A phenomenon of Trumpland caused by corrosive dishonesty means that all kinds of things are believable as having taken place, and/but advisers sometimes attribute their interpretation of what he’s thinking/wished-for outcomes to him instead of to themselves.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 28, 2018
One might be vaguely sympathetic, Maggie, if only those poor sad souls hadn’t fought so hard to get exactly where they are now!… or if the GOP collapse wasn’t hurting so many innocents outside the Golden Tent. Gabriel Sherman, at Vanity Fair, ““Trump Is Nuts. This Time Really Feels Different””:
After Michael Cohen’s plea deal last week, Donald Trump spiraled out of control, firing wildly in all directions. He railed against “flippers” in a rambling Fox & Friends interview, and lashed out on Twitter at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department, and Robert Mueller. In the wake of his outbursts, White House officials have discussed whether Trump would listen to his closest New York City friends in an effort to rein him in. Two sources briefed on the matter told me that senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump’s New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an “intervention” last week. “It was supposed to be a war council,” one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said. “You know Trump—he hates being lectured to,” the source added. (Spokespeople for LeFrak and Lorber say they have no knowledge of a meeting. A spokesperson for Barrack didn’t comment.)
More than ever, Trump is acting by feeling and instinct. “Trump is nuts,” said one former West Wing official. “This time really feels different.” Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine has privately expressed concern, a source said, telling a friend that Trump’s emotional state is “very tender.” Even Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are unsettled that Trump is so gleefully acting on his most self-destructive impulses as his legal peril grows. According to a source, Jared and Ivanka told Trump that stripping security clearances from former intelligence officials would backfire, but Trump ignored them. Kushner later told a friend Trump “got joy” out of taking away John Brennan’s clearance. His reaction to the death of John McCain—quashing a White House statement in praise of the senator, and restoring White House flags to full staff—falls into the same self-indulgent category…
… “He spent the weekend calling people and screaming,” one former White House official said. According to sources, the president feels cornered with no clear way out. His months-long campaign to get Sessions to resign—so that Trump could appoint a new A.G. who would shut down the Russia probe—not only failed to get Sessions to step down, but it’s caused him to dig in, as evidenced by Sessions’s rare statement asserting the independence of the Justice Department. “Trump knows at least through the midterms he won’t get another A.G.,” a former White House official said…
Inside the West Wing, a sense of numbness and dread has set in among senior advisers as they gird for what Trump will do next. “It’s a return to the abyss,” said one former official who’s in frequent contact with the White House. “This is back to being a one-man show, and everyone is on the outside looking in.”…
Hey, GOP, remember the proverb about “falling into the pit one had dug for another?”...
There's this! Trump surrounds himself with yes people who are enablers. I had him pegged from the beginning. ? pic.twitter.com/0eaDbmnGKB
— Kimberly (@KimmyLou7) August 28, 2018
‘Trumpland’ Open Thread: Down Among the Self-OwnersPost + Comments (95)