning phone call memorandum and whistleblower report. This blew up in the Trump regime’s face leading to a formal impeachment inquiry focusing on the latest and most understandable scandal.

One reason Donald & Rudy’s Excellent Ukrainian Adventure is more understandable than Kremlingate is the brevity of the whistleblower’s charges as opposed to the 448-page Mueller Report. Additionally, this was not perpetrated in the shadows by underlings such as Page and Papadopoulous. It involves the actions of POTUS* and his current fixer, the artist formerly known as America’s Mayor. You know, this bozo:

Team Trump’s defense is different as well. Instead of “no collusion, no collusion” their current line is the less adamant, “we did it, so what?” They appear to believe that it’s no big whoop because he’s the president* and the Nixon-Barr doctrine applies:

Team Trump’s game plan is “same as it ever was, same as it ever was” ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. The Insult Comedian trotted out another old favorite yesterday: witness intimidation. He made not so veiled threats about stringing up the whistleblower and others in the White House who helped him reveal this staggering abuse of power.

This is some serious shit, y’all. The staffers who enabled this scandal by “overclassifying” Trump’s call with the hapless Ukrainian president may face criminal liability. They’ve apparently done the same thing with other calls. What other White House Horrors are they hiding?

The term White House Horrors brings us full circle to Watergate. It was coined by Nixon AG/campaign manager/convicted felon John Mitchell. Another popular term in the Watergate lexicon was smoking gun. We interrupt this paragraph with a pertinent (impertinent?) musical interlude:

The so-called smoking gun tape was not released until August 5, 1974. We already have the Ukraine scandal’s smoking gun embedded in the whistleblower’s complaint.

We end the post, as we started, with a quote. In this instance, it’s a paraphrase of Bob Dylan: the answer, my friend, is whistleblowin’ in the wind.

The last word goes to a musical odd couple (trio?) Sam Cooke and Flatt & Scruggs:

 

Sep 26 2019
Adrastos, Congress, Fog Of Scandal, Law/Justice, Political Crack, The Darnold

The Latest Trump Dignity Wraith

I watched the first 2 1/2 hours of Admiral Maguire’s testimony. It was a sad spectacle to watch a man with such a distinguished service record jump on hand grenades to protect a president* who would stab him in the back without any hesitation.

Like so many others in this administration, Maguire confuses his oath to protect the constitution with an oath to protect President* Pennywise. Maguire is just the latest in a long line of Trump dignity wraiths. His testimony was not only cringe inducing, it was in clear violation of the first rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging.

The notion that you should clear a complaint with persons mentioned in it defies logic. Trump and Barr are discussed in the whistleblower’s complaint yet they had a say in its release. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Why didn’t Maguire run it by Rudy Giuliani while he was at it?

The high point of the hearing was when Illinois Democrat Mike Quiqley set up a devastating inquiry about Rudy by discussing how arduous the security clearance process is. The artist formerly known as Mayor Combover does not have a security clearance but seems privy to all sorts of secrets, which he, in turn, blabs about on television.

I must admit that the Republicans on this committee are not as stupid as House Judiciary Committee GOPers. There’s no Gym Jordan or Louis Gohmert Piles on the Intelligence Committee. Of course, Devin Nunes claimed that Democrats are hunting for “nude pictures” of Trump. Nobody other than the Insult Comedian himself wants to see such pictures. I’m certain he would find them “perfect and beautiful” like his phone conversation with the hapless Ukrainian president.

Finally, committee Republicans made a big deal over Democrats “destroying” Maguire’s reputation. If that happened this morning, it was political suicide, not murder. Anyone who gets involved with Trump gets slimed; even retired Navy Seals with impeccable records. Maguire is just the latest Trump dignity wraith. He won’t be the last.

If the Admiral wishes to escape the well-deserved obloquy heaped on past Trump dignity wraiths, I have some unsolicited advice: Retire, Maguire.

