Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has been on a snark roll ever since Donald Trump became President. To say that Milbank isn’t a fan of our “dear leader” would be a pretty massive understatement; a recent headline offers evidence: “This is what happens when a ‘stable genius” leads a stupid country.”
The first couple of paragraphs are illustrative of his thesis: “dear leader” thinks he knows better than the people who actually know–or accomplish–something. (Or really, anything.)
President Trump is surrounded by fools.
There’s that fool William H. McRaven, Special Operations commander of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and the other fools in the U.S. military, who should have brought down bin Laden “a lot sooner,” because “everybody in Pakistan” — all 208 million of them — knew the terrorist leader was living in “a nice mansion.” Trump alone “predicted Osama bin Laden” in 2000 when “nobody really knew who he was.”(Were they waiting for Trump to give them bin Laden’s Zip code plus four?)
There are the fools in the CIA, who have concluded based on so-called evidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered last month’s killing of Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. But Trump alone understands that we’ll never know the truth, because the crown prince denied involvement “maybe five different times.”
Milbank follows up his introduction with a lengthy list of Trump’s proclamations of his own genius–he knows better than the generals, better than the scientists, better than the people who named their town Paradise. He complains that he is surrounded by fools who don’t know as much as he–the “stable genius”– knows.
And this is the problem with being surrounded by fools: Though Trump gives his presidency an “A-plus,” most Americans — about 60 percent — do not appreciate his brilliance.
He deserves better — and he should demand it. He should walk away, withdraw his excellence, maybe get a place in Pleasure — and leave us to suffer our own foolish “scientists” and “experts” and “facts.” That would really show us.
The only problem is, that would leave us with Pastor Pence…..
Eugene Robinson–another Washington Post stalwart–took a somewhat less sarcastic approach, but arrived at pretty much the same destination: Trump’s days are–or at least should be– numbered, and it’s time for the rats to leave the sinking ship.
Like a television show that has jumped the shark, President Trump’s frantic act grows more desperate and pathetic by the day.
Asked by Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday” to grade his presidency, Trump absurdly replied: “Look, I hate to do it, but I will do it, I would give myself an A-plus. Is that enough? Can I go higher than that?”
Much closer to the mark is the assessment by Republican lawyer and operative George Conway, the husband of one of Trump’s closest White House aides, counselor Kellyanne Conway: “The administration is like a s—show in a dumpster fire.”
And it is all getting worse. The cravenness, incompetence, corruption, dysfunction, insanity — all of it.
Robinson noted that the midterm’s blue wave was a report card from the American public–and the voters flunked Trump. He also pointed out that those votes delivered an ominous message for Republicans “inclined to sign up for another season of Trump’s fading reality show.” The man who fancies himself a winner is not only a loser, he is very likely to take the cult that is the remaining GOP down with him.
Come January, a Democratic House will begin performing the oversight duties that Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) neglected. Does anyone believe that proper scrutiny of, say, the Trump family’s international business dealings is likely to improve the president’s political standing? I don’t.
In the Churchillian sense, the midterm election was the “end of the beginning.” My understanding is that rats tend to leave a sinking ship.
The remaining questions about this administration all fall into the “how will it all end?” category.
When will Muller deliver his report, and what will that report contain? How will a cornered, reality-denying, mentally-ill President react as the inevitable reality closes in? How will the MAGA-hat “true believers” behave when their emperor is shown to have no clothes?
When will the rest of the rats join those who have already left?
I believe it was just yesterday that I asked; if Trump shuts down the government for not getting the funds for HIS wall on our southern border, will that stall the swearing in of newly elected Blue Wave Democrats? And; would that include shutting down the judges who would be responsible for swearing in the newly elected – of both parties – at the state level?
In other words; if Trump shuts down this government to get funds for His wall on our southern border, will that lead this country to a “Mexican stand-off”?
This takes my mind back to a scene from the old sitcom “Taxi” when one of the drivers faced an armed gunman who leaped into the front seat of his cab. He pulled his own gun and there they sat looking at each other face-to-face, with guns pointed, neither of them having any idea how to get out of their situation.
“The remaining questions about this administration all fall into the “how will it all end?” category.”
Unfortunately, the S.S.Trump is not the only ship in the convoy.
Well, you know enough about the power-hungry Pence to know he’ll never bail and will even have his propaganda artists promote his “undying loyalty” as a virtue.
My only problem with the Mueller investigation is it focused just on Trump and his crime family when there are so many others on the East Coast which could be investigated. It will keep us vs them mentality going just like all the Trump defenders pointing to Bill Clinton today.
