A Nation On The Verge Of A Crackup? Not If We Get Rid Of Dotard ASAP

Most sentient citizens are now aware the state of our Union has descended to an inherently uncivil cesspool riven with crudity and coarseness - and no bottom appears to be in sight. One would have thought a presidential candidate who bragged about grabbing women's genitals was rock bottom - but no, we've passed through even more degrading lows, the latest disrespecting the widow of one of the fallen. 

The alarm has now reached into the Senate with Republicans who are as revolted by the downward drift as the rest of us. Let us agree then that one of the roles of a President is to project decorum and respect for this office, and from this office to the world - and to his fellow citizens. It is essentially from his example that the standards of the nation become manifest. If then the person in charge is deranged, unstable and disrespectful of anything and anyone - even those in his own party- we are at a major transition point.  That transition is indicative of a malignant cancer on the highest office which now must be removed for the good of the whole, the body politic.

This brings us to Barton Swaim's WSJ piece, 'A Country On The Verge Of A Crackup' (Oct. 20-21) making a kind of case that the pretender playing a president has the nation approaching a "crackup". He even quotes one genius who claims Trump is A-ok,  it's the nation that's losing it.  Trump is just carrying on like "normal" for his personality type.  If this is normality we are in dangerous waters indeed, or to quote the psychologist Steve Mason:  "One of the ways I know a guy is wacko is if he claims everyone else is crazy.".   Indeed.   So let's chuck that nonsense right away. This is not to say that-the deranged con man with his fingers near the nuclear codes and showing all the signs of a narcissist sociopath isn't having deleterious effects on the rest of us. But these angry reactions and yes, judgments,  are simply the expected reactions of normals to one who is profoundly abnormal - i.e. a mutant in their midst.

  For example, former Republican Sen. Gordon Humphreys take on Dotard is spot on, e.g.

http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/former-nh-gop-senator-gordon-humphrey-we


When Humphreys depicted Dotard as "so reckless, careless and cruel in the conduct of his office as to be vile and corrupting of the American system." - he was describing an anomaly- not something normal or merely a variant of style.  Let's get that straight once and for all that we are  not parsing any "style" here because grabbing pussies and disrespecting the family of the fallen is not style in any normal society's lexicon.  Only a degraded society, an uncivilized and uncivil one, would refer to Trump's "style".

Let us also emphasize one time, as Sen. Jeff Flake did yesterday, that calling out a twitter troll pretender who isn't qualified to run a toxic dump is not a "crack up" reaction. As Sen. Flake clearly stated:

"We must never allow ourselves to lapse into thinking that that is just the way things are now. We must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal.  Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as ‘telling it like it is’ when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified.”

Sen. Flake added that such behavior was “dangerous to our democracy” and projected not strength but a “corruption of the spirit”. He then asked his colleagues: “When the next generation asks us: ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up? What are we going to say?’

Is Sen. Flake's reaction to the filth and swine vermin occupying the Oval Office a sign of paranoia or over the top nutso? No, his reaction to a clearly malevolent and unfit, unstable goon shows the Republic still possesses citizens of sane perception and the moral mettle to call out the obvious when they see it.  That includes Sens. Bob Corker and John McCain who have also called out the  resident turd who pretends to be a leader but can't craft a more comprehensive thought than 140 characters allows.

Hence the new book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists And Mental Health Experts Assess A President, edited by Bandy X. Lee, is worth a read.  She is part of the "Duty To War" movement of mental health professionals who - like Jeff Flake - see this disgraceful bastard con man as the danger he is, as he assaults all traditions and institutions while polarizing the nation into a state of near civil war.

As Dr. Lee explains: "The public trust is violated if the profession fails in its duty to alert the public when a person who holds the power of life and death over us all shows signs of clear, dangerous mental impairment."

