Trump's Big CON: Our Ill-Tempered, Incompetent and Ineffective President

UPDATE V:  "If you want to look at the bright side of things, at least we’ve learned that the nation can survive for half a year without a sane, functioning presidency.

We’ve had nothing of the sort since Inauguration Day. The man who works in the Oval Office is a walking, talking, tweeting advertisement for Ritalin and perhaps some calming therapeutic activity such as yoga. We are fortunate, in a sense, that President Trump’s lack of focus and his anger-management issues keep getting in the way of his policy agenda, given that the agenda is so wrongheaded. But that is an awfully thin silver lining in a very thick cloud.

As I’ve written before, I’m not qualified to assess Trump’s mental health. But there are moments when it would be dishonest not to raise questions about his stability. If the commander in chief of the most powerful military force in history has a problem with impulse control, the whole world has a problem. . .

One doesn’t need a degree in psychology to wonder if the president suffers from some deep-seated insecurity. I can’t help but think about that Cabinet meeting this month in which the top officials of our government, one by one, obsequiously told Trump what a 'privilege' and a 'blessing' it was to serve him. . .

What’s truly alarming is the self-defeating nature of Trump’s spasms. At the moment, he is trying desperately to get GOP senators to agree on a health-care bill. . .

The obvious question: What happens if there is an international crisis and Trump’s delicate ego is threatened? Can those around him contain his worst instincts?"

They’d better be able to. Not since Richard Nixon’s final days in the White House have I been so worried about a president’s grip on reality.

Read the Washington Post, There Trump goes again.

And see what I said below: "just think, he has his finger on the nuclear button."

UPDATE IV:  "It is disturbing that the president of the United States keeps up his unrelenting assault on women. From his menstruation musings about Megyn Kelly, to his fat-shaming treatment of a former Miss Universe, to his braggadocio claims about grabbing women’s genitalia, the 45th president is setting the poorest of standards for our children. . .

The Donald Trump we knew before the campaign was a flawed character but one who still seemed capable of keeping his worst instincts in check."

Read the Washington Post, Donald Trump is not well.

UPDATE III:  "Donald Trump's tweet Thursday attacking MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski is just the latest in a long line of disparaging jabs he has hurled at prominent women."

Read CNN, Donald Trump's long history of disparaging women's appearances.

UPDATE II:  And The Donald hates the pretty ladies, or anyone for that matter, that talks back.

 "The hosts of 'Morning Joe' on MSNBC criticized President Trump's Twitter habit Thursday — 'that's your president of the United States lying to you,' Mika Brzezinski said of one tweet — and then, as if succumbing to involuntary spasms, Trump's thumbs tapped out whatever nasty, sexist thought popped into his head."

Read the Washington Post, Trump’s latest attack on Mika Brzezinski is dripping with sexism.

Mika Brzezinski responded to The Donald's outburst with a tweet that included this image:

I'm guessing The Donald is having a hissy fit right about now.

Read also the Washington Post, Trump’s ‘Morning Joe’ tweet shows his ‘viciousness’ has no limit, which stated:  "Anyone defending Trump’s sophomoric, misogynistic, immature, sexist, demeaning, unbecoming, unpresidential tweet is nothing less than repulsive."

No question about it, The Donald is incapable of self-restraint.

And just think, he has his finger on the nuclear button.

Then read the Washington Post, Donald Trump is in the small minority of Americans who thinks Trump’s tweets are good., which notes that "[i]n no group — even Trump supporters — did at least half say [his] tweets were effective and informative."

UPDATE: But The Donald loves the pretty ladies (as long as they don't talk back).

Read the Washington Post,  ‘I bet she treats you well’: Trump calls over Irish reporter, compliments her ‘nice smile’

"History suggests that presidents who have governed successfully have been both revered and feared. But Republican fixtures in Washington are beginning to conclude that Trump may be neither, despite his mix of bravado, threats and efforts to schmooze with GOP lawmakers. . .

In private conversations on Capitol Hill, Trump is often not taken seriously. Some Republican lawmakers consider some of his promises — such as making Mexico pay for a new border wall — fantastical. They are exhausted and at times exasperated by his hopscotching from one subject to the next, chronicled in his pithy and provocative tweets. They are quick to point out how little command he demonstrates of policy. And they have come to regard some of his threats as empty, concluding that crossing the president poses little danger. . .

One senior Republican close to both the White House and many senators called Trump and his political operation 'a paper tiger,' noting how many GOP lawmakers feel free 'to go their own way.'"

Read the Washington Post, Who’s afraid of Trump? Not enough Republicans — at least for now.

