I’m not fond of any reporting which normalizes Donald Trump and his very ill mind. In 2016, it was clear who he was – a racist, an Islamophobe, an anti-Semite, a nativist, a sexist, a misogynist, a sexual predator, and a moron. He’s gotten much worse in office, as his mind and body have deteriorated further, and he needs additional “handlers” to insulate him and change his diapers in the baby bunker. I guess what I’m saying is that while I can laugh at all of the piping hot tea coming out of a White House constantly on the brink, I also think we need to keep telling ourselves: none of this normal. It’s never been normal. It’s always been the absolute WORST. This is how I’m feeling as I read this New York Times story by Maggie Haberman, who always soft-pedals on how deeply unhinged Trump really is, and yet she consistently delivers scoops (because she doesn’t burn bridges, even if they deserve to be burned). Some highlights:
Trump’s advisors are worried he doesn’t even WANT to win re-election: In a recent meeting with his top political advisers, President Trump was impatient as they warned him that he was on a path to defeat in November if he continued his incendiary behavior in public and on Twitter. Days earlier, Mr. Trump had sparked alarm by responding to protests over police brutality with a threat that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Mr. Trump pushed back against his aides. “I have to be myself,” he replied, according to three people familiar with the meeting. A few hours later, he posted on Twitter a letter from his former personal lawyer describing some of the protesters as “terrorists.”
Acts of self-sabotage: They say his repeated acts of political self-sabotage — a widely denounced photo-op at a church for which peaceful protesters were forcibly removed, a threat to use the American military to quell protests — have significantly damaged his re-election prospects, and yet he appears mostly unable, or unwilling, to curtail them. Mr. Trump doesn’t want to be seen as a “loser,” a label he detests, in the campaign against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And some advisers believe Mr. Trump’s taste for battle will return in the fall, when the general election fight is more engaged. But for now, they said, the president is acting trapped and defensive, and his self-destructive behavior has been so out of step for an incumbent in an election year that many advisers wonder if he is truly interested in serving a second term.
He wallows in self-pity: Rather than focus on plans and goals for another four years in office, Mr. Trump has been wallowing in self-pity about news coverage of him since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, people who have spoken with him said… He has complained that nothing he does is good enough, bristling at criticism that he hasn’t sufficiently addressed the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by the police in Minneapolis. The remarks he made about Mr. Floyd when he attended the launch of the SpaceX spacecraft should have been enough, the president told aides.
He wants to prosecute people who leaked the info about his bunker baby antics: Mr. Trump has also become consumed, once again, with leaks from the White House, demanding that officials find and prosecute those responsible for information getting out about his trip to the bunker beneath the White House during unruly protests.
Unpopular opinion: Trump didn’t even want to win in 2016. I mean, he wanted to “win” in the sense that he wants to win everything, like a child wants shiny objects. But he didn’t think he would win and he didn’t really want to win because his peabrain could not actually grasp the magnitude of the presidency. And yeah, Trump doesn’t actually give a f–k about “governing” or “planning a second term” or “coming up with a serious game plan for his re-election.” He just wants to do what he always does – bully and threaten people, act like a coward in a baby bunker, and be racist as f–k. The bit about how he wants to prosecute people in his own administration for talking about his bunker cowardice though… that’s some good tea.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
I know he didn’t believe he was going to win in 2016, not sure if he didn’t want to. But it’s possible. He likes to throw bombs and burn stuff down, and it’s harder and less fun to do that from INSIDE. I suspect he may want to move forward with his Trump Tv idea, which is gonna be OAN. He will keep doing public appearances to adoring crowds, he will say it was stolen from him, and make himself a martyr. And he will throw gasoline on the biden administration. He will incite violence as well. But he won’t have any actual responsibility. So…yeah I think it’s possible.
But even if so, very powerful sources want him to win. I’m not sure it matters what he wants.
^^^All of this.
Not that he’s a deep thinker or anything, but I don’t think he’s going to be even pretend Republican coherent much longer. His dementia is catching up with him.
And he’s throwing America-targeting bombs quite well from within, all to the delight of Russia and similar.
I think it’s possible he doesn’t want to win & he’s sabotaging it on purpose, powerful people be damned.
I think OAN was the way the Kremlin lured Trump into accepting the nomination… The Russian presence and influence there are strong, the male Mini-Trumps are already involved in buying part of that Kremlin op and Bunker Boy misses having show so much!
