Trump's Not Divisive, You're Divisive!

 

The perpetually aggrieved and petulant Giant Toddler has torpedoed the annual meeting with the Nation's governors:

An annual meeting of the nation’s governors that has long served as a rare bipartisan gathering is unraveling after President Donald Trump excluded Democratic governors from White House events.

The National Governors Association said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when governors are scheduled to convene in Washington later this month, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also announced they would boycott a traditional dinner at the White House.  [Ed.:  after the Giant Toddler disinvited Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado!]

“If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year,” the Democrats wrote. “Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the NGA, told fellow governors in a letter on Monday that the White House intended to limit invitations to the association’s annual business meeting, scheduled for Feb. 20, to Republican governors only.

“Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program,” Stitt wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The governors’ group, which is scheduled to meet from Feb. 19-21, is one of the few remaining venues where political leaders from both major parties gather to discuss the top issues facing their communities. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump has “discretion to invite anyone he wants to the White House.”

“It's the people's house,” she said. “It's also the president's home, so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House.”

Representatives for Stitt and the NGA didn't comment on the letter. Brandon Tatum, the NGA's CEO, said in a statement last week that the White House meeting is an “important tradition” and said the organization was “disappointed in the administration's decision to make it a partisan occasion this year."...

No President in our history has ever put himself above the interests of our country to the extent this malignant narcissist has, not even Dick "Skinny Trump" Nixon in the end.  It's such strange and destructive behavior that even the Republican governor of deep red Oklahoma was compelled to speak out about it.

So, the next time you hear a MAGAt lying about how the Malignant Fascist is a "uniter," remember this most recent example of how risible that is.

(Image:  the Giant Toddler pedaling away from the NGA meeting.)

Trump's Authoritarian, Un-American Speech To Military Brass

 

In a sane America, much of what the Malignant Fascist and his incompetent "Secretary of War" Whiskey Pete Hegseth said at today's gathering of the top brass in the U.S. military would be grounds for immediate removal from office and (we would like to think) imprisonment. It's just unbelievable this is happening in America in 2025.  Excerpts from NBC News (our emphasis):

Hegseth

Hegseth told officers that if they don’t like what they're hearing from him, they should leave the service. 

“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” he said.

In his remarks, the defense secretary ticked off 10 new directives for the military, including new physical fitness standards for all troops and the hundreds of officers in the audience, and touted his efforts to rid the military of “wokeness” and “dudes in dresses.” 

Some officers may disagree with the direction he is taking the military, Hegseth said. He aded that they may be so inculcated with what he called the culture of previous administrations — led by “foolish and reckless political leaders” that created the “Department of Woke” — that as a result they should leave the service. Others, he said, want to be warriors and will stay. 

“We may lose good people,” he said.

Trump

Trump threatened to fire military leaders he disliked "on the spot."

"I'm going to be meeting with generals and with admirals and with leaders, and if I don't like somebody, I'm going to fire them right on the spot," he said.

His remarks to reporters came shortly before traveling to address military officials in Virginia. 

__________________

The audience was quiet when Trump walked onstage, which is typical for a military event.

Trump, though, began his remarks by noting that he has "never walked into a room so silent before."

Some in the audience laughed, prompting Trump to joke, "Don't laugh, you're not allowed to do that."

"Just have a good time," he added. "And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future."

People laughed, and Trump told the audience to "feel nice and loose."

____________________

Trump dedicated part of his speech to criticizing Biden's use of the autopen.

"How would you like to have your thing signed by an autopen?" Trump said. "You know, when I have a general and I have to sign for a general, because we have beautiful paper. They're gorgeous paper. I said, 'Throw a little more gold on it. They deserve it. Give me — I want the A paper, not the D paper.'"

Later, Trump praised his own signature, saying, "I love my signature, I really do. Everyone loves my signature." 

"I always think to myself, 'How can you have an autopen sign this?'" he said. "It's just so disrespectful to me. It's just totally disrespectful."

Biden's use of an autopen is a favorite attack of Trump's, although it's not clear how often Biden used an autopen. Trump has previously used an autopen, too. 

____________________

During his speech before the military brass, Trump revived his previous idea of making Canada the 51st state of the United States.

He said Canada called him a couple of weeks ago and Trump claimed its leaders expressed interest in being part of the missile defense shield Trump has dubbed the Golden Dome.

"They want to be part of it, to which I said, 'Why don't you just join our country? You become 51, become the 51st state, and you get it for free," he said. "So I don't know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense ... because they're having a hard time up there in Canada now, because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone's coming into our country."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has emphatically said that his country would never join the U.S.