And contrary to Swaim's take, i.e. that it's  "delusional to believe you're warning Americans" when "so many believed our political culture needed a shock" - nothing in the remarks of Sen. Flake's or former Sen. Humphreys is disproven. Those deranged imps who voted Dotard in for that "system shock"  reason also need to be put on the psychiatrist's couch. Or to quote my psychologist niece, "They're all fuckin' nuts!" Indeed!  But that subset of "nuts" who inserted this  "hyperactive agitator" into office are not the whole nation, They were only a minor faction of its voters -roughly 46 % - and less than 22% of the proportion of all eligible voters.

And the vileness of Dotard, as Sen. Gordon Humphreys noted, surely goes far beyond Swaim's claim that he "sometimes says things that are obviously untrue, or flatly contradict his own previous statement". No, this happens all the time.  Consider his bald faced compulsive lies about Obama wiretapping him, then barely a week ago the phone call to LaDavid Johnson's widow Myeisha and how he disrespected her - not even knowing her husband's name and then saying "he knew what he signed up for" - then denying it. It took John Kelly to get up and  confirm Dotard's words, though in a hyperbolic manner, while savagely attacking a black congresswoman.

Swaim also makes a big deal out of the book's authors "differing in their diagnoses" but as Shayl pointed out to me, that's "natural because many diagnoses overlap" . Also, many disorders can exist simultaneously. For example, borderline personality disorder can exist along side schizoid personality disorder, as psychologist Judith Cauwels pointed out in her book, 'The Borderline Personality'. These pathologies then are not necessarily mutually exclusive.  Hence, two seemingly different diagnoses might be given for the same mental malady, especially for a detached, approximate diagnosis.

Then there is the beef:  'How do they know what is going on if they don't actually have him in for analysis?' This is ridiculous too.  If I see some mangy, orange-haired character slogging down  Uintah Street grabbing pussies every step of the way as he calls out nonsense and then threatens bystanders with tweets I don't need to get him on a psych couch to know he's "fuckin' nuts", as Shayl puts it.  You just have to look at his behavior and what he says, including the twitter taunts at a guy with his own missile arsenal - Kim Jong Un.

In the case of Trump there isn't a coherent, sane or rational element in his being. Neither is there any element of basic decency or civility, hence his lying reaction to the widow of  warrior LaDavid Johnson.  Donald Dotard's a total misfit and a loser besides. Read Naomi Klein's most recent book, 'NO Is Not Enough', to see how this asshole really made his riches. Hint: It was all about classic con-man deals and rip offs - like using half baked seminars on real estate and then calling the random set "Trump University".

Another point Swaim misses is that the extremes of behavior or thought are not necessary to deem a person unfit or unstable.  As Gordon Humphreys makes clear,  one needn't be absolutely stark raving mad to pose a threat. One really only needs an agitated, chaotic personality occupying the highest office and with access to the nuclear codes. Also one, as WSJ's Gerald Seib pointed out in his piece two days ago, who's become so unpredictable nothing he says can be trusted, so governance itself is undermined.  This is what Sen. Flake meant by "dangerous to democracy."

Recall also barely two weeks ago Sen. Corker warned that Trump’s rhetoric and threats, especially toward North Korea, could set the nation “on the path to World War III”.  This followed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson  calling Trump a “fucking moron” and considering resigning.

In a separate interview with CNN yesterday , Sen. Corker went even further, stating of the president: “I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country in that way but he does.”

Coupled with Flake’s scathing remarks on the Senate floor, the growing list of Republicans sounding the alarm over Trump’s presidency marks a potential watershed moment within the party.  That watershed moment has long since arrived in the rest of the nation where we contend that the removal of his piece of trash from office is now the highest priority. (Curiously, Sen. Flake said in a CBS interview this morning the 25th amendment "wouldn't work" to remove Trump, but I beg to differ - as do many hundreds of others including Constitutional and legal scholars like Richard Painter.)

There are also darker sentiments expressed, especially by average blokes on media forums. To quote one commenter on a political forum in The Financial Times after word spread about Gabe Sherman's piece regarding White House staff fearing Trump might make a "rush for the nuclear football":  "Why hasn't the CIA offed him yet when they took out JFK for much less?"

