Dementia Don's Temper Tantrums Driving Staff Away

 

The demented, narcissistic sociopath with the nuclear codes is getting crankier than ever and taking it out on White House staff (sad!):

President Donald Trump is reportedly yelling louder, for longer periods and acting significantly "meaner" toward his inner circle, driving a wave of recent high-profile White House departures.

According to insider reports detailed on "The Daily Beast Podcast," multiple senior officials are exiting the administration due to a toxic, increasingly hostile West Wing environment.  [Ed.: very sad!]

The reporting coincides with a series of major staff exits at the White House.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced she will step down at the end of August. While she publicly cited a desire to spend time with her family, insiders indicate the intense internal pressure and Trump's sharpening temperament heavily influenced the timing.

White House Counsel David Warrington departed his post amidst the shifting operational environment.

Deputy National Security Advisor Andy Baker, a key ally of Vice President J.D. Vance, has also exited the administration.

"It's a clear sign that people see how badly this second term is going," said David Rhode, senior executive editor on national security for MS NOW on Monday, August 17.

While Trump has historically been known for an aggressive management style, sources close to the administration note a distinct shift in his behavioral patterns during his current term.

Insiders report that his pattern of blaming staff for self-inflicted political problems has left top aides completely burned out, with some describing the daily work environment as "total misery."  [Ed.:  very very sad!]

The White House and Trump allies have generally pushed back on these characterizations, framing staff turnover as typical for a high-pressure administration or a natural rotation ahead of the midterm elections.  [snip]

Multiple former aides, including former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, have publicly stated that Trump's cognitive and behavioral shifts are "palpable," pointing to an escalation in his volatile outbursts.

Reports from the West Wing frequently detail longer, louder screaming matches directed at senior staff. Outside observers note a distinct increase in public temper tantrums, verbal reprimands of judges and lawmakers and rambling speech patterns during his second term... (our emphasis)

Well, first, it couldn't happen to more deserving fascist clowns, who worked hard to get him elected (twice!). 

We should note that his Chief of Staff Natalie Harp Susie Wiles is departing soon after the November mid-term blue tsunami, doubtless to dodge the flying ketchup.  We expect by the time next January rolls around, the concept of "total misery" will have to be re-defined by those remaining in the Malignant Fascist's orbit.  Maybe his new Chief of Staff/ co-President Natalie will be available to empty his fecal extrusion device.

Trump Throws Tantrum Over Xi Meeting

Extremely Stable Genius and world laughingstock Donald "Bone Spurs" Trump wants Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet with this month in Osaka at the G-20 summit. He really wants Xi to meet with him or he'll throw a tantrum and impose tariffs on China. So needy and pathetic.

Trump was triggered after learning on CNBC that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized his bogus tariff threat to Mexico that risked disrupting trade between the two countries over his bigoted immigration stance. Trump apparently called the cable network and said,

“They have to start representing the United States, not just the companies that are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

You know, just like he represents the interests of the U.S. over his own interests and the interests of the Russian Federation and the sheiks.

"Unglued"

As we noted in the post below, Very Stable Genius Donald "Rump" Trump is unraveling in front of the entire world.  This dangerous cancer on America's body politic poses a more clear and present danger than ever before, due to events unfolding around him that he's essentially powerless to control.

NBC News details how a recent, crucial decision was made on a whim:

According to two officials, Trump's decision to launch a potential trade war was born out of anger at other simmering issues and the result of a broken internal process that has failed to deliver him consensus views that represent the best advice of his team. 

On Wednesday evening, the president became "unglued," in the words of one official familiar with the president's state of mind. 

A trifecta of events had set him off in a way that two officials said they had not seen before: Hope Hicks' testimony to lawmakers investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, conduct by his embattled attorney general and the treatment of his son-in-law by his chief of staff. 

Trump, the two officials said, was angry and gunning for a fight, and he chose a trade war, spurred on by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, the White House director for trade — and against longstanding advice from his economic chair Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

It doesn't take a very stable genius to see that someone with this rash, infantile temperament has no business in the Oval Office, making life and death decisions based on whims, or on what might save his rotten neck.