___________________

Trump said in his remarks that Portland, Oregon, "looks like a war zone" and that "this place is a nightmare."

"It looks like a war zone, and I get a call from the liberal governor. 'Sir, please don't come in. We don't need you.' I said, 'Well, unless they're playing false tapes, this looks like World War II, your place is burning down,'" he said.  *

Trump mocked the governor of Oregon, who he said claimed his law enforcement personnel had Portland under control. The president said he told the governor that the city is a "nightmare."

Trump has authorized the deployment of the National Guard to Portland, but Oregon and the city have sued the administration over the move.

____________________

Trump characterized the country as being at war at home, explaining he was refocusing the military to help law enforcement domestically. He praised the National Guard troops in D.C. and railed against other Democrat-led cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

"They're very unsafe places, and we're going to straighten them out one by one," Trump said. "And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war, too. It's a war from within. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security. We can't let these people in."

The president also argued that the country was "under invasion from within."

"After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help, we’re defending the borders of our country from now on," Trump said.

The Malignant Fascist rambled on for over an hour with his usual litany of lies, delusions, projection, racism, and loony tales.  In case it's not immediately obvious, this attempt to politicize the military and use it against the citizens of this country is full-scale, saying- the- quiet- part- loud authoritarian fascism.  We can only hope those listening to these deranged, un-American statements will be true to their oaths to the Constitution and not bow to the orders of a would- be dictator.

Some reactions here and here.

__________

* The moron was apparently misled and triggered by videos from 2020 that were played recently on Fox "News."

 

On Trump's Unfitness To Serve In Any Job

As Election Day nears, it's hard to understand why this election is as close as it is, if we can trust the polling data. After years of the mentally-disturbed Malignant Loser's compulsive lying, cheating, scamming, and attempted overthrow the Government, roughly half of the voting population will still cast their ballots for him.  Shameful.

Kirk Swearingen at Salon.com makes the detailed case why the unstable Malignant Loser / garbage man was never qualified to hold any meaningful job, much less the office of President. An excerpt:

"Protected by a fortune from his father while playing the part of a canny real estate developer, Trump repeatedly bankrupted himself upward. The “King of Debt” learned early on how to profit from public money and make the public pay for his mistakes. Wayne Barrett, the journalist who saw Trump’s grifting ways from the get-go, wrote: “Like his father, Donald Trump has pushed each deal to the limit, taking from it whatever he can get, turning political connections into private profits at public expense."

Occupying the White House allowed him to amp up his shameless grifting and shady dealing, from profiting on his office via Washington’s Trump International Hotel (which has since been sold and rebranded) to selling Trump superhero NFTs and golden sneakers and hawking Bibles that encourage people to laugh off all that nonsense about the separation of church and state.

So as we at last (and yet somehow too soon) come to Election Day 2024 and hear from ever more prominent people that Trump is unfit and unqualified to be president — often from the highest level people who worked with him during his first term of occasionally occupying the Oval Office — we should not forget that he was never fit, or qualified, to be president. 

Indeed, one could easily argue, as people have for years, that he is not qualified or fit to serve in any job in any capacity."  (our emphasis)

Tell that to his cult, a large slice of which believe that this corrupt and immoral con man was sent from heaven on a divine mission to, what, turn America into a fascist dictatorship?  November 5 is coming, and with it, a reckoning with America's MAGA half.

 

A Day In The Life

A brief, incomplete digest of just one day's worth of Trump's dystopian, brainless authoritarianism.

"Break the law! Take the land!":

President Trump is so eager to complete hundreds of miles of border fence ahead of the 2020 presidential election that he has directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, according to current and former officials involved with the project.

He also has told worried subordinates that he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly, those officials said.  (our emphasis)

"Suck on it, hurricane victims!":

The Trump administration is pulling $271 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico, according to department officials and a letter sent to the agency by a California congresswoman.

To fund temporary locations for court hearings for asylum-seekers along the southern border, ICE would gain $155 million, all from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, according to the letter from Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., which was seen by NBC News. (our emphasis)

"Clear-cut the motherf*cker!":

President Trump has instructed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt Alaska’s 16.7-million-acre Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions imposed nearly 20 years ago, according to three people briefed on the issue, after privately discussing the matter with the state’s governor aboard Air Force One.

The move would affect more than half of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, opening it to potential logging, energy and mining projects. It would undercut a sweeping Clinton administration policy known as the “roadless rule,” which has survived a decades-long legal assault.

