Were it any other elected or hired position in government or in business, this amoral, immoral, congenital and pathological liar would have long ago been shown the door, and his hat tossed out behind him. In all likelihood, he would never have gotten past the HR receptionist in the first place.
The Peter Principle has been repealed. Incompetence is now supreme.
17
Trump is a liar and cannot be trusted.
But so was George W. Bush.
And I remember a President named Barack Obama who promised to end the wars. He was a good, decent, man and President- but he lied too.
I do not care who the President sleeps with.
I want the wars to end. I want to prevent another US war in Syria. Both political parties are addicted to war.
I want illegal immigration to stop.
If Trump ends the wars, prevents a US war in Syria and enforces immigration law he will be the best President in the last 30 years- despite all his many faults.
6
Advice to fellow Democrats: Calm down, everyone. It is not Armageddon yet. Trump has amazing resilience. His followers have amazing faith in him. The GOP has truly amazing levels of cowardice and opportunism. Add it all together: It's going to be a long time till Trump is gone. And if, by some weird chance, we could force Trump out, we'd have Mike Pence as president -- and he'll be worse. Trump is stupid and ineffective. Pence is smart and an experienced political operator. So let's slow down. Take a big breath and slow down.
4
As usual, brilliantly written and 100% true. We need people like you to sufficiently scare us.
4
The entire Constitution is built and maintained on a foundation of checks and balances, but now that foundation shows serious fissures, mostly due to the craven and cowardly jackhammering of the goose-stepping Republicans — though the Dems haven't exactly pulled the plug on those weapons of democratic destruction. I keep hoping a solid group of legislators who actually care about our institutions more than keeping the Citizens United floodgates pouring money into their machines would rise up and mount a meaningful challenge to this demented despot, but it looks like we citizens will have to take care of it at the polls. We will still have pools in November, right?
5
These are the stories we'll look back on after the impeachment, after he leaves office.
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency..."
In the 18th century, Trump would have been the village idiot, not president.
"If America must be damaged for him to escape unscathed, he will take that bargain without batting an eye."
Trump has made it clear that like a one-time French king he believes "l'état, c'est moi." He believes that if he goes down, that IS the destruction of America.
Donnie the First believes he is or at least should be the absolute monarch of the US. As such, all departments of the government exist to support and protect him. Most important of all to Trump is the Justice Department. Trump hasn't been at all subtle about his belief that the Attorney General's job is to "protect" him, i.e., Trump. That protection would allow Trump to act unimpeded by trivialities like the law and the norms of both democracy and a civil society.
For America to survive without sustaining critical damage, it is important the Trump "fall," by which I mean he must be held accountable for all his criminal behavior, including such "high crimes and misdemeanors" that would and rightly should result in his impeachment and removal from office.
4
"If America must be damaged for him to escape unscathed, he will take that bargain without batting an eye." You are absolutely correct Mr. Blow. Thanks for your continued spotlight on this slow moving Saturday Night Massacre.
5
Unfortunately, there stands far and few in between actions by the President that would drive a wedge between he and his base. His mealy mouthed Republican enablers are terrified by that control in which he has come to garner, presently, some 87% support of registered Republicans. Trump can only lose his base by some fatal betrayal such as, speaking out against intolerance or denouncing white nationals and alt right for the seditionists they truly are, or most definitely for some action such as supporting the focus of what Black Lives Matters truly embraces (the fact that Black lives matter as much not more than other groups). All of the aforementioned actions would create an unbridgeable chasm between he and his supporters, nothing else.
2
I believe that the blame for the political crisis we are in today lies entirely with the Republican Party.
By supporting such an unqualified and deplorable candidate as Trump in the first place, the Republicans insulted not only American citizens whose values Trump disparaged but also, our allies all over the world who felt betrayed and abandoned by his rhetoric and disrespect.
The nomination of Trump should have been aborted at their convention!
But, no one really thought he could ever win — expect Putin and Cambridge Analytica — who continue to celebrate the success of their political experiment on a day to day, tweet by tweet basis.
They won’t be fooled again. Or, will they?
4
Yes, but think like Trump. He thinks like a reality TV machine. And what would make for the biggest, most over the top drake? A trial! Trump wants a trial! He doesn’t really want to fire Mueller, because it would deprive him of his chance to be on trial, live-streaming ala OJ, only for this great, great trial, the entire world will be watching!
Trump will waive his right to an attorney. He doesn’t need an attorney! Trump speaks for Trump! The trial will proceed, and the streets in front of the courthouse will fill with loyal Trumpistas. They believe! And Donald J. Trump will present himself as a beleaguered Messiah, and US Justice as the Romans, and he will be convicted.
And President Pence will pardon him. And lo, Trump will lead his flock into the American West, like others before him. And they will follow! Some of them, anyway. And Trump will live out his days, worshipped as a god by more than 50 million people..and the citizens of Wyoming who can still remember voting for him will sorely, sorely regret their decision.
I beliee that the old comic strip, "Pogo", is the source of the following: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Trump and his coterie of GOP enablers have done more to undermine American democracy and the rule of law than the Russians or anyone else has accomplished, all done with the support of his blind, deaf and dumb (in both senses of that word) followers. Trump does not have Nixon's intellect but he does have an innate sense of playing with the truth and public sentiment to divert, deflect and dissemble. The Mueller investigation and that going on in New York's southern district will likely uncover the whole sordid mess of Trump's finances, dalliances, hush payments and thuggery done on his part. Poor Michael Cohen did not even realize that describing himself as Trump's Ray Donovan was not a good idea. We will know how many hundreds of millions of debt he owes to Russian oligarchs, stand-ins for his bestie Putin, the reason he will not say a word against him. Putin has played Trump like the KGB master spy he is. This will end badly not just for Trump. The GOP will be rightfully scorned as his accomplices. His followers will come to understand that they have been played. And perhaps Melania will leave her gilded cage and take Baron with her. We can only hope for the moment that we see the helicopter leaving the WH grounds and taking Trump to his ignominious exile, facing not just impeachment but also criminal charges.
2
"And it is by no means clear that his cowardly Republican accomplices in Congress would do anything to prevent or punish him."
I'm not sure that the Republicans are acting out of cowardice or with tacit approval. I think that Mr. Trump is where the Republican party has been headed for quite some time - there may be some embarrassment that Mt. Trump got them there sooner than planned, but the negation of democratic principles and the rule of law will set up the true new world order: a government of money, by money and for money.
5
If only "actual documentary evidence" worked on the base and most Republicans, we would not be in the perilous situation we're in now - with trump and climate change and deficits, and education, and guns, and health care, and ....
Trump just thought once he took the oath he could then run roughshod over the Constitution and figure a way to become tyrant for life - like other "smarter" countries with great dictators have. Why not? If we are dumb enough to elect him POTUS we're dumb enough to let him become our dear leader. Except the majority did not vote for him!
Now that we have "actual documentary evidence" that characters like trump and a one party rule not interested in exercising their responsibilities for the common good can be elected to power, we need new laws even a new amendment or two that will fix these flaws.
We can start by eliminating the Electoral college, or allowing the popular vote to override the Electoral College. We can no longer have one party rule elected by a minority vote running roughshod without any consideration at all for the will of the majority. Indeed, the majority does not matter to the GOP.
Next we need to address a vindictive party from withholding a SCOTUS nominee indefinitely cheating the currently elected POTUS of an appointment.
Trump believes in MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) - as long as he is the only one who gets an out alive. The rest of us don't matter (isn't that the GOP motto?).
1
What if the people still support him (40% of voters?) do know, or suspect, his various 'secrets'?
Suppose they know just how ugly & unvirtuous he is, but support him because of all of it, the 'all is fair in war & politics as long as its approved by Hannity' syndrome?
What then would this reveal about his supporters, their virtuousness or lack, the tactics they're willing to employ in their war on 'secular progressives', 'liberals', 'social justice warriors', 'feminazis' & the whole side of the USA they've been at war with since secession of confederate states?
If this faction sustains Trump despite the revelations thus far, is it likely they abandon him because the 'deep state' is conducting a coup against their golden god who evangelicals have already mulliganized & forgiven because he's decreed to be god's messenger?
Trumpism is a belief system, it's not rational or reasonable, they believe.
If their savior is taken down, do his followers not start shooting?
I think journalists need to further investigate the Trumpist mindset & find out if & why they would militantly support him even if his con is further exposed.
2
He is probably betting that Congress would rather he stay in office than see the Republic implode.
1
"If he's going down, the whole system is going down with him." Exactly. That's why it's crazy...crazy...to allow Trump to amass a formidable military force (AKA, his Veterans Day parade) in Washington D.C. around the time of the midterm elections so Benedict Donald can stage a military coup.
4
“A republic, if you can keep it.” We are now testing the "can." Some reponders in the thread have kind of found fault with the founders in writing the constitution not to have included provisions which would protect us from demagogues like Trump. Leave it to old Ben Franklin to for warn us of the perils of a republic,
3
Trump needn't fear ignominy; he has already achieved it.
2
"If he's [Trump's] going down, the whole system is going down with him."
No - it isn't. Just watch.
2
As much as I wish for this guy to be finally and fully found out, I think he is so slippery and we just never know. True, with his lawyer being investigated it falls naturally that some important things will be found out but he has escaped in the past and others have taken the fall. Whatever happens, this nation will take a while to repair the damage done by him. Not to mention the mouses in congress and the senate who will not stand up and be counted. The difference between now and Watergate is that Nixon's party demanded the truth whereas what we have now is a bunch of wimps. I try hard to rationalize their behavior, have told myself that perhaps they are doing what they think their constituents expect in supporting Trump, but that doesn't justify sacrificing this great nation, especially since it's impossible to imagine there are not those who did not support Trump ... what about them, don't they deserve representation? No, I think they are purely and selfishly putting themselves above country. Shame on them ... hope the kids coming up will vote them out!
Indeed Trump is a wounded animal that will lash out at anyone to ensure his political survival. He will lean on his accomplices in the Congress and Senate. The GOP forgets that they serve the Nation and not the president. The base has been thoroughly brainwashed to the point that there only response is drool coming from their mouths while shouting, "Lock Her Up!" Their glazed over eyes only tune into Fox News a state run propaganda outlet working on behalf of Trump. They have openly called for Mueller's and Rosenstein's jobs based on nothing than the fact that their patron may be soon heading towards an impeachment hearing.
2
Wow. Such an amazing summation of the ludicrous deeds and actions we are subjected to every day. My only hope is for impeachment (or tarring and feathering), yet my hopes mean nothing.
3
I am stunned by some of the comments. Trump is by far the scariest person in the most important role in our country's history. Mr. Blow spells out the situation we are in with clarity. Terrifying.
3
Trump is a symptom of how woefully outmoded our Constitution has become. The Founders did, I think, anticipate that an unscrupulous buffoon would seek the presidency. But they expected that the Electoral College, as originally conceived, would not seat him. Trump’s immunity from blame represents the widespread popular contempt in which our dysfunctional government is held by much of the population. I hope and pray that a blue tsunami might bring us back from the brink of ruin.
3
My hopes are the 2018 election will clip his wings.
My want is that the real history and constitutional bases and civics of our country will be taught in our schools again. Education and understanding is what a democracy stands on and it is perpetuated by critical thinking skills developed from childhood on.
In the mean time, we cannot be brought down by ignorant partisan politics, we need the truth from all who are supposed to represent us, we the people and not big business or corporations.
3
There seems to be a chorus of Trump supporters urging him to fire Rosenstein now. It should be clear that this is obstruction of justice. It is retribution for doing his job, and acting within the rule of law. If Trump had grand jury judges reporting to him, they would be fired.
In all of Trump's legal tangles, he would have loved to be able to fire judges and prosecutors who ruled against him. Ruling against Trump has always meant they must be biased. Despite all of his legal fights, he has never learned the hazards or been punished for destroying evidence, witness tampering, bribery, all of the mob-like acts that comprise obstruction. I guess Roy Cohn taught him you could get away with that stuff.
While it is important for Mueller's team to continue their work, Trump must also be made to understand that firing Rosenstein is another count against him. It will not make him any more popular, and instead make him look even more guilty. I would not be surprised to see John Kelly go with Rosenstein.
Trump's supporters may egg him on to firing Rosenstein, but the nature of their game is like a fight manager urging their batter fighter back into the ring to throw one or two more punches to the opponent's jaw. The final takedown will be that much worse.
I disagree that the founding fathers never imagined a figure like Trump coming to power. The colonies had just separated themselves from a monarchy! They understood human nature and the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution is their precise realization that in fact a Trump could exist. That’s why the courts have been a burr in Trump's britches since day one of his presidency. The problem with Congress is that it lacks the political will to reign in Trump. And the lack of political will is ultimately derived from a large plurality of our populace putting its faith in someone who proclaims that he alone can fix the problem. The founders understood that all the checks and balances in the world won’t matter if the democratic foundation of the country becomes rotten. The deplorable moniker now worn proudly by millions is in fact the root of the problem. Lincoln moved the country forward light years by expanding the franchise of freedom. The GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln and it is now every citizen's moral duty to stand up to the 'lone fixer' who fantasizes about being king.
3
Public hearings in the House is the only path to sanity.
For that to happen, the Dem's have to be the majority. Then, when all that the FBI and Special Prosecutor know is public, will McConnell tell Corrupt Donnie that he has no chance but to resign.
2
I’m trying to understand the implications of this potential constitutional crisis in practical terms. What are we talking about? Civil war? Global nuclear war? The dissolution of the United States of America? Ominous words and phrases such as armeggedon, “whole system going down” etc., are not helpful.
1
From reading the tea leaves , and listening to what people are saying at work, in diners, on the street , Trump is pretty secure, but the Republicans are toast, the tax cuts are so obviously for the rich and for big businesses while everyone else got crumbs, that along with failed attempts to cut health care will doom the republicans in November, but Trump’ s fan base is growing, people like his stand on China and immigration. People also seem to resent the media attacks on Trump. This is what people are saying and thinking far away from the ivory tower of the New York Times.
1
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
Yes Mr. Blow, they did anticipate such a scoundrel and one function of the Electoral College was to prevent said scoundrel from ascending to office. Unfortunately, it has failed us by becoming a rubber stamp. The answer is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. So far ten states and Washington,D.C. have joined the compact, adding up to a combined 165 electoral votes—or 61.1 percent of the votes necessary (270) for the compact to take effect. Aside from this, after Trump, a number of changes to the electoral process should be looked at
2
I think when Trump said "it's an attack on our country" regarding the Cohen raid, it should give Americans a chill down their spine. Are we living in Russia or Turkey?
I have always thought Trump will burn down everything to save himself. More uncomfortable revelations are going to come out and there is no doubt Trump will try to influence Mueller's investigation.
1
Charles Blow's premonitions of a Trump implosion seem quite likely. Apart from wounding our Republic, I worry most about what his supporters will do when that happens. Like Trump, his supporters will claim victimhood and go after every scapegoat they can muster.
Trump will not be held accountable by his supporters; people of good will and "outsiders" will be the objects of their wrath. A terrifying prospect!
As we read about the investigation leading to places and people we never thought would end up in the web, I am left with a nagging suspicion. Even though Trump's base will support him I have to believe that there is a good chance we will find out about other Republicans who are connected to and involved with the cover up, obstruction, and even criminal acts. If I am right, the Republican house of cards that is already on shaky ground will come tumbling down very quickly. At this point the base who seemed impenetrable will shatter and disintegrate before our very eyes. No matter how it all unfolds there will be plenty of weird twists and turns.
1
Interesting that the Trump presidency should coincide with the popularity of Hamilton the musical. Trump would probably like Hamilton's idea that the president should be elected for life.
My bet is on that Trump is most concerned that in reality he is effectively bankrupt, not just morally and ethically but financially. Everything i read about him business wise suggests that he is in fact not rich at all, but in all likelihood broke, or at best worth a few million or so. The brilliant businessman, the deal-maker supreme is what Trump tries to portray more than anything, it is what he likes to see himself as. So if any of these investigations actually point out that he is broke or at the very least not very rich at all, then maybe his backers, both financial and political will pull the rug. Obviously, if his financial backers realize he is broke (its happened before) and they realize that they are unlikely to get paid, it may turn into a first for the exits stampede, which will leave Trump bankrupt (again) and living in a gutter somewhere (with his attitude and morals), and that above all else is what scares Trump the most, what would his father think?
8
Mueller does not have the power to investigate the Stormy Daniels matter. So he referred it to the SDNY. But the Special Counsel law does not authorize such referrals, and for good reason. Mueller could refer any matter, authorizing, for example, an investigation of Trump's joy riding when he was 15. That is not what the Special Counsel law contemplates.
Mueller is authorized to investigate Russian election tampering and related matters. He is not authorized to make referrals and send other prosecutors on a wild goose chase. We all think Mueller is the good guy and Trump is the bad guy. But Mueller has utilized an illegal procedure that could easily extend his investigation far beyond what is authorized.
I believe Mueller has made a bad mistake that could undermine the limitations placed on his powers. And much though I hate to admit it, I am afraid he has opened the door to his firing. When the Special Counsel violates the Special Counsel law, a slap on the wrist won't do. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3726408-Rosenstein-letter-appoin...
The only thing that might save Republicans running for reelection is a fierce and vocal no holds barred determination to defend the laws of this nation accompanied by fierce criticism of Trump along with the clear attitude that whether they were reelected was or not was of minor concern. Shame on those who offer their country so little loyalty.
4
Mueller's all over the place just as Ken Starr was when he investigated Bill Clinton. And as Starr did Mueller has wandered beyond his original mandate. The Russian interference investigation is going no place but has been a bonanza for the cable news talking heads industry. Trump now has been pressured by the new cold warriors to openly talk of engaging in a war with Russia in Syria. These NYTs types want to short cut the system and just flush Trump out. Unfortunately the Democrats in 2016 delivered a ridiculous fiasco. And they launched the country onto the pointless Russia stole the election brouhaha.
2
Mueller's assignment is mainly to determine whether Trump helped the Russians tamper with the 2016 election. Mueller has made no findings in this regard and the issue presumably remains open.
Meanwhile, Mueller has clearly gone beyond his assignment in a particularly clever way. The Stormy Daniels matter is outside Mueller's jurisdiction. But because the matter was referred to an outside prosecutor -- a technique that could be used repeatedly -- Mueller has found a way to investigate everything Trump has ever done.
No doubt, Trump has dirt in his background. But whether that dirt justifies impeachment is unknown. Trump is most upset about Mueller's forays into his personal finances and his private life, matters outside Mueller's jurisdiction. By continually referring such matters to other prosecutors, Mueller could conceivably conduct criminal investigations of Trump's entire life history.
Mueller is a special counsel with special jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction does not include the Stormy Daniels matter. If you are pleased that Mueller has found a clever way to investigate matters outside his jurisdiction, you are a happy camper. But if you are concerned that Mueller is wrongfully extending his jurisdiction, then you understand why Trump is upset.
2
Let's use an analogy so you can follow along...first it wasn't the affair that tripped up Trump and his fixer it was the initial cover up that exposed Trump to criminal liability with possible campaign finance laws. Onto the analogy: When a cop pulls you over for speeding and he sees that you have drugs in the backseat of your car. Is the cop going to give you merely a speeding ticket or take you in for drug possession? You going to get the latter. The Russia probe was the speeding ticket he could probably beat in court with the GOP blocking and tackling for him. Its the drug possession i.e. Stormy Daniels matter that gets the handcuffs on his wrist. And if he had simply came clean about the multiple affairs instead of lying and denying the allegations he would probably still had been president. Because the bar for president for Hillary was set so high. She had to jump over it. While the bar was so low for Trump all he had to do was crawl over it. But again if you want to support and lend your undying loyalty to someone who is a cheat, a liar, and who is criminally inept...then feel free to do so but don't expect rest of the country to follow along.
1
The Founders DID consider that someone like Trump could become president and they did institute a safeguard: Congress. What they did not consider was that Congress would become so partisan that they would refuse to act as a co-equal branch of government and hold the president to account.
19
Wouldn't Lena Horne be surprised, and probably delighted, to know that her most famous song is the POTUS's theme song: Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky Stormy....
6
And all this time I thought is was the Classics IV "Stormy":
"You were the sunshine, baby, whenever you smiled
but I call you stormy today
All of a sudden that old rain´s fallin´ down
and my world is cloudy and gray, you´ve gone away..."
2
Certain friends and relatives, supporters of Trump, have been unusually quiet of late. Perhaps there is a change in his support, yet perhaps too late. If the turning point has arrived, do not look to congress. We must protect ourselves. Hopefully the ship of state will stay afloat until November. This, like everything else in such times, is uncertain.
10
“If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him” no truer words were written.
6
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
They tried. It was called the Electoral College, which was supposed to be the fail safe that would prevent an unqualified demagogue from ascending to the Presidency. The Electoral College failed in its duty. Blame them, not the founders.
8
the Electoral College was supposed to insure that rural, farming districts could never been outweighed by more jrban, and more populous, mercantile districts. the pupose was to insure the continuation of slavery.
one would hope we've gotten beyond that by now.
but, we haven't.
so, mainly rural, mainly conservative districts got to make the final determination, despite the fact Clinton won the popular vote by around 3 million.
2
I agree, but Mueller will not do an "October surprise " and release his report and indictments close to the election. He will either wait until January 2019 or do it before August 15.
Of course, Trump could try to distract his supporters his by launching a major military operation before September 2018 and demand support from everyone as a "war-time" President.
5
I trust that the war will not turn out to be a Civil War. Thoughts and Prayers?
1
The Founders did not plan to have candidates or presidents elected by everyone. They were to be selected by state legislators, who in turn were to be selected by a much smaller electorate (hem, hem). As much as our more democratic system is more equitable, it may be more prone to suasion by a convincing demagogue (apparently).
Even if Trump were smart enough not to leave fingerprints on electoral conspiracies with Russia (unlike everyone else in his inner circle), he has clearly acted with corrupt intent to obstruct justice. You could make a pretty compelling case for that just out of his tweets. With the materials from Cohen's files, he's done. I just hope that doesn't mean we are ALL done ("Must... press... big, red, candy-like button!")
3
My state representative thought the new mop sinks in the Tennessee State Capital Building were "Muslim foot washing baths" and waxed poetic concerning them on the floor of the state House. I am not sure how much that system would change things.
2
"... under the thumb of a man now motivated by a primal survival instinct, a consuming egotism and a petrifying fear of ignominy."
It mever fails to amaze me how Mr. Blow's anti-Trump pieces cold easily be written about Hillary.
Just change "man" with "woman" in the above paragraph.
We dodged a big bullet by electing Trump instead of Hillary. Right now, we'd be more concerned with transgender bathrooms than unemployed mill and mine workers, increasing federal trade imbalance with no tax reform, under perpetual nuclear threat from North Korea nd Iran with no one to negotiate with because "regime change is bad," no discussion with China about trade, no embassy move to Jerusalem and with the USA watching impotently as Assad gassed his own people, and the list goes on and on.
Stay the course, Donald Trump. The more they bleat, the more they wish to hide the truth that they know their policies are bankrupt.
4
Our budget deficit exceeds $1 trillion for the first time in history. If this is winning, we might as well quit playing.
4
"Our democracy is not safe."
The word “democracy” is not found in either the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Because we are NOT a Democracy, which is a political system of majority rule.
America is a Republic, guided by an overarching set of laws which explicitly guarantees an individual’s rights - as outlined in the Constitution - against the desires of the majority. A government which overturns or ignores these rights without going through the proper amendment process has become a despotic.
Is this what the article implies? That our constitution is being ignored or overturned by the current POTUS?
What I rather find implied is a hatred of the current administration is apparently enough to justify scrapping/changing our Constitution because: "Maybe the founders...didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
Deliver me please, from self appointed saviours.
3
Trump's supporters already know that he is a serial cheat and liar. The majority of them will not abandon him, no matter what evidence is uncovered. In fact, Trump's selfishness and dishonesty are the very basis of his appeal. His supporters believe that only a cruel and rapacious president can "Make America Great Again" in a cruel and rapacious world. It is the great delusion of our age, and America is not alone in falling prey to it.
9
If so, that's the price all of U.S. will pay for the most reckless, foolish, and senseless group decision in history.
3
Charles Blow has kept up the job of voicing reason and dissent for our current predicament. We need his and others’ voices to shout out loud until we are able to restore our country to decency, integrity, and lawful behavior in the Oval Office.
19
Long past time to protect Mr. Mueller.
20
Most eloquent and alarming : I believe the key word in this opinion piece by Mr. Blow, was- "Ignominy."---and in reading this; I am reminded of those old bumper-stickers, "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For McGovern."--A very thoughtful summing up, of the calamitous shape our Republic is in.
4
I voted for HILLARY and so did the majority of people in this country!
Martin Luther King had a mistress and was investigated by the FBI. Just like Trump he had things to hide, who will want to run for office if your sex life will be dragged out into the public? The FBI is turning every politician in the USA an easy target to Russian extortion: hey, if I reveal you had sex to the FBI...
3
MLK wasn't a saint nor did he pretend to be one. He transcended his character flaws where he was willing to die for a belief that all humans were created equal despite our superficial differences. And he indeed paid the ultimate price for his beliefs. Trump only serves himself and his base instincts. The FBI doesn't care if Trump had an affair. They care because he may have committed a criminal act to cover up the affair. Trump and his supporters may not like the law. But it again if he followed the law he wouldn't be investigated. Trump made himself an easy target for a foreign adversary like Russia. The FBI it is only doing its job. Take off the blinders and see Trump for who he is and not for what you wish to him to be...fair, honest, and transcendent like MLK.
1
Good job, Charles. Please do not let up.
15
This stands out.. as most of us have been saying since the primaries: "There is clearly something there that he doesn’t want America to know, something damning and catastrophic. He will do anything to keep it from view, including bringing the government to its knees."
20
Interesting to see how much the FBI uncovers of Trumps dealings--not just with his consorts--such as the many deals he's done to merchandise his properties to Russian oligarchs and others with money to launder. Can't imagine this man's lawyer being limited to handling payoffs to his mistresses. The thing about compulsive liars is that they have no way to remember what they've told people. Sooner or later the actual record of even a fraction of the "deals" he's done will turn up. That might just have happened. I just wish we could have hearings like we had over the Watergate catastrophe. Having a succession of witnesses and their testimony made public the way the Watergate Committee was able to, would be a rare delight to witness. Back then we had statesmen in the Congress. Not so many of those now, alas.
5
Donald Trump understands that regardless of whether he is innocent or not undermining the investigation serves his purposes. If they don’t find anything OK, but if they do he has already created doubt.
Of course undermining the FBI and the concept of an independent investigation is very harmful to the nation - but that is far from Mr Trump’s concern.
2
God bless you, Mr. Blow, but I believe the system is containing the golf club king, and the crisis that he will surely inflame will thrust him, via procedural justice, to the putting green forever.
And he will be soon forgotten.
And trade disputes will be arbitrated via the WTO. And we'll rejoin the TPP. And the Atlantic alliance will see Putin suffocate from recession. And Chinese leadership will welcome partnership with the next Democratic Congress and Democratic president. And the Earth that we borrow from our heirs (not inherit from our ancestors—says Navajo wisdom) will survive climate change risks.
2
Yes, the founders did anticipate someone like Trump -- they feared a demagogue, so they set up systems of indirect democracy. As we have gone more to direct democracy, we are seeing the appearance of a demagogue.
1
Having treated every person and institution he's known as his very own prop, Trump is completely at a loss when he sees them ceasing to operate as such. As we know, he has no interest in learning, and is certain that Shakespeare said "All the world's a stooge." He can't stand it when any aspect of his experience undermines his confidence that no one will stand in his way. "Please please," he pleads, be the Witness for My Persecution!"
2
When Trump complained that the search warrant served on his lawyer was an attack on all we believed in, it was difficult to suppress a belly laugh. Nobody really knows what Trump believes in. It is inconceivable that he could articulate it. Now General Mattis is pointing out that an attack in Syria can have consequences. We all need to decide if we are willing to risk WWIII, and if so needed, will we sacrifice our children and grandchildren in the sands of the Middle East. Will the post-Columbine generation follow President Bone-Spurs into the Hell of a Ground War in Asia? Fighting a war to a successful conclusion demands the leadership of a Washington or a Roosevelt. Does anybody think Trump is up to the task?
