QOTD: When Trump Is At "His Most Self-Destructive"

 

Hayes Brown, writing today at MS NOW, looks at the mentally unfit Malignant Fascist's hubris and belief that he's a historical world figure on a par with Napoleon, Stalin, and Hitler.  The people surrounding him and political figures that have bowed to him and flattered his bubble-thin ego have stoked his hubris in a dangerous way:

"The best leaders have people around them to bring them back to Earth, but Trump has surrounded himself with 'yes men' and sycophants. (Case in point: The list of historic figures Trump credited to a historian was compiled by David King, a businessman, so-called history buff and former caddie to one of Trump’s friends.) The seeming absence of people in his circle who might check him is dangerous. Journalist Michael Kruse tellingly wrote of Trump in 2016: 'In the mercurial life of Donald John Trump, here is one great truth: When he’s riding his highest, he is also at his most frenzied, his most volatile — his most self-destructive.'

The war with Iran, launched so cavalierly when Trump was at a peak, has helped temper the aura of invincibility he’d cultivated. Almost six months later, the technological leaps that prompted Trump to view himself as above the other historical figures on his cherished list have done little to bring about the 'unconditional surrender' he promised to extract from Tehran. The still ongoing conflict, the shutdown of trade through the Strait of Hormuz and Trump’s refusal to focus on affordability at home has helped Trump’s already weak poll numbers reach a new nadir. While he’s tried to slough off any blame for a potential shellacking in the midterms for Republicans, his unpopularity and looming lame duck status portend a second half of his term lacking the same unfettered use of his power." (our emphasis)

In large part, that's why the Natalie Harp saga has legs; her sole job is to give the MF positive feedback and to screen information he receives, no matter how fanciful or false as long as he feels good about it.  His megalomania has reached new levels in his rotten second term, allowing him to believe he can defy the law and act like an autocratic tyrant, profiting from his elected position.

"Trophies For Trump"

 

Because he's a toddler who has a bottomless need for trophies, we give you #trophiesfortrump (click to enlarge) ...

(Maybe) coming to a city near you.

(Photos:  the #trophiesfortrump in Foley Square, NYC, last week / via NBC New York)

 

Trump Tries Extorting Democrats To Put His Name On More Buildings

 

The lawless Malignant Fascist's latest narcissistic extortion attempt may end up costing commuters in New York and New Jersey:

Trump administration officials made it known to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that the president would release federal funds for a massive rail tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey on the condition that two major travel hubs be renamed in his honor, according to three people with knowledge of the request.

The three people, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive negotiation, said President Donald Trump would agree to release the funding for the Gateway project, which has been held up since October — but that his ask was that both Washington-Dulles International Airport outside Washington, and Pennsylvania Station in New York City, be renamed for the president.

Schumer declined the offer, according to two people with knowledge of the request. “There was nothing to trade,” said a person close to Schumer. “The president stopped the funding and he can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has withheld billions in federal funding for the $16 billion project, arguing it is conducting a review into whether diversity, equity and inclusion practices had played a factor in awarding contracts for the job. Since that decision, Transportation Secretary Duffy and Trump have given conflicting public statements on the status of Gateway.

When completed, the project would expand the number of rail tunnels between New York City and New Jersey under the Hudson River.

The end of the Gateway tunnel project could put roughly 1,000 workers out of a job. A judge is expected to hear an emergency order to restart the federal funding Friday.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), in a statement Thursday evening, called Trump’s ask “ridiculous.”

“These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers,” she said. “At a time when New Yorkers are already being crushed by high costs under the Trump tariffs, the president continues to put his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides and the extraordinary economic impact the Gateway tunnel will bring.”

He's clearly ... not well?  A puerile toddler?  Demented?  A malignant narcissist?  Insane?  All of the preceding?  Well, one thing for certain:  when you engage in extortion, you're committing a felony (something the State of New York already convicted the MF of -- 34 times).  Sadly, he has a "get out of jail free" card courtesy of corrupt Republican-in-robes John Roberts.

The States of New York and New Jersey have sued the gangster regime to release the already- appropriated funds.  But when you're a lawless tyrant-in-the-making, you likely don't feel bound by any courts.

(Image:  the convicted felon's Fulton County, GA, mug shot)

The Nobel Prize And The Venezuelan Clusterf*ck

 

You may have seen this somewhat surprising comment from the Malignant Fascist on the opposition leader in Venezuela recently:

President Donald Trump said the leader of the Venezuelan opposition doesn't have the "respect" of the country to govern following the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The U.S. led a series of strikes in the South American country early Saturday, eventually capturing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and taking them to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism charges.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado celebrated the operation and capture in a statement, calling it the "hour of freedom."...

A Venezuelan source offers an explainer for the MF's uncharitable comment:

One Venezuelan opposition leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions, said Trump’s remarks were difficult for many in the opposition movement to hear, but “in every transition, you have to swallow some bitter pills.”

