Elizabeth Drew — who has long studied terrible presidencies — in the NY Review of Books:
… There’s been a great deal of speculation about shifting alliances among Trump’s White House staff—it’s virtually a daily exercise—but in the end Donald Trump defines his administration. Trump has a mediocre staff, whom he doesn’t treat well. They’re hesitant to give him news he won’t like for fear of being screamed at, a frequent event. Experienced potential aides haven’t been keen to work in a Trump White House and though it’s not widely known by the outside world many of those who are there are unhappy. As one close observer put it to me, “They came to work for the president but found themselves working for Donald Trump.” The moody man at the top is strongly affected by what’s in the news. But so far only one significant aide has seen fit to quit, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus’s deputy Katie Walsh; while some reporters described her departure as part of a White House “shakeup,” it’s more likely that Walsh left because she couldn’t stand the unpleasantness of working for Trump. According to reports, with things not going well for him, the atmosphere in Trump’s White House has grown progressively worse. The removal of White House adviser Steve Bannon from the National Security Council is being much examined for its implications, but if Bannon continues to get in Trump’s head it may not mean much at all.
Yet despite the weakness and disorder of the president’s staff, and though previous White House staffs have tried it (if not as thoroughly but without success), Trump and his top aides seem particularly determined to hold power throughout the government. This is why even more than halfway into the first hundred days most of the Cabinet officers are home alone. It’s not accidental that few of them have a deputy, not to mention the legally established complement of assistant secretaries and deputy assistant secretaries—some 550 appointments the president makes and the Senate confirms. As of now, Defense Secretary James Mattis is the only newly confirmed official in the entire Pentagon leviathan, but the wars he has to fight and the crises he has to try to avert won’t wait until he gets his own staff. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also without a deputy, the one he wanted having been vetoed by Trump because he’d criticized him during the primaries. Such a consideration would rule out a great many potential presidential appointees. Tillerson is another tycoon who is more than a little lost in government. The generals whom Trump has appointed (three of them) are more accustomed to a political atmosphere and to dealing with elected politicians. This is no guarantee of success but they do tend to be less bewildered in their new positions of power. At least two other cabinet officials are under a legal cloud—Tom Price, secretary of Health and Human Services, for allegedly using his inside knowledge to fatten his financial portfolio while he was working on health legislation in the House; and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who allegedly lied during his confirmation hearings.
Yet the thinness of the ranks of officials to propose and implement the laws is actually also how Trump and his top aides want it. “A lot of those jobs, I don’t want to appoint someone because they’re unnecessary to have,” Trump said in late February. “In government, we have too many people.” Trump, Bannon, and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been particularly keen to keep control of the government in the White House. Kushner now has more assignments than any single figure known of in a modern White House and shows no inclination to devolve power. These people may well be taking on the impossible, and this would be true even if they’d had any government experience…
When the subject comes up, as it does incessantly in Washington, of whether in fact Trump will end up serving as president for four years, a major argument against his somehow having to leave office (for reasons other than health) is that he has a strong base. Richard Nixon also did, until he didn’t. Gradually, Nixon’s onetime backers became disenchanted for one reason or another; he still had support at the end, but it wasn’t strong enough to save him. How long will Trump’s base stick with him even in the face of seeing their hopes betrayed? This isn’t a fanciful question: a recent poll by Geoffrey Garin for Priorities USA, showed a ten-point drop in support among Trump voters in the third week in March (the week the health care bill failed).
A lot of Republicans who had deep misgivings about Trump went along with him before and after the election because they assumed that he could produce legislation dear to their hearts. But what if it turns out that he can’t? Politicians are highly pragmatic people; they will support a president as long as he isn’t too costly to them. But if he becomes too expensive to their own reelection, all bets are off. The discontent with Donald Trump on Capitol Hill runs very deep and also very wide. I’ve been told that upwards of two-thirds of the Senate Republicans, in particular, discuss—in the gym and in clusters on the Senate floor—their desire to see him gone. These senators talk rather openly—even with their Democratic colleagues—about their fear of Trump’s recklessly getting the country into serious danger, about the embarrassment he causes it in the world (his petulantly refusing to shake hands with Angela Merkel was just one example of his mishandling of foreign leaders), about his overall incompetence…
cervantes
Well, I’m not looking forward to president Pence. There’s just no way to unscrew us for at least 4 years.
amk
When these traitorous and cowardly thugs come out openly and say it forcefully, then they can earn a smidgen of respect. Otherwise, it’s all palace gossip.