8
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
No. The founders predicted that such a person may one day ascend into the presidency. It's rather Trump, a man who isn't widely read and who isn't aware that there are guardrails that prevent him from exhibiting this nauseous behavior.
3
This has been predictable since the day he announced his candidacy. The Republican Party should be voted into oblivion for enabling this very ill, very dangerous man.
21
It’s actually over for us. We just don’t know it. We don’t have the will to fight & the Democratic Party is toothless.
We need to go lower when they go low. It’s our only hope.
4
Looks like he is up a Rock Creek without a paddle! Be on the lookout for a tweet pleading for a lifeguard to rescue his now down-sized rowboat.
1
Trump is a very frightened animal. He is cornered and cannot get out.
He did not count on this when he idiotically decided to run for the presidency.
Trump is uneducated in the ways of government and not smart enough to just leave the nightmare he alone has created.
10
The best thing about your column Mr. Blow is that each week the headlines are far more worse, and the stakes so much higher...THE WORLD IS ENDING FOR TRUMP! But your monotone, weekly criticism of the president is predictable, which makes your commentary boring and self serving to likeminded readers but unable to sway anyone else. Would be nice, as a journalist, if you branched out once in a while.
3
Knowledgeable, passionate and ominous writing by Charles Blow. Referring to his comment that "they didn't build in sufficient constraints", what can we effectively do to convince Congress to swiftly vote in checkpoints to constrain Trump from his current ability to inflict the ultimate (nuclear) Armageddon?
He will not go calmly. We can see the destruction around him. At this point we can only try to minimize the casualties he will inflict as he goes. He will need an out, a way to protect his fragile ego. His party will fall on their own sword, as they are doing now. Congress will impeach. His small base will continue to support him, extending this torture. They believe that he is doing god's will. He will eventually resign. There is an American tragedy in this. Maybe Lin-Manuel has it in him to do another tragic American political musical.
But, that leaves us with Pence.
If we survive.
6
Trump is laboring under the misconception that he is bound only by what the law requires of him, and he has unlimited authority to do whatever the law permits him to do. Thus, he withholds his personal business records despite the norms established by previous candidates because the law doesn't require disclosure. And he fires Comey and threatens to fire Rosenstein, Mueller, and perhaps Sessions because as chief executive, he has the authority to do so.
But Trump ignores that the norms are in place so Americans can be assured that their president is exercising his power in the best interests of the country rather than to enrich himself. And while the president has broad power to manage the executive branch, it is illegal for him to do so to obstruct justice. His hubris will be his downfall.
3
Republicans seem content to lose the majority in the Fall and let the Dems impeach Trump next spring (but they probably won't have the Senate votes to actually remove this menace from office). And THIS is the party of personal responsibility and patriotism? Give me a break.
7
I do not see Trump’s ardent supporters leaving him. The 35- 40 percent of the American public, believe the Access Hollywood tape was just locker room talk; his core supporters do not believe the carousel of women who claim he forced himself upon them; and Trump’s core supporters believe the special counsel investigation is “a witch hunt” promulgated by Democrats who are angry for losing an election “they should have won.”
I think the support of his base and Fox News, and a passive Congress, gives Trump cover to do whatever it takes to make this investigation go away. I believe that he will fire Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller, and possibly Jeff Sessions to protect himself; and I believe Trump does not care what kind of crises it creates for this country.
4
I hate to say it, but Malcolm X and Reverend Wright et.al. nailed it. Beware of the corrupting influence of the 1% and their money, and be aware of the white power structure that allowed this man to become the President. The 40% of educated progressive folks in this country have a tough road ahead, as it seemingly has always been. The House in Washington is under the control of a group of people that make what's left of my hair stand on end. 24 seats... and a 60 vote majority in the Senate. And repairing a ton of damage done... please, everybody, make your voices heard at the polls and in the streets. Just look at what their doing to the DACA folks- just one of so many disgraces I've lost count.
This isn't "Conservativism"- it's in direct violation of the Bill of Rights.
8
You speak the truth, Charles Blow. Trump has a history of hiding who he really is and attempting to build up what he is not. When the walls start to close in he is left with the fear of exposure. He has spent decades adding to the myth where there is little substance.
I think his denials are pathological and this endangers this country in ways no one could have predicted. If his house of card crumbles so does he and he wants to take us all down with him.
It could be more shame and humiliation than the criminal that he fears. What has propped him up is the idea he is smarter, richer and more of a ladies man than most men and of course, a great executive and leader.
He knows the truth, Mueller is discovering the truth and the real version and the Trump version are soon to be known.
I have faith in the institutions and the constitution that brought us here. We will survive this eventually but Trump may not possess the inner core to survive himself and he'll do as much harm as he can on the way out be we will still be a nation when all is said and done. He will be a few asterisks.
2
A life-long pattern of shady dealings;surrounded by sycophants more than willing to indulge (because they too benefited), was transported to the White House by a conman arrogant enough to treat the Executive Branch as an extension of "The Trump Organization."
This conman has found he is surrounded by Congressional sycophants whose indulgences mirror his private shady dealings- and dealers.
The only thing preventing a hostile takeover; voting- is the same exercise that got America into its current mess. However, that [also] appears to be the only sure remedy to this awful experiment. ( I don't have an abundance of faith- or hope).
3
The reason we're even here is because too many Americans thought it was a good idea to put an "outsider" in the White House and not just any outsider, but a silver-spoon billionaire with 50 years' experience making big money in real estate, gambling, hospitality, entertainment and all manner of weird little companies to give his entitled children something to do and create tax shelters. Nobody makes that kind of money in those kinds of businesses by telling the truth, dealing honestly and fairly, and obeying the letter of the law. That was not only OK with Trump voters, but a reason to admire him. Americans worship rich people, no matter how they got rich. We believe they are superior human beings in every way so why not elect one of them to head our government? The business of America is business, isn't it? Hopefully, he is the last billionaire businessman to sit in the Oval Office. Hopefully, we will go back to preferring people who entered politics to serve the public, were willing to open their lives and livelihoods to public scrutiny for many years before running for president and if elected, to set aside their business activities and personal financial concerns to work for the people of America. People who have already been "extreme vetted" and have a record of public service. Hopefully.
8
We are where we have never been, going where we have never gone: at war with our own president.
His weapons are many, his ethics nonexistent, his desperation palpable, his party in control and spineless.
He knows no boundaries except extremes, accepts no responsibility for his actions, and has no vision beyond the end of each day.
Against that, we have each other, the free press, and the vote.
It won't be pretty. But I like our chances.
21
Dear Charles Blow,
You have been consistently right on. Keep it up.
Trump is fulfilling the general schema of a fascist leader, although he probably doesn't know he is a fascist.
It amazes me. I developed the schema, but never thought he would follow the steps I outlined. We are in for a storm. Once there is critical mass and provided he does not prevail, he will deflate so quickly we will be left wondering how he ever attained such a prize position.
6
Any person in Congress who does not choose to stand up and speak out against Trump, does not deserve the seat he or she sits in and should be voted out of office. Silence is complicity. And votes will matter.
13
Excellent article, Mr. Blow.
4
And his followers won't care what happens to them. Just out of sheer hatred for the opposite party and their tribal mentality.
I see it and Fox News is a contributer. Go to their website and look how they address any controversial article. Then go to the comments. They feed the hatred.
7
"If Trump has lied to the people who still support him... and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles".
I don´t think so. His base knows he´s a pathological liar. And still supports him. Heck, they voted for a TV character.
7
@Alex: Sad to say you are right. Almost every one of his supporters will tell you that he "never lies". They are out of touch with reality.
3
As always, these “Trump is going down” articles are completely devoid of the critical context of how Hillary was treated by the FBI, and the counter investigation into FBI/DOJ actions during the 2016 election. It truly does matter that the same folks who did everything within their power to ensure Hillary stayed out of jail are now on a fishing expedition to literally overturn an election. I strongly urge readers of the NYT to please leave your bubble and at least try and understand that roughly half the country views this situation along those lines. Do you really want to live in a country where half of its citizens believe that the DOJ/FBI undermines democracy by removing a duly elected president while protecting the other party? That wouldn’t be a nation, it would be a dumpster fire, which is why Mueller needs to tell us what he has on a Trump and Russia now, and let the rest die.
2
Ah, yes, whataboutism. "Rusty", before you accuse me of being in a bubble, serve in the military, as I did. Live in an area that voted 2-1 for Trump, as I do. Join an organization where 80% of the members are far right wing, as I have. Only then can you remotely entertain the thought of people like me being in a bubble. I do suspect that you're projecting.
Oh, and Hillary hasn't held a government office in years. Get over it.
8
Rusy -- "how Hillary was treated by the FBI" -- you mean the part where Comey sent a letter ELEVEN days before the election saying there might be additional information about her case? The letter which statistical analysis has shown to have effectively tanked her campaign? (And that Rudy Guiliani bragged about knowing about in advance from his friends in the NY office of the FBI?)
Or maybe the part where we knew all about the investigation into Hillary but not a whiff about the fact that Trump was also under investigation until *after* the election? If that was the way the FBI was trying to help Hillary and hurt Trump, they were very, very bad at it.
And by the way -- Christopher Wray, Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller? All Republicans.
The only "dumpster fire" we have here is the one currently occupying the Oval Office.
5
When the end of King Trump's reign comes it will be
unexpected and and a total shock to the country.
1
Trump has total control of what he is doing in spite of all the reports of chaos in the e white house. He runs circles around his detractors. He is a master of persuasion. In spite of the most hateful and vitriolic attacks from day one he has succeeded in rebuilding America achieving historic numbers in the economy, unemployment,Immigration successes and the changes to the system that has rebuilt the the economy of the nation. He hates the swamp dwellers from both parties as well as the bureaucrats that have proven to be deep state trough feeders from both parties. Why else is he being vilified by the left and some on the right as he tears their hypocrisy riddled old boy networks to shreds. His detractors border on hysterical with the nonsense they rave on about in trying to destroy him. In reality their insane accusations , blatant lies and fake news only serves to drive thinking people away from the once relevant liberals. I posted 5 months out during the debates that he would s,,it in and become president.I make the same prediction now re the mid terms. The liberals should be stocking up on tissue paper to wipe away the tears they'll have when Trump cleans up at the mid terns,
God knows Mueller's and the Southern District of NY's investigations aren't over yet. Although I don't believe even a boatload of evidence of Trump's criminal activities and corruption can ever break through Trump's denial, his compulsion to blame others, and his acute narcissism, I hope that Trump supporters will be able to call a crime a crime when they see the evidence laid out before them. Is there a constructive way to break through denial without further isolating our fellow countrymen? Trump himself defined the blind tribalism of his supporters when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without losing their support. Why is that? Let us all hope that there is a limit to identity politics when the evidence against Trump is laid out. Anyone else in America would have been out on their ear a long time ago "just" for the Trump University fraud.
7
I’m beginning to think
Trump did shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and Cohen hid the body.
2
The only way the system goes down with him is if the Republicans in Congress are co-conspirators - it will all be on them
1
Say what you want, but Mueller's mandate was to investigate Russian interference in our 2016 election and whether there was collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia and if Trump obstructed justice when he fired Comey. That was it. There would have been no special prosecutor appointed for the purpose of investigating every facet of Trump's life to see if there was something that might be used to bring Trump down.
Do we really want every president facing the possibility of a special prosecutor with the power to dig into every aspect of the president's past -- even when there is no evidence or suspicion of a crime?
While the progressive left has been hysterical about Trump since the day he won the election, there are several facts they forget:
1) Trump is the legally elected president of the US
2) He has not been charged with any crimes or misdemeanors
3) He has committed no impropriety or crime while president.
4) Having an affair as a private citizen is not illegal.
5) Presidential candidates are not required to release tax returns; not doing so is not evidence of any crime.
6) There is no evidence to date of any collusion between Trump & Russia re the 2016 election. If there was a target of Russian activities, it was HRC -- any Republican would have likely been favored over her.
Just because you disagree with a president's policies does not make his policies illegal or make him a criminal. Get over it.
2
You know what, "Ralphie", I won't get over it. I swore an oath as a military officer to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the USA. I'm sure you did the same, right? I never got over that, even after I hung up my uniform for the last time. I will continue to preserve, protect and defend against you or anyone else trying to tear this country down.
Get over THAT.
7
Joe S. What are you talking about? In what way am I trying to tear this country down. The only people trying to tear the country down are the lib/prog/dems who want to overturn the results of the last election despite the fact Trump is the legally elected president. Other than wild fantasies, there is no evidence that Trump has done anything wrong. So until someone produces evidence of high crimes etc., I'm not going to support what is clearly an insurrection.
1
The nation really needs to get serious and stop entertaining intellectual curiosity items about this trump guy and move concertedly to holding him to account for doing everything from obstructing investigations to enriching himself by refusing to divest interests. His henchmen keep trying to normalize the abnormality of his behavior. Nothing about his time in office has been normal and nothing about him has changed. He is grossly incompetent and proves it daily. He is using the office to enrich himself and his spawn, and proves it daily.
5
So many right on point comments here. For too long, I've been looking at Trump (& his GOP supporters & enablers) as the main issue & concern for our friends to the south. Now however, I'm slowly coming to terms with a much broader, more tragic view of not only Faux News & followers but also that segment of the American public which did vote for him & still support this proven megalomaniac - which is ok for a 12 yr old boy feeling his oats but not ok for a 72 yr old "man". Twitter thumbs are for sillies (twits), not for manipulating whole populations in one's own reality tv show. He is like a gang member leading a very large gang of the very rich & the very poor who will follow him anywhere as long as he flexes his muscle (his thumbs) their way. He is correct to view himself as the bad man who could swagger his way in downtown NY, gun someone down & walk away with it. That's the "hero" the bad guys want in charge. And they have it now. The question is - how will the rest of America deal with this gang/mobster leader? It is a fight between 2 Americas: the civil & the corrupt. It is so much bigger than just Trump & involves the entire population of the US. Another civil war of the kind between the good guys vs the bad guys.
6
Actually, the founders DID predict such a person as Trump, which is why they crafted the Electoral College! Sadly, the EC devolved into a rubber stamp process vs. a real vetting procedure. It is well worth revisiting this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opinion/campaign-stops/the-man-the-fo...
5
" is not the behavior of an innocent man. This is not the behavior of a “normal” president."
THE POTUS IS NOT NORMAL.PERIOD.
And there is a good chance that the longer he remains in charge, the country will not be normal.
Or have we arrived there already?
6
The downfall of Mr. Trump is going to be his failure to understand that truth eventually wins. It prevails always.
Even if Trump survives unscathed during his presidency, the truth will catch up with him after that, even beyond his grave.
2
Trump is a reflection of American Society that has moved to the extreme right in its quest for money, power, and personal greed. It is truly the me generation led by the Republican Party and Wall Street.
The financial collapse of 2008 without any consequences for Wall Street only emboldened the concept of me,me,me. The Trump Presidency is what happens when society veers away from the "common good" towards money, money, money. Trump is a lost, amoral individual bound in a web of deceit. He is the perfect mirror of America's current leadership.
3
The genius of Trump's con artistry is that he managed to convince real life "many people" that if he was a rogue, belligerent bully and skirted the truth, it was for their sake, not his. Anyone familiar with his history knows this could not be further from the truth.
In reality, yes, he owes millions or perhaps a billion or so to foreign banks and no doubt investors, if one prefers to consider foreign entities and persons as "the man", but in fact, throughout his career the people most damaged have been people much like those who remain enamored of him, small business owners, contractors, smaller investors without the means to combat counter-suits, tenants, people who own properties he desires, husbands and yes, the women who got caught in his snare, including his wives.
Trump may be most concerned about his reputation when it comes to his entire flim flam operation, but what really needs to be emphasized is the ways that other than the symbolic, like his prohibitively expensive wall, he has not stood up for his base on any issue that directly affects them, such as the tax scam bill and the gutting of regulations that most adversely affect consumers, workers, the very young and old and the most vulnerable. His disdain for the law and our institutions is wildly destructive and the havoc he has wreaked will haunt us for years no matter the outcome of the investigation. For that reason, it is essential the truth comes out.
3
It is so similar to the wounded tiger who is so vulnerable to attack and tries to strike out in anger to save himself. Doesn’t end well for anybody.
1
This is going to work out much more calmly than Blow thinks. Robert Mueller is going to be refocused on Russia and the 2016 election and will essentially be evaluated on that. He may write a report on obstruction of justice but an excellent chance that it will describe known events which would add up to a federal case that would lose easily. In that sense he is lucky that DOJ OLC says he can't prosecute a President. He started out this with the DNC hack already being extensively investigated and has no charges yet. I would not put it beyond possible that he'll come up with a charge or two on it, but without any expectation of prevailing because it won't go to trial. He will not indict Americans in any serious manner on this as that would require a trial and that would expose the DNC hack story to punishing questions...the Russians might have done it but there is reasonable doubt on it 100 miles wide. He needs a miracle right now and it shows in even letting his team spend a minute of time on Cohen. And while this is playing out the other story will pick up speed...you know the one where McCabe's defense is that Comey is lying, where Susan Rice is shredded into cole slaw, where Strozk gets his 17 hours of fame on national TV explaining stuff he was texting to a fellow FBI official (ha, once it starts that is how she is going to be described over and over, never his girlfriend)....stuff like that. This situation has "deal" written all over it.
1
As foreboding as your opinion piece reflects, I have a tendency to agree. We've been warned from the get go just how dangerous this man can be, especially if cornered. It's a pity that the sycophants in the GOP choose to ignore the professionals' advice and choose to aid and abet this maniacal individual intent on bringing the house down. One ray of hope is if the GOP totally fractures and the more centrist republicans will choose truth over power. May they find their voices before it's too late.
4
Ignominy? Donald? Pretty funny Charles. Donald knows no shame.
But I do agree that he is unpredictable. In a country where we don't let children play with matches, we can only hope Congress will prevent Donald from playing with nuclear rockets.
As for the rest, "Please don't throw me into the brier patch."
4
Absolutely true. And, yes, we are in a perilous place.
5
I bet Trump wishes he had made Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and Bob Moeller all sign an NDA before they were appointed -- the way that Michael Cohn and so many others did.
And as Trump's followers learn the truth about their savior, they're seeing that they're just like those students at Trump University now. They hoped that somehow this man would make them rich but they're discovering that he has taken their votes and he won't deliver on any of his promises.
This flim-flam president's years will be recorded as one of the saddest periods in American history when it ends in impeachment.
4
When in doubt, ratchet up the wild conspiracy theories. It's how Democrats, liberals and progressives roll. Question: Will Blow issue a written apology on this page when Mueller issues a finding of no collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign? Don't hold your breath.
1
Trump is the subject of the Mueller investigation. If he can fire Mueller and end the investigation, that means the suspect can call off the investigation. That's stupid. If Trump fires Mueller, he must be immediately impeached.
3
As far as I know, Trump is suspected of no crime. If so, please name the crime. Wait -- I've got it. You don't like him. A crime for certain. Hercule Poirot is needed.
1
The millennials and suburban women are perhaps the smartest, brightest groups of all the electorate and they ain't buying his garbage. The vote in November is going to change the trajectory of the incompetent, malfeasant , ridiculous, cartoonish white house and cabinet.
3
As this country hurtles toward a Constitutional crises and perhaps its imminent demise, it's incredible that there are 40% of the country who still support this President.
Or is it?
The only fathomable reason for this is in my opinion summed up in this quote by H.L. Mencken:
"On some great and glorious future day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-H. L. Mencken
5
Fire everyone Trump.
Maybe your Republican cronies will finally turn on you to protect their spineless backs for the midterms.
2
A number of commentators have stressed that eduction the surest antidote to electing future Trumps. May I point out that post-World War One Germany was the most educated country in the history of the world -- and yet it produced Hitler and the Third Reich.
Mr. Blow you have accurately described why I suffer from insomnia and take my mood stabilizers and anti depressants religiously.
3
The founders never visualized that their carefully crafted Constitution would rely on a porn star to save the Republic.
5
Too bad for Trumpy, he's not a tycoon or a cad but a trustafarian jerk--and an especially unattractive and unintelligent one at that. Great swathes of the US citizenry are fully prepared to put him in his place through impeachment, lawsuits, layers upon layers of investigations at every level, pressure on our legislators (who are definitely feeling the heat), and taking to the streets. He WILL go down, and our democracy WILL survive this sordid episode--and be improved as a result.
2
Gotta hand it to you, Mr. Blow: your gift for telling us what we already know is humbling. Do us all a favor for a change and give us something we don't.
2
Trump hate runs strong in this Blog.
It is all that matters and any lack of collusion evidence is to be ignored.
Hate if Trump/Republican rules all here.
What to gather from the blogs contained.
Trump lies, bullies, against the rule of law, is horrible, cruel, unscrupulous, demagogue,distrurbed,narcissistic sociopath, etc...
Even a ‘our government might not survive’ comment. Really?
Yes, The Trump hate runs strong here.
3
Not only hate of Trump rules here -- but aversion to law, precedence, facts, logic and even science.
1
Trump complains about the government and regulations. I don't understand why. The reason he gets away with his criminal activity is because the government is not capable of doing its job and indict him. They've had decades and plenty of opportunities to go after him, but the rot in our judicial and political system allows Trump to avoid prosecution. He really doesn't want to change the system, because he has benefited from it. Burn it down? I'm not so sure he wants that. But he is a stupid man who's ego might destroy him. Best case scenario is that he and his empire go down but the country survives.
1
America is at a critical time, both internally, and internationally. We have a degree of income inequality that threatens to permanently divide this nation, and have devious enemies like Russia doing what they can to weaken and defeat us.
And yet, we find ourselves enmeshed in a quisling type government, without leadership at the top that has America's best interests at heart. No matter what happens to Mueller's investigation, the damage has been done. America is most likely bankrupt thanks to the Ryan/Trump tax looting of the treasury.
This is as dangerous a time as when we were fighting the Nazis in early WWII. Wealth and greed have taken over our government, and that may be worse than losing WWII. We may have lost our country.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
1
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken,
2
America! The land of milk & honey! Where your dreams can come true.All in the path of destruction by the commodore dragon,inhabiting the WH. BUT-
Just like some of the media have the courage to call him out,I wish the Democrats would do so too.It's time to STOP playing goody two shoes & call A SPADE A SPADE!The kid gloves need to come off.Ofcourse we want them back in power in November.But they also need to speak out now against all HIS raving & ranting.This is NOT his personal fifedom.He should not be allowed to think that he can fire anyone who he feels is threatening to tighten the proverbial noose!
C'mon Democrats! The rest of America is looking for you to have some GUTS.America is worth fighting for.Our children & theirs are worth fighting for.
PLEASE- Wake up!
2
Oh, this guy's a fraud. He's a real bully, and if you've ever known a bully, they are so strong and aggressive and loud and attacking, until, until they are stopped. And when that happens, the bully becomes a worthless bag of bones. The exposure of their lies bring it all crashing down.
Remember Lance Armstrong? Bully; until the end. And then the end came and we saw who he really was and how he treated others. Blindly narcissistic, hateful, vengeful, craving, boastful bully. Done. Gone. Like Trump, soon.
1
The Trump administration is irrational. Clinton was impeached for lying about his sin with another consenting woman, and what a liar and irrational man do we have now and we can't get him out of office? That is insane.
5
I agree with you Charles. I am worried every day about the newest headline and potential war as a distraction. I feel powerless to help our country.
6
Near the end of WWII the Allied Forces developed a psychological profile of Adolf Hitler to help them predict how he would react when facing a domestic crisis or a military defeat: “(Trump’s) behavior will become increasingly neurotic and his capacity to make clear and correct decisions, to devise effective strategy and to encourage his followers, will diminish steadily. He will experience a breakdown of his psychic strength and seek solitude where he will pace the (White House) alone, stamp the floor, shriek with rage and eventually collapse and become inert. Without confidence he is paralyzed and he will not able to appear or speak in public. He has the make-up of a paranoid schizophrenic, and the load of frustration and failure that is coming to him may crack his resistance, causing him to yield his will to the turbulent forces of his unconscious. (Trump) has often vowed that he would commit suicide if his plans miscarried; but if he chooses this course he will do it at the last moment and in the most dramatic possible manner. He will retreat, let us say, to the impregnable little fortress he has built for himself at the top of (Trump Tower). There, alone he will wait until the authorities come to take him away. As a climax he may blow up the Tower and himself with dynamite, or make a funeral pyre of his retreat and throw himself on it or kill himself with a silver bullet, or possibly throw himself off the roof. For us it would be an undesirable outcome."
7
What Charles says applies equally well to what transpired to Germany under Hitler. The Fuhrer claimed a fanatical love for the Fatherland, sort of like Trump’s obsession with America First, all else be damned. Yet when it was clear that Germany was going to lose the war, when Hitler’s advisers begged him to throw in the towel in order to spare the fatherland any more devastation, the dictator chose to fight until the most bitter end, until the Allies were literally at his bunker’s door, Germany and its Aryan people be damned. The same apparently applies to our little dear leader. In spite of his campaign evocations of ‘USA, USA’, it has always been and has always remained all about Trump and his self-interest. He remains consistent in one thing and one thing alone: he is ready to throw anyone under the bus. It is clear that he has his sights on America First: we are about to fall under the wheels of that bus that is barreling straight for US.
7
To the American voting public: your president is an incubus sitting on our collective global chests. Please wake up, come to your senses and oust this clear and present danger personified before the world descends into even more turmoil. We have a myriad of problems to address – global warming, overpopulation, species die-off, the poisoning of our environment, unrest due to multiple conflicts, the refugee crisis, etc. – without constantly focusing on the black hole that is this fascist soul-sucking egomaniac.
12
If a figure like Trump was alive during the American Revolution, the founding fathers of our country would have advised him to get out of real estate, but they would have put him in stocks.
2
I don't think he will go down at all. Your assumption that "evidence" of his lying or wrongdoing will doom him is utterly incorrect. You seem to not have understood the psychology of the Trump voter. If American democracy is in mortal danger --and I believe it is -- the danger is presented by the 40% of the U.S. electorate who stand by this man.
11
Great article, Mr. Blow, I just have one small correction. You stated the Founders failed to establish any safeguard for weeding out a person of such poor character, and is clearly unfit for office. Actually they did, it's the Electoral College. If you read why it came about, it was precisely so that if the popular masses elected someone plainly unfit for the office of President, the Electors could weed out such a person. Unfortunately, in the modern era, the College has just become a rubber stamp for the votes in each state.
4
The electors all sorely needed to read Federalist Paper 68. What saddens me is that even if they had bothered to take the time, they would have shrugged and ignored the admonitions within.
1
This is now officially worse than Watergate which I remember well. At least Nixon was forced to do the right thing by his own party, and I'm sure the offer of a pardon sweetened the deal. But that kind of integrity no longer exists in the republican party, and there doesn't appear to be any loud and united opposition on the democratic side either. Individual members of congress express their dismay, but at this point there should be a full-throated outcry and bi-partisan opposition to what is being done to our country. Instead - crickets. Many of them are proving their cowardice by resigning or not running for re-election rather than standing up for the country they swore to protect and the Constitution they swore to uphold. We are living in truly horrible and dangerous times.
339
You know westernmass -- I keep hearing and reading from the progressive left all the horrible things Trump is doing to the country. Outside of your obviously fervid imagination, what exactly is that Trump has done that has hurt the country? How has your life changed for the worse?
6
WesternMass--Thank you very much for articulating the importance of this situation in America's standing now and in future! Your words here are exactly what I believe, so I stand with you rather than write something of my own.
8
If you have to ask this question, then no matter how many instances of mismanagement, lies, autocratic behavior and plain crazy antics named would convince you.
Charles,
How can you write, "That truth, the part that he has kept shoved into the shadows, is his vulnerability."
Do you remember everything you did in your life?
(My sister claims that I don't remember half the things that I did to her as a child; "back from the shadows again," to quote Firesign Theater.)
