He hates us, precious
Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair says the wheels are coming off. It’s seemed that way all along, but at the same time it’s also been steadily getting worse.
He says Corker’s interview with the Times
brought into the open what several people close to the president have recently told me in private: that Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.”
The conversation among some of the president’s longtime confidantes, along with the character of some of the leaks emerging from the White House has shifted. There’s a new level of concern…
In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”
I hope it’s true. He has no theory of mind, though, so I’m not sure he’s capable of seeing that the cult of personality is broken. He thinks he’s awesome so he thinks everyone thinks he’s awesome, because everyone thinks what he things, because what else is there?
According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!” (A White House official denies this.)
Could be a new ratchet – or could just be more of the same.
Robert Reich, in a public post on Facebook, describes a conversation with his secret Republican friend in Congress. The friend thinks Congress will invoke the 25th, but they want to get their stupid tax bill through first. The friend also thinks Tillerson stays on to keep Trump from starting a war.
That’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it? The Republican agenda for a long time has boiled down to one thing – no taxes for rich people. No help for poor people. (Yes, that sounds like 2 things, but in order to get no taxes, they have to get no help, so it’s all part of the same package).
Why would the tax bill make any difference? If Pence or any other Republican became president, they wouldn’t hesitate to sign a bill that slashed taxes for plutocrats. That’s been GOP policy since Raygun used it to turn the the US from the world’s largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation in just a few years.
Good question.
Thank you for that Sackbut. I shared it here.
Sackbut, the only reason I can see for it is that when it doesn’t help anyone but the rich, they can blame it on Trump. Yes, well, Trump did that, but we got rid of him for you, see?
That’s one reason they rarely pass their fondest wishes bills – because sooner or later, they may have to face the electorate who didn’t get anything but reduced benefits and higher debts. Get Trump’s signature, then kick him to the curb, enjoy the fat tax cuts, and point the finger at someone else when their constituents come around to break some heads.
So das Trumpf is unraveling? When he was elected I said, possibly here if memory serves, that he’d probably never been told ‘no’ in his life (at least not by anyone who could enforce it), and would not react well when things didn’t go his way.
Of course, that doesn’t make me a prophet or even an expert in psychology, just somebody who often states the bleedin’ obvious with a side dish of understatement.
@Sam Day #3
I think the fear is, if they impeach him without something to show for it, Republicans will lose big in upcoming elections. They backed him, they control Congress, and they haven’t managed to do diddly.
They’re betting that they can get a tax bill through before the toddler-in-chief starts WWIII. Priorities.
Lady M, and if he does start WWIII, they’re probably all set to make money off it before we all fry. So they’ll die rich(er).
Purely speculation on my part, but I think that Reich’s friend is overstating the possibilities of removing Trump.
But my doubts aside, there are reasons why they would want to wait for the tax cut before doing it.
First, as a logistical matter, either the 25th Amendment or impeachment would tie up the legislative agenda for some time. The actual 25th process is fairly quick, as it requires a vote on a specified time frame if the president challenges the invocation. But it still takes some time. And that’s assuming there is no legal battle. Especially with the 25th, that’s a real concern –remember, that has to be initiated by the Cabinet and VP, not Congress. But the President can fire Cabinet secretaries. Do you know what happens if, halfway through Pence’s efforts to quietly round up enough signatures to invoke the 25th, he approaches the wrong secretary, it leaks back to Trump, who then tweets out: “I hereby fire my entire Cabinet (except for [name of squealer])”? Nope, neither do I.
Second, a Pence Administration would engage in some pretty rapid housecleaning. There’s going to be a bunch of Cabinet and other Senate-confirmable positions being replaced, which would tie up the Senate for a bit.
Third, primaries, primaries, primaries. Many of these brave heroes of the Republic will want to postpone challenging Trump until it’s too late for some Trump loyalist to file a primary challenge to them.
Except Steve Bannon has already announced that he is backing candidates to challenge pretty much all of the Republicans that are up for reelection this year (apparently not Ted Cruz). So that may not do them any good.