Typical liberal idiocy... they are terrified that President Trump will succeed in making a deal with North Korea, something that their cherished Obama and Clinton were unable to do. They would do well to remember that making deals is what Trump is good at.
4
• “Mr. Trump’s aides have grown concerned that the president — who has said that ‘everyone thinks’ he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts....”
Easy there, please! No one can demand the Nobel for themselves. That hubris alone makes them undeserving.
If anyone is entitled to the Nobel this year it should be EMMA GONZÁLEZ, DAVID HOGG and the students who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14 and afterward became gun control advocates and activists against gun violence in the United States co-founding Never Again MSD and who made history organizing the national March for Our Lives on March 24, the largest student protest in American history.
Credit where it's due. Think Malala Yousafzai, Nobel laureate in 2014 at age 17.
"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope." — PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN
8
I don't get this whole, "Trump might have a success" thing. People say that Trump's campaign of maximum pressure brought Kim Jong Un to the bargaining table. You can just as easily argue that Kim Jong Un's campaign of making nuclear weapon, which is it's own form of maximal pressure, brought Trump to the table. So, we have two people, one a murderous tyrant and one a racist who destabilizes the world, who, because they threatened to blow each other up but now might agree not, are in line for the Nobel prize. That makes a lot of sense. Trump, Mr. dealmaker, is a big, fat phony. He will be happy to sell out the US, Korea, Japan, anyone for the Nobel Prize because of his narcissism. This country is pathetic.
47
Yeah, now that you mention it, this sense that Trump “wants this meeting too much” probably explains all this equivocation about whether they will actually have the meeting. I think we call that “saving face”.
And shouldn’t Moon Jae-In be the one considered for a Nobel Peace Prize?
16
People like this columnest would, if intellectually honest, prefer to see this president fail rather than risk him getting one iota of credit.
Do you really - really - fear that an agreement resulting from this upcoming meeting wouild sacrifice this country's interests ? Come on, you just wish he wouldn't go at all, even if that might forever abandon a scintilla of hope that the world might be closer to peace.
Those motivated by their hatred of this president above all else give strength to Kim Jung un.
8
By now it should be easy for reporters and the public at large to plainly see, Trump's modus operandi. First he picks his target, in this case Un, and demonizes him. He will then go into his, "I am the savior," routine. He'll explain what the target is thinking and how he will have no choice but to capitulate to the immense and unavoidable power of Trump.
When things don't work out, he blames someone else for his ineptitude, or plays the victim.
Unfortunately, this is not the real estate business. What has happened can't just be forgotten, like a busted condo sale. Trump is putting himself into a box. Given that he absolutely cannot let himself be looked upon negatively, he may have to actually go to war to save face.
Trump is a very dangerous man.
19
All Trump has earned is doubt. His erratic behavior, demeanor, and belief system endangers the quality of life for many and threatens deeply the cultural well being of our Nation. Typically we exorcise our cancer. We must vote him out (short of impeachment which I would also accept although unlikely).
12
Trump has been a very useful idiot for powerful people, usually toward nefarious ends.
The Republicans have exploited Trump to dismantle government institutions, deregulate big business and consolidate wealth among the very wealthiest. Putin has exploited Trump to undermine democracy in America, and so on.
The only difference here is that Moon is exploiting Trump for good, not for evil.
15
Excellent column. Right now, you are the best the Times has to offer. Keep it coming!
19
Oh, Michelle. First, the ramifications of the new tax law are much too early to quantify, pro or con, as most economists will tell you (we'll make an exception for the inimitable Dr. Krugman). Second, the idea that increasing shareholder value is a net negative for the law is ludicrous. Third, wage growth is positive. Period. And employment is at record highs. And the best part? A few months ago, in this very column, Ms. Goldberg was bemoaning the imminent end of civilization from a guaranteed US/NK nuclear holocaust. Now? Why, talks are what North Korea wanted all along! Spare me.
6
John D., wage growth, criticizes as anemic under Obama, has gone down or gotten worse. Also it should noted that, during the last 6 years under Obama, we averaged the creation of 210,000 jobs per month, now we are averaging 170,000 jobs per month or 40,000 less.
26
What a shame - I guess no Trump Tower in North Korea!
7
You don’t have to be an FDR or a Lincoln to succeed as President, but you need to be honest about your abilities and to trust those who can enable you to fulfill all your responsibilities, and to listen and act accordingly. It’s clear that Trump can’t do that and never will do the job that he’s taken. There will be consequences but we do not know what. His defenders are fools, his favors will not make up for a country left in crises because of a poor leader.
18
North Korea is a slave-state. It operates slave labor camps where hundreds of thousands, including children, are incarcerated. North Korea is a nation where public executions of suspected regime opponents are conducted using anti-aircraft artillery. It is presided over by a dynastic totalitarian dictator who uses terror to ensure compliance. These outrages have been well documented by the U.N. and the camps themselves are visible on Google Earth.
What does it say about a man who would strike a commemorative coin to enshrine for all time his relationship with a butcher like Mr. Kim? What does it say about the moral centers of Messrs. Cooper and Greenfield that they would ignore the anguished cries of Mr. Kim's victims? Can a child slave laborer take any solace or comfort knowing that some Americans think Trump ought to be a Nobel Laureate? Foreign policy is messy, but human decency and morality still count for something. It is not for nothing that North Korea is a pariah nation.
22
There is abject fear among Trump's advisors over having a face to face meeting with Mueller, or Kim Jong-un. Either scenario would be disastrous for Trump. So much for the Art of the Deal.
9
The next Time Mr. Trump speaks in public and uses a phrase like "everyone thinks", could someone please raise their hand and say. "I'm part of everyone, and I don't think so at all"?
18
Never, never forget why he is in the White House. Putin put him there and this is exactly why. The GOP has been financially corrupted top-to-bottom (thank you, Tea Party.) Corporations are not going to fix this. Only voters can.
22
Michelle......Come on....lighten up !!
NOBODY believes what 'the Donald' says...not even 'the Donald'...He's a barking dog that chases whatever issue appears in his field of vision that day. The greater the complexity, however, the higher the probability that the issue he chases will 'run him over'....
BTW....they usually don't award Nobel Prizes for resolving simple..easy to catch issues...unless, of course, your last name is OBAMA....
5
Exactly right.
Michelle addresses all the issues here and leaves nothing in the air, even the possibility there may be a meeting.
This is an excellent opinion piece that Pompeo and Bolton should read and analyze.
Tump is nothing but a con man and provocateur. He does not care about the US at all so he is not a patriot. Most likely he would sacrifice the interests of the US for his own advantage.
I cannot believe we elected this man for president.
8
Hun-nee! Look no further than your NYT for exactly the type of reporting you are criticizing.
Don't blame this all on North Korea. If we hadn't needed to play war games last week maybe things would be better. Also how does one trust Trump after the Iranian exit? How?
3
By normalizing him for daily profit, the media give Trump not only the benefit of the doubt, but their loyalty.
1
It's been a while since I've encountered the word 'bamboozlement,' but Ms. Goldberg couldn't have chosen a more appropriate term for the state of mind that Trump has induced in his true believers.
Of course, our discerning columnist might have used other 'b' words to convey the bogosity of the president's propaganda and its effect on his supporters. There is also bewilderment, bafflement, bemusement, and befuddlement.
And yet bamboozlement is the best of all possible choices, since in this case it refers to the political condition of people who have been cynically deceived by a professional charlatan, also known as a bamboozler, also known as Donald Trump.
The pity is that at a certain stage of arrested political development, people are eager to become the stooges of a demagogue, and so, however consciously or unconsciously, they surrender their ability to think independently and begin to play follow the fuhrer.
Can such people be redeemed? In most cases, not. Because they don't want to be redeemed. They would rather ruin their minds with alternative realities than endure the painful process of deprogramming. And that's what's the matter.
14
Let's call the Trump tax cuts what they were -- the largest robbery of the US Treasury by corporations and billionaires in US history.
17
Unconditional support as many in mid America give Trump and those who sneer at us coastal elites miss one thing, Common Sense. Firstly why give him your support. He's given you $2000 now but taken away from your healthcare tomorrow. You are happy today. What about tomorrow?
And why do you folks hate Obama? He saved the auto industry and gave the middle America relief. He formed the Consumer Fraud Protection bureau so you wouldn't get gypped by banks. Trump's appointee Mulvaney is on a mission to destroy that bureau. Good luck keeping your money safe.
I can go on and on. Just be thankful that the democratic wave expected in November may just save our republic from idiots like you.
19
Trump has surprised no one! Those who voted for him are getting exactly what saw and ADMIRED in him: arrogance, hatred of education, shamelessness, misogyny, xenophobia, bigotry, self-dealing, mendacity, penchant for divide and conquer tactics, irresponsibly blaming others (e.g., the U.S. government/institutions, Obama, immigrants, countries, the news medi). Those who did NOT support him are seeing what they saw and DESPISED in him and his agenda: arrogance, hatred of education, shamnelessness, misogyny, xenophobia, bigotry, self-dealing, mendacity, penchant for divide and conquer tactics, irresponsibly blaming others (e.g., the U.S. government/institutions, Obama, immigrants, countries, institutions, political parties, the news media). We all saw the same behaviors and the same speeches, but our reactions to them were very different. No one should give Trump the benefit of the doubt. We are getting exactly what we witnessed. Let's hope that those who admired his actions/words on the campaign trail will comes to see that though the actions/words entertain on television, they do damage in the White House.
11
I don't think many are giving him the benefit of the doubt; I think it's all about self-interest. His staff secured high-profile jobs above their competence. Some get TV time they would never get in a normal world. The more he's exalted the more the alt-right can push their agenda. The Republican congress let others do their work for them. Fox News has listeners who love the stick-it-to-the-man rhetoric bumping their ratings. Even the other side keeps listeners with their push back and pulling in more voters.
Everyone sees what they want to see in him, holding up a mirror to their own beliefs and fears. And like all good con men, he knows how to exploit this for profit. But everyone has their hand out one way or another.
2
This is just another piece that could be titled, "Why I'm right about Trump." Clever analysis doesn't make her right. We'll see hundreds more pieces like this.
2
Sure; only stupid analysis works in the end. For Trumpists, clever analysis is about as useful as actual news. And when a member of the "elite" tells you that 2+2=4 don't you believe it!
14
I do not doubt that Trump is willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to further his personal interests and to protect himself.
The only doubts I may have are in his abilities to do so. Get ready for more attacks on our institutions and think of the worst that can happen, because we are not even half way through this ride.
11
What a great writing style Michelle Goldberg has: "the pull to give Trump pre-emptive credit for a hypothetical victory has felt like a cultural undertow; you had to plant your feet firmly to resist it." Her style grabs your mind and doesn't let go until you have finished her column.
16
I just found out why I haven't had the pleasure of reading Goldberg's columns before this. She is new to the NYT's.
3
Though it wouldn't be surprising if the tax cut doesn't produce the kind of equitable economic results promised, it's too early to say that it hasn't. Ms. Goldberg doesn't mention that the unemployment rate is at historic lows, though labor participation is down. Inflation is no problem, and interest rates have increased only incrementally, which is healthy. The stock market is doing well. Even the most liberal economist would have to admit that the jury is still out. The journalists who have given Trump the benefit of the doubt are merely acknowledging that even he is right some of the time. Did anybody think he would be wrong all the time?
2
This is still Obama's economy. Trump's should kick in in about a year.
They cannot acknowledge that Trump is not wrong all the time because it makes all this hard work trying to prove they are right (and he is wrong) irrelevant.
3
“Did anybody think he would be wrong all the time?”
Yes. I did - and do. This acting president is worse than a broken clock which at least is right twice a day. Trump can’t even blunder into success.
3
As soon as Trump gives law enforcement and intelligence agencies the same benefit...then I might consider the same for him. But Im a NYer and long term Trump watcher...and I know better.
But I'm torn...do I buy some of those commerative coins...to sell at a higher rate should a miracle take place, or turn them into an artifact of shame...and comedic relief...?
8
He's been the worst
since Louis the 1st.
7
The American people elected Trump. That basically gives him the benefit of the doubt until the next election. There is nothing we can do in the meantime except hope for the best. The inly thing I can actually withdraw is my bext vite
Actually no the American people did not elect Trump. The electoral college did
13
What concerns me more than the prospect of this summit not accomplishing a thing, is the possibility that our narcissistic POTUS will have his ego hurt and will start the talk about " who has the biggest button" again! And God forbid, act out his megalomaniac threats!
3
What is astonishing is the extent to which all of us refuse to hold this administration to basic logic. This administration tells us "red" is really "blue." We all instinctively know that that is not a true statement, but we cast aside our own ability to think rationally and instead we say, "well maybe red is blue; maybe it is my fault (not this administration's); maybe my own prejudices have blinded me. Of course that does not mean that this administration is always irrational and that we are always enlightened. It simply means that we all easily allow this administration to let us cast rational thought to the wind. On second thought, maybe it also means that if we abandon logic to assert our own partisan views daily, we don't help our cause. Rather, we allow all political dialogue, including our own, to be based on patent false assumptions and false logic.
2
Michelle is at the top of the Op-Ed charts for consistently incisive commentary
18
Let's face it, Kim Jung-un, will play the megalomanic Trump like a fine tuned violin! If Trump thinks that he is going to demand that Kim give up his entire nuclear arsenal, he is living in a dream world. North Korea may give up, for awhile , their ballistic testing to seem as though they are sincere, however, they already have the capability of striking South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. with nuclear weapons. This is what keeps him in power. No amount of Trump's blustering and threatening will change that capacity and Kim knows it. Don't make too much of a fool of yourself, Donald!