Sep 25 2019
Adrastos, Congress, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Law/Justice, Political Crack, The Darnold

Impeachment: Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been?

The post title is a paraphrase of a short story title. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? was written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1966 and tells the story of a young woman who is seduced and devastated by the devil incarnate, Arnold Friend. Sound familiar? Arnold Friend is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is Arnold Friend. Believe me.

The situation is as fluid as mercury in an outmoded thermometer and may have shifted as I wrote this post. It’s what happens when you have a president* who changes his story every few hours. It’s why nothing he says should ever be believed. If he says it’s raining, you need to step outside and splash about in a puddle.

Here’s how I summed up the state of play yesterday afternoon:

As First Draft readers know, I’ve been for impeachment forever BUT I’m aware of the perils and pitfalls of the path we find ourselves on. It’s not a time for high-fiving and spiking the ball. This is some serious, solemn shit, y’all.

Nancy Smash’s announcement is the culmination of months of investigation that was thwarted by Trump regime stonewalling. The process was already under way but the dam broke this week and it’s another self-inflicted wound by an incompetent and idiotic president*. That’s why I call him the Kaiser of Chaos.

I have thought all along that if we reached this point the House leadership wanted to be dragged along kicking and screaming. Speaker Pelosi has been leery of risking the majority on impeachment as she was willing to do to pass the ACA in 2010. While I’ve disagreed, I understand her motives: this will not result in the removal of President* Pennywise. I’m alarmed that many people do not seem to understand this.

WaPo foreign policy columnist David Ignatius has a succinct explanation for why this move was imperative:

Why is this more than just another Trump vs. Democrats mud fight? Because the Ukraine issue is about compromising U.S. national security — and direct pledges to allies — for the president’s personal political gain. That’s what’s so outrageous about Trump’s alleged push to get dirt on his potential 2020 rival, former vice president Joe Biden, in a July 25 phone call with newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Not for the first time, Trump was putting himself above his country.

Trump isn’t even bothering to deny the basics. He confirmed Tuesday that he had held up delivery of a promised $391 million in military aid for the Ukrainians in mid-July, before his call to Zelensky. Trump claimed he wanted to pressure “Europe and other nations to contribute to Ukraine.” Trump had suggested Sunday that in the July call he had urged Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son’s work for a Ukrainian gas company.

The call was made the day after Robert Mueller’s public testimony before Congress dampened enthusiasm for impeachment. Trump felt bulletproof so he overplayed his hand. It’s what he’s done his entire life. That coupled with his fatal inability to STFU made impeachment inevitable.

Impeachment was at death’s door until Trump reanimated it like a bizarro world Victor Frankenstein. It’s called pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. Thanks, Donald.

The administration is making a show of turning over documents to the intelligence committees. Does anyone trust this White House to turn over an honest transcript of the call? I would hope not. Besides, according to the whistleblower, the call is not the only reason for this crisis.

I think the process will move faster than most others do. The articles of impeachment almost write themselves. It will be interesting to see if cracks develop among Republican members of Congress. At some point, the politician’s instinct for self-preservation is bound to kick in. Of course, I’ve been saying that for years. Stay tuned.

Finally, there is no legal requirement for the House to send impeachment to the Senate, which will not remove Trump from office. I’d let it sit there like a loaded gun without a Senate trial or vote. Ending the process in the House would have the virtue of denying the Insult Comedian a victory lap. That would drive Trump nuts; make that nuttier.

Sep 20 2019
2 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of Scandal, Law/Justice, The Darnold

Just Another Whistle Stop

The whistleblower story is unspooling like a horror movie replete with twists, turns, and drama. I was involved in a social media discussion wherein we speculated which country President* Pennywise had been indiscreet with. The answer was depressing: there are a wide range of plausible possibilities from Russia to Saudi Arabia to Israel to North Korea to Pakistan and on and on and on.