Trump has taken a personal interest in “forest management,” a term he told a group of lawmakers last year he has “redefined” since taking office. (Ed.: by "forest management," he means "raking.")  (our emphasis)

"I'm the best negotiator!":

BEIJING - President Trump may think he’s keeping Chinese negotiators guessing with his whiplash-inducing remarks about the U.S.-China trade war.

But he’s not fooling anyone here.

More than a year into the deepening commercial conflict, Chinese officials and analysts say they’ve got a handle on the tweeter-in-chief and are no longer fazed by his unpredictable initiatives.

“There is a lot of fatigue with President Trump’s ‘art of the deal,’ ” said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization and an adviser to China’s cabinet. [snip]

Trump’s claim to have the upper hand at the negotiating table does not appear to have convinced the Chinese.

“They’ve decided Trump is a vacillating guy who can’t figure out what he wants and gets spooked every time the stock market goes down or someone accuses him of not being tough,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics, a consultancy in Beijing. “Although there are problems in China, they believe they have their economy under control, more so than Trump. They think he is more vulnerable to a slowdown and that they can afford to wait him out.”  (our emphasis)

Rest assured, tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, there'll be more because this is the worst reality TV show we've ever lived through.

Monday Reading

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

Just when you think buying Greenland is bumbling bird brain Donald "The Chosen One" Trump's most ludicrous idea, this comes along:

President Trump has suggested multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president's private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.

Behind the scenes: During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" according to one source who was there. "They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" the source added, paraphrasing the president's remarks.

• Asked how the briefer reacted, the source recalled he said something to the effect of, "Sir, we'll look into that."
• Trump replied by asking incredulously how many hurricanes the U.S. could handle and reiterating his suggestion that the government intervene before they make landfall. 
• The briefer "was knocked back on his heels," the source in the room added. "You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, 'What the f---? What do we do with this?'"  (our emphasis)
  

What do you do with this?  You invoke the 25th Amendment and get Uncle Sundowner away from the nuclear football!  (The article helpfully provides a link to NOAA's web page, where a fact sheet debunks this genius plan.)

Speaking of taking credit for genius ideas like buying Greenland,

Now I'm waiting for Tom Cotton to explain that, actually, nuking hurricanes is a terrific idea that everyone should be for, and in fact he was the one who suggested it to the President.

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) August 26, 2019

Rick Wilson wrote this before the report of the "nuke the hurricanes" plan buzzing out of the Very Stable Genius' "brain" became public:

It’s almost as if we need a recalibration of the insanity of the Trump era, a new set of definitions about what comprises normal presidential behavior.

Because what’s happening now left normal five towns back, stopped for smokes and brown liquor, and tossed the GPS out the window. This week wasn’t normal, and no amount of whistling past the graveyard will make it any different.

Donald Trump’s affect, speech patterns and overall delivery this week have been alternately horrifying and hilarious. A combination of waking hallucinations, verbal tics, lies surpassing even his usual fabulist standard, aphasias and lunatic blurtings, each public utterance was a moment where the eye of his aides either popped or rolled, depending on their level of cynicism.  [snip]

His sweaty, heavy-breathing press sprays on the White House lawn left reporters in a state of stunned silence, the spittle-flecked rantings of a man determined to machine-gun out a hundred ideas in the time a rational person would discuss two.

We started off with Jewish disloyalty — which, of course, functional agnostic Donald Trump knows only because he “wants them counting his money” — and jumped to the grand plan to conquer Greenland and seize America North from the hands of the perfidious Danes.

Wilson's a hoot and his take on the Very Stable Genius is biting and incisive.

Meanwhile, the humiliation of America continues at the hands of Putin's Puppet:

President Donald Trump says it’s “certainly possible” he’ll invite Vladimir Putin as a guest to next year’s Group of Seven summit in the U.S., setting up a flashpoint with fellow nations who ejected the Russian leader over annexation of Crimea.

Trump spoke in Biarritz, France, on Sunday as the day’s session of the G-7 was set to get underway. He has previously called to fully readmit Putin into what was once the G-8, while the bloc’s fellow nations have balked at readmitting Russia, which was kicked out of the group over its hostilities in Ukraine.

The U.S. will host next year’s G-7. Trump said ahead of a breakfast meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson that it’s possible he’d invite Putin as a guest but doesn’t yet know.

“It’s certainly possible, we’ll see,” Trump said, after earlier noting that he and other G-7 leaders had discussed the matter Saturday evening. "We had a very good discussion on Russia and President Putin, and a lively discussion, but, really, a good one," Trump said.

He's so eager, desperate, to please the man with the kompromat.