ArchTeryx
@cervantes: Well, for two at least. If we actually beat the odds and take back the House in 2018, that brings a crashing halt to their agenda. The Senate won’t turn over in 2018. Period. There are just too few Republicans up for re-election. Even in the biggest wave, we mostly just keep what we have. But the entire House is up every 2 years, and as gerrymandered as it is, a big enough wave will wipe them out.
Of course, what we then get is a bunch of Blue Dogs from very red districts. Cue the whining and butthurt from the Purity Ponies all over again, ala 2009.
Это курам на смех
Copyright law much?
Thoroughly Pizzled
President Pelosi would not be the woman president I voted for, but I would be delighted to have her.
Adam L Silverman
Advisors, especially senior advisors, have only one real job: to tell the boss what he or she need to know. Not what they want to know. And certainly not what they want to hear. This should be done firmly, but politely. And once the boss makes the decision, if it is not in line with the advisor’s recommendation (preference), the advisor’s job is to work to effectively implement the decision while keeping his or her recommendation current for changing situations in case the decision is brought back up for reconsideration.
That is the job. Flat stop. I have done this for colonels running combat brigades. I’ve done it for three and four star generals. If you are unable and/or unwilling to do this you are not doing your job, you are not properly serving the boss, you are a poor leader and senior staffer, and you are wasting tax payer dollars.
Chris
Like I said a couple threads back, presidents who are lazy and ignorant aren’t exactly new, but mostly, that just meant that they laid back and let their staff and the professional political operatives run the show. Trump is worse on the laziness and ignorance front, but still insists on involving himself in the actual governing – by 3 AM tweet if nothing else.
Mike in NC
Insecure, paranoid 70-year-old man-baby tries to remake government in his own twisted image and fails.
SatanicPanic
@cervantes: Pence strikes me as dumb, but if there were a real crisis, just smart enough to let the professionals handle it. so slightly less terrible.
NotMax
“See, Junior? Ma and Pa weren’t spinning tall tales. Proof that slathering your steak with ketchup will make you insane.”
Yarrow
This family can’t be taken down soon enough.
Mike Furlan
@Это курам на смех: это спорный вопрос
hedgehog mobile
@amk: I’m with you. When they actually start talking impeachment or Article 25 then I’ll buy it.
SatanicPanic
@Yarrow: Only if the DNC doesn’t select Chelsea to run first!
SiubhanDuinne
@Это курам на смех:
The full piece is 30 paragraphs long. AL selected five.
Goku
@Adam L Silverman: It all starts at the top. Donald isn’t a good leader and never was. He’s always had yes men cover for him
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: Agreed. I don’t think anyone at New York Review of Books is going to complain about the link. But people, as they say, should read the whole thing!
Chris
@Goku:
A fish rots from the head.
Timurid
@Yarrow: He’d get stomped like a narc at a biker rally…
Adam L Silverman
@Goku: I am not arguing that.
randy khan
@ArchTeryx:
In 2006, the Dems held every Senate seat they had and won every race in a R-held state where there was any chance at all to win. So in a big wave, they could gain control of the Senate.
But I agree that the House is a better bet. Gerrymandering doesn’t work in a big wave election.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, this is one of the best descriptions of any senior, but not ultimate, leadership responsibility I have read. I used to say: advocate for a position until the decision is made, then be a soldier for that decision until it changes….
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman:
In other words, you’re perfect for the Trump administration.
NotMax
OT:
Or maybe not OT. The publisher can sell or donate the overstock to the White House for staff to while away the hours.
Goku
@Adam L Silverman: Never said you were. Just adding on to your observations
West of the Rockies (been a while)
I think there’s a bit if a pattern… Trump says or does something stupid and very swiftly there is some new IC revelation to knock him down again.
He’s crowing about Susan Rice now, evidently and yet again foisting “alternative facts” and crap analysis on the American public. Is it about time for other shoe #371 to drop?
Chyron HR
@NotMax:
Well ACTUALLY Adolf Hitler is an ancient Sanskrit symbol that represents auspiciousness in Hindu culture.
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: My German history prof in grad school in the 60s said that one reason Bismarck was so successful was because he demanded that those reporting the views of foreign governments report those views accurately. They were NOT to tell him what they thought he wanted to hear.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Это курам на смех:
That’s your big concern?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
A big part of having a staff is to have multiple eyes on a situation so that decisions aren’t made in a tunnel – this protects the ultimate decision maker as well as all those affected by a decision by insuring that more variables are considered. When we concentrate decisionmaking power, we magnify potential mistakes (and this includes my gripe about concentrating so much power in the wealthy).