MAGA -- Stop Trump

UPDATE:  Read the Washington Post, How Trump’s nationwide voter data request could lead to voter suppression.

No kidding, and when Trump learns you didn't vote for him, watch his tweets!!

Read the Washington Post, Trump’s voter-fraud commission wants to know voting history, party ID and address of every voter in the U.S.

This is outrageous, and dangerous.

There is no meaningful voter fraud that justifies this commission, let alone the creation of the database which could be subject to abuse.

In addition, Trump is ill-tempered, with little self control or restraint, and inclined toward authoritarianism. So NOTHING good will come of this.

And it would be useless to try to reason with Donald Trump.

For evidence, see Donald Trump's diary: @realdonaldtrump

Also see my diary chronicling Trump's Big CON at: NoBullU.com

You can help MAGA -- Stop Trump!

Money collected will be used to file a lawsuit to stop this, and expose the commission as a fraud.

Trump's Big CON: His 2009 Time Magazine Cover is a FAKE!!

See these two Time magazine covers:

The one on the right is a FAKE!

Read the Washington Post, A Time Magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake., which begins:

"The framed copy of Time Magazine was hung up in at least four of President Trump’s golf clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump.
'Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!' the big headline said. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: 'TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS . . . EVEN TV!'

This cover — dated March 1, 2009 — looks like an impressive memento from Trump’s pre-presidential career. To club members eating lunch, or golfers waiting for a pro-shop purchase, it seemed to be a signal that Trump had always been a man who mattered. Even when he was just a reality-TV star, Trump was the kind of star who got a cover story in Time.

But that wasn’t true.

The Time cover is a fake.

There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time Magazine. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover.

In fact,the cover on display at Trump’s clubs, observed recently by a reporter visiting one of the properties, contains several small but telling mistakes. Its red border is skinnier than that of a genuine Time cover, and, unlike the real thing, there is no thin white border next to the red. The Trump cover’s secondary headlines are stacked on the right side — on a real Time cover, they would go across the top.

And it has two exclamation points. Time headlines don’t yell."

Nothing better and more simply proves the point that I've tried to make: Donald Trump is a CON MAN!

Trump's Big CON: A Report Card

"Trump has been ruled by compulsions, obsessions and vindictiveness, expressed nearly daily on Twitter. He has demonstrated an egotism that borders on solipsism. His political skills as president have been close to nonexistent. His White House is divided, incompetent and chaotic, and key administration jobs remain unfilled. His legislative agenda has gone nowhere. He has told constant, childish, refuted, uncorrected lies, and demanded and habituated deception among his underlings. He has humiliated and undercut his staff while requiring and rewarding flattery. He has promoted self-serving conspiracy theories. He has displayed pathetic, even frightening, ignorance on policy matters foreign and domestic. He has inflicted his ethically challenged associates on the nation. He is dead to the poetry of language and to the nobility of the political enterprise, viewing politics as conquest rather than as service.

Trump has made consistent appeals to prejudice based on religion and ethnicity, and associated the Republican Party with bias. He has stoked tribal hostilities. He has carelessly fractured our national unity. He has attempted to undermine respect for any institution that opposes or limits him — be it the responsible press, the courts or the intelligence community. He has invited criminal investigation through his secrecy and carelessness. He has publicly attempted to intimidate law enforcement. He has systematically alarmed our allies and given comfort to authoritarians. He promised to emancipate the world from American moral leadership — and has kept that pledge.

For many Republicans and conservatives, there is apparently no last straw, with offenses mounting bale by bale. The argument goes: Trump is still superior to Democratic rule — which would deliver apocalyptic harm — and thus anything that hurts Trump is bad for the republic. He is the general, so shut up and salute. What, after all, is the conservative endgame other than Trump’s success?

This is the recommendation of sycophancy based on hysteria. At some point, hope for a new and improved Trump deteriorates into unreason. The idea that an alliance with Trump will end anywhere but disaster is a delusion. Both individuals and parties have long-term interests that are served by integrity, honor and sanity. Both individuals and the Republican Party are being corrupted and stained by their embrace of Trump. The endgame of accommodation is to be morally and politically discredited. Those committed to this approach warn of national decline — and are practically assisting it. They warn of decadence — and provide refreshments at the orgy.

So what is the proper objective for Republicans and conservatives? It is the defeat of Trumpism, preferably without the destruction of the GOP itself. And how does that happen?"

Read the Washington Post, The GOP’s hard, messy options for destroying Trumpism.

Don't have too much pity for their situation, Republi-CONs sowed the seed of Trumpism for decades. The article even admits with a conclusion: "they brought this fate on themselves and the country."

