So Trump managed to get himself some positive points this week by theoretically standing up to the NRA. But we must emphasize the “theoretical” part because it wasn’t all that long ago that Trump was endeavoring to make nice to the Democrats and making positive noises about immigration…until he threw all of that under the bus, screwed over DACA, and started talking about šhìŧhølë countries. His talk is fine, but all the NRA has to do is apply pressure and Trump will back down. Meanwhile he’s been busy in other ways.
1) Steel Crazy After All These Years.. Trump announced that he was going to implement a tariff of 25 percent on imported steel and ten percent on aluminum. Naturally this caused the stock market to plummet once again as investors feared retaliation from China which is almost certainly guaranteed. Republicans, including Paul Ryan, are asking Trump to reconsider because of the likely consequences of his actions, but at this point it seems unlikely that he will. Which means we can wind up in a trade war (his words) with other countries, but without the resources to win it. Everyone from farmers to our own manufacturers could be crippled as a result of subsequent fall out, but Trump is perfectly happy to allow a massive tariff war because he thinks it’s good for business.
2). Shouldn’t they be on the same side? . Trump once again launched an attack on his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, declaring that Sessions had no business asking the Inspector General to investigate potential FISA violations over surveillance. It of course makes sense that Trump would try to change the subject: Robert Mueller’s investigation is drawing closer, his beloved Hope Hicks has joined the endless number of people who have resigned, and son in law Jared Kushner had his level of security clearance dropped to the same level as people who work in the kitchen and below that of the White House calligrapher. So it’s natural that Trump wants to draw attention from a monumentally chaotic week by bìŧçhìņg about Sessions, to whom he referred as Mr. Magoo. This was of course an idiotic comparison. Most people below the age of forty haven’t the slightest idea who Mr. Magoo was. And anyone over the age of forty knows that Magoo, with his tendency to blindly (literally) walk into the middle of dangerous situations, make things far worse with his participation, and then pat himself on the back and declare, “Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again!” far more closely resembles Trump than Sessions. If Jim Backus, the brilliant actor who provided Magoo’s voice (not to mention Thurston Howell on “Gilligan’s Island”) were still alive, I’m sure he’d be fast tracked into providing some manner of animated response.
3). Dead from D.C., it’s Saturday Night!. Trump once again was stupid enough to try waging a Twitter war with Alec Baldwin, the man who is so convincing as Trump that newspapers have inadvertently run pictures of Baldwin’s impersonation of Trump rather than Trump himself. It was actually pretty hilarious because he cited Baldwin’s stating that the impersonation was painful, to which Baldwin responded that he was willing to endure the pain so that he could keep doing it during Trump’s inevitable impeachment and departure from the office. If SNL were smart, they would have Baldwin on SNL complaining about Alec Baldwin’s impersonation of him. And he could be voicing his frustration to an assortment of actual former Trump staffers who were fired or quit. Cap it with Hillary Clinton walking in and sharing her sympathy. It just couldn’t get more meta than that.
4). Shooting off his mouth again. . Trump shocked the GOP with a meeting on Wednesday, broadcast live, in which he basically transformed into what the GOP and Trump just a year ago claimed was Hillary Clinton’s attitude. Trump advocated passing stricter gun laws, upping the age at which you could buy them, and even taking them away from people who are suspected of being nuts and then subsequently going after them in court. Dianne Feinstein, who was seated next to him and has been advocating just those things for quite some time, was grinning like a loon. But forty eight hours later: NRA representatives came out of a meeting with him assuring their patrons that they shouldn’t worry about it; Trump has suddenly been silent about gun control; and Mitch McConnell declared that there would be NO debate about guns in the Senate because they were too busy gutting banking laws so that consumers will be roundly screwed over.
Did he do anything right?. He tried, with guns. The problem is this: Trump hates conflict. He hates having people yelling at him or being angry with him. This is why he will always reflect the opinion of whoever he just met with. Indeed, it’s why he seemed much happier running for president than actually BEING president. He’s already planning his 2020 run even though it’s only 2018. I’ve never heard of anyone planning that far ahead. But he’s doing it because that’s the only time he is really pleased. He’s surrounded by thousands of people cheering him and accepting blindly everything he says.
PAD
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Remember, Trump’s business model is to refuse to pay his bills and force people to take him to court, so that they’ll end up settling for a fraction of what they’re actually owed. And now Trump has decided, as feared, that this is how America should be run. In the past, the inevitable conclusion has been for Trump to end up in bankruptcy. I do not imagine this is going to go any better for the US.
Peter David: Jared Kushner had his level of security clearance dropped to the same level as people who work in the kitchen…
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People in the kitchen have Secret-level clearance? What do they need that for, to protect the KFC buckets and taco bowls that they dump onto the silver platters that get delivered to the West Wing residence?
Secret sauce, Luigi. Can’t have the Russians know they’re the source of the secret sauce.
It’s people! Soylent Sauce is PEOPLE!
Baby people. And kittens. With puppies’ tears as seasoning.
PAD wrote
“He’s already planning his 2020 run even though it’s only 2018.”
Actually, Trump started planning his 2020 run LAST SUMMER. (Which will be hilarious if another Supreme Court seat should become vacant–preferably Thomas or Alito–since Dems have McConnell’s precedent to filibuster ANY attempt at filling the seat. If Dems really wanted to play hardball, they could filibuster EVERY nomination–for ANY position–since Trump’s declared himself to be in “campaign mode.”)
“If Dems really wanted to play hardball”
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Dems playing hardball? Hehe. You’re funny.
I’m just jaded enough to think that in some way, Trump is leveraged to reap benefits from a trade war.
I’m just jaded enough to think that in some way, Trump is leveraged to get financial benefit from a trade war.
It wasn’t Trump but some good friends of his that sold all their shares in various steel companies right before the announcement
“ I’ve never heard of anyone planning that far ahead.”
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Hold on, I’m trying to picture Trump actually planning anything, let alone planning ahead.
He has to plan ahead. How else would he know what ideas to steal and claim as his own?
And did you hear today, he contacted the president of China and congratulated him for removing term limits from the Chinese government, stating (ONLY SLIGHTLY paraphrased) “President for life! We should try that here!”
. . . Yes, he really said that.
I just spent the last five minutes saying “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! AAAHH?? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Inconceivable (if it was anyone else). Can the impeachment proceed now?
That word . . . I do not think it means . . . .
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. . . Yeah, nope. Don’t even have the capacity to joke about it right now. I stopped laughing about him even before the election.
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My own mother literally writes a regular political comic with her husband, almost weekly, about our dinosaur of a president, T-Rump (has for the entire year+ thus far), and I can’t bring myself to read ANY of them, because I can’t laugh about any of it. THAT’S how far gone I am, on this subject.
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*heavy sigh*