ET
For his entire life he has been petted, cosseted, and told he was The Best. No way is he ever, ever going to admit that his administration and its problems, are of their and most importantly, his own making.
He has for decades thought he was The smartest person in any room – heck he thinks he is The smartest person. He knows more than everyone else. On ever topic. That he as The Best instincts. That he is Always right. And for all this time what was really going on was that there were always people around him to fix what he fucked up. Protect him from himself. Keep the truth from him. Encouraged him in the worst of his proclivities by obsequiousness. These people around him protecting him were family, lawyers, and general suck ups. Now we add people around him who are way smarter than him turning him into the Useful Idiot (think Putin) for their own purposes and he is too stupid about being used because he has spent so much time using others that it never occurs to him that there might be people better at it than he is. And all of those around that protect him, they are too cowed and dependent on staying in his good graces to point this out. Of course he wouldn’t believe it.
lollipopguild
@NotMax: Do you think that the staff would understand how color by number works?
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: From a theory perspective, where does the argument for effectiveness fall into place? If you know Boss has a hobbyhorse hardon for Topic X but is generally amenable to the real deal low down on Topics Y, Z, etc, do you tell Boss the hard truth as you analyze it on Topic X? Even if you know it will damage your ability to accurately cover all other Topics with Boss?
“I have told you before! Mac & Cheese is Mac & Cheese, only! I don’t care what you say about Lobster Mac & Cheese! And no, Lobster Boy, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say about North Korea’s nuclear program advancements!”
schrodingers_cat
@NotMax: RWNJ in India have a fascination with the guy with the funny mustache, like RWNJ pretty much anywhere else in the world.
@Chyron HR: Swastika is a Hindu symbol. The Hindu Swastika is not tilted at an angle and is red. Hitler appropriated it. Fuck Hitler.
Shana
@Chyron HR: I think you meant “swastika” not “Adolph Hitler.”
Corner Stone
Bannon is spinning like a top on this NSC removal stuff.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Why do you think Kelly has been so horrific as the DHS head?
Did you hear his exchange with Kamala Harris?
lollipopguild
@ET: You are 100% correct, the question becomes how do we keep him from damaging/destroying the country?
MoxieM
@SatanicPanic: Mrs. Pence is the Prayer Warrior ™ . She’ll handle it!
liberal
@SiubhanDuinne: Also, the selected piece is one that’s not paywall-protected; some at NYRB, OTOH, are. So it seems hard to believe they’d care that much.
NotMax
@Chyron HR
Many, many cultures and societies used various depictions of the gammadion or swastika going far, far back into antiquity, not just on the sub-continent.
But then that’s not the point, is it?
SatanicPanic
Why does TPM employ John Judis?
Right. OK Mr Judis. Dumbass.
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: This has, essentially, been my job for the better part of a decade.
Major Major Major Major
@liberal: also this blog isn’t really a for-profit enterprise or using the excerpt to sell anything… five non-contiguous paragraphs from a long piece is fine.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I can’t speak for anyone else. My approach is to serve as an honest broker. There are ways to do this without burning yourself. Politeness, appropriate respect and deference. Demonstrating that when the decision goes against you that you are professionally working to implement, not undermine. That sort of thing.
? Martin
Things are going great for Republicans:
The GOP takeover of Narnia continues unabated.
Major Major Major Major
@SatanicPanic: just clicked through–what did I just read? Was that even edited?
Feebog
Trump isn’t leaving positions open throughout the government because they are unneeded. They are open because no one wants to work for him. Or for any of his cronies. This is going to bite him in the ass eventually, and almost surely at a critical moment.
amk
a fucking phony. always has been. always will be.
satby
@SatanicPanic: a better word would have been cunning, not smart.
Based on your except, I didn’t read the piece.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t know and I didn’t. I do not know him and my one close friend/colleague that served with him and knows him well doesn’t want to talk about it (I think it upsets him, so I’ve let it drop from conversation). I think there are three likely possibilities:
1) Secretary Kelly hasn’t made the mental adjustment away from being Gen. Kelly and is approaching his current assignment not as a cabinet secretary, but as a general officer responding to orders from his Commander in Chief.
2) Secretary Kelly is an anti-undocumented immigrant hardliner and agrees with the policy the President has proposed.
3) A combination of the two.