To understand how, read the older posts on this blog, and start with Trump's Sycophant Gingrich's Big CON: Political Hatred and Violence is the Other Party's Fault.

Trump's Big CON: His Win Will Make You Sick

UPDATE II:  "The basics of Republican health legislation, which haven’t changed much in different iterations of Trumpcare, are easy to describe: Take health insurance away from tens of millions, make it much worse and far more expensive for millions more, and use the money thus saved to cut taxes on the wealthy.

Donald Trump may not get this — reporting by The Times and others, combined with his own tweets, suggests that he has no idea what’s in his party’s legislation. But everyone in Congress understands what it’s all about.

The puzzle — and it is a puzzle, even for those who have long since concluded that something is terribly wrong with the modern G.O.P. — is why the party is pushing this harsh, morally indefensible agenda.

Think about it. Losing health coverage is a nightmare, especially if you’re older, have health problems and/or lack the financial resources to cope if illness strikes. And since Americans with those characteristics are precisely the people this legislation effectively targets, tens of millions would soon find themselves living this nightmare.

Meanwhile, taxes that fall mainly on a tiny, wealthy minority would be reduced or eliminated. These cuts would be big in dollar terms, but because the rich are already so rich, the savings would make very little difference to their lives. . .

Why would anyone want to do this? . .

[O]ne way to understand this ugly health plan is that Republicans, through their political opportunism and dishonesty, boxed themselves into a position that makes them seem cruel and immoral — because they are.

Yet that’s surely not the whole story, because Obamacare isn’t the only social insurance program that does great good yet faces incessant right-wing attack. Food stamps, unemployment insurance, disability benefits all get the same treatment. Why?

As with Obamacare, this story began with a politically convenient lie — the pretense, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan, that social safety net programs just reward lazy people who don’t want to work. And we all know which people in particular were supposed to be on the take.

Now, this was never true, and in an era of rising inequality and declining traditional industries, some of the biggest beneficiaries of these safety net programs are members of the Trump-supporting white working class. But the modern G.O.P. basically consists of career apparatchiks who live in an intellectual bubble, and those Reagan-era stereotypes still dominate their picture of struggling Americans.

Or to put it another way, Republicans start from a sort of baseline of cruelty toward the less fortunate, of hostility toward anything that protects families against catastrophe.

In this sense there’s nothing new about their health plan. What it does — punish the poor and working class, cut taxes on the rich — is what every major G.O.P. policy proposal does. The only difference is that this time it’s all out in the open."

Read The New York Times, Understanding Republican Cruelty.

UPDATE:  The Donald just wants another party in the Rose Garden.

Read the Washington Post, Trump’s latest idea: Senate could repeal Obamacare now and replace it later.

Who cares if people get sick and die, it's all 'bout the show, 'bout the show, stupid people!!! (Repeat til you get it).

"President Trump has said his health-care plan will be 'something terrific' that will 'lower premiums and deductibles' and have 'insurance for everybody' without cutting Medicaid.

Senate Republicans, though, apparently didn't get the memo, given that that their health-care bill would break every one of these promises — not that Trump seems to have noticed. 

The big picture is that the Senate plan would, over the next decade, cut nearly $1.2 trillion of health- care spending for the poor and middle class to pay for $700 billion in tax cuts for corporations and the rich. The slightly more detailed one being that $408 billion of these cuts would come out of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance subsidies and $772 billion out of Medicaid. In any case, though, the unsurprising result is that spending $1.2 trillion less on health insurance for people would, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, lead to 22 million fewer people having it in 10 years' time.

But even the people who managed to keep their coverage would in a lot of cases end up paying more to get less of it. . .

Trump, though, seems blissfully unaware of all this. He reportedly didn't realize that this plan would be a big tax cut for the rich when a moderate Republican senator worried about getting attacked for it. And he still doesn't seem to grasp that it would be a massive cut to Medicaid. When he was asked about that on Wednesday, all he had to say was that it would be "great for everybody”— something the 15 million people the CBO says would lose their coverage as a result of these cuts would probably disagree with. Instead, he has insisted that these $772 billion in cuts aren't cuts at all. That taking money out of a future budget isn't really taking it out as long as the budget is still getting bigger. That Medicaid will still grow, just by 36 percent less than it would have. It's not a very convincing argument.

At some point, Trump may realize that he is endorsing a health-care plan that may be even harsher than the House one he said was "mean.” But he may not care. Even though this bill wouldn't keep any of his promises, it would give him an excuse to hold another victory party in the Rose Garden. Which may be enough for him.

Trump is going to win so much, you'll get sick from it.