4
"fair-minded journalists, who rightly pride themselves on being open to new information and willing to re-examine their own assumptions. "
Since the late 80's and the rise of Newt Gingrich, the Republicans have exploited this tendencies in the press to push their agenda. They realized that it wasn't necessary for their claims to be true, just that they were one side of the debate that required representation. That reporters are still falling for this scam 30 years later is discouraging.
8
So, David, that translates into not analyzing what the Gingrich acolytes do and say, to not call a spade a spade?
Trump seems to be caught up in the old adage that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it.
Tax cuts pay for themselves.
I am a deal maker, my predecessors couldn't deliver the deal.
No Collusion.
5
This will be another Trump photo-op. He'll claim success where there is no evidence (like the job rescue at Carrier in Indiana) and move on to another crazy conspiracy and his supporters will ignore the truth.
8
Hey, that's nothing new, Trump always wants his money up front. Only his marks do otherwise.
Trump wanted up front credit for promising to release his tax returns. He was voted into office and has yet to deliver them. Trump wants up front credit for (*lol*) "cooperating" with the Russia Investigation. He has yet to swear to tell the truth and has been engaged in an increasingly suspicious, patently obvious campaign to cripple it. Trump wants up front credit as a legendary deal-maker. He has yet to deliver a renegotiated deal, preferring to simply destroy them.
Consider also Trump's infamous business reputation: Contractors provided their services to Trump up front. He then changed the terms of the "contract" when the invoices arrived. U.S. banks financed his ventures up front. He then decided he didn't want to pay (how fortunate that he had contacts in Mother Russia to invest in his properties once the jig was up here in the U.S.). Trump got public capital investment for his now defunct company (former ticker: THCR). The company turned out to be a shady as its founder (even, it turns out, violating Cuban sanctions--although that was discovered after the statute of limitations had passed) and blew threw the investors' money.
This is all to say that few people seriously give Trump the benefit of the doubt; nor should they. If anything, Trump has earned a presumption of falsehood in any statement he makes (or causes to be made).
7
It was one thing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt last year right after he took office. He's had a year now to do something--anything--right, but that has not happened.
Maybe, just maybe, he will manage to do some good with China and North Korea, but that is by no means certain. If he does, it will probably be more by chance, or because the other parties need something from the USA than because Trump did something brilliant--or even right.
Meanwhile, I am discouraged that so many people still support him. I am sick of ignorant people saying "But what about Hillary?" Hillary is not president, she is not in office, and she has been investigation to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. She is not in a position to do any good, let alone any harm. Trump, however, is.
96
Trump is doing nothing. Moon and Kim are doing it all. I suspect the intelligence level of presidents, in descending order, is: Moon, Kim, ....., Trump. (..... means a large gap. I don't deny Trump has or had some natural intelligence but a person can kill their own intelligence and that's what we see in Trump.)
8
Thomas Zaslavsky:
Moon and King didn't "do it all" when Obama was president. Just coincidence, I'm sure.
Moon didn't come to power until Obama was out of office.
1
Once again Ms. Goldberg demonstrates the clarity of thought that has elevated to the upper echelons of American op-ed pages. Congratulations ma'am!
6
Trump is planning for endgame here. Trying to figure out his future when the axe falls.
3
What Kim wants more than anything else is "a place at the table," to be recognised as the important leader of a serious country. Since North Korea is near bankrupt and economically insignificant it is the program of missiles and weapons that becomes important. And he's been proven right. He's gotten a very high profile meeting with the President of the United States who will fly to Singapore to meet him.
The optimist in me hopes Kim just might be prepared to give something in return for the status a successful summit might give him.
The pessimist in me says Trump won't share the spotlight with anyone and will want to see Kim diminished rather than uplifted. Kim won't pay anything for that.
In either event his nuclear weapons program is the only thing that got him a seat at the table. There is no way he will give up the only card he has to play.
3
He was measuring his trophy case for the nobel peace award before anything was really accomplished with North Korea. Trump has not accomplished anything tangible. His is a presidency of destruction. Give large tax breaks and starve the government of funds. Deregulate all the industries that pollute, destroy the environment. Put incompetent people in positions of power (i.e. education), destroy or attempt to destroy the public education system. The Affordable Health Care fix....non existent. Infrastructure bill....non existent. Economy growing greater than 3% to pay for the tax cuts....please.
11
The 'deal' that Kim wants is the deal that any US president could have had: full recognition of the Kim regime as the legitimate government of North Korea. This excuses the Kim regime for the Korean War, endorses the oppression of the North Korean people, and provides more security for the Kim regime.
Can you imagine the furor that the Republicans would have raised if any Democratic president even sat with North Korea at a table much less with that on the agenda?
12
The Trump-Kim summit coin could end up being the equivalent of championship t-shirts made for teams that fall just short—the 2017 Cavs, for example. The manufacturers wind up sending them to developing nations, because tgere’s no demand here.
Actually, there is a key difference. The coins are completely worthless.
5
Sorry -- not really getting a sense from the NYT or other media that I read of giving the President the benefit of the doubt. I'm not a fan of the Administration, but I'm not really seeing that here. What I am seeing is a more Manichean view of this within each of the publications -- bending over backwards to justify v. excoriation, periodical by periodical, news report by news report. There really doesn't seem to be such of a middle ground implied by "benefit of the doubt." It's a pity, actually -- no one seems to be reading/viewing any of these issues with anything resembling an open mind.
8
It's so...clever... it has absolutely nothing to do with the benefit of the doubt.
My biggest fear is by the time Trump's base gets it, that the plutocratic, vainglorious lining up and giving Trump their full support, could care less about the base's wants and needs. Nothing will change for the base. They'll continue to live with maxed-out credit cards, live paycheck to paycheck, and be lied to again and again and again.
By the way, how many coal miners got their jobs back, the thousands and thousands who put their support behind Trump, then the day after Russia got him elected, went out and bought a new Dodge Ram as their girlfriends and wives waited to catch a ride home from their visit to a Planned Parenthood clinic?
Smoke and Mirrors extraordinaire.
6
How very grateful I am to read your column,as always.Thank you for documenting the truth.
8
The somewhat bizarre black and white photograph of President Trump that appears with this article is inappropriate. It reminds me of the darkened photograph of OJ Simpson Time magazine published on June 27, 1994, for which Time subsequently issued an apology.
The New York Times and its columnists don't like our President, which is their privilege. But this photo is unprofessional journalism.
6
??? What's wrong with it? That's what he looks like.
7
That photo is telling us to prepare for stormy days ahead!
5
Stop worrying about photographs and start worrying about the fate of the nation which is on the cusp of an existential crises in case you haven’t noticed.
10
This is an excellent piece: substance incisively analyzed and cogently presented, and all the more telling for being scrupulously temperate.
There's another way in which some of us, meaning news consumers like me, gave Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt for quite a while even as we opposed him.
We heard that Trump was known as a consummate deal-maker. We saw his supporters shrug off his many faults, saying that at least they'd be getting a tough, successful master of the Art of the Deal as president. For our part, we complained that we were getting a president who looked at everything as a deal, the only thing he understood -- just taking it for granted that he understood that.
Unlike people who had been following Donald Trump's career all along, people like me were slow to realize that he "was known" as a great deal-maker only because he had promoted that reputation himself. It was as if we had been accepting robocalls from John Miller and David Dennison, those Trump insiders who were in fact Donald Trump.
But of course. There came a moment when one exclaimed, like Hercule Poirot but with more justification, "I have been a complete idiot!" With Donald Trump, everything is of course a sham.
Now, this is bad. It's like being driven down a mountain road by someone who is supposed to be inept at everything but driving, till your eyes meet in the rear-view mirror and you think, "Oh ... ah ... oh."
2
‘minimally competent leader”?
?????
trimp is an unmoored buffoon who cares only about enriching himself and his family while being played by the worst types of bullies, ideologues and scammers that staff and surround his administration for the benefit of the most despicable contingent of the idiot (0.1%) elite and the crafty strategists running China and the Gulf States.
8
Hopefully Ms Dowd and Mr Brooks get a chance to read this column.
The rush of some people to give Trump credit is nauseating. I recall one of my coworkers remarking about one of Trump's cabinet nominees (forget which) that he was an ok choice, only because the nominee wasn't as absurd as some of the worst (Pruitt, Devos).
We cannot set the bar so low that not screwing up is reason for praise, or lies of expected success equal success.
Further, I think there is reason to think Trump did screw up bigly here. If we take him he said he could get NK to denuclearize. His fans cheered 'Nobel' for him. But then undercut himself by:
1) shredding the Iran deal
2) bringing together a war cabinet that advocated 'the Libyan model' for NK
3) picked a fight with China over trade
If Trump administration's inability to follow any sort of thematic strategy costs us a real chance at NK denuclearization (as they and their supporters said it was) then this is one of the greatest screw ups in world history.
12
How many more times does president Lucy get to pull the football from Citizen charlie?
9
I used to be a fan of American football. Every so often a team wins a very ugly game, that is, somehow pulls off a win even though the playing was discombobulated and full of errors. The saying was always, "yes, it was ugly, but ugly or not we will take the win". I think the same might be said of the outcome of this, assuming there is something that resembles a "win".
Finally, someone has called-out journalists who describe in vivid, glorious detail - The Emperor's New Clothes.
Ms Goldberg performed a public service announcement. Thank you because The Media Entertainment for Devil Advocacy Industry is a thing; and it makes so much money that it is hard to resist. But, it is a road to ruin.
'Nobel Prize' diversions into fantasy are distracting from our free press' mission to inform. The REAL so-called genius behind the coming summit BEGAN WITH the "Fire, Fury, and Frankly Power" card laid down last August.
Next, last September, our crude negotiator dropped "..if (US) is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."
I speak to that embarrassment, again: Trump placed the culpability of his outrageous promise onto Americans; and that was a shameful act of an illogical and, possibly deviant, mind. REMIND CONGRESS that he does not have war powers!
This nation is also facing Trade War. While the President was composing last Sunday's fireside tweet "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow..", Americans were watching "Face the Nation":
BRENNAN: Is (hurting agricultural exports) still something American farmers need to worry about?
KUDLOW: Look, they need to keep an eye on all of that. Absolutely.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-white-house-economic-adviser-lar...
4
Thanks to the Ryan-McConnell-Trump tax cut Harley-Davidson closed a factory, laid off 350 workers, transferred jobs out of state, announced a stock buyback, and rewarded shareholders.
The previous year Paul ‘Ayn Rand’ Ryan delivered his speech about how much Harley-Davidson workers would benefit from this tax plan at a Harley factory in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Who saw this coming? Every single Democrat.
Just what kind of raw deal will the Trump bozos negotiate with North Korea? I do know it will contain more grandiose lies. Great big whoppers!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/harley-davidson-took-its-tax-cut-cl...
8
This column would have had some real meaning and could have made in difference a couple of months before the 2016 election when the media was literally falling all over itself to normalize Trump. It was one of the factors that helped him win the election. The media adoration, rationalizing, excusing, pandering and dishonesty continues as our democracy--especially the rule of law and equal rights for all citizens--begins to disintegrate as we watch. The GOP is silent and the media in main is hypocritical in its approach to all things and people Trump. I'm glad Goldberg makes this point now, but it is way too little and way too late by way too few.
7
Hats off to Michelle Goldberg. I hope to read more from her. The Emperor truly has no clothes.
5
I agree that Trump does not deserve any 'benefit of the doubt'. That said, this article incorrectly lauds previous post-1950's presidents for their stances toward North Korea, all of which brings the world to where we always knew we would be.
2
Michelle Goldberg - Donald Trump is the president and it's clear that you hate everything about him. He may or may not succeed in his efforts to de-nuke the Korean Peninsula. I hope he does succeed. Is there really any doubt that he would like to see that happen? Does anyone on this thread doubt the value of de-nuking the Peninsula? The petty carping while he's trying to accomplish this is akin to throwing rocks and bottles at firefighters in action. Cheering for failure will get you more DJT. Cheering for failure is also immature.
5
I don't think Ms. Goldberg "hates" Trump; I think she has a healthy, well-deserved contempt for this lying egomaniac. Would Trump like to "denuke" Korea? Of course, but that has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with his ego. Because of that and his total lack of competence, he will almost certainly fail. If by some miracle he succeeds, give him his Nobel. Maybe his appropriately called "base" will then figure out what a Nobel actually is.
7
Unfortunately for you there’s this little thing called “reality”.
8
Yup. It's laughable that they work so hard to prove his talks with China and North Korea are just awful. You know, because the talks were going so much more swimmingly before Trump.
Well said, Ms. Goldberg. Now, how to implement that part where we 'never give con men the benefit of the doubt?!'
4
Trump has a lot of critics who seem maybe too angry with him to convince others that he is as unqualified as they claim. He has defenders who seem so eager too reframe even simple facts that they seem to be sycophantic fools. But try just considering how he is doing what he he says he will do.
The Wall. Even though a wall at the border was originally a Republican idea, only Trump is making any effort. He cannot get the resources and he never attempted to work through all the challenges to get some kind of successful outcome. He said that Mexico would pay for it, he tried to get Congress to fund it, but no luck. He lamely claimed that maintenance work on a wall funded under the previous administration is proof of his success.
The successes which conservatives have given him praise were all the result of others working free of his participation before his approval.
His foreign policy decisions have all been poor or just silly, so far. He has no idea what he is doing and anyone who is familiar with foreign affairs knows he is a lost soul amongst very deliberate and sophisticated players.
It all boils down to a personality that resembles an adolescent. To see an adolescent through a difficult task requires close supervision or the adolescent will wander off to play. When an adult personality is given a task, that person will work through it until it’s done or explains why not. Trump acts like an adolescent.