Moscow Mitch/ Massacre Mitch placed a simultaneously desperate and disingenuous op/ ed in The New York Effing Times a few days back, warning Democrats not to abolish the filibuster should they win the Senate in 2020.  We say, just another reason to abolish the filibuster!  Here's Li Zhou recalling recent history:

There’s a strong degree of irony to McConnell’s arguments: Even as he’s pushing for Democrats to keep the filibuster in the name of preserving Senate rules and tradition, he’s personally done significant damage to congressional norms.

As McConnell notes, Democrats were the first to change the filibuster rules on judicial nominees. What he doesn’t say, however, is that the reason Reid felt compelled to do so because McConnell had mounted an overwhelming obstruction of non-controversial judicial nominees. And that’s far from the only time McConnell has levied his power as majority leader to reject Senate norms.

When President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland was up for confirmation, McConnell didn’t even hold a hearing. Earlier this year, McConnell pushed through another rules change on judicial nominees, enabling lawmakers to confirm judges even faster. This congressional term, he has become known for blocking consideration of countless House bills, including on the topic of election security, declaring himself the “grim reaper” of Democratic legislation on Capitol Hill.

As usual, we close with our recommendation to head over to Infidel 753's link round-up (where we found the article above on Moscow Mitch/ Massacre Mitch and the filibuster).  Every week, he puts forth a great digest of items big and small where you'll invariably find something of interest.

Tweet Of The Day -- All In A Day's "Work"

Another imagined ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ “turning point” comes and goes. Meanwhile, POTUS wants to buy Greenland, he is talking about Jewish “disloyalty” and tweet-boasting about a right wing conspiracy theorist who called him the “King of Israel.”  https://t.co/RRMvphVdfa

— julianzelizer (@julianzelizer) August 21, 2019

Toddler Trump Tantrum: Cancels Denmark Trip Over Greenland

The national humiliation of having a toddler sitting in the Oval Office continues:

Danes expressed shock and disbelief on Wednesday over U.S. President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a state visit to Denmark after its prime minister rebuffed his interest in purchasing Greenland. 

Trump’s proposal at first elicited incredulity and humor from politicians in Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States, with former premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen saying: “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke.”

But the mood turned to shock when Trump called off the Sept. 2-3 visit after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called his idea of the United States buying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, “absurd”.

“Total chaos with @realDonaldTrump and cancellation of state visit to Denmark. It has gone from a big opportunity for strengthened dialogue between allies to a diplomatic crisis,” former foreign minister Kristian Jensen, a member of the opposition Liberal Party, said on Twitter.  [snip]

“It shows why we now more than ever should consider (fellow) European Union countries as our closest allies. The man is unpredictable,” said Morten Ostergaard, leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party. “Reality surpasses imagination.”

Trump, whose “America First” policies have resulted in strained relations with the EU over trade and other issues, said on Sunday that a U.S. purchase of Greenland would be “a large real estate deal”, though not an immediate priority.

The childish, ignorant fool thinks he's still a grifter in the real estate world. If only he'd stayed there.

BONUS:  The Danes are expressing their contempt for Baby Trump, dealmaker.

Tweets Of The Day -- The Debacle

This the logical albeit dystopian outcome of a reality TV President who has encouraged white supremacists: a smiling thumbs-up photo-op for a child whose parents have been murdered by one of the President's supporters. pic.twitter.com/Fkz2RxmyOB

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) August 9, 2019

“A really exceptional work of obscenity, like a really exceptional work of beauty, exceeds the ability of its viewers to fathom what they just saw.” -⁦@gcaw⁩  https://t.co/frqnD1UaIq

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) August 9, 2019

JUST NOW: WH insiders “will privately admit this was something of a debacle, these are not the headlines they wanted to see.”@maggieNYT on insider reaction to @realDonaldTrump trip to Dayton and El Paso.@NewDay pic.twitter.com/WxVTo6HGRv

— John Berman (@JohnBerman) August 8, 2019

That SOB used an orphaned baby as a prop. https://t.co/6fttAaQXGm

— Tengrain Covfefe Boy (@Tengrain) August 9, 2019

If he's not the worst president ever, he's the worst person who has ever been president. https://t.co/0rmpljbI5v

— (((Steve Chapman))) (@SteveChapman13) August 8, 2019

An El Paso hospital official says that there was a general assessment that there was "an absence of empathy" on Trump's part during his visit.https://t.co/8L0obCfjND

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 8, 2019

No caption needed. pic.twitter.com/8owyl2xhIX

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) August 9, 2019

The larger debacle is, of course, what this shitwhistle is inflicting on our country.