This person said the next 48 hours could help clarify whether Rodríguez could usher in a “soft transition” by replacing hard-line ministers or rather continue Maduro’s government with “gringo guardianship.”

Two people close to the White House said the president’s lack of interest in boosting Machado, despite her recent efforts to flatter Trump, stemmed from her decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an award the president has openly coveted.

Although Machado ultimately said she was dedicating the award to Trump, her acceptance of the prize was an “ultimate sin,” said one of the people.

“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” this person said. (our emphasis)

Machado has now found out that, with the Malignant Fascist, even a demeaning tonguebath was not enough.  

If anyone buys that this narcissistic moron and his clown car of clumsy fascists will make things all work out in Venezuela (and elsewhere else!), they likely also bought into Trump's crypto and Trump's meme coin and couldn't find Iraq and Afghanistan on a map. 

(Image:  asskisser Machado and asskissee Trump / AFP)

Trump Takes Credit For Biden Achievements (Again)

 

If their lips are moving, they're lying, part infinity:

Within hours of taking office in January, President Donald Trump boasted about attracting $3 trillion in new corporate investments to the United States. Since then, Trump has said the investments have swelled to $14 trillion, or roughly half of the nation's annual gross domestic product.

The White House calls it "The Trump Effect" and features a rolling list on its website of more than 70 projects it says Trump's economic policies spurred, from a new bakery plant in Texas to a LEGO facility in Virginia and a microchip plant in Arizona.

As of July 2, the website listed more than $2.6 trillion in U.S. investments, well short of the $14 trillion Trump boasts about.

But a Reuters review found that just under half of the claimed spending on the website - totaling more than $1.3 trillion - originated under former President Joe Biden or represented routine spending repackaged to promote domestic investments.

At least eight of the projects touted by the White House had sought or secured critical local incentive packages before Trump took office while at least a half dozen other projects had already been announced by local officials or the companies themselves, Reuters found.

Two of the Trump Effect projects were aided by Biden's legislative efforts to boost domestic manufacturing, the review found.

One company on the list, Swiss-based Roche, warned that Trump's plans to equalize U.S. and international drug prices now threatens its promised $50 billion in U.S. investments.

Asked about taking credit for projects already underway before Trump came into office, the White House said the final investment decisions were announced under his watch and prove his economic policies are triggering U.S. investment.

“President Trump is the greatest closer in modern history, and his leadership and policies are a critical catalyst converting hypothetical discussions into firm investment commitments and ground being broken for new plants and offices," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

The Reuters review included interviewing local officials and reviewing public records and corporate statements. It was not clear in many cases what role, if any, Trump or his policies played in getting the deals across the line...

Yes, Trump the master dealmaker.  The successful business man.  The Very Stable Genius.  Also, the pathological liar.  The convicted felon and sexual abuser.  The Russian asset.  The pure narcissist for whom nothing came before him and nothing will come after him.  What a sad, hollow little man.

Good for Reuters for seeing this and pointing out the lies.  Of course, they weren't in any danger of being scooped by the New York effing Times!

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Instead of letting the Republican Party's Senate leadership wheel and deal with the megabill budget hold-outs, Donald Trump inserted himself — and now has been called out by the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal for his bullying which, it wrote, could put his presidency at risk.

In a late Sunday afternoon editorial, the editors wrote that the president's attacks on Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are not helping and, in fact, are hampering the prospects of getting a deal done.

On top of that, they note, driving Tillis to announce he won't run for re-election could lead to a lost GOP seat in purple North Carolina — and with it the GOP's slim hold on the Senate.

They wrote that Trump couldn't leave well enough alone as recalcitrant GOP caucus members were being wooed by Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (SD).

The editorial stated, "A common feature of Donald Trump’s two terms as President is that he can’t stand political prosperity. When events are going in his direction, he has an uncanny habit of handing his opponents a sword." The writers added that the Tillis debacle is a classic example.

Tillis announced his retirement over the weekend after Trump threatened he'd be challenged after expressing doubt about the bill.

According to the editors, Republican control of the Senate is already teetering.

"The GOP has a 53-47 majority now, but Susan Collins always has a tough race in Maine if she decides to run again. Democrats are targeting Joni Ernst in Iowa. In the suicide-isn’t-painless department, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging GOP incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Mr. Paxton may be the only Republican who could lose in Texas given his record of harassing business with lawsuits, impeachment, and other embarrassments," they reported.

Combined with a possible loss of the House with its tiny GOP majority, losing the Senate could make for a dismal two years for the GOP...

While we enjoy seeing the Murdoch- owned WSJ coming to the right conclusion for the wrong reason, the point that the Malignant Fascist's psychopathic narcissism makes it impossible for him to allow for any deviation from absolute obedience -- if not adoration -- to him as cult leader.  (See also Musk, "Leon", etc, etc.).  It's a huge weakness Democrats need to take advantage of every time it's offered to them.

The bad:

Donald Trump’s administration is on pace to have one of the worst years for deaths in immigrant detention in decades following the recent deaths of a Canadian citizen and a Cuban man in federal custody.