I have no way to determine which, if any, of these three possibilities it may be.
tobie
@SatanicPanic: Regarding Judis: he’s been one wretched bag of butt-hurt since the primary. A total drip. Saw his post yesterday about his conversation with a construction guy an wanted to puke. It reminded me of David Brooks making sweeping statements about conversations he had at the Applebee’s salad bar–conversation that of course confirmed his preconceived notions.
SatanicPanic
@Major Major Major Major: It’s so chocked full of BS. He’s suggesting that Trump appointing his daughter and son-in-law to positions is a move to the center. WTF. I don’t know why I read it- I normally just ignore his columns because they suck.
Yarrow
@SatanicPanic: “Very smart” is quite a stretch. Trump does have a certain kind of skill or ability to see people’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities and highlight them (nicknames) in a way that sticks and can be damaging. It’s a skill bullies have and Trump is a bully.
rikyrah
@ArchTeryx:
There are 23 GOPers in districts that Hillary won.
We can get these seats. And, bring the House to a grinding halt.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, this describes everyone around Dolt45
NotMax
@Yarrow
Orange Foolius.
hilts
@cervantes:
Even if Pence is only slightly less batshit crazy than Trump, it would still represent an improvement.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
BWA HA HA HA H HAH A HA HA HA HA
gvg
I mentioned a while back that if enough GOP Congressmen were serious about how bad Trump is, even if they knew the day he was elected, they still would have to wait “awhile” before impeaching him or else be perceived as overturning democratic elections. Basically the voters did pick this obvious duffous (caveat about the electoral college, but it is our accepted method). Any smart Congressman knew he was dangerously stupid before the election but clearly the voters didn’t. Remember how Walker beat the recall was because enough democratic voters and even republicans who were hurt by Walker, still thought an election should not be overturned.
Now the President has Nukes and a lot of other power, and the founders were cautious about power so we do recognize that it can be necessary, the question is when will enough of the electorate accept that result. Too soon and we might see a wave election against all the people who voted for it, or just too much civil unrest. The new President would certainly be largely powerless for the next crisis and we might fall into a pattern of tit for tat removal of other elected presidents.
I think we might have to wait for something like an actual bungled crisis….Trumps Katrina, which will naturally given his incompetence, be much worse than Katrina, shudder. If you believe in democracy being the best way, you have to accept losing an election sometimes. I think the GOP lost the primary……in a sense. They have multiple interest groups (as do all successful parties) and one fraction won at the expense of all the others. I don’t know what that party needs to do but when there is enough proof of the need to remove Trump that enough of the electorate accept, then they can act. Nobody has experience at judging exactly when this will happen so it’s guesswork. Even though democratic voters hate him, I am not sure enough of us would have been ok with impeaching him right away.
His failure to actually pass anything delays deciding some people though I am not anxious to see anything pass. Stalemate is better than I hoped for. I can’t think of anything convincing enough to cause impeachment action that isn’t really horrible and maybe even deadly, so I don’t want to see the next steps. I don’t ever watch or read the horror genre. this waiting is hard.
rikyrah
@amk:
TRUTH
Goku
@rikyrah: I know right? There’s a doom and gloomer downstairs who I can’t convince that this is tilting at windmills for Junior
the Conster, la Citoyenne
RIP USA
Corner Stone
Ahhh, finally! Some comity returns to the US Senate!
GregB
@Yarrow:
Run Donnie, run!
Thru the Looking Glass...
What did they expect, taking a job w/ someone’s whose prior experience was fronting a successful reality television show?
Self-inflicted wound… I’d expect to see a lot of them, over the next couple of years…
? Martin
@rikyrah: Yep. We’ve got 4 GOP reps here in Orange County that went for Clinton. 3 now have challengers. My district just got a 2nd good challenger. Winning all 4 will be a heavy lift, but I bet we can get at least 2. In terms of taking the house back, CA is going to have to carry its weight here, but we need to win these special elections as well. That’s the best opportunity to pick up red seats with low turnout elections.
rikyrah
ot from a previous thread:
Do they have any way that you can question about things at the Blacksonian, aka the new African American History Museum at the Smithsonian.
Immanentize
@? Martin: And do not underestimate the ‘retirement’ factor. Congresscritters retire at full pay and benefits. If it looks like there is fixing to be a wave election against the Republicans, more and more will decide they want to spend more time with their lovely families on their ranch. The DNC must be ready to exploit these opportunities with good (if imperfect) candidates.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@hilts:
I have to agree…whilst I don’t get any close to a good vibe from Pence either, I don’t see Mike starting WW III via a 3 am Twitter flame war w/ Kim Jong-Un…
The Moar You Know
@schrodingers_cat: Also Buddhist, and virtually every single aboriginal/native culture we’ve found remnants of. Not to mention American – commonly used in building motifs before the 1930s (there’s a lovely bar in SF where the trim is interlocking swastikas), sports team insignia and good-luck charms.