Trump undoubtedly forgotten much of the illegal activities he has done, selectively remembering only what he wants to remember. I believe that one reason he has become "unhinged" is that he cannot remember what Cohen has documented.
You give the "miserable old, fool" (to quote "Kill Bill 2") much too much credit to remember the truth when he only believes in lies!
2
The donald has lied for so long and to such depths that he no longer has any memory of reality. When you live in such overlapping lies you live in constant fear. You become afraid that any little loose thread could unravel this cloak of lies. When your whole life is a lie you develop insecurities that go to the core. These insecurities become the core and feed your fears like a fever. You sweat inside, you shake from these fevers. You are constantly checking to see anyone can see this so you put on another layer of lies just in case. Lying little boys generally grow up and grow out of the habit of lying but then there`s the donald, he`s only grown bigger. And the moral, class, is grow up strong enough to face the truth and defend it for the truth shall set you free!
1
Vote, Americans. Vote. Your country needs you.
4
Mr. Trump should be backing Mr. Mueller in pursuit of this lawyer who is making deals in Mr. Trump's name to hush up things that never happened, thereby sullying Mr. Trump's name. Hmm.
Reading to the end of Mr. Blow's column, I hear faint echoes of Adolf Hitler and his entourage in the bunkers of Berlin, waiting for the Soviet Army to arrive.
A little too dramatic, perhaps, but one wonders what this president will do to end it all. Bomb Syria to take our minds off his so far unsuccessful presidency? Await a Russian response of support from his friend V. Putin? Bow gracefully to impeachment as his Republican cohort and his base turn their backs on him? Fire all those in the DOJ and FBI to rid himself of the specters of his defeat? Order the Joint Chiefs to put the military into the streets of the USA in a coup? Arrest the Supreme Court - that is only the liberal justices? Declare the 2020 presidential election rigged and kaput?
What is this man capable of doing as a crisis looms over his presidency? How far will the American people go to allow him to save himself or to send him packing?
The unknowable is the most mystifying and deeply frightening aspect of this entire situation, one the USA has never been in before as far as I know.
What will Trump do? Follow the rule of law or turn the White House into his armed command post to fend off one of the most horrifying national dramas in our history? I don't have the answer but I don't think the pundits or the Washington insiders have one either. What is going to happen? And can we heal as a nation of diverse people after this is over?
2
I absolutely wish this* were true, Charles Blow, but I think you are overly optimistic. Trump hasn't even shot and killed anyone in the middle of 5th Avenue yet.
*"If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles."
1
The repeated prediction of the "blue wave" & down fall of Trump are not useful or smart. A political agenda that includes everyone & follow through is required. I don't believe in waves. I believe in a Republican far right agenda that will fight dirty to get their agenda (not the majority of people's agenda)through regardless of the cost. The only way to counter that is to fight back twice as hard & never give up or take anything for granted.
I'll believe in the blue wave after we've created it.
2
Trump is just the symptom of what had become a country run by faction — a rather large one of approximately 40% — of people who are at their core deplorable in every way. From their hatred of the “other” to their frightening ignorance, they have grabbed the country and will turn us into a third world banana republic if we let them.
6
The electoral college was supposed to be the safeguard against a grifter like Trump. Instead, it catapulted him into the highest office. We need to impeach this disgusting shell of a human being before he and his rubes destroy our nation.
2
Have we forgotten Andrew Johnson? He gives Trump a run for the money on the awfulness scale.
it would perilous to underestimate this con artist. He will take us to war as he conjures ways to squirm out of this predicament. Right wing extremists,fascists & hawks are already there to facilitate the process.
True Patriots in Congress are our only salvation. Hopefully Paul Ryan can put America First.
2
Yep. You nailed it Charles. But a blind man could have seen it coming. Trump hasn't changed since the day he was born. The real disappointment, the true cowards in all of this are the Republicans in Congress who sit there watching this slow motion train wreck and do nothing. NOTHING!
3
We're too focused on Trump. He's an horrible, criminal, treasonous man no doubt, yet he still enjoys a nearly 40% approval rating among Americans. That's the real problem.
How can 40% of us be so blind to such obvious malfeasance, so hungry for more international embarrassment and shame? Three easy reasons:
1. Latent racism. A huge part of our country is terribly racist, in part due to
2. Gross undereducation. The GOP has long made cutting public education a central part of its program, simply to create a population that will be easily persuaded (typically through appeals to their racism) to support a corporate, 1% agenda that actually works against them, and
3. Fox News. You've got 'em dumb, now you just keep the mad, and the Fox News propaganda machine is designed to serve that purpose alone.
How do we get out of this mess? Vote in Democrats, throw historical levels of funding at education, figure out how to stop the Fox News parade of lies.
6
And how is it that Bannon and his ideas have traction with the GOP? His goal is to hide the truth and weaken justice? These people are traitors to our Democracy! VOTE
3
Keep sounding the alarm Mr. Blow. Thank you! You are one of the few who has not attempted to rationalize the insanity! We need you!
2
You miss the point. Trump's supporters already KNOW they have made a deal with the devil, so outing him as the devil he is means nothing to them.
2
"Now is the time for all good men (and women too!) to come to the aid of the nation." We owe it to those who came before us and to those who will come after us. So much sacrifice went into the founding of our nation and so much dedication since that founding --- will we let a tin pot, narcissistic, nasty ignoramus destroy our Republic? I pray not!
We have been told by the "experts" that if t rump does this or crosses that line we are in a full fledged Constitutional crisis. I say we have been in crisis mode since his party nominated him.
I had hoped the Constitutional scholar who preceded the so called president in the office would have handled it. That he didn't is my main complaint against Obama; he was worried about political fallout when he should have been worried about radioactive fallout.
republicans abandoned democracy some decades ago and if they had found a fascist with the charm and smarts of either Clinton or Obama we would be full scale fascist now. The thought W. was that guy. But the only logical conclusion to their drift into Randian fantasy land was t rump.
Madeline Albright has a book out warning about the fascism that is creeping into our Nation and We the People had better start taking it seriously. We need to vote in such numbers that we overwhelm the koch bothers, ALEC, gerrymandering and F(alse)ox news.
In a way we can be thankful that it is this so called president who is such a caricature and farce that less than 30% of US are taken in.
But the danger is real.
1
America is truly in a uniquely crazy place..."Bizarro World" come to life, indeed!
2
We may not seem to be supporting democracy as much but,man, do we love laws and rules and playing by them. That might be what saves us from the Putins and the Xis.
What I don't understand is how 35% of the American population still supports Trump. I hope he is one of the last white men to embrace racism and sexism as stepping stones to the presidency. But I'm sure he won't be. Fox News, the Russians, the National Enquirer, the alt-right, and other racists and sexists will keep assaulting our democracy. Evil thrives when good people do nothing.
3
April 12, 2018
Why wait Mr. President - go now in humble and gracious care for the America we love. Let the times ahead resolve what is paramount to dark distraction to the work of the Chief Executive of our America. Surely a pardon and resolutions in memoirs will give the balance to his historic legacy as a man of honor in times of good and bad but with the strength towards the soul of the man - another American man that tried his best and yet things happen - as Hillary's book asked "What Happen - ( let's add a period and not a ? question notation - for it all the measure of our person hood and minimum acceptable truth for history and spirit of our great nation with trust in thee....
1
We will see if he's going down. I can't tell you how many times I've thought "this time is different," but the guy is apparently immune to the typical things that would bring someone down. For a person most readers believe is abnormally stupid, it is truly remarkable how many times people have endeavored to take him down and how few have actually succeeded (none in fact, at present he's the billionaire president of the US, the most powerful nation in history, though for how long, who knows). He's a much more worthy adversary than most people give him credit for. Dear readers, I would not get my hopes up if I were you, and I really hope that if he is ultimately dethroned, it's for a real crime. I have little doubt that the guy has done some things that weren't exactly "by the book," but this Stormy Daniels thing does not at present appear to be a crime, seedy though it in fact is.
75
It's often not the crime but the cover-up.
19
Depends on where the payoff came from. The timing suggests significant a campaign finance violation.
16
The law applies equally to all of us. I assume by saying not exactly "by the book" you mean illegal. What happens when young black men do things not quite "by the book?" We throw them in jail if they manage to survive the arrest. Trump has bought his way out of every illegal thing he has ever done. He should be in jail for ANY illegal thing he has done whether you think it's important or not.
15
Watching President Trump is like watching a child play chess. Having little skill at playing his castles, his knights, his bishops and finally having sacrificed his queen (by throwing his longtime lawyer under the bus with his airplane comment) he is unprotected and in grave danger as are all Americans - when a spoiled rotten child loses all his toys.
114
"[W]atching a child play chess"... I recall playing my brother, ten years my senior, an intense game of chess. He clearly dominated the center of the board, but I slowly contested the game and began to prevail. Then, after a few more moves and in a fit of defeated pique he swept the remaining pieces off the board with his hand bouncing the flying figures off the wall. the loss was to much for him to take. Unfortunately, Mr. David "Spanky" Dennison aka President Donald J. Trump hovers above the country, the Constitution, and the lives of countless American citizens and others on the planet. I recall looking at my brother, in shock thinking "what have you done!" I am deeply concerned that our President could do much, much more harm then simply disturb a quiet afternoon, at the dining room table. His unmoored behavior IS a "clear and present" danger and I fear we have yet to see the full depth of his self-serving depravities.
11
Most of all, I'm just sick of the scapegoating. He even scapegoats preemptively. He said during the campaign that if he lost, it was because of a rigged system. He said a judge couldn't be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Those are just two things that come to mind immediately, but I think they both show how completely he disrespects due process. He just "knew" that the system was against him before even giving it a chance to work. It wasn't and it isn't. All of his current troubles are no ones fault but his, including the hiring of Robert Mueller. This entire nightmare has made me realize just how much I respect the concept of due process under the law. I don't always agree with or like the results, but the process matters. The only thing more disgusting than this idiots behavior is the fact that he has a political party, supporters and propaganda outlets that support his willingness to destroy our entire justice system.
221
Charles, the world was able to get rid of Hitler.
We can rid ourselves of this incompetent clown.
Let’s just hope the world won’t have too much carnage and financial damage before his administration is out.
Then there’s all the pieces that will have to be picked up.
Who the heck would want to be an American president after this DISASTER?
3
Once the truly damning facts of Trump's life of fraud are exposed for all too see, I expect Trump to immediately pull a Socrates. He wouldn't be able to bear even a single day of ignominy.
1
It bears repeating that we live in the most extraordinary times. Who could have imagined 3 years ago that a distinguished NYT columnist would spend the first 15 months of a new president's term writing columns explaining why the chief executive should be removed from office? Yet, Trump has earned every one of these indictments of his behavior, and he richly deserves expulsion from office.
I would, however, challenge Mr. Blow's implied criticism of the framers of the Constitution for their failure to anticipate such a creature as Trump winning the presidency. They did create a system of checks and balances which, for more than 200 years, has effectively restrained any branch of government from seizing excessive power. But they also recognized that no set of institutions inscribed in ink on parchment could guarantee the preservation of liberty. Only government officials, and the citizens who chose them, could convert those institutions into robust limits on state power. As Benjamin Franklin allegedly told a woman who asked him what the constitutional convention had created, "a republic, if you can keep it."
We now confront a situation in which a significant proportion of the American people feel so alienated from the political system that they will support a man who scorns the institutional limits created by the Constitution. The GOP, frightened by this base, refuses to do its duty. Only the voters in November can begin to restore the rule of law.
4
Never forget that ALL of this could have been avoided if both political parties had simply passed a rule that required all candidates to release at least (fill in the blank*) number of years of tax returns before being allowed to enter a primary.
Since we cannot trust either corporately owned party to represent the interests of the people, we must put unrelenting pressure on our congress critters to enact legislation requiring candidates to release their returns. There was no doubt that someone would try not releasing returns after the stunt Mittwit Romney pulled. Now that Trump has gotten away with it, it will happen again.
* I have always advocated 16 years of returns---two-two term presidencies.
3
It is entirely possible that Donald J. Trump's time in the oval office will test the viability of representative democracy as much as in the period leading up to the Civil War and afterwards.
The rise of the internet and "data miners" like Facebook, and the decline of the printed newspapers containing considered editorial thought has given propagandists of all stripes a voice with with to reach masses of people, most of whom haven the time or inclination to simply sit still and read.
So now, objective truth is being drowned out by the political cacophony of fear mongers, crooks, liars, thieves, and outright power seekers.
Add to that the concentration of the "the press" as an industry by the likes of Sinclair, NewsCorp, and Comcast (to name the most prominent) is drowning out thoughtful discourse.
We once had rules regarding such a concentration of information. Ironically, it was Bill Clinton who most helped to destroy those rules, in my humble opinion.
2
As I read this the secretary of state confirmation hearing for a climate change denier is on TV. As usual the republicans are like his buddies welcoming him to the country club.
Realistically the only thing that will stop Spanky is a Democrat majority in Congress and the prosecution by the NY AG.
5
He is going to burn down the house. It's the "deconstruction of the Administrative state".
Yesterday he tweeted that relations with Russia are so bad because of the Mueller witch hunt. We are now in national security territory which gives POTUS even more special powers. Firing Mueller will re-establish good relations with Russia and make the nation safer. He and Kelly hope there are demonstrations so they can call in the troops and we are not talking about the National Guard. It's all been gamed out.
5
Mr. Blow - well said. I am truly frightened.
5
All great societies ultimately fail. Whether it be by environmental causes or man-made. That is the natural order of things. Maybe Murica's "greatness" will be to provide future generations lessons on how not to destroy a democracy. Assuming the planet doesn't go up in a cacophony of mushroom clouds.
The Trump era has proven the axiom of immorality that the end justifies the means. For Trump personally it centers on flagrant self aggrandizement. For his goons in Congress it means enabling Trump to achieve their agenda of shrinking federal government so they can drown it in a bathtub. For Evangelicals it is distorting Christ’s teachings to praise an authoritarian who stokes their hatred and resentment. For oligarchs is means getting rich at any price.
5
The Republicans have unleashed Frankenstein's monster, and now he's rampaging out of control. The locals are gathering at the gate with torches and pitchforks. Isn't this the scene where fire engulfs the monster and he throws his creator off the windmill?
3
Donald Trump is banal and smarmy. Enough said. He will be a test for the American people. Who are we?
3
With Trump at the helm, no one can feel secure. This is a man who must win at any cost; his reckless self-absorption could even lead to a world conflagration. Even Republicans, who thus far have betrayed their nation with cringing servility to Trump and self-interest, are not safe from a childish personality who, upon looking in a mirror, sees a general and a statesman rather than the corrupt monster with the heart of a despot. Unless those who bow before him develop some form of integrity and a backbone, there really appears to be no solution to Trump's immaturity and shallow demagoguery.
4
Of course this nearly-empty soul wants the entire system [world?] to go down with him if his ego-world collapses. Which is why Sean Hannity is toying with treason, not to mention soul-suicide. Those who have any sense of integrity left must, must examine their consciences. NOW.
4
To know what Trump fears watch what he attacks. He has no policy agenda but this. The attack mode is how he gained the presidency and it is all he knows.
Fear is so deeply ingrained in him that he lashes out instinctively. This is not a man but a caged animal. The thing is he has put himself into this cage. Someone, the Congress, ha ha, should put him out of his misery, and ours as well, and release him back into the jungle of capitalist cut throat policy where he belongs.
4
Trump is just the tumor. But it metastasized already. If expunged (a very big IF), new tumors will arise.
2
An informed citizenry is necessary for democracy to flourish. Democracy is, therefore, always at risk. The conservative ignorance factory disgorged Donald.
4
A big thanks to Mr Blow for always calling it like it is, terrifying at some of his observations are.
4
Trump knows the show is over, canceled. Everybody knows that Trump is toast except for the Republican base. If I were Trump's new lawyer, I would counsel him to save his family, save what little is left of his sanity... and resign. Just end it. End this whole fiasco. C'mon, Don. Just this once, be the hero. Go home.
6
But it isn't that easy. He knows that the day after he resigned, NY attorney general files charges...so he will make sure he destroys the country first...this is not ending well for him or for us.
The President is unfit to serve and should be removed by any means necessary within constitutional constructs because above all else we must remain a nation ruled by laws.
5
Charles writes, “Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures.”
The Founders could predict and project only so much. At some point living Americans must take responsibility for the country’s current state of affairs but I don’t think they will because too many Americans are just plain stupid.
If this country was a Boeing 777, it has pilots and flight crew who have only been trained to fly single engine propeller planes, if that.
Better schools, better training, less blind ambition and arrogance would have helped but its too late.
Hold on to your seat cushions and put your head between your knees because this plane is probably going to crash!
1
"If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles."
Although I share the author's fears for our country, I am not sure that the quoted sentence above is accurate. What more can be revealed about his character that is worse than what we already know? Our President brags about lying. He brags about sexually harassing women. He is clearly completely amoral. The only principle he consistently supports is that he wants, needs and deserves attention and adulation. His supporters seem to be thrilled with this.
3
It's time for Congress to wake up and get a spine and strengthen other body parts. I have my fingers crossed that Mueller has found things so heinous it will be imperative to remove him from office. It helps to contact members of congress and even the President. Today I sent Trump a post card telling him to resign. If enough people did this, perhaps he would realize that he is not loved and deserving. He is in fact a DISGRACE.
2
I have a new theory on why trump is so nervous about the NDAs and his marital infidelities coming to light.
When he married Melania Knauss, there was most definitely a pre-nup. My guess is that in the pre-nup there is a stipulation that it is invalidated if it can be proven definitively that either party committed adultery. This would open up trump to an enormous amount of financial exposure if and when Melania were to file for divorce.
Because with trump it's all about the money.
1
Of course there are many voters that support Trump from misguided optimism, but the money bags behind him know his days are numbered and support him only as a tool. That support will quite possibly last until 2020 when his bonkers backers hope he will manage re-election. Once this happens, Trump will be dumped and the GOP will function more calmly using a more compliant vessel to advance their narrow hypocritical Theocracy.
4
Congress and the Supreme Court must do their duty as check and balance in order to defend our Justice System against a President who has sought to criminally block and impede the duly authorized Special Prosecutor's investigation into all aspects of the President's conduct while in office and including all illegitimate actions leading up to his election.
1
Democrats are dreaming if they think this is going to lead to an impeachment. The republicans are never going to turn on this president. Trump should fire Sessions, Goldstein and Mueller to bring this to an end. He used Sean Hannity to make his case along with the likes of Newt to actually compare the FBI to a crime family and Stalin. They are so appalled that the FBI raided the offices of Trumps cohorts but I never hear them complain when the FBI, DEA, and ATF smash down the doors of suspected immigrants and drug dealers. It will not do him any harm with his base of 41%. Once he starts bombing Syria his approval ratings will soar.
1
Interesting that Trump thinks that the raid on his lawyer's office might reveal something about his relationship with Stormy Daniels something he denies vehemently ever took place. The relationship between Cohen and his lawyer will tell us much about when Trump knew things and his participation in the whole sorry mess. Trump's fear is showing and the smoke is about to burst into a full four alarm blaze.
Do you really want to know what is a threat to our Democracy? The media and the bureaucratic state going all out to overturn an election where a President was duly elected by the citizens of the United States. All because they can't accept the fact that their gal Hillary lost the election. Amazingly this effort began the day after our President was elected! That is the threat in front of us now.
Collusion will never be proven because it never happened. If there was anything to this laughable claim it would have come out by now. So the bureaucratic state has to expand its original scope and go on a fishing expedition.
The left is really showing its true colors. They despise the bill of rights. They are making a mockery of the 4th and 5th amendments. They despise the 2nd and 10th amendments. They despise free
speech and freedom of religion.
This country should be thankful that Mr. Trump is our President. Otherwise a real threat to our democracy would exist - the tyrannical left.
2
LarryGr, I voted for Hillary but contrary to your opinion I *can* accept the fact that she lost the election. What I can't accept is the fact that we have a vulgar, infantile, corrupt buffoon (credit to Paul Waldman of the Washington Post) acting as a "president."
You say that "Collusion will never be proven because it never happened," but I prefer to actually wait for the results of the investigation currently being undertaken. If Robert Mueller finds that there is no collusion, then I will accept that. If he lays out a clear, factual case for collusion, though, will you be able to accept that? (By the way, I'm assuming you were okay with the Whitewater investigation which started with a failed land deal and became about an extramarital affair? Ring any bells?)
The left does not despise the Bill of Rights. We are patriotic Americans dismayed at much of the unpatriotic behavior of the current occupant of the White House. Including his cavalier dismissal of our free press -- enshrined in the very first amendment, before even your precious guns -- calling them "the enemy of the state." I'm running out of room to refute the other spurious charges you made, but please get better informed -- do some serious reading, not just Fox "News" and Breitbart. You owe this great country that much.
Trumps rational for not releasing his tax returns was that they were being audited. It's been a couple of years now and no further word on its status. Maybe a patriotic American at the IRS will leak his returns.
Trump touted himself as the great equalizer. His base gobbled up his words, blindly followed him despite his many indiscretions, unwillingness to share his financials, and blatant disregard for the rules of law and order. Trump is emboldened by the war cries from his supporters at rallies, on twitter and Fox News. His paper thin skin is starting to itch and twitch... he WILL scratch until he bleeds the truth. Does Trump realize that this is real life and not a scripted program? He has so far been insulated from the consequences of his actions. The question remains when all is said and done and the truth unfolds will he congratulate himself of ask for a pardon? Either way, the trust of the American people will die a thousand deaths....actions and consequences cannot escape the law of nature.
2
Your prognosis is frightening but the inescapable reality is that his own party so far has not lifted a finger to stop this ego-maniacal tyrant. Will our democracy crash and burn. Paul Ryan I think believes in that possibility.
Sessions should promote Rosenstein and put a good man in there who should require a final report on the Russian investigation and assume all the other tags ends into Justice.
1
Or his base could be given all the evidence in the world of his corruption and simply not care. That is, after all, what they have done so far.
Our so-called president is a real problem, but also and more important, he is a product of a deep and pervasive darkness in a significant portion of the American electorate. Get rid of trump today and that darkness will still be there. That worries me a lot.
1
Charles, I disagree with you on one critical point. Trump's followers will not abandon him when the proof of his lying is made public. Rather they will further admire and embrace him specifically because he has lied to protect and further their mutual agenda of hate, bigotry, racism, misogyny and prideful anti-intellectual ignorance.
3
Trump's ruthless, yet guiltily erratic behavior is certainly frightening, but the silent acquiescence of our congressional leaders is a much greater threat in the long run to the survival of our democratic republic.
Regardless of party or ideology, the Speaker and Majority Leaders must prioritize the best interests and protection of the Constitution and the republic. Ryan, McConnell, et al are a disgrace.
2
How tiring it is to awaken every morning asking, "I wonder what dummy has done or is starting to do today?"
First, we have to get him out of office and then we must face Pence? Boy, that's a future filled with religion driven chaos.
What, I wonder, will become of America?
2
Privilege. Abuse. Reform.
One of the great jobs of all time is that of a snoop with a badge inside Trump's secret dungeon (his attorney's office). I can see them in front of three piles of files. Pile one: Trump Death Star. Pile two: Cohen Death Star. Pile Three: A cancelled check made out to the guy who threatened our Stormy.
1
Trump ran as a lying, grifter. Proof is not going to bring the house of cards down. Trumps entire campaign and Presidency was, is and continues to be based on alternative facts. Proof is based on facts. Facts no longer exist.
1
Ronan Farrow's latest New Yorker piece considers the National Enquirer's role in trying to squash a story about an illegitimate trump daughter by paying off a doorman.
Haven't we all been wondering whether a man with five acknowledged children by three different women might have some unacknowledged offspring out there?
We, the People, including his deluded supporters, deserve better.
2
When the economy collapses, he might lose his base. When the draft is reinstated, and their sons, and daughters are coming home in bed body bags, he might lose his base. Maybe.
1
Its awful to agree, but Mr Blow is right.
Trump will burn it all down.
The USS Trumptanic is floating down the River Styx and we are the passengers.
He has a fanatical cult following that treats him almost as a messiah. The Republican Party has been an abysmal failure in defending the constitution and the Republic against the abuses of this unstable, wannabe tyrant. American must reject Trumpism and the GOP. The future of our children is at stake - the fate of the planet may hang in the balance.
1
Mr. Blow, for the most part, I agree. However, getting rid of Trump is only part of the solution. The Republicans in Congress (and maybe the entire Party), and Trump’s so called base are deeply complicit.
Once again,,though, identifying the problem is easy; identifying solutions is very difficult.
How does one begin purging a political party of the “party first” mentality ? How does one convince a large minority of the voting public that research, reason and a bit of an open mind are obligations of each citizen? Watching Fox News by itself doesn’t qualify.
5
I feel the same doom. And what will our elected leaders do to protect us? So far the Republicans have done nothing. In fact, they have added fuel to the fire by enabling and protecting Trump. What will it take for them to finally do what they were voted to do: serve the people?
3
I wish that the NYT would interview the members of the electoral college that put Trump in office - so that they could explain their reasons for doing so, and their understanding of their role/responsibility as defined for being a member of the electoral college. Given where we are now, I wonder - why did they put party before country. I don't have the same questions for the GOP Congress - they have always been self-serving.
4
When Trump sees the specter of impeachment, conviction, indictment, conviction and being sent to prison -- he will react as any being facing destruction.
There will be no limit by law or tradition that will constrain his actions.
Let's cease the discussion of whether what he does is lawful or constitutional. The best we could hope for is like Nixon purportedly got from Ford, he will be offered a pardon if he resigns
4
The question is where do the generals stand. Armageddon can't take hold without a military force taking sides.
4
We have Trump. But we also have a GOP congress that, for the most part, appears to be in agreement with Trump voters --- as long as tax breaks, the infamous wall goes up, America grinds other countries into submission towards OUR needs without regard to THEIR needs ---- then Trump will go from a near-god to a demi-god to God.
It is not just Trump that needs defeating. We first must defeat those who enable and encourage his behaviors.
9
The rule of law is not safe. Our democracy is not safe . . . The country is in a perilous position. It is in the hands and under the thumb of a man now motivated by a primal survival instinct, a consuming egotism and a petrifying fear of ignominy.
“At this point, nothing is beyond the possible, no matter how ill advised and how ultimately destructive. In Trump’s mind, I can only imagine, he has settled on a strategy in the case of his own administration’s Armageddon: If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him.”
All together now, one two three –
Were you there when they crucified my Land?
Oh were you there when they crucified my Land?
(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Land?
1
To understand how fragile our democracy has become we need only look at the two political parties and their two party 'system.'
The two party system is not part of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The two parties control our ballot access, along with nominations and appointments to our courts, and a qwhole lot more.
The two parties ate out Constitutional rights for breakfast, decades ago.Trump will go down in history as the two-party's failure legacy.
Trump needs to be put out because he is unfit to hold the most important office in the free world. Nor is that Trump's fault.
Trump was born before ritalin became the treatment for attention deficit disorder, which Trump clearly has, yet an unknown ailment when Trump was just another obnoxious brat, growing up.
Trump inherited his father's dementia. He's stage 1.
At the White House annual Easter Egg Hunt Trump went off script to ramble about his / our Defense Budget and forgot the name of the potential missile target, "House" behind him.
Trump will be Impeached and will be found guilty of High Crimes and Ms Demeaners.
"My attention deficit disorder made me do it," won't work. Innocent by reason of mental disorder won't cut it.
The mid-term elections may turn into a tsunami for both political parties. Trump, the registered Democrat turned Republican will do his part, soon to be kicking and screaming about his coming Impeachment.
3
The Electoral College not only gave us Trump, it gave us W Bush in 2000.
And with W Bush we got the Iraq war resulting in the chaos we have today in the Middle East and a million refugees in Europe.
We got the Great Recession, the biggest recession since the Great Depression.
And W Bush took the balanced budget he got from Clinton and handed Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit along with that Great Recession.
Electoral College - two times in a row with Republicans.
26
Well said! Electoral College must go.
3
Anyone running for the Presidency should have to pass a thorough National Security vetting and a test on knowledge of the Constitution. Much more money needs to be devoted to education, as well. The likes of Fox should not be allowed to call itself "news", as well.