We're reminded that this isn't the first time (nor will it be the last) that Rump's dangerous impetuousness has led to dubious, to say the least, actions:

Things Trump has announced without full due dilligence:

-Travel ban
-Transgender military ban
-National emergency on opioids
-Trade warhttps://t.co/lVae4tiGNZ

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 2, 2018

His risible "all things to all people" performance in the recent bipartisan gun control meeting showed how unmoored this tumor is. He's been "playing government" (to use John Kelly's description of Javanka), but the consequences we're seeing are very real.

Ach du lieber, Trump's A Pouting Baby!

Poor Man-Baby Trump!  Earlier, grown up German Chancellor Angela Merkel must have told him he needs to put on his big boy pants:

Photographers: Can we get a handshake?
Merkel (to Trump): Do you want to have a handshake?
Trump: *no response*
Merkel: *makes awkward face* pic.twitter.com/ehgpCnWPg7

— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 17, 2017

Isn't it great to have this ignorant infant representing our country?!

Today's Cartoon And Tweets - The Illegal Voter Witch Hunt Is On [UPDATED}

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(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

After the logical question was asked of the White House "if you think there was massive voter fraud, why haven't you investigated?" neo- fascist liar and conspiracy theorist Donald "Rump" Trump's bluff was called.  So, here we go down the rabbit hole (note the time signature on the tweets BTW):

I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

He's nuts.  But, then, we already knew that.

What are the odds he'll put Kellyanne "Alternative Facts" Conway and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III in charge of the "investigation"?  He's already presuming the "results" will require that we "strengthen up voting procedures!" (a.k.a, voter suppression).

BONUS I: No question that this will be as legitimate as his bogus "investigation" into President Obama's birth certificate.

BONUS II:This would be human/weasel hybrid and White House staff chief:

Two people named Reinhold R Priebus, both born in March '72, are registered to vote in Kenosha County, WI. Different addresses. Fraud?

— Tom Bonier (@tbonier) January 25, 2017

And that's not the worst of it. Rump daughter Tiffany, Treasury Secretary designee Steve Mnuchin, and Rump's white supremacist senior advisor Steve Bannon are all registered to vote in more than one state.

The Small Man Who Would Be President

Let's see what's been recently occupying the thoughts of neo- fascist dimwit Donald "Rump" Trump, who doesn't have the time or attention span for daily national security briefings (our emphasis throughout).

There's some unbecoming sadism and petty vindictiveness:

“Donald Trump was interviewing Mitt Romney for Secretary of State in order to torture him,” [execrable slimeball and Rump confidant Roger] Stone claimed on the program. “To toy with him."

Then there's some more petty vindictiveness:

Twitter was told it was "bounced" from Wednesday's meeting between tech executives and President-elect Donald Trump in retribution for refusing during the campaign to allow an emoji version of the hashtag #CrookedHillary, according to a source close to the situation. [snip]

... It was the only major tech company to say on the record that it would refuse to participate in building a database of Muslims, a prospect the president-elect has floated. 

And more vindictiveness with some thin-skin on the side:

The president-elect is once again spending his time worrying about the truly important things affecting the fate of our nation. Like a bad restaurant review. 

Yes, after Vanity Fair ran a review titled “Trump Grill Could Be the Worst Restaurant in America,” Trump had a predictable response, a response the staff of Vanity Fair probably had some kind of betting pool on—not on whether it would happen, but on how long it would take and perhaps specific things it would say.

Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2016

The Trump Grill review, by the way, is a total hoot. For a good laugh, and a helpful warning to stay clear of this joint, read the whole review. Here are a few zingers:

"... The restaurant features a stingy number of French-ish paintings that look as though they were bought from Home Goods. Wall-sized mirrors serve to make the place look much bigger than it actually is. The bathrooms transport diners to the experience of desperately searching for toilet paper at a Venezuelan grocery store." 

"The allure of Trump’s restaurant, like the candidate, is that it seems like a cheap version of rich." 

"... The plate must have tilted during its journey from the kitchen to the table, as the steak slumped to the side over the potatoes like a dead body inside a T-boned minivan." 