But after many crimes commited, I’d rather having Trump exiled to some dasha in Moscow, he can do his freak TV show from there.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/18/oan-liberal-reporters-327915
“We were told through our executive producer to avoid stories slamming Russia (because H’s wife was from Russia, not [because of] election interference), stories about unarmed black people being killed by police, and negative stories about Trump or Tesla—because Mr. H. owned stock and several Tesla cars, and was worried that negative press from OAN would bring down its value,” Pocock said. A current anchor also recalled hearing the network was not to cover Tesla negatively because Herring owned stock and a Tesla, which Herring drives to work. Another current OAN employee didn’t know whether Herring owned Tesla stock, but also learned during training that “Tesla is on our list of ‘pro’ coverage topics.”
Someplace showed that Take-A-💩 also asked the Chinese PM for help regarding his being re-elected. 🤔
This event charged the course of history in my opinion.
The fact that Trump ordered military to attack children, who were peacefully protesting, has turned a lot of his so called supporters against him.
Even those Evangelists went hard against him on this with his bible stunt.
Teargassing the church’s leaders didn’t help!
Correct
It was a watershed moment absolutely. Tear gassing children and peaceful American citizens pretesting plus gassing the rectors of the church that he used for his upside down Bible photo op. That got through to a lot of people who apparently didn’t mind caging children (though he lost a lot of conservative women then). But watching the country come unglued shocked a few more of his supporters loose. And this week I couldn’t be happier that a chunk of his supporters who overlooked every single awful amoral thing he has done to get Supreme Court seats got stabbed in the back By Gorsich holding a rainbow colored knife. I could not be happier about that.
BOLTON included. This guy’s got the goods on Drumpf and all that has happened in the WH, declaring Take-A-💩 unfit for Office.
I disagree, his base supporters are absolutely OK with everything he’s doing as are the many white women who voted for him but said they didn’t like the things he said and did but who are now quoting Candace Owens’ to support their argument against the protests (because while folks never suspected they were racists before, they’re proving they are now) What we have on the right side now are the moderate republicans who voted for Trump (or 3rd party) because they just always hated Hillary Clinton but are fine with voting for Biden
He is going down in November and I’m going to gloat.
me too.
And this really pretty much sums it up for me: ” He just wants to do what he always does – bully and threaten people, act like a coward in a baby bunker, and be racist as f–k.” Nailed it, Kaiser.
But when he does go down, he’ll fight like hell to convince everyone that Biden “rigged” the election, that the American people really love and support him, and ultimately that he WON’T give up the office. That’s the reason he and Moscow Mitch McConnell installed Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. If voter suppression doesn’t work, and if Russian interference doesn’t work, they’ll take it to “their” Supreme Court. It will be a clusterf**k of majestic proportions. They’ve been spoiling for it and planning for it ever since Trump was installed. Putin, the Koch family, the Adelson family, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel-under-Netanyahu will throw their weight behind him. Trump is their good little stooge, accomplice and asset, and they don’t want him to go until America is entirely dismantled and a second-rate power.
He wants endless attention and adoration. He does not want to work and the presidency requires it. He doesn’t want to run a business and never has. He wants control, minions and money. Due to the fact he has no concept of reasonable behavior or critical thinking skills he cannot even consider declining to run in 2020. We’re witnessing his implosion and the ongoing downhill slide.
Oddly, just as I was reading your post, my mind wandered to prince William; it seems to me the exact same things could be said of him, too. He has no concept of reasonable behaviour (wear a mask, quit whining) or critical thinking skills (why push them out (jealous much?) instead of using them as front-men and him as King in the Background). As king, everything anybody does is a reflection of him, so he could take credit. ….. just like Trump…
This is a fascinating parallel, thank you for pointing that out.
Also, raised with lots and lots of money, no sense of how the real world works. And currently, the Cheeto Mussolini needs his kids to either be a reflection of him, or attempting to seduce him, like his daughter/wife, otherwise he has no use for them.
I agree with this opinion. He wants to ‘win’ but he absolutely did not and does not want the full weight and responsibility of being POTUS. He’s 74, he wants to be playing golf and spouting nonsense on Twitter, oh wait….