Ukraine seems to be top of the pops BUT it appears inappropriate promises were made to other leaders. None of this is surprising because of the transactional nature of the Trump regime. While we’re not surprised, we should never lose our capacity for horror and outrage. This administration is like a dead teenager/slasher movie: the bodies just keep on dropping.

Somehow Bill Barr and the DOJ are in the mix despite the fact that they have no legal role in the whistleblower process whatsoever. Barr seems to regard himself as a human shield to protect the Insult Comedian. It’s not his actual job but he’s moonlighting as Trump’s personal lawyer. Repeat after me: While we’re not surprised, we should never lose our capacity for horror and outrage.

The problem with dealing with the Trump scandals is that there are so many of them. It makes it hard to focus on any of them although threatening a foreign head of state to benefit your campaign ranks up there with Kremlingate.

The manifold scandals and their amorphous nature is why I adopted the rubric: The Fog Of Scandal. The chaotic nature of this presidency* is why one of my nicknames for Trump is the Kaiser of Chaos. Chaos and anarchy are spreading like a particularly virulent disease in our body politic. The only way to excise them is at the ballot box. His wings could be clipped by impeachment but amputation by Moscow Mitch’s senate is never gonna happen.

Trump’s lackeys have followed his lifelong pattern of delay by litigation and stonewalling. They’re experts at kicking the can down the road, which is why each scandal is just another whistle stop.

The last word goes to The Band:

Sep 16 2019
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – That was the week that wows edition

TW3, everyone… (hopefully the BBC won’t sue me)  – and what a week it was!  I’ve quit trying to count the wheels that have come off the Trump Train, and am just concentrating on dodging them as they fly by.

First up – He’s Bolton! (composite thread) :

Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton-JB says he “offered to resign”
cnbc ^ | Sept 10, 2019 | Mangan/Breuninger

Posted on 9/10/2019, 11:02:18 AM by janetjanet998

Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton

1 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:02:18 AM by janetjanet998
Of course, in Freeperville, The Darnold can do no wrong :
To: bigdaddy45

 

Ruh roh.

4 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:06:00 AM by HighSierra5

Some expert political analysis :
To: janetjanet998

 

I never did like that cheesy stache.

It will be very interesting to see who replaces him. No names come quickly to my mind.

12 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:05:37 AM by be-baw

TrumpBolton
.
Suddenly, Free republic has turned into anti-war dove territory:
To: GRRRRR

HALLELUJAH!!! War mongering uberstatist who never met a foreign entanglement he did not celebrate!!!

I thank GOD every day for Donald Trump for cleaning out this cabal of Chenney/Bolton pseudopatriot scum from the state dept.

He put the cabal IN there, you incredible fucking moron.

The myth that “if we don’t fight them over there, then they will come here” has done nothing but breed the kind of rage that creates terrrorists, kill our boys for NOTHING, bankrupt the country, and dance like a marionette on a string to the Likud.

One can only hope Pompeo is next.

8 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:11:59 AM by mostly_lies

Good luck with that.

To: mostly_lies

 

Pompeo is probably the best of his Cabinet picks.

31 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:37:16 AM by Sacajaweau

GirlsGirlsStupid
To: GRRRRR

 

I will watch this thread to see how many more of my FRiends have changed their core principles since Trump was elected.

19 posted on 9/10/2019, 11:20:59 AM by golux

Golly! Me, too!
.
..after a quick word from our sponsors….

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 11 2019
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold

Moltin’ Bolton

It’s a testament to the times in which we live that John Bolton was fired for being right about something. John Bolton is almost never right about anything but he was right about the Taliban peace conference at Camp David. Be still my attacking heart.

I’m hoping for a war of words between Trump and Bolton. Both men need enemies and love to fight. But Bolton is much tougher than Trump: he’ll stab his enemies in the front. The Kaiser of Chaos is strictly a backstabber and twitter fighter. The term keyboard warrior was invented for him. Trump is a pussy. He should grab himself.