A 75-year-old Cuban man died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, CBS News reports, citing a notice sent to Congress of the alleged death.

The agency has not publicly disclosed the death yet, though it often announces such fatalities at a delay.

His death would bring the total to at least 12 dead in ICE custody since Trump took office.

At least two of those deaths were suicides.

Critics accuse the administration of allowing conditions to worsen in a sprawling network of overburdened immigration detention centers as the White House pushes to deport millions of migrants in rapid time.

The Independent has contacted ICE and the Cuban foreign ministry for comment.

All told, 15 people have reportedly died in detention this fiscal year, which includes the final months of Joe Biden’s administration.

At worst, there were 12 deaths in a single calendar year under the previous three administrations.

At the current pace, as many as 24 people could be dead by the end of this calendar year, a staggering figure, though deaths climbed even higher under George W. Bush, reaching 28 in fiscal year 2004.

Critics say ICE, in an effort to arrest some 3,000 people a day, is straining the nation’s capacity to safely house immigrants slated for removal.

More than 56,397 migrants were in immigration detention as of mid-June, or about 140 percent of the agency’s ostensible capacity to hold them...

This is as dark a period in American history as there has ever been.  And it's going to get worse.

The ugly: 

Senate Republicans restored major Medicaid cuts to Donald Trump’s signature economic legislation, re-fashioning a key provision to overcome a procedural obstacle.

Spending cuts to the health insurance program for the poor and disabled partially offset revenue losses from tax cuts in the measure and are a crucial demand of GOP fiscal conservatives.

The revision helps Republicans shore up the spending cuts they need to fund the bill, but it could also alienate three crucial senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — who have been pushing to scale back the Medicaid cuts.

Senate Republican Leader John Thune is trying to navigate competing demands from conservatives and moderates as he rushes to pass the massive tax and spending package to meet a July 4 deadline Trump has set for congressional approval.

The Senate’s legislative rules-keeper had judged a series of key health care provisions in the legislation ineligible for a special procedure Republicans are using to bypass the Senate’s normal process so they can avoid making concessions to Democrats.

That earlier decision swept aside $250 billion in spending cuts fiscal conservatives had sought.

But Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled acceptable a revised provision that would limit states’ ability to tax health care providers to help fund Medicaid, Senate Budget Committee Democrats said in an email on Sunday...

The reverse-Robin-Hood Republicans are determined to slash Medicaid and SNAP in order to pay for their tax cuts for billionaires.  Depending on Murkowski and, especially the duplicitous Collins, to do the right thing is asking more than their tiny souls can likely muster.

Quotes Of The Day -- Posing

 

"... For Trump, he is the context.

"In Donald Trump’s mind, he is the frame of reference that everything else enters.

"Trump isn’t meeting a kid who killed people, that kid is meeting him.

"Trump isn’t with an orphan. That baby is part of his photo op.

"Trump isn’t standing over a grave. The tombstone is a piece of his campaign for president.

"And that’s why, in every one of these pictures, Trump is wearing the exact same smile and giving the exact same thumbs-up. Because to Trump, there is no context but Trump." -- Jonathan V. Last, The Bulwark, on the narcissistic sociopath Malignant Loser's go- to "thumbs-up" pose in any number of pictures, regardless of the context.

 ____________________

"... This is a serious problem for Trump’s coalition. He has always posed as an ally and champion of veterans. This is a key aspect of his general attempt to convince people that his motive for running for office is selfless — he no longer cares about his own wealth and happiness and wants only to create a better world for Americans.

"But Trump doesn’t actually care about the country. The whole idea of caring about the country is difficult for him to fathom. He believes in the gangster ethos that people are universally selfish, that those who claim to uphold higher values are merely hypocrites, and the only exception are the saps who get conned into risking their lives for strangers.

"His goal in the Arlington visit was to smooth over his political liability by creating the false image that he actually cares about the honor of fallen soldiers. Instead, he confirmed once again that he doesn’t." -- Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, on the dishonorable orange buffoon Malignant Loser's desecration of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his comparing the Congressional Medal of Honor with the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

The state of New York’s criminal case against Trump continues on Monday — the 12th day of trial. Prosecutors are not revealing who they will call next to the stand, and so far the witnesses have alternated between obscure figures — like the young paralegal whose job at the Manhattan district attorney’s office includes cataloguing Trump’s social media posts — and high-profile players talking about their conversations with Trump in the White House.

• The remaining expected witnesses include Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who was paid to keep quiet about an alleged tryst with Trump; and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, who says he coordinated the payment to Daniels and whose reimbursement is at the center of the criminal charges.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the Manhattan trial, could rule any day now on whether Trump has continued to violate his court-imposed gag order. Merchan held a hearing Thursday on four recent alleged breaches...

Testimony from Daniels, Cohen, and possibly former mistress and hush money payee Karen McDougal would be the squalid core of the trial, continuing to paint the portrait of the Malignant Loser/ Don Snoreleone's sleazy criminality already begun by the likes of David Pecker.  Bring it on!