He had no idea what it meant. He though it was like being chairman of the board when you show up for a monthly meeting with the CEO, CAO, and CFO monthly, meet the executive officers quarterly, and have a full board meeting annually. He had no idea he was expected to move to Washington or show up on a daily basis. They were confounded with the idea that they had to hire staff.
According to Bolton’s book, he urged the Chinese to go ahead with their plan to build concentration camps for their ethnic/religious minority. That needs to be plastered on the doors of every fundamentalist/evangelical church. And all those mega churches and those churches with names like Deeper Waters and Praise-the ones I call off-brand churches. Maybe it’ll get through to some of them. Not holding my breath, though. The MAGAts are already calling the revelations lies against their dear leader, their führer.
“Off-Brand churches” is a BRILLIANT description. Please allow me to plagiarize!
All you want!😊👍🏻
I think the evangelicals are all for it as well.
Nobody leaked it.
It is standard procedure that it is announced when our leaders are moved into the bunkers so that the American people know that the continuity of our government is uninterrupted.
Bush wasn’t moved into the bunker on September 11, 2001 because he was in Florida so they put him on Air Force One and flew him around the country for several hours. Cheney did go to the bunker and it was reported immediately that he was there. Leaders of Congress were sent to the bunkers except then Senate Majority Leader, the dashing Tom Daschle, refused to go because he said he should have no more protection than the American people. Laura Bush was at the Senate for a meeting on health care or education. When news of the attack came, she had a panic attack and wanted to return to the White House, over Secret Service objections. Ted Kennedy calmed her and convinced her to go to the Senate bunker with him and the news reported she was there.
Nobody leaked anything but file your frivolous lawsuit.
I stopped reading anything produced by Haberman, because she is a hack who sold her soul and integrity for access.
Her family has been involved with the Trumps for decades. Her “source” is Ivanka.
Until you said that just now, I never once thought of that.😆
Yep. Haberman’s mother owns/owned a public relations firm among whose clients were Trump and Kushner and Ivanka. Haberman worships them all, especially Jared and Ivanka. She’s been the most visible and notorious of all the Trump boosters and apologists at the New York Times (of which there are many, all given free rein to “favorably interpret” Trump’s word salads, craven policies and racist dog whistles).
Maggie Haberman is part of the problem. Her soft pedalling of an absolute deranged dictator is normalizing his behaviour he has always been a monster and the fools who watched Apprentice and believed it was real put a dangerous man in a powerful position surrounded by the worst sycophants ever. There is very little difference between him and Duterte, or Putin or Orban. The US structures in place to stop this have started to fail. In off because the GOP senators are absolute traitors.
He is saying out loud the evil things he wants done and for some reason many don’t take him seriously. The tear gas stunt seemed to open a few eyes, but the US will stop being a democracy if he is re-elected. (The elections could still be compromised and big numbers need to vote against him. )
The GOP need to be purged as well. McConnell is clearly just as dirty and needs to go. The DeVos / Prince cabal also need to be jailed and the entire dump family outside of Barron and Tiffany must be charged for the criminal behaviour they have done. Also Bill Barr must be impeached and jailed. He already pulled garbage during Iran contra.
I am going to repeat Sarah Kendzior’s name here because she has been predicting this since 2016 prior to the election because what is happening matches what has happened in other authoritarian countries. The US isn’t special and has shown that if power isn’t checked then non stop abuse will happen.
Spot on. Trump will go one way or another (probably face down in a pile of burgers with Adderall caked around his nostrils). The more insidious part is all of the people who have enabled & facilitated these abuses because they value power over democracy. Trump is just a symptom of generations of GOP rot that got us to where we are today.
Yes, yes, yes! Sara Kendzior is a modern day Cassandra and unfortunately does not receive the publicity her words deserve. I firmly believe her books will be studied some day when future generations learn about this period in time. She was one of the earliest to predict Trump would win the election in 2016.
For those curious, her books are:
The View From Flyover Country, which in a series of essays discusses the erosion of the American dream, especially in the mid-west. This book paints a harrowing look at labor exploitation, racism, gentrification, media bias and other aspects of the post-employment economy following the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Hiding In Plain Sight. This documents the decades long corruption of Donald Trump and those he surrounds himself with as well as the failing/dismantling of the American institutions that were supposed to protect us from an autocracy taking shape.
Her podcast, Gaslit Nation is also highly recommended.
@Sean, I am going to listen to her podcasts as she sounds brilliant and very well versed in her reporting.