Tweet Of The Day -- Satire And Reality

When satire and reality are almost indistinguishable.

https://t.co/hBveutveRR pic.twitter.com/Tdy6YCMWJ1

— Todd Vaziri (@tvaziri) August 9, 2019

(h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian for the heads- up on The Onion's satiric article.  Here's the link to the New York Magazine Intelligencer article.)

Puerile "President" Back To Form In Less Than 24 Hours (UPDATED)

1. Trump yesterday, reading someone's words off a teleprompter:  "Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love ["for your favorite President, me" he didn't say]."

2. A real President speaks the truth, not mentioning names (click to enlarge):

pic.twitter.com/nNOVtQ50O4

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2019

3.  Trump's flying couch monkeys tell Trump what to do:

Brian Kilmeade complains about Barack Obama's statement about the Dayton and El Paso shootings: "Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook?" pic.twitter.com/oRJzhhFepK

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) August 6, 2019

4.  Trump obeys, retweets, less than 24 hours after his dry mouth, inauthentic, rote reading off a teleprompter:

“Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2019

5.  Notice is taken:

Well, tbf, Obama never used the language of mass shooter and/or white supremacists ever, let alone in daily public parlance like you do, so....

— Victoria Brownworth 🏳️‍🌈 (@VABVOX) August 6, 2019

So much for the speech he could barely read. Back to form. https://t.co/DuImxAaRLM

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 6, 2019

That’s because the Sandy Hook mass shooter didn’t lay out guns that spelled Obama’s name, didn’t recite Obama’s words and didn’t target people Obama had likened to rats and criminals. https://t.co/VXQFf9HzWw

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) August 6, 2019

UPDATE:  FTW--

“Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.”
            — A White House Teleprompter, August 5, 2019 https://t.co/qqhZoYTnHo

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 7, 2019

Unfit Trump And His Unfit Party

We didn't have to stray from the op/ ed page of our hometown paper, the Washington Post, for reactions from left, right and middle to destructive moron Donald "Rump" Trump's attempt to put on his presidential pants (h/t Steven Colbert) following the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the core appeal of the Republican Party that suits him so well, and how to effect real change.

Catherine Rampell writes about fear as the core appeal of Republicans:

Trump and allies urge us to cower in trepidation from helpless parents and children seeking asylum, a threat so grave they needed to be separated from one another and caged. We must also fear the supposed Muslim and Latino hordes, who threaten to wipe out Anglo-European culture and displace white babies with their own.

These are hardly the only foreigners who should inspire existential dread, according to right-wing fever dreams. Rogue nations should, too, thus justifying enormous increases in our defense budget. Of course, all the nukes and jets in the world won’t protect us from the assault our enemies abroad are currently waging against us, and that Republicans resist confronting: the one on our electoral system. [snip]

The best effort Republicans make to address American fears of gun massacres involves appeals to mental health improvements. Or, as Trump put it in his speech Monday morning: “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”

But even this suggestion rings hollow, given that Republican officials across federal and state governments are actively working to reduce access to mental health care. A federal suit brought by 20 red states and supported by the Trump administration seeks to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, which extended behavioral health coverage to millions through Medicaid and the essential health benefits required in individual market plans.

Republicans thrive on imagined menaces. Yet when a real-life menace demands action, they dismiss it. What, pray tell, is the party so afraid of?

(Spoiler alert:  losing power.]

 Former Dumbya speechwriter Michael Gerson on Trump's lack of moral standing:

Never in my political lifetime has an American president had less moral standing to address a national threat. Nearly every phrase of President Trump’s televised response to the El Paso and Dayton shootings could be matched with some discrediting contrast in his own voice.  [snip]

Throughout his career, Trump has given permission for prejudice and, in extreme political need, permission for hatred. Faced with electoral headwinds near the end of the 2018 midterms, Trump did not turn to economic populism, or even anti-elitism. He warned that a group of brown people was invading the country and entertained the prospect of shooting them at the border. This is what Trump views as his secret weapon, his political ace in the hole. “People hate the word ‘invasion,’ ” he once said, “but that’s what it is. It’s an invasion of drugs and criminals and people. . . . And in many cases, and in some cases, you have killers coming in and murderers coming in, and we’re not going to allow that to happen.”

Gerson also notes the complicity of evangelical "Christians" and the corporate world:

That is exactly what many in the corporate world, and many conservative Christian leaders, are doing in their devotion to Trump: honoring swagger, bluster and force, and excusing a leader who constructs his political success on the cultivation of contempt and slanders against the weak. By their nearly blind support, such leaders are complicit in Trump’s rule by resentment.