Hillary even sees the progressive momentum as encouragement for her to run for POTUS in 2020…seriously??
And that’s where the people will need to be vigilant because the Oligarchs won’t use the GOP right now. They’ll use an innocuous Democratic leader who will speak to the people and lie their friggin’ asses off and the gullible masses will embrace it.
Don’t forget, Trump moved this country so many notches to the right that even a couple inches to the left will seem like a sunny day.
One thing Americans still haven’t broken free from is our gullibility, fear, and ignorance. We are very easily manipulated. The history leading up to this day is more than ample evidence.
The communication/media sector is going to become very interesting in the coming days with all the divergent messages coming our way. To continue the status quo, those who control the narrative will have to clamp down even further than they have the past two years.
And speaking of the Khashoggi murder, there was an interesting article in Bloomberg…only news service covering the story, but many high-level Oligarchs within SA don’t like the progressive direction MSB is taking the country and are cashing in and moving out. As I mentioned before, journalists on the ground in Turkey said the staged murder was a soft coup attempt against MSB.
#PravdaOnThePrairie
I remember much of the Watergate scandal and how it tainted every one of Nixon’s cronies even into the grave. Their connection to the mess was the leading item in their obituaries obscuring any and all other achievements they may have accomplished. And it will be the same for the Trump team. No matter what happens in the future, for the rest of their lives, their connection to Trump will hang around their necks like a dead rat on a string.
Sometimes where civil justice lags or fails, social justice is meted out with great effect.
Remember when Bill Clinton so we need to move this country forward in the mist of the scandals.? That is exactly why President Trump needs to say right now. Even Bernie Sanders is pleading with the liberal left do you stop playing investigation games for the sake of politics. More and more people are becoming disengaged And I’m talking about independents with all that is going on right now. There are reports that this whole dossier thing pecan in Russia was Hillary Clinton and her backers. Maybe the hole country should see transparency for what it really is.
I agree with Bernie Sanders and this point that our country needs to put all of the political investigations to the side and we need to start working on policy changes that President Trump would agree upon.
Having taken coursework in nuclear engineering in college I can tell you that’s the uranium that his mind in the US has its own signal if exploded that is different from uranium and other parts of the world. That is why for decades we have never let Russia mine our uranium can use it in their products and/or give it to terrorists. We are worried about influence Over Trump? In the Book Clinton cash there was an outline of how the Clintons received $500,000 after Bill Clinton gave a speech at Moscow state university. Shortly there after Hilary has the department of state gave mining rights to uranium one which was owned by Russian oligarchs.. I guess most people look beyond this as being treason.
So many people did not want Trump or Hillary Clinton to be elected president. But with the many lies that Obama told about healthcare people were pushed into a corner and here we are with the swamp Of politicians who cannot concentrate on policy or the welfare of the country but only on investigations that might impeach or throw people in jail. Yes it is sad and Trump is a very easy target with what he says.
Right now I am more worried about radicals on both sides getting their higher up because people only look at what people say and not what we should be doing in Washington, that is leading the people and making the welfare of the country better either economically or through healthcare.
I’m calling on our newly elected Democrat leaders to push through all the Muck and mire of Washington, To stop the name-calling and investigations And move our country in the right direction
The record voter turnout this month showed that people ARE engaged and fed up with the ongoing insanity circus that is the Trump administration. Fox News must be desperate for viewers as they keep interviewing the lunatic president and asking him to verify his madness, narcissism and stupidity with softball questions.
As we saw from yesterday’s revelations from Michael Cohen, EVERYBODY involved with Trump has lied about the obvious partnership between Trump, the Russians, Deutchebank and the Russian bank. Why would they lie? Because they’re all guilty of crimes that include money laundering and a wide variety of other crimes. OF COURSE Trump was in on it. His name would have been on the tower. The Mueller investigation is about to peel all the layers off this stinking onion and I predict that everyone in the administration will be tainted and/or indicted for those crimes.
Trump will never resign. He is already trying to influence the public opinion swamp about how illegal and corrupt the investigations are. But then, he always does that. His diseases have him placed above the law. Look for the Congress to be forced into impeachment proceedings. Yes, I know. The Senate Republicans will be very hard-pressed to even consider a trial of removal. But if the crimes are numerous enough, egregious enough and supported by mountains of hard evidence, they will be in the political nutcracker that has them convicting the orange hairball and his corrupt family, or be destroyed in the 2020 election.
The people ARE finally engaged. The 35%, or so, true believers will happily go down with the ship, will get out their guns and commit violent acts. It’s what they do. BUT the Republic will be preserved. Mike Pence, in spite of his idiotic stance on things, won’t let us cascade into anarchy. That situation would ruin his one and only chance at power.