The bad:

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) and his wife allegedly accepted $600,000 in bribes from an oil company controlled by the Azerbaijan government and a bank headquartered in Mexico, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Texas on Friday.

The 68-year-old congressman and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, are accused of setting up front companies that entered into sham contracts with the bank and the Azerbaijan government, the indictment said. Through their lawyer, they denied wrongdoing.

The 54-page indictment details a bold corruption scheme in which Cuellar — who co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus — allegedly promised to wield his power as a U.S. congressman to advocate for his benefactors.

To Azerbaijan, he pledged to influence legislation related to the country’s conflict with neighboring Armenia, insert favorable language into committee reports on economic aid programs and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor, the indictment says. To the Mexican bank, Cuellar allegedly promised to pressure executive branch officials to back off money laundering enforcement practices that threatened the bank’s business interests and to support legislation that would block regulation of the payday lending industry, which has been accused of exploiting poor Americans...

Every time a Cuellar or Bob Menendez gets caught betraying the public trust (allegedly!), it distracts from the nearly constant slurry of unethical and/ or criminal behavior from the Malignant Loser's party/ cult, head to tail.   Cuellar is what's left of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats and has been courted by Republicans to switch parties in the past.  He might have been more comfortable with them after all.

The ugly:

Former President Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Democrats on Saturday at a private luncheon hosted at his Mar-a-Lago club, during which he referred to Democrats as “running a Gestapo administration” — equating President Joe Biden’s administration to Nazi Germany, according to three attendees.

The remarks were part of a larger tirade during which the former president accused the Biden administration of being behind the four criminal indictments he is facing.

The fundraiser served as the main attraction during the RNC’s annual retreat in Palm Beach. Hundreds of people attended the event, and several attendees gave $40,000 or more, sources familiar with the fundraiser told CNN.

Trump cursed repeatedly throughout his speech, the attendees said, including while leveling criticism at special counsel Jack Smith and other prosecutors who have charged him with criminal indictments.

The comments were part of a roughly 90-minute speech where he touted his recent fundraising numbers and lavished praise on his vice-presidential contenders, claiming that many people were “begging” to serve as his running mate, two of the attendees said.

Trump walked onto the stage on Saturday to the recording of a January 6 anthem featuring several people convicted for their roles in the 2021 attack on the Capitol — a song his campaign frequently features at his campaign rallies... (our emphasis)

Just another day in the life of the most perverted, corrupt, dangerous, deranged, ugly, incompetent person every to occupy the Oval Office, with his sociopathic narcissism on full display.  And yet they swarm to kiss his ass.

Worth A Thousand Words

 

You may have seen the Malignant Loser's complaint that Fox "News" was using particularly unflattering photos of him that emphasized his jowls and turkey waddle neck. Imagine being so narcissistic that he'd publicly object to them purposely showing "the absolute worst pictures of me, especially the big ‘orange’ one with my chin pulled way back." Here's the offending picture the Malignant Loser (or Jabba the Hutt?) is in a snit over:

If Fox wants some variety and timeliness, they could use this one of the Malignant Loser from a few days ago, without the smeared on bronzer, looking weak, pale and depressed:

However, we're waiting for the day when a photo similar to this one is shown widely:

"Ask Me Nicely"

 

It's already clear that the forthcoming (May 3) book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, "This Will Not Pass," will be a source of more appalling details about the workings of the Trump regime.  Here's what "The Hill" has seen so far (our emphasis):

In the aftermath of devastating storms that knocked out power to tens of thousands of people in Connecticut in August 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) called the White House seeking federal help. Hours later, then-President Trump called back.

“There’s something you want to ask me about FEMA?” Trump said, according to Lamont’s recollection. “Well, ask me nicely.”

The anecdote, reported by the New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns in their forthcoming book, “This Will Not Pass,” is just one of a series of Trump’s interactions with governors that struck many state executives as blatant departures from the norms of cooperative governing. 

A brutally transactional, quid pro quo (remember that?) approach to governing, more reminiscent of a petulant mob boss than a president of all the people, is one of the hallmarks of Trump's "management" style.

We already know his narcissistic sociopathy was key to his botched handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The book provides specific examples of how he viewed his role as akin to a mob boss and his blatant disregard for the health and safety of others:

When Trump called California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to discuss a cruise ship moored in San Francisco Bay, on which passengers were sick with the coronavirus, Trump agreed to allow the ship to dock so passengers could be treated. Trump said he would be watching, for “the reciprocity,” according to the book.

“He used to say that even privately — that was one of his favorite words,” Newsom recalled later to authors Martin and Burns. “It says everything and nothing at the same time.” [snip]

Trump showed his lack of enthusiasm for containing the virus later that summer, as he tried to push North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) to allow the Republican National Committee to hold his renominating convention as normal, without requiring masks or social distancing inside the arena in Charlotte.

