August 21, 2020: Trump - Bad at Math, Bad at Geography, Really Bad at His Job

 

8/21/20: No matter how hard you try you cannot keep up with all the craziness that click clacks from the Twitter thumbs and blah blahs from the lips of Tin Pot Don. Nor is it possible to delineate the multifaceted ways in which the current President of the United States threatens fundamental American values, while simultaneously undermining our standing in the world.

 

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Trump is bad at math, bad at geography and really bad at his job. More and more Republicans know it and are starting to say so, too.

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He’s not even good at the basics of his job. This week we had another 1.1 million Americans file for unemployment. That kept alive a disastrous streak of 22 weeks with at least a million new claims. COVID-19 cases did fall on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, a hopeful trend for all Americans. Then they spiked again: 46,500 new cases on August 19, 44,864 on August 20, and 46,754 today. 

Meanwhile, the president has been trying to make it sound like other countries are doing just as badly – if not worse – than we are. This week he cited New Zealand as an example. On August 19, the island nation had six new cases. Six!!!! On August 20, they had five. Today, they reported 11. Adjusted for population that would be the equivalent of the U.S. having a combined 1,452 cases those three days. 

Trump sucks at math.

 

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IF MATH IS A PROBLEM for Tin Pot Don, geography is definitely not his strongest subject. According to a former Trump appointee at the Department of Homeland Security, after Hurricane Maria smashed the island of Puerto Rico, the President of the United States floated the idea of selling the island, and justified his plan, saying Puerto Ricans were “dirty” and “poor.” Later he suggested a possible trade for Greenland, which would be hard to believe. 

Except this is Tin Pot Don, a most ill-informed man. 

We should remind Trump fans – and their fearless, clueless, lawless leader – that the people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. 

You can’t just sell them or trade them like slaves.

 

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FIRES ARE BLAZING across California, as climate change continues to heat up and dry out the Golden State. Tens of thousands of Californians have been displaced from homes, and 771,000 acres have burned. Trump displays his usual level of empathy – which is none. “I see again the forest fires are starting,” he said on Thursday. “They’re starting again in California. I said, you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests – there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up.”

 

“Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay for it because they don’t listen to us,” he added. 

Someone should probably explain to Trump. Eight of California’s ten worst fires have ignited this decade. Colorado is currently fighting its second biggest fire ever. The worst came in 2002. Arizona has a dozen active fires going, tied with Oregon. Scientists have long warned that a hotter, drier planet would suffer more and more destructive forest fires. See, for example: Siberia in July; “zombie fires” in Alaska in May; massive fires in Australia in January. 

Climate changes is not a “hoax,” and neither are these results. (See: NASA comments on Greenland, 8/20/20.)

 

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IF YOU SKIPPED the Democratic National Convention, you missed several touching moments. Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old stutterer talked about how Vice President Biden took him aside when they met, and told him to have confidence, and said he could overcome his problem, as Biden did as a young man.

 

“Fundamentally good people.” 

Not so touching, but still of note: Ed Good, 95, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, a lifelong Republican and Trump voter in 2016, said he would not make the same mistake again. 

Trump, he said, was the “worst president we have ever had.” 

S.E. Cupp, a conservative commentator, watched the DNC show and came away impressed. Having viewed a video that focused on Jill Biden and the tragedies that have shaped her husband, Cupp had a sudden realization. These were “fundamentally good people.” It was clear, she said, that Joe loved this country. He loved its people. She compared him to Trump, who she found wanting. 

Our current president loves only himself, she said. Cupp decided that was reason enough to vote Democratic for a change.

 

She was not alone. Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, announced that she, too, would cast a vote for Biden. “Joe Biden,” she said, “is a wonderful man and a friend of the McCain family.” 

Daughter Megan, a conservative like her late father, said she would also vote for Joe, one of an increasing number of GOP regulars to have had enough of Trump. Republican mega-donor Meg Whitman made it clear she was voting Biden. Governor Phil Scott of Vermont said he would not vote for Trump. He “would consider” supporting the Democratic ticket, but not his own party’s leader. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich is a “no” and will vote the Democratic ticket. 

Kasich’s announcement prompted Mr. Maturity in the White House to erupt. “He was a loser as a Republican, and he’ll be a loser as a Democrat,” the president fumed, even though Kasich has no plans to turn Democrat. “Major loser as a Republican,” Trump added. “I guess you can quote me on that,” he told reporters. “John was a loser as a Republican. … And as a Democrat he’ll be an even greater loser.” 