Paleo- conservative George Will says Trump doesn't just pollute the environment, he is the environment;  he also critiques the pharisees who support Trump:

It is one thing to have a president who, drawing upon his repertoire of playground insults, calls his alleged porn-star mistress “Horseface .” Polls indicate that approximately a third of Americans, disproportionately including religiously devout worriers about the coarsening of America’s culture, are more than merely content with this. It is quite another thing to have a president who does not merely pollute the social atmosphere with invectives directed at various disfavored minorities; he uses his inflated office not just to shape this atmosphere but to be this atmosphere.

When Gerald Ford became president after Richard M. Nixon’s resignation, he told the nation: “Our long national nightmare is over.” Today’s long — and perhaps occasionally lethal — national embarrassment will continue at least until Jan. 20, 2021. If it continues longer, this will be more than an embarrassment to the nation, this will be an indictment of it.

Karen Tumulty on why Trump could never pull the nation together:

Given what a narcissist our president is, you wouldn’t think he would find it so hard to look in a mirror.

It tells you how low our expectations have sunk for Donald Trump that when he addressed the nation Monday in the wake of the horrors that occurred over the weekend in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, it was considered commendable that he could bring himself to actually utter the words “white supremacy” and “domestic terrorism.”

But in calling upon “our nation” to condemn these poisonous forces “in one voice,” he only underscored how unwilling he has been to do that on his own.  [snip]

... Trump has brought racism into the mainstream. He has glorified intolerance, even made it sound like a form of patriotism.

Whether this kind of toxicity is what exists in the president’s heart, or is merely a cynical play to gin up his base, is irrelevant. What is important is that Trump has proved himself incapable of changing. He is not the person to pull a shattered, bewildered country together and unite it behind a renewed sense of purpose.

Eugene Robinson says Democrats need to retake the Senate and sweep the malignant obstruction of Moscow Mitch/ Massacre Mitch aside:

Even when Trump’s presidency is reduced to a nightmarish memory, nothing will change as long as McConnell and the Republicans control the Senate. Even as minority leader, McConnell would have considerable power — but much less than he has now. The Senate’s arcane rules would allow him to delay and obstruct. But the Republican senators who are crying crocodile tears over El Paso and Dayton could at least be forced to go on the record as opposing common-sense gun laws that the American people, including those senators’ constituents, overwhelmingly support.

Now for the hard part. It will not be easy for Democrats to win the Senate in 2020, given which seats are being contested. But for the party to have a fighting chance, it needs to run its very best Senate candidates — several of whom are instead running for president. They need to reconsider.

He names names;  the same names we'd name.

Dana Milbank runs through the "thoughts and prayers" mantra that cowardly Republicans offer after every mass murder, then concludes:

Trump, who previously said white nationalism is not a growing threat, announced that “our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.”

Trump, who said nonwhite lawmakers should “go back” to other countries, asserted that “hatred warps the mind.”

Trump, who last week shared the sentiment that “DEMOCRATS ARE THE TRUE ENEMIES OF AMERICA,” said “now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside.”

Eventually, disgusted Americans will force Republicans to act. Until then, here’s a thought: We don’t have a prayer.

Correction:  "Eventually, disgusted Americans will force Republicans out of office..."  Fixed it.

Trump Glorifies Himself As He Signs 9/11 Compensation Bill

Surprise! At the signing ceremony today for the 9/11 victims compensation fund (which was scheduled without enough notice for Democratic lawmakers to attend), narcissistic shitbag Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump (who had nothing to do with getting the legislation passed) tried to put himself heroically at the center of things, both today and on 9/11:

President Trump again pushed the envelope Monday during a signing ceremony to extend the 9/11 victims compensation fund.

“Many of those affected were firefighters, police officers and other first responders,” Trump said. “And I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”

It is not the first time Trump has touted himself while discussing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in comments ranging from tone-deafness to provocative to outright false or misleading...

Here are just a few of the shitbag's lies over time:

On 9/11, Trump called in to a local TV station and falsely said he would have the tallest building in downtown Manhattan after the World Trade Center towers fell.

In 2005, he campaigned against what would become One World Trade Center, saying the “terrorists win” if New York built it as it was designed.

In 2011, he said he predicted the 9/11 attacks (he did not). [snip]

During the 2016 campaign, Trump falsely claimed (then doubled down on the claim while mocking a disabled reporter) that “thousands” of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks. He also said his Muslim ban would have stopped 9/11.  [snip]

After the attacks, Trump was criticized for taking a $150,000 grant for his 40 Wall Street building near Ground Zero, even though he previously said the building was undamaged.  [snip]

And New York City’s comptroller found no evidence that Trump gave $10,000 to 9/11 victims, despite Trump’s claims otherwise.

