Trump conducts the press conference like a one-man circus which is basically what it was. It's no wonder when Europeans see this clown in action they are worried, very worried.
"Russia is a ruse ... Russia is a ruse,” Dump said, echoing an
earlier assertion that the story was an attempt by Democrats to justify Hillary Clinton’s election loss. He then blabbered sounding like a drunk who'd had twelve Blatz beers and just left a Milwaukee tavern:
“I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn’t. I just have nobody to speak to. I spoke to [Russian president Vladimir] Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration, a few days ago.”
I mean you cannot make this stuff up. This is for real, and the most pathetic aspect is that his millions of Reich wing fake news groupies suck it up like catnip or MJ edibles. They actually read his presser as a takedown of the pointy -headed "elite" media, as opposed to a one man demonstration of serious psychopathy that would have an ordinary bloke in a straight jacket.
Both The New York Times and CNN published reports on Tuesday asserting that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and at least three other Trump associates (including Carter Page) had had what CNN called “constant contact” with Russian operatives before the election. Then Barack Obama sanctioned Russia in December for what he described as its efforts to tamper with the presidential election, activity that intelligence agencies have concluded sought to tip the election in Trump’s favor. Barely a day or two later Trump thanked Putin for "being smart" in not exacting retribution. Well, uh no. Because Flynn told him all would be a-ok and the Trump bunch would even kill the sanctions once in power.
Make no mistake this stuff will come out, it's the other shoe ready to drop, and our European allies also have all the transcripts and recorded conversations - no matter if Jeff Sessions tries to kill the case. Or...use the daft bollocks that Flynn "never intended to mislead". Oh yes he did, it was part of the package. And Dump was even dumb enough in one instant of his press mess to admit he'd have told Flynn to discuss it! Sayeth the Ringmaster:
“I would have directed him to do it if he wasn’t doing it, because that’s his job.”
To set the scene again, for those who may have missed it, scrutiny of Trump’s Russia ties intensified after it emerged last week, via numerous leaks from intelligence sources, that former national security adviser
Michael Flynn had discussed Obama’s sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on the day they were announced. Former acting attorney general Sally Yates advised the White House in late January that Flynn may have broken the law by negotiating with a country in a diplomatic dispute with the US. Trump was not yet president when Flynn spoke to Kislyak and Flynn was not yet national security adviser.
Thursday’s "press conference" – let's be clear- was more a one man circus with Trump the Ringmaster. If you viewed it at all through the lens of reality and history it was literally a fucking farce. A comical takeoff on a real press conference (such as JFK used to hold, see e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twL2wzOf1c4
Or maybe even a Poe. There was no coherence or order to this fiasco, and even in answering certain questions Trump often attacked the questioner - such as one Jewish reporter concerned about 48 attacks on Jews in the past month and the rise of anti-Semitism.. Lacking any logical coherence, Trump took frequent detours to provide fatuous commentary on: his relations with his press, his own popularity, the quality of the questions being asked (not good!) and his "election victory" At one point he did provide new details on Flynn’s ouster, stating clearly
for the first time that Flynn had been fired for failing to fully brief Vice-president
Mike Pence on his conversations with Kislyak. (Transl. Flynn lied about the fact he discussed sanctions lifting with Kislyak).
Acting AG Sally Yates also advised the Trump White House that Flynn may have violated the Logan Act, which pertains to the dealings of US citizens with foreign countries. Trump said on Thursday that his White House counsel, Donald McGahn, had advised him that Flynn had not likely broken the law. But European intel agencies' own communications interceptions will show that he did, make book on it. My Swiss friend Rolf, a former Spezialdienst, certainly is. In his words, "Trump and Flynn are both in the Europeans' sights and no matter what your DOJ investigations do - or don't - their connections will ultimately be exposed. I give Trump five more months in office."
Wow! That would be great. But on the downside, it would mean having the Evangelical zealot Mike Pence in as Prez. But hey, at least he appears sane and able to walk and think at the same time without putting his foot in his mouth.
Back to the presser. Dump went on to babble in his campaign "stream of consciousness" mode:
"You can talk all you want about Russia, which is all a fake-news fabricated deal. I saw a couple people who were supposedly involved. It’s all fake news. The press should be ashamed of themselves, and the people who gave the information should be ashamed of themselves. It’s a joke.”
Yeah, it is a joke when you and your hired thugs have their balls snared in a nut cutter. Ask Tricky Dick Nixon. He also tried to displace the blame to the "leakers" but that strategy didn't work so well. It actually helped bring him down. Ask Mark Feldt, aka "Deep Throat".
The assorted displays of dissociative reality disorder included in turn:
- Slamming the “dishonest” media for putting out what he called fake news and doing a “disservice” to the American people
- Claiming he has achieved more in his first four weeks in office than any previous US president, adding: “We’re just getting started”
- Denying that his ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries had been poorly executed, insisting: “We had a bad court”
- Arguing that he “inherited a mess”, both domestically and abroad
- Informed he was wrong to claim he had the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan. He replied: “I was given that information”
- Asking black journalist April Ryan if she would set up a meeting for him with the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss his inner-city agenda: “Are they friends of yours?”