8
There is a tiny chance that Trump might make progress on North Korea--because Moon Jae-in is moving Trump into position vis a vis North Korea like a chess piece--and because Trump is so lucky that he doesn't have to be knowledgeable. Who studied the ins and outs of winning the presidency harder than Hillary Clinton? And yet Trump, who wasn't even a D student of the American presidency, not only won the White House but exposed Clinton as an elder stateswoman nobody wants on the political stage. With Moon Jae-in as "Trump's brain" on the Korean Peninsula and the far-from-dumb Mike Pompaeo organizing things back home, and with Trump's gift for stumbling into the right place at the right time, who knows what might happen? I think it is a tragedy that Trump was elected, but in an environment where nothing he says or does, no matter how offensive or potentially illegal, is held against him--an environment where those who try to hold him accountable are the ones who are demonized and professionally destroyed,--it is inevitable that Trump will bumble his way into some kind of success and get re-elected for it. If that success turns out to be North Korea, we will all, at least on that one front, be better off.
So well written and so true. Thank you Michelle and NYT. Keep up the pressure on the clown and his circus by telling the truth in clear articles like this one.
7
he has been given the benefit of the doubt all his life. It`s time, actually long past time that he be held to account. he has lied, cheated and conned. he has slithered his way around morals, the law and any semblance of decency and honesty. It`s time he is held to account.
he is a failure. The only reason he has anything is his father gave him a stake in the game and he knows how to write IOU`s and nobody has ever really held him to account. he has failed as a realtor, as a casino operator and now all he can do is sell his name.
Now on the national and world stage he is still a failure. The world leaders have played him like a monkey on a stick. Putin, Netanyahu and the Saudi`s know his tune. Even Kim has played him. Now the national leaders have played him for all they can get. he has given them money but they will never make him a member of the club.
It` time to close this book of fiction and finally hold him to account.
Please do your job Mr Mueller and shine a light on the truth.
6
Within hours of this article's appearance, Trump gave an unusually sane and realistic appearance with the South Korean President and answered questions fr 1/2 and hour. So, Michelle, I feel your opinion article is already having some positive result. Let's hope the NY Times' brass is taking notice.
2
Since when has President Trump been given the benefit of the doubt?
19
What has he done to deserve our trust?
38
Since it seemed people were about to award him the Nobel prize merely for agreeing to meet with Kim Jong-ill.
23
Isn't it dangerous to support any politician unconditionally?
11
Thank you. There is a definite lapdog tendency within some members of the media, and almost all of Trump's base, who seem to believe that Trump "shaking things up" is the same thing as accomplishing something. It isn't.
It's apparent that Trump's actions regarding North Korea are only focused on burnishing his ego. Trump knows nothing about international relations and politics. He has no administrative goals beyond self enrichment. He has no interest or concept of history. I also find it grotesque, with shades of dictator behavior, that he's already awarding himself the Nobel Peace Prize and issuing commemorative coins.
There's a reason that every president prior to Trump has refused to meet with the North Korean regime. The fixation among some to see this as a potential "win" or to be baselessly optimistic overlooks the greatest danger of all: That Trump, in his ignorance and bellicosity, may make the situation with North Korea much, much worse.
137
Ms. Goldberg's derogatory remarks about our chief of state whom 61 million of us voted for and whom we support unconditionally, only reinforces "idee recue"that coastal elites do not understand middle, "red" America,"the average working class bloke, and that we who are "en bas de la colline"are being manipulated by a swindle, a cheat, and we don't know any better!What superciliousness, how Nancy PELOSI of you. $2,000 tax cut may not seem a lot to those in 6 figure income bracket, but to my kith and kin it is balm in gilead!Suggest that you follow example set by Hoschild who has lived 5 years with TEAPARTIERS in LA. bayou and commiserates with them. AND she's no doubt twice your age. As a pol. sci prof. once remarked, there are old fogies and young fogies!"Comprendre, c'est tout pardonner!"No offense where none intended, but unless you, second person plural make an effort to understand us, and we you, how'e we ever going to get together to make America a better place?
19
Supporting a president unconditionally seems dangerous, regardless of party affiliation. We're still a democracy and no president is perfect.
99
Fact is that you ARE being manipulated by a swindle and a cheat, as the contractors he stiffed and the students he defrauded learned the hard way. You better save up that $2000 tax cut to compensate for the loss in medical and Social Security benefits you will encounter when you retire, and that cut won't cover much of your losses. And I won't give you a cent of my $20,000 cut, although I would have happily forfeited it if that money would have gone to infrastructure projects and affordable health insurance for all. And don't tell me I don't understand "working class blokes" - I was born in a blue collar family. Trump on the other hand, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, coasts on his daddy's inheritance, and kissed up to the New York coastal elites as a Democrat because he wanted so much to be accepted by them. Why do you think American banks do not want to lend to him so he had to turn to shady Russian lenders?
132
Why would you support him unconditionally? That says it all.
96
One can't even write anymore about the horrors of this vile, racist, treacherous man. The corruption is beyond anything that has ever happened. The treason committed is obscene. The vile, incompetent fraud has to be removed.
11
“But it’s one thing to humor our idiot president”
Yes Michelle, thank you, but it’s all we got.
Maybe humor is his Kryptonite.
Of course, I kid the Republicans... hard not to.
3
I think it's refreshing that reporters are finally confident enough in telling embarassing truths to the world that someone can finally, openly call Trump an Idiot.
8
Donald Trump, the real life Nicolae Carpathia.
Nailed it. You don't have to be very smart to realize what a pure idiot our current president is. You don't have to know much about international affairs to recognize world leaders kissing up and then turning around to do what they want. This is all so stupid - I just hope it doesn't get anybody killed.
7
The NYT is not immune to this type of horse race announcing "journalism". In fact, compared to the comment section, many journalists are not half as accomplished observers of truth as some of the readers who pay them.
2
Yes, NYTimes, stop writing these predictable 'let's give Trump the benefit of the doubt' stories! Every day your pages are full of them...
LOL...
2
I never give Trump the benefit of the doubt under any circumstance, after directly observing his attitudes, inclinations and actions over many decades. Even IF he accidentally does something positive, I still don't trust him. There will be a gimmick involved somewhere that will benefit his family business.
6
I never thought that I'd ever see the day when the POTUS is referred to( and rightly so) as: "our idiot president," " a minimally competent leader," " con man. "
When will this nightmare end, eh?
3
Pushing against such a current can be hard for fair-minded journalists, who rightly pride themselves on being open to new information and willing to re-examine their own assumptions...
...But it’s one thing to humor our idiot president, and another to let the gravitational pull of presidential power, and the deep desire for a minimally competent leader, warp reality. We all want to be open-minded, but con men should never be given the benefit of the doubt...
___
Fair-minded journalist/s? Pshaw.
While certainly fraught with risk and uncertainty, Trump's foreign policy when it comes to national security makes Reagan's policies seem timid.
Hillary, a seasoned politician, though she won the popular vote by, what 6m+ votes b/c of overwhelming victories in a handful of states, still lost to a rookie politician [again] but this one had NO political experience only business savvy.
As the country changes with the times maybe the lawmakers should remain in Congress and a business person with common sense, be it a (D) or (R), sit in the Oval office.
1
Not sure why, but the following was deleted. (NYT hate-Trump reader bias or more of that NYT Berkeley "free-speech" online censor work?)
No question the Trump-hating NYT with its ad nauseam daily savage assaults has from the day he walked into the White House not given him "the benefit of the doubt".
What is so maddening for Goldberg and the rest of her Opinion Kingdom crew is that New York City's Sovietized mass-media has had no effect on the nation, either, which continues to give Trump "the benefit of the doubt". In fact, his poll numbers are up--so sad.
3
Ah, Michelle Goldberg just called Trump “our idiot president.” Wow! That’s as good as my morning double espresso.
9
" But it’s one thing to humor our "idiot president"". Why ruin decent journalism with a ad hominem attack.
2
Thank you Michelle Greenberg for telling it like it is: simply, trump is an idiot.
6
"Five months later, everything liberals said about the tax bill turned out to be true. The tax cuts are creating larger deficits"
Really.
News released May 10th:
Treasury: Federal Budget Surplus for April Largest on Record, Driven by Tax Deposits
U.S. government revenue increases 12% in April from year earlier.
Payments of individual income taxes that aren’t subject to withholding rose from $219.2 billion in April 2017 to $277.8 billion in April 2018.
So, in fact, in the most recent month that we have available data the government ran the largest SURPLUS ever for that calendar month.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You just missed that particular news.
4
Inconvenient economic truths don't fit the Liberal talking points.
Yes, the individual rewards from the tax cuts won't be felt overnight but come tax time next year the profits will be reaped.
3
As usual, it is a pleasure to follow your incisive and astute analysis, Michele. I am grateful you are onboard. Thank-you.
Throughout the past 30+ years, I have seen the phenomenon you mentioned of journalistic group think sway/swoon/ that seems to suck away consistent rational thought. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes for a good while. I agree Huckster Trump is a total master at "bamboozlement" , but I also think there are other psychological processes going on.
I remember the utter hysteria around Monica Lewinsky and her dress. The amount of reporting on her dress at the time in retrospect is embarrassing to the field of journalism. After time passed, some journalists were publicly expressing a mea culpa about the sensationalism which swept them away. In retrospect, such innocent times.
I am not in the field of journalism. However, it makes sense to for the field to consider studying group think in addition to everything else you have to think about. As an observer, it does seem to me that journalists can sometimes fall prey to these processes. I imagine an editor is needed for factual, style and other individual piece considerations and a meta editor is needed to look at the larger systemic group processes. This is a possible bulwark against the group think tide.
2
"Contrary to Republican claims, wage growth has been anemic. Instead of sharing the wealth with employees, companies have spent record amounts of money buying back their own stock. "
Wage growth has been anemic, but if Ms. Goldberg had consulted expert economists (or spoken with NYT data scientists) she would have known that the dramatic rise in healthcare costs and the increase in premium costs paid by employers have taken money that would have gone towards wage growth. Moreover, some of the additional healthcare costs paid by employers have been mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), thus the ACA is at least responsible in part for the anemic wage growth.
In general, mandating any sort of benefits for employees means that there is less money to go towards wages.
3
Nonsense. I don't always agree w/ Ms. Goldberg at all, but to say that wage stagnation is solely due to healthcare increases is disingenuous at best. Sure, it is contributing factor. But to think that tax savings would result in any significant increase in workers' salaries just shows you haven't been paying attention for the past 30+ years.
4
@Marc:
If you reread my comment I did not state that anemic wage growth was "solely due to healthcare increases" [your words]
Unlike Ms. Goldberg, I cite the data and the economists. For example, Victor Fuchs, whom NYT columnist David Leonhardt cited as "sometimes called the dean of health economists", wrote with ACA co-creater Ezekiel Emanuel, the 2008 Journal of the American Association article, 'Who Really Pays for Health Care? -- The Myth of “Shared Responsibility”'
In 1980 healthcare costs were 9% of GDP, about 12% in 1990, about 13% in 2000 and now over 18% in 2018 or an increase of about 50% growth in the past 20 years.
I would expect a NYT columnist to know the basics of healthcare costs and to consult the vast resources available to her or him as an NYT columnist before making statements. This is not about agreeing or disagreeing but rather citing data and health economists.
Fuchs & Emanuel (downloadable JAMA article)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5533663_Who_Really_Pays_for_Hea...
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/business/economy/26leonhardt.html
This is the age of voter anger and only with great reluctance will angry voters regret their candidate regardless of, well pretty much regardless of anything. Because the election booth is where we go to express our anger at the actions of "others" those who voted for Trump will blame those "others" for his problems until it becomes glaringly clear the problems lie with Donald Trump.
But, there is an election coming up shortly and the electorate will have a chance to revisit its choice of Donald Trump. It is the job of the Democratic Party to provide the country with a rationale for doing so.
Donald Trump made many promises, he has failed to deliver and he, along with the Republican party, should be held to account.
5
I'm 60 and have experienced presidents I deeply disagreed with. Some have even been crooked (Nixon). But this is the first time I am living under a president, as Michelle Goldberg correctly says, is an idiot.
8
I chased a rat around my bedroom once. Finally I cornered the beast. It started hissing and spitting frighteningly. I have never seen such an aggressive and hostile display from any animal. Something for Mueller and the rest of us to keep in mind.
5
Trump is the symptom, not the disease; albeit a very toxic symptom. Republicans have lost the popular vote in six out of the last seven elections and like gravy-trainers everywhere, they will do anything to preserve that privilege. Accordingly, Republicans have disenfranchised minorities and felons. Republicans have pushed the bigot buttons of the religious folk, whose world revolves around fantasy and fairy tales. Republicans have stoked the fears of blue collar people, some of whom fear "the other" so badly they can taste it. And now in a final, but Pyrrhic swansong, they have managed to squeak into the presidency, by the slimmest margin, a loutish, greedy thug. Their miscalculation is in thinking that they and our government will not be devoured in the maw of this new type of DC swamp dweller - Trumpius Corruptus.
7
Trump is the most dangerous man in the world. People better stop turning a blind eye and get real.
9
Thank you for calling him an "idiot." That's an important step forward.
3
The Benefit of the Doubt is the most cherished of white male entitlements. How dare she? Keep it up Woman!
4
Precisely. When people of good sense begin to give credence to established nonsense, is it any wonder that a surge in the electorate embraced nonsense so enthusiastically in the 2016 election?
1
Brilliant column. Con men should never be given the doubt, particularly when they are as ignorant as this one.
4
You end with 'we all want to be open minded.' Seriously? Critical thinking barely exists, here or elsewhere. One can not find an open minded media outlet or paper in the 21st century. And Michelle, please, you are not open minded either.
2
Never use the term “Idiot President” again. He is not an idiot and despite the premise of your article you continue to spread this misperception. He is extremely itelligent and laser focused on turning our country into an oligarchy for his own personal enrichment. He is building a family dynasty on the ashes of our republic. He is doing it fast so it will be too late to stop him. That is the premise of your article and then you fall into the exact trap he has laid for the citizens of this country. Wise up fast - we need you.