Read the Washington Post, Trump loves the Senate health-care plan. It would break all of his promises.

But who cares, it's all 'bout the show, 'bout the show, stupid people!!! (Repeat til you get it).

Read also:

Trump's Big CON: It's All About the Show, Health Care Edition,

Trump's Big CON: "Making Ignorance Great Again",

Trump's Big CON: It's All About the Show, Health Care Edition, Cont., and

Trump's Big CON: It's Not a Health Care Plan, It's a 'Yuge' Tax Cut for the Wealthy.

Trump's Big CON: President Twit

UPDATE V:  "The longer such antics go on, more and more people will question whether the leader of the free world is not just damaging his own presidency, but demeaning the office itself and potentially diminishing it for whoever comes after him."

Read CNN, Delegitimizing his presidency, one tweet at a time.

UPDATE IV:  "By now most plugged-in news watchers know that with his health-care bill going down in flames, the North Korea crisis percolating, a special prosecutor investigating both the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia and President Trump’s own very public attempts to obstruct the investigation, Trump chooses to tweet two obnoxious, gross and misogynistic tweets in retort to criticism from 'Morning Joe’s' two anchors. You can care to read them if you like; we find it unnecessary to amplify them further. His spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked about the tweets on the administration’s state TV, Fox News, blithely declared that he 'will not be allowed to be bullied by liberal media or liberal elites in Hollywood or anywhere else.' The president is once again a victim of bullying, the poor dear. For the umpteenth time, we are obliged to ask what this suggests and whether it matters. . .

President Trump’s latest outbursts are not part of a brilliant strategy. He gains nothing, at a time when his grasp of his job is openly questioned. He gains no allies in the health-care debate. He reminds the country that Republicans who chose to ignore or rationalize this kind of behavior will go down as moral quislings. He reminds us that the conservative evangelicals who embraced him are not exemplars of moral or religious behavior. They are apologists and tribalists who rejoice in his exacting revenge on “elites.” No upside comes from this behavior; it’s the reaction of a man-child who cannot contain his belligerence.

As for Sanders, she joins the legions of those who will do anything, defend anything, justify anything for their moments(s) in the White House. Patriotism, decency, honor? These have no place in their calculus. We need shed no tears when they are humiliated, undercut and eventually fired by their boss. They’ve made their pact with the devil and deserve no sympathy.

Read the Washington Post, Why are these tweets different from any other?

UPDATE III: The Donald has another twit-burst (© NoBullU.com).

Read the Washington Post, Donald Trump is in the small minority of Americans who thinks Trump’s tweets are good., which notes that "[i]n no group — even Trump supporters — did at least half say [his] tweets were effective and informative."

UPDATE II:  "Trump’s Twitter timeline is the realest real-time expression of what he thinks, and how he thinks. From his brain to his phone to the world, the 'unfiltered' stream of 140-character blurts makes up the written record with which Trump is most identified. 'I think Twitter,” one White House official told POLITICO, 'is his diary.'

It is, presidential historian Robert Dallek told me, 'a kind of presidential diary.'"

Read Politico, I Found Trump’s Diary—Hiding in Plain Sight.

UPDATE:  "Surely, even Trump can’t believe that people are so gullible as to accept that the media, in reporting [London Mayor Sadiq] Khan’s complete quote [following the London terrorist attack] rather than the abridged 'presidential' version, are trying to put something over. But then, Trump doesn’t have to believe it. He knows his fans will consume whatever he serves because they elected him, didn’t they? . .

So, yes, on one hand, Trump must stop tweeting. On the other, how else would we know how truly demented the man is? Luckily, it’s not too late to save the country, yet. But if Jack is worried about the president’s tweeting, it may be time for congressional Republicans to acknowledge what has long been obvious, declare the man incompetent and deliberate accordingly.

Read the Washington Post, If Trump stops tweeting, how will we know who he really is?

A twit is"a silly or foolish person."

And that's just what The Donald is when he tweets.

Read the Washington Post, On behalf of the entire news media, Mr. Trump: Please, tweet away, which notes that:

"The media is, in fact, very happy to have you tweet what you’re thinking at any given moment. It offers a fascinating glimpse into your presidency and your train of thought and allows us to flesh out other stories about your administration with first-person reflections from the chief executive himself. . .

The goal of the news media is to share and amplify the truth, a goal toward which we strive with admitted imperfection. Your tweets are a constant fuel supply for analysis, fact-checking and insight into your administration."

Read also the Washington Post, Now you can fact-check Trump’s tweets — in the tweets themselves.

And read also Trump's Big CON: There is a Database of the Lies.