@Nic919, I wrote in an article on the Flipboard app that McConnell needs to go due to the fact that he is vile and obstructed Obama every step of the way, primarily in regards to replacing Scalia after his death with 10 months still existing within his term. I say this because Drumpf became completely unhinged when the SC upheld the DACA program, that Obama initiated though a PO. And Drumpfs primary response was, they must not like him. Not the fact that he tried to abolish it illegally, but that they didn’t like him! He also mentioned that he has his own new SC pick to be announced on September 13th.! Does he plan on trying to force someone to retire from the SC?
Drumpf doesn’t want to serve another term for two reasons, he doesn’t like the actual work that he must do and the biggest, is that Melania is going to dump his ass as soon as the are out of the WH!! I don’t remember who was discussing the marriage between the two of them, but Melania has returned to her prenup on several occasions since he was elected to change the prenup to give her a bigger payout as his a transgressions continue. She is finally prepared to leave him with Barron and live with her parents as they all speak in her native to tongue, Barron included, and he doesn’t understand what they are saying. She made it possible to bring her parents over and once that was accomplished, Drumpf drew an EO to immediately dismantle the chain migration act, again an illegal action that should have been processed though the proper channel of government.
Ugh, I dislike Maggie Haberman because I do think her reporting goes a long way towards normalizing Trump. but because of that, and because she’s with the NYT, she still gets access (we all know despite what he says, Trump desperately wants the NYT to like him and approve of him.)
I don’t think Trump wanted to win in 2016, and I don’t think he expected to win. That’s what the book title Fire and Fury comes from – something about how he was prepared to lose with fire and fury. he was going to take his loss and spend the next decade ranting and raving about Hillary and the deep state and accusing Obama of sabotaging him. You know, all the stuff he’s doing now, but he would do it from his own TV network.
On election night, his face basically said, “oh shit.”
(But I agree that his personality is such that he wanted to “win” but I think he wanted to make his defeat into a win, if that makes sense.)
I’m not entirely sure he’s going to lose in November, but I think its a distinct possibility.
I often think about “Trump tv”, how it would have been a platform for Trump to do what he does best – throwing insults and vitriol from the sidelines, and fomenting hate.
You know he wouldn’t let a single day go by without tweeting about how the election was “stolen” from him, or how great it would be if he were in charge. In many ways, it would have been the best outcome for him.
She gets access because her family has been involved with the Trumps for decades. Her source is Ivanka, who feeds her what the Trumps want the world to know.
I don’t think that’s an unpopular opinion- I think it’s obvious Donald didn’t want to win! Donald wanted to be HILLARY: he wanted to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote, and then start his own “news” network and bitch 24/7 about how the election was rigged.
I think he wants to win only for the protection from prosecution that the office provides
( thanks Mueller ) I thinks he’s well aware once out of office they’ll be investigations right and left and while if dems get the senate it’ll happen away . He wants to use the Presidency as a shield.
I agree with this take – ironically, being president protects him from prosecution.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if he dropped out 2 weeks before the election to throw everything into chaos. He could blame it on a broken system, people being mean, and do on. He has Barr to protect him for a bit and he has property all over, he could leave the US – I don’t know that he would wan to but it might be preferable than prosecution for him. He also knows how to use the legal system to slow down things and cause chaos so he could potentially be charged with crimes but never experience the consequence of them.
Exactly.
I believe that Trump wanted to win. But he clearly had no idea what ‘winning’ the election actually entails. To him it was a CEO job he thought is not unlike helming his own company. That it means to govern (and everything that entails) and *serve* the country is still beyond him.
It must be killing him that he can’t shut down stories he doesn’t like by threatening to sue, as he has done his whole life. It’s a different ballgame when the person you’re threatening has the financial means to defend themselves, and re not in a completely powerless situation.
As soon as he walks as a civilian, I want him pursued. He needs consequences of the likes none have seen before. I want him diminished in the public eye. I want him to suffer at the hands of his victims. I want him in an orange jumpsuit. I want him to look at his reflection from a piece of stainless steel bolted on a wall and know that he himself is a monumental loser, terrorist, murderer, traitor, thief, and on and on and on and on. He’s a deranged animal and needs a cage. I want him treated the same way he has treated poc, protesters, people in his employ, basically anyone who’s ever endured him. I want reporters to lob endless barrages of insults, protesters to spray him with tear gas, poc to target his gut with rubber bullets and shove him in back seats cracking his skull on the way in just like he told police to do. All of this every day for four f*cking years. I’ll create a damn Twitter account just to tweet about it incessantly and how happy it makes me that he’s bigly suffering. Winning.