5
VOTE. It's the only way out.
4
Who's giving Trump the benefit of the doubt? Certainly not the NYT, Washington Post or CNN. Give me a break!
4
Bravo Ms. Goldberg, thank you, very well said. Hopefully your colleague David Brooks will read this and reflect on his recent, unusually lazily written column indirectly giving Trump "pre-emptive credit for hypothetical victories" for his unrealized "accomplishments".
5
Let's put 'moneybags Mnuchin' on the case. He's sure to solve it!
2
Fantastic. Keep it up Michelle! Excellent insight into a the media circus that is debasing itself trying to give this disaster that is Trump the benefit of the doubt. The Media needs to stand up for America. Walking some imaginary line right now is just plain foolish. That is for the faux Fox News to do. If the rest of journalism has any integrity, then they need to take a stand now for the rule of law and what is right. Stop making money off this idiot.
3
I get pretty tired of seeing leftists blame "the media," with all the happy energy of your average Trumpist. And getting name-calling confused with doing anything.
He's a bad guy, okay? Anybody who's bothered to look has known that since the 1970s.
This sort of "They're all stupid and have somehow hidden The Truth but I, lonely I, have heroically won through," stuff has got to go.
Beyond its agreement with Trump, beyond its painting over little things like Scott Pruitt mortgaging our future, it's a cheap way to hide the fact that lefties and progressives bear some responsibility here.
Did you vote, or did you sit home and sneer? Did you go Stein or St. bernie, then sneer at working people's poverty and comment on how they had their chance, and now needed to suffer to Bring The Revolution?
Are you registered now? Or are you just letting snarls stand in even for that?
3
Oh snap! You nailed it.
How many times can a corrupt, narcissistic, fascist become “presidential” before the media realizes it means nothing more than buying snake oil from a con man?
3
Look, I didn't vote for the guy, but this article does seem to be an example of knee-jerk criticism of our "idiot president," as Ms. Goldberg writes. The one-dimensional criticism is uninteresting and, except for those who prefer to spend their lives in an echo chamber, not useful. Would President Obama (whom I did vote for) receive Ms. Goldberg's criticism if he had engineered a sit-down with North Korea? To be fair, if he had, the right wing would surely have written severe criticisms (which would look almost exactly like this column).
4
Goldberg would like see the talks to fail. Trump hatred prevails over national interest. Looks like she would prefer Obama's strategic patience that accomplished nothing.
3
I'm going to skip my usual wordy nuggets and get right to the point.... In my estimation he last two paragraphs are nothing short of amazing. Calming and stirring words rarely live in close proximity without canceling each other out..
1
I never give that man the benefit of a doubt. I have always lived by the adage (thanks to my farmer family roots) "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Trump is all (not even mostly - all) bluster. Hot air spewing from his mouth about his successes (both past and future) without a single narrative as to 1) how one might get there and 2) any sense of patience for things to actually coalesce. He's so desperate for a proverbial 'win' he's willing to declare victory before the game's even set up. It'd be like playing chess, except before even getting the pieces and board out of the box, you declare yourself the victor in 14 moves. Everyone would notably (and rightly) laugh at you if for nothing else the blatant arrogance that went with the statement. Thus we find ourselves with the "stable genius" who repeatedly overinflates his own and undervalues others' intelligence and abilities that we find ourselves, again and again, with the proverbial egg on our collective faces, continually waiting for the other shoe to fall. To say it's exhausting would be an understatement. We live in a complex multilateral world, but Trump and his supporters still seem to think it's 1946 and there's only the U.S. and distantly everyone else, always assuming that anything we say is proverbial gospel, and the only solution that can be considered is the one where the U.S. (and only the U.S.) benefit, never realizing the world grew up and their needs are as important as ours.
4
One more time for the backstage online crew:
No question the Trump-hating NYT with its ad nauseam daily savage assaults has from the day he walked into the White House not given him "the benefit of the doubt".
What is so maddening for Goldberg and the rest of her Opinion Kingdom crew is that New York City's Sovietized mass-media has had no effect on the nation, either, which continues to give Trump "the benefit of the doubt". In fact, his poll numbers are up--so sad.
4
In The Daily Beast, Rory Cooper asked us to entertain “the possibility that Trump actually is on the precipice of... achievement.”
“Soon”... “very soon”... “in the next few weeks”... “a lot of people are saying”...
What President ever has not been “on the precipice” of achieving... something?
Geraldo was ‘on the precipice‘ of finding Al Capone‘s hidden riches. The Russian hockey team was ‘on the precipice’ of winning gold in 1980. Every criminal on every episode of Scooby Doo was ‘on the precipice’ of getting away with it.
Donald John Trump is on the precipice... of being the first President in U.S. history to be impeached, convicted, and forcibly removed from office. I have no doubt he will achieve it.
: ) L
4
How often I've wanted to shout this, it seems, whenever respected journalists and Trump collide. Trying to show and prove to be the purveyors of "fair and balanced" journalism, how often is some far- fetched, pitiable excuse offered to "soften the blow?" Though an idiot, he is president and should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. Where there is none,a benign excuse cannot be pulled out of thin air or appear by squinting, conjuring or reaching to a full stretch to find a less horrible explanation for our president and the GOP's corrupt, dangerous, self-serving and malignant acthions. Sometimes there are just bad actors committing bad acts with the worst of all possible motives. And, that's fair.
P.T. Barnum, ostensibly, once said: "There's a sucker born every minute". There are lots of "suckers" in America and the Republicans have the ultimate "Carny front man" in Trump.
2
One thought that sickens me to my stomach is where journalists and political commentators, Like Michelle Goldberg, who are speaking truth to the abomination our political system has become will be in 5 or 10 years.
Will they be accepting the awards and the gratitude they deserve, or will their voices have been squelched, by arrest, imprisonment, or worse?
2
Excellent nudge to (all but extreme right wing) journalists who have developed uncanny habit of looking for slightest sign of positive behavior by Trump so they can applaud it to avoid being blamed of having anti-Trump bias.
I would add one more thing. Trump and his conniving cronies are very capable of having a meaningless agreement packaged as a "deal". If that happens with North Korea, examine it thoroughly and report the truth without being coy.
1
“In South Korea, it’s basically an open secret that this whole thing is flattering Trump,” Kelly said. “It kind of amazes me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this.”
They may have (though the density of his staff is legendary), but do you think they are going to tell He Who Must Be Praised?
Telling the truth to Trump is proven to be a thankless, useless task, and the secret to a quick trip out the White House back door.
3
Michelle Goldberg is on target as usual re the president. She negflected only to point out that an inveterate liar should never be trusted or be given the benefit of the doubt.
2
The Nobel committee being what it is, it is unlikely to give Trump a Peace Prize even if he walked on water. Trump is a crass, ignorant narcissist. It will never happen, even if he gives away the store, as he is likely to do.
3
I am a doubter by trait I only believe when I have confidence based on past behavior and successes. Like Lebron James getting to the NBA finals. I doubt Trump because I don't think he has earned my confidence. I am not a man of blind faith. I suggest everyone should have this approach when picking a leader!
2
Bravo! When playing with a cardsharp, call a spade a spade: Donald Trump is an archetypal Con Man. A mountebank. No more, no less. He’s a malignant Music Man, the Wizard of Oz’a evil twin, a Face in the Crowd, the Pied Piper of Hamlin, and Mr. Potter busy transforming America into Pottersville outnof a toxic admixture of males greed and sheer spite. His MAGA Cap Minions, when they belatedly realize he’s playing them
For the biggest fools of all, may yet snap out of it, tar and feather him, and run him out of town on a rail. If they decide decide to double down their bet on this Grifter-in-Chief, though, god help us all: history shows the how, borne aloft by the mad, prancing crowd, these hollow brass idols transmogrify into tinpot dictators
1
The more I watch the President’s sycophant supporters from the Evangelical Welfare Empire that is the
1
I thought this would be about the Justice Department giving Donald license to direct their investigations.
But I agree. Donald doesn't know what he's doing, what he's offering and what he's giving away. He will never convince Kim to give up his nukes, but he might promise to remove American forces from the South as a proffer.
2
Earlier today Trump started to realize international politics is not real estate and that he's already been out-negotiated. He said the big Kim meeting scheduled for June 12 may have to be postponed indefinitely.
3
There is - or should be - some benefit to Trump's destructive chaos. The old rules are gone; we are unchained. New possibilities arise and fall every day for those who are action oriented and unafraid of risk.
The Republicans are using this new chaos to loot the country - they're taking advantage of Trump, as are the Chinese and North Koreans. Europe, being fragmented, has yet to determine a strategy.
The Democrats are too old and slow and befuddled to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. They bemoan and wring their hands when they should be rushing the line and exploiting weakness. They seem to be hiding under their beds.
Trump has created a crisis that's not going away. The corporations and the 1% and the media are making the most of it.
So where is the so-called Resistance? Where are the Blue States? Apparently still in denial.
2
The revolution is not being televised.
1
Call me crazy, but what if this president is lucky? I've often heard the saying: "better lucky than good" and I tend to reluctantly agree. Like I said: you can call me crazy.
Signed: not an apologist, just someone taking a senior moment to play detached observer and devil's advocate wrapped in one before I snap back to my usual mode of clear-eyed pessimism regarding this whole situation.
2
Trump is a con man, has been his whole life. Just look at Trump University and his casinos. He made millions while everyone lost money. Now he is conning the world.
8
When you get most things right most of the time, you can get the "benefit of the doubt" when you occasionally stumble. But Trump deserves no benefit of doubt ever. His crusade to destroy our governmental norms through his lies, ignorance and his self serving ways are unforgivable. He's a known liar and con man, he went broke while owning two casino's, you know the place where the house always wins. To believe his bluster and worse yet, to agree with it is the first step to the destruction of our way of life. He, along with his banana republic-can enablers have got to feel the wrath of the American voter. Then and only then can we say that we will not tolerate your amateur, ignorant administration and party.
4
I realize its been said before, but it's apt; Liberals and Progressives keep showing up to a gunfight with a knife......the stage kind that folds when you pretend to stick it in.
4
Thank you for the clarity in your column about the risks of Trump giving the North Korean dictator the recognition he desires of a one on one meeting with the president of the United States. It was amazing to see experienced "pundits" act as if a one on one summit with Kim Jong-un was a significant accomplishment.
I have not read whose idea the "commemorative coin" was, but the design is beyond silly. Egomaniacs, indeed.
North Korea is dangerous because there are no internal checks on the actions of its leader. A re-unification of the Koreas is dangerous to South Korea and dangerous to world peace given the additional resources the North Korean dictator might access. If Trump is blinded by the idea of a Nobel Peace Prize and fails to see the dangers in a re-unification process what Trump chooses to give up in any "deal" becomes consequential. Unless there is a push back from a Congress in which the majority of either the House or Senate is Democratic, one more serious national security risk is created by Trump's ego and not careful policy.
The Republican party has whined for years that "leftists" control media, college campuses and all the sources of information voters get. They brazenly pretend that their "facts" need to be part of the stories even when those facts are lies. Trump as president is a man without ethics for whom every day is a blank slate to tell a new story as if yesterday's lies never existed.
Give the Benefit of the Doubt to Reality , not Trump.
6
Time to move to Costa Rica folks...mind the stampede!
3
You know that you preach to the choir. National polls have limited effect on most state and local legislators. Legislators are elected in places where self-segregation is prominent, where gerrymandered districts facilitate our political divides. For all the hype about a wave election, if the Democrats do not pay attention to their individual landscapes, there will be some nasty surprises.
If the press refuses to give any credit to the con in the White House (and I agree that he is only to be credited with chaos and self-interest), they solidify entrenched views of press bias--maybe that does not matter any more. Having a couple of major news silos shouting across the wires arguably does not facilitate much. We can see general trends, but this November is the next major test.
As for the F-word (fair), it depends on the beholder and is every bit as subject to political manipulation as ideas of common-sense.
1
"Even a casual newspaper reader — which, of course, Trump is not — knows that when North Korea talks about “denuclearization,” it doesn’t mean unilaterally giving up all its nuclear weapons."
It's shameful that anyone over the age of 7 ever thought that it did.
5
I 100% agree - conmen should not be given the benefit of the doubt. POTUS Trump is a conman's conman. He reaches new heights (or is it depths?) of conning. He and his grifters are working a con of they're breathing.
3
Professor Robert Kelly's comment “It kind of amazes me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this...” doesn't quite hold water because the chances are they have, but their misgivings go either unspoken or ignored because there's a shiny medallion on a ribbon being dangled in front of him offering legitimacy. Also troubling me is the trend emerging in Liberal media (CNN CNBC Jeff Greenfield et al) to acknowledge Trump's 'masterful reading' of American discontent. That's a bit like discovering that fat, salt and sugar, added in abundance to processed foods, equals greater sales. Short order cooks, ice-cream servers and every McDonald's employee knows this. So much for his 'genius' and giving him 'the benefit of the doubt.' I sure won't - ever.
2
I am seriously worried that Democrats and independents will not come out to vote in November, and that Trumpists will be out in droves, voting like crazy to protect the Republican death grip on the country. They have a lot to lose.
The rest of us, on the other hand, have even more to lose if they win. The Justice Department may lose all of its teeth and become unable to prosecute any more rich people or corporations, ever, while the Republican overlords order the JD to fill the Republican-run, for-profit prisons with lots and lots of middle- and working-class political prisoners who are too poor to do battle with the federal government.
Think it can't happen here?
Most people also thought Trump would never be elected. I am seriously worried.