16
Candidates for president should also be required to release their tax returns during the nomination process. That step alone would discourage bad actors like Trump from casually throwing their hats into the ring.
Even under the present system, in which disclosure is expected but not required, what was he thinking when he entered the race? You have to question the sanity of a man who would thrust himself into the spotlight of public office while hiding something so egregious that he would risk prison and destroy the country to avoid exposure.
There are two things that Mr. Blow presents here as possibilities for the future, that are actually existing facts:
1. "If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles."
The story of Trump's life and career are nothing but that documentary evidence.
2. " If America must be damaged for him to escape unscathed, he will take that bargain without batting an eye."
His continual bludgeoning of our basic institutions - the judiciary, the law, the press, etc. - is entirely defensive. Put that together with the well-known fact that his run for the presidency was a self-serving, brand-building scheme and it's clear that Trump has been stomping on our country for both self-preservation and self-promotion for quite some time already.
We know that from his earliest years he was inculcated with this premise: You're essentially a loser, son. Now kill or be killed. So he got very, very good at that mode. And then he set his sights on the country. But the evidence has been there all along and the destruction is already well underway.
12
"There is no doubt in my mind that a strong case could be made that Trump has consistently sought to obstruct justice. That is as clear as creek water."
I agree, but you have not seen the clarity of the water in Cayuga Creek, near my home. It is that creek whose waters are as your assertions.
The country has survived great presidents, good ones, mediocre, poor, and rotten ones, and it still stands. We have had honest presidents, ones who turned a blind eye to corruption, and ones who were crooked as a dog's hind leg and we survived them.
The strength of the Republic is the strength of its citizens, not its leaders, and that strength live on from generation to generation. We have a sound, if imperfect, system of government and we will endure this president, his supporters, and his critics just as we have done for the past two plus centuries.
3
Reminds me of the story of Dorian Gray. Trump thought that he could leave behind and keep from public view his lifetime of unsavory and dishonest behavior. To facilitate becoming President the past was covered up by his "fixer" Cohen among others, but the record of the past remains and reveals itself augmented in the indelible image of Trump's true nature. It is no wonder that he is terrified...
5
One might think that somebody wouldn't want millions of
people actively hating them . In the case of Donald Trump, one might have to examine their thinking.though,
3
This crisis will test us all. It is time for all good citizens to stand up for the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.
4
I think that your conclusion that "If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him" is a great exaggeration." Of course, that is very typical of your writing in the age of Trump. The writers of the Constitution tried to build it so that the odds of people like Mr. Trump getting elected were greatly decreased. Mr. Trump is what happens when a government is overly democratic. The parties need to get back control of the presidential nominating process. Over the last 50 years the parties have lost control of it. Way too many primaries. Those Democratic Party superdelegates are a good idea. Not a bad one.
1
Republicans have spent the past 40 years undermining the legitimacy of the state and its institutions. We have been told by the head of our government that government itself was the problem and not the solution. We have been told that government agencies are suffocating our freedoms and plotting in darkness to take over. Our fellow citizens have been amassing arsenals to protect themselves against the state.
Trump and the GOP share in their mistrust of laws and government, yet they want to make laws and run the government. This paradox, personified by Trump's political career, is unresolvable and unsustainable. We must all pay the price when the inevitable shock hits our polity.
We have been here before. Our Republic, born in a revolution and claiming to embody civic virtue, tolerated slavery for several decades until the inevitable rupture and violent correction settled the paradox.
2
I am hopeful that all those Trump supporters out there will finally ask themselves this question: Just why does a person need a "fixer" anyway? The fact alone that our president has employed a fixer for years should terrify us all.
8
Trump’s approval ratings (50%) are better than ever and comparable to Obama at same point in 2010.
How can this be?
4
Partisan politics perhaps. Nixon was seen favorably by almost 1/2 the electorate up until his resignation.
Actually, no. His approval is not at 50%, it's been steadily 35-40% ....the Rasmussen poll is suspect because they are clearly right wing!
Last poll showed that 69% of Americans do not want Mueller fired.
1
50% of what, exactly? Where on earth did you get that number?
For many, it won’t matter what truths Mueller and his team uncover. Enough doubt has been sown through Trump’s tweets, Fox News, and right wing conspiracy nuts that those who cling to the myths of 9/11 plots, Hillary Clinton’s “crimes”, and Deep State meddling will never believe who Trump really is, nor will they care. As repulsive as Trump’s behavior is, the thought that millions in this country refuse to accept objective, proven facts is more troubling.
7
Mr. Blow, you say Trump has a "petrifying fear of ignominy," one motive for his continuing to battle.
But although Trump may not recognize the reality, it is already far to late for him to avoid shame and disgrace in the history books. Not even Mueller's declaring him pure as the driven snow in the Russian matter would obviate his other atrocities committed against our democracy, our values, and what we stand for in the world.
I continue to believe we Americans have recourse. We can rise up and vote out every single Republican officeholder everywhere. New majorities in Washington can clip Trump's wings and remedy damage he has done.
I think this is possible because the political lines have been drawn already. Voters are passionately for or against Trump and the number "for" is not growing while the resistance is rising.
I even speculate that Trump may not run again or resign, for he will not be able to face the "ignominy" of huge defeat at the polls.
3
If we survive this, the good news may be that the phrase "fake facts" will be retired.
5
We have an aging, angry con man who is in the WrestleMania Hall of Fame in charge of our democracy. He knows how to appeal to the instincts of the least informed, angriest, and most aggrieved. He's run rings around the spineless leadership of his "smart" party. And now he's in a corner.
All the GOP ever needed to do to stop him in his tracks was to insist that he release his taxes. We need to flood Congress with calls demanding they support the Mueller protection bill put forth by Senators Graham, Tillis, and Booker. The GOP needs to understand that there is more at stake than cash from donors and ratings from their ever-shrinking, easily manipulated, tabloid reading base.
They chose him as their leader; now he's got missiles and world financial markets to fling around the ring.
6
"Now we are engaged in a great civil [contest], testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
A. Lincoln
4
“Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures.”
They sure did! That’s why they divided the government into three co-equal branches. They didn’t consider that moral ethical corruption would enervate and weaken those institutions - the executive is imperial, the legislature for auction and the judiciary, politicized. The rot started with the legislature when it stopped doing its job and let the other two branches do the hard work. As the Founders also knew, it comes down to the citizens to make sure their government obeys the rules. If Americans shake off their cynicism and apathy and now actively participate in their country’s future, we will owe the disaster that is Trumpism a great debt. If not, people tend to get the government they deserve. Institutions and norms do not exist in a vacuum. If they are undermined and damaged, it is because good people did nothing.
5
I have been saying, for years, based on my experience - as a forensic psychologist - with persons adjudicated as mentally ill offenders, that Donald Trump is not curable. He is incapable, thanks to a long-standing mental condition, of modifying his behavior or, more importantly, improving his contact with reality.
Even after he leaves office, either being forced out or defeated in an election, he will believe that his removal was unfair.
If he were not President, he could not be committed and confined, since he would never be seen as a danger to himself or others. But he is President, and his decisions have already contributed to danger to others via his position as CINC of our armed forces.
The money? The immorality? The verbal cruelty? These are mere peccadillos. He has access to the nuclear 'button'. He can order the deployment of lethal weapons from land, sea and air. He is a clear and present danger to human beings of various nationalities.
Further deponent sayeth not.
7
It won't go down without action by the people.
3
From the column: "And it is by no means clear that his cowardly Republican accomplices in Congress would do anything to prevent or punish him."
I contend it is clear: The cowardly Republican accomplices absolutely will NOT do anything to prevent or punish him. They haven't done anything so far, why would they now or in the future?
Trump and his tactics are working -- this will be tested further when has his own "Saturday Night Massacre" -- and it's coming. The spineless GOP isn't what will make the difference, it's the base; if/ when the base see Trump for who and what he really is, that's when things change.
Let's see how it unfolds...
2
While Trump obviously presents challenges to our Republic, it is not him I am most worried about. The founding fathers created a system of checks and balances. It is clear that they felt that a government "by the people" would be unlikely to suffer rot in more than one branch at the same time. However, the GOP congress has not fulfilled its function as a check on the power of the presidency. So, yes, Trump is a challenge. But without a functional check from the congress, Trump becomes a mortal threat.
4
As John Admas said, "Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it." I am waiting or the present generation to step forward and do it's work. This nightmare must end...,
4
By now it should be clear to all but the most blind of his supporters that Donald Trump is a man with a lot to hide, hence the unhinged rants earlier this week when his attorney's home and office were raided. An innocent man does not rant and rave as Trump did this week.
The remaining questions are how far is he willing to go to stop or obstruct this investigation and what, if anything, will our weak and ineffective Congress do to prevent Trump from obstructing justice?
These are the questions that should concern all who care about our democratic institutions. What checks and balances exist to protect our democracy from a president who obstructs justice? At what point does concern for our country override partisanship?
2
The founders did give us a mechanism against election of a demagogue like Trump. It’s the Electoral College. Which worked, precisely opposite from its intended purpose, to give us the minority choice demagogue instead of the people’s choice (by popular vote).
1
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures." Yes, indeed.
The circumstantial evidence that Trump has obstructed justice on numerous occasions is overwhelming, and that he is probably guilty of other high crimes and misdemeanors. And yet, his party's Congressional majority will prevent his removal by their inaction. This is clearly a flaw in the constitution that needs fixing, and which could bring down the house.
3
Unfortunately, there is a flaw in Mr. Blow's speculations. There could well emerge concrete evidence of Mr. Trump's lying, corruption and criminality, and it would make little difference to his supporters. This is at least as disturbing as Trump's own behavior. The "tribe members" are so immune to any challenge to their beliefs, they prefer to maintain their angry support for the President than face any collection of facts. He could indeed, as he joked two years ago, shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and his supporters would still support him. It's no joke. It is a threat to our democracy, and it certainly is no joke.
452
I think that is a foregone conclusion. The question is this -- will the rule of law hold?
30
Yes, Harry, you are right. Mr. Blow says "If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles." I doubt it will be as clean and instantaneous as crumbling card metaphor implies.
Assuming Mueller is still around to finish the job and uncover the most plainly obvious malfeasance by Trump, I doubt the 40% of Americans who support Trump will change their minds. They will say it's a rigged result orchestrated by the fake media and the deep state. The only way to change the course of our nation is for Democrats to win back Congress--House and Senate--in November.
However, even winning back all of Congress won't be enough. Because of the 40% of Americans who still support Trump, I worry that the struggle to save our democratic institutions will continue well past Trump's departure from the scene. There is a good chance that the next Trumpian character will have learned from the obvious flaws of Trump, and the new character will be a lot slicker, shrewder, and Machiavelian....and the 40% will have found their new leader.
11
That Trump has engaged in obstruction is "as clear as creek water." There is a tragic metaphor here, Charles, as creek water is as endangered as the truth. The air and water are cloudy, and I too fear for the nation.
7
Sadly, the so-called president differs little from the people of the basket who are his base. With a scant idea of and no respect for the rule of law, there's a self-aggrandizing myth that they're fighting for freedom, they're independent, they're "real men."
Nothing could be further from the truth - but then, only the so-called president can determine what's "true."
7
On the one hand you have Robert Mueller, a war hero, a dedicated public servant, a man whose ego is built, not on what the world thinks about him, but on his own ability to adhere to values which he has set for himself.
On the other you have a president who lacks any moral compass and who must in every sentence remind the world of how exceptional a person he is while denigrating others.
The claim that Trump supporters, and Trump himself makes “there is no evidence of collusion” is not (at least yet) accurate. Mueller has not concluded his investigation and has refused to discuss, or leak, its status to the public.
That many in Congress refuse to stand up and pass legislation to protect Mueller and Rosenstein and the rule of law and to head off what I fear will be violent clashes, as Americans in the millions will take to the streets in reaction to either’s firings, may lead to the greatest internal crisis this country has faced since the Civil War. Then, as now, history will leave no doubt as to which side were the true patriots.
12
Great points all.
However, Trump alone could not put us in the peril our nation is in now. The danger that he poses is exponentially increased by years of growth of the administrative state and the power of the Executive branch at the expenses and with the active efforts of the Legislative branch to delegate its authority, control and responsibility to the Executive Agencies. Even the idea of a Special Counsel is a delegation to the Executive of the Legislative branch's constitutional oversight and investigatory powers. The ability of the EPA to make and then unmake rules that have the force of law is anathema to our concept of divided and equal branches - and multiply that by the same authority given to Commerce on tariffs, Defense to wage war, State to undertake "accords' like Paris without Congressional approval and hundred more delegations of rightful Legislative power, and what you get is a situation where it is all too possible for man like Trump to gain power and leverage the powers already given to that branch to implement if not tyranny then a reasonable likeness of it.
By all means lets get to the bottom of Trump's obstruction and other high crimes - but the lesson is not to bring in another man to wield the same power, only this time on behalf of Democrats. The lesson for our nation has to be that we must redress the power imbalance and restore power - and responsibility - to the Legislative branch.
5
Part of the problem, and no small part at that, is that many Americans have lost faith in the "whole system."
This decay of civic consciousness has accompanied the forty-year project launched under Reagan to weaken or eliminate the foundations of our democracy.
We've seen a concerted effort to undermine middle class economic security by crippling organized labor.
We've seen a successful quest to get rid of a societal commitment to responsible broadcast journalism by casting aside the Fairness Doctrine and the Equal Time Rule.
We've observed a Supreme Court rule that our sacred right of Freedom of Expression means that oligarchs get to buy the government and the politicians.
We've sat and watched as Congress has continued to be supine as Presidents have arrogated war powers and enmeshed this country in a 17-year long mess in the Middle East.
We stay silent as investment in our infrastructure, our schools, and our social safety net stagnate and as access to health care remains limited to only those who can afford it.
We tolerate open racism, even by presidential candidates, and we seem not to blink an eye at the misogyny that doomed Secretary Clinton.
We have a Senate built to reflect antebellum sentiments about slavery and a House of Representatives in which members effectively choose their own voters.
We have a public education system that is, to be kind, confused about its purpose and that basically fails to teach civics or, really, history very well.
27
The ascendancy of Donald Trump has been in the works for years, probably since the last great political realignment in the Johnson Administration. What created the perfect storm that propelled him to the White House was the awakening of the fundamentalist evangelical right over social issues, and the fallout of job losses due to globalization and technology, impoverishing part of the middle and blue collar working class. These forces were manipulated by the ideological oligarchic class to achieve its own aspirations. With the economic recovery, demographic changes, and the arrival of the more tolerant and progressive millennial generation, we are again facing a political realignment the will reverse and marginalize the forces that brought Trump to power, and restore a renewed sense of democratic order and constructive political discourse. Our challenge at this juncture is to prevent Trump from taking all of down with him as his world collapses. Our safety valves consist of all the courageous people in the Justice Department, the media, civil society, state and local governments, academia, social movements, law enforcement, the Special Prosecutor, and others who are struggling to preserve the American Experiment. Hopefully, Republicans in Congress will do their patriotic duty and join these safety valves.
7
“He will not hesitate to apply what he has learned to his present predicament. If America must be damaged for him to escape unscathed, he will take that bargain without batting an eye.”
These words are undoubtedly the most emotionally debilitating I have read regarding our National predicament. They reflect the self centered drive by Trump for his self aggrandizement. This is a leader (sic) that is a reflection of our troubled political landscape as well an electorate in the grasp of a destructive conservatism movement of thirty eight years in duration launched by Ronald Reagan.
The current version of this movement makes Reagan look like a moderate.
12
I agree with all, Charles. Sadly, I can find no counterargument. I sure wish that I could.
As you write,
"Trump has spent a lifetime probing the regulations for weaknesses, testing the theory that under sufficient weight any bureaucracy can be broken."
And I think that we suspect that Michael Cohen is a part of that recalcitrant process.
The unknown is stacked with Trump's supporters. Remember, Trump knows them well when he says that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they'd still vote for him. It's why I stay away from Fifth Avenue.
But I think that in the end, if there is the end for which we hope, Trump supporters will just go back to not voting, what they did before Trump.
Fox News will lose some market share, but not much; they can still spin their wild stories, but voters will be real skeptical of any other Trump that comes along. Maybe, in Republican presidential primaries of the future, they'll vote for the rational candidate. We can only hope.
3
Excellently articulated piece.
Prediction: it will be discovered that Trump is not wealthy; that his money is not really his and he is massively indebted (most likely to Russian oligarchs).
36
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
I thought that was the presumed function of the electoral college. It was designed to take into consideration an aspiring incumbent's fitness for the office. However, any system is predicated on good people doing the right thing(and ultimately they all are). If they aren't or should they fail, the result is plain to see.
Now the much vaunted system of constitutional checks and balances to the power of the presidency will again be tested, if those fail, the shock to the system might ultimately be catastrophic, not just for the US but for the international community as well.
For God's sake America, get your house in order.
22
It's called learning from one's mistakes. I have faith that regardless of what Trump does or tries to do, in the end we will be able to fix the mess he has created and we will be the stronger, the better and most of all, the wiser for it. It will be painful, and I see things getting much worse between now and when Trump is finally hoisted on his own petard, but there will be an end. Just because there is pain and suffering along the way doesn't mean we as a country, as a nation, end too. We won't be disappearing into the ether any time soon!
4
Trump has manipulated the system to the point where to "get our house in order" we have to break it. The alternative to Trump is an impeachment or an Article 25 followed by insurrection and a Pence presidency. Our systems have to endure this travesty until 2020.
If God were willing to intervene, He could throw in a heart attack, and we'd have the Pence presidency without the insurrection.
Pence, and Trump's fanatic supporters are his insurance policy. Getting rid of him will be expensive and painful.
(he has settled on a strategy in the case of his own administration’s Armageddon: If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him.)
Boy Charles, you said a mouthful with that statement.
It was clear during his run for president who Trump was targeting as his supporters.
And they bit, hard.
When he gives a speech, he keeps going back to those same people, to check his troops and make sure they are still with him.
His tax returns...wouldn't it be interesting to find out that at most he has about $50 million.
After all, he did have the US give him a huge tax cut or break from his filing bankruptcy on his
casino.
Bottom line, there is nothing that Trump does for anyone unless there is something bigger in it for him.
He's just not that kind of guy.
Question is, what has Putin done for him...lately.
8
That’s why Rand’s leaving. Doesn’t want to be around for the attempted takeover, either way.
5
You must mean Ryan, not Rand. I wish Rand Paul was leaving, too! What a disgrace he is, even more pathetic than Ryan.
I am delighted that at long last someone has made reference to the weakness of a 250 year old constitution. Many American citizens blame the electoral college. Perhaps the colledge this time around should have weighed in the effect of the passion of the moment to consider a pause for reflection that in a democracy the majority governs. In doing so so they could have asked we the people for a second opinion and ordered that the existing president stay in office and a new election take place in a years time.
3
We can - and I believe we will - fix it when this is over. Constitutions can be amended and we have done so 27 times.
3
We could actually thank Trump in due time for stretching the boundaries, conventions and ethics of the Presidency. Maybe some of our boundaries, conventions and ethics should become written law. Maybe our ethics office should be given teeth, so that instead of candidates being expected to, for example, divest of business dealings, they are forced to divest. Maybe one campaigning for high office should be required to release tax returns. Maybe any White House staff appointed to roam the space of the oval office should have to meet a minimum security clearance before they set foot there. If ethics are optional, Trump has revealed that he will take advantage of those options to the full extent. So now we have a President who is represented by a slew of personal lawyers. His lawyers are represented by lawyers. This is the leader of our country.
19
I agree with every word.
Further:
". . .that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
I think the Electoral College was at one time pitched as a way to prevent the ascension of a demagog to the presidency.
Ironic that the institution that was supposed to prevent such an occurrence actually facilitated it!
18
“Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures.”
Not so.
They gave us the tools. They told us why we would need them. We chose not to use them.
A cursory read of Federalist 68, which discusses the Electoral College shows that the Framers absolutely did anticipate Trump. They designed a process of election, through the Electoral College, to prevent three things:
1) Meddling by foreign powers (“these most deadly adversaries of republican government”) in our election
2) The rise of someone with “Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity” — in other words, a demagogue
3) Corruption in the highest office
This was to be accomplished by a formal body of elected “Electors,” selected by the people for their virtue and good judgement, who were to function as independent selectors of the President.
A temporary body spread across the country to prevent bribery and foreign meddling, empowered to make their own choice.
But by the early 1800s, we had already abandoned the intended use. We moved to taking all of the downside of the system (a mathematical algorithm that says some Americans are more important than others in choosing a President. And by the time we needed it — what should have been taken as a gift to us from the past — we ignored. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
14
We are in a perilous situation that will test our national character. I hope that elected officials of both parties, particularly members of Congress, will have the courage and the strength to stand up to this dangerous man and preserve our democracy.
4
There are those Republicans who say, let the investigation run it's course and if he has nothing to hide, he'll be exonerated. Then there are those Republicans who say, enough already. Let's see the case against him so we can get on with running the country, expecting that there is little evidence. Then there are those rapid Republicans who will subvert the Constitution, say anything and do anything to get the bloodhounds off of the trail. I think the investigation is like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger with every inquiry uncovering questionable and likely illegal behavior by Trump, his family and fixers. My wish is that the evidence against Trump and his inner circle will be so overwhelming that it silences those who defend him at any cost. My fear, as Mr. Blow describes, is that chaos will ensue and the evidence will be suppressed.
7
In this day and age, there will be no way to keep the evidence suppressed unless Trump kills every single person who spoke with the Mueller investigators and every single investigator and person that had anything to do with the investigation. So do you really think Trump and his fans will kill hundreds, possibly thousands, of people? Do you think if he ordered the military to do it the generals would allow this to happen? And do you seriously believe that caches of evidence aren't hidden everywhere in "plain sight" because the one thing that Mueller and his team know above all else is that Trump is a monster and you never trust a monster, you defeat it by outsmarting it, not overpowering it? I don't have faith in any Republican politicians in the House and Senate right now, but I have faith in the majority of the people in this country if push comes to shove.
May another unmentioned, pivotal American institution be added to your incisive analysis Mr. Blow, the probable future role of the Supreme Court in the Mueller Investigation efforts. With the latest search warrant authorized raid on Trump attorney Cohen's office and residences, it is now expected that the he will not voluntarily agree to be interviewed by the Mueller investigators. A grand jury subpoena directed at Trump is then expected to be issued which will be legally, aggressively resisted by his lawyers, and eventually litigated up to the Supreme Court for a final ruling.
How will the conservative Roberts's Court rule on the most important issue it has ever face, the limits of presidential power versus the fundamental democratic principle that "no one is above the law". Furthermore, a decision by the Court that is not unanimous, or nearly unanimous, could be as damaging for settling this issue,and thereby creating national unity, as no decision at all. Will our constitutional Third Branch of federal government hold?
7
I ask the question another way: is there any evidence that Trump is NOT guilty of something VERY serious?
He could clear things up this afternoon...by showing us his financial records. WHY is his "IRS audit" (after which he promised to release his tax returns) taking so long?
He has confidence in the gullibility of his supporters.
27
Like Icarus, a foolish man has flown too close to the sun. And, under the scrutiny of bright lights, his wings are melting and he is falling from the sky.
27
Every time I think that the latest discovery might be the final "nail in the coffin" somehow he eludes the sheriff.
This week he threw out smoke screens about bombing Syria, while giving his Russian buddy a heads up and then back-peddling again.Sunday evening promises an interview with James Comey and already his sycophants in Congress and at Fox are doing a hatchet job on Comey.The seizure of records and data from Cohen's office must have sent him into an angry tailspin.
The real tragedy of this horrific administration is that there is a real danger that his 30-some odd percent supporters will cause civil unrest if their hero and champion is endangered. We have unscrupulous men like Nunes in Congress abetting suppression of further facts coming forward and others, like Bannon in the wings egging him on to fire Rosenstein or Mueller.
This malignancy has spread beyond the Oval Office.When or how will it be removed?
30
Soon be time for a “No-Knock” at the Oval Office.
12
Justice Will Wait
The IRS has been dragging its feet on pre-election audits of Trump’s tax returns. Perhaps the FBI should have access to Mr. Trump’s business records, tax returns, campaign finances and even social media. After all, no one should be above the rule of law. Every detail of a president’s past could be exposed.
On the other hand, national policy is harmed by personal muckraking that interferes with the president’s reputation and ability to do the job. A better system would stay all actions and investigations against the president until he or she leaves the office. Misconduct in office would remain the purview of the House of Representatives and subject to the impeachment process. In fact, we have the impeachment process because ordinary rules of law and the judicial process are clearly inadequate to fairly adjudicate a sitting president.
1
If Trump just resigns, why hound him afterwards?
Assuming the world can avoid nuclear war by November, our last real chance at survival will be the Blue Wave of voters who say enough is enough. Every single Republican in Congress who has uttered even one word of support for this devil should be voted out. Today's Republican Party, which is unrecognizable compared to the party of Bush or Reagan, is a far greater danger to America than all the terrorist organizations combined. When are the Deplorables going to finally wake up? And are the rest of us simply going to allow our country and perhaps all of civilization be destroyed because they are too stupid to see the reality of what they have wrought?
14
A cornered rabid dog will attack anyone and anything. The more Trump gets cornered the more likely and the more intense his attack.
18
Trump, a selfish frightened man trapped in a corner, by his own doing, is reacting like a rabid dog. Mr. Blow’s words are accurate indeed. Democracy is teetering on the edge of a cliff. The wheels are off the bus. The bus driver gone.
6
Grave words about the systematic destruction of a country...in the hands of a know-nothing narcissist, who acts culpable of the 'crimes' he is suspected of doing,hence, his lashing out indiscriminately, vindictively, destructively. And 'shooting the messenger' seems his modus operandi. This smallish poor rich man, so insecure and immature in his own skin, so arrogantly ignorant, is an insult and an injury to the office of the presidency of these United States. Although he is intent in destroying this democracy and, at the same time, giving permission to the rising despots of the world to trample on human rights, a free press and the rule of law, he will only succeed if we, the people, let him. And the cowardly, and hypocritical republican party notwithstanding. Having lost all credibility, it has become irrelevant. The 'evils' on this Earth of ours have occurred not so much because of tyrants 'a la Trump' but because good folks stood aside...and did nothing. We have been told that, at the end, we get the government we deserve; but did it have to be this awful?!!
20
I think the investigation is disgraceful. Muller should have been limited from the start. One-night stands with the likes of Stormy, who turned out to be a blackmailer, are common. They should not form a part of the investigation. Mueller should be fired and replaced with someone more competent and Rosentein should go too. He has demonstrated a lack of competence in his position.
4
Judy;
Clearly you are missing the entire point. The tryst is not the issue but the possible misuse of campaign funds and the cover-up is.Mr. Mueller is obligated to turn over any other possible criminal acts that might be discovered in the course of the Russia probe. He merely turned over what he found, he did not issue the warrant but the DOJ and a District judge approved the seizure of records. If a a Fireman were investigating a fire and he discovers a murder, isn't he obligated to alert the police?
4
#1: "Muller should have been limited from the start."
That's not how these investigations work. Legally, Mueller can follow this wherever it leads. If, in the course of his investigation, he finds Trump has committed other crimes, he is free to pursue them.
#2: "One-night stands with the likes of Stormy, who turned out to be a blackmailer, are common. " I'm sorry that the men in your life are terrible. In my life, the men are not terrible at all. (I am a woman currently posting under my husband's name).
#3: Please back up your claims that Mueller and Rosenstein are incompetent with some arguments or evidence. I haven't seen anything to suggest that either of them are anything but competent.
2
It's not merely about his one night stand. It's about illegal campaign contributions.
And, as for Rosenstein, I think you probably meant to use the word "compliant" rather than competent, right?
2
Sadly, I fear Mr. Blow may be correct, far more so than most of us can now imagine.
I am a veteran and Nixonian survivor (Vietnam and Watergate) and I can remember no time since then or even during those tumultuous 60s and early 70s that even come close to what I see going on now. Not even 1968.
