9/5/18: The president wakes up in a foul frame of mind, knowing that the highly-critical book by Bob Woodward is being widely reviewed in the “Fake News.” At least three members of the administration quoted have denied saying what they are quoted as saying. The problem is that the quotes cited so far sound exactly like Trump sounds at campaign rallies, during off-the-cuff talks, and when he’s off on a Twitter rampage. Woodward’s Trump is the Trump we’ve seen in action the last two years. Woodward, for example, claims that behind closed doors Trump has called Attorney General Jeff Sessions “mentally retarded” and “a dumb Southerner.”
____________________
“The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.”
Anonymous member of the Trump administration
____________________
Trump decides to defend himself in a tweet. When he tweets, no reporter can ask follow-up questions. So, he serves up this nugget for his fans: “I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He [Woodward] made this up to divide!”
The problem, if anyone cares to check, is that we have tapes that belie the president’s disclaimers. We have all seen the famous video where he mocks a handicapped reporter, mimicking his lack of coordination. Newsweek notes that Trump called a golf instructor “mentally retarded” during a taped appearance on the Howard Stern show in 2004. On another occasion, again on tape, he called a reporter who questioned his business acumen “retarded.”
We can also check his Twitter feed or play back his words at
his rallies. This is a man who often refers to foes as “low I.Q.” or “dumb as a
rock.” His comments on Sessions, as quoted by Woodward, are in keeping.
*
“There are adults in the room.”
THE PRESIDENT’S MOOD is not improved when, late in the afternoon, The New York Times prints an anonymous editorial by an individual the newspaper says is a “top official” in the Trump administration. The title is: “I Am Part of the Resistance inside the Trump Administration.”
Key passages include:
President Trump is facing a test
to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
…The dilemma – which he does not
fully grasp – is that many of the senior officials in his own administration
are working diligently from within to
frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
The author rarely faults Trump’s policies – rather questioning his fitness as a man to hold high office:
[We] believe our first duty is
to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental
to the health of our republic [emphasis added throughout].
That is why many Trump
appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic
institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is
out of office.
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who
works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that
guide his decision making.
If what the writer says sounds chilling, he or she offers
some solace. Top White House aides are doing everything they can to mitigate
the damage done by an “erratic” president. “It may be cold comfort…but
Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize
what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump
won’t.”
The president may cuddle up to Putin and other authoritarian leaders; but top aides work every day to contain the damage.
The bigger concern is not what
Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have
allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to
be stripped of civility.
…There is a quiet resistance
within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday
citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving
to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
Almost as soon as the editorial is posted, Trump rushes to respond and prove he’s not unhinged by acting unhinged. He blasts, “The New York Times and CNN and all these phony media news outlets.” His political opponents are in favor of “disaster and crime.” It’s the “failing New York Times” he’s mad about. These media people, “They don’t like Donald Trump and I don’t like them, because they’re very dishonest people.” He calls the editorial writer “gutless” for writing anonymously.
When Trump appears later, at a gathering of law enforcement officers at the White House, he’s still steaming. Part of his defense of his behavior involves whipping out a paper from an inner pocket of his suit jacket. It’s a list of his accomplishments which he proceeds to read in a loud, aggrieved tone.
Trump keeps
turning his back on reporters to address comments to a bank of sheriffs there
at the White House for some ceremony. When he attacks the free press, they clap
like idiots with badges.
*
HAVING FLED THE PRESENCE of reporters, moments later, Trump retreats to his private residence. This is where he goes when he wants to whine and tweet and wallow in self-pity. Naturally, he posts a clip of his performance just ended. Half-an-hour later he issues a one-word tweet.
“TREASON.”
Is the president accusing The New York Times of treason, for operating as the free press always does? Is he calling the anonymous author treasonous – because he expressed opinions that infuriate the president?
Treason occurs only in wartime. So, the president sounds
either ignorant and angry or totally f**king nuts.
A second, equally ominous tweet comes at 6:40 p.m.: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once.”
Nuts.
Trump is absolutely nuts.
BLOGGER’S NOTE (5/30/22): I hadn’t noticed at the
time, but Trump’s baffling hold on his base is clear in this tweet. He accuses
the “Fake News” people of running stories that aren’t true. Then he says the “Fake
News” people should have to turn over this “GUTLESS anonymous person” to the
government at once.
Hard to believe anyone would think this man tells the truth.
