7/27/17: An editorial by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal lays Trump low. And this from Noonan, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan.
__________
“He’s whiny,
weepy and self-pitying.”
__________
The president’s
primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naïve. It’s
not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider. It is that he is weak and sniveling. It is that
he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of
American masculinity.
He’s not
strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined;
he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying. He throws himself, sobbing, on the body
politic. He’s a drama queen. It was once said, sarcastically, of George H.W.
Bush that he reminded everyone of her first husband. Trump must remind people
of their first wife. Actually, his wife, Melania, is tougher than he is with
her stoicism and grace, her self-discipline and desire to show the world
respect by presenting herself with dignity.
Noonan explains that men used to see themselves was the “strong silent type celebrated in mid-20th century films” of John Wayne and others.
Trump’s style is more like Woody Allen.
“His characters,” she notes, “couldn’t stop talking about their emotions, their
resentments and needs. They were self-justifying as they acted out their
cowardice and anger. But he was a comic. It was funny…Donald Trump now is like
an unfunny Woody Allen.”
 |
Whiny, weepy, self-pitying. |
*
IN A PROFANE RANT later in the day,
Trump’s new communications director Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci blasts
pretty much everyone on the White House staff, including Chief of Staff Reince
Priebus. Scaramucci accuses him of
being a “leaker.” Besides threatening to get Priebus fired, Scaramucci has this
to say of another
rival for the president’s affection: “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to
suck my own cock.”
*
IN OTHER NEWS,
continuing efforts to force Attorney
General Sessions to resign run into bipartisan blowback. You don’t have to be a
genius to understand the steps Trump is contemplating:
First, force Sessions out.
Second, appoint someone else to run the Justice Department, preferably a hack.
Newt
Gingrich or Rudy Giuliani would be great.
Third, have the new AG fire Special Counsel Mueller.
Fourth: Vodka toasts at the White House!
Fortunately, there are still patriotic Republicans (and Democrats) in Washington. They warn Orange Leader not to go the full Kim Jong-un route. There are three branches of government.
Two aren’t run by Trump & Co.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) describes Sessions as a man with an “unwavering commitment to the rule of law” and says his leadership is “needed now more than ever.” Sen. Orrin Hatch cuts the president a bit of slack he doesn’t deserve, muting his criticism, saying only: “Sometimes he says things that I’m sure afterwards he wishes he hasn’t said just like the rest of us.” Only the rest of us aren’t President of the United States.
We can’t subvert the Constitution.
*
TO FINISH OFF the day, the chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America feels a need to apologize in the wake of the president’s speech three days earlier. “I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family [emphasis added] who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree ... We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now entering the Patty Hearst-bank-robber stage of Stockholm syndrome, insists all she saw was cheering Boy Scouts. All she saw was cheering Boy Scouts. All she saw was cheering…
Please, can someone rescue the poor woman!
Finally, in an interview with CNN, “The Mooch” rounds out the day. “There are people inside the administration who think it is their job to save America from this president,” he grumbles. “That is not their job. Their job is to inject this president into America so that he can explain his views properly and his policies, so we can transform America and drain the swamp and make the system fairer for the middle- and lower-income people.”
This might be fine if it weren’t for the
fact that most Americans believe America must be saved from this man. (See,
for example: 7/28/17; 7/31/17.)