A more sober and powerful take is provided in the following passage from Michael Gerson's WaPo piece ('Republicans, It's Time To Panic') . It puts our situation in the most cogent perspective:

"It is no longer possible to safely ignore the leaked cries for help coming from within the administration. They reveal a president raging against enemies, obsessed by slights, deeply uninformed and incurious, unable to focus, and subject to destructive whims. A main task of the chief of staff seems to be to shield him from dinner guests and telephone calls that might set him off on a foolish or dangerous tangent. Much of the White House senior staff seems bound, not by loyalty to the president, but by a duty to protect the nation from the president. Trump, in turn, is reported to have said: “I hate everyone in the White House.” And also, presumably, in the State Department, headed by a secretary of state who apparently regards his boss as a “moron.”

Adding:

"The security of our country — and potentially the lives of millions of people abroad — depends on Trump being someone else entirely. It depends on the president being some wise, strategic, restrained leader he has never been.

The time for whispered criticisms and quiet snickering is over. The time for panic and decision is upon us. The thin line of sane, responsible advisers at the White House — such as Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — could break at any moment. Already, Trump’s protests of eternal love for Kelly are a bad sign for the general’s future. The American government now has a dangerous fragility at its very center. Its welfare is as thin as an eggshell — perhaps as thin as Donald Trump’s skin. "

One hopes more Repubs see it and also read the recent book on Dotard's mental state. The sooner they remove this bag of filth from office the better for us all.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/john-feffer/75884/the-crack-up-donald-trump-and-the-fourth-great-shattering

Sen. Corker's "Adult Day Care Center" Remark Is No Laughing Matteer

Sen. Bob Corker's reference to the White House being an "adult day care center" is no laughing matter. We all ought to be shaking in our waking boots with the madman moron in the WH.

The interview on 'All In' with Gabe Sherman last night sent shivers down the spines of any sentient beings. After collecting material from a number of journalists, as well as sources in the White House, Sherman reported that Gen. John Kelly's time has been monopolized by keeping tab on Trump - aka the Dotard - especially whether he puts his grubby paws on the nuclear football.  The skinny from WH sources is that Dotard is unravelling. He's more and more like a "kettle" and "if he doesn't let off steam" he can "explode". Their worry is that if he ends up defeated on all sides: no legislation to speak of, continued media jabs, prosecutions by Mueller, he will run to the football and punch in the nuclear codes.

As an earlier interviewed  defense strategist put it, "and there will be no way to countermand the orders".  So, in effect, we have the spectacle of Gen. Kelly not only trying to mind the deranged brat in the Oval Office but trying to ensure he doesn't go ape shit and carry out an ego-driven nuclear attack-  like the one envisaged by the fictional character "Greg Stillson" in the scifi flick "The Dead Zone".  (In the case of Stillson, after a muffed assassination attempt, halted when he held a baby aloft to protect himself - and which made the cover of 'Newsweek' - he blew his brains out.)

To the point, after a barrage of Trump insults delivered by his usual kindergarten- level tweets, Sen. Corker let the dolt have it.   In an interview with the New York Times later in the day, Corker said he was alarmed about a president who acted “like he’s on a reality show or something” – a reference to 'The Apprentice'  show Trump had once hosted.

Sen. Corker went on:

“He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation,”.

Most ominously, Corker warned that Trump’s rhetoric and threats, especially toward North Korea, could set the nation “on the path to World War III”.

According to some sources in the WH cited by Gabe Sherman, Trump is on edge right now just itching to launch World War III to burn all his critics one time as well as the putative enemy Kim Jong Un who he belittles as "little rocket man".

But this is the nature of an unhinged asshole who has no business running a dog pound or landfill much less run a country.   Sen. Corker is among those, along with Rex Tillerson, who now grasp they have a guy in command who really needs to be in a straight jacket.   Tillerson  had called Trump a “fucking moron” and considered resigning,

In response to questions on the matter, Corker said: “I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary [of defense Jim] Mattis and Chief of Staff [John] Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos.”

