If only.
Today from the American Prospect
AUGUST 26, 2019
Kuttner on TAP
I Have a Dream. My dream is that some senior member of the Trump administration makes a public declaration that Donald Trump is clinically insane. Everybody knows this, but his appointees keep behaving as if the mad king has clothes.
The Republican primary challenge to Trump by former Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh softens the ground. Walsh, in a surprisingly candid op-ed piece, said this:
Fiscal matters are only part of it. At the most basic level, Mr. Trump is unfit for office. His lies are so numerous—from his absurd claim that tariffs are “paid for mostly by China, by the way, not by us,” to his prevarication about his crowd sizes, he can’t be trusted.
Beyond his sheer demagoguery, it is Trump’s lunacy that is most hazardous to our country. He lives in a fantasy world. He seems to be getting crazier by the week.
Suppose a competent and principled conservative, say chief trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer, asked to appear before a congressional committee, and testified firsthand to Trump’s mental instability. Suppose he was joined by a senior national security official.
This conspiracy of silence needs to be broken. Whether Trump is removed from office via impeachment or the 25th Amendment is a tactical detail. January 2021 is too long to wait.
As Joe Walsh said yesterday on ABC News, saying that the 25th Amendment needed to be looked at:
We’ve never had a situation like this, you can’t believe a word he says. Again, I don’t care about your politics, that should concern you. He’s nuts, he’s erratic, he’s cruel, he stokes bigotry, incompetent.… The only thing he cares about is Trump.
This revelation is hardly a well-kept secret. Maybe Walsh will inspire other ashamed Republicans, and set off a stampede. ~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We can only hope, 434 days is a long time for the USA to be held hostage by a sociopath with escalating dementia.
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Suggestion: Let’s include the fact that we are also being held hostage by Moscow Mitch in the Senate. Moscow Mitch started holding the country hostage back when Obama was president and he refused to allow a vote in the Senate for Obama’s recommendation for the U.S. Supreme Court.
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In 2009, right after the inauguration, the republicans started their obstruction of anything Obama wanted to do except for his screwing of the teachers inRTTT. When the republicans took th senate, Mitch came right out and said that he would obstruct even things he agreed needed doing just so the Obama presidency would be a train wreck and he would lose the election. When Obama went back in, Mitch went back at it. His little Supreme Court justice dance might possibly earn the republicans some retaliation when the democrats take back the senate. Rejection of Wayne Garland, a respected jurist, coupled with the appointing of two justices from the same high school will motivate a democratic majority to raise the number of justices, not a good move for the country but an understandable one in light of the behavior of the republicans.
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Thanks. Moscow Mitch is a bigger traitor than Benedict Arnold because for more than ten years, he had stopped Congress from doing its job.
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Trump will be reelected in a landslide why don’t you pack you bags and leave?
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God forbid.
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Sir, not likely
This is the wrong forum to be supportive of a twitter in chief
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JK, you are joking, of course, I hope, because if you really think Donald Trump will be re-elected by a landslide, you are as delusional and psychotic as he is.
If Trump wins a second term it will be through the Electoral College by a slim margin like he won in 2016 when he took three battleground states (with help from Russia) with less than 80k votes (if the voter turnout had been the same as the previous election, he would have lost all three of those states and the election), because he is going to lose the popular vote, AGAIN, by, I think, 10-to-15 million votes instead of 2.7 million.
The only way Trump can win is with help from Russia like he did in 2016 and a lot of cheating by the GOP.
Trump is unpopular across the board and he has never, I repeat, never had an approval rating even near fifty percent let alone above it. There has not been one president starting with Truman that is as unpopular as Trump has been every day he has been President.
Click the next link, scroll down and discover “How Trump compares to past presidents”
Every president starting with Truman has had their ups-and-down above and below the halfway mark, but Trump is the only president that has never been above the 50 percent line — not even for one day.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
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The only way Trump could win is if the Russians intervene again to rig the vote and if the Republicans manage to suppress the black vote and the vote of others who might vote against him.
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LOL. Hilarious, Jimmy! Good any other good ones? How about: Unborn baby sings like Elvis.
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Trump’s only hope for staying out of prison is winning in 2020. I suspect that he is praying to his god Mammon that Biden will be the nominee and will gaffe his way to a loss. What a tragedy that would be, ofc, for the country and for the world.
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We’ve had desperate times in our country. This is surely one of them.
Thanks, Diane, for keeping the faith in the best things our nation can stand for.
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Agree, John.
