Trump grew increasingly and visibly enraged
Last night the Post confided in us about what’s going on in Donnie’s office. He’s not happy. He’s surprised and upset that some of us think he’s terrible. He’s surprised and upset that a lot of us think he’s terrible.
When he came back to the White House on Saturday after a nice soothing prayer meeting, he turned on the tv only to see news about the protests and the scanty turnout for his sacred inauguration.
As his press secretary, Sean Spicer, was still unpacking boxes in his spacious new West Wing office, Trump grew increasingly and visibly enraged.
Really?! How astonishing. He always seemed like such a reasonable, even-keeled, good-natured guy, one who would naturally expect to see some people unhappy with his presidency, and would take it in his stride and focus on the important stuff.
Trump’s advisers suggested that he could push back in a simple tweet. Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a Trump confidant and the chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, offered to deliver a statement addressing the crowd size.
But Trump was adamant, aides said. Over the objections of his aides and advisers — who urged him to focus on policy and the broader goals of his presidency — the new president issued a decree: He wanted a fiery public response, and he wanted it to come from his press secretary.
Ok that’s interesting – it’s interesting to know they were urging him not to.
But it’s also slightly perplexing. They must know him and know what he’s like. If they think it’s a bad idea to explode in rage at the citizenry on the slightest provocation, then why are they working for him?
Spicer’s resulting statement — delivered in an extended shout and brimming with falsehoods — underscores the extent to which the turbulence and competing factions that were a hallmark of Trump’s campaign have been transported to the White House.
The broader power struggles within the Trump operation have touched everything from the new administration’s communications shop to the expansive role of the president’s son-in-law to the formation of Trump’s political organization. At the center, as always, is Trump himself, whose ascent to the White House seems to have only heightened his acute sensitivity to criticism.
That’s our only consolation, I think, at least for now. It’s the straw I’ve been clinging to for weeks – the fact that his election was going to mean he’ll be faced with more and harsher opposition and contempt than he’s ever had to deal with before. It’s a vindictive consolation, but it’s all we have.
By most standards, Spicer’s statement Saturday did not go well. He appeared tired and nervous in an ill-fitting gray pinstripe suit. He publicly gave faulty facts and figures — which he said were provided to him by the Presidential Inaugural Committee — that prompted a new round of media scrutiny.
Many critics thought Spicer went too far and compromised his integrity. But in Trump’s mind, Spicer’s attack on the news media was not forceful enough. The president was also bothered that the spokesman read, at times haltingly, from a printed statement.
The president himself, of course, can’t utter a coherent sentence unless it’s composed and written down by someone else.
Trump has been resentful, even furious, at what he views as the media’s failure to reflect the magnitude of his achievements, and he feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment.
Good. Excellent. More of that. Maybe he’ll get so demoralized that he’ll leave. I know Pence is even worse on policy, but I want Trump gone.
Trump watched Sunday as Conway sparred with NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” Some Trump allies were unsettled by her performance, but not the president, according to one official. He called Vice President Pence to rave about how she handled questions from Todd, whom Trump mocked on Twitter as “Sleepy Eyes,” and called Conway to offer his congratulations. Trump was perturbed that the media focused on two words from Conway’s interview: “alternative facts.”
So he’s still calling people names in public. Even as president.
Tiny Hands. Sleepy Brain. Alternative Hair.
At the risk of repeating myself: Loose scalp.
May one straw finally wear down this sneering dromedary.
Oh, and let’s all remember: Don’t be rude.
“sneering dromedary” – that goes down in the annals for me. Except it might be an insult to an actual dromedary, but I assume you meant nothing personal to any dromedary that might happen to read this site.
I suppose there is no clue in his mind as to why we are focusing on those two words. In short, those words translate into another word: lie. In short, we are annoyed and angry that he is lying to us.
Thank you. No, no now living dromedary, I was thinking of some I met many decades ago.
The amount of leaks coming out of this White House already — and not just low-level leaks but first-hand accounts of embarrassing personal behavior by the President — is amazing.
@Ophelia
I am starting to have hope that he’ll resign.
Gut-level snark reaction: “Many critics thought Spicer went too far and compromised his integrity.” You can’t compromise something you ain’t got.
More contemplative reaction:
Another oddity of the usual Presidential stakes comes up here. There’s been a great deal of talk over the last several administrations about “the Bubble”–the isolating effect of being President that cuts the officeholder off from the opinions of the people. I remember Dubya expressing surprise after he lost control of the Senate during midterm elections; I recall both Clinton and Obama seeming oblivious to how their actions were being viewed by the Democratic Base.
But Trump has always lived in a Bubble, and his was gilt, and the interior mirrored so that he only had to ever contemplate his own visage. An army of professional Yes-Men and sycophants has surrounded him for decades, making sure not a whisper, not a hint of bad press could actually reach his ears, save that he immediately received a dozen comforting murmurs that no, no, this was just one lone crackpot, don’t worry Donnie, everyone loves you.
So for The Donald, the Presidency is not the Bubble, but the Crack. It’s a weak-point through which all the bile that he’s been shielded from his entire life is suddenly creeping through–oh, to be sure, his courtiers are still there, still assuring him, but he can’t just change the channel anymore and listen only to them–he has to hear what’s being said, and take the mental effort of willful cognitive dissonance that allows him to construct fantasies (“millions of illegal votes”; “media hit pieces”; “alternative facts”) to shield his oh-so-fragile and untested ego.
And of course, Donnie’s just not that bright or imaginative. He has to go back to the same small can of paint each time to patch over the Crack, and the bad news keeps pouring in, and the can’s already starting to show signs of running dry.
Wonder what he’ll do then? I’m sure it will be something awful, alas, but maybe he’ll accidentally include himself (his image, his sense of self) and, just as importantly, his boosters and supplicants in the collateral damage this time. That would be… not nice, but satisfying, in a way.
Those who are sticking with him make up for what they lack in personal integrity with incredible mental fortitude. They must think or hope the price they are paying for destroying their credibility even further (assuming they had any left at this point). The lure of power must be very strong; the chance to influence and manipulate Trump. Perhaps also to be there to pick up the pieces when he finally implodes (though this is likely a faint hope as I imagine Pence would bring in his own gang of cronies, who might be less obviously inept and ridiculous).
But just as dangerous.
I imagine that gag rule was more about Pence than Trump; I doubt Trump cared one way or another about that, or had even spent one moment of his life aware of it. Pence, on the other hand, is rigid about all bills dealing with abortion.