The book reports that Cooper told Trump he was worried about the delegates who would celebrate Trump’s renomination, many of whom were older, almost all of whom would travel from other parts of the country to come together.

“Aren’t you worried about them, particularly?” Cooper asked Trump.

“No, no, I’m not,” Trump replied.

“I’ve never had an empty seat, from the day I came down the escalator,” Trump told Cooper, recalling his campaign announcement at Trump Tower in New York. “I don’t want to be sitting in a place that’s, you know, 50 percent empty or more.”

A final anecdote further illustrates Trump's narcissism, in its most ludicrous yet predictable form:

On a visit to the White House early in the pandemic, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was taken aback when Trump showed him a room adjoining the Oval Office crammed with MAGA gear.

“They literally hand you a shopping bag, and you took anything you’d like,” Murphy recalled to the authors.

A "gift shop" of MAGA junk next to the Oval Office.  Sic transit gloria, America.

What has leaked from the book so far doesn't add much to our basic knowledge that this is a terribly sick, hollow person who had no business being anywhere near the presidency.  What you see here is the banality of American fascism.  Nor will any of this penetrate the bubble that his cult resides in -- they're way beyond hope.  But insights from such books serve as a warning to the rest of us that the danger of the Malignant Loser and his movement regaining power is real and ongoing.

(Photo:  Gage Skidmore)

Impeached Forever's Daytona Moment

The Poop:

SCOOP: Multiple Sources tell @FoxNews that @realDonaldTrump is planning to take a lap at the @DISupdates Daytona International Speedway in the “Beast” presidential limo ahead of the Daytona 500. It’s not 100%, but that is the plan at the moment.

— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) February 15, 2020

 The Flush:

pic.twitter.com/SDMYqDOh5R

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) February 15, 2020

In the CLOWN CAR pic.twitter.com/rYTEmrwqK5

— Lynn Kindsvater🌊🌊🌊 (@KindsvaterLynn) February 15, 2020

pic.twitter.com/233XdGsvCS

— MK Genest 🌊 (@MKGenest) February 15, 2020

pic.twitter.com/7n7ESvJHtM

— WHBlakemore (@Woodyman502) February 15, 2020

pic.twitter.com/W2sUtk5s0L

— Unemployed and Irrelevant Walker (@walkerwaffles) February 15, 2020

pic.twitter.com/0MiUtxQ2Ds

— MsThurmond (@my_thousand) February 15, 2020

This beast? pic.twitter.com/Teyxhst88X

— Cindi (@Cinianwidger1) February 15, 2020

Tweets Of The Day -- What Does Centennial Even Mean?

Caution:  Very Stable Genius at "work," getting things done:

"I'm curious why wasn't it done a long time ago? And also, I guess the answer to that is because now I'm president, we get things done."

Yesterday, President Trump signed the Woman's Suffrage Centennial Coin Act. pic.twitter.com/F5NNVIw1kI

— The Hill (@thehill) November 26, 2019

This is the president of the United States....wondering why the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage....wasn’t commemorated...a long time ago...? https://t.co/uIdnAyziJQ

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) November 26, 2019

So help me understand: @POTUS @realDonaldTrump is asking why everybody else (especially that scamp Obama!) waited until 2020 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of something that happened in 1920?

— Bernard Ohanian (@bernardohanian) November 26, 2019

He doesn’t know what “centennial” means.

— 🏛A Broad Abroad🗽 (@EllenRabiner) November 26, 2019

I don’t doubt he is serious as to why we didn’t celebrate a centennial event years ago.

— Joe (@venezuela_joe) November 26, 2019

Yeah, why WASN’T the 100 year anniversary of Woman’s Suffrage celebrated YEARS AGO? jfc the MAGA dolts are gonna defend this tragically demented idiot ‘til the bitter end, aren’t they? https://t.co/6sNwLEKKkx

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 26, 2019

Because It's Always About Him

What a psychopath:

In his upcoming memoir, newly appointed Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III describes the private tour he gave President Trump of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, recalling that Trump’s reaction to the Dutch role in the global slave trade was, “You know, they love me in the Netherlands.”  [snip]

“The president paused in front of the exhibit that discussed the role of the Dutch in the slave trade,” Bunch writes. “As he pondered the label I felt that maybe he was paying attention to the work of the museum. He quickly proved me wrong. As he turned from the display he said to me, ‘You know, they love me in the Netherlands.’ All I could say was let’s continue walking.”

Bunch's book also revealed that "The Chosen One" didn't want to see anything "difficult" during the tour because, as his staff told Bunch, he was in a "foul mood."  Given that the tour was not long after he was ridiculed for exaggerating the size of his inaugural crowd, we suspect that was what was eating at the dumbass.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has more on the episode, including what the Dutch really think about The Chosen One.