7
I stopped giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt on Nov.8; 2016. On that date I turned 61; and aged 10 years. This pathological liar has exposed America`s inability to deal with such a demagogue; and how many holes the U.S. Constitution has when dealing with such a man. The founding fathers must surely be rolling in their graves due to not dealing with this possibility. They knew the danger; but left in place the possibility of a Donald Trump anyway. This is what Washington, Adams, etc. feared; and now it is up to the American public to restore sanity; IF it is not already too late. STOP the INSANITY already!!
3
What does North Korea have to offer us? And when I say us, I mean the people of the USA, rather than Trump and his administration.
The ultimate irony here is that no previous American president would allow a face to face meeting with a N Korean leader, because it would lend credibility to the Kim regime. The only reason it is happening now is that Trump is the one who needs credibility. This whole thing was organized by China as PR for Trump, to make him seem legitimate. China knows Trump is an easily manipulated patsy. They apparently bribed him to win favors by funding his failing Philippines project. And, if anything comes out of the meeting, expect it to sound good to the republican propaganda machine, but to be hollow and meaningless in the long run. It will just be another favor from Xi to Trump. It is as though Trump is a patron at the casino, and the Chinese are comping him to keep him at the table until he's lost all our money.
1
Interesting point about Trump's meeting with Kim. I would go further and say that Trump has been well-played by Kim. Starting point: 2011, Kim Jon-Un takes over; over 20,000 US troops in South Korea; DPRK has no nuclear capability. End point (for Kim): South Korea de-militarized; DPRK "de-nuclearized". By creating a nuclear threat and provoking the childish US president, Kim gets US troops out of the Korean peninsula. Well-played.
Reagan ended the cold war? Remember that? Gorbachev, on a later trip to the U.S. said, "This is not serious." The possibility that that the Soviet Union collapsed of its own dead weight wasn't considered.
When gasoline prices went over $4 per gallon, it was all Obama's fault. When they went back down to less than 3, no mention of Obama was heard.
With Trump, there is no doubt and therefore no benefit to be given. Like his frequently fictional business empire, the only purpose of the Trump White House is the greater glory of Trump, the man, Trump, the brand.
The desire to rhapsodize about this egomaniac meeting with the unstable ruler of North Korea is driven in part by a desire to be "fair", to conjure up something to avoid the charge of being constantly negative. It is a reaction to the attacks on major media. Plus, people are surprised to see any sign of any progress anywhere.
Please note this: an American president can meet with the leader or dictator of any other country in the world just about any time he wants to, especially if he is willing to travel. For leaders and especially dictators, it is the grand prize of personal meetings. What matters is whether anything good comes from it and the risks involved along the way. Right now, Trump deserves a Nobel Nothing.
6
My first reaction is you're preaching to the choir, if you were addressing your readers. But I think you're speaking to the press, who can't resist writing about their insights, which are sometimes grasping for a new angle in spite of themselves. And none of this will ever be heard by the Trump base, on their Fox / Breitbart diet...
1
War or peace it's all the same to Donald Trump. Either way he gets to see Donald Trump in headlines and that is all that matters to Donald Trump.
4
About North Korea: If Obama or any other Democrat had tried to meet with the North Korean leader they would have been slammed by the GOP. Hypocritical? Remember the outcry when Obama said he’d be willing to meet with enemy leaders?
5
"Stop Giving Trump the Benefit of the Doubt"
When is the NYTimes going to treat him for what he and his administration are, a set of bumbling crooks?
6
Those are strong words in the last paragraph. I was wondering if and when the media would begin to understand they were being manipulated by a con man. Trump, never a serious candidate either in experience or intelligence, was afforded 4X the media attention of his rivals for the GOP nomination, and for argument, the presidency. Do you think for one moment this doesn't influence the public mindset? Especially when he was espousing so many unchallenged lies, for lack of a more tactful term, and continues to lie at an unprecedented rate; all unchallenged by our so-called fourth estate; a free press.
To continue to print every childish impulsive tweet, to give Trump every air time he seeks, to not challenge his lying Press Secretary, is to continue the Alice in Blunderland fall down the rabbit hole. It is past time to step up and challenge the never ending stream of lies. When you do, the press room at the White House will be a hotbed of challenges to the stream of lies. Do not let one lie pass. That was and is your job.
6
Sorry Michelle, but your credibility on the subject is lacking. Would you be writing this column if Obama had done the exact same things as Trump? Never mind whether you don't believe he would have. If he did engage N Korea and set a summit? If he did provide tax cuts as are in the current bill, if unemployment was at record lows despite stagnant wage growth?
The prism through which you write (and you're not alone) is based on your own political philosophy. That's why, (as you suggest we do with Trump) we should stop giving you the benefit of the doubt.
2
Well, now, there's a bit of the old round up the usual suspects. I do admire the breezy dismissiveness of that, "never mind that that didn't happen," bit, though.
4
Fascinating how the most committed right-wing "conservatives" have gone full post-modern relativism, leaving coastal elite academics in the dust. "We're all prisoners of our own philosophical prism."
The philosophical prism for that proposition comes from a bunch of Euro post-marxists. Check the company you're keeping, dude.
3
Congressional approval is required to ratify treaties. What is the danger that Republicans, desperate to give their team a big win, rubber stamp a monumentally flawed bargain with North Korea?
3
Every intention of the donald, is a slimy, unethical, self-serving, distracting, criminal one. Hurry Robert Mueller. Hurry, November.
5
All of this Trump bashing is getting tiresome. He is not doing anything different then every other president in my lifetime has done. The difference is he is a bully and male chauvinist pig and a lot of people hate him for it but 41% love him and his behavior. Does anyone out there think the Kennedy's, Johnson's, Carter, Bushes and especially the Clinton's families have not benefited personally from being President. The corruption we hear about everyday involving Trump and his family is no different then the corruption that, if investigated as thorough as Trumps, would be exactly the same. The one name I leave off is Nixon. He may actually be the only President in my lifetime that did not benefit personally from being President. Reagan I am not sure about and Obama is too new to call.
2
Bobble-head Pence, just this AM opened his mouth. And out came one of the most amazing comments, maybe in the history or modern diplomacy. He warned the Dictator of NK, that if he didn't do what we say, he will end up like Gaddafi. He apparently forgot that Lybia did do what we said and ended up dead in a double cross. This is Trump's right hand man who soon will done uniform and high boots and learn how to solute when the Little Dictator comes in. I think we've seen this comedy before, but now its not funny, it's actually happening here. WAKE UP Electorate, save our Democracy before its too late.
7
Your last sentence hit the nose on the button, so to speak, a con man should not be given the benefit. Trump is the ultimate con man, and his fools in the White House and in the Republican Congress are not much better.
3
YES!!! He’s a criminal. Money saves him always
3
The reality is Trump's hard core supporters are always going to give him the benefit of the doubt. They will justify his actions and agree with him no matter what he says or does. As for me, Trump will always be a crass, corrupt, unethical embarrassment. I'm not going to give him "the benefit of the doubt". Trump has damaged our standing in the world and with with our allies. Real damage being done is happening out of the lime light and has not been high lighted enough in my opinion. The environmental damage, the appointment of dozens of very conservative judges, Betsy Devos (need I say more), loss of protection for national monuments and wildlife - I could go on. The people within the GOP who are willing to tolerate and support the corrupt Trump Administration are even more troubling. They are willing to damage the United States both domestically as well as internationally in order to reward their donors. Ultimately Trump demonstrates the broken political system and culture we currently live with, and that is very sobering.
6
The democrats are famous for forming a circular firing squad. They race to find any made up glimmer of hope about this corrupt group. Did republicans give Obama the benefit of the doubt? Not once in 8 years. Stop being complete suckers democrats and the media as well.
3
Speaking of con men, how many reporters and pundits reproached themselves after realizing Cheney suckered them
with dubious evidence and flag waving into thinking invading Iraq was a good idea. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice,
shame on me".
4
As a "casual newspaper reader" I can see that Kim is playing Trump.The president will have gotten three hostages released and some kind of timetable for denuclearization when he is done negotiating.But...Trump will advertise this as the "greatest" so and so.He is playing to his base who will swallow his boast hook,line and sinker.This is why Trump is dangerous.....pleasing his adoring fans is more important to him than making the world safer or doing anything for his country that really matters.
But what about the pundits...the two Davids...the military experts.Before the US invasion of Iraq.I read a story in the back pages of the L A Times relating how the IAEA inspectors had found buried boxes of rusty old missiles that wouldn't even have left the ground.It was clear to me, a"casual newspaper reader",that Saddam Hussein was bluffing.He didn't have nuclear weapons.But most of the media reported the opposite.Why is this?Are the pundits afraid to speak truth to power?Will their sources ,who are feeding them garbage anyway, dry up?Maybe the media stars need to read the comments section of the Times.They might learn something.
4
Can Trump and all of his enablers be tried for treason for endangering the wellbeing of US Citizens and endangering the existence of US as a democratic nation as the founders intended?
2
"Even a casual newspaper reader — which, of course, Trump is not " Harkens back to the "smug liberal" which didn't see the Trump victory. "He'll never win the primary, he'll never win the election, he'll start a war with Korea." As a moderate this alienates me.
Living in Manhattan, you don't get to run a billion dollar real estate company by chance. You don't get promoted on folly. I wish the NYT would learn from their recent misadventures in pushing away moderates.
2
"Moderates" who are unwilling to acknowledge reality are just as useless as the most ignorant of the President's hardcore supporters.
2
If you live in Manhattan as you say, how can you seriously buy the line that Trump is "running" a "billion dollar real estate company", or that he was "promoted". Do you know anything about Trump's background? He inherited the business from his father - and was given a "small loan" of over 1$ million dollars to expand on it when he came of age. He then proceeded to over-extend himself and went into bankruptcy multiple times (with his father bailing him out a few times along the way), stiffing creditors and contractors along the way. Then, magically, and mysteriously, this multiple bankrupt individual starts becoming cash rich and in partnership with Russian investments starts buying properties and brands and slapping his name all over them. Many of the deals have since gone defunct: Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Soho, etc. As far as being "promoted", Trump Organization is a family run business, there was no one to "promote" Trump, and similar to his kids, he never started out in the bottom ranks and worked his way up, he (and his kids) just pretty much walked into ownership/executive running of the business.
If the media spent more time delving into Trump's sketchy business past and less time on his offensive and stupid statements I suspect the election would have turned out differently.
2
Let's wind back the clock to, say, the year 2010. After being in office for two years, Obama agrees to meet one on one with Kim, with no preconditions and with no advice or input from his entire State Department or national security council.
Does anyone think for a second that the GOP minority in Congress wouldn't be screaming for hearings with many calling for impeachment?
Now, imagine that Obama had done even *half* of the corrupt, anti-democratic and border-line treasonous things we've seen in the past 18 months. This outrage would be multiplied by 100.
The actual depressing thought is that 40% of our fellow citizens think that this inept, lying, bullying, narcissist is doing his job just fine. And that most of those 40% thought that Obama was unpatriotic and unqualified, and that he was actually a Muslim born in Kenya.
Welcome to 'post-racial' America? Sorry, not even close.
8
Some of us have known he is a liar and fraud for many years before he became President or even a supposed TV star.
3
Ig-Nobel Prize would be the most likely "award" that Trump deserves.
5
Ignorance can be cured, but stupid is forever. I fear our President suffers from both.
5
Trump is the hair of the dog that bit his utterly clueless pigeons.
2
Another great piece by Michelle a Goldberg.
6
You're absolutely right Michelle in urging your colleagues and everyone else to stop sugar-coating the obvious. Trump is a wannbe dictator, plain and simple. The parallels between the Trump and Hitler playbooks are as plain as day, and will not be erased by invoking Godwin's Law. That he truly believes that he is above the law is proof that he thinks of himself as royalty, if not even god-like. There is more than a little Julius Caesar in him as well.
The media need to take the kid gloves off and return fire with fire. He has only contempt for them - and for anyone who opposes him - so no quarter should be given in return. "Political correctness" should never be more important than the correctness of plain truth.
2
Having read this and many other of your anti-Trump opinion pieces I have but one question for you: is there anything constructive you have to offer your readers? Your "opinions" are so laced with hate that one wonders if that is all you have to offer.
When you and your liberal Democrat brethren come up with positive constructive thought rather than negative resistance speak, perhaps the rest of us might pay attention.
2
Perhaps you could educate us on the "positive constructive thought" that has been provided by our reality averse President and his minions.
4
The reality is the domestic and foreign accomplishments of this administration. If you don't recognize reality from allusion you truly are a Democrat!
Stop giving him the benefit of the doubt that he is anywhere normal. His C Luster B personality disorder is off the charts. The man is a fullblown sociopath.
4
Too bad so many Americans, including the "liberal" media, refused to give Hilary the benefit of the doubt when she said "he is wholly unfit to be president."
5
The benefit of doubt only works when doubt is present. Few on the world stage today can doubt that the current American president is not a doddering idiot with real and debilitating psychological issues that are way beyond his control. There are those who smile and those who grimace but any gild, from any angle, is definitely off the lily.
5
The normalization of Trump has been a fear since the huckster slinked down the escalator of his tower. Tragically, the Republicans in Congress and the hard-core base will defend, excuse, and normalize his behavior so long as they all continue to get what they voted for: bigotry aplenty for the base, and tax cuts for the uber-wealthy supporters of the Congressional majority.
3
Many thanks for your willingness to tell the truth.
The only way to stop Trumps filth is to get rid of Trump.
5
Give me U. S. Grant. Give me Warren Harding. Give me Richard Nixon. Take this fool away.
5
Your right that there is no strategy or even planning (other than what hotel he stays at) behind Trump's NK summit. While he is busy writing his "Nobel Peace Prize" acceptance speech, Kim Jung Un is out maneuvering him. Now Trump is in a panic. Why? Not because he is worried about NK keeping its weapons. But because his Nobel Peace Prize is in jepordy.