And, in character,

While touting the bill, Trump didn’t mention that his 2019 budget, if passed, would have reduced health funding for 9/11 victims.

So, what was Trump really doing on 9/11 and the days shortly thereafter?  In a 2016 article, Politico has a detailed description of the actions of both Trump and then- NY Senator Hillary Clinton.  It's quite a read (spoiler alert:  Trump was looking for cameras and microphones to give interviews, mostly about his buildings; Clinton was acting like a leader).  Then, on the one year anniversary of 9/11, Trump was on the Howard Stern radio show:

Trump that day was not on NPR. He was on Howard Stern’s show. It’s an interview that’s gotten a lot of attention of late because Stern asked Trump if he was in favor of invading Iraq, and Trump responded, “Yeah, I guess so.” Throughout this campaign Trump has insisted—contrary to that statement—that he always opposed the invasion. But before Stern asked him that, the provocative host asked him something else.

“Probably the most important question I can ask you on a day like today is: Where is Melania, and is she naked?” Stern said.

“Well,” Trump responded, as the names of the dead were being read at Ground Zero, “Melania is now in bed—I’m in my office—and as to whether or not she’s naked, I’m not 100 percent sure.”

Class all the way.

"Preparing To Deal With A Child": Trump's Trip Abroad

As neo-fascist obstructor of justice Donald "Rump" Trump prepares for his first international trip tomorrow, foreign officials are nervous about how to handle the unstable, ignorant and reckless Rump. He's already embarrassed the hosts of one country on his itinerary, namely Israel, over his bragging disclosure of highly classified intelligence to Russia that their crack intelligence agency Mossad provided to the U.S.  Israeli intelligence officials are "gravely concerned" by Rump's careless breach of confidence, while the Rethuglican-friendly Likud government is trying to downplay the betrayal. And that's not including the White House-stoked kerfuffle over whether the Western Wall is a part of Israel.

He's also meeting with NATO leaders presumably to reassure them after his multiple claims during the 2016 campaign and beyond that NATO was "obsolete" and that members needed to pay up for their defense costs (Rump apparently sees the relationship as a Mafia-style protection racket). Since Rump lacks the intellectual power to grasp many of the nuances to be discussed, officials preparing for the NATO summit of 28 member heads of state are deliberately shortening and "dumbing down" the sessions to address Rump's extremely short attention span. Also, given his fealty toward Moscow, the officials are dispensing with the traditional declaration at the end of the meeting for fear that Rump won't like it if it's too critical of the Kremlin. One observer familiar with the preparations said:

“It’s kind of ridiculous how they are preparing to deal with Trump. It’s like they’re preparing to deal with a child — someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing. They’re freaking out.” (emphasis added)

All of which absolutely delights autocratic thug Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin, who has the child-like leader of his main adversary under control, even if we don't.

Today's Cartoon Twofer - Trump's "Militant Ignorance"

(click on images to enlarge)


(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)


(David Horsey, Los Angeles Times)

Here are some excerpts from a good read by Josh Marshall on Rump's "militant ignorance":

... Trump told a reporter for The Wall Street Journal that his understanding of the problem of North Korea changed dramatically after hearing ten minutes of history from the President of China. Needless to say, Trump didn’t need to admit this. But neither was it candor. [snip] 

So far the Trump Presidency has been a sort of Mr Magoo performance art in which the comically ignorant Trump learns elemental or basic things that virtually everyone in the world of politics or government already knew – things that the majority of adults probably know. [snip] 

What is key though is to understand that this is not just ignorance. Ignorance is just the first stage of Trump’s fairly advanced problem. He is not only ignorant but clearly unaware of his level of ignorance. This is compounded by a seeming inability to understand that everyone else isn’t equally ignorant to him. Those of us who are parents know the wonder of discovery experienced by small children. They find out there were things such as dinosaurs or close primate relatives called lemurs. As loving parents we indulge them, sometimes feigning ignorance of things we actually already knew to support a child’s joy in discovery. 

But Donald Trump is a 70 year old man. And not a terribly nice man.

In fact, we would say a terribly bad man who isn't going to grow, change or "pivot" into a mature adult.

