He didn’t. He didn’t. Even he can’t be that stupid and petty and egomaniacal. Can he?

Tss. Of course he can. There is no limit to how stupid and petty and egomaniacal he can be. He could run over a bunch of children and complain about the mess on his tires.

Trump responded Saturday morning to harsh critiques from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz by targeting her personally. The president accused the mayor of playing politics and succumbing to pressure from fellow Democrats to attack his administration. He also, remarkably, directly attacked her and other Puerto Rican officials’ leadership.

The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told

Josh Marshall says it looks as if Trump wants to exploit the disaster in Puerto Rico in order to privatize everything. (Can’t you see it? Glorious golf resorts from one end of the island to the other?)

He keeps talking about Puerto Rico’s public debt.

Set aside the irony of someone who has made a career and a fortune out of skipping on his own debts pressing an embattled American territory on its debt obligations. This and other comments about the Puerto Rico crisis make it look very much like Trump plans to use the disaster as a wedge to enforce a massive wave of privatization on the Island. His comments, hints and overall attitude suggest he’s looking at the

Trump loves him some private plane status symbol.

“The plane is very much an extension of the Trump brand,” Donald Trump toldThe New York Times of the Boeing 757 he took to calling “Trump Force One” during the 2016 presidential campaign. It was an outdated model, and, as the Times drily noted, “an odd choice for a man who put his net worth at $11 billion.” But the plane was huge, and lined with gold on the inside, communicating to his supporters both might and prestige.

Well besides, it’s a giant flying penis-shaped thing – what’s not to love?

He sets the tone.

[A]n astonishing number of his cabinet members are ensnared in scandals involving air travel, whether

Don explains why he’s been talking so much more about football players not standing up because Flag than about the disaster in Puerto Rico: it’s because of the little-known fact that Puerto Rico is an island. An island, people! Water all around. If you try to drive to it your truck gets too wet.

“It’s the most difficult job because it’s on the island, it’s on an island in the middle of the ocean,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. “It’s out in the ocean — you can’t just drive your trucks there from other states.”

Seriously. It’s thousands of miles from anywhere, out there in the middle of the ocean, like … Read the rest

Trump’s people are trying to pretend he’s not picking a fight but actually reaching out to embrace us all.

The White House on Monday sought to soften the president’s controversial comments.

“Celebrating and promoting patriotism in our country is something that should bring everybody together,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “This isn’t about the president being against something. This is about the president being for something.”

Yeah, for everybody doing what he says, and for his absolute power to tell us all what to do and make us obey. He’s down with that.

At a campaign rally for Sen. Luther Strange (R) on Friday in Huntsville, Ala., Trump previewed the gains he foresaw by denouncing players who

Oh look, now Donnie is really pissed off and he’s not going to take it any more.

He’s changed his Twitter header from that stupid photo of him doing a thumbs up at a table full of his fans to a Great Big Awesome Rippling American Flag.

So patriot!

Plus he’s splatted out a rash of angry “you have to worship the flag!!” tweets. Nope we don’t Don, and you can’t make us.

Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for our Country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017

Wut? What does that even mean? What solidarity, whose, where? And how do you have solidarity “for” … Read the rest

This is going well.

Trump has made new threats against North Korea in response to the country’s foreign minister’s fiery speech at the UN on Saturday.

Ri Yong-ho described Mr Trump as a “mentally deranged person full of megalomania” on a “suicide mission”.

The US president responded by saying Mr Ri and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “won’t be around much longer” if they continue their rhetoric.

The fresh insults came as US bombers flew close to North Korea’s east coast.

The Pentagon said the aim was to demonstrate the military options available to the US to defeat any threat.

Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they

The Post chronicles Trump’s long, rambling, distracted Speech last night in dear old ‘Bama.

Trump praised Alabama for sheltering “17 million people” displaced by recent hurricanes, a number that seemed high given that the state has fewer than 5 million residents and that nearby Florida has 20.6 million residents. He promised that the country will “win all the time,” just like Alabama’s beloved football teams — and he repeated his attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“We can’t have madmen out there, shooting rockets all over the place. And by the way: Rocketman should have been handled a long time ago,” Trump said, as the crowd erupted into its loudest cheers of the night. “… This shouldn’t be

The Chief Bully made it his business yesterday, at yet another campaign rally, to attack football players for demonstrating against racism.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these N.F.L. owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired,’ ” Mr. Trump said during an appearance at a political rally in Alabama.

The Times doesn’t say it, but Trump repeated “he’s fired” with heavy emphasis, his face contorted with rage.