Check, please!

BONUS:  Charley Pierce chimes in --

Eight o'clock in the morning, a month before he becomes President of the United States, and the first thing he thinks of is to set his stubby lil' fingers firing away in pursuit of a petty feud that began almost 30 years ago. This is manic behavior of the worst sort. Or, more precisely, of a worse sort, because I fear we haven't come close yet to seeing what the worst sort of manic behavior out of this guy would be. For example, can you imagine what his reaction will be if some murderous gang of idiots makes a try at one of the properties bearing his name? We could lose a damn hemisphere.

We think Charley mis-spelled "maniac."

BONUS II:  Jeet Heer has an obvious solution --

You know, intelligence community might want to try repacking the daily briefings in the format of Vanity Fair, to encourage Trump to read https://t.co/8xTbvfypTM

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) December 15, 2016

(Photo:  A small image for a small man.)

Tweets Of The Day - "Mr. Nerves Of Steel"

Thanks to good law enforcement work (plus a little incompetence on the part of the perp and some larcenous New Yorkers), it appears the person who set the explosive devices in New Jersey and New York City recently was apprehended this morning within hours of his identity being made known.

Naturally, neo- fascist know- nothing baboon Donald "Rump" Trump has been bellowing and patting himself on the back ever since the devices went off, now saying that he "called it before the news."  (Precipitous!  Also Presidential!) The shameless fool is using his dog whistle, in "predicting" more terrorist attacks, to stoke fear and egg on those who might do such a thing in the hopes of getting people to vote for his authoritarian bluster. That's why he's ISIS/ ISIL's biggest recruiter.

Meanwhile, remember this is that quivering tower of "strength":

Mr. Nerves of Steel thinks America should be living in fear more. pic.twitter.com/m7Lmr7gHLs

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 19, 2016

Beware of the demagogue for whom it is more important to look tough than smart, and is neither. pic.twitter.com/y3JdZZy5hw

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 19, 2016

As the President said, in this election, "Hope is on the ballot; fear is on the ballot."

Today's Cartoon - That Baby Needs To Be Changed

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(Tom Toles, one great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

As the meltdown continues in the "campaign" of neo- fascist Donald "Rump" Trump, panicked cowards in the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party are reportedly going to try to stage an "intervention" to get their sociopathic narcissist candidate to ... pivot?  change?  reboot? When is the reality going to set in with these fools that they're stuck with a reckless ignoramus with no impulse control?

This is the reality:

Video Of The Day

John Oliver wraps up the past two weeks of political conventions with a take on neo- fascist "damaged, sociopathic narcissist" Donald "Rump" Trump's slurs of the Gold Star Khan family (starting at 12:00).  Must see!



That "bed of nails principle" that has allowed Rump to get away with his torrents of lies, slurs, smears, innuendos, etc. (or what the corporate media would call "controversial statements"), makes quite a bit of sense, btw.

Today's Cartoon Twofer - Presidential!

(click on images to enlarge)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Today's Cartoons And Poll - WTF?!

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(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)


(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

What makes us pause this morning is this recent New York Times/ CBS News Poll showing that 70 percent of those polled believe neo- fascist cretin Donald "Rump" Trump does not have the temperament to be President;  the same poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Rump by 47 to 41 percent (other polls actually show Rump with a slight lead).   Given that, and even with the usual caveat that polls six months out from a national election are not reliable indicators of the ultimate result, and that the extended Democratic primary is preventing a consolidation of support for Clinton, etc. etc., we can't help but wonder what level of hatred/ stupidity is operating here to make Rump even the slightest bit competitive, much less neck- to- neck in some polling (rhetorical question).  By all reasonable measures, he shouldn't be breaking 30 percent.  That is, of course, unless a significant number of Republicans and right- leaning "independents" are willing to accept that a dangerous fool like Rump, who has the temperament of a child, is somehow fit for the Presidency (with the help of Trump normalizers in the corporate media) -- as long as it keeps another Democrat out of the White House (see post below)!

Guess that's the conservative lizard brain for you.