Trump's A Dangerous Madman, Part Infinity

At yesterday's "social media summit" far right- wing nutfest, head nut Donald "Rump" Trump rambled -- often incoherently -- for about an hour, airing various grievances about the media and social platforms he would have us believe are biased against him and his fellow constantly aggrieved nuts.  This is a subject Rump is particularly interested in, since he spends the bulk of his time as "president" getting guidance from Fox "News" and composing ignorant, inflammatory tweets (or, well, golfing).

On the topic of his tweets, Rump went into fair detail as to just how much he's obsessed with his Twitter following and the likes he gets:

And it was so different than it was even six, seven months ago. I was picking up unbelievable amounts of people. And I’m hotter now than I was then, OK? Because you know, you also cool off, right? You do. But I’m much hotter. Especially with a nice, new stock market like it is. Right?

But no. I’m hotter now, and I go to Dan, I say, “Hey, what’s going on here?” It used to take me a short number of days to pick up 100,000 people. I’m not complaining; we’re like at 60-some-odd million. But then we have five different sites. We have another site with 25 million. We have another site with 10 or 12. Then we have Facebook. Then we have Instagram. We have a lot!

We got a lot of people. Way, way over 100 million, but I used to pick them up… And when I say “used to,” I’m talking about a few months ago. I was picking them up, a hundred thousand people every, very short period of time. Now, it’s, I would say, ten times as long. And I notice things happening when I put out something—a good one, that people like, right? Good tweet. It goes up. It used to go up, it would say 7,000, 7,008, 7,000, 7,017, 7,024, 7,032, 7,044. Right?

Now it goes, 7,000, 7,008, 6,998. Then they go, 7,009, 6,074. [Audience boos] I said, “What’s going on?” Now, it never did that before. It goes up, and then they take it down. Then it goes up. I’d never had that. Does anyone know what I’m talking about with this? [Audience screams “yes”] I never had that before. I used to watch it. It’d be like a rocket ship when I put out a beauty. Like when I said, remember I said somebody was spying on me? That thing was like a rocket. I get a call two minutes later: “Did you say that?”

I said, “Yeah, I said that.”

“Well, it’s exploding. It’s exploding.”

Please keep in mind this is how he's spending his time and what's important to him (i.e., "him").

Not surprisingly, as with most other things, Rump's concept of "free speech" is disturbingly odd:

See, I don’t think that the mainstream media’s free speech, either. Because it’s so crooked. It’s so dishonest. So to me, free speech is not when you see something good, and then you purposely write bad. To me, that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech. Somebody came to my office, I won’t say who, but a very big person. And I said OK, you don’t like the term fake news, which I think I get credit for. But I’m sure, if I said I get credit, they’ll say, “Thirteen years ago somebody came up with a term.”

I think I get credit—I’d be very proud to take it.

But I think I get credit...

But, he digresses:

We had, on the Mall just the other day, 4th of July, a tremendous success. It was pouring. The weather was just… It was beautiful in one way. They learned it was my real hair that day, because I was drenched. Well, that is the one good thing. I ran, and they learned it’s my hair.

Because I’ve been through every windstorm, sandstorm. Let’s go over here. Let’s go. This one, that one. This desert. Let’s go to this ocean, and get out of the plane, sir. The wind is blowing at about 70 miles an hour. I said, “Boy, it’s gotta be… It’s gotta be mine.”

But, uh, but we’ve seen it all. We’ve seen it all.

Oh, we've seen it all, too. Enough to say where's the 25th Amendment when you need it? This is so far from normal that it passed normal heading south four years ago.

There's more at the link above, if you feel you need to see additional evidence of an authoritarian, narcissistic, sub- par mind undergoing very public deterioration.

John McCain once said Russia was a gas station with nuclear weapons.  Unfortunately for us, you can also say the White House is a psychiatric hospital with nuclear weapons.  And everyone's humoring the madman with the button.

BONUS: Trump got one thing right when he addressed his assembled nutbags: "The crap you think of is unbelievable."

Ham

The narcissist- in- chief:

President Donald Trump thinks President Donald Trump is the only real candidate for Time magazine’s 2018 “Person of the Year.” 

“I can’t imagine anybody else other than Trump,” Trump boasted to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. “Can you imagine anybody other than Trump?”

How about the historic blue wave, 60 million voters who went to the polls to put some controls on your catastrophic regime and begin the process of healing America?

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op- eds.

Gee, we never saw this coming:

President Donald Trump said Monday after speaking with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman that “rogue killers” may be responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

″I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his ‘Saudi Arabian citizen,’” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “He firmly denied that.”  

Trump added: “Maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows."

To anyone who thought there would be any action coming from this utterly compromi$ed a$$hole:  we have some primo Saudi Arabian sand we'll sell you so you can go pound it.

Todd Purdum writes about Donald "Rump" Trump (a.k.a. Dolt 45) as "the man who isn't there," when it comes to his family or the national "family":

It is a poignant paradox of Donald Trump’s ubiquitous presidency—all tweets, all the time—that a leader who prides himself as omnipresent in digital public discourse is so often absent from national life in the hundred human ways in which the country has come to expect its presidents to perform. 