Trump's "Irish" Proverb

In a pre- St. Patrick's Day event Thursday with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, neo- fascist nitwit and Giant Toddler (h/t Quinn Cummings) Donald "O'Rump" Trump showed everyone his gift for blarney:

Standing alongside Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny at the Friends of Ireland luncheon in Washington, D.C., on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, Trump said that “as we stand together with our Irish friends” he was “reminded of that proverb” he’d heard “for many, many years and I love it.” 

“Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you,” recited Trump. “We know that, politically speaking.” 

Nice burn, O'Rump!

Small problem (but only if you care about truth and facts). It's a poem written (or not?) by a Nigerian named Albashir Adam Alhassan -- who happens to be Muslim, to boot:

OK I've found trump's 'irish' proverb. pic.twitter.com/ZsWPUvqDDL

— cólz (@colz) March 16, 2017

Well, he could have been one of those "black Irish."

Regardless of its origin, it doesn't appear to be in any way "Irish." Twitter had fun, of course:

"Irish Proverb" me hole. https://t.co/dWLregquCs

— mark little (@marklittlenews) March 16, 2017

With all due respect to the president's reputation for scrupulously checking his sources, I don't think this is an Irish proverb. https://t.co/1EvGGMsE9r

— The Irish For 🏌🐕 (@theirishfor) March 16, 2017

This is utter bollocks Trump

'Irish proverb' my arse https://t.co/kK4BEUbxHD

— Planet Belfast (@Planet_Belfast) March 16, 2017

Trump's "favorite Irish proverb" is actually a poem written by a Nigerian... and that is why we need public arts funding😑

— Hannah Weaver (@hannahweaver001) March 17, 2017

And our favorite:

I've got an Irish proverb for you Trump: An empty sack does not stand. https://t.co/GWfwdviBHv

— John Maguire (@JMaguireCritic) March 16, 2017

BONUS:  Steven Colbert offers his thoughts--

Our Weak (Un)President

Well, knock us over with a baby rattle.

According to former campaign staff baby sitters, neo- fascist Giant Toddler* Donald "Rump" Trump functions like a spoiled five- year- old with a personality disorder:

President Donald Trump’s former campaign staffers claim they cracked the code for tamping down his most inflammatory tweets, and they say the current West Wing staff would do well to take note. 

The key to keeping Trump’s Twitter habit under control, according to six former campaign officials, is to ensure that his personal media consumption includes a steady stream of praise. And when no such praise was to be found, staff would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up — and make sure it made its way to Trump’s desk. 

"If candidate Trump was upset about unfair coverage, it was productive to show him that he was getting fair coverage from outlets that were persuadable," said former communications director Sam Nunberg. "The same media that our base digests and prefers is going to be the base for his support. I would assume the president would like to see positive and preferential treatment from those outlets and that would help the operation overall." [snip] 

The in-person touch is also important to keeping Trump from running too hot. One Trump associate said it’s important to show Trump deference and offer him praise and respect, as that will lead him to more often listen. And if Trump becomes obsessed with a grudge, aides need to try and change the subject, friends say. Leaving him alone for several hours can prove damaging, because he consumes too much television and gripes to people outside the White House. (our emphasis)

One of the very few perverse satisfactions of living through this nightmare is the thought that Rump's baby sitters are exhausting themselves, hour to hour, day to day, trying to keep him from throwing a tantrum that throws them further behind and off message. The idea that those soulless hacks are busy working on their ulcers, nervous breakdowns, and hopefully are aging three times faster than normal, to serve this odious carbuncle and his un- American agenda -- priceless.

But the stakes are too high to dwell on those thoughts for long.  That a 70- year- old man is so emotionally ... weak that he needs to be reassured constantly, is beyond shocking. To restate the obvious, he's not well.

This can't go on for four years.

* h/t Quinn Cummings.

(Image: freethinker.co.uk)

That's A Lot Of Ass To Work Off!

(click on image to enlarge)


(Attribution: DemocraticUnderground.com)

Well, whatever his golf handicap, we know his mental handicap is yuuuge.

Digby has a good read as to why this is reflective of a pervasive dishonesty. Also, she reminds us of this:

At an event in New Hampshire in Feb. 2016, while again complaining about Obama golfing, Trump declared that if he were in office, “I’d want to stay in the White House and work my ass off.”

(Please refer back to post heading.)

Tweet Of The Day - "Unhinged"

CNN's Jake Tapper has some thoughts on the Trump news conference meltdown today:

.@jaketapper reacts to Donald Trump's news conference: It was unhinged.. it was wild https://t.co/Ezi1b5j4VC https://t.co/ZDII92SgGm

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) February 16, 2017

How long does the country have to suffer with this disturbed shitgibbon? (Rhetorical question.)