We have a President who has no clue about:
The world around him,
Our own military (both strengths and limitations),
How Congress works,
How Justice works,
How the Constitution says the President should work,
The Constitution itself, especially its Preamble,
Civil Rights,
Women's Rights,
Religions of the world, including his own declared religion,
Dignity,
Respect,
Any ethical or moral compass other than self promotion,
Instead he is an old white male bully draft dodger with a known record of the following:
Fraud (Trump University et al)
Chronic Lieing (inauguration crowds for starters),
Viciousness (verbal treatment of his oponentsx starting with John McCain, Muslims Gold Star parents, Mexicans and countless others along with countless countries mainly in Africa.
Racist tendencies going as far back as his first housing project in New York and subtly implicit today.
Sexual misconduct as verified by his bragging about grabbing women in their private parts.
The list goes on and on. We as a nation seem to ignore the implications of it all, especially Republicans who claim to be of a Grand Old Party. They honor the flag, swear by the Constitution and look the other way.
28
Ahh, those aggressive federal prosecutors who showed such judicial restraint in the Hillary Clinton investigation (er, matter). No criminal referral to DOJ, immunity for all, no raids to homes in offices looking for incriminating documents, a sham interview (not recorded), subpoenas ignored, potential evidence destroyed, ad nauseum..
2
Maybe because no crimes where committed.
1
Michael Cohen is the latest member of the Trump Goon Squad to remind me of Deep Throat's description of the Watergate felons:
"The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."
23
Mr. Blow, you have once again nailed his modus operandi. And those around him and who see him on a daily basis are still protecting him, against all interests. Until they stop, or until he must answer to a legal reconning for his actions, we are on our own.
6
If Trump has one core belief, it's that truth can be created by the repetition of a lie.
The media is "disgusting and corrupt"
The investigation is a "witch hunt" led by "Obama Democrats" ... "An attack on our country"
Comey knew "all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"
"in many places, like California, the same person votes many times ... Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people, and it’s very hard because the state guards their records. They don’t want to see it.”
Trump lies are amplified by Fox News and Sinclair Broadcast Group and believed by his credulous base.
The President of the United States has attacked the independent media, the DOJ and the FBI, and the integrity of elections.
Democracies die. Often it starts at the ballot box and follows a proven path: The media critics are lying, law enforcement is lying, the judges are lying, the election results are lying, only I can protect you. In hindsight, every step is obvious.
How many more signs do we need? The war on democracy has already started. We can't count on Trump's incompetence or his base's awakening to save it.
14
Your use of Armageddon suggests God’s final confrontation and victory against the unrepentant sinners led by Satan. Trump may well try to destroy all vestiges of democracy along with his unrepentant lawbreakers, but with Mueller at the helm and the majority of Americans who will not allow this tyrant to disembowel our freedoms, we will ensure that liberty reigns in America. Try as he may, the petulant Putin-lover will lose in the end because he is a fraud who goes against the very fabric by which this country was created: equality, liberty, and justice for all. May we stand together to defend Mueller and ensure that Our founders were right to entrust we the people to uphold their visions of America.
9
The problem is not Trump. He seems to be doing what he said and acting the way he always have. So his voters got what they wanted. It is the GOP in Congress who are not doing their jobs and are a disgrace.
20
If there is one thing the Trump era has taught us, it is that the Constitution is totally inadequate to defend us from misrule by crooks and lunatics.
15
How did we NOT learn this during the GW Era and the consequences of the wars he started??
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
—John Adams
"Furthermore, no president should be made nervous about his or her financial dealings being made public. Indeed, almost every major party nominee for president in the last 40 years has released his or her tax returns. Trump, however, has refused."
Only in America...are they so dumb to elect a billionaire who does not disclose finances.
20
Keep hope alive, Chuck!!
5
"There is clearly something there that he doesn’t want America to know, something damning and catastrophic."
I would suspect there is quite a bit more than some thing; probably more like things. But at the heart of Mr. Trump's readily identifiable pathologies there has always been a strong current of insecurity that seems to dictate his direction, absence of intellectual curiosity, and inability to reason in a manner that all but his most ardent supporters find incoherent.
The damage Trump brings to America will be the subject of multi-page treatises that historians will debate long after he marches into infamy as the worst president ever. But the greatest damage is not the betrayal of American values by Trump; but the betrayal of American values by Americans in electing Trump.
26
"he has settled on a strategy...If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him."
You give Trump more credit than he deserves: that he thinks "the whole system" is important enough to bring down. And that his ad hoc dna is capable of strategy.
All evidence points to impulse, happenstance and accident as how Trump moves. He doesn't plan, assess or ponder a decision: he just reacts -- whether it's Fox and Fiends, a NYT news report, or the last person who pushed his buttons.
He doesn't need maps. or a compass. Because the only place that matters is wherever he is. Trump doesn't go to the mountain, the mountain comes to Trump.
Trump will trigger Armageddon to escape his likely fate by diverting our attention, which a war -- whether trade, Syria, Russia or North Korea -- certainly will. He'll do it instinctively, not strategically.
His agenda is mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most loved POTUS of all? He doesn't need to show no stinking strategy.
Trump measures time by TV seasons and success in Nielsen ratings. His only plans are the week day mulligan at one of his golf courses and the weekend jaunt down to Mar-a-Lago. His only goal is to get re-elected, which is why he's already back on the campaign trail.
To Trump Armageddon is a firecracker that diverts our gaze. But for the rest of us Armageddon came last November.
He can't take the whole system down because he already has.
14
He never left the campaign trail, i. e. constant railing against Hillary and Obama at rallies!
The signs of a political Armageddon were in full view on the day Trump was elected.
15
Even conservative judges here in Tenner-see that used to be defense attorneys and prosecutors make comments about a man who acts like he has something to hide likely does...they all smell the rot.
9
Trump acts like any other bully that is confronted, like a coward that would do anything to save face and himself. The major problem is the people that elected him are still giving him a pass.
7
THING ONE:
"And it is by no means clear that his cowardly Republican accomplices in Congress would do anything to prevent or punish him."
The cat is out of the bag. These Americans are playing politics like a game: my team vs. your team. All's fair in love and war; and this ain't love.
THING TWO:
"The country is in a perilous position. It is in the hands and under the thumb of a man now motivated by a primal survival instinct, a consuming egotism and a petrifying fear of ignominy."
45 cares not about his reputation; he cares only about power and cash flow. He may dimly recognize that trash acts could deplete his power, so he may fear it to that extent. But he loses no sleep if you don't consider him a statesman -- because it's all about winning, not how you play the game.
(Isn't 45 the most interesting character study since Frankenstein's monster? From fear and awe, you just can't take your eyes off him. What will he say or do today? Film at eleven.)
4
AKA the Jim Jones strategy. Lot of folks -- the cult of Trump -- already drank the Kool Aid.
Lot of us offered the banana republic analogy. But 'Making Guyana Great Again'?
4
As I read the editorial, I wished Trump would read it and at least a few passages in his “favorite book”, Titus 2:7-8 and Proverbs 6:16-19. Or perhaps he could ponder the words of the mother of his favorite president, the one lady who could probably de-tweet him with a maternal confiscation of his favorite toy. On her way to free her nephews from the British during the Revolutionary War, she wrote her last son, “Andrew, if I should not see you again, I wish you to remember and treasure up some things I have already said to you. In this world you will have to make your own way. To do that you must have friends. You can make friends by being honest and you can keep them by being steadfast....Never bring a suit in law for assault and battery or for defamation. The law affords no remedy for such outrages that can satisfy the feelings of a true man...”
2
The country's greatest peril is that Trump starts World War III. Because he has no moral compass, all the rest is repugnant bluster.
7
My first reaction when I saw the Trump photo chosen to accompany Mr. Blow's column was a surge of pity.
I thought, "Oh, poor guy, how sad to be so disliked."
I've also, in my long life, felt sorry for the worms I've stepped on after a heavy rain; sadness for the cockroaches I've annihilated in crummy apartments; pity for the wife beaters who cry on their way to jail. And so on. None of these feelings have lasted more than a few seconds.
You're getting what you deserve.
13
I've got to hand it to trump.
His presidency has renewed my interest in US History, Civics, and Political Science while simultaneously turning me off to reality TV forever.
I now know the names of many more US senators and representatives than I ever did before, and have learned a few valuable skills, such as how to contact them. Never one to attend large gatherings, I have recently signed up for several meetings hosted by Democrats only to be waitlisted.
Over the past two years I have googled the following topics: Slovenia, narcissism, electoral college, Gold Star Family, blind trust, and impeachment - and probably a few more. I have learned a lot!
I've also learned that Adam Schiff is the representative to the district I was born in, and have some renewed respect for John McCain following the Sarah Palin debacle.
This is the worst presidency ever, and I continue to look for the silver lining. It gets harder every day.
28
DT is in the process of manifesting his biggest fear - that's he exactly what his father hated most: a huge loser.
Ironically, the only reason he failed at failing in the past was because the cowards on the New Jersey casino board failed to do their job. If they had, Donald's bankruptcy would have permanently removed him from the limelight. Instead, with the officials help, he managed to go public and stick investors (foolish enough to fall for his hype) with a disaster that proved how inept he was as a businessman (but a clever con man).
Once U.S. and European bankers finally figured out they were dealing with a phony and fraud, Russian criminals jumped at the chance to get a foothold in the U.S. and help with their money laundering.
By failing as a fake POTUS, Donald will finally achieve his destiny by going go down in history as the world's biggest loser.
The problem is that, in the past, Trump specialized in sticking it to dummies foolish enough to believe him. This time around, he might also take detractors who knew all along what a clown he is.
12
I am 71 and my two daughters are teenagers with great hope in the future. As I study the abuse of our system of governing by a greedy minority group of wealthy old men I am truly amazed that our great country is so gullible.
6
It is true that a 'political Armagedon' may be at hand, but I believe it will be Donlad Trump's alone simply because it is he who is on the verge of geeting caught up in his bold faced lies, and he knows it.
The signs are already there.
His hysteria grows with each passing day as it becomes ever more certain that the sordid truth to his candidacy, as well as his presidency will be revealed for what it is.
Just look around.
The proverbial rats are already leaving the ship in droves, sensing that the end is near, and that is why Trump seems ever more emboldened to let the dogs out by dragging this country into a full-blown war in Syria by stepping up his tweets against Russia and everyone else.
This attempt to distract everyone from what's really going on in the White House may fool some people some of the time -- but not all of the people all of the time.
And yes, we're out to get you, Mr. Trump.
5
Excellent piece, Charles - and so true.
Worse yet, it seems that so many (mostly Republican) members of Congress will do nothing to rein in this aberrant "leader," in spite of their having the power to do so - and despite that this may inevitably not only destroy our country and our generations-long held beliefs in its guiding principles, but create a total collapse of what is already a fragile world economy. These members of Congress took an oath to uphold this country and its Constitution, NOT the president. Is this not treasonous?
1
I don't think Trump is a cad. Cad to me suggests something different. A cad is someone who understands the honorable thing to do but consistently fails to meet their own expectation. Paul Ryan is a cad. Mitch McConnell is a cad. I don't think Donald Trump is a cad.
We're talking about someone who told a porn actress not to worry when asked about his nursing wife while orchestrating an affair with the same person. To me, Trump wasn't falling short of a standard of decency. He was behaving as though no standard of decency ever existed. The man can't be a cad because he's morally vacant.
6
For his entire life Trump has bought or bullied his way out of every corner he’s been backed into—with nary a thought for anyone or anything he mowed down in the process. What is so terrifying now is that he appears to be working directly with Fox News, InfoWars and perhaps others to galvanize his base to save him from a supposed “deep state” coup d’etat—and to convince them that his fight to save himself is a fight to save the Republic.
Most of us who read the Times truly believe that the rule of law—the very foundation of our form of government—is at stake. But with Trump’s supporters inspired to save him as their patriotic duty, I honestly fear Americans—Americans—will be fighting each other in the streets.
And the president of what was once the greatest country on earth will have brought this awfulness upon us with nary thought for the oath he gave the American public, nary a hint of shame.
648
This truly shows that Trump is not a patriotic American at all, but actually a full-on traitor who cares only about his own skin and that of his actual children, no one else at all.
36
It is also brought to us by a Republican party that made the Faustian decision to sell it's soul--and potentially our democracy--for the sake of further enriching the wealthy. For years the party has engaged in "an ends justifies means" approach. No lie is to big, no wedge issue too repulsive, no race baiting too abhorrent, no conspiracy theory too scurrilous. In short, the Republican Party has created it's own Frankenstein monster, and we will all suffer the consequences.
27
Steel Magnolia.
While I agree with your points against Trump, clearly there are a number of countries that qualify ahead of America as the "greatest country on earth." The Scandinavian countries and Finland come immediately to mind.
Trump says, "Make America great again."I say take America back to when it, at least, attempted to reduce racism, sexism and financial inequality, though not very successfully.
12
Rather than Armageddon I see an End of Trump Days coming. I just hope that he and his nuclear football don't take us to Dante's Underworld with him.
7
The arrogance of the left is without restraint. Trump is the legally elected president. Period. You can whine about the electoral college all you want, I don't particularly like it either as it disenfranchises voters in heavily one party states. BUT. The assumption that Trump shouldn't have won because he didn't win the popular vote is simply ridiculous. The rules are --- the EC determines the winner. And traditionally the EC voters have followed the popular vote in thier states.
But --- if the election were to be rerun, you cannot project that HRC would win (particularly after her continued whining about losing). First, both candidates would boaden their campaigns to be national in scope and not focus just on swing states. Trump didn't even go to CA (where HRC got the votes to give the popular vote total) but clearly would if the rules changed. Second, voters in heavily one party states who may have stayed at home because their vote didn't matter, would now be more likely to get out and vote.
And the hubris to assume that those who voted for Trump simply were low information voters is ridiculous, arrogant and typical of the left. In addition to supporting Trump's policies --- Trump voters were also rejecting HRC, Obama, and the professional politicians who have made it their job to keep in power regardless and as they said in the 60's, run their trip on everyone else.
1
Not so long ago, a defeated dictator proclaimed that his people abandoned him and were therefore traitors who did not deserve to live. He ordered his people to fight to the death while he hid in his bunker.
Trump shares identical mentality when he sees himself as "the Country" and demands "loyalty" from Justice Department officials. He sees the FBI as his Sicherheitsdienst and the Justice Department as his
Schutzstaffel.
Speak against him? At best, it is "fake news" and at worst, it is an "attack on the Country." Classic textbook dictatorial behaviors.
7
As always Mr Blow is spot on. Vote Democrat every race every time every election to get the spineless craven in denial Repubs our of office. That's the only thing that will really save us. Viva la resistance!
5
Atlantic City was a Trump fiasco.The Trump educational courses were a fraud.His personal life is a well documented disaster. Is anyone surprised that his presidency is a colossal failure. This is Trump in real time.
10
The question I ask myself is, once Trump's gone how is America going to deal with his red-hat wearing base?
10
Our prosperity is and has been from exporting Armageddon around the world. To quote a preacher made infamous by the same forces that created Trumpism,”the chickens have come home to roost. “
Friday night Trump will bomb Syria for cover and fire Rosenstein. His replacement will fire Mueller. Republicans will do nothing. We’re in very perilous times here.
6
Signs of a Political Armageddon??? Isn't the NYT's suppose to be the calm in the center of the storm? I think most of us read this paper to be reassured on some level. Blow needs to turn down the hysterics. It's starting to get tiresome. Every week it's the end of the world. Everything Trump does sends him into extreme panic mode. At a certain point it becomes totally absurd. I have faith in the system. I believe going forward the actions of the POTUS will not test this country, the Constitution, our protocols or our conventions as Blow breathlessly believes. The ride will be bumpy but we will get through this. Our founders did predict that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency. They did build in sufficient constraints and strictures into our Constitution. Trump is an elected official. He can be forced to resign. He can be removed from office if he won't. He can be impeached. If he has committed a crime...and this point can't be emphasized enough... he will be removed from office. End of story. Then Pence will be President. And we can all look forward to Blow having a major melt down every day for the next two years. Great. Some things never change.
5
"If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him."
A weak, insecure, and megamaniacal leader in Washington. A weak insecure, and megamaniacal leader in Moscow. A flashpoint in Syria. What could possibly go wrong?
2
"But there is a pattern here: When the investigation verges into Trump’s areas of vulnerability, he seeks to squash it."
---------
Isn't this proof of obstruction of justice by donnie?
As Walt Kelly so famously put it in “Pogo”: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Nearly 50% of Americans voted for and still support this loathsome man. You have no one to blame but yourselves. What began with the Civil War has never been truly resolved; you are and always have been a nation at war with itself.
As those of us outside your borders look on with a mixture of horror and schadenfreude, we can only hope that when the explosion finally occurs, we won’t be maimed by the collateral damage.
5
The delicious irony lies in the fact that his wealth was built on his “brand,” and both of them will vaporize when the Mueller Report comes out.
3
How about some praise for the Justice Department and the US attorney system? Despite all they face , Sessions, Rosenstein, et, al. keep allowing the investigations. I fully expect trump to take Brannon's advice and barricade himself in the White House, refusing to abide by Mueller's requests( and I think he will get away with it). Temporarily. We elected a very bad president. He's a lousy tenant . The eviction process will be an ugly one and he's definitely going to trash the place before he is forced to leave.
2
Mr. Blow writes: "If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles."
I wish! Mr. Trump has a thousand times demonstrated to his supporters that he lies about everything from The Wall to his personal sexual behavior --- and they still love him. For his supporters, some 40 - 50% of Americans, it seems his racism and xenophobia "trumps" anything else.
3
Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014), crime-fraud exception
CRIME-FRAUD EXCEPTION
crime-fraud exception (1973) 1. The doctrine that neither the attorney-client privilege nor the attorney-work-product privilege protects attorney-client communications that are in furtherance of a current or planned crime or fraud. Clark v. U.S., 289 U.S. 1, 53 S.Ct. 465 (1933); In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, 731 F.2d 1032 (2d Cir. 1984). 2. An exception to the marital-facts privilege denying protection when the disputed communication was in furtherance of criminal activity.
Westlaw. © 2014 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works.
Legal schalors should be worrying why the Southern District just didn't serve a subpoena duces tecum upon Michael Cohen. Demanding all documents relating exclusively to Mr. Trump would have lessened the tidal wave of criticism leveled against the special counsel and his Southern District offspring.
Sadly enough, what we've witnessed is all of Michael Cohen's, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, files seized during a predawn raid. ALL FILES. This includes, unrelated to the Southern District's investigation, plaintiffs or defendants with active court cases pending elsewhere - caught up in a twisted dragnet to bring down a sitting U.S. president. Whose files are now compromised. Whose files are now in the hands of federal investigators. Whose files are now involuntarily peircing their attorney-client privilege.
No 'crime-fraud excpetion' there!
The only Armageddon to be had here is the one perpetrated on the American voters. This man-baby was not elected. He was appointed by our antiquated electoral college. Lock him up.
4
I determined that the Republic was lost the day he was elected. His supporters will support him no matter what he did, or does. It is a full blown personality cult.
1
For more than a year, we have all just accepted that Trump was guilty of collusion with Russia. We don't have a legal definition of collusion, that doesn't matter, yet it is repeated. And the dire consequences get more dire-ous by the day.
.
Nobody, but, nobody even thinks Mueller won't find the evidence. What if there is no evidence to find? A year into this, with leaks providing insights, every bit as good as a daily press conference, what is the evidence? What is the nature of the evidence? Emails? Texts? We know this evidence exists in another case, that was not investigated, but that's another story.
.
How stupid and petty does this sound, when you say it out loud? "...almost every major party nominee for president in the last 40 years has released his or her tax returns. Trump, however, has refused." Maybe it's none of your business.
.
"...not fully considering that the whole life of a president — particularly if that person may somehow have skirted the law or flagrantly flouted it — must be part of the public record and any aberrant activity must eventually be held to account." And, Hillary's name doesn't just jump out in giant font?
.
This is looking like a big waste of time.
2
Man, you’re so right! Taxes? None of our business! And HIllary, well she’s guilty of everything and then some. But I’ve got to say, I always thought Texas was part of the United States, thanks for setting me straight! What a relief to know Texans don’t have anything to do with federal elections.
I'm not sure it's true to say that our Founders never imagined an unscrupulous demagogue like Trump. What I suspect they didn't imagine was that we'd have so many cowardly unscrupulous members of Congress who would forsake their Constitutional duties to act as a coequal branch of government. Having watched Trump from afar over the past few decades, his behavior isn't particularly surprising. He's always been a narcissistic egomaniac. What's so alarming and disappointing is that Americans were so easily conned, and that the GOP does nothing to push back or protect our Republic. Trump only cares about Trump. He has no respect or appreciation for our country's history or its values. He has no respect for the rule of law. His parents sent him to military boarding school because they couldn't "contain" him. Nothing has changed.
764
Perfectly said! The founding fathers never thought an entire party could be so unethical as they all thought being and acting ethically was the nature of being a public servant. The GOP has so corrupted this notion, that we are in new territory. It is time to not only vote out the GOP, but to remove its vestiges from the government (including the SCOTUS and government hires). I hope a new party will grow from the ashes of the Republican Party that defines the opposite of ethics in every way from personal conduct to serving our country. The Democrats might be superior, but they are hardly perfect and need a thoughtful opposition.
58
Actually, political parties didn't exist in the Founders time, nor were they anticipated. Perhaps if they did the electoral college would have felt to have been unnecessary, the screening would be done at the party level. ,The blame rests entirely on the GOP shoulders for allowing this loathsome individual to successfully slither through their primary process (many might say not for the first time).
Washington famously warned against the dangers of political parties. For decades, the Republican Party has encouraged the tribalism that has come to dominate our politics; and, no, the Democrats are not "just the same". Once the Republicans abandoned reason and facts for ideology; once they abandoned the basic principles of democracy for the idea of permanent Republican rule; once they abandoned the democratic concepts that underpinned the Fairness Doctrine for a news media that demonizes any political opposition and plays upon the darkest fears and hatreds of a public deliberately kept in ignorance; once all these pieces were in place, the rise of Donald Trump or someone like him became inevitable. The mistake of the Republicans was in thinking they could control the processes they encouraged. Their problem is not that their is a Republican autocrat in the White House, but that it is the wrong autocrat: not one of their own. This is why they are abandoning government rather than using their Constitutional powers to contain Trump: this is the prize they've wanted, it's just that the wrong man won it.
36
This is all very true. Trump's main drivers are self-aggrandizement, self-gratification and self-survival, the latter of which has been honed through his inability to consider the impact of his words and actions beyond the next 10 seconds, as well as his record of making terrible business and personal decisions.
Trump has shown on numerous occasions that he is willing to say and do anything for the furthering of those drives, and whilst it is worrisome at the damage he has done, continues to do, and no doubt will do in the future, his utter incompetence and inability to keep his word or follow through with promises does make one wonder if his flailing will create only ripples rather than waves, as he drowns in a deep, filthy swamp of his own making.
1
The biggest unforced error of Donald’s lifetime was to ride that escalator in Trump Tower down to declare his candidacy for the presidency. Somehow, he convinced himself that he could keep it all hidden—the tax cheating, the source of funds, the lack of billions, the multiple dalliances, the hush money, the threats, sexual assaults and who knows what else?!?! There was not a chance in the world.
More proof that he is not a genius.
3
Only the US voters could put this country into its current perilous position and only voters can save us by turning these traitors out of office.
This not a test of the emergency democratic network folks, this is for real.
3
And still....
40% and rising approval ratings. Trump is a known quantity, it’s the American voter who is “apocalyptic “.
3
You don't leave yourself much room for greater alarm. If Trump has taught us anything, we ain't seen nothin' yet.
5
Mitt Romney as a candidate refused to release his tax returns also.
3
When trump was a kid he must have wanted to be a suspect when he grew up. I have never in my life seen anybody act as guilty has he does.
3
well said but it's worth focusing more on his Republican enablers in Congress. they presumably are not as ignorant, vile, and corrupt as Trump but are doing nothing to stop him and help the country. at least Republicans in the Justice department are trying to do the right thing...
2
Dopey Donald is an incompetent fool. He ran many of his businesses into the ground, and he is proving, in public, without the "Emperor's clothes" to cover his behind, that he is running the US into the ground.
The theory that I have heard is that the searches of Michael Cohen's office and residences are based on the suspicion that Cohen colluded with Trump to have the hacked Podesta emails leaked by the Russians by way of Wikileaks within an hour of the public showing fo the "Access Hollywood" tape to try to bury that piece of sleazy news. More generally, the issue would be whether Cohen and Trump did such things multiple times, and whether they spent campaign funds to do so. (We know that Dopey Donald likes to use OPM - "Other People's Money" - whenever possible.)
Cohen appears to have a lengthy association with very shady Russians, according to a Rolling Stone article that appeared this week, titled "A Brief History of Michael Cohen's Criminal Ties."
The articles says:
From the Russian mob to money launderers, Trump's personal attorney has long been a subject of interest to federal investigators
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/michael-cohens-ties-to-russia...
1
The real test comes here:
At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, a lady asked Dr. Franklin “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.”
The Founders’ intent at the national level was a representative republic. The word democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution. Most of the Founders distrusted pure democracy.
John Adams wrote that “There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide,” and James Madison wrote in Federalist 10 that “Democracies have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” The reason pure democracies fail is that majorities learn that they can legally take property and/or liberties away from others. Those subjected to abuse can be anyone outside the majority coalition, and their minority status can be based on race, religion, wealth, political affiliation, or even which city or state they reside in. Demagogic leaders become adept at appealing to the emotions of jealousy, avarice, and entitlement. They also denigrate opponents in order to justify prejudicial actions taken by the majority. Soon, oppression of minority classes causes enough conflicts to collapse the democratic process.
Seems prescient to me.
3
Mr. Blow, the final paragraph of your commentary is a warning I shudder to believe could happen. You write, "At this point, nothing is beyond the possible, no matter how ultimately destructive."
The president would soon schedule a rally at a place with several thousand of his screaming base cheering him. There, he would shout a sadistic challenge such as 'it's time someone took care of Mueller and Rosenstein because the are enemies of America.' Then one of his faithful acolytes in the crowd would return home, pack the car with semi-automatic rifles and ammunition, and drive to the Washington, DC area with the actual intent to hunt down and shoot either Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein.
This is beyond the pale in Trump's America but entirely and grotesquely possible.
2
While the whole system may go down with him, I hope it is on the Republican side. Already the family man Paul Ryan is out. There will be evidence and it will come out, and soon.
2
The sad part of the greatest Democracy in the world is that the President has almost complete control of power. Of course, our forefathers put a system of checks and balances with the legislative branches of government - the Senate and the House. But what they did not foresee was a man like Trump would become President and the legislative branches would belong with the same Party. Unlike in other real democracies like Great Britain, Australia, India, the Prime Ministers can be brought down when their lose their majorities when a coalition withdraws and an election is declared. This is also a great disadvantage because there is a constant turnover of policies. The US has the advantage of stability when 4 yrs in office would lead to consistent policies. This current political Armageddon was beyond comprehension and likely anticipation for the framers of the constitution. Our forefathers must be turning in their graves.
1
Mr. Trump has lived his entire life expecting and demanding that people "serve him". He has spent his entire professional life eviserating laws, ethics and values to serve himself. If bankruptcy, bribery, and the intentional destruction of other's individual rights allowed Mr. Trump to get what he wanted... so be it. When it came to his needs, wants and desires, the ends always justified the means. Many laws were broken and civil rights threatened and/or destroyed to allow him to gain access to and occupy the Oval Office. The dilemma is that Mr. Trump is now in a position that requires him to serve the people of our country. The outrageous tragedy is that he has no knowledge or experience serving others. The tragic travesty is that in 2016 too many Americans voted for and elected a President who has absolutely no interest in serving their best interests. These voters were consciously manipulated and lied to. Mr. Trump is a narcissistic sociopath. He has many of the wealthiest oligarchs of the world supporting him... Robert Mueller can not undo this horror without our help. Every American who cares about the future of this country needs to stand up, speak out and get involved. If we don't this country as a democratic nation... a government for the people... by the people will not survive/
527
Well said, Leslie374.( Also thanks for using the word "Tragedy" in the correct context; a big peeve of mine) I'm not giving up!