I was among those who thought the Bolton appointment would lead to a shooting war. I’m glad that I was wrong but it wasn’t for lack of trying. This cartoon still sums up my opinion of Bolton:

President* Pennywise is on the prowl for his fourth national security advisor; That would tie him for second place with Eisenhower, but Ike served two asterisk free terms. The record holder is Ronald Reagan who had six: two of whom were convicted of crimes related to the Iran-Contra scandal and one of whom was pardoned by Poppy Bush. The scary thing is that Trump’s scandals make Reagan look like a piker. So it goes.

Speaking of Iran-Contra, my friend Bill is “rooting” for Oliver North to be the Insult Comedian’s fourth national security advisor. Nothing this president* does surprises me BUT Ollie is at war with Wayne LaPierre and Trump is scared shitless of the NRA. Never gonna happen, my friend.

A brief word about the post title. It’s a play on the word molting, which is when a bird sheds its feathers or an arthropod loses its exoskeleton. Trump is forever molting senior advisers, this time it just happened to rhyme.

Finally, there’s some dispute as to whether Bolton jumped or was pushed. That’s why the last word goes to Richard and Linda Thompson although a gender switch/swap is in order:

 

 

Sep 09 2019
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold, War in Afghanistan

The Boy Ain’t Right: Taliban, Ho

When Trump tweeted about the peace conference with the Taliban, I assumed he was lying. Meeting at Camp David with the terrorist group that sheltered Osama Bin-Laden this close to the 18th anniversary of 9/11 made no sense. Additionally, I assumed that even the Insult Comedian knew it was idiotic to leak news of a failure. I was wrong. It’s true and Trump *is* stupid and delusional enough to tweet about a failure.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

Here’s the deal: to make peace, one has to negotiate with one’s enemies. The Oslo talks between Israel and the PLO are the best example I can think of. But the leaders at the top of the food chain were not involved until a deal was sealed by their subordinates. Being a narcissist, Trump wanted to be the closer, which is one of many reasons this deal collapsed.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

A signing ceremony this close to 9/11 would allow President* Pennywise to make that solemn anniversary about him, not those who died in the attacks.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

The collapse of the negotiations and Trump’s leak make success less likely. I think we should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible BUT Trump has made that much harder. He’s not only discredited himself, he’s discredited peacemaking for the time being. Heckuva job, Trumpy.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

I never thought I’d say anything nice about Dick Cheney’s horrible spawn but at least Liz Cheney had the guts to criticize this move from the right. You know the world is upside down when I say anything nice about any Cheney.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

I wish I could figure out how to make lemonade out of this lemon of a deal. The best I can do is to give The Police the last word with a song that works even better now than it did when it was released in 1980:

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

Sep 05 2019
6 Comments
Adrastos, Diary, Fog Of Scandal, Nature is Scary, Political Crack, The Darnold, Twitter, Your President Speaks

The Boy Ain’t Right: Hurricane Edition

It was the Sharpie mark heard round the world:

Heard was artistic license but Sharpies have been known to squeak. Squawk is a better word choice for what the Insult Comedian did after he was called out for providing false information on Hurricane Dorian. I follow Hurricane reportage very closely for obvious reasons. Alabama was never in the cone but Trump must always be right and cannot admit error.

This is the creepiest manifestation yet of Trump’s refusal to admit a mistake. This could have resulted in chaos and confusion in Alabama: that’s why I call him the Kaiser of Chaos. This is some dangerous, shit, yall.

Let’s face it: hardcore Trumpers are not the brightest bulbs in the hurricane lamp. Absent correction by the National Weather Service’s Birmingham office, they might have believed their Dear Leader. This what incompetent authoritarianism looks like.