Fuck Hitler indeed. He stole a valuable symbol from peoples who have used the swastika for hundreds of thousands of years as a good-luck symbol and turned it into the flag for murderous shitheads worldwide.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Great suggestion, thanks!
Cermet
@Chyron HR: You mean the Nazi swastika symbol was a twisted copy of the ancient Hindu symbol (which was also found in the American southwest painted by an ancient Indian people (not those Indians, however …) Last I check, the ancient Hindu texts did not depict Hitler …lol
SatanicPanic
@? Martin: Any thoughts on who is better- Applegate or Levin?
ETA- to replace Issa
bemused
@Adam L Silverman:
I think Trump is incapable of listening to and processing information he needs to know from legit advisors. Everything he hears and sees is filtered through his massive ego system into whatever he wants it to be.
MJS
@Adam L Silverman: Trump and everyone near him is a grifter. They have no concern with “wasting taxpayers’ money” anymore than a typical scam artist is concerned with the impact on his scam on his victims.
MJS
@bemused: I do not believe anyone who works for Trump for more than a week is a “legit advisor”.
Roger Moore
@ArchTeryx:
Which means a real investigation of trump et. al., and third in line for the presidency is a Democrat.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
At his confirmation hearing, do you mean? Or was there something more recent?
Beatrice G Blacklow
@SatanicPanic: But there are no professionals in the White House. A staff shake-up would unleash all those ‘anonymous sources’ to comment, and perhaps testify as to what Pence knew and when he knew it. He must keep the bumblers, kleptocrats and fascists that Trump hired.
liberal
@Major Major Major Major: re fair use, you’re preaching to the quoir.
hilts
@Yarrow:
There aren’t enough dumb New Yorkers for this idiot to get elected.
bemused
@MJS:
True because anyone telling him like it is would be booted out in no time.
Roger Moore
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
This is the basic problem with authoritarian government. Advocates claim it clears away pointless argument and lets the government focus on getting work done. The problem is that this clears the way for disastrously bad decision making just as much as brilliant decision making, and one real disaster can undo all the good work of decades of great decisions.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
Yeah, and I’m eyeing the supermodels in the SI Swimsuit edition.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
@rikyrah: Email: [email protected]. Email the Blacksonian department in charge of accepting/evaluating objects. You’re welcome.
Shinobi
So Katie Walsh is an alumae of my small private religious high school. There was CONSIDERABLE drama among her fellow alums on facebook when she was “Congratulated” for joining the Trump white house. I am not saying that this has anything what so ever to do with her leaving, but I’m glad to hear it. (Though I heard she was going to work for America First and the RNC so not much of an improvement.)
I certainly hope she wasn’t treated badly, but I’m also disappointed to even have met someone who joined the Trump white house only briefly.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion:
I was the one who put out the original call for advice/suggestions, and I’m very glad to have this link. Many thanks.
StringOnAStick
@ET: Excellent assessment, ET.
Semi-OT: some family losses, some surgeries and mostly this election really sent me around the bend so I finally started seeing a therapist again. During the intake appointment she noted that a lot of old patients who suffered from narcissistic and/or abusive parents have also been deeply triggered by drumph’s election and are back in therapy; her colleagues are seeing it too. I was glad to know it isn’t just me but sad to know so many are affected too.
Which brings me to a story I heard part of on Here and Now yesterday about rt wing ranchers in some red part of CA and how they loved the idiot’s deregulation idea since they as ranchers loved their land and don’t need regulations to care for it properly. One woman said she was in constant fear when Obama was president, wanting to take her guns and letting all those illegals in, so it is just too bad if liberals were scared now since she was scared for 8 years. Funny how her fears are all crap from the puke funnel, and our fears spend most of their time in reality.
pk
Pity that they can’t put their country above their party and speak up.
ruemara
@Yarrow: HAHAHAHAHAH! Hell, no, you inbred, turnip-faced, speculum collection discharge spawn of a motherfucker.