11
The man is ill. It was apparent by his actions/words since before the election. The Republican voter has brought this upon our country because they wanted to see him 'shake things up' which means 'tee libruls off' which is their number one priority. No one in the Republican party will stand up to him (no one who is running for re-election anyway). It is up to the Democratic voters and Independent voters to stop Trump and his minions in November 2018.
If we make it to November.
3
It is incorrect to say, "This is not the behavior of an innocent man." This may be the behavior of a guilty man, or it may be the behavior of a ruthless bully and coward who doesn't want to be exposed. We make mistakes when we convict someone on the basis of evasive behavior. In an extreme example, Saddam Hussein always seemed like he had something to hide, and that was the rationale our government used to invade Iraq. Condoleezza Rice even wrote an Op-Ed to this effect in the NY Times before we invaded Iraq. And yet there were no WMDs. And yet we made the epic mistake of wasting hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, and we set the stage for ISIS. Let's wait to convict Trump until we see evidence, rather than evasion. It would be un-American not to.
3
Obviously we can't let the whole system collapse. Trump and Bannon are wrong to think our government is some sort of enemy, it is us (like POGO said). We as a people made this system and at its core it works. It needs adjustment periodically and we are in a time of great change. But we don't need a narcissistic corrupt womanizer to run our great country. You are right that the president is under a cloud, but he has great power unless checked by congress, and they seem reluctant. The Republican party is destroying itself in real time. They have all the power and they need to step up but their partisanism prevents them. Serve your country!
2
Is it coincidence that the worst presidents in the past 160 years both lost the popular but won the Electoral College vote? We should note that fact in consideration of how to avoid the calamity in which we find ourselves. If we survive this calamity, that is.
4
I still cannot believe people voted for this con man. Every day we are presented with another national trauma. The GOP is complicit is destroying our democracy as they stand by silently. I've lived through the assassination of JFK, MLK, Robert Kennedy, the Vietnam war, the cold war, Nixon and Watergate. Never was I worried that our democracy and the rule of law was in peril. I'm sure worried now.
9
Charles,
This was all foreseen by Alfred Bester in his sci-fi novel The Stars My Destination. Great portrayal of the anti-president including rape, uncontrolled rage, laziness, ignorance and motivation only by revenge. Oh, and the battle for cheap energy that will destroy all-- after all, Mr. Trump was brought to us, in part, by fossil fuel interests seeking to control energy and limit climate action. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_My_Destination
7
Has the symbolism of Trump Tower catching fire escaped everyone? No mention of this anywhere.
9
This is not the behavior of a “normal” man. This not the behavior of an innocent president. It works either way.
Normal no, innocent no.
2
"And it is by no means clear that his cowardly Republican accomplices in Congress would do anything to prevent or punish him."
Sadly, Charles, it IS clear. For some bewildering reason, the GOP is not going to do anything to prevent or punish Trump's dark and authoritarian impulses. They are all holding hands as they jump off the cliff together. And blindly resigned to crash with Trump and take our democracy along with it.
5
Like a wounded animal, Trump is lashing out. If he feels he’s going down: nothing is safe. He’ll fire anyone he can. He’ll continue to obstruct, but even more blatantly than before. His lies will get even more outrageous.
We are fully on a constitutional crisis.
2
And, as a result of his desperation, the world is exposed to the very real possibility of an actual Armageddon, as Trump is increasingly tempted to “wag the dog” through military action in Syria, Iran or North Korea. Who will stop him? Not Kelly. Not Congress. Some faceless patriot somewhere in the military hierarchy? Don’t count on that either.
3
This is not the behavior of either an innocent man or a normal president. He is neither.
1
Sounds all too familiar to what happened almost 73 years to the day in deep in a bunker underneath Berlin. Let us hope we don't have to live through our own protracted version of Der Untergang II.
2
The Republican Party, and it hurts to feel this way, has been cruel for many years. Their unwillingness to work with Pres. Obama was heartless - cruel. Now, it appears Republicans want to “use” Trump for their interest whether it is to end the Iran deal or keep the NRA satisfied or continue tax cuts until our budget is so crippled we must cut Medicare/Social Security. What Republicans want from Trump is what they have wanted for years and their cruelty to the American people has been countered by sufficient Democrats. But now ... many see an opportunity and apparently these Republicans will put their issues (guns over people, greed over people, etc) over the national concerns. Yes, “the country is in a perilous position. It is in the hands and under the thumb of a man now motivated by a primal survival instinct, a consuming egotism and a petrifying fear of ignominy.” And the cruelty of this man is also seen in the cruel actions for a decade of his Party.
528
Electing people who believe government is inherently incompetent to public offices has made their reality everyone's reality.
2
Remote sensing can be very powerful. Satellite images have found lost cities in the desert. The wakes of ships at sea give them away even if they cannot be found directly.
Mr. Trump can be certain his past deeds will be revealed. It's not whether, Donald, it's when. Either within 6 months courtesy of the Federal court of the Southern District of New York or the ceaseless activities of Robert Mueller's minions or later with a spate of tell-all publications from those left swimming for their lives after your passage through their worlds. It will come. As Nathaniel Hawthorne reminded us in the frontspiece to his short story The Avalanche, the mill of God grinds slow, but it grinds exceeding fine.
What remains for us to do is to seek to limit the ongoing damage to institutions and our country. Mr. Trump acts as the petulant child who will take his ball and go home if he cannot have his way. He will make America great again just as the 8th Air Force and the RAF made Dresden great again with an historic firestorm if he does not blunt this "witch hunt". Our warlock president may burn everything down but he burns his own house down with it. His "victory" will be truly a Pyrrhic one.
Pray for Dresden and Des Moines and Detroit and Denver. Pray for us all.
1
All frighteningly true.
He will listen to no one.
He knows everything.
All he needs is for congressional Republicans to do nothing to prevent this.
We have already seen how feckless they are in the present circumstances.
It is time for the Kochs' and the Murdochs' to pull the plug on this failed experiment.
Everyone who didn't vote, voted third party, or voted for Trump is responsible for this disaster. An apology would be nice.
3
Ha! When I applied to become a US citizen in the 1990s I was given a little book on civics to study and had to take a test. There was something about “ three branches of government, separate but equal” wasn’t there? It now seems that that bit was fake, apparently the Executive hand picks the management of the Judicial branch and can fire them if they try to investigate him/her. Sounds like HenryVIII, Cromwell and some of the other stuff I though that I was leaving behind. It seems that only the second amendment in immune from being ignored. The constitution seems to be a fake, I want my money back!
2
And we have the Russians to thank for this man in the White House. Trump is exactly what they wanted - weak, vain, boorish, anti intellectual and intellect, vindictive, and sadistic. He is more like a Russian tyrant than any Russian. The Republican Party is imploding and one has to ask Steve Bannon’s role in all this. He is reportedly leading an effort to fire Mueller. Is he also in Russia’s pay - and what about Fox and Friends? Who are their backers? Trump’s body language tells all - arms folded across his chest as a defense mechanism - a constant scowl - his family in the shadows. The White House is a lonely place and a President needs a strong family - Nancy Reagan, Barbara and Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama, were their husband’s anchors. Trump and his infidelities with the current First Lady are hardly the signs of strong ties. It seems that Mss. Hicks, Sanders (she dropped the Huckabee), and Conway are/ we’re the emotional support team. The Russians, Breitbart, Fox, and the Nattional Inquirer played a key role in electing this man - was money not patriotism their motivation? And meanwhile we suffer under a man whi was knowingly unsuitable for the job.
90 million of 240 million eligible voters sat out 2016.
Reputable polling organizations find that only 30% to 40% of US citizens approve of the way the country is being governed.
If roughly two thirds of the country would prefer to be governed differently, there is one very simple solution readily available to make it so.
REAL PATRIOTS VOTE!!
2
Mr Trump has always been incapable of cleaning up his own messes. He as always relied on some one else to do so. He has always been the not so brave bully standing behind his lawyers. Now he is finding it increasingly difficult to find someone who can clean up the messes he is currently wallowing in. Therefore he is petrified. He is incapable of bringing American democracy down. Someone will have to do it for him such as another "fixer" together with a running dog Congress. Even if Mr Trump does not find a "fixer" to bring down the rule of law democracy will continue to twist in the wind until Americans rescue it with their votes in 2018 and 2020. These elections will prove to be among the most significant in the Republic's history.
2
Well said, Mr. Blow, and all of this was entirely predictable when he stole the election in 2016. Time to pay the piper. I just fervently hope and pray that this does not cause a civil war or that he doesn't start a war with anyone to avoid dealing with this mess.
1
Perhaps the system has to burn down so that it may rise from the ashes in a better form. Our current bureaucracy is clearly not working to protect the people and it has allowed criminals to run the country. We've had some bad apples as leaders, but the entire cart is now rotten including the judicial system. Trump can make America great again if his despicable actions create a stronger, fairer Democracy. After decades of complacency on the part of the electorate, there has to be corrective pain if we are to survive. I hope the country doesn't take the easy way out and simply ignore the truth about the corruption emanating from this White House.
Yes, the fear is very real for Trump, and obvious.
The bottom line(s) may be that: 1) he is actually, technically broke - the tax returns would expose him as a fraud; 2) he is beholden to Deutsche Bank, Putin and the Putin mob, financially to keep his 'empire' in place. One does not mess with them; 3) In one of his bankruptcies the judge gave him several hundred thousand $$ a month so he could maintain his lifestyle, could that happen again?; 4) He is now dependent on Murdoch to support the image of a successful billionaire via Hannity, "Friends", and "Fox News". (How does Shep Smith hang on?).
The man is indeed a fraud but we are all the ones at risk here, even his supporters.
Blow asserts that if it can be proven that Trump lied to the people who are his most ardent supporters, the whole house of cards crumbles. Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Even before he sought the nomination, Trump was lying, not to just his fans, but all of us. The birther issue is only one example. He declared that we wouldn't believe what his investigators were finding in Hawaii. Yet he never shared one speck of evidence that Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii.
The lying continues to this day with some sources indicating that he lies on average as much as seven times per day. Yet his followers never waiver in their support. I believe there are two reasons for that. One is that they have been conditioned to not to believe anything other than that emanating from Fox News or the right-wing radio gas bags. Two, they trust their gut and choose not to be informed. Therefore, if they feel that the country is under the control of some "deep-state" and Trump states the same, then their feelings have been validated.
Consequently, if a trove of materials is unearthed by the Mueller investigation that prove...conclusively.... that Trump is a fraud, collaborated with Russians, etc., and he responds that it is all "fake evidence" (perhaps his newest term?), his supporters will fall in line, he'll get another "mulligan" and the rage will continue.
291
There is a third reason his supporters never waiver - Trump is the tribal chief who is against everything and everybody they hate and fear. To them the truth doesn’t matter, destroying the enemy is top priority.
42
Right on!
Truth written here.
10
The country cannot rely on Trump's base to change their mind about Trump. There has always been enough evidence that he is an ignorant, corrupt, incompetent, pathological liar. They don't care. Trump is feeding the base so that when Mueller's investigation is complete, and it all comes out, they will support him anyway and prevent impeachment. He has a gigantic capacity for self-preservation but Robert Mueller is prime rib to Trump's 80%-fat mince meat. Trump has never developed any other offensive skills but bullying, intimidation and paying people off. He and his lawyer can't seem to even subdue a porn star who isn't intimidated by him.
164
Millions of us will go into the streets if Trump fires Mueller. And if fatal damage is done to the present system, a new and better system will be erected once Trump is gone.
2
As depressing as this is, I can only hope that someone like Sec of Defense James Mattis and other principled people will check Trump at the schoolhouse door, and not let him in where he does not belong.
As demented a Trump is, there has to be people behind the scenes who are gravely aware of his currently unstable state of mind.
Sometimes I imagine Stephen Miller occasionally drafts tweets for the Con-man-in-Chief.
. . . The coherent tweets that is.
1
“If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him.”
There is no “if”. He either resigns, is impeached or they walk him out in cuffs.
‘The system’, US democracy and government will ultimately be repaired but the downfall of an unstable megalomaniac with outrageous power is an imminent danger to the planet. Limiting the damage, destruction and global instability that this clearly psychotic sociopath, is without doubt, intent on perpetrating on his way out the door is now surely the greatest concern... not just to the US, but the world.
2
Charles, your column lacked a closing argument, which could have been, "It is time for President Trump to resign." Start the drumbeat!
1
I believe the only justification for the electoral college was to keep such a creature from becoming president. That dubious safeguard failed. Congress was designed to legislate and balance if not exceed the power of the executive branch. That too has failed under the utter cynicism of Mitch McConnell who works only for the Kochs and the spineless floundering of Paul Ryan who has to get out of the kitchen because he can't stand the heat.
As always Charles Blow, I admire you for sending out the alarm in the clearest terms on how bad this can be. Though I do believe the pendulum of history swings back and forth. Now we have a president with a nuclear arsenal who has only the desires to satisfy his id and preserve his venerable ego. If there is a God we surely could use some help right now.
1
Trump will try everything as whatever many think he is hiding – money laundering, other crime - clearly outweighs his concern about breaking the system.
The genie’s out of the bottle though, investigations will continue at state levels he can’t pardon, Dems resurgent and Mueller seems to have counter-prepared for all scenarios.
Trump can delay but whatever he is hiding will likely come out partially or in full.
Trump’s back-to-the-wall response will be terrible using all the power he has. The majority dislike him though and America’s democratic process – weakened and only just about strong enough - will ensure his political demise is inevitable through the investigation or ballot box.
When the rotting head of the fish is gone America then needs to consider Detrumpification similar to Denazification of Germany after the war to clear the rest of the stink politically and culturally.
What I cannot fathom is how his public support has actually increased into the mid- 40s according to recent polls and will likely go higher if he starts a war. Never underestimate the gullible nature of the poorly informed and willfully ignorant and the desperate grasping for a supposed “strongman” when people feel they are drowning. Democrats ignore this ar their peril.
2
Trump exposes a basic flaw in the Constitution. There are no checks and balances when one party rules. And he will gladly weaponize the legal system and subvert the rule of law to stay in power, enabled by the GOP donor class. Sad!
1
Let’s stop understating the threat. This particular megalomaniac in meltdown is a clear and present danger to the planet.
1
"Donald Trump can feel the breath on the back of his neck. "
He sure can, and this time, it isn't Stormy Daniels.
Mueller is a very smart guy. He wants to get the entire history of Trump's peccadilloes to see if they have any intersection with his Russian dalliances, and he knows the one place he can get them all in one fell swoop - from his personal lawyer. This isn't a fishing expedition, either. Cohen has committed a number of crimes, which is the rationale used to get access to this information. Cohen is toast. Too bad, for such a nice guy. (/sarcasm) And Trump knows he's next, and all his years and years of seedy exploits are about to be exposed. Hopefully there are no more Forbes magazines put to illicit use. But, just maybe, his shady business dealings will be brought to light. And that will spell the end of the Trump political nightmare.
Well somebody's looking particularly guilty here ... and fooling no Americans other than his minority base and no one else in the world.
GOP members need to decide if they're patriotic leaders of your nation, or party 1st loyalists at any price. Do not be fooled on election day.
1
Trump asks, “Where is my Roy Cohn?”
I ask - where is our Congress and the checks and balances it is supposed to provide in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people that Lincoln spoke of at Gettysburg?
And where is the First Lady? Is she too disgusted to stand by and defend her husband?
All the signs are bad and while many have seen them and changed their thinking, there remains 35%-40% who are oblivious to what’s going on or actually like the direction of government. Now that is scary!
Every day, there’s a new negative revelation followed by taunts and tweets and threats. I am reminded of Casey Stengel’s question about the early losing Mets - Doesn’t anybody here know how to play this game?
If only Washington politics were more like baseball. We could make a few trades and get things going in the proper direction - to serve the people of the United States.
1
The full measure of the foolish, myopic, impulsive nature of this man is demonstrable in the fact that he ran for president in the first place. Before we saw the first hints of Russian influence and other campaign treacheries, the questioned begged was, why would a man with such a twisted, convoluted web of business, much of it underhanded and illegal in nature, expose himself to the eyes of the world? Trump has been quoted as planning on losing and taking his constituency with him into some newpolitical trumpworld, with Roger Ailes heading a new media network built around trump. Ailes fell off a step stool in his kitchen and died. Trump won the election and opened his underbelly to the scrutiny of world intelligence agencies and the full investigative power of our system of justice. He has effectively destroyed himself, his family and compatriots, and, hopefully, not the rest of us.
1
Contrast the reaction of a woman who endured nearly 20 years of investigations, vicious personal and professional smears, conspiracy theories, mud slinging and dragging, with the reaction of this little man who can't endure a single investigation with even a semblance of self-control. What an inferior being he is, on every level. What a dignified president she would have made.
2
My fears exactly. Trump will do anything to keep the curtain closed and that includes starting a nuclear war. Are there no Republican leaders with enough integrity or enough character judgement to see what a danger Trump is? How daft must they be to not, at a minimum, pass a law protecting the Special Council?
1
Very good column.
It will be interesting, to say the least, where our nation goes from here. Can one man so obviously unqualified for the job he holds, do irreparable damage to a system that has survived for well over 200 years?
The people that voted for and continue to support him, and the enablers who coddle his volatile ways and allow this insane takeover of the norms associated with a stable government, should be ashamed!
Donald J. Trumps assault on America is on YOUR shoulders, and we will ALL pay a steep price for it.
Did you take this oath?
"I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
"...and domestic"
Get ready to follow through on your sacred oath which never expires.
I believe, as does Mr Blow, that Trump's intent is to take down the system if he can't overcome the threat posed by Mr Mueller and the Justice dept. What surprises me is the extent to which his party and supporters enthusiatically participate in that effort or at least acquiesce, including Mr McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Mr Nunes, the House committee leader.
1
To me, this is the very definition of treason. Harming your country and violating the oath of office:
“Trump has spent a lifetime probing the regulations for weaknesses, testing the theory that under sufficient weight any bureaucracy can be broken.
He will not hesitate to apply what he has learned to his present predicament. If America must be damaged for him to escape unscathed, he will take that bargain without batting an eye.”
What will it take for our hypocritical Congress to act?
I cannot believe this is where we are.
Midterms are coming, yes. I am just afraid that will be too late.
322
Maybe not too late but definitely, absolutely the LAST OPPORTUNITY for the application of the rule of law, for the safeguard of democracy in the US.
31
Same here. Things are seriously heating up. I don't know how we'll make it to November.
26
It is too late for Trump to thwart the Mueller investigation even if he is foolish enough to fire the Deputy AG or Mueller. Indictments are already filed, and Trump's involvement is already documented, at least in testimony to investigators.
The ignominious support of white evangelicals for this authoritarian miscreant has forever undermined the influence of right-wing authoritarians in the political forum.
I am not as pessimistic as Mr. Blow.
The opposition to Trump's destructiveness has strengthened under the pressure of the almost daily trauma recounted in Mr. Blow's columns, and it will rise in its strength and prevail. Whether or not the nation's founders built in sufficient safeguards againt tyranny, they knew that human nature seeks to "alter or abolish" its effects.
22
Nothing could have been more revealing than when Donald Trump said this week that the FBI raid on Michael Cohen’s office was an “attack on our country.” In Trump’s mind, long warped by pathological narcissism, entitlement and megalomania, he is “America” writ large in golden letters, and the “good of the country” is inextricably linked to what is beneficial to Trump. That millions of his supporters continue to believe that only he can save this country from a multitude of real and imagined perils, is the real tragedy. God help us.
28
What might be uncovered by the Cohen raid, could be so shocking that the tiki torch people will show up at Mar-A- Lago.
Trump will try to sell them memberships.
1
Terrifyingly true! Trump is desperate and all the signs point to the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions or his Deputy Rod Rosenstein or Special Counsel Robert Mueller. We will then descend into the ultimate Trumpian chaos of a Constitutional crisis where, a heretofore craven and complicit Republican-controlled, Congress will have to chose between their oath of office "to support and defend the Constitution" or Donald Trump. The choice is as stark as the one ancient Rome's Senate faced: democracy or autocracy.
7
Let me be the first to say thank you again for pressing the urgency of the current, ever spiralling situation. Let's hope America makes it out of this alive. Let's hope the Republicans in Congress snap out of their malaise. Let this end as quickly as possible. Mazel tov everyone!
4
Our founders did anticipate a Trump and put in place controls to stop him. Those controls were the electoral college. It failed.
12
Hopefully the recent events with Cohen portend that the end is near for our twisted presiden but don’t count on Trump laying down and caving in without putting up a fight.
Firing Sessions, Mueller or and/or Rosenstein might be for the best in that perhaps it will be the straw that breaks the spineless Republicans backs so that they finally take action to get rid of him.
3
"If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles."
The problem with this statement is that the "central parts of his character" (or complete lack thereof) have been clear from the start, and his supporters just don't care.
And that makes me both sad and angry.
15
The founders of America’s constitution we’re overreacting to their experience leaving England, it’s monarchy and parliamentary democracy. So they designed a Republic with three branches of government that supposedly acted as checks and balances against “tyranny”. But that was when men were honourable and would rather die than inflict dishonour on themselves or their family reputation. Honour meant something above and beyond “laws”. In America that has disappeared with wealth and greed where the 1% control congress with their Super PACs and politicians grovel for greed, such that the Checks against presidential tyranny have disappeared. So you are left with an imperious King and no controls to stop him. If Trump fires Mueller and no doubt Rosenstein. Before him the true ultimate vacuity of America’s governmental structure will be revealed as the country sinks into chaos and Bannon will indeed have the result he craves.
2
I am not sure Trump will bring down the whole system.
His GOP Congressional enablers will be the ones to blame. They can easily can end the Trump charade for cause. The President's statements and actions to date, all amply documented on film, serve as all the cause that is needed. But they will not.
Never mind that this "President":
Called those who did not vote for him, "enemies" even before his Inauguration
Calls the Press enemies
Calls the execution of a search warrant, granted under the laws of the United States, and "attack" on America.
This man is no leader. He is no friend of America, it's principles or citizenry. Make no mistake, he is a constrained dictator seeking his own Riechstag Fire to break out consolidate his power.
And Congress does nothing ..... and they shall bear full responsibility for what they hath wrought.
7
The voting public will send a stinging message to Republicans that they have failed. the most successful of their crop of presidential candidates is himself a "disgrace" to the country and to the presidency. If the inaugural crowd was small, imagine his funeral.
All else aside no matter what ends his Presidency his temperament is what makes him so dangerously unfit to be a world leader. We may be seeing the end of Trump but the closer we get the more uneasy I am.
3
The truth just doesn't seem to matter Trump's followers. Neither does what he says or how he behaves. (Farmers about to be eviscerated by his tariffs are beginning to understand.) Trump has every loathsome trait people in both parties and any sane person would revile and yet his supporters give him a pass. He does things contrary to their interests and still he has their support. Mr. Blow seems to believe that some new revelation will suddenly bring them to their senses. I see no evidence that it will. Because they are not paying attention
3
trump ran for President to build his brand not to win. Now he's busy doing everything he can to protect that brand for his post Presidency money making endeavors. Don't worry donald, you'll still sell well to that 33% of yours. Oh, wait a minute, those people don't buy multi-million dollar apartments or spend $200,000 for the right to play golf and eat.
Well Mr. Reality Show, looks like you've boxed yourself in this time. Go lie your way out, you're good at that.
3
The Trump presidency may actually be good for America.
More people than ever are now avidly learning how government functions and the various ways laws are enacted (as with sausage, looking too closely can turn the strongest stomach). Teenagers are speaking out at their parents' elected lawmakers, not just at their parents. Books criticizing government are selling faster than ever. News shows analyzing Washington are gaining viewers. America is becoming woke, and politicians who preferred to make their deals far from the limelight are becoming worried.
Sadly, it's taken a self-centered buffoon with a gift of gab and criminal tendencies to engage the populace. His fellow Republicans are tiring of supporting a loudmouth egomaniac who ignores their advice and counsel.
History is replete with tyrannical leaders who misjudged the world around them and subsequently toppled from power. The odds of #45 sharing their fate are getting better by the day.
297
Oh, Kris, the only thing that will truly galvanize even Trump supporters will be the elimination or the squeeze put on Social Security and/or Medicare. Anyone still standing for him or Republicans after that will be a multi-millionaire or deracinated.
4
Charles you're right in the regard that Trump has a siege mentality, that if cornered, he'll spitefully burn the whole place (or the country and planet) down with him. However, I'm afraid you're critically wrong on another point: Trump supporters simply do not care about and willingly excuse any nefarious act he perpetrated as a 'private citizen' no matter who the victims happened to be, even if it were people like them. I heard this over and over again while traveling through the 'heartland' in 2016. On the other hand "Hilary's email server" was the worst crime against the people of the United States since the attack on Pearl Harbor. And I'm afraid (pretty sure actually) they will cheer his firing of Mueller, because they think he's justified in blocking any investigation into his past. Trump supporters are so invested in the con the bought that they'll keep throwing good will, convictions, (and money) at the bad until they do morally, fiscally, and maybe even physically destroy the nation. All out of spite, fear, and resentment.
25
He will do anything to keep it from view, including bringing the government to its knees.
During the Iraq war Rumsfeld referred to remaining pockets of Saddam resistance who went on fighting from the shadows and creating havoc though all hope for their cause was lost, as 'dead enders'. Trump, though he occupies the Oval Office is fighting from the shadows (now just lifting) of his lifelong deceit; a dead ender president who will to do anything and everything to hang on to power. So much so that the coming months ought to carry a warning - for mature audiences only.
7
The Armageddon began the day he was elected. America has been on borrowed time ever since. Trump and the GOP will do whatever they have to do to save themselves. Their dishonesty is the least of it. I can't believe that I just wrote that. Too many Americans have accepted this daily pervasive dishonesty as part of having Trump in office. Much of the media has and that it is a core part of the problem. The outrage over this immoral and dangerous behavior has gone away from most of our journalists. Charles Blow, Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt are a few in a very small group who are willing to tell us the truth every day with a sense of urgency. In the days ahead if Trump manages to stop the Russia probe through whatever mechanism he has in mind, and America lets him get away with it, then we are done as a democracy. The campaign to fire anyone who threatens Trump is already underway--the Fox News voices, Steve Bannon, and Devin Nunes. The days ahead will tell the tale. Even the attack on Syria has taken a backseat to Trump's own troubles. That should be a frightening sign indeed.
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His strategy may be to bring some us down with him, but he will go down ( and many who helped him) and America will be better without him.
7
...and the other problem is that a Trump impeachment will only result in another, more incompetent succeeding to the presidency. Bannon may still get a nod for the vice-presidency.
Once again Mr. Blow misunderstands DJT’s core support when he writes, “If Trump has lied to the people who still support him about the most central parts of his character, not just months or years ago, but on a consistent basis, and if those lies can be proved by actual documentary evidence of some sort, the whole house of cards crumbles.”
Trump’s core will give him a mulligan, again. Politically the religious right cares nothing for his values only for its political agenda. The anti government republicans remain thrilled with his anti government stance. Business and the wealthiest got their tax cut. The NRA knows no meaningful legislation will be passed and science deniers of all kinds have a friend in the White House.
Trump’s base will not care. Hopefully the independent 10% will and the difference will be made.
11
We are at a point quite reminiscent of the ending of Alan Parker's wonderful film Mississippi Burning, where federal agents are rounding up Klansman who are trying to escape. Donald Trump is trying to escape the clutches of Robert Mueller. Trump has a history of evading and scoffing at the law. He is reaching a point of desperation now that his henchmanlike attorney's files are being seized. That desperation will lead to Trump's Armageddon. I have no doubt he will ignore rational advice and fire Rosenstein and Mueller. When Trump fired Comey he boasted to the Russians that it would kibosh the investigation. That's a function of the simple mind of Donald Trump. How bad has this become? When Chuck Grassly is moving aggressively to protect Mueller from being fired, we are nearing the constitutional crisis that Donald Trump will create. GOP legislators have stood idly by while Trump makes a mockery of the presidency. Even the most gutless ones realize that this presidency is a sham and it's time to allow justice to prevail.