This is some deranged shit, y’all. Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

Trump tweeted out a track that allegedly supported his preposterous position. All it did was show a few spaghetti models on August 28 that were headed towards Alabama and the Gret Stet of Louisiana for that matter. Alabama was never in the cone:

Remember when Kellyanne Conway talked about alternative facts? This involves alternative tracks. I’m a bit disappointed that Trump didn’t lie about Dorian heading to the Gret Stet: both GOP goober candidates have their heads permanently wedged up his ass. Believe me.

This is some deranged shit, y’all. Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

Then there’s the matter of who can request that a POTUS declare a state of emergency in a given state. According to federal law, only a Governor can make such a request. The Governor of North Carolina is a Democrat, Roy Cooper. He made the request as required by law. Here’s how President* Pennywise spun it:

Tillis is, of course, a Republican who is up for re-election in 2020.

This is some deranged shit, y’all. Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

The chart thing bugs the living shit out of me. As someone who was exiled from my home for six weeks in 2005, I take this personally. It’s not only illegal to deface a NWS chart and disseminate false information,  it’s dangerous and delusional. What’s next?  Is Trump going to nuke a future hurricane and claim he didn’t do it? He can’t say the dog ate his homework because he hates canines. My mother taught me never to trust someone who does not like dogs.

This is some deranged shit, y’all. Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

One more hurricane related item. Anderson Cooper hosted a climate change thingamabob on CNN last night. One of the candidates for the Democratic nomination sounded like a Republican politician circa 2005-2006:

Heckuva job, Bernie.

Sep 02 2019
2 Comments
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – open wide for chunky edition

 

OK folks – slack-off time is over, with means it’s time to don our ISO suits and push open the airlock!

airlockdoor

First up? Leaking on The Darnold!
( I know it’s a long article, but bear with me)

Leak Plugged? Trump’s Personal “Gatekeeper” Hits The Exit
Hotair ^ | 08/30/2019 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 8/30/2019, 9:17:32 AM by SeekAndFind

In any White House, discretion is a prized value in staffers, and perhaps even more so in the Donald Trump era. As Trump’s personal assistant in the Oval Office, Madeleine Westerhout should have known that better than most. Yet Westerhout has been shown the door, as multiple news organizations reported overnight, for sharing personal information about the First Family with reporters:

President Trump’s personal assistant Madeleine Westerhout resigned from her job abruptly, a White House official and another person familiar with the situation told NBC News late Thursday night.

One of the sources said that Westerhout left the job because she shared personal information about the president’s family and Oval Office operations at an off-the-record dinner with reporters earlier this month in Bedminster, N.J., where a Trump-owned golf club that the president often visits in summer months is located.

All of the outlets reporting this departure call it a resignation, but they all also strongly suggest that the resignation came under considerable duress. The New York Times first reported it and noted that the sequence of events started when Trump found out she was leaking information to reporters, and that she’s already persona non grata anywhere in the White House. Needless to say, that’s not a departure on mutually agreeable terms.

The Times’ Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman also take note of Westerhout’s political pedigree:

“Ms. Westerhout, a former Republican National Committee aide who also worked for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, reportedly cried on election night because she was upset over Mr. Trump’s victory. As such, the president at first viewed her warily, as a late convert to his cause who could not be trusted.”

(snip)

Ms. Westerhout’s power in the White House came almost entirely from proximity. She is not a name-brand White House aide and has never appeared on television, unless it was an accidental shot of her hovering behind her boss. But while she was not a decision maker, she enjoyed unique access to Mr. Trump.

Trump tends to be a little paranoid about working with other Republicans, but in this case his first instinct might have been correct. Karni and Haberman hint at Westerhout’s state of mind in the last paragraph of the above excerpt. Politico later reported that Westerhout was attempting a little empire-building in the White House, which might have led to a slap-down or two from more senior officials:

“In the past six months, Westerhout had tried to expand the boundaries of her job to encompass a broader set of tasks and to include foreign travel, said one adviser close to the White House, who suggested Westerhout had tried to act like a de facto chief of staff. This irked several White House officials and Cabinet secretaries who thought she should stick to her primary task of serving as the president’s personal secretary with a desk just outside the Oval Office. …”

(snip)

The close White House adviser called this “the final straw” for someone who did not have many allies left in the building.