D58826
@ArchTeryx:
Who will return the gavel to Nancy. As she showed on the upside and ZEGS is showing on the downside the Speaker has the keys to the legislative scheduling kingdom. I suspect that she can work with the blue dogs. The bernie bros will have a fit but at this point so what. There simply are not enough Bernie Bros in enough districts to hold the House majority. The 2009-2010 blue dogs helped pass Obamacare. I don’t remember seeing all that many pre-Bernie Bros around to pass single payer. In fact in 2016 two single-payer type initiatives, backed by Bernie went down to defeat. One was in CO and the other Calif. From what I rad they outcome wasn’t even close and Hillary carried both states.
D58826
@StringOnAStick:
Wonder who they will get to work in the fields, dirt cheap, once ICE deports all of the undocumented workers?
ruemara
@D58826: A blue dog dem is better than the worst republican. That’s just a fact.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Adam L Silverman: This! All of this!
Thanks for the flashback to my first deployment to Iraq, btw. Had a company commander that never wanted to hear what I had to say. Led to some embarrassment for the both of us, but mostly me.
D58826
@Chris:
A lot less dangerous, at least internationally, when it was President Buchanan or Garfield
StringOnAStick
@D58826: Yep, or why I should believe that they’ll be such fabulous stewards of the land and water without regulatory supervision. You know, tragedy of the Commons and all that, plus I saw it with my own lyin’ eyes when I was an environmental geologist. Ranchers think they are the chosen people of sterling integrity and independence when in reality they are heavy on the government teet.
D58826
@StringOnAStick: There was a news article a few years back about a ranch family that was upset that the grazing fees on public land were going up. They still were less than the fees on private land but the family was put out anyway. Besides according to the family they had made ‘improvements’ on the public land such as roads, irrigation ditches, etc. They never did explain of what earthly value these ‘improvements’; were to any one but themselves. I seriously doubt that the local rattle snake or coyote populations were demanding new roads.
artem1s
@Yarrow:
BWHAHAHAHAHAHA cannot wait for NYers to get a chance to show Husay how much they hate his father.
Roger Moore
@ruemara:
A blue dog dem is better than the best Republican.
Jay C
@Adam L Silverman:
OK, that’s gonna permanently disqualify YOU, Adam, from a job in the Trump White House. AFAICT, “not contradicting The Boss in the least way ever” is the new WH watchword. Well, that and “Blame Obama“……
Jay C
@gvg:
OK: how about that good old-fashioned standby, “personal financial corruption”? Trump’s personal business dealings – even on the surface – seem to make a blatant mockery of any standards of “ethics” as usually interpreted. Of course, the problem is that the definitions of that offense, still less its serious enforcement, are unfortunately subject to interpretation by political, rather than legal authorities, but it could at least provide a handy excuse to boot his bloated orange backside out of office. However, this would assume that Congress would be actually willing to think of the good of the country over partisan power and/or gain: a BIG assumption to make…..
D58826
CNN is reporting that Der Fuhrer has told members of Congress that the is considering military action in Syria because of the poison gas attack.
Peter H Desmond
the elizabeth drew essay was a good catch! thank you.
gvg
@Jay C: It’s the lack of will that make me say no impeachment yet. Trump has done any number of things that should cause impeachment but haven’t. His financial corruption was mostly known before the election so impeaching him for it is essentially overturning a democratic election. the voters knew and voted for him anyway. It has to be something he actually did and did after the election or at least wasn’t known until after. There have been more Russian connections revealed but the basic knowledge was known.
When I say a Katrina, i do mean something like a hurricane, earthquake or terrorist attack and a bungled response. I wonder what his proposed budget does to FEMA funding? I hadn’t heard but I bet it cuts funding. Chances are that will bite him soon.
patrick tolle
@Adam L Silverman: Anybody above E-6 is a waste of taxpayer money, certainly colonels and generals are.
SiubhanDuinne
@gvg:
In the budget that was released a couple of weeks ago, DHS got a 7% increase. But that, and much of the existing baseline, would go to build the Wall and hire hundreds or thousands of additional ICE and Border Patrol agents.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: More recent. DHS is going to keep arresting the undocumented at the court houses, according to Kelly, even if they are there to testify.
No Drought No More
“They came to work for the president but found themselves working for Donald Trump.”
Hunter Thompson said something similar about the aides to 1972 presidential candidate (and Ibogaine junkie) Edmund Muskie. He wrote (and I paraphrase): “They never knew from day-to-day if they would be dealing with Abraham Lincoln or Bobo The Clown”.
Sanjeevs
@Shinobi: There were some reports that Katie Walsh was fired from the WH because she leaked the story about Nunes and Cohen-Watnick. So although she came for the grifting she couldn’t stomach the treason