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USA Today ran an opinion piece on August 15: “Why this Never Trump ex-Republican will vote for almost any 2020 Democratic nominee”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/08/15/2020-democrat-will-get-my-vote-never-trump-ex-republican-column/2013614001/
Then there is George Conway, husband of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway. Earler this year, “George Conway, husband of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, has an urgent warning about the president’s mental health”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/kellyanne-conways-husband-george-conway-has-an-urgent-warning-about-trumps-mental-health.html
There is even a Facebook Group labeled Republicans against Trump.
“The reason that we oppose Trump is not just because he is someone with no morals, no principles, or ideological conviction. No, It’s bigger than that, he is a reflection of who we are as a country. People are blindly following him not holding him accountable to leftist agenda he is pushing. We want to inform people of the truth and bring unification in our party. We have to accept that our country is changing, and our party needs to know how to adapt without compromising. Our goal is to lay out a new agenda that will broaden our base and identify leaders that will stand for this agenda.”
https://www.facebook.com/Rightagainsttrump/
“President Trump’s approval ratings appear to be softening among members of his own party and independents, according to a series of polls conducted by The Hill and HarrisX since July.
“The president’s approval rating among Republicans sat at 87 percent in July, but has slipped to 79 percent in the latest Hill-HarrisX survey conducted earlier this month.” …
https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/431868-polls-show-trumps-approval-softening-among-gop-independents
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From that Facebook group, Republicans against Trump: “People are blindly following him not holding him accountable to leftist agenda he is pushing.” end quote. Leftist agenda?! What leftist agenda is Trump pushing, huh. Not in this universe. Trump is loading the courts with far right wingers, he has cut taxes on the rich and the corporations, the GOP loves all that. Nothing leftist in the least about Trump’s policies, actions or oratory.
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Whenever a Re-publi-can doesn’t like something, no matter what it is, even if it is a Trump, they always blame it on liberals, libtards, or leftists. They have been programmed to think like that. I would not be surprised if all Re-publi-cans have had a chip surgerically installed in their brain to monitor their thinking and adjust if their thoughts stray.
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My dream is Bernie’s win. The conversation about income inequality and working people wouldn’t have begun in earnest yet if establishment Dems were running 2020 like they ran 2016. 1000 legislative seats lost in an 8 year period.
Today, Bernie got his first union endorsement (workers in Pittsburgh). Trump’s loss to Bernie in Pennsylvania will cut deep.
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Bernie just announced his plan to free U.S. journalism from the stranglehold of the rich.
If the press was free, every American would know the Koch’s anti-democracy activities and they would know how similar Bill Gates is to the Koch’s.
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Too many conservatives are spineless weasels that are riding on the coattails of Don the con. They lack the moral courage to stand up to all the hate, lies and his outlandish behavior. He is providing them with the cover they need to dismantle our democratic rights and turn social legislation back twenty years. Then, of course, there is the money that a lot of wealthy conservatives gain by the generous tax cuts and deregulation. Most Republicans prefer to look the other way. They would rather personally benefit than take a stand.
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My dream for religious conservatives is that they put as much effort into raising minimum wages, protecting pensions and Social Security, assuring fair taxes, and keeping people from the bankruptcy of medical costs as they do in denying women the right to determine
how many children they can afford.
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My dream for religious conservatives is that they devote at least as much energy into protecting the lives of children as they do on behalf of the unborn.
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We agree about the hypocrisy of the religious who deny monetary assistance to babies and mothers after the birth. Respectfully, I don’t view an egg as an unborn chicken.
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That’s a good one.
Think of an egg as an u born chicken, and we will all go vegan.
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“Suppose a competent and principled conservative”. Is there such a thing? I suspect you would have an easier time finding a Unicorn.
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GM is working its Spring Hill employees 12 hours a day, seven days a week, using a regulation in their contract that allows this if a new product is coming out. Remember when our tax dollars bailed them out? Think how much these families will be able to help their children on their homework. Think the GM bunch is anticipating a strike? Hmmmm.
There is no referee on the field any more. The fix is in.
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As Leonard Cohen said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEQldSi-heE
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The Russian investment in Agent Orange is paying off handsomely, isn’t it? Lord only knows how much the security of our nation has been compromised.
And the Repugnican Limbo Party has for the most part been just fine with this. How low, how low, how low can we go?