When has Trump really thought anything through? It is all knee jerk out of his a_s transactional policy. What makes him feel good right now.
1
"it’s now the American president who craves legitimation from the North Korean dictator"
-m goldberg
exactly!
3
We want positive results in North Korea no matter who gets those results. He must be humored for that possibility. But once that "deal" does not materialize, he must take the blame. But it is impossible for him to take blame. He only gives blames. But we are caught on this razor edge. It cuts deeper each day that Trump is humored, is given the benefit, each day he remains in office - without any results. We cannot fall either way, we must tolerate the cut until it is decided. He got a judge and a huge tax break for Corporations, at the cost of huge deficit increase and a pittance tax benefit for those who need it most. These are trumpeted as his major accomplishments, yet "most" might wish that neither happened. I am talking about the majority that did not vote for him. What has he done lately? Tout the wish of Korean denuclearization - an accomplishment everyone would love to see. As it seems to evaporate, we must not give up until it actually does. But then? Yes. Call him out, quit giving the benefit. See through the blather of self engrandisement and face reality. North Korea should be a line in the sand for voters. If he cannot use the cloak of a "deal" with North Korea, then this emperor certainly has no clothes. And we must move on. For, we can do better.
79
Fair enough, if the deal in NK does not happen Trump can take the blame. Then would be it not be more than fair to blame Obama for doing nothing.
1
GEO OLSON: Very fact that 2 Koreas are talking to each other is a step forward, and to the extent that both chiefs of state meet in person, that also is a good thing. 1 should not set the standard too high, but TRUMP is venturing where his predecessor feared to tread, cancelling the Iran deal which did not benefit us,coming down hard on illegal felons, against cities as sanctuaries, an idea whose time has come as more cities in Cal. adopt the idea, and extending tax cuts to middle class Americans.TRUMP cares about America, Obama, in my view, did not.At least Trump admitted he did not write his own books. Obama is unwilling to admit that "Dreams from my Father"is as much Ayres's book as his own, a thesis embraced by many, respectable, respected literary critics.including Christopher Andersen.Give Trump credit for intellectual honesty!
Head in sand still, A.H. I cannot understand people who care nothing for facts.
Ha! That's nearly perfect:
"But Trump, whose only real talent is the manipulation of reality, exploits this impulse."
My two cents would be to tweak it to read "But Trump, whose only real talent is his insistence on unreality, exploits this impulse."
"Manipulation" gives him too much credit for developing a strategy.
7
Trump responded to Kim Jong un in the only ways he knows how: self-interested and rising to a dare like an elementary school kid in a playground. He knows no details and listens to no one who does. He wants a Nobel Prize but will have to settle for his own medal...like his own Time Magazine cover. Everything this buffoon does is about him. Not world peace but only that he could receive accolades for achieving world peace. He is manifestly incompetent and, in this, he represents a large segment of our population.
9
Stop giving trump the benefit of the doubt? You should stop giving america the benefit of the doubt! It's dead, and another fraudulent election isn't going to bring it back. Either get out or shut up and live in the autocracy that it has become.
#calexit
3
I have to give this president one thing...he has mastered the art of getting out of everything and creating chaos: you don’t just “pay your cards right”...you take the whole deck of cards and throw it up in the air and distract, distract, distract.
Anyone who has had a full-blown narcissist in their life...I mean one of the genuine, Triple Crown level ones...recognizes all the tactics this man uses to slither out of every situation and get his way, while everyone around him just looks on, befuddled and questioning their own sanity.
The epic gaslighting, denials, and dizzying attacks on anyone who questions him...I feel like I have my old boyfriend back in my life.
19
Michelle could not be more accurate. Completely conveys the idiotic refrain of "give him a chance" as the horrible joke it always was. Stay vigilant, Goldberg...we need thee!
8
Indeed, these are as Larry M from Minnesota notes, great lines.
"But it’s one thing to humor our idiot president, and another to let the gravitational pull of presidential power, and the deep desire for a minimally competent leader, warp reality. We all want to be open-minded, but con men should never be given the benefit of the doubt."
But now our strategy is to persuade the conned whose reality has been warped to either stay home or change their vote. And telling them they voted for an idiot is not a winning strategy.
8
Brilliant writing.
7
Michelle, you are one of the very few journalists who offer a consistent and logical assessment covering Trump's hyperactive theatrics. You never fail to zero in on reality and smack down the magical thinking that those who seek to be fair foist on us.
We cannot afford to normalize this president or his administration. He was and remains spectacularly unqualified for the job. Keep speaking the truth about this very selfish, sick man.
11
Benefit of the doubt:
I remember what an unbelievable hard time Obama got early on for saying the Boston police were "stupid" when they erroneously detained a black professor on his own property. Barak got raked over the coals for that! But it is Trump who should get a hard time from the media, but indeed, he does not. For example, when he dismissed McCain's heroism by saying "I like heroes who WEREN'T captured, I hate to tell you!" someone should have said right away, "Well, YOU were never captured now, were you? Let me get this clear! Did you ever come close to being captured when YOU were in Vietnam?"
And WHY oh WHY aren't reporters asking Trump incessantly about Mexico paying for the wall? Wasn't that the central gem of his demagogic performance, day after day? TRUMP: And who's going to pay for that beautiful wall? RILED-UP, ANGRY, IGNORANT CROWD: Mexico!
Nobody forgot that Obama used the word "stupid." How come we don't ask Trump, until it drives him completely nuts, why Mexico still doesn't seem to be paying for the wall? Ask him every day, just like he said it, every day, during the campaign. It wouldn't in the least be unfair!
13
The media are very slow learners. They stare into space
and ignore the racism, sexism, bigotry and of course
the constant lying.
He lies about everything He lies about lying. No one
with any integrity will work for him. To avoid lying,
they have cancelled the WH press briefings.
Attention must be paid.
8
I never gave Trump the benefit of a doubt in the first place. Attacking the Justice Dept, the backbone of American integrity is the mark of a looming dictatorship. I lose no love on the Republican Congress either: a rat pack that has abandoned the American people in the name of fascist bigotry.
8
Sometimes it becomes physically difficult, exhausting, to remember that the “president” of the United States is a money-laundering, unscrupulous, foxy, traitorous, lascivious, vindictive shell of a man, who has practiced as a scam artist for years and years.
When exhausted by this knowledge, I sometimes look out the window and imagine being a hickory tree.
That’s actually much easier than imagining Donald Trump with a Nobel Peace Prize.
9
Thank you, Michelle Goldberg, for your clear-eyed commentary. I hope David Brooks reads this and gives you a Sidney award.
7
I have always stood behind the notion that the buck stops at the top and whoever is there at the moment deserves the credit. But in this case should anything good actually come of Trumps naiveté and thuggish demeanor I would be more inclined to believe that it was in spite of him. It is glaringly obvious by this point in time that Trump has made a career of bullying and lying his way through life. By using, abusing and taking advantage of any sucker that was stupid enough not to see him coming. Unfortunately it will not be just the suckers that will and are paying a price to satisfy the king grifters ego.
7
POTUS Donald Trump accepts all praise and condemns all criticisms.
This is not the work of a stable genius.
It is the actions of a blissful fool.
Some join him.
Not all.
Not this old fool.
5
This is so spot on. Thank you MG! So embarrassing the way our pseudo leader is played by bad guys. Thinks he’s tough. Will do anything if he thinks it makes him look good. No idea what he’s doing. What a fool.
5
Nothing good can come of Donald Trump. When will America wake up to this gold-plated fool?
7
vile, hateful man.
history will show these to be dark times in our history.
7
Trump seems profoundly, almost aggressively ignorant. If anything good comes of this Korean debacle it will be despite rather than because of his involvement... but I expect the pundits will wax lyrical nonetheless. The pinnacle of this shambling, corrupt, clownish charade would be the award of a Nobel Peace prize to the childish nincompoop in chief.
Venting is supposed to be cathartic, but I only feel more depressed.
6
I was driving highway 2 across the northern states and of course spent a few nights in small towns. Television was saturated with religious programming and news that lacked facts.
So easy to turn to a con man cause that’s whats on your TV.
Lost in space you people.
5
Give him the benefit of the doubt? Actually, Trump is filled to the brim with doubt and covers it with lies, taunts and bravado. He is destructive, selfish and is harming our country BIGLY.
3
Honoring our idiot president says nothing about Trump and everything about the people of the US. Only an ill-informed and unengaged electorate could possible support someone so poorly suited to his position. A fully functional democracy depends upon an educated and rational electorate, which the US obviously does not enjoy. The average American appears capable of voting the next contestant off the island on an inane reality TV show but not of selecting their own government. This is the point where it become clear that our experiment in democracy has failed.
4
Trump should scare me more, and he has. Now I see the bootlicking incompetents that he surrounds himself with and know they are going to get rolled. There is nothing more vulnerable as a person who thinks they are really smart, or a "stable genius". No genius would ever say that. Anyway, we know Trump is ridiculous. I hope his humiliation at the hands of Kim does not drive him to press the red button.
I think, that like the Mueller investigation, Trump will be too scared to actually meet with Kim. He is, after all, a coward.
2
Trump's enablers obviously love to wallow in sleaze as much as their president.
5
Many journalists crave the label of being fair and balanced. Sound familiar? It's the motto of the most unfair and most unbalanced news organization going, FOX news.
A journalist's job is to tell the truth. That shouldn't be hard to grasp. Trump has a decades long history of lying and incompetence. To ignore that is to be a fool.
"Giving Trump the benefit of the doubt" is too kind a phrase. Willful stupidity is more to the point.
4
And after they stop giving him the benefit of the doubt, people have to start standing up to him and confronting him directly. Call him a liar to his face. Ridicule him to his face. Telling him to shut up - now - when he starts spouting his lies.
His possession of presidency protects him from this.
It shouldn't. He is abusing the country.
4
But for every article, opinion, TV show, etc. that offers nearly indisputable proof that Trump is incompetent, stupid, careless, dishonest and an ill-prepared idiot there are millions of Americans that believe he is on the right track to 'making America great again'. We are all preaching to the choir here. The real issue is what can be done to get rid of him and how to do so. We need maximum energy, resources and action to stop this conductor-less train from crashing and destroying everyone and everything in and around it's path. Where are the Democratic leaders who should be disputing his every word and action minute by minute ? Who can coalesce our fellow citizens into a stronger majority against him and his behavior parading as psuedo -policies ? I wish there were more opinionators who focused on this....we already know what the problem is, ad nauseum, we need to now focus on real solutions.
2
They should put Trump's face on the $3 bill....
5
"......it’s now the American president who craves legitimation from the North Korean dictator." Kim is also a con man who has killed his step brother and uncle and imprisoned North Koreans in concentration camps. Trump is now begging to do business with him as if Kim's con will not be the ultimate con -the US recognizing a murdering dictator. How discouraging for the North Koreans as well as Americans
3
Once again Michelle Goldberg shows her grit. While most liberals are temporizing or at least holding their fire to see the outcome of Trump's Korean adventure, Michelle tells it like it is.
3
When the talks with North Korea completely collapse in a shameful shambles we can expect Trump to put the entire blame on Bolton and continue destroying America's international reputation. The press coverage of Trump's handling of Kim isn't simply professionally incompetent it's disgusting.
3
This is an exceptionally insightful column. Trump University. North Korea “breakthrough”. Same lousy ingredients. Same lousy cook.
2
It seems that the media is desperate to say something -- anything -- nice about Trump and will embrace the slightest opportunity to do so, all in the name of attempting to avoid the "liberal media" label and proving their "objective" bonafides.
All I can say is STOP. This president has no redeeming qualities. He is graceless, undignified, incurious and frankly stupid. Anything remotely good that comes out of this administration is purely accidental. Time to accept that.
2
Michelle is as usual, correct. "Mr. Trump" has been given the benefit of the doubt for too long. Any other idiot, moron, or con man would have been locked up for the malfeasances that he has collaborated to bring down on the American public. He can tweet what he will, but these do not amount to a hill of beans compared to the truth of law which he and his appointees have recklessly disregarded.
There is no dialogue, or "conversation" as if words passed in leisure and good faith, between those who may, arguably have, differing opinions, all based in facts.
Instead there are unilateral claims and accusations and affronts principally from the new regime and focused against the people and their party. I am tired of being insulted by Mr. Trump's unfriendly face on a daily basis. Still, I read my newspapers and I listen to my commentators and I try to remember that "sis transit tyrannici."
2
Stop giving Trump the benefit of 24/7 newsprint and air time. Please report the news. We need to know what's going on besides the endless crime spree emanating from the White House.
4
The NY Times is frequently guilty of what the writer describes -- most egregious is analyzing Trump's decisions as if he had a shred of knowledge about any subject other than graft, corruption, revenge and avarice. Your headlines are often so misleading that they could be mistaken for something from Fox "news." It's exasperating. There are not always two equal sides to a story. In the case of Trump, there is one side: the right side, and he is never on it.
5
Nothing this man does should be accepted as normal or even newsworthy. He is the poor man's mafia don.
My fear is that he will give away the store to Kim in order to get a big win and a shot at a Nobel prize. Everything he does is for the benefit of one man - Donald J. Trump.
7
I've known Trumpy since he first came on the scene in Manhattan. I did not trust him then, do not trust him now. Nothing in the past three plus decades has Trumpy done to sway my opinion of this jerk.
Like Nixon, with each passing release of his once clandestine tapes, I grew to despise him even more so than when he was alive. I imagine I will feel the same about Trumpy. Long after he's gone, historians will be uncovering some of the most dishonorable deals and treasonous acts committed by anyone who has held the presidency of the United States. If there was a gaming house that would take that bet, I'd advise anyone it's as sure a bet as anyone could make.
DD
Manhattan
6
Trump debases everything he touches, even journalism.