Trump repeats himself a lot.

 

A group of top Republican intelligence officials, 73 in number, have announced that they will vote for the challenger, not for the incumbent. This group (which is likely to grow), includes 

…retired General Michael Hayden, who served as national security director and head of the CIA; William Webster, the only man to serve as both head of the CIA and FBI; John Negroponte, the first director of National Intelligence; Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center; and Mike Donley, former Air Force secretary.

 

In a full-page ad, in the Wall Street Journal, they explain their choice: 

Trump has demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as president [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted]. … We have concluded that Donald Trump has failed our country and that Vice President Joe Biden should be elected the next President of the United States.

 

Former Republican congressman Charlie Dent is voting Biden/Harris in November. He set forth his reasons, in an interview on CNN. 

For me, it’s about right or wrong. Stability vs. instability, security vs. insecurity, normal vs. abnormal. That’s why I’m doing this because I feel that we need to return some sense of normalcy to the function of government. We simply don’t have that now. And that’s why I’m going to be voting for Joe Biden for president.

 

There are greater principles involved like the rule of law. We have to defend democratic values. And I say democratic with a small “d.” A free press, an independent judiciary. These are things that are very important.

 

And the president has been trying to undermine those things. And I think that, again, we have to talk about broader principles here rather than just an immediate policy victory.

 

Dent said there were “many Republicans” who agreed with him. Those who have already made it clear they plan to vote for Biden, write in a vote for someone else, or remain on the fence continue to multiply. They include retired Gen. Colin Powell (for Biden), former GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina (Biden), George W. Bush (unlikely to support Trump), former Florida governor Jeb Bush (unsure) and Sen. Mitt Romney (plans to write in some other name). John Bolton, Trump’s former National Security Advisor is a hard “no” on his former boss. Sen. Lisa Murkowski  is “struggling” with the idea of a second term for Tin Pot Don. Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security and once a member of Team Trump, will not vote for the man who gave him a job. Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida is also leaning toward Biden, explaining that our current president is “driving us all crazy.” Ret. Admiral William McRaven will vote against his party leader. 

 

“A conspiracy of cowardice.” 

Stuart Stevens, who spent four decades helping GOP candidates craft campaigns and win, has soured on Trump and his party, generally. He describes what he sees from leadership in todays’ GOP as a “conspiracy of cowardice.” 

Even Dan Coats, Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence is wavering in support for his old boss. Like those six dozen other Republican intelligence experts who have made their opposition clear, Coats is said to believe the current administration has damaged our national security apparatus. Ultimately, Coats, a loyal Republican, may not jump ship. 

Still, there has probably never been an election like this in all of U.S. history, where so many members of a president’s party think their erstwhile leader is a threat to the country they love. 

Ms. Fiorina is typical of the best of what remains of the Grand Old Party. She calls Biden “a person of humility and empathy and character.” 

None of which, Trump is.

 

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LAST BUT NOT LEAST, an unexpected note of warning regarding the man in the Oval Office. Sources at Fox News have reportedly revealed to CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter what Sean Hannity says about the president behind closed doors. 

Stelter writes that some in the White House refer to Hannity as Trump’s “shadow chief of staff.” It’s a position of power, but comes at cost. Trump calls Hannity at all hours, day and night. One of Hannity’s confidants described it to Stelter as the president treating, “Hannity like Melania, a wife in a sexless marriage.” 

A sexless marriage might explain why Trump is always so on edge, so short on temper, so prone to lash out. 

He’s horny. 

One of Hannity’s associates says that “off-off-off the record,” the Fox News host would tell people the president is “batshit crazy.” A second source confirmed, “Hannity has said to me more than once, ‘He’s crazy.’” 

 

FUN FACT: Speaking of Fox News, according to Miles Taylor, former DHS chief of staff, Trump told top officials at Homeland Security to watch Lou Dobbs’ show on Fox “every night.” 

“The president would call us and ... he would say, ‘Why the hell didn’t you watch Lou Dobbs last night? You need to listen to Lou. What Lou says is what I want to do,’” Taylor said. 

And that is the history of the lame-ass Trump administration in a nutshell – filled with nuts. Trump was too lazy even to come up with policy positions of his own.