Todd,
The oligarchs don’t like MBS because he detained them and stole a ton of their money in his first act as heir apparent. Giving women the right to drive does not make him a “progressive” any more than pumping money into Jared’s failing real estate business makes him a Jew. It was his people who killed Khashoggi, and they were more than likely directed by him. Note that I haven’t heard the tape or the intercepted phone calls, so I’m taking the word of the C.I.A. The only reason Erdogan is making any noise about this at all is that he hopes to use it to secure the return of Fethulla Gulen. Don’t believe everything you hear from Bloomberg, either.
On topic for the day, Dana Milbank has been one of the highlights of this very dark time. Thank God for satire.
spending 6 million miles on the road over 39 years,doesnt leave me much tube time(t.v.) and its a blessing too. instead i devour miles,and meet people from wherever,to whatever. face to face social interaction,and comments. buisness sense,or common sense,or,one bottle missing.. ive surfed through enough tube to choke a cable man. i catch some off the wall shows, pieces of them,like the apprentice, after about 5 minutes of some bumm taking jabs at a person who is trying in life to get ahead,hes bashed by some know it all who has a problem with maners and ethics. actully,iwasnt suprised,and its was viewed by me,seeing a corprate asshole,,act like one. im not beyond a convesation with any joe,anywhere,i do however keep my cool,and if the chance exposes itself,ask a question and see where it goes. (im sure you see a typical working class hee,but,i enjoy life too. ) exposure to the suits (as i call them) isnt everyday,and sometimes its just in passing,if,the opportunity exists. when we talk today about this so called leader,i see something else, the ones who believe this guy (trump)is a American in any postue. but what scares me are the millions who actully support his agenda,and his person. though we try not to alienate people,sometimes we have to. the subject today says that,but its too difinitve,and making fun at a real problem. sometimes the media just needs to stick a finger in someones face,with a follow thru witha hard punch to the face. we still tend to pad the funny room,we need to have the solid wall be blesssed with some wool (or polyester)left on it… best wishes… from NoDak
p.s.I just wanna relate here, if that so called mass envaision at the border where the people wre gasssed for breaching the wall,
can we see who instigated the act to provoke a breach when more than usual goverment people were on watch?in plain sight..
sounds like standing rock and tiger/swans incitements to encourage revolt by the protesters..
did we see this again by whoever,trying to start a issue?at the border…
Thank you very much Sheila for a sizable breath of sanity in the midst of all the crud that I’ve both seen and heard over the last 24-48 hours emanating from Washington, DC, and in particular, by that self- described stable genius. At the rate we’re currently going, particularly given the Russian victory over the United States in an undeclared and very successful war that many of us missed, that “Crazy Town” Dana Milbank alluded to may likely soon be irrelevant. We’re likely to end up just being another Oblast in a far greater Russia where that newly crowned world leader country will be able to reclaim Alaska and negate William Seward’s purchase of it from them in 1867.
We have been maneuvered, with a lot of help from ourselves, into perhaps a permanent downward spiraling course to irrelevancy on the world scene where we are more like a huge reality show that an actual country and world leader that is been on the top of the heap since 1945, actually a little earlier than that. Even if we are able counteract what the stable genius has done to us himself we will still have to deal for a long, long period of time with all the collateral damage he has occurred both here and abroad. That’s on top of the lengthening lead time that Vladimir Putin and Russia, along with China, will have in continuing to stack the deck against us since we will remain essentially a stupid country until we can crawl out from under the double whammy that has been done to us. A sizable number, far too sizeable, of Americans still don’t understand what was done to us with our focus remaining on the machinations of what was done to us, largely due to the hoopla surrounding and emanating from that stable genius, instead of focusing in any coherent sense on the true impact of what actually has happened to us.
Even if the stable genius and his little buddy left today the smoking wreckage of what has been done will remain. Even though our national government in terms of its staffing is still very much under strength those that do occupy in positions of responsibility, with a few exceptions, are incompetent and also corrupt. Removing this trash may be like removing a metastasized cancer where are in doing so the cancer may be arrested but the patient dies in the process.
We can’t stand back and truly reflect on what’s happened because it’s still playing out but one thing is clear. Russian operatives did not back Trump to gain relief from sanctions that had been imposed by the previous administration on them due to their aberrant conduct regarding Eastern Europe and, in particular, Ukraine and the Crimea. They did all of this because they knew what the stable genius would do to our governmental system if elected President and that that ascendancy as well as what the attacks via social media and other avenues of information sharing designed to turn Americans against Americans would also do. Just think of it a war fought and won without firing a single shot in anger which we still do not fully understand that probably succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
I truly hope that that is not really the case but whether it is are not we are going to the recovering from this stint with total madness for and long time to come. And it won’t be just us that will be dealing with the damage that has been incurred since it will also be all the other peoples of the world that we have put at risk by being defeated so easily via this insidious form of warfare that was conducted against us.