He's like some kind of a toxin that is poisoning our nation, culture and society. The sooner more in the media and press follow Ms. Goldberg's lead and start to say so the sooner the nation can purge itself of Trump and every rotten thing he does.
6
Trump is a master illusionist. From his bombastic promises to swiftly undo things that cannot be easily undone, to false claims of achievements actually achieved by his predecessor, to headline-making accusations with no basis in reality, to threats of lawsuits and investigations that come to nothing. He works night and day to convert wrong into right, lies into truths, dross into gold. Too much of the media only broadcasts his opening salvos without following up on how they turn out. As a result, much of the mud he slings sticks in the public's mind, making it harder to wipe off.
3
Right, Michelle Goldberg...This whole peace with North Korea thing is just another Trump failure...like bankrupting the casino...stop giving him the benefit of the doubt, indeed...
And while we're at it, let's quit the whole "innocent until proven guilty" charade as well. If Michelle Goldberg says Trump is guilty of treason and other crimes, then I believe it!
3
As someone once said, “Bo open minded, by all means, but not so open minded that your brains fall out.” Trump is steering our beloved country over a cliff, and we had better use all legitimate means to restrain him lest he inflict greater damage on America’s and the Middle East’s future than George Bush II did with his catastrophically stupid Iranian invasion blunder.
5
And now it appears that the Justice Department is in the business of appeasing the bully-in-chief. I wonder what lengths will be taken to prevent unhinged, unstable, ignorant Trump from a total meltdown with disastrous consequences for our nation and the world. Vote the Republicans OUT in November - our lives depend upon it.
4
Iv'e been calling him, and his, traitors, for about a year now. I have no doubt from which to give them benefit.
3
Relax. It’s just a meeting.
2
It's an illusion. That's the problem.
2
Right. Why should a shrill, bellicose, hateful, mendacious, bankrupt huckster be given any credibility? Of course he should not, but like moths to a flame, the media keeps repeating his lies. Simply don't.
50 years ago 90% of all newspapers were family owned, today over 90% are corporate owned, which tells you most of the media is all about the money.
Reagan's cynical rescinding of the Fairness Doctrine plunged America into the Valley of Irresponsible Journalism, starting with the NY Post, culminating in Fox News, which should have to register as a lobbyist, or get NSA clearance.
Repeating a lie gives it credibility. Stop. Pointing out that a lie is a lie is not an opinion, it's a fact, and should on the Front, not the Opinion, page.
4
The North Koreans will find an agreement with not the United states, but with Iran.
Oil can be traded for weapons technology.
Then the two can make a buck in the proliferating of weapons.
Embargoes made the marriage of South Africa and Israel work. Nuclear weapons were their child.
Sweet dreams.
2
Mr. Trump's results in office so far have been positive only if viewed through his tinted lens, while his record before moving into the White House is a mix of fraud and failure.
http://www.siyasat.pk/siasi-discussions-f3.html
4
Just an editing point:
We all want to be open-minded, but con men should never been given the benefit of the doubt.
Should be: " ... con men should never be given the benefit of the doubt."
and what about legitimize [verb] rather than legitimate [adjective]?
Donald trump is the joe McCarthy for the new millennium. All headlines no substance. Where’s the beef, Don?? The North Korea deal will be bad for the America. I can almost guarantee it. In fact the reason it is being offered now is that China and Kim Jong un see in trump an absolute neophyte dotard when it comes to strategic thinking. They will come away with the good deals. We will lose. Just over a bunch of nukes that nobody can use. They get all the technology and investment and release more cheap labor onto the world economy. We get vague promises. The art of a deal. Give it an F out front.
3
Swamp King is destroying this country and the politicians of this country who are GOP are allowing this to happen. Whenever tis fool is out of office, it will take decades before we become a normal society if ever. Vote protest and lets protect our kids from these maniacs . No one wants to take away anyone's guns we just want students not to live in continual fear day in and day out. Who are we? We are not who we think we are?.
2
A few of Trump's wins:
• Wall built, paid for by Mexico
• Hillary jailed
• Coal industry back again, so are coal jobs
• Obamacare, repealed and replaced with "something better on day one, may at the same hour"
• Carnage stopped, for example, zero gun deaths in schools
• America respected again, that Russian TV host mocking Trump and the US is just fake news, and so is NoKor playing him like a fiddle
• Noble prize already won, the committee is just waiting to announce it at the proper time
I could go on, but yes, character limits.
The best argument when I have the misfortune of meeting a Trump supporter complaining about his diminishing take home pay, the sudden disappearance of his health care coverage, the un-affordability of his mom's assisted living facility is this:
I take a deep breath, look at a distance as if to ponder the gravitas of the situation, and reply with zero irony or sarcasm:
"Don't worry, Trump is president now. You'll see, salaries will improve, health care will be affordable, and the old and the weak will be cared for. He said so on his campaign, right? Say, have you donated to his 2020 campaign? It's never too early to volunteer, either. By the way, you are rocking that red hat. MAGA!"
7
The same ridiculous, obsequious response to a tyrant was demonstrated by your Maggie H in her insane protection of the delicate persona that is Sarah Sanders. The absolute worst thing about pseudo liberal journalists is how quickly they defend the obviously indefensible lies and distortions fed to them by the right, in a gesture of futile fairness and balance.
3
Elsewhere in today's NYT, another writer asks why Trump, author of "The Art of the Deal," is such a lousy negotiator.
Possibly because Trump did not write the book, reporter Tony Schwartz did. From Wikipedia:
Schwartz was the subject of a July 2016 article in The New Yorker in which Schwartz describes Donald Trump unfavorably and relates how he came to regret writing The Art of the Deal. He also stated that if it were to be written today it would be very different and titled The Sociopath.
2
Thanks to the pace of events Ms Goldberg's column unfortunately reads like outdated Cliff notes to America's ongoing national disaster. With her concluding comment "but con men should never be given the benefit of the doubt," one can just about hear the creaking of a barn door uselessly being shut.
2
Let us not be fooled... Donald J. Trump is not perfect or, as yet, even a great president. It is the anti-humanity, criminal, self aggrandizing liars and self-serving elite wannabes in the 2009-2018 administration that make it seem so.
I remember when Obama floated the idea of a meeting with the North Korean leader.
The media couldn't condemn it fast enough, now a few years later the media is awarding the Nobel peace prize to Trump for the same thing.
3
As everyone knows, Trump supporters live in a bubble. They do not read the Times, nor watch unbiased news stations nor read any intelligent commentary. Check out the statistics on the level of education in blue states v. red states. The results are revealing. Times editorial writers have no impact on the Trump core. If Trump's lies, religious pandering, sexual misconduct, open racism and blatant greed have not impacted Trump's supporters no Times editorial will succeed in doing so.
1
Do you still get credit for using the Madman theory approach to foreign policy if it's accidental?
The thing is, us on the other side, the side that actually and popularly won the elections, have already given the President multiple benefits of the doubt. With the inexorable of his presidency became clear, we on the progressive side collectively thought "ok, maybe he's been playing the racist/sexist/ignorant/obnoxious card so as to get elected. Maybe he'll get serious and show us he's really skilled and competent." After over 3,000 verifiable lies, multiple indictments, daily embarrassments, that phase is over and done with. There is no there, there, November can't come soon enough.
At this point, humpty-trumpty is focused on that trip to Sweden! The prospect of a Nobel had not occurred to him, I'd bet, but when he heard that on fox for the first time his little ears perked right up. Now he's bound and determined to meet with Kim so he can have one of what Obama has!
Even if by some fluke or stretch of luck and happenstance the summit with North Korea actually takes place and yields positive results, whatever those might be, we are still saddled with a president whose chief asset is his ability to manipulate reality, as you say. We are stuck with a man who continually lies, who mocks, who stomps his foot like Nikita Khrushchev at the U.N. ("I hereby demand"), who is incurious, who doesn't read, who flies by the seat of his pants, who is enabled by a platoon of sycophants inside and outside the White House, who has rendered the truth irrelevant to his supporters and enablers, who endorses, encourages, and emboldens bigotry and violence. He is bound to have some sort of "success" some time while he is in office, but whatever that "success" may be, it does not diminish the putridness he has unleashed on America . . . the rancid boil he has raised and lanced, the contents of which now flow across the face of the land. Many of us stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt long ago (if ever we granted it him in the first place -- though I do remember a moment after the election in which I actually thought, "well, maybe" -- but by inauguration day that "maybe" had changed to "nope -- don't think so" . . .) and stand by, horrified, as he attempts to dismantle the foundation upon which our fragile, imperfect democracy has been built. As for "everyone" thinking he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize; make that everyone minus one.
1
and we for sure have been conned, dupped and played. It feels like we have been ridden hard and hung out wet.
Thank goodness the rest of the world isn't as willingly taken in by the Donald as Americans seem to be.
I'm looking for South Korea's president to be given the Nobel, in a deliberate slap in the face to the vain oaf who can't even see that Kim did not come to the table in response to his bullying but only after his own nuclear success.
Per North Korea, there was a sort of Only Nixon Could Go To China vibe, this time with sociopaths finding common cause. Foolish thought or fools rush in?
Now looking more and more unlikely.
I appreciate Michelle's razor sharp analysis and fearless criticism of our, "idiot president". Yet, the things she is pointing out seem obvious to most thinking people. Sooner or later, however, we must recognize that Trump is merely a manifestation of a far deeper malignancy within our culture.
At that point we're going to have to face the false and destructive cultural memes that have spawned Trump and the spawn of Trump--ideas such as anthropocentrism, Dominionism, Manifest Destiny, American exceptionalism, the idea that a nation or people can be God's chosen ones, divine right, the baseless nature of certain religious teachings, and yes, capitalism as it now operates in America. These are the seeds of ecological destruction, global warming, the opioid crisis, our stupid wars, rising suicide rates, mass murders, and yes, Trump.
Trump scares the stuff out of the whole world with reckless taunts and thoughtless bluster about raining down “fire and fury” on North Korea. When he then holds off (at least temporarily) on annihilating the Korean Peninsula and kicking off World War III, some feel he deserves a Nobel prize? This utterly nonsensical. The only reason Trump cares about a Nobel is that Obama, rightly or wrongly, was awarded one. I sincerely do not believe that Trump cares about or understands the dynamics or people in the two Koreas. Both Trump and Kim are congenital liars who care only about power, money and obsequious praise.
If you do not want to give him the benefit of the doubt just report the facts.
And you would think the Dems would be screaming from the rooftops daily, yet they're conspicuous in their silence.
Chuck? Nancy? Anything to say about ANYTHING??
Sorry, I am not buying the "let the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot" argument. A weak cop-out that.
1
There is no moral equivalence when it comes to Trump. His corruption and lies are legion.
Ms. Goldberg's salacious, insulting, and borderline treasonous comments and wild psychological speculations about the duly elected president of the United States is stunningly inappropriate even as opinion. I can imagine what she would have written about Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt.
Peter Olsson MD,Retired psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
1
An "idiot", a "con man", this was all evident before the election; Trump is only doing what he's always done. Questions still arise how he collected any votes, much less his underwhelming majority. (For those outside the U.S., you don't need a majority to win a presidential election, and it's now easy/permissible for a citizen to buy an assault rifle and assault/kill other citizens with it; both blamed on faults in our Constitution, which is amendable, but so far hasn't been done in both instances.)
So, a summit lacking substance--what's being reported here-- put on by two showmen, one man representing conspiracy theorists and trying to hang on in the face of reality, and the other trying to perpetuate a brutal dictatorship. Perhaps the gentleman formerly from Cambridge Analytica could be persuaded to moderate for them, just to create a memorable photo of the three of them standing next to each other, which might be the best we could expect from this, just as the photo of Kelley Ann perched on the couch with her feet tucked up under her, texting her friends, "You're not going to believe what he doing now", is the best visual we have so far so far from this unpresidented unpresidentualed administration.
On the other hand, if the other nuclear powers, are serious about non-proliferation, they might step in at this juncture and make sure that it happens. It is something that needs to be addressed a priori before other problems are even considered.
It would be helpful if those who are not in favor of Trump, including the wonderful and noble Ms. Goldberg, would stop illustrating their articles and comments with photos of the narcissist in Chief.
I grew up in New York and like most New Yorkers knew all too well that when America put Don the Con in the White House there was trouble ahead. You cannot give someone the “benefit of the doubt “ when all doubt vanished decades ago. So, OK, fool us once, shame on Trump..... but vote his GOP co-conspirators out in 2018 or shame on America.
1
Ms. Goldberg, I don't think that you have ever given him the benefit of the doubt. Nobody could possibly fault you for that.
3
This is bigger than Trump. Stop giving the GOP the benefit of the doubt.
The non-job-creating tax cuts that blow up the deficit leading to cuts to the safety net - standard GOP policy. They've been doing it for years. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Trump's wholesale destruction of the Federal government, crippling agencies and turning them into apparatus for graft and corruption on an epic scale, is also standard GOP policy, just on steroids.
Trump's conversion of ICE into quasi storm troopers is fully in line with GOP xenophobia. His indifference to police brutality is fully in line with GOP authoritarianism. The casual racism - ditto.
What's new is the GOP giving Trump carte blanche to blow up decades of policy on North Korea, trash our European allies, blow up trade agreements, and get played for a sucker by foreign autocrats. His subservience to Putin and other foreign interests is treasonous. The GOP response? Crickets.
Ditto for their reaction to the blatant nepotism and open solicitation of deals that benefit Trump's personal business empire. They see nothing. They say nothing.
Repeat: Stop giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt. They are fully complicit in everything Trump is doing. They are the cancer on the body politic that must be removed. Trump is simply the open manifestation of their corruption.
