Hurricane Florence has certainly been a damaging force along the east coast. And of course Donald Trump, being the President of the United States, had to show solidarity by making an appearance and making folks feel like the Government was going to take care of things. Who wants to guess how that went? If your guess was that Trump was going to make confusing and insensitive statements at the expense of the people who lost everything, congratulations. I owe you a cookie. The most public example was a yacht that caused major damage to property, and Trump telling the owner “You got a boat out of the deal.” And to that I says 1) No he didn’t. He doesn’t get to keep someone else’s boat because a hurricane put it there. That’s not how property works, and I’m surprised a real estate developer didn’t know that. Also 2) A Hurricane ruined the guys house! Even if he got to keep the boat (which he didn’t, and the boat itself was also pretty totaled, so why would he want it?) HIS HOUSE WAS RUINED! FEMA isn’t going to pay for that! They’re going to pass out water and paper towels. So way to make a joke at the expense of a guy who is likely looking at paying tens of thousands of dollars to fix his house, Don. You really got this whole “condolences” thing down.
The Trade War rhetoric and logic is damn childish. Seriously. It’s not enough that Donald Trump thinks that if he keeps trying to bully China with tariffs, that they’re just going to roll over. But the way he tries to sell this to everyone the American people is the way a 5 year old who just found out how to lie would. He keeps telling us how great all of this is going, while we watch the farmers and factory workers scramble to earn a living. He claims that China is attacking the farmers to make him look bad, as if he himself isn’t doing the same thing in bigger numbers. China is just doing it more strategically. And the difference is starting to show. Because while we’re pushing away our trading partners, they seem to be teaming up around us. But the thing is, Trump is forcing everyone to play his game, and his game is childish, which means no one comes away looking good. Tariffs are supposed to be a trade tool, not a weapon. And what should be an occasion that ends in the shaking of hands, is turning into a slapfight.
Does Donald Trump ever have honest to goodness moments of clarity? I know it seems like a silly question, and the obvious answer might be “no”, but I do wonder…I mean, he clearly knows what the Mainstream media (aka, “the Fake News”) says about him. Thinks about his politics, his behavior. He has enough clarity to lie about what he does how he does them. If he knows enough to blatantly lie, then he has to recognize that the things he’s choosing to lie about deal in things he recognizes that people frown upon. In the wake of a couple weeks of falling poll numbers, Bob Woodward’s book, Paul Manafort cooperating with the feds, more lies about his border wall, it’s price, who’s paying for it, and of course the Anonymous Op-Ed from a West Wing staffer, the idea that people in his inner circle are going out of their way to keep him from being able to make bad decisions…I genuinely wonder if he goes to bed at night and wonders…even sometimes, and thinks that maybe HE’S the problem. I dunno. Maybe I’m trying to attribute just a little bit of humility to a man that has none.
Trump Derangement Syndrome. I first heard this term and thought it was a joke. Like “haha, people don’t like Trump, it’s driving them insane!” And then I started seeing actual articles about it in conservative media outlets, and it kind of stopped being funny. Because that’s the new line now. If you disagree with anything Trump does, if you think he’s a crook, a liar, or just a general bad person, Conservatives will label you with a fictional psychological disorder, giving them one more reason to dismiss any and all criticism of Donald Trump. And this isn’t just some fringe, conspiracy theory idea. Trump recently endorsed a book by Gina Loudon, a woman with a mail order PhD, is trying to claim that Trump Derangement Syndrome is a legitimate psychological disorder. But the really silly thing, is that this “syndrome” which is supposedly born of the rage against all things Trump, is often shouted in what some might call a “deranged” manner, at people. You have folks like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity screaming at their audiences, trying to convince them that it’s the LIBERAL rage that is a threat. It’s an important point for them to sell. Because if the liberals AREN’T in fact a bunch of rage monsters, then why are hyper-Conservative blowhards shouting so loud?
This week, the White House will send out a text message to the nation, testing FEMA’s new “Presidential Alert” for national emergencies. Most Americans will find themselves getting this text and I have to admit, I’m curious about it. Realistically, I would this will just be some basic text that echoes those emergency broadcast messages from TV, but the idea that Trump has the option of a “Presidential Alert” is really disconcerting, especially when he gets a certain amount of discretion in what he considers an “emergency.” The last thing anyone needs is for Trump to treat this new system like his Twitter account. Let’s face facts, It’s not beyond Trump’s style or sense of decency to make an emergency a partisan issue while it’s happening. And if he thinks he has a leg up on your average American system in combating the mainstream media’s coverage of him…well I just wouldn’t put it beyond him to abuse this system. But I’m probably just being paranoid, right?