Latest case in point: After Hurricane Michael devastated parts of Florida’s Panhandle, Trump played host at the White House to Kanye West, who—in a ten-minute monologue in the Oval Office—dropped the F-bomb and praised Trump’s “Make American Great Again” cap as a hyper-masculine talisman that made him feel “like a guy that could play catch with his son.” 

But think about it: Have we ever seen Trump play catch with his own 12-year-old son, Barron? Without question, the president dotes on his children, especially his daughter, Ivanka. But he's an absentee father to the nation, or at least a majority of the nation. There have been no warm and fuzzy photos of Trump shopping for books or gifts, as Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did with their daughters. No images of him poring over a photo album, as Abraham Lincoln famously did with his son Tad, or tending to his stamp collection, as FDR did.  No visible evidence of the easy relaxation with friends and family that has become a standard part of presidential iconography.

He also spent his 210th day as "president" golfing while Hurricane Michael victims were trying to cope with that disaster. What more does one expect of a narcissistic sociopath?

Surprise!  Princeling Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner paid no Federal income tax for several years running:

Over the past decade, Jared Kushner’s family company has spent billions of dollars buying real estate. His personal stock investments have soared. His net worth has quintupled to almost $324 million. 

And yet, for several years running, Mr. Kushner — President Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser — appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes, according to confidential financial documents reviewed by The New York Times. 

His low tax bills are the result of a common tax-minimizing maneuver that, year after year, generated millions of dollars in losses for Mr. Kushner, according to the documents. But the losses were only on paper — Mr. Kushner and his company did not appear to actually lose any money. The losses were driven by depreciation, a tax benefit that lets real estate investors deduct a portion of the cost of their buildings from their taxable income every year.  (our emphasis)

That's a tax "benefit" that a Democratic Congress and future Democratic president need to close up real tight.

Gabrielle Gurley discusses transportation hurdles as a Republican voter suppression tactic (and what some jurisdictions are doing):

Some urban and suburban voters can experience polling place access challenges that affect turnout if they live in areas underserved by transit or are plagued by traffic congestion. Rural voters often have higher turnout rates, since traffic is not a factor in getting to a polling place—provided they own a vehicle. 

Lining up reliable transportation on Election Day matters because the votes add up. The harder it is to get to a polling place, the fewer people turn out to vote. A 2011 UC Berkeley study found that the consolidation of Los Angeles County polling places for the 2003 gubernatorial recall election produced a hefty drop in turnout in part because of transportation challenges. 

The highest transportation hurdles emerge from deliberate strategies to keep people from voting. In the voter-suppression canon, deterring a few hundred people can make all the difference in the world in determining who controls government and who doesn’t. Republican local and state officials work overtime to increase the transportation headaches of young people, the elderly, African Americans, Latinos, and others who want to vote.  (our emphasis)

Charles Pierce on the latest Republican/ Fox "News" GOTV fear- mongering about imaginary "mobs" of Democrats (a.k.a., people standing up for their rights), and how "mobs" played a critical role in the genesis of our country:

I've been thinking a lot about mobs recently. The word's been getting tossed around a lot these days, mostly by Republicans, who were inconvenienced over one weekend in their attempt to put a credible accused sex offender, and the Edward Scissorhands of the topiary of the truth, on the Supreme Court. The word is being tossed around even by the president*, who's been entertaining mobs ever since he rode down the golden escalator in 2015, and by his mouthpiece, Rudy Giuliani, who once ginned up a police mob to intimidate the sitting mayor of New York City. 

An endless stream of Republican coat holders, hangers-on, cabana boys, and congressmen, but I repeat myself, have shown up on TV and in back of podiums talking about the angry mobs of women that made it hard for them to get to the cafeteria. And I was thinking how similar it was to this earlier exercise of mob rule.  

Dolt 45's slur of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry blows up.  Now we demand to see evidence that he doesn't have orangutan genes (and that he not renege on his pledge to donate $1 million to charity if proven wrong -- yeah, that'll be the day):

Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides “strong evidence’’ she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations, an unprecedented move by one of the top possible contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. 

Warren, whose claims to Native American blood have been mocked by President Trump and other Republicans, provided the test results to the Globe on Sunday in an effort to defuse questions about her ancestry that have persisted for years. She planned an elaborate rollout Monday of the results as she aimed for widespread attention. 

The analysis of Warren’s DNA was done by Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor and expert in the field who won a 2010 MacArthur fellowship, also known as a genius grant, for his work on tracking population migration via DNA analysis. 

You can check out Sen. Warren's video response here.  Meanwhile, someone who is intimately familiar with junk, gutter snipe and human canker sore Kellyanne "Con" Conway, is inferring Warren's DNA test is "junk science." They never stop, and neither should we.

Finally, we end with our weekly recommendation to check out the link round- up at Infidel 753. Always an interesting place to spend some time.

What If They Made A Coin And No One Came?