I, of course, will continue to hold out hope that we will climb on top of this crud and defeat it. Time, however, keeps marching on as does Putin’s self-serving commitment to establishing that new world order with him being in the center of it. We and the rest of the world need to awaken fast to the huge threat such a change would bring to everyone and everything.
When you see an active wasp nest out of harm’s way, just ignore and leave it alone to hard winter to take care of. Trust the deep state to take care of collateral damage quietly. Come spring, get rid of the nest.
President Agent Orange has as one of chief character flaws total and complete arrogance. He arrived on the political scene with a posture that resembles a modern day Mussolini. During the Republican Primary and General Election he engaged in out lies, bullying and belittling anyone who stood in his way. These tactics continue to this minute.
Pastor Pence proves once and for all, the Bible Thumping Evangelical Wing of the Reactionary Republican Party are comfortable with President Agent Orange who is the total opposite of their “Family Values” they espouse to adhere to.
President Agent Orange’s arrogance has and will be his undoing. His arrogance has led him to think that he can engage in various financial scams and a with some bullying tactics he will escape any consequences.
The Mueller Investigation continues to tighten around President Agent Orange, his family and his former puppets and stooges. The Mueller Investigation is thing of beauty as various individuals have found themselves exposed to to the rigor of the law and a man in Mueller who cannot be bullied.
It must be profoundly upsetting to President Agent Orange, that no matter how many times he tries to bully Mueller via Twitter, etc., Mueller remains silent and pushes steadily on.
Although, never ending saga of President Agent Orange has the headlines ratings and by the way profits, the real corruption that exists world wide is ignored by our Crony-Capitalist Corporate Politicians.
Recently, Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany were raided by 170 prosecutors, federal agents, police officers and tax authorities.
The investigation stems from information contained in the so-called Panama Papers and Offshore Leaks, a trove of confidential documents that helped to expose the workings of global money laundering and tax evasion, prosecutors said. Deutsche Bank employees, who were not identified, are suspected of guiding customers to establish companies in offshore tax havens and transfer money earned through criminal activity using Deutsche Bank accounts, the prosecutors said. A subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands is under intense scrutiny.
Deutsche Bank has previously faced scrutiny related to money laundering. Last year, the bank paid a $425 million fine in New York for helping clients of its Moscow office illegally move $10 billion out of Russia. Also last year, the Federal Reserve fined Deutsche Bank $41 million for failing to have an effective system for complying with bank secrecy laws and laws to prevent money laundering.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/business/deutsche-bank-money-laundering-raid.html
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I guess a couple of items, big corporations can pay off with fines their illegal tactics. If you are a small fish here in America the government can seize your assets what ever they maybe, under asset forfeiture laws.
Can you imagine here in America the Feds descending on some Mega-Bank in a big raid and then actually witness some high corporate officials going to jail??
President Agent Orange is the tree in the forest, he had a lot of help along the way with financing, money laundering and tax evasion.
Wish I was as optimistic, if WE don’t make some big improvements in how we handle things 2020 will become a scary place.
today on commondreams.org piece by russel mokhiber on jim hightowers colum has been cut. seems wall streets hedge fund owners,dont like his recent story.please read..
Monotonous – regarding your comment about fines not changing the behavior of big banks: if the penalty for violating some law is a fine (and optional or no jail time) that means “legal for rich people”. IMO to really change behavior, the proper fine for egregious violations by a big organization is equal to its profits for a year or two, and not let them write it off as an allowable expense. Oh, and reduce executive compensation to the median organization salary and eliminate bonuses.
John – I find it very difficult to understand your post. I will comment on one part though.
You said “I agree with Bernie Sanders and this point that our country needs to put all of the political investigations to the side and we need to start working on policy changes that President Trump would agree upon.”
First, it seems totally out of character for Bernie to have said or implied what you attributed to him. I have been unable to find any evidence that he ever said any such thing. Please provide evidence for your assertion.