Under those circumstances, one has to wonder whether Westerhout got set up by rivals within the White House. That’s the kind of games that get played when low-level staffers try acquiring power at the expense of others with better connections. It’s just as likely, if not more so, that a lack of success led Westerhout to lose her sense of discretion and/or attempt to gain more power by manipulating the press against her real and perceived rivals.

At least, those are the fun explanations. If this turns out to be just the mundane circumstance of a secretary with trouble keeping her mouth shut after having a couple of drinks, it’ll be a disappointment. Even so, Westerhout’s exit will serve as a warning to others to keep their mouths shut whatever the circumstance might be.

1 posted on 8/30/2019, 9:17:32 AM by SeekAndFind

TrumpBestPeople

To: SeekAndFind 

This is appalling  appealing.

FIFY.

I’ll repeat myself….President Trump would’ve fared better if he had surrounded himself with loyal “little folk”

Yes – because The Darnold’s love of “little folk” (as opposed to power players) is SO well-known…

Deplorables who were with him from the beginning.

6 posted on 8/30/2019, 9:28:03 AM by grania (“We’re all just pawns in their game”)

Let me break the suspense.  He’s not hiring ANY of you yobbos.  Ever.
Your Trumpian taint-licking is on a gratis basis, and will be, forever.
To: SeekAndFind

 

Why in the world would any Romney person be given a detail like hers????
I love Trump, but that was stupid!!!!

17 posted on 8/30/2019, 9:43:12 AM by bantam

(James Garner voice) “Well, I’ve been around Donnie all day, and I ain’t seen him do one smart thing yet.”
To: SeekAndFind

 

When it comes to hiring good people, Trump doesn’t do well.

58 posted on 8/30/2019, 11:18:38 AM by aimhigh (THIS is His commandment . . . . 1 John 3:23)

.
TrumpBestPeoples.gif
.
More deplorable leaking, and much more, at the magic “read more” link thingy.
.

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Aug 28 2019
Adrastos, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold, Twitter, Your President Speaks

Bedbugging Out

The bedbug is perhaps the perfect metaphor for the Trump era. The word has certainly been tossed around a lot lately. Failing New York Times columnist Brett Stephens took umbrage over a tweet by a college professor describing him as a bedbug. Stephens famously wrote the George Washington University and ratted out the bedbug guy. They swatted him away like, well, a bedbug.

The Stephens story is bizarre: he’s an anti-Trump right-winger so he’s surely been called worse. His whole “this is language they use in totalitarian regimes” defense rings hollow. Does the NYT require their writers to be easily offended? Stephens is not the only one to have his feelings hurt on the tweeter tube. It’s just twitter, y’all. Nothing that happens there matters.

The bedbug infestation spread to the G-7 where President* Pennywise was hard selling his Miami resort as a site for the next global confab:

The bedbug rumors are bad for the business Trump is trying to drum up:

The bedbug controversy did not discourage Trump from promoting his property for the next G7 even in an apparent violation of rules against profiteering from the presidency.

But the president claimed he won’t profit off the event. “In my opinion I’m not going to make any money,” Trump said. “I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money.”

That may be the funniest thing I’ve heard in ages. The Kaiser of Chaos doesn’t care about making money? Was he under anesthetic after his Doral surgery? Come on, admit it, you knew that pun was coming.

The whole notion of any president profiting off an international summit is obscene. It’s crazy corrupt even for this crazy crooked administration. Holy emoluments clause, Batman.

Trump decided to flip the bedbug thing on its buggy head by turning on Brett Stephens this morning:

I’ve been trying my damnedest not to post the Insult Comedian’s tweets BUT it was necessary to capture the sixth-grader-ness of it all. As always, Trump sounds like a schoolyard bully who’s ready to bolt at the sign of any resistance. Not nice. Believe me.