This coin is so wrong on many levels. One,  desperate demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's coin is depicting the U.S. on an equal basis with the murderous North Korean regime and Kim Jong-Un (not that Rump doesn't have dictatorial desires) simply to ingratiate himself with Kim. Two, it's wildly premature. The June meeting itself appears to be in trouble, with Rump having misread Kim (and definitely out-manuevered by him). Three, what kind of self-aggrandizing, raging narcissistic sociopath would do this? Rump, of course, who is so desperate for a "win" at any cost, and who imagines himself a future Nobel Peace Prize winner (after the Iran deal withdrawal and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem? Ha.).

Today's relatively brief meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-In and Rump ended with them saying that the meeting may be delayed, with Rump suggesting that Chinese President Xi Jinping was behind the delay. It can't be that Rump gave Kim much of what he wanted in agreeing to meet in the first place, with Kim figuring he had his eager mark where he wanted him.

If this coin is a symbol of anything, it's a symbol of Rump's delusional belief that, as the world's smartest man, he can quickly wrap up a deal that has eluded several Presidents before him, and that what's really important is not the deal itself, but the show.

North Korea: Trump Undermining Talks

There are reports that North Korea is unhappy with egomaniacal narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump claiming that his actions were responsible for the recent breakthroughs between North and South Korea. Rump has said that his "fire and fury" talk, coupled with sanctions were the driving forces behind the thaw in relations and move toward denuclearization talks. Calling Rump's bragging "misleading," a North Korea government spokesman pushed back:

"The U.S. is deliberately provoking the DPRK at the time when the situation on the Korean Peninsula is moving toward peace and reconciliation."

Rump's rhetoric disregards the role that South Korean President Moon played with his "Olympics Diplomacy" and the intervention of North Korea's key ally, China's President Xi. Rump's extreme narcissism and his delusional belief that he's a presidential figure on a par with George Washington or Abraham Lincoln doesn't bode well for "negotiations" with a Korean dictator who is well-prepared on the issues confronting the peninsula, and will know how to push back on Rump and even gain advantage over the ADD-impaired, flattery-influenced Rump. So far, North Korea is signaling Rump that beating his chest about his "accomplishment" may set him up for a comedown.

Trump's Fire Trap

Con man and sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump's Trump Tower in New York City caught fire yesterday, resulting in the the death of a 67 year old resident there. As the linked story notes, the building's residential units are not equipped with sprinkler systems, something that Rump successfully fought:

"President Trump has a complicated history with the life-saving sprinklers the Trump Tower residential quarters lacked during a deadly fire Saturday.

Nearly two decades ago, Trump, then one of the Big Apple’s most prominent real estate moguls, lobbied against Mayor Rudy Giuliani-era legislation that considered whether sprinklers should be installed in all residential buildings after two fatal fires in Brooklyn and Manhattan [snip] 

Trump called city officials like famed Queens politician Archie Spigner, whose council committee compiled the bill, to argue that sprinklers were too expensive — at $4 per square foot — to install throughout an entire building, the New York Times reported at the time. 

Early talks for the proposed bill suggested that all residential buildings be required to install sprinklers, which irked developers, including Trump. The future president backed off on panning the proposal after it was tweaked to grandfather existing buildings — such as Trump Tower..."  (emphasis added)

It's noteworthy that Rump's first (and so far only) mention of the fire included a borderline sexist complement to the first responders, and to say how well the building was constructed.

Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2018

Missing was any message of condolence to the victim or his family, concern about the injured firefighters, or even the residents affected by the smoke and water damage. Surprised?

It's Always All About Him

Very Stable Genius Donald "Rump" Trump was in southwestern Pennsylvania yesterday attempting to save the 18th Congressional district seat for Republicans (a district Rump won by 20 points in 2016 and which hasn't elected a Democrat since 2002).  Democrat Conor Lamb is giving generic right- wing Republican toad stool Rick Saccone a run for his (mostly outside PAC) money, with polls showing a neck- and- neck race.

Newsflash: there's just one big problem when you invite Rump to talk about someone other than himself: he just can't do it.  Mother Jones catalogued the personalities and topics Rump covered for 75 minutes after a quick endorsement of Saccone. Here are just a few of the tangents the Very Stable Genius went off on:

-- Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd (calling him "a sleeping eyed son of a bitch.");

-- "Without Donald Trump, the Olympics would have been a total failure";

-- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), saying she's a "very low IQ individual" for calling for his impeachment;

-- recounting, almost state- by- state, his election "victory";

-- endorsing the execution of drug dealers (his response to the opioid epidemic).

Bottom line:  The marks and suckers had some low- brow entertainment for 80 minutes, Rump got to have his unslakable ego massaged, and poor toad stool Saccone had to sit there like a potted plant (no insult to potted plants intended).

BONUS:  Karoli has some more nuggets from the speech.

(Photo:  Toad stool Saccone giving the White Power salute (allegedly!); Rump basking in the glow of hundreds of very white faces in Pennsylvania yesterday - Getty Pictures)