Asked if he was referring to Trump, he said: “[Mattis, Kelly and Tillerson] work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration that don’t. I hope they stay because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation.”

Last week, Corker  made headlines when he implied that Trump was leading the US to the brink of “chaos”.    Then, after Dotard  accused Corker, who is retiring, of “not having the guts” to run for re-election, Corker tweeted: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”

Many took this as a yuck yuck joke, but they shouldn't. Corker''s remark may have appeared humorous but was made in deadly earnest.  The White House with Trump in it IS an adult day care center. And while one wouldn't ordinarily have issues this day care center contains a "football" with the nuclear codes- which an unattended brat like Dotard could punch in on impulse if not minded properly.  This is currently Gen. Kelly's job so that Sen. Corker's reference was to him "missing his shift" the morning Dotard unleashed his twitter rant.

This is also why Corker was likely aware of the senior White House source who informed Gabriel Sherman that the Trump residency was now at the "lunge at the nuclear football stage".  If Gen. Kelly is the only one impeding that "lunge" then we are all in deep shit as captive citizens of this lunatic - and Kelly's competence in keeping him at bay.

Let's also bear in mind Dotard is on the verge of scrapping the Iran Nuclear accord.  Senator Corker is an important and supportive voice on the deal between Iran and six major nations including the U.S.,  that restricts Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. It was reported this week that Trump, against the wishes of senior advisers, will not re-certify the deal. That would put it in the hands of Congress, which would decide whether to re-impose sanctions, a move that would threaten the deal’s existence.

If this path is taken, make no mistake the repercussions will be far and wide. In particular it will show North Korea and Kim Jong Un that the U.S. word on any nuclear deals isn't worth an ounce of doggy lickspittle. So why would N. Korea agree to anything proffered by the Dotard administration?

Corker announced his decision to retire last month, saying:  “The most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months,” he said, hinting at his opposition to the Dotard residency.  If he can help make more people aware of the danger the screwball in office poses, then it will be the most impressive public service he's rendered thus far.

Corker has also said he could oppose moves by Trump and congressional Republicans to pass tax reform, a priority after the repeated failure of attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Corker has insisted that any changes to the tax code must reduce the deficit. Trump’s plan would not only increase it but blow up the federal budget according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That is, the federal debt as a percentage of GDP would explode through the roof - exceeding the size of the entire U.S. economy within ten years.

If Corker and allies can stop that, it will be another major check on this impudent, reckless administration.


See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/75684/is-trump-unraveling

DOH! Of Course Trump - aka "Dotard" - Is A MORON! (It's Not A State Secret, Folks)

"Rex is right! I am a moron! And know what? I don't care!"

 

The news item out of NBC today that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a "moron" back in July seems to have taken many people by surprise. One wonders why given it's not exactly a state secret -  including that Tillerson has been pissed at the Moron-in-chief for a while now, and even threatened to resign back in July.

This took place after Dotard appeared at the Boy Scout Jamboree and totally went off from his prepared script to castigate Barack Obama for not appearing at the same venue, and then blabbering about fake news. Also, turning the event into a tawdry, self-promotion political spectacle. Tillerson, who once headed the Boy Scouts was appalled as well as livid.  At that juncture he finally realized he was totally working on behalf of a half-assed moron who lacked any self-discipline. Rex, to put it bluntly, had seen enough and was prepared to resign.

According to reports appearing in The UK Independent and Guardian, VP Mike Pence had to intervene to deliver a "pep talk" to Tillerson, emphasizing how in the age of this egomaniacal "dear leader" one was expected to only say nice things if not kowtow with outright adulation. The word was Tillerson still wasn't buying it so Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Gen, John Kelly had to be recruited  to add their voices and plead with  Tillerson to remain "for stability".