Amen to all of this ⬆️
What about his treatment of women? That should be worked into the plan. He needs to pay for that too.
You’re right. Women too. As I was typing, I realized I could be typing for three weeks if I tried to list his character flaws lol. When someone asks me what, specifically, he has done to warrant my hate I get this bewildered, mouth-on-the-floor reaction. How are we supposed to isolate the truckloads of abhorrent bile seeping from his pores every second of every day?
I want The Hague on him!
lmao, keep going, you whiny b*tch.
Supreme Court ruled against Trump in favor of DACA!!!!
Two major losses for the loser in chief. Celebrating with all. 🙂
With Roberts writing the decision. The decision doesn’t actually say that DACA itself is legal. It says Trump violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, so it’s his own personal screw-up.
And he’s whining on Twotter that the SC doesn’t like him.
He’s also screaming about shot gun blasts to the face, needing new judges, and protecting the Second Amendment, because he doesn’t want to comply with the 14th amendment. He is encouraging his minions to attack the Supreme Court so he can replace them. I reported him.
Everyone here is on the money with their comments. We all knew what we were in for since November 2016. We knew who Trump was, what he would become. That he had no business running, but did so anyway just to show that he could. He loves spectacle, entertainment, the spotlight. And he had it during his campaign. But damn if he didn’t see the spotlight turning into a magnifying glass that would turn into a laser that is burning his ass like an ant on the sidewalk.
And that is why he’s so dangerous now. He does not know how to deal with such scrutiny, with such bruising of his ego. He is the absolute worst version of himself and he will take down the country out of spite. And it is the Republican Party that should be blamed when the dust settles, until not a single member that supported, and hid and lied, and profited off his disastrous leadership of their party stands. They absolutely KNOW he’s unstable and unfit, but as long as he stays in power they can do their deeds. They need him to stay where he is, because they know they won’t get this chance again for a loooooong time once the US goes blue.
This is going to be the ugliest dirtiest most corrupt election yet, because the Republicans are desperate. And when cheaters and liars have nothing to lose and everything to gain, they will do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to stay in power.
I think that around Nov 1 he’ll “quit” (not “resign” like Nixon – he’ll have a toddler tantrum on Twitter instead) and throw the election into more disarray than I already expect. The election will proceed anyway, he’ll lose, and then try and save face by saying, “I didn’t lose because I quit!” Pence will take over until January 20 at 12 noon Eastern Time, when Biden takes the oath and means it.
That same thought has crossed my mind also. He’ll quit (does he have to resign for it to be official?) and cause more havoc on the way out.
From your mouth to God’s ears, Ann. It can’t come soon enough.
Despite the chaos this would entail, I would not object to this.
I have mixed feelings on this issue. He might say, I’m needed by my businesses, (the many that have failed) and drop out. His true drive is a false sense of self always attempting to compensate. I’m still leaning toward his screaming voter fraud, GOP has turned against me, Dems are liars, blah, blah blah when he loses.
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He’s so nakedly insecure and pathetic.
It just boggles me that he is in charge of the most prominent job in the country that is supposed to be leading the free world. Like others have said, it’s been a non-stop nightmare for four years.
I hope the God that Trump claims to believe in takes matters into His own hands and gives Trump what he deserves. I think Trump had a stroke and will have another one, probably massive.
As long as his brain stays alert I don’t care what a stroke does to his body. I want him aware, I want him to feel the effects of Adderall withdrawal, I want him to watch his daughter/wife get 15-20 years behind bars for grifting, I want him to know he has lost every penny he ever had, along with the trophy wife. I want him to lose Trump Tower and be around for the paint job. I’m so disgusted by him I’m petty enough to hope he doesn’t taste a Big Mac or KFC ever again.
A lot of times I feel like an alien looking at humans. How can ONE man have so much power that he could do all kinds of sh*t that EVERYBODY sees and still have that job?
He is a human being. An idiot human being, but still.. It’s so weird to look at this from the outside.
My theory all along is that he probably knows he isn’t going to win again (fingers crossed,) so he’s going to cause as much damage as possible before he leaves.