He also insisted (as if living in a parallel universe) that there has been “incredible progress” over the past four weeks, clearly unable to discern the difference between utter chaos - which the sane populace sees- and actual achievement. This was reinforced even further when he had the chutzpah to insist he did better than his predecessor - who actually inherited REAL crises - including the credit meltdown.
But Dump had the audacity to bark: “
To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess."
But to quote Steven Colbert last night: "
No, you inherited a billion, we elected a mess.:
What did the boy President really inherit? A 4.8 percent unemployment rate, a stable economy for the most part, and 20 million people with health care that were without it 7 years ago. But of course, Trump wants to kill that health care - scuttling the ACA with the GOP. A serious move given one of the only two bills he's actually signed into law was the one yesterday permitting coal companies to dump coal waste into streams. What are all his millions of voters on the ACA going to do when they get kidney, pancreatic, abdominal, colon and testicular cancers from drinking that effluent?
And then the topper:
"
I don’t think there’s ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we have done.”
What has he actually done? Let's do a reality check. His calls to the leaders of Taiwan, Australia and Mexico have resulted in more controversy than success. Indeed, his call with Malcom Turnbull of Australia ended with Trump slamming the phone down - not an auspicious sign. As for his "executive orders" - most have been little more than symbolic statements, e.g. "we stood up for the men and women of law enforcement directing federal agencies to ensure they are protected from crimes of violence."
Yeah, well, those federal agencies are bound to do that anyway. Then there is the wall on the southern border, there's no funding from congress and no plan to get Mexico to pay for it - not that they ever would.. After all, Mexico's President Enrique Nieto is sane, playing with a full deck - unlike Dump.
Yeppers, Dump has indeed been unique in "accomplishment"
if you use the gauge of disorder, incompetence and governing disarray. A combination that has brought this nation to the brink of ruin and its lowest reputation in 30 years. (At least since the Iran Contra conspiracy) .
Here's the real kick in the face for this "boy President": Vice Admiral Robert Harward, who he'd tapped to replace Flynn, flat turned him down hours after the circus he called a press conference. Confidential friends related that Harwood told them he: "
doesn't want to eat a shit sandwich". Evidently he was livid about not being able to organize the NSC the way he wanted (including dumping Bannon) .
It is also very conceivable he had no inclination to be part of this administration after watching the Trump implosion yesterday. Add on not being able to organize the National Security Council to his liking and confronting a "policy by Twitter" dynamic and you know all you need to regarding Harward's nay decision.. As the NY Times has noted:
"
Council staff members get up in the morning, read Trump's Twitter posts and struggle to make policy to fit them. Most are kept in the dark about what Trump tells foreign leaders in his phone calls"
As also reported, the NSC staff evidently became so frustrated they even debated "
feeding suggested Twitter posts to the President so the Council's staff would have greater influence".
Are you kidding me? As I noted before, Twitter is a cartoon medium, a child's chat medium, and is absolutely not designed for serious policy proposals or decisions. This is because the medium is so truncated and terse it doesn't allow for such proper explication. One can, of course, do multiple tweets, but given each such blurtation is really a cartoon mini-medium itself (complete with Trump's cartoon visage attached) there is still the danger the entire message can be misconstrued because it is not given as a coherent whole. That is, as a
complete formal statement we expect to emanate from grown ups wearing big boy pants, not Pampers.
So why would members of the NSC even imagine reducing themselves to "pampers" level communiques to instill the gravity of PDB issues to President Pampers? I already wrote before that Trump needed to seal away and dispose of his Twitter account. That was when he might still have justified it as a "president elect". The reason is very simple and ought to require little explanation: once one becomes President - assuming one isn't pretending - then a certain level of decorum is expected which includes one's choice of communications. . This simply can't be achieved by tweets, unless one is willing to be viewed as an unreconstructed adolescent.
Trump's inability to do that, just like his inability to conduct a proper press conference like a mature adult, is the biggest reason he will never be able to get serious players in his cabinet - only yes men, assholes, and fools.
Any sane citizen watching the spectacle that unfolded yesterday ought to have deep remorse not only for the nation but for its future direction - and its reputation globally - given how the disgusting turd in office has desecrated it. The tragedy is that perspective doesn't apply to all, as David Brooks pointed out in his column today:
"
Everything about Trump that appalls 65 percent of America strengthens him with the other 35 percent, and he can ride that group for a while. "
This means the nation is
polarized by perception of reality, a very dangerous situation indeed. We shall, at some point, have to all come together and see the need for Trump's removal...or face the real prospect of another civil war.
See also:
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/marjorie-cohn/71254/the-toxic-policies-of-president-agent-orange
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