What does it take to wake up Repugnican Senators and Representatives? Locking up kids in cages? Attempting, literally, to steal food from the mouths of babies by requiring the poor to get an immigration check before receiving assistance? Telling the fellow he refers to as “the Prince of Whales” that climate change is just weather? Violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution? Being accused, repeatedly, of sexual assault? Making defense policy by tweet at 2:00 in the morning? Pardoning racist profilers? Proposing that we nuke hurricanes? Alienating all of our allies? Proposing that we buy Greenland? Repeatedly claiming that China is paying the tariffs he placed on Chinese goods? Using his charity as a personal bankbook? Gutting the Environmental Protection Act and the Clean Water Act? Colluding with a foreign adversary? Calling on that adversary to hack emails? Ordering companies not to do any more business with China? Kowtowing to dictators? Continually making racist comments? Seeking to militarize space? Apologizing for racist murderers? Encouraging followers to attack journalists? Speculating about putting his face on Mount Rushmore and doing away with presidential term limits? Lying, unabashedly, continuously, about everything, including the business he was doing in Russia while he was running for president? Running an administration that has more entrances and exits than the most absurdist farce? Appointing to positions at the heads of agencies and departments people committed to dismantling them? Turning every discussion of every matter into something about him? Showing up for his job 40 percent of the day? Refusing (or being unable) to read documents? Throwing toddler-like temper tantrums?
None of this seems to matter to most current members of what was once the party of Lincoln. Shame on them. Everlasting shame. When this man is ultimately outed and disgraced, we need to remember those who enabled him.
Is he insane? I don’t know. A vile, lying, ignorant, boorish, illiterate, uncultured, tasteless, tacky, impulsive, crude, dishonest, uncontrolled, undemocratic, childish, cruel, sexist, racist, dangerous, narcissistic, unhinged, cretinous, toadish, increasingly senile, traitorous, criminal, white supremacist bad joke and embarrassment to his country? Well, yes. Certainly.
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Oh, and amoral. Other than that, I’m fine with the guy.
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Now he wants to nuke hurricanes! (I heard this on our Chicago NewsRadio station & then, later, on Democracy Now!) Of course, scientists have disputed that nuking hurricanes would actually stop them, let alone what would happen w/the radiation released.
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On the question of Trump’s sanity:
We all know that he is a liar. Even his supporters know this and make excuses for it. But it seems to me that these days he is an unusual KIND of liar, and this is troubling.
If there is a sine qua non, an essential, defining trait in psychosis, it is delusional distortion of reality. I was once challenged to write a short story in six words. My entry:
No meds, thank you. –Jeanne d’Arc
Interestingly, in the past year or so, there has been a turn in Donald Trump’s lying. In the past, he lied plausibly (well, plausibly if you happened to be fairly simple minded). His typical lie was of the “I have no business in Russia” variety.
Now, his lying has become, APPARENTLY, completely brazen. He was always a pathological liar. That’s what a con man does–compulsive lying with a purpose. But now, he says, repeatedly, what EVERYONE knows to be false, and he doesn’t even seem cognizant of the fact that everyone knows or will know that he is lying.
In just the past few days, at the G7 Summit, he has said, among other things, that Melania has met and likes Kim Jong-il, that he is an environmentalist, that being president has cost him 3 to 5 billion dollars, and that the other leaders of the G7 want to readmit Russia. He also repeated his common trope, these days, that China pays the tariffs he has imposed on Chinese goods. All of these statements are false and obviously, clearly so. Why would someone do that? Why would someone assert complete implausibilities when there is no chance, at all, that anyone would believe them?
Well, people with Borderline Personality Disorder often cannot distinguish separate their emotions from reality. What they WANT to be true becomes, for them. Whatever the person with BPD is committed to emotionally becomes the reality.
Attempting to manipulate others with bs is antisocial. Believing one’s own bs–actually believing it/distorting reality–is psychotic.
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Sorry about the typos. I really should proofread before hitting the Post button.
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They should really have an edit button..
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Amen to the edit button. I need it.
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If you need a good laugh, watch Bill Maher’s bit in which he says he will vote for Trump if he agrees to save the world. Maher plays on Trump’s personality disorder as he makes his case. Funny!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7c_6xghX8
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Thanks for the video.
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So, what if the con man who has made his living by creating perceptions in others’ minds to cause them to become confused about what’s real (“I’m like rich. Really, really rich.”) becomes someone who confuses his perceptions with what is real (“I’m building a wall. A great, big, beautiful wall. So beautiful they should call it ‘Trump Wall’.”)?
It’s an ironic formula for a darkly comic movie or novel. And here we are, living it.
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But at least Trump has inspired my new party game, which is to go around the table and have everyone contribute an adjective describing the man.
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The Trumpiphone Game
Trump is like the telephone game
Where all that he “repeats”
Inevitably, is not the same
As what he said in tweets
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But it all has the same subtext: “I am an idiot.”
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