That pretty well sums it up as even Sen. Bob Corker in so many words today (on CNN) asserted that without "the adults in the room"  (Tillerson, Mattis, Kelly) this White House would soon descend into abject chaos. Why this should prompt so much second guessing is beyond me, I mean it isn't rocket science, nor is it a state secret (that Trump is mentally feeble)  - as one commenter on the UK Telegraph site put it.

Trump, or Dotard, has the temperament of a three year old. From the viewpoint of that mental age he isn't even a moron, but an idiot.  He has to be "handled" daily, i.e. fed pabulum for his monstrous ego, which was Pence's point to Rex Tillerson: you have to tread nicely and be kind and praising to this giant baby in a man's body.

In an MSNBC discussion earlier today, the host (Nicole Wallace) appeared flabbergasted that this could be the case in the U.S. of A. that we have ended up with a "leader" whose ego needs to be stroked and stoked at every turn, lest he mutate into a rabid ferret. "Please tell me this isn't so!" she bawled. "Please!"

But almost immediately WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson, then Wisconsin conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes, had to assure her that it was.

"Sorry, but it's all too real!" said Eugene.

We in this country were - are saddled with a big baby whose every tantrum must be appeased and gratified as well as his malignant ego.

Of course, Trump-Dotard's base loves the spectacle and the chaos. According to one talking head on CNN, "this is what they voted for".  Well, the rest of us - the sane majority - didn't. We wanted a stable and sane person who had the capacity to work  with his Secretary of State during a possible nuclear crisis with N. Korea - not tell him he "is wasting his time with little Rocket Man".

My own prediction is despite Tillerson walking back comments on leaving (he never denied he called Dotard a moron) he will be gone by the end of the year if not sooner. There is no way any sane person who values his position could remain with a lunatic asshole simpleton like Trump undermining his every step.  It's actually amazing Tillerson has lasted this long. I would have thought the interference in the North Korean nuke talks would have been the last straw..

As for Trump's moron base I am sure they are waiting with bated breath for him to really perform an act of unrepentant rebellion against the "establishment" and toss his soiled Pampers on the floor of the Oval Office for Kelly to clean up.

Trump's Tax "Plan" - As Certain To Be A Disaster As TrumpCare

Even as the Donald's clueless dolt cheerleaders have fawned over his tax "reform" nonsense, e.g. Kimberley Strassel writing ('Making Growth Great Again', WSJ, Sept. 1, p. A13):

"The president formally opened the tax wars on Wednesday with his speech in Missouri challenging Congress to meet his principles for reform."

What "principles"?  This moron - who Sen. Bob Corker again reminded us yesterday isn't qualified for the job of president - doesn't know a principle from a pretzel.  For those who missed it, in his Missouri debacle he actually tried to sell the gathered working stiffs on corporate tax cuts which would ultimately "benefit" them.  Trickle down on steroids, in other words. From the assorted grunts and groans it didn't appear as if his spiel got very far.

Strassel, doubtless on another MJ edibles binge, babbled:

"His opening salvo has given Republicans the cover to push ahead, as well as valuable pointers on selling growth economics."

In fact, Trump's "salvo" gave Repubs a big reason to run for cover - given Trump knows no more about tax reform than he did about the details of health care.   Pointers on selling growth economics? How about pointers on selling more trickle down snake oil to make American workers even more impoverished? This bottom up flow of wealth coming as their bosses, companies reap the rewards while they rot. (See also my Labor Day post on the American worker kept on the productivity treadmill.)

Even the WSJ's straight (i.e. non op-ed distorted) account ('Trump Champions Tax Overhaul', Aug. 31, p. A3) noted:

"Although the president has called for doubling the standard deduction, the administration's vagueness on other tax provisions important to middle income households makes it hard to calculate how a typical family would benefit; he didn't offer any such details on Wednesday."

