Crazy Politics

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You might be forgiven for thinking the big Conservative Union CPAC conference that took place over the weekend was actually an art installation that was mean to be satire rather than an actual political convention where actual ideas were discussed.  Mostly because it featured a bunch of hyper conservative politicians go on schizophrenic and delusional rants that discuss, mostly how crazy the democrats have become.  Ted Cruz actually used the term “bat crap crazy”, meanwhile Donald Trump is busy groping the stars and stripes and talking about how all the stuff he’s getting done but not really.  It was weird.  If this convention was supposed to mobilize Republican donors and really engage confidence for 2020, I don’t know how successful it was.  Because while most the people there might be ideologically misguided, I don’t think most of them are deaf and blind to how the perception of the Republican party has shifted, especially since the midterms.

Mental Decline

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It feels like every couple of weeks since the start of the Trump presidency, Trump will do or say something that will collectively make the nation go “what?”, and out will come a handful of think pieces wondering whether or not Donald Trump is suffering a mental ailment or mental decline.  Often times the pieces are written by people who have some kind of relevant expertise in psychology or psychiatry.  Then as soon as the articles start getting any kind of circulation, there will come the rebuttals.  But the rebuttals fascinate me, because they often spend little to no time arguing against the conclusion, and more against the merit of having the conversation and the ethics of the professionals who are making the arguments.  To that I would argue, if mental health professionals are en masse coming out to suggest the guy who is responsible for launching nuclear missiles might be losing his grip on reality, I feel like we should all know about it.  As to the ethics of it…listen, if Trump’s personal therapist was coming out and telling the world that he admitted to fanaticizing about getting peed on by Russian hookers, I might suggest his ethics are questionable.  If a highly regarded psychiatrist who viewed the very public life of the President is suggesting that based on his behavior, he might destroy the world, then maybe the psychiatrist is ethically safe.

Implicit Trust

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I feel like every week, I’m reading some new story about how the conditions are worsening for people who have to work for Donald Trump.  For a while, it was just general discontent, lots of random media leaks and general distrust.  Every time an expose or book would come out, Trump would call it fiction, and we’d hear that he was angry that staffers might be talking.  Then Bob Woodward, the nation’s most well respected journalist and presidential biographer, released his book, and the hype surrounding that caused even more turmoil.  Within DAYS of that, a Op-Ed written by an anonymous West Wing staffer was published in the New York Times, and things got so bad that rumors of polygraph tests were starting to circulate.  Now a new Op-Ed from the Times suggest that staffers may have been plotting to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.  Now, in fairness to that story, the validity of that claim is in question.  It’s been noted that the remarks in question may have been sarcastic or meant to be a joke, but none the less, apparently the atmosphere for employees in the White House has only gotten worse.  Trump seems to have lost confidence that he can trust anyone in his employ, and rumor has it, prone to outbursts at anyone who seems traitor-y.  But this can’t last forever.  There has to be some kind of breaking point, right?

Relationship Advice

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So, Trump reportedly gave Kim Jong Un his personal phone number, a direct line to him…which is weird.  I get the feeling most leaders of nations actually allied to the US don’t have that, but a murderous dictator who has a history of sabotage and subterfuge, and of murdering family members, does.  Now, there are some legit security concerns with that.  There is a lot that a tech savvy person could do with a phone number, or if you’re not tech savvy, but do have an army of hackers at your disposal.  But more than that, why would you want a crazy person having the ability to call you and chat?  I feel like Trump should know better.  If you’ve ever dated a crazy person who calls you at 3 in the morning to spread their crazy, then you know better.