10
Your problem is bigger than Trump. Your problem is a voting system that can be, has been and will again be hacked. Why is this not a major concern? Voting is the foundation of democracy. As long as you have computer voting, you can not be sure it actually reflects how people voted. The only way not to be hacked is to go back to paper ballots.
13
Recall that when Comedy Central did a roast of Mr. Trump, the one thing he insisted - contractually - is that they not mock or challenge the veracity of his claims to great wealth. Being "super rich" and "self-made" are central to his sense of identity. So no bits were allowed about his multiple bankruptcies and business failures, or about his puffing up his net worth.
If criminal investigations uncover evidence that Trump's core identity is a lie, his emotional immaturity could well lead to a constitutional crisis. While investigations and indictments of his team and son-in-law may irritate Trump, at the end of the day he is ultimately "about" Donald Trump.
What strange times we live in!
7
What more is to say? Mr. Blow has clearly and succinctly defined what happens when an animal is cornered and feels threatened for its life. Instinct kicks in and regardless of the outcome that animal will do everything within its means to survive.
What separates Trump from that cornered animal is the fact that Trump will be held accountable for ignoring laws designed to protect others from harm he has imposed on them. The difference between him and that animal is that he knows the difference between right and wrong. Final accountability will be a blessing.
4
"Trump’s options for keeping his secrets concealed are shrinking by the day. Therefore, Jeff Sessions is not safe. Rosenstein is not safe. Mueller is not safe. The rule of law is not safe. Our democracy is not safe."
I've lost count of how many times I've seen variants of the above.
Every time anyone writes about, comments about or mentions the possibility of Trump firing Mueller, Rosenstein or even Sessions, it's invariably with the knowledge that he'd do so to try to derail or shut down Mueller's probe in which we now know he is a "subject." Therefore, Trump's *intent* for doing the firing leaving no shadow of a doubt in anyone's mind, if he then went ahead and fired Mueller, Rosenstein or Sessions, how could there be any doubt at all that he did it, in plain sight too, to obstruct justice?
Is it not time we did away with the caveats about how the president can fire anyone in the executive branch on a whim or how obstruction of justice is tough to prove because it requires showing "corrupt intent"? The president may have the constitutional right to fire anyone in the executive branch, but to fire someone who is specifically investigating him for potential criminality would be a blatant case of obstruction of justice. Likewise, knowing what everyone already knows Trump is itching to do, and even tried to do before in the case of Mueller, "corrupt intent" would be the ONLY way his actual firing of Mueller or Rosenstein could be interpreted.
Let's be real, at long last!
4
This piece gets right to the heart of the matter of the last few days.
Every TV news network should be asking, discussing and analysing the question; every president in the last 40 years has made public their tax returns and financial situation - what is Trump trying to hide, why does he appear so afraid right now and if he's innocent of any wrongdoing, why is he trying to hard to close down or disrupt the Mueller investigation?
Trump's success has derived in part from reiterating a few points over and over again until they lodge into receptive brains. It's time the media started doing the same to bring home the point, to as wide an audience as possible, that this man's erratic, disruptive and potentially dangerous behaviour is fuelled by his very real fear that some very serious crimes, to which he has been a witting party, are soon to be revealed.
6
So far most of the checks and balances have failed to save the country and our democracy from abuse and neglect.
Corporations are people. A president with 10 months left in office cannot fill a vacant SCOTUS seat. Close to 3 mln win of the popular vote loses you the presidential election because the electoral college is won by 80 k votes in three states. Congress passes a massive tax cut in three months without looking at the budget office numbers.
Morals as part of the checks and balances did not work. Right wing evangelicals support a very big sinner who promised to advance their backward agenda. Cabinet members proclaim they want to dismantle the government. To make health insurance affordable the government puts it out of reach.
Guns are more important than children. To make schools safe they need to be like prison. Arm the teachers. Crazy!
Rates are pushing 3 % and your savings account is making 0.05% , but corporations and banks complain about it. Unemployment is at historic lows, businesses cannot fill openings, but the Government is blaming illegal immigrants for taking our jobs. Coal is dead, but the Government wants to bring it back. American car manufacturers have plants in China to sell directly to consumers there, but DJT wants to export cars made here and brags about tariffs.
DJT insults our allies and complains that nobody loves us. We see a foe in everybody. This is craziness unseen since the 1930 and is what Soviet propaganda used to. Armageddon is here.
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That's as good as the original piece!
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Whether or not this is true, or will play out as Mr. Blow speculates, it remains a completely believable scenario.
And that is the most frightening thing of all.
4
Trump commented early on that the damaging secrets of Mike Flynn were 'illegally leaked'. He was, of course right, but wrong at the same time. If he genuinely though that he was going to change the way Washington worked, 'more foll him'.
2
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your years of warnings about "the Grand Wizard of Birtherism" and your refusal to take his destruction of democratic norms in stride.
Now that Trump is feeling trapped, I fear for what he will do as a distraction.
During Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, I first noticed the Trump camp's strategy of small & large distractions: the grandchildren kept in view of cameras while Sessions answered questions; Trump's first "news conference" (remember the thousands of pieces of paper on a table?) scheduled for the same time as the hearing, to distract from, for e.g., Cornell William Brooks's testimony about the "surgical precision" of Sessions' voter suppression efforts against African Americans. Or Sessions' two laughing (& lying) denials that he had any contacts with Russia during the election.
But what will a big-enough distraction be now? I
6
"...he has settled on a strategy in the case of his own administration’s Armageddon..." and Mr. Mueller has made plans for what will happen if he is fired. The work WILL go on.
3
The country has faced many a political crisis that seemed large at the time - the Adams/Jefferson feud, the Teapot Dome scandal, the McCarthy hearings, Watergate, Monica Lewinsky, etc. But this would seem to quality as worse than all the rest combined. Why? Because it's not just the president; it's Congress as well. And the angry, disaffected, 'proud to be ignorant' minority of voters who want to destroy, but have no idea of how to rebuild. Add in the ease of foreign enemies to buy ads on Facebook and you have a nearly perfect storm to test a Democracy by seeing if you can push it to breaking point.
The crux of the problem boils down to a middle class who think Trump is doing a good job, but believe 'fake news' is hiding it; and a large section of voters who do not engage. Democrats and the second group must come out in force in November and vote like their lives depend on it. Certainly the nature of their lives do. We are heading into the most important election possibly in the history of our Republic; The average person who sees what's going on must get out and vote. And engage with those who have let their paranoia get the better of them. We can solve our problems, but not by letting the hardliner minority have their way again like they did in 2016. Never before could a single vote mean so much. We can't afford the luxury of not bothering. Not this time. Vote.
7
And what of Trumps enablers? Long before he became the alt right & evangelical darling he was a con man and huckster. Politicians, media and people of questionable character swarmed around him and bought into the great lie about his exceptionality because it was profitable and harmless, right? When it was just little people, his employees, contractors and customers being harmed then it was salesmanship and harmless hyperbole wasn’t it. Now its all of us regardless of who we are that he would bring down with him. Is Trump cause or effect? The consequences lean heavily on that question. Sad either way.
4
The public meltdown and destruction of President Trump has been a fever dream of the left from day one of his presidency. Never mind that he has accomplished more to the benefit of average Americans than recent presidents. Polling shows that more often than not a majority supports Trump's policies and actions. But none of this matters. What matters is that the left destroy this man. It is they who are eager to sacrifice the future of this country, so long as they can have the emotional satisfaction of seen him shamed and impeached. But, as usual, they underestimate Trump's tenacity and resilience in the face of seemingly overwhelming adversity. Reports of his impending fall will always be thwarted, because this president relishes combat. He is bored by the scripted version of reality. So let the pontificators rail on; its the fuel that sustains this remarkable man.
That's quite a narrative, no basis in fact, but no surprise there, Donald supporters are fact free. The reason we are so against this President are too legion to list here - but see ELB from Denver and all the other substantive bases: endless lies, support of white supremacy, endorsement of a pedophile, sexual assaults, attacks on US citizens, bizarre on-going defense of a hostile foreign power who attacked our country, divisive rhetoric, Cabinet appointees who are more interested in dismantling their agencies then running them, destructive environmental policies, tax cuts for billionaires, fomenting anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-anyone of color acts, the extraordinary graft and corruption personally and in his cabinet, the nepotism, the incompetence, seriously how can anyone think it's anything other than caring, deeply, about what is happening to our country?
3
Trump has no strategy. He acts impulsively, making decisions day by day or minute by minute, frequently changing positions. He will not survive one term, perhaps leaving voluntarily as he reels from blows to his reputation, his business world, his family and his party. The American democracy is stronger than the forces that are trying to destroy it. We have survived greater challenges in the past more than 250 years and we will survive this assault.
3
"At this point, nothing is beyond the possible, no matter how ill advised and how ultimately destructive. In Trump’s mind, I can only imagine, he has settled on a strategy in the case of his own administration’s Armageddon: If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him."
The choice of Armageddon is chilling. If Trump decides "to wag the dog" in order to distract our attention away from his legal troubles, it truly will be Armageddon -- not only for our democratic system but for civilization.
2
We have to bring civility back into politics. At the same time we have to rid politics of money and bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Trump would not be the threat today if the news was treated as a vital blood source to democracy. But, like our politics, in our naivete we believed good men and women would not be swayed by money. It is difficult to be objective but, without the Fairness Doctrine, many in the news media no longer try. There is simply too much money in anger, fear, partisanship, and tribalism for them to care.
2
Trump has long conducted himself according to what's best for him, without regard for the consequences to others. In his peculiarly hedonistic fashion, he lives on and even over the edge, leaving others to clean up the devastation in his wake.
It was one thing to do this when he was destroying his own businesses, the livelihood of his suppliers and contractors, and even his reputation. It is altogether another when the collateral damage caused is done to an entire country and its institutions, and perhaps the world, regardless of consequence.
Impeachment should never be taken lightly. It is a sobering endeavor which deserves to be considered with ultimate caution, lest it become a toy trotted out whenever there is serious disagreement in the air. But it it is right to consider it. Trump's open disdain for the institutions and due process in this country is a dangerous and slippery slope which should not be tolerated, and his perversion of the presidency into a personal plaything should arouse the suspicion and vigilance of the entire nation, regardless of political persuasion.
There are only two things that should happen now: Robert Mueller should be allowed to complete his investigation, wherever it leads, and Congress needs to stand up and do its job, should it come to that. Anything less is an abject failure of government and those who purport to lead it. Americans deserve better, and have a right to demand it.
6
Actually, Mr. Blow, the founding fathers did predict a man such as Mr. Trump and did their best to build the tools to defeat such a person. It is why we have the system of government that we do. However, if we choose not to use the tools given us, the the fault is ours.
1
History will call this the most dangerous period for our republic’s existence since the Civil War. Trump lives in a house that contains a quote from John Adams on a fireplace mantel that says, “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
This hope and prayer expressed by Adams obviously failed to come to fruition in a number of cases, but none to the extent that we see now. We face an international crisis in Syria that has people saying Trump should read “The Guns of August,” which would be a great idea if our leader read anything. Uppermost in his mind is whether he gets to keep his office, and expand his power until people raise statues to Trump the dictator in every town square.
The last Constitutional crisis we faced with Abraham Lincoln, an honest and wise man if ever their was one. This crisis has at its root a lying mobster living under the roof of the executive mansion. Who has spent his life in opposition to the idea that we are a nation of laws.
Will we survive as a Republic? Will we survive as a living planet? The next year will tell the tale.
2
Thank you, as always, Mr. Blow. The issue, or an issue, is that Trump doesn't understand the role of President. He doesn't think he is President (because he doesn't understand our political structure, nor the Constitution, nor, more say, atmospherically, the moral content of that universe). He thinks he is King. An old-fashioned King, with robes,with a scepter, and a guillotine. It's a child's version of the cosmos, in which he reigns, rewarding and punishing his court. (Not a child who has had a civics lesson, though, or paid attention in class.)
Alas, that creek water is polluted: a stain of noxious sludge has poured into the byways of American life, haunting the American dream. No wonder no one can see clearly.
If any other President, democrat or republican, had committed or seemed to commit any of these outrages, he'd be long gone. I know we're all exhausted. But the trick is standing up for what we now is right, and ousting this charlatan.
1
Is Creek water clear? No, usually it is muddy.
Trump will be exposed but not removed. America is the people who choose to live by the constitution, not a political process.
Why won't Ryan, McConnell, and the republican party generally, do anything? Don't they have children? I get it that most of them are bought and owned by the donor class. I get it that there is money to be made. But if democracy in America comes crashing down, where are these folks who could have saved American democracy going to live when we descend into chaos and violence? What is going to happen to the kids? Having a lot of money didn't save the aristocrats and royals in the French revolution.
I would like Trump supporters to consider this: Trump does whatever he wants. He sweeps away anyone who gets in his,way. He has no need to tell the truth or to be fair in business dealings or to be accountable to anyone. And you,supporters, agree with him on that. He doesn't have anything to lose. Because he expects those around him to stand in front of him and take any bullets that come his way. And, let's face it, they do. But for people in the government who spent their entire lives studying, working hard, and creating a reputation and who have made an oath to uphold the constitution, they stand to lose everything. For what? An unwritten promise that Trump will "take care of me in the future"? That is what they worked their whole life for? Would you do it? And if you found out someone you knew was under investigation for a crime and the investigators figured out that person did something else that was illegal, should the second potential crime be ignored because it isn't related to the first? And if you were the lawyers doing the investigation, what do you think would happen to you if you discovered a crime and you ignored it because the perpetrator might not like it? That no one would care? There would be no consequence for you. Most people, unlike Trump have a conscience. For a reason. Come on. Open your eyes and use a little common sense here.
No Charles, the System will survive. It survived Nixon's obstruction, lies and illegal war and it will survive Trump's violation of law and standards of decent Presidential conduct.
However, the mere survival of the System that allowed such an unfit human being to rise to the seat of power may not be in the best interest of our Nation. From the process by which candidates are nominated, to the influence of big money, to the undemocratic Electoral College which twice in my lifetime allowed the loser to win, to a Congress that is unrepresentative of the people who voted for them, the System needs major revision or we can be sure that another Trump will rise to power one day.
So far everything Trump has done to save himself has backfired. Catastrophically. My hope is that Republicans in Congress are silent because they are waiting to see if their Trump problem will be solved by Trump through his own self-destruction. Meanwhile though, damage is being done to the country. The time for Republicans' to end their silence is getting closer. My fear is that they won't realize when it is too late to finally speak out.
I wonder. Trump's polls are steady or improving, and the Republicans retiring are basically people that he defeated. Is he really the desperate one, or is it the people who want to get rid of him?
1
It all goes back to those tax returns.
What I find most interesting about this column is the subject that Mr. Blow glides over. Mr. Blow infers obstruction of justice and financial wrongdoing on the part of Trump, based on what makes Trump angry, but offers no such case for Trump colluding with the Russians. This whole investigation was founded on the idea that we needed to find out what happened with the Russians and the election and the "unprecedented assault on our democracy." Yet here we are discussing everything--but collusion with the Russians. If the whole obstruction charge comes down to Trump firing Comey, I'm not buying it. Trump has the absolute authority to fire Comey, and Comey frankly deserved it. If all Mueller has is a trumped up process charge where there is no underlying crime--like what was done to Scooter Libby--then the charge will be seen as illegitimate by too many Americans. As for financial crimes by Trump, I am of mixed feelings. On the one hand, if Trump really is crooked (which would not surprise me), I would like to see him face the music. On the other hand, it is beginning to look like we have a runaway special prosecutor who is determined to find something on Trump regardless of whether it is related to the original mandate to investigate Russian interference.
1
Financial wrongdoing usually has a paper trail somewhere. Russian interference in our elections is harder to prove, and by its very nature has to be clandestine. However, the amount of time an investigation of this kind takes is also not proof of "no collusion" as trump is fond of repeating.
1
Once again Blow states the obvious. Like everyone else he has no idea how this will all play out. I understand his impatience if he is truly worried. It all looks very ominous. But I still have faith in our Constitutional Republic to check Trump. The framers of our Constitution designed it so that no single person like Trump could have the power that Blow seems to think he has.
1
Mr. Mueller and his team surely have devised a method by which their findings are shared with other prosecutors or attorneys general, federal or state, in the event the president successfully pulls the plug on their operations. Or perhaps the plan is a massive media leak. I have confidence that the fruits of this investigation will see the light of day in one manner or another.
5
Trump is not going away without a fight. That has always been his way, hit back harder. He may start a war to remain president. He may invoke martial law. The Founders even in their wildest dreams could not have envisioned such a bizarre scenario.
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And even if they did, I'm assuming they thought that there would be enough honorable men in Congress to put the nation above personal gain or party politics.
30
Yes but Trump is only head of one branch of our divided limited power constitutional republic. And they are all the elected and selected hired help of the American people.
8
All too plausible. His base would love it. (That's not hyperbole; I'm serious.)
22
Comparing Trump to Hitler is ridiculous but there is one thing he and Trump have in common: As the end was near as far as Hitler was concerned Germany should be destroyed as he went down. Trump will be willing to blow everything up to avoid being humiliated. However poorly US institutions performed as a restrain on his worst instincts, we have to hope that they will do better when the showdown arrives.
2
It's remarkable that his base will continue to revere him no matter what he does. They managed to elect a clearly mentally challenged, narcissistic, infantile old man to the presidency, and they like the results. THAT will be a festering issue to address, long after Trump and his incompetent lunacy are in the rear view mirror.
8
This is indeed the most horrendous slow-motion train wreck in our history. As you suggest, the question now is whether the Engineer will be the only one to suffer, or if he will destroy all of the passengers in the process....
22
Actually the founders did anticipate problematic presidential candidates. The electoral college was supposed to protect us from the uninformed voter and choose the candidate best qualified to serve as president. Instead it has become an all or nothing proposition so that candidates concentrate their campaigns in "swing" states and all but ignore voters in other states. Time to get rid of the electoral college so that every vote counts throughout the country.
21
Shumer’s explanation of the Rule of Law and the need to protect Mueller is right on. Politicians are there to protect our constitution and “party” loyalty should be last, even if it hurts them. Do what is right for our country. Kennedy’s Proiles in Courage are a reminder of our country’s mission. It has been overridden with the chaos of Trump, his putting his self first.
20
I think it is time for the law to be changed to require anyone running for office (local, state and federal) to release their income tax filings.
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Their returns for 10 years, plus their spouse's. spouses' if more than one spouse during the 10 years.
And medical and psychiatric exams for national office, done by OBJECTIVE physicians.
4
Mueller has clearly exceeded his mandate. He has nothing on Russia or collusion so he is flailing about, trying to justify his existence and to attempt to bring down Trump. How? Not by finding anything incriminating because he has not done that. What he is seeking to do is intimidate anyone who works with or has worked with Trump. His indictments of Manafort and Gates have nothing to do with the Trump campaign or the 2016 election. The guilty pleas of lying to the FBI were not about illegal activities.
But what takes the cake with Mueller at this point is raiding Trump's lawyer's office (or initiating that) in order to find evidence that Trump may have known about payments to women who were attempting to extort money from Trump about possible affairs that occurred over a decade ago when --- get this -- Trump was a private citizen. This is nothing more than an attempt to overturn the election by an anti-Trumper. And what does this have to do with collusion?
Mueller needs to either provide evidence that there was collusion -- his mandate -- or resign. There is no justification for him being able to have super police powers here. A police officer, for example, cannot obtain a search warrant and then use that to obtain evidence for any possible crime the subject of the search may be involved with. The officer has to specify what they are looking for and limit the search to that.
Of course CB could care less as long as Muller gets Trump. But he won't.
5
First, Mueller is not a regular police officer with a very specific search warrant. In his position, he is free to follow where the facts lead. (see Ken Starr and Bill Clinton)
Second, the indictments of Manafort and Gates perhaps can be interpreted as intimidating to Trump (if he is guilty of something) but mainly they are a case of illegal activities being found and followed up on properly. Was he supposed to look the other way?
Third, and most important, how do you know he has nothing on collusion? The investigation is not complete, and plenty has come to light so far. This is not an investigation of a dime store robbery; it's involving intertwined actors over several continents with much to hide and much to lose. It could take years to get to the full truth.
25
A.) How do you, Raphie, know that SC Mueller, has not found anything incriminating on Trump?
B) The search warrant obtained by the Attorney General of Southern District of NY is very specified, naming all the material they are allowed to seize.
A search warrant for an attorney's office and/or home goes through a barrage of hurdles before getting the go ahead, especially if that attorney is the one of a president, who at the same time proudly calls himself Trump's Fixer.
4
I'm curious why some people are sure that Mueller has "nothing on Russia or collusion." It seems to me that Mueller would keep his information from becoming public until he is finished with the investigation and ready to use it.
9
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
Actually, they did. They created the Electoral College thinking that if the voters were so uninformed as to choose such a person, the Electoral College would correct the error.
What the Founders did not imagine is that democracy worked, the voters clearly and wisely rejected that person, but party-over-country craven Republican Electors installed him over our clear objections.
This clear and present danger was enabled by the Republicans. They all are complicit and should be taught an historic lesson by the voters.
61
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
They did build constraint, the electoral college. It failed.
39
It's extremely clear there is no one, no one, more important to Trump than Trump. He will do whatever it takes to feel good. At this point we should all be very wary. He has already shown nothing is beneath him.
42
trump's behavior in office should be a black eye for those who voted for him as the lesser of two evils, or because he would "clean the swamp" in Washington.
His personality, his duplicity in most business dealings, his secretiveness about his financial affairs, his nastiness towards opponents (whether the Hillarys, the Khizr Khans or the anonymous dissenters at his rallies) were more than obvious to those of us who did our homework.
So here we have a man in the White House who is totally out of his depth, knowing only how to do destructive things. He cracks a smile only when his sycophants heap praise on him, or when he targets others for his cruel jokes; and so miserable must he be inside that he is never seen laughing out loud.
It's very dangerous to have in office a man about whom the most frequent adjectives are anger, fury, rage and their synonyms.
Maybe he really is cleaning the swamp, though not in the way he meant. David Cay Johnson refers to his termites quietly eating away at our institutions and structures of governance - you don't notice the damage until it's done. Once he is out of the way, we will have to reexamine the ways we do our politics to ensure that we never see his like anywhere near the levers of power again.
78
Two things that seem very ominous to me - (1) Paul Ryan retiring - not that I like him, but I suspect his reason is that he sees that things are about to go very, very wrong, and he doesn't want to be around for it, and (2) Trump's threats to Syria are very much the thing that tin-pot dictators do to distract the public.
Republicans bear blame, but the media does as well for still largely treating this administration as if it is just a variation on normal - I give credit to Charles Blow as one of the few who seems to truly get how not normal this is.
At the same time, this is not an anomoly - Trump is the legacy of Richard Nixon's "southern strategy," employed with great success by Republicans - Ronald Reagan in particular - since then. I suspect Nixon had no idea that this is what would happen, but when you use racism (and sexism, and homophobia, etc.) as a basis for political power, this is the result.
40
Paul Ryan retiring now is a strategic move to put himself in the position to drafted as the nominee in 2020 by a Republican Party fractured by President Pence pardoning former president Trump.
In the meantime he can "fill up the coffers".
22
also totally plausible!
"Maybe the founders and the hundreds of years of politicians following them should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
No one thought someone like Trump could get this far, because most people were raised properly and assumed--naively, as it turns out--that no one could be as greedy, dishonest, self-serving and frankly unAmerican as Donald Trump.
Yes, I said it. He is unAmerican. In his mind there is only Trump, The Brand and The Man, and Trump must be appeased and protected at all costs. Our founders, and the generations of politicians who followed them, could not imagine an American who would sell out his country just to enhance and polish his own image.
Well, now we know. What are we doing about it? I've read of a group that is reviewing the weaknesses that Trump has exploited in order to shore them up and prevent future Trumps from wreaking similar havoc. I hope they are still on the job.
The other thing we can do is gather and protest if Trump moves against Mueller. Rallies are being planned across the US. Find one here: https://tinyurl.com/y8gx7bpk; and plan to show up.
We have the power to shake Washington to its core. Let's use it.
40
That we must fight for liberty and democracy seemed like a quaint idea until Trump has successfully and incontrovertibly, so far, subverted the Constitution and our laws with his autocratic pronouncements and actions. Yes, George Washington foresaw this possibility, as documented by another commentator here and he feared the appearance of imperial power. We are witnessing the most significant test of our democratic and legal system since the Civil War.
Congressional Republicans have in the past two days begun to mouth the right words of warning to Trump about firing anyone in our Justice Dept, but one still has the concern that they will not stand up to Trump when, not if, he acts to dismantle our laws. We come then to the only viable instrument we can use: the mid-term voting booth.
Finally, regarding Trump's exit, we can hope that before next year's Congress the enormous pressure of the truth of his actions will cause him to resign. Pence will pardon him and his Federally convicted cohorts, but Kushner will be held to account for his misdeeds in NY, beyond the reach of Presidential pardon.
25
Did you see the picture of republican members of congress with the president? All thumbs up and broad smiles. We cannot rely on them to do the right thing. Bigly sad.
4
Trump keeps saying, "They are out to get me!" How does law enforcement get someone who has done no wrong?
Well, they can plant evidence. They can pay people or coerce people to give false testimony. And who is "they" anyway.
"They" are the criminal justice system. That's a whole lot of people working independently from different agencies in different locations. Are all of the "they" part of a vast conspiracy comprised of thousands of individuals? Fox News and right wing media has convinced at least 30% of America that has happened. They call it the "deep state". Santa Clause is coming too. The Great Pumpkin lives!
Furthermore, the "they" have to operate under strict rules and guidelines. If the "they" do not, whatever "they" have come up with gets thrown out of court.
This is the rule of law. It is the foundation of our system of government, our liberty.
When Trump talks about the "they are out to get me", he is expressing a complete disregard for the rue of law. Or, there is another alternative. He is guilty as sin, has committed many crimes, and has enough skeletons in his closet to bury him and his family.
So which is it? Is it the evil deep state that exists along side Santa and the Great Pumpkin? (I know for a fact that the Easter Bunny is real.) Or is Trump afraid of the cops because all of the dirt and crimes they will uncover?
55
Mr. Blow mentions that perhaps the founding fathers should have predicted someone like Trump getting elected president. They did. That is why they structured a government of checks and balances.
Unfortunately, they did not predict this level of partisanship, which destroys the checks that the executive and legislative branches placed on each other.
Can you imagine any group of 435 reasonably intelligent and informed adults representing this nation NOT voting to impeach Trump? Only if about 240 of them see him as their leader, and not the citizens in their various districts.
86
I must admit to taking pleasure in watching the president twist slowly in the wind as he hangs himself on his lies, misdeeds and frauds. It’s also extremely dangerous for the country, but a country with enough voters to elect such a man has to suffer the consequences.
When you put an ignorant, vulgar thief in the White House, there will be hell to pay. There’s no way to avoid it.
Giving power to a manipulative narcissistic liar has certain consequences. We’ve lost the respect of other nations as well as the stability of our entire political system. We’ve seen the honorable Republicans aid and abet his diseased personality, profiting from the chaos caused by his inability to understand or to govern.
His caprice would make Caligula blush. His inability to select wise advisors or to take rational advice may lead us into war and economic destruction. Sane, constructive dialog is replaced by vulgar slurs, delusional statements and erratic behavior.
This president has to be removed from office. We have the constitutional tools to effect such removal, but we need to act fast before the Constitution itself is put through the same shredder he uses to hide his many deceits.
Then we need to implement rules that will prevent an incompetent candidate running for high office, and to prevent a deplorable minority from electing one.
303
I believe the electoral college has to go. The people in the "heartland", those people who are supposed to be so much better than the rest of us, completely gave up their right to have their votes count four times as much as ours.
Why should anyone's vote count more than another's. They failed.
44
I agree that this President has to go. He can be impeached for any number of reasons including his attack on the news media. A free press is essential to our democracy but Trump would destroy any news outlet that doesn't agree with him. This is a 'no doubt about it' impeachable offense.
However, with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, the chances of impeaching this sorry excuse for a human being are low. They are only to happy to keep him in office as long as he keeps signing their bills.