Rumors out of the West Wing, is that Trump has gone full paranoid in the wake of Bob Woodward’s new book and the New York Times Op-Ed piece. Anonymous sources, the ones that Trump seems paranoid about, say that he’s growing more and more unhinged about it. He has apparently disrupted meetings about it, and if someone looks at him in a way he finds out of place, he immediately suspects them of being the author of the Op-Ed. Don Jr. says his dad isn’t sleeping, and Trump has mandated that staff are to call the anonymous author a coward in public to maybe shame them? I guess? And apparently the West Wing is bracing themselves for the climate to get even worse come the mid-terms. So what comes next? I don’t know for sure, but I’m placing bets on Trump going full “the Shining” on everyone. Any takers?
Donald Trump seems to be the only one who doesn’t think that the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria was an unqualified failure on just about every level. Supplies were few and far inbetween, the territory was without power for weeks. There are still large sections that today don’t have electricity. That’s not to mention the bacterial infection outbreak, the breakdown of utilities and infrastructure, that left people without basic things like clean drinking water. Oh, the hurricane and it’s aftermath was responsible for almost 3000 lost lives as of today. Now, a big hurricane is always going to be catastrophic to a community that was struck, but Trump and his administrations response to it was and continues to be an embarrassment. Constant pleas for help were met with lots of public assurance that it would happen, with no real action. It’s so bad, that Trump himself is publicly disputing the death toll, because the idea that he’s a big fat failure is not an image he wants the world to see…though to that, I would say “too late.” Make no mistake, Trump’s administration and Trump himself did shamefully little to help the people of Puerto Rico. He thought he could throw some paper towel rolls and call it a day and hit the links, and then expect people to be okay with it. But people shouldn’t be. Trump failed those people in a big way, and now he wants to rewrite history and pretend that he didn’t. But the people of Puerto Rico are still around to let everyone know that when the time came to act, Trump and his team sunk to the challenge.
Barack Obama has come back to the political scene and he’s finally willing to say all the things a lot of us were hoping he wood. During a speech he gave to the University of Illinois, he talked about the state of political discourse, and finally was willing to call out Trump by name. I can applaud his decision up until now to try and stay above the fray, but right now especially, his voice is an important one in remind the country, and indeed the world, in who we were before things got where they are. That’s not to say they weren’t heading that way during his time as POTUS. Indeed, I would argue that Trump’s victory was the culmination of years divisiveness finally exploding into what we have. But listening to Obama’s measured, thought out words reminded me and many that we’re supposed to be better. And maybe gave me hope that we can be. Because maybe it is time to make America great again, but not by building walls to keep away the other. But by building bridges to extend a hand outward. He also reminded us all that it just shouldn’t be that hard to say Nazis are bad.
So the White House has announced that they are planning another summit with the leadership of North Korea. And to that I ask…why? What is the point? Listen, I think it’s important to continue to dialogue with North Korea, and to try and get them to do what they agreed to do, but these ceremonial “talks” are nothing but theater if all that’s going to happen is a victory declared, and then nothing changes. And listen, I don’t know what the right move going forward with North Korea is. But it’s clear that neither does Donald Trump. If the only purpose that an event like this is for Trump to meet with a dictator, and then come back and tell us all what a swell guy he his, and how good of friend they are, then it’s clear to me that there are more effective ways to be spending time. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just my opinion. A summit with a leader of a hostile foreign nation isn’t supposed to be two bros bro-ing out for some bro-laughs. Not when avoiding a nuclear holocaust is on the table. It just occurs to me that the taxpayers should have to foot the bill for a glorified sleepover.
Donald Trump likes to control the narrative. He likes people to know that he’s not just a President. He’s a rock star! In his rallies, he’s never on stage alone. The crowd is never JUST in front on him. He always has people behind him. People to look excited, impressed an hopeful. Because that’s the narrative. He’s the great leader that inspires the people! So when someone behind him isn’t enforcing that narrative, that can be a problem. If someone were to stand RIGHT behind him, and look incredulous and mystified by something he said, something contentious…that might give the impression that maybe his leadership isn’t so great. That maybe he doesn’t have all the answers. I mean, if someone who was put on that stage as one of his supporters doesn’t read as “convinced”, his word might not be gospel. Which brings us to a rally in Billings Montana last Thursday. A young man in a plaid shirt seemed a little taken aback by remarks Trump was making. His unfortunate position right behind Trump clearly didn’t send the best optics, at which point, he was escorted off the stage by a young lady, who then replaced him. Then for good measure, two other people standing right beside the young man were also replaced by more “enthusiastic” women. According to the young man, he wasn’t simply removed, he was also held by the Secret Service and questioned. For doing nothing more than reacting to a speech. Because as Trump knows, you can’t ever lose control of that narrative.
Mind the Exit 