Whether or not Bernie ever said what you attribute to him, IMO putting political investigations to the side means accepting whatever this maladministration does as legitimate – which I do not. Political investigations are what Congress (a politial body) does as part of their role of holding the Executive (a political body) accountable for its actions. This congress has pretty much abdicated that part of its job so aside from the nonpartisan Mueller investigation we’re already in your supposedly ideal state where Congress isn’t “wasting” its time investigating. As a result, government is working more poorly for everyone, the rich are getting richer and the non-rich are treading water at best. I don’t envision the GOP minority in the 116th Congress having any more enthusiasm for investigations than the GOP majority of the 115th Congress, so the investigations will of necessity be partisan but I believe the Democrats will do their best to make them as fair as possible. This is unlike the GOP investigations which were done under duress and started with the answer (“no collusion!”), then made sure not to find out information that conflicted with the predetermined conclusion.
As to policy changes that trump would agree to, it’s pretty clear to me that his goal is legislation enshrining the ability of rich white cisgender men to oppress whomever they want, in whatever way they want, with no blowback. It will be a heavy lift to get Democrats to sign on to any such legislation, particularly in light of the fact that we just flipped the House in part on the message that we are vehemently opposed to doing any such thing.
Recovery is a long process that’s only just beginning and like the DNC we have to get on an organized approach for it that includes what the House has to do, what Mueller can actually prove, who will be the Democrat candidates for 2020 and how to maintain waking the base up for those elections.
Personally I think that we at the best place that we can be right now. One of the things that is quite overlooked but increasingly important now is healing and unity within the Democrat Party. Let’s not let the panic that will infest the GOP as the rats start choosing to swim drag us down too.
The good news is that over the next two years I think the House is going to (almost) totally uncover the Trump lies and frauds and give us a 2020 Blue Tsunami that will make our recent Blue Wave look like a ripple. I think even Trump’s 35 percent cult membership will be diminished as his bullying and coverup days are over. I also predict that Cohen’s singing is just getting started, that Mueller has others we don’t know about lined up to deliver the dagger to the Trump regime, and that even Manafort may change course with a plea since Trump may not be around long enough to pardon him – or anyone else – and Pence will not have the intestinal fortitude to pardon him in view of the then recent bloodletting of Trump, but that should he do so let’s welcome President Pelosi and a return of sanity to the Oval Office.
I also predict that Cohen, among others, has just started singing to Mueller and that the chickens are coming home to roost, and safely, since the foxes will have been banished from the henhouse. Pollyannish view? I think not, since in my experience facts overcome fraud and gut instincts (if we don’t collapse while waiting for such outcome). So yes, let’ pursue impeachment and policy making simultaneously.
As so often happens, a team of academics foresaw, analyzed, and described the Trump syndrome long before it became a problem for the American public. Their work resulted in the “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” a deep dive into the exact type of cognitive bias that cripples Mr. Trump’s mental faculties. Milbank and Robinson would enjoy the paper that resulted.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect (brought to my attention by the law team of Grant and Grant of Indianapolis) describes a condition in which “people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence.”
If there is a more perfect description of what muddles Trump’s vacuous brain, I’ve not heard of it. There are singers who appear on talent shows, for example, who are utterly unaware that they have no ability to sing. They suffer from “an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability; that is, ‘the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the[ir] miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.'”
Trump demonstrates this affliction when he speaks like a nitwit about economics, science, trade, immigration, international affairs, climate change, law, or of the countless other fields of learning in which he is profoundly clueless, yet believes himself to be an authority.
As reported in Wikipedia, Kruger and Dunning’s 1999 study “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments” nailed Trump to perfection. “The identification derived from the cognitive bias evident in the criminal case of McArthur Wheeler, who robbed banks with his face covered with lemon juice, which he believed would make it invisible to the surveillance cameras. This belief was based on his misunderstanding of the chemical properties of lemon juice as an invisible ink.” Doesn’t this echo Trump’s amazement when he is startled to learn that no one believes his obvious lies? Despite his myriad neuroses, Dunning-Kruger may prove his fatal flaw.
Dunning and Kruger won the Ig Nobel Prize, an award usually presented at Harvard by a genuine Nobel Prize winner to scientists whose work makes others laugh and think.
George Bush did lose to the lesser man but showed class in leaving a letter in support to a man who was known as a great leader politician yet a philanderer.
A man who signed NAFTA destroying much of the manufacturing sector who turned his back on the little guy and union rank and file. Possibly people like Jarrod Kushner will rise to the occasion to run for office, a man who doesn’t respond and formulated NAFTA 2.0 to right the wrongs of the past.
We need to look at crazy town and build each other up in remembering moderate politicians like our late great 41st President. We need people like him that can turn institutions that are failing like unto the FBI as he did the CIA as it’s director.
May God Bless our country with great women and men that are going to lead with clas like George Herbert Walker Bush