That is another reason to register and vote this November. We need a new House of Representatives and a new Senate to rid the nation of this small, small man.
17
Maybe the thing Trump is most afraid of is that his Tax returns will prove he was not a billionaire. It could be a simple as that, given Trump's ego.
However he sure is one now, using his status as the developer of the Trump hotel in DC, entertaining at Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower and his many golf courses and charging the American taxpayer for these events. It used to be that the Presidents of the United States used the White House or Camp David, properties owned by the Federal Government, for meetings and receptions. Remember the first act of raising dues at Mar-a-Lago from $100,000 to $200,000? And that was done when he became the front runner, not even his election.
Perhaps it is time for another subpoena of Trump's Accountant records. I bet this would tell an even bigger story than Cohen's records.
48
His tax returns will show a loan deposit from Deutsche Bank in the amount of 250M, money from Russians in London and laundered through the Bank of Cyprus. That is why he hides them. Bloomberg, a New York billionaire, stated that Trump is not a billionaire. I'll go with Bloomberg.
5
I agree with you. I am still hoping that some rogue IRS agent will leak his tax returns.
If the man indeed has a strategy… it will be the first of his presidency.
31
The most threatening danger to this country is the 40% of Americans who continue to support Trump in spite of wave after wave of evidence that proves his abysmal lack of qualification to lead the most powerful nation on the planet, let alone his probable criminality.
A democracy relies on the judgement of its people and the entire world can plainly see how poor is the judgement of American citizens when 40% of them take the word of Trump over the FBI, the CIA and the Dept. of Justice.
When I was a teenager in the '60's, I and many of my peers had a somewhat similar view of these institutions- We were as distrustful of the federal government as they are, but our distrust had roots in entirely different soil.
We believed that the Vietnam war was immoral and unwinnable while the government lied and lied about imminent victory and its absolute necessity to stem the tide of communism.
History absolves us, but I'm almost certain history will condemn the people who continue to support Trump.
98
alan haigh writes, "The most threatening danger to this country is the 40% of Americans who continue to support Trump in spite of wave after wave of evidence that proves his abysmal lack of qualification to lead the most powerful nation on the planet, let alone his probable criminality.
A democracy relies on the judgement of its people and the entire world can plainly see how poor is the judgement of American citizens when 40% of them take the word of Trump over the FBI, the CIA and the Dept. of Justice.
... I'm almost certain history will condemn the people who continue to support Trump.
Reply68 Recommended
...I'm almost certain history will condemn the people who continue to support Trump."
The Trump base, the trumpkins, don't care what anyone thinks, least of all those who don't agree with them. They certainly don't care about history as they don't care about truth. What they care about is power. They are bullies...each and every one of them.
What is so funny is Melania claiming to take on internet bullies. That is trump's base! Those are the people who wrote all the fake news that went on facebook and convinced all the sheeple to vote for Trump, or at least not vote for Hillary. Of course, it's not like Melania will start a revolution against bullies...all she is really doing is providing a fig leaf of cover for deplorable bullies who support her husband (as if republicans don't like bullies...they don't "like" them...they "are"' them).
2
I will share Dr. Franklin's considerations at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention
. . . I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
44
Eugene Ralph: excellent quote, and its point about "when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government" unfortunately too on target. I've seen polls indicating that half of Trump supporters are so rabid that they would welcome autocratic government, even at the expense of curbing freedoms. I think this is what we're seeing, based on the language and suggestions from FOX News and extreme far right voices.
41
As Mr. Blow suggests, attention must be paid to Trump’s “cowardly accomplices” in the Republican congressional majority. They have been appointed firemen by the Constitution, and now the government is in flames, the flames are threatening to sweep the country, and they are sitting resolutely on their hands. When questioned, they say they’ve been assured that nothing important will burn down.
Trump is deservedly the focus of alarm. But the implied hostility to constitutional order of the Republican congress, in its passivity, is also without historical precedent. That needs to be a front-page story.
55
They got their tax heist with permanent tax cuts for their richest donors. Now, we will face a huge revenue deficit to be paid by ordinary not rich Americans. They are leaving Congress, afraid of losing the next elections. Hopefully, a Democratic controlled House can repeal those tax cuts. And, appoint a decent Justice to the SC in order to balance the anti-employee evangelical ideologue, Gorsuch.
3
Nancy Pelosi has openly verbalized her opposition to impeachment. They are all part of the house of cards, at least on the money trail.
1
It is farcical to suggest that Nancy Pelosi or the Democratic Party is to blame for Congress's failure to exercise its constitutional duty of oversight of the Executive Branch.
The United States survived its first civil war a century and a half ago. Although beyond the reach of even the indirect memories of most people alive today, that war remains the most brutal and costly conflict this nation has ever experienced.
Today the forces likely to trigger a second civil war are nearing their flashpoint. While our president didn't set these dark forces in motion, he has harnessed and promoted them since the earliest days of his campaign in the service of his own narcissistic and authoritarian ambitions. (And he has done this with the full complicity of a dominant news corporation governed by a man born in Australia.)
The United States of America survived that last civil war, but only just barely. And the scars (as proven by the president's skillful channelling of legitimate working class frustrations) are far from healed, even today. Whether we can survive a second such war is an unanswerable question.
The harder but more important question however is this: If we are forced again into civil war, will we as a people have the courage and the self-sacrifice necessary to preserve our country and its hallowed institutions? Or are we summer soldiers and sunshine patriots?
26
James Comey has said they Trump operates like a mob boss. It looks like it's true. Eliminate any one who gets in his way. That kind of thinking only works so long once a person is in the White House. Trump wasn't smart enough to see that far into the future.
43
"as clear as creek water"? How clear is that? I grew up adjacent to a creek in a salt marsh in which we swam at high tide--murky but pure. Nothing helpful on Google to elucidate...
9
Vermont creeks are crystal clear! Our house is surrounded on three sides by creeks that make up the Mettowee River - best trout fishing!
"Trump has spent a lifetime probing the regulations for weaknesses, testing the theory that under sufficient weight any bureaucracy can be broken."
And to this point, he's succeeded. Even as president, he's refused to adhere to the norms obeyed by practically every other president: separation of powers, financial transparency, and putting assets in a blind trust.
Every time he breaks a norm and nobody stops him--continuing with the sham that his kids are running the family business, hiring relatives for "no pay," refusing or delaying to implement Russian sanctions legislated by Congress, he's gotten away with it.
In fact, Trump has gone unchecked and unchallenged his whole adult life, except for a few puny lawsuits he's lost.
And now in the political sphere, there are far more barriers to his autocratic leanings.
Barriers he's still overcoming by constructing an alternative reality he's convinced his followers to believe.
The rubber is hitting the road, and we're not seeing any skid marks from Congress. Even now, in the moment of crisis, Republicans are insisting a law to protect Robert Mueller isn't necessary.
In fact, from McConnell to Graham, their voices persist, "he wouldn't do that."
Oh yeah? Guys, once this camel is in the tent all bets are off.
The founders may have imagined an autocrat like Trump, but they never imagined a spineless Congress like the one we have.
351
"If he’s going down, the whole system is going down with him."
And how many innocent Syrian civilians as well? But it won't be an eventual nuclear Armageddon; despite the complicity of Trump's family, and the Cabinet, and the GOP-led Congress, people want to live. Trump will not be allowed to use nuclear weapons, anywhere.
Trump's reckoning is nigh; he has been given enough rope to hang himself, and he lacks the capacity to stop the process, because he lacks substance and character.
When someone like Trump comes along to test the system, to test Americans, America has a way of pushing back. It will be no different this time.
Mahatma Gandhi said: "Truth never damages a cause that is just." Trump fears the truth. Why is he so afraid? Time always tells.
43
Sincerely hope you are right. However, his base actually believes the National Enquirer which is now owned by a Trump minion. They believe Fox News. They have no clue that he disdains all but his wealthy accomplices. He is a hollow showman but they are buying it. It is Congress who is the disappointment, and history, if the USA has one anymore, will shame them.
6
Trump is a reflection of nearly 63 million Americans. The rest of US ought to give control of Congress to the Democrats in November. It is up to US, We the People of the United States, to rescue our nation.
125
The Father of our country predicted the rise of both the Party-First-Country-Last-Russian-Republicans and the Birther-Liar-In-Chief.
“However political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
- George Washington
What America has had since 1980 is a carefully orchestrated right-wing coup d'etat by the greediest and most unprincipled political men in the nation, installing 0.1% hegemony over democracy via every dirty political trick in the book via massive voter suppression, black box vote counting, gerrymandering on steroids, 0.1% speech-99% silence, the slave-state-inspired Electoral College, Supreme Court hijacking and the best propaganda-industrial-complex 0.1% money can buy.
Trump is the Frankenstein that Greed Over People and the Party of Stupid carefully built over decades of political nihilism, sedition and treason.
That's why America's infrastructure, education system, healthcare system, voter system and other basic common goods are international disgraces; Republicans abandoned Americans decades ago.
Time for patriotic Americans to flush the Republican Trump Toilet of Greed Over People good and hard on November 6 2018.
Do it for George Washington.
743
What America has had since 1980 is a carefully orchestrated right-wing coup d'etat by the greediest and most unprincipled political men in the nation...
Socrates, you are 100% correct, right on the money. However I'd make one small adjustment. In 1974 I listened on the radio while President Ford Pardoned Nixon, citing that he's been through enough. A felon, who would have been convicted was pardoned, though all his top men did prison time. This was the day I lost my political virginity.
Thus I would say that this coup you mentioned actually started in the early seventies, not eighties, as a reaction to the 60's. (Vietnam, Civil Rights, Sexual Freedom etc). All this was not good for business.
By the eighties, the large business/cartels really saw their opportunity.
The rest is as you say. The take away being that getting rid of Trump, a petty and uneducated tyrant, is not enough. What about the next one, except this time perhaps more polished?
The solution I see is nothing less than a constitutional convention to address what we've witnessed, after all this is a constitutional crisis! However, we appear to be ignoring these alarms, these warning signs!..another wake up call and no real reaction. Only time will tell but if if the congress had a real backbone, Trump would have been bounced from office within the first month.
The Coup, as you state has been completed.
54
Yes sir! It’s been a carefully orchestrated “vast right wing conspiracy”.
25
Gaucho54, I agree.
And the assassinations of three liberal lions - JFK, RFK and MLK - got the right-wing ball rolling in America in the 1960's....(Oswald was a convenient patsy for the CIA and corporate greedheads interested in oil and war profits).
Liberalism was assassinated in America in the 1960's...and it's been a right-wing nightmare ever since while the rest of the modern world moved forward with centrism, healthcare and separation of church and state.
America remains a right-wing backwater, except for a few progressive states.
I disagree on only one point: The founders DID anticipate someone like Donald Trump ascending to the Presidency. What they never anticipated was that the House and Senate would cede SO much of their power to the President that they would be afraid to act against him in these circumstances. Paul Ryan, having announced that he is leaving in January, could WELL start the process to reign Trump in. If Ryan isn't lying and doesn't plan to stay in politics, it would be a good time to reclaim any semblance of morality he has.
Again, the founders DID anticipate a Trump, but they didn't anticipate a Ryan and McConnell who wouldn't stand up to him for their respective Houses and those Houses' co-equal power. Remember, if they have the will, the 2 Houses can strip virtually every power from the President short of making appointments and pardons. And they CAN remove him. After the Civil War, the dreadful Presidency of Andrew Johnson lead Congress to strip away much of the President's power, which wasn't reclaimed for roughly 30 years until the beginning of the 20th Century. Congress COULD do it again, but that means Republicans will have to abandon their "no compromises, no deals" position since Gingrich.
So I REALLY hold Ryan and McConnell responsible for letting Trump run roughshod over all our institutions solely to cover his crimes.
130
You got that right about Ryan and McConnell, two of the most destructive characters to ever lead their respective chambers. God willing, the #2018Bluewave will wash away most of the stink they are leaving behind. Unfortunately, we still have to deal with sleazy McConnell until 2020.
2
This is a curious commentary by Mr Blow. While Trump is and has been a disaster, it strikes me as odd that the piece equates apprehension about possible misuse of coercive power by the Justice Department with a presumption of guilt. That seems rather at odds with concerns expressed by, say, Black Lives Matter and others who express concern about about the exercise of coercive power by the people entrusted to administer the justice system. That said, it seems likely that Trump is in fact guilty of something, but then I was taught in law school many years ago that 95% of arrested people are guilty of something but perhaps not as serious a crime as that with which a zealous prosecutor has charged them. Systemic overcharging with consequent plea bargains is supposed to account for our astonishingly high prison population. While Trump should not be President, the commentary should not open the door to a defense, as does Mr. Blow's article.
4
Great summary of the Trump life narrative by Mr Blow, also aptly summed up by James Comey as a mob boss.
"And it is by no means clear that his cowardly Republican accomplices in Congress would do anything to prevent or punish him."
In fact, it is clear that the GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee will go to any lengths to subvert the Russian investigation by destroying the Justice Dept. Devin Nunes now wants to impeach top FBI officials.
Meanwhile, McConnell remains mute and passive, while more GOP Senators sound alarm bells.
We are witnessing the spectacle of a slow motion Trump Administration meltdown, looming deficits of trillions annually, rule by rule destruction of the EPA inside the Pruitt soundproof chamber and a heavily armed white supremacist movement awaiting their moment as the President's street army.
The President's on-going canpaign-style rallies to whip up crowds as well as his un-presidential tweets are not just about his own ego. Agitating his base with a steady stream of lies builds his firewall against the proper functioning of government institutions that threaten his existence.
56
There may well be more than a political Armageddon if Mr. Trump chooses to deflect the world's attention from these present issues by sending a missile toward Russia in the name of justice for Syria.
15
Political armageddon can easily morph into civil war here. Whether w physical violence or with a cold war version, war is still the best descriptor of where we’re headed.
If there’s a way out, I fail to see it.
13
When did he say he was sending missiles toward Russia? He has basically telegraphed what he intends to do so that Assad's forces and Russian's can get out of the way.
Congress could save our nation from this potential break with the rule of law. It just should do what the constitution gave it the power to do. And that is to constrain the administrative branch of government from over reaching.
Mr. Ryan has failed us as leader of the house. He now is abdicating his power by being a lame duck. Shame on him and his party.
The solution is in Nov. Resist!
112
tom writes, "The solution is in Nov. Resist!"
Um, sorry to break this to you, but the republicans have that covered. Every state with electronic voting is rigged to give republicans the wins. It's been done since Kerry lost Ohio to Bush. Exit polls don't match election results. Vote all you want...what matters is how the votes are recorded and counted. We need paper ballots everywhere!!!!!!!
2
Please America...let's rise to this occasion and come up with some strict laws about the Presidency. There must be full, complete and rigorous financial disclosure. And there must be strict laws about what constitutes conflict of interest, and consequences when they are not adhered to. Otherwise, we the people are left shaking our heads on the sidelines while our democracy gets ripped apart in a million different directions. If we had had better laws defining the office, we might have saved ourselves this whole unfortunate mess. Instead we have a contemptuous king who thinks he has been badly mistreated and is going to make us all pay for it.
192
Not only for the Prez, full and candid disclosure should come from any person running for Congers, as Pogo called it. We require it of officials and officers, cops and professionals, pilots, and bus drivers - I hope!
7
With Congress stymied no new laws will be written or passes. Any other ideas???
4
Also, anyone who is running for federal office in the Executive or Legislative branch must be able to pass an FBI background check for a top secret security clearance. This alone would have stopped Trump.
16
"Maybe the founders (...) should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
I believe this is by design. Remember: "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Keeping it requires vigilance and action. The hour of truth may arrive very soon. Americans may need to take to the streets in their millions, or even tens of millions, to keep this Republic.
A Republic, if we be worthy.
147
The founders did for see someone like Trump becoming President. That's why they created a checks and balance system. The Republic is doing just fine. Everything needed to check Trump is still in place. What does that mean: Take to the streets in millions? And do what?
2
The checks and balance (Senate and House of Representatives) are not working. Where are they checking on Trump? A few speak up. Ryan is leaving rather than confront Trump? The Republic at this point is not doing fine. We have a dictator as President. And they seem to be afraid of him for some reason.
I thought the point of the electoral college was to avoid electing the mad king, but it appears to have backfired.
9
The GOP clearly didn't do a good job vetting their nominee.
86
On the contrary...they got the perfect embodiment of Republican "values". They are just uncomfortable that those "values" have been revealed so clearly, that their lies and deceptions can no longer be hidden.
7
A performer on a ridiculous television show? A womanizer who prefers pickings from the bottom of the barrel? A cognitively disabled, barely literate bully?
Clearly, the GOP nominated someone they could look up to.
3
It's poetic justice than in his time of troubles Donald Trump cannot find a good lawyer to defend him. There are three reasons for this: 1) the lawyers know that involvement with him will end with their needing a lawyer 2) they know he won't take their advice and they'll be frustrated 3) they know he'll stiff them and refuse to pay their fees. His past relationships with attorneys have caught up with him. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving man.
418
American banks have a similar history with Trump. That's why they stopped lending to him. Which led to Trump borrowing tons of money from the Russian mob (Putin) to finance his projects. And they want to be repaid.
38
As a former DC lawyer, I can tell you why the best DC lawyers won’t represent Trump: they don’t like him.
32
Yep. A triple witching hour for the witch hunt.
7
"Maybe the founders...should have predicted that a person like Trump could ascend to the presidency, but they didn’t, so they didn’t build in sufficient constraints and strictures."
The Founding Fathers believed that education was the insurance against tyranny. An educated populace would elect educated representatives. Educated people would act in the greater interest of all. To the Founding Fathers, education was more than the three "R's." Education elevated the man's dignity and moral bearing.
There are many early writings regarding the imperative of education; here are two.
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."
Thomas Jefferson
“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
John Adams
The importance of education cannot be overstated. But sadly, America has been failing the people. Red states won't adequately fund public schools and Republicans have been demeaning education for decades.
The result: Donald Trump.
583
"The importance of education cannot be overstated." Agree fully. But to the Founding Fathers, who were the "people?" Not the slaves! Only those to whom they entrusted the right to vote--men of wealth and property. This is important not because of history but because it is the model to which the ultra-libertarian oligarchs are dragging America.
25
They confuse education with propaganda and, sadly, a significant portion of the popular culture has largely enabled them in this.
30
Your last paragraph says it all. The universities are under siege as well, and the younger generations want job training, not education.
22
Mueller and his veritable A-Team will have made sure that the ultimate disclosure of their findings and most likely also the resulting prosecution(s!) won't depend on any person.
By referring the prosecution and searches down to the SDNY-office and thus the state-level, he has also made sure that the Trump-administration has no legal avenues to stop a number of upcoming prosecutions. Up to and including Trump's own prosecution, even if it has to wait until he has finally left office.
Summarizing: if the (so-called) President won't or doesn't succeed in suspending more or less the entire Constitution and the rule of law, presindential (precedential!?) toast is going to be served. It's going to taste yummy with some fresh butter and tangy marmalade.
68
At some point, it won't be surprising if Trump announces he's taking a very important trip to a country that the US does not have an extradition treaty with. And that would be the end of that. I hear he's very popular in Russia.
171
Yes. There’s a low hostility hostel waiting for him in Sochi on the Black Sea. . Plenty to do there. We await the universal sigh of relief that will accompany his departure.
9
I won't compain unless he flies over my country.
7
I agree with everything you said. And yet 35 percent of Americans still support him. Our problems run deeper than Trump. I worry that we've entered a new era in which we will constantly be pushing back against autocratic populist presidential candidates, who will be enabled by social media, foreign meddling, billionaires' money, and Fox News. I hope I'm wrong.
775
It does appear to be a shining moment for the global oligarch network.
17
Ker: you're not wrong, except if such candidates and their financiers get there way, your means of "pushing back" will be plucked feather by feather until we are returned to the America of 1900.
17
UN-washed, UN-lettered and UN-repentant...and there a lot more of them than there are of us as Bone-Spurs had proven...many times over.
7
Charles, the framers of the Constitution did not overly trust the people or direct democracy; and so they created the electoral college as the failsafe against the rise of a Trump. It failed. It not only failed, it helped install him in office. That's why we're here.
If Trump attempts to fire Mueller, it will be up to the ultimate failsale, the people and an election, to hold Donald Trump accountable - because there is every reason to suspect that the Republicans in the House and Senate will not do the right thing.
There is likely to be chaos, crisis, and potentially even violence, between now and January 2019 - but unless the Congress can come together as in the days of old, as Americans, there is nothing to be done about that.
If Donald Trump were a smart man, he would cut a deal with Mike Pence for a full Federal pardon and leave DC as soon as he is able. But he is not a smart man. He is a vain, pathetic, mean-spirited, trivial, weak man who will go down in history as the worst President of the modern era - and likely of all time.
When this is over, even if he is pardoned by Pence, he must be prosecuted by the relevant state Attorney Generals in order to send a message to the next cad who seeks to turn the Presidency into a personal fiefdom that there is price to pay later for political deviancy.
However, unless something is done soon to address the deviancy of the conservative media that paved the way for Trump, we'll be back here again soon enough.
1052
I dislike the electoral college, but oddly had the founders' version of the electoral college persisted—a body of respected and informed citizens who hand-picked the president—it may have spared us from the buffoon we now have in the White House. Unfortunately, the electoral college as it exists today acts not as a buffer against poor decisions by the masses, but rather as a way of distorting the people's decision by devaluing the votes of people in large states and in states (whether large or small) that favour one candidate heavily.
67
"Charles, the framers of the Constitution did not overly trust the people or direct democracy; and so they created the electoral college as the failsafe against the rise of a Trump. It failed. It not only failed, it helped install him in office. That's why we're here."
The difficulty is that if the electors are not responsible to the voters but "do their own thing" then any direct connection between the voters and the presidency is destroyed. And that could mean the end of democracy.
I am surprised that the Democrats ever considered this rash direction to proceed in. It is almost as if the rashness of Trump is balanced by the rashness of the Democrats who hate him.
4
I would only add the Pence was also involved in the dirty dealings that got Trump elected. We know Pence puts religion and party before country, and we know he will lie to get what he wants, and what he wants is not in the best interest of this great country. He needs to be brought to justice, also.
95
I don't believe Trump can take the system down with him. He doesn't have that kind of power. Yes, he has damaged several institutions, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Congress, but the system has staying power - it weathered the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the disaster of the Second Iraq War.
Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Bush Jr. did more damage to the United States and its democracy than Trump. Trump doesn't know enough about the U.S.'s political structures and political norms to do too much damage. Those other four presidents knew the system and how to secretly and permanently undermine it.
23
He would burn it to the ground to save his own hide.
He would turn in his own mother, likewise.
138
Sure you can say that, but realistically he doesn't know how to nor does he have the power to do so. The only thing comments like these do is exaggerate Trump.
1
You, sir, are delusional. In addition to your already depressing list, you forgot at least a few other "institutions" the policies of which can have great impact on the lives of Americans, such as EPA, Dep't of Education, Housing & Urban Development, etc. Unfortunately, one can go down the list of Cabinets and it seems far too many are headed in a direction not in the best interests of most Americans. Saying Trump can't do "too much damage" given that list and the impact he's had given his choice of Secretaries or other organization leaders in some respects like saying the most recent hurricanes didn't do too much damage to places like Puerto Rico (after all, it's still habitable!).
5
I think its obvious that Trump doesn't want his taxes combed through because with all 100 plus shell companies, Oh I mean LLCs, he has moved money through them to offshore accounts and avoided paying taxes. Numerous wealthy persons make this move based on advice from attorneys and tax experts on the guise of, "sheltering, or protecting," assets. Sometimes its legal and certainly beneficial if done properly but often its a ruse used to avoid taxes.
If and when Trumps taxes are revealed the amount of cash in these accounts will most likely be more than a hundred people, maybe a thousand earn in a lifetime. His hardcore supporters however will rationalize and normalize it and demonize the IRS. Meanwhile the American people have been cheated. Regardless of how people feel, the IRS is simply a tool to collect taxes on behalf of the American people based on laws passed by Congress.
184
My question is: Why hasn't the IRS taken down this clown before now? If his returns have indeed been "audited," and they indicate tax evasion, then why isn't he doing time? Are all these tax cheats--from the upper-crust oligarchs down to flim-flam con artists like Trump--immune? One year we got a letter from the IRS because our tax preparer had forgotten to include my husband's $400/month pension money, and we hadn't noticed. We immediately paid the extra taxes that were due. I don't get it. Don the Con needs to receive the full Al Capone treatment--the sooner, the better.
26
Follow the money. An innocent person does not act the way Trump has acted.
I shudder to think what the truth will tell us.
But what really frightens me is the military power held by our president, and the tens of millions of his loyal supporters.
I fear for our nation and for the entire planet.
1092
"I fear for our nation and for the entire planet."
As do I Kevin Rothstein. That we have a president who is vindictive enough and bully enough to possibly use the vast power of the Presidency to retaliate is frightening. A person with djt's mental make-up should NEVER have such power.
135
An innocent person would have simply let the Comey investigation play out.
78
Send in his supporters to fight for his wars.
All other military, go awol before it’s too late.
Although the recent raid on Cohen's home and office was ostensibly about squirrely financial arrangements with women whose stories threatened Trump's candidacy, I'm fairly certain that the investigators' eyes are on the prize. Aside from a wealth of documents that might very well provide evidence of illegal connections with Russia, they provide tools for pressuring testimony from Cohen and others, while keeping everything safe from the reach of the Trump administration. I also suspect that, while this is getting very close to Trump's orbit, there will be investigations in New York, and possibly New Jersey, probing even closer.
222
The Cohen matter was assigned to the SDNY U.S. Attorney because it was unrelated to the Russian matter. Your faith that it IS related makes no sense at all. But making sense isn't important as long as you show you're on the right team. Forget the facts. They don't matter.
Oh what is Donald Trump made of
Things one should be afraid of
Ties and hair
Of rants beware
That’s what Donald Trump is made of.
What is the Don afraid of
With porn stars strayed off
Russian banks
Big loans? No thanks,
That's what the Don is 'fraid of.
never paints,that's what he is made of.
If you want to ingest spicy lies
The Don should be one of your guys
A pompous dimwitter
For locker rooms fitter
A blowhard not witty nor wise.
Of history little recall
In business, things that appall,
A debtor, non payer,
At chess, a non player,
Fixated on building his Wall.
310
Well done!
4
With His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness shouting 'WITCH HUNT' at Mueller's investigation - and Mueller's band of heroes finding covens everywhere it looks - the Orange Jabberwock best avoid any little girls from Kansas carrying pails of water, wearing red slippers, accompanied by little dogs named Toto.
All that is happening was foreseeable from Day One of a campaign that began with the Cretin descending his golden escalator from on high, down into a fawning, media tableau, actor-for-hire crowd.
Their Useful Idiot served the purposes of the GOP'er gatekeepers, who never ever should have contemplated such a person being allowed on one of their ballots, but GOPers' power-lust combined with the same idiocy calculus which previously put a 1/2 term Alaska gub'ner on their national ticket. The same calculus of Sedition excused as 'just politics', or 'disruption', justified by 'judges', 'tax cuts'.
And now, their damage done and wreckage so apparent, many GOP'er worms are crawling off - never to face voters again over what they've been doing under the auspices of their Agent Orange from KAOS.
Charles is exactly right that we are all in great danger right now - but we were led here - and the people who were fronting for the GOP-Trump-Putin donor maintenance machine which created the 1600 Penn. Daycare Center they deceived themselves they could control, are slinking away into the swamp and muck.
And only 401k's turning to mush will really change things.
508
Publicly traded securities are drying up as corporations take themselves private with stock buybacks.
28
We have seen Stupid walk our Land before, but when he is accompanied by Madness, it is time to intervene and cast asunder. Americans never have, and never will, be remembered as a flock of sheep.
If we listen carefully at dawn or at dusk, the breathing of the wolf is to be heard wheezing, not far from the Gate of other Barbarians, waiting to destroy our Country, the Land of Democracy, where we walk free far away from the cold Steppes of Submission and Defeat.
16
China ought to call in its loans. That'll fix things.
9