The White House is going to need fumigation after the Trumpian bedbug infestation ends. They should burn all the mattresses in a dumpster fire worthy of this administration.

I used Trump tossing paper towels in Puerto Rico as the featured image as a reminder that Tropical Storm Dorian is heading in that direction. And that Team Trump stripped money from the  FEMA  budget to pay for their detention/concentration camps. I suspect Puerto Ricans wish Trump had traded their island for Greenland. They could be Danish right now and Denmark would give a toss about their fate unlike the Tosser-In-Chief.

That concludes this edition of Your President* Speaks. Nite, nite, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

Aug 26 2019
6 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Political Crack, The Darnold

Donald Trump Is Mentally Ill

Image by Michael F.

I realize I’m preaching to the choir, if, that is, an agnostic has a choir to preach to but that’s an issue for another day. I’ve found that the other posts in what has turned into a series featuring blunt titles-Donald Trump Is A Criminal, and Donald Trump Is A Racist-have made an impact. I promise to get to Donald Trump Is A Misogynist the next time he uses the word nasty to describe a woman who won’t buckle to his will.

I’m not sure if the cause of Trump’s mental illness is organic and degenerative-his father had Alzheimer’s-or a lifelong case of narcissistic personality disorder and/or both. Whatever it is, it makes him the poster boy for the 25th Amendment, which allows an unfit president to be removed from office. The process must start in the executive branch, which is full of sycophants so it’s not going to happen. Hell, it didn’t happen when a drunk Tricky Dick was talking to portraits of dead presidents and he had a cabinet full of heavyweights. Of course, Spiro Agnew as Veep was a deterrent until he resigned in disgrace. Beware of Greeks with bag men.

Last week’s display of lunacy has revived talk of Trump’s mental illness and the story about his wanting to nuke hurricanes is certain to accelerate the concern among rational people that:

I’m an amateur shrink, here’s what a real one, Dr. Lance Dodes, has to say about the madness of King Donald:

He told MSNBC that Trump had “a fundamental need to be all-powerful and all loved and can’t stand challenges.”

“He can’t stand anything that disagrees with him, and the more you challenge him, the more unhinged he becomes, the more paranoid, and the more violent, potentially,” Dodes said

“He doesn’t really love anyone except himself. That’s not a slur, that’s a psychological fact. People like him are about him. If he’s not useful to him, he stops loving him. That’s part of the essential emptiness of Donald Trump. He doesn’t have real relationships with people.”

When Trump looked toward the heavens and bragged about being “the chosen one,” Dodes said it was another example of Trump’s grandiosity.

“There’s something fundamentally different about him from normal people. It’s a psychotic-like state. The more you press him, the more you see how disorganized and empty he is. The more he flies into a disorganized rage.”

White House flacks made like David Letterman and said the “chosen one” comment was just a joke: I halfway expected them to say “that’s why we call him the Insult Comedian.” If it’s a joke, it’s not funny ha-ha, it’s funny strange like the idiotic notion of nuking hurricanes.

Interestingly enough, the APA’s so-called Goldwater Rule was promulgated because of the 1964 GOP nominee’s loose talk about nukes, which led to this Democratic slogan:

The Goldwater Rule rule was wise in Barry’s case because he wasn’t crazy. He was sane enough to urge Nixon to resign in 1974, and I’m old enough to remember when he said this:

“I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.”

Barry Goldwater was the John McCain of his generation: a straight-shooting, plain-spoken conservative who was willing to criticize his own party. Holy extinct species, Batman.

Goldwater may not have been crazy but President* Pennywise is. If he weren’t the Current Occupant, I might feel sorry for him but he is so I can’t. He’s a menace.

Repeat after me: THE BOY AIN’T RIGHT.

The last word goes to Aimee Mann with the track that inspired her Mental Illness album:

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