The madman who lives in the White House is at it again.
The president discovered his press pool yesterday and took several questions on a wide variety of topics. Unscripted and unhinged, the president once again exhibited his limited depth and extraordinary penchant for self congratulatory oratory.
It is always difficult to unpack the president’s comments when he is riffing his way from one rabbit hole to another. I’ll leave it to others to do the all encompassing heavy lifting while focusing on three subjects that go directly to how dangerous this man truly is.
Smarting over a rebuke from North Korea’s similarly unhinged leader, the president took the opportunity to double down on his threats to unleash nuclear hell on the Asian peninsula. Nothing says thoughtful foreign policy like poking the proverbial rabid dog with a stick. What is particularly noteworthy about this rhetorical conflagration is that Trump has gone DEVCON based on intelligence received from the very same intelligence community that he has constantly denigrated for insisting that the Russians meddled in out elections. I might add intelligence provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency alone; not yet corroborated by the other 16 intelligence agencies. The DIA singularly says North Korea can deliver a nuke to US targets…gospel. Seventeen intelligence agencies unanimously agree that Russia meddled in our elections…ruse.
Turning to domestic policy…the president continued his public trashing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Once again angered by a rebuke, this time from McConnell that the president was offering unreasonable expectations over what the Senate could accomplish during the first term; Trump laid blame for the party’s embarrassing failure to repeal and replace Obamacare squarely on McConnell’s shoulders. “For a thing like that to happen is a disgrace…” When asked if he thought McConnell should step down, Trump offered zero words of support. To the contrary, Trump to a wait and see attitude: “If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done. If he doesn’t get taxes, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure. If he doesn’t get that done then you should ask me that question.
The self-proclaimed “Great Negotiator” will ultimately be judged on how successful he is in getting his legislative agenda passed through congress. The president has zero chance of getting anything passed into law without the full throated support of Leader McConnell. Trashing McConnell may appeal to Trump’s ego and his ever shrinking base but it gets him nothing legislatively. The president is either too ignorant or too full of himself to understand that on legislative matters McConnell holds all the cards.
This destructive soap opera with McConnell becomes even more bizarre when put in context with Trump’s continued “bromance” with Vladimir Putin. Trump was asked how he felt about Putin ordering 755 US diplomats out of Russia. His nonsensical response could have only been uttered bay a man who has either lost his senses or is for some reason firmly implanted in Putin’s pocket. “I want to thank him because we are trying to cut down on payroll. As far as I’m concerned I’m very thankful he let go a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. There is no reason for them to go back. I greatly appreciate the fact that we have been able to cut our payroll. we’re going to save a lot of money.” So here we have Trump denigrating the man who holds the keys to his successful first tem in office while thanking the leader of a hostile foreign power who would gladly dance on America’s grave.
The madness continues.
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