As to the substance, this nonsense about “when somebody disrespects our flag”…Here’s a wild idea: the important thing isn’t actually the flag, it’s the substance. The flag is only a symbol. To Trump it’s apparently … Read the rest

Via Editorial & Political Cartoons on Facebook:

Jesse Duquette, The Daily Don.

… Read the rest

Er…

Melania Trump gave a speech at the UN “on the dangers of cyber-bullying.”

That’s nice, I guess, but she is after all married to the biggest cyber bully on the planet.

Now, she doesn’t make him do that, obviously, and she’s not exactly responsible for him, not quite so obviously…but she does live with him and stay married to him and appear by his side at intervals. She’s not exactly responsible for him but she is implicated in his bad behavior, because she stays. Is that unfair? No, I don’t think so, not really – not given the highly visible nature of his bullying, and how extreme it is. There’s something ethically wrong with someone who condones that level … Read the rest

Trump exercising his diplomatic skillz again.

At a United Nations lunch Wednesday with African leaders, President Trump marveled at Africa’s “tremendous business potential.” “I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich,” he said. “I congratulate you, they’re spending a lot of money.”

Oh yes, Africa has done so well from all those rich business dudes buying up natural resources. It’s super nice of Trump to congratulate the heads of state on their good fortune, and not at all creepy and patronizing.

There’s a video clip of him saying it, so you can watch his bizarro gestures while he says that stupid thing.… Read the rest

The Guardian did an “as it happens” of the UN meeting, including Trump’s speech. It’s quite funny in places. Trump starts on page 3.

Trump speaks about protecting the rights given by God, emphasizing the word “God” and pausing before he continues.

“In America, we do not seek to impose our life on anyone,” he says but the US wants to shine as an example.

He says he was elected to give power to the people “where it belongs”.

“As president of the United States” he will always put America first, he says. He gets louder, saying that’s what all countries should do. He gets some claps for that remark.

“He gets louder” – of course he does. It’s … Read the rest

Let’s see what they’re saying about Trump’s horrific speech outside the US. Let’s read the Guardian.

Donald Trump’s maiden address to the UN general assembly was unlike any ever delivered in the chamber by a US president.

There are precedents for such fulminations, but not from US leaders. In tone, the speech was more reminiscent of Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro or Hugo Chávez.

And going back to pre-UN days it was reminiscent of Hitler. Yes, Hitler.

Like Bush, Trump offered the world a black-and-white choice between the “righteous many” against the “wicked few” – but his choice of language was far blunter than his predecessor. There can not have been many, if any, threats to “totally destroy” another nation

Of course he does. Trump makes his debut at the UN by threatening to destroy North Korea while at the same time calling Kim Jong Un by a ridiculous childish nickname. We’re living in a serial titled The Giant Toddler Who Destroyed the Earth.

“We meet at a time of immense promise and great peril,” Trump said in his maiden address to more than 150 international delegations at the annual U.N. General Assembly. “It is up to us whether we will lift the world to new heights or let it fall into a valley of disrepair.”

Oops. That was “despair,” Don. Do more rehearsals. The world is not a car that needs repair; it’s a little more complicated than that.… Read the rest

Frank Bruni is not amused by Sean Spicer’s gig at the Emmys.

[W]hat I and anyone else who tuned in to Hollywood’s latest self-congratulatory orgy on Sunday saw wasn’t good fun. It was bad news — a ringing, stinging confirmation that fame truly is its own reward and celebrity really does trump everything and redeem everyone.

Object of ridicule or object of reverence: Is there a difference? Not if you’re a household name, not if you’re a proven agent of ratings and not if you’re likely to deliver more of them. Our commander in chief took that crude philosophy to heart and rode it all the way to the White House. Sean Spicer took a page from the president and

Trump is off to the UN in the morning, because it’s General Assembly time.

…when Mr. Trump attends the first United Nations session of his presidency this coming week, all eyes will be on him as counterparts from around the globe crane their necks and slide through the crowd to snatch a handshake — and, in the process, try to figure out this most unusual of American leaders.

“The world is still trying to take the measure of this president,” said Jon B. Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and author of the speed-dating analogy. “For a number of leaders, this is going to be their first chance to see

Another low achieved.

President Trump retweeted a meme on Sunday morning that showed him hitting Hillary Clinton in the back with a golf ball, prompting another round of outrage from critics who felt the president’s tweets had once again crossed the line.

The animated GIF spliced together a clip of Trump swinging a golf club with footage of Clinton falling, apparently edited to appear as though a golf ball had struck her down.

The image was originally posted as a reply to the president by a Twitter user named @Fuctupmind, whose bio consists of pro-Trump, anti-Clinton hashtags.

“Donald Trump’s amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary,” the user wrote in the caption.

Yes, that’s what the US head of state should … Read the rest