Of course he didn't because he doesn't KNOW any!  Even Repub political strategist Rick Wilson commenting on this latest fiasco Wednesday night, crisply observed that it was clear Trump didn't know the difference between tax reform and tax cutting.   Tax reform, for example, is always more complicated than mere tax cutting and entails not only tax code simplification but also offsetting different loopholes and deductions (e.g. the mortgage deduction) and their special interests, with the broader revenue and public interest (standard deductions, child tax credits, earned income tax credit etc.).    But Trump clearly has no clue because he doesn't know anything. The man hates to read and - if he does - only wants bullet points, confined to one piece of paper.

More alarming, Trump's playing at tax reform and growth economics could send the bond markets into perdition.  According to a recent WSJ piece (Sept. 2-3, 'Tax Plan Raises Red Flag For Bond Market' p. B1):

"Ironically, a tax revamp meant to boost U.S. competitiveness and bring overseas earning home may weaken a central pillar of the U.S. capital markets."

This is because any U.S. limits on interest write-offs would clearly diverge from similar policies in other wealthy nations. This would then prompt companies to shift borrowing to places where deductibility would remain in effect.   And let us point out here that many big corporations, like Apple, Microsoft etc. routinely borrow billions of dollars in the U.S. knowing that interest payments will lower their bills.

But as Matt King, a credit analyst at Citigroup Inc. points out:

"If you remove interest deductibility in one location and retain it in others , then companies will want to move their borrowing."

This then will adversely affect bond markets, sending them into turmoil.  According to Mr. King, removing interest deductibility would "create a strange and ironic echo of corporate inversion strategies in which firms move headquarters overseas but keep main operations in the U.S."

Add to that the fact an inevitable "debt boom" after the financial crisis has now driven the U.S. to be the largest bond market in the world.   As the WSJ piece notes:

"The U.S. bond market is almost triple the size  of the euro -corporate debt market."

Why is this bond debt so popular? Well, because it is cheaper than selling equity.

The danger is that as debt explodes and its manipulation gets out of control - say via Trump's insane top down trickle tax "plan", the bond markets could become as unstable as they were right after the credit meltdown in 2008. At that time it was credit derivatives that roiled the bond markets and sent stocks crashing, now it is companies borrowing with madcap bonds in anticipation of certain tax changes later- that may not come to pass.

In a way, the 2008 credit default swaps bets played the same role in destabilizing bond markets then that companies' free-for-all bond bets are now. Every company now it seems is going hog wild to make big bond bets in the hope of lowering tax bills. (Siemens AG has borrowed $21.25 billion in the U.S. investment grade market since 2015) But what if it all blows up? Can't happen? Don't be so sure. he WSJ didn't reference a "red flag" in its header for nothing.

Trump has no answers and can provide no details, any more than he could on tax provisions for middle income households. It isn't even clear that he knows whether his tax plan is "revenue neutral". If not, it basically blows up the federal budget according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That is, the federal debt as a percentage of GDP would explode through the roof - exceeding the size of the entire U.S. economy within ten years. The debt incepted - in order to be even relatively controlled- would necessitate draconian cuts in every federal "entitlement" program including: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and all VA programs, departments. With such astounding debt there would be no "winners".  If this is a basis for "growth" in Kimberley Strassel's nomenclature, one wonders how she'd defines a financial disaster.

Indeed, if Trump's "plan" (as originally defined after the election)  really goes through, it would mean scrapping in turn: 1) the AMT or alternative minimum tax, 2) the estate tax and 3) the 3.8% surtax on investment income.  None of this even includes the proposed 20 percent cut in corporate tax rates.

If it does go through, your kids and their kids will basically have to work as indentured servants for the rest of their days. Oh, and forget about paying back any college loans.  The best job of all in such a new economic world order might be a Starbucks barista. (One who didn't take on college debt before landing the job).

This deformed plan is what Kimberley Strassel praises as "pro growth". It  may also  be the one for which Republicans are again hitching their forlorn "wagons" to  in the hope of emerging from the legislative wilderness.

Well, they had better look for another gig, or better, a more knowledgeable leader of their party!