3
I wonder why we hear so few cries of outrage from the Democrats about Trump's numerous crimes and misdemeanors. The Dems should be shouting from every rooftop, screaming bloody murder at the death of democracy.
1
This is a man with a very toxic mix of ignorance, vanity and an evil spirit.
Our only redemption is that he is also incompetent, therefore, efficient, decent people will not work for or with him.
This leaves The Donald and KJU on the same island - their only neighbors are nincompoops.
I have read very little (i.e., nothing) in the NYT that gives Trump any benefit of the doubt. Haven't seen any doubt to benefit from either. Goldberg must be commenting about another newspaper; neither Politico nor Daily Beast really need advice from her given their history of "resistance".
1
Goldberg is 100% correct when stating that Trump's only real talent lies in his deft manipulation of reality. A nice way of soft-pedaling the fact he has and continues to lie - with appalling frequency. And, with right wing media outlets and a spineless GOP Congress, the great majority of whom say nothing or, worse, defend these abhorrent, willful distortions, dangerously in place do we have those two vital factors which also enabled Goebbels in the 30's and in modern times have gotten Putin where he is today. America's Democracy is under dire threat when a sitting president, unchecked, viciously undermines the Justice Department with twisted accusations which do not bear intelligent, balanced scrutiny.
1
Assigning validity to anything this president does is simply an act of desperation to counter the reality that the U.S. is falling fast. I have been outraged every time the media praises something he does, saying "now he's acting presidential." This arrogant, lying, manipulative pretender is not capable of behaving like a president. We stoop to a new low when we accept that this president represents a new reality. I remain shocked each and every day that he is allowed to retain power.
1
Yes, speak truth; that's all. No need to lie about Trump just because he's President.
We've let the few take over this country and world. Read the Guardian about the malaise and inequity in England and you'd think you were reading about America. The corruption is world-wide.
How do we foster equality? This is our gravest sin: a democratic land with plutocratic government.
Greed is inside all of us; sad to say. But the rich have perfected the game to benefit themselves at the expense of the rest of us. What's this 'populist' Trump and his Republican support really done so far? Tax cuts for the rich and for corporations. End game. They win. For now.
We are having to face our worst inclinations, including narcissism and hate. Trump is a pro at both. He's been a fraud and shyster for decades, so I'm kind of glad he's leading the Republicans: the shine is off the 'moral majority', the mask is gone from the 'patriotic party', the immorality is sticking to the 'values voters'. Fake this all was and is.
Compassion, love, equality: this is a honorable & necessary triumvirate. We need to belong and help each other through this life. Greed is a disease.
Trump is a caged rat with various immoral and corrupt actions starting to surface. Republicans are infected, too. This land is run by dirty money, lobbyists/politicians, avarice, self-serving traitors. We've been had.
Equality, which means ending poverty, is our creed. We must be more committed to one another. Love, not greed.
1
In my opinion, right now Ms. Goldberg is the journalistic world's (or at least, New York's) TOP opinion columnist. I mean she is "nailing" the daily bad cess emanating from the White House and the head grinch. If you don't agree with Goldberg, you're one of "them" and not on the side of what is right and good about the progress of this America.
1
Ms. Goldberg is the future.
1
Thank you for saying what I've thought since Charlottesville.
2
Doubt of what? He is an egomaniac, wants to rule rather than govern, easily manipulated by flattery, he has low morals, he is amazingly ignorant, makes money from sitting in the White House, and I have no doubt on these plus a few more. Even if he sits face to face with the North Korean Supreme Leader, he will be dazzled and blinded by all the attention and the limelight on him, he can easily botch up the process.
No, I am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because I have no doubt about his capacity.
209
Well, give the devil his due. At least he is making an attempt which is certainly more than our previous leader did.
2
Why do we need to make an attempt in the first place? For what purpose? This is just like the Iraq misadventure. Did that war make us safer? It’s always Republicans ginning up a reason for illegally invading or bombing another country that leaves tens of thousands dead and injured, then blaming Democrats for not going far enough to win it as they clean up the mess.
5
I don't think Trump is making any attempt. He's led by the nose by flattery. Give Moon Jae-in the credit. He did the work.
This is an excellent article. What has really begun to irritate me is the common complaint that such a column preaches to the choir, that its only effect is to make the already convinced feel good. This column, in fact, suggests that the choir--in this case the "reasonable" media--are not that steadfast in their belief that Trump is a disaster. It points out how vulnerable the media are to false hope.
Preaching to the choir should not be seen as feckless . Commanders preach to their troops, not the enemy. We need every bit of "screw your courage to the sticking point" advice we can get in order to fight despair. We are at war!
4
The mainstream media continually normalizes Trump and goes on with fake outrage. But they all love Trump.
Of course there is a commerative coin, because that’s all this is to Trump, another opportunity for self aggrandizement. Supposedly those in the WH are terrifired of his complete lack of knowledge about the details of N. Korea’s nuclear program as well as his complete unwillingness to spend anytime learning about it.
Aside from his corruption, Trump’s utter vacuity coupled with his enormous ego could be our downfall.
194
Maybe that coin will be a collectors' item when the coin comes out and the "summit" doesn't happen.
8
Maybe put the already minted commemorative coins next to Trump's fake TIME magazine cover. It's absurd to think of Trump & The Nobel Peace Prize .... it's insulting to the organization and to all former winners. He is just another sleazy real estate guy, nothing more then that, way in over his head and I suspect that Putin is done w/ him... for now.
14
The irony is that he thinks being treated as a peer by a brutal totalitarian dictator is aggrandizement.
16
The Republican Tax overhaul legislation did exactly what the Republicans wanted it to do. It was a payoff , for their mega donors and the Elite top 5% of Wealthy Americans. They touted it as a windfall tax break for the "Working Man", which couldn't be further from the truth. They claimed it would create Millions of high wage jobs by bringing back Millions of Dollars held overseas and encourage Companies to reinvest their gains to bring back jobs. There is little evidence that is occuring. By and large the opposite has occured. Instead they are using these gains to reward their investors, by investing in more Automation designed to eliminate higher wage workers, and buying back shares of their Companies. The Legislation added Trillions to the National Debt. Created rising Inflation costs for basic necessities: fuel, food, clothing and Health Insurance. These costs and the higher interest rates being imposed to combat Inflation, will be shouldered by the lower income classes. Now the Republicans will focus on attacking the Social Safety nets: Social Security, Medicare, and all the programs that benefit the lower income Americans. Add to this, the Supreme Court decission passed yesterday by 5-4. Republican Justice, Neil Gorsch, was the decideing vote. This decission severly curbs Workers from bringing Class Action Suits against Companies accused of violating Worker's Rights. Does this make Make America Great Again?
6
No one right or left is giving Trump the benefit of the doubt on anything. Instead, everyone assumes the worst and the assumption might be well founded in all cases. However, we hope that just maybe he will get something right and then if he does, that he not step on it and ruin it anyway.
There is no doubt that Trump is the one and only President of the United States that we currently have. As long as the American Congress and the American Courts do not check his divided limited republic Constitutional executive power Trump has every given benefit, power and prerogative of his office.
2
Michelle Goldberg is largely right-on, but she falls prey to the same journalistic tendencies she descries when she refers vaguely to the Republican strategy of cutting taxes, ballooning deficits, then targeting "programs for the poor."
"Programs for the poor" does not convey the threats to Social Security and Medicare, which are pillars of the vanishing middle class.
12
Saw this coming weeks ago.
Trump has manically backed himself into an ego driven lock box and he will do just about anything to come out of his self-made dilemma with a win of some kind — just about any kind.
The President thinks that he is something that he is not — a masterful deal maker. The match up of Trump and Moon against Kim and Ji looks awfully like a lopsided match up of a tiddlywinks amateur against a three dimensional chess champion.
The upside might be an end to the perpetual state of war on the Korean peninsula in the form of a peace agreement in place of the armistice that has been in effect since 1953.
7
After reading the comment stating that there are no Asia experts in this administration, I couldn't help but think of the unbelievably uninformed Bush/Cheney administration before the Iraq invasion. With civilian leaders who have little understanding of history and context, we are in grave danger. This erratic and impulsive President is only restrained by sound military advice. In the case of the Iraq invasion, the intel was completely and tragically ignored by Bush/Cheney. The best informed among us had to watch in horror as we witnessed the mainstream media help lead the nation down the garden path. The rest of the world saw what was happening and formed massive protests, which Bush dismissed as "a focus group". Will we be pulled into an even greater disaster by the current leader, with little public outcry and protest? I fear it will be even more frightening. The current administration will probably label serious protests as domestic terrorism. Our apathy may be our undoing if we don't get serious about well organized push back, before our next misadventure produces far more horrific results.
10
When Trump begins speaking truthfully to us,that is when we should give him the benefit of a doubt. As long as he daily gives us evidence that he finds it easier to lie than to formulate coherent prose.....he does not deserve any benefit of a doubt.
Even in the matter of his public statements concerning the porn star: what heretofore would have been disastrous to a politician, for Trump it is not. Any expectation of moral behavior, any expectation of his own feelings of shame have all been previously proven false. He has attacked news agencies as "fake" when they tell the truth. He has attacked Ms. Daniels as a liar when he is the one lying. And his own response was bribery to keep the truth unknown.
Give this man the benefit of a doubt? Why, so he can keep lying without accountability? We see where that leads in our own spineless and gutless GOP Congress.
9
I will always give our President Trump the benefit of the doubt. Did you know that Francis Crozier lives!
Excellent summary of reality of the operations of our Lying Con-Man (LCM) president. This reality is being exposed in the North Korea - US potential talks -
LCM accepted a 1 on 1 talk without any knowledge of what an acceptable agreement would be for either side.
LCM'a attempt to con North Korea to date has failed, as it will in the future.
LCM failing to get his wishes can only fall back to threats - and in this nuclear weaponized world is a really bad outcome.
4
Two words describe trump. Empty suit. That much I can tell you.
14
Thank you Michelle. I find it pathetic that a tweet from a pathological self admitted liar can be considered a "success". There is no measurable improvement anywhere.
NK doesn't need this meeting. The "Dear Leader" doesn't really care how badly his people starve due to sanctions. He's already watched millions die. We have only two things to offer NK. Respect and a treaty guarantee not to invade (and ending the Korean War). KIm is playing Trump like a violin and the embarrassment may lead to violence...I hope not.
Xi is Mr. Mello - he is playing Trump like a cello. He knows we need his cheap goods at Walmart and Amazon. He also knows we need him to continue to support our national debt.
So if you want to be really stupid as a nation, you become hostile and threatening to one of the countries that literally supports the debts caused by our irresponsible deficit building tax cuts to the rich!
We are simply giving away our power to China by needing their goods and their bond purchases. The latter being the real problem.
6
Made my morning, keep up the great work ! never...give...in.
7
That Russia & China would allow any threat from the White House threaten their power, in that part of the World, especially concerning N. K. is absurd Also thank you to the NYT for allowing common sense to rule. The madness, that this president is causing, is wearing thin.
4
Shiny baubles,false praise and exaggerated sense of ego-importance belies their ignorance-impotence.
The way to roll a mark and out con Don-Don. If ignorance were a virtue, Trump would be a saint.
5
From the get-go Michelle the majority of us knew DJD term as president would not be a pretty one. Why?
'We the People' were and never would be on his radar. He has never lived among a populous of fellow human being, you know the preverbal village. We are but the worker bees who should pay homage to those who create an industry for us to labor in.
The moment he won we knew that attitude won him this seat over aptitude.
No we are not the least bit surprised. The task of We (all) the People is to strip him of the power of president he continues to abuse.
3
Giving Trump the benefit of the doubt would seem to normalize his incompetence. That's the last thing the country needs. His tenure is an aberration.
8
Trump may be able to fool 100% of Fox viewers and 35-40% of the American people all the time, and too many journalists too much of the time, but he is not fooling the clear-headed, straight-taking Michelle Goldberg any of the time. Much appreciated!
And if you think Trump is not doing permanent damage to our government, read Evan Osnos' "Trump vs. the Deep State" in the New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/21/trump-vs-the-deep-state
4
While I am sure that “everyone is talking about Trump getting a Nobel Prize”, maybe we should see how the summit goes - if it even happens - first?
1
Trump has minted a commemorative coin? What a joke. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!
I've never felt more unsafe in my life as an American. This .....person (I don't like to call him a man because he is completely unworthy of the good men in this world) is a nutcase. He is unhinged. He puts us at risk every day he's in office.
Kim Jong Un is playing Trump. And we are less safe. November! We must stop him/stymie for the two years before 2020 when we can elect an adult to lead us.
7
Sometimes I still cannot believe that Donald Trump is the president. Donald. Trump. And the kicker to this nightmare is he's actually worse than I imagined. God awful.
13
But Michelle, Trump headlines are still gold and no media outlet in America has been able to resist the allure of the lucre.
Trump knows this and plays this for all its worth, literally. Is Trump concerned about the actual outcome of the summit in terms of specific agenda items? No. He wants the Nobel. And the Trump Administration's goals for the summit? Depends on who you are talking to at the moment.
And once again we have to remember that the Trumpian philosophy of anything, anything that happened before Trump was the dark ages of diplomacy and Obama progressive capital 'L' Loser policy.
Money talks loudly and going along with Trump the Savior serves the media pocketbook. Yeah, Trump's fake news screams are annoying but the media basically gives just a shrug and no more.
Investigative journalism got Harvey Weinstein for sure. But the grifting of Trump? Ooo, we have to be careful about 'allegations'!
Careful seems to be applied depending on the subject.
The Trump TV Presidency is produced, directed by and starring one giant grifter-in-chief. That is ratings gold and the only thing the star is good at.
1
We have government by, for, and of the ignorant. This meeting is playing so well with his base and many independents, who are unaware that this conflict exists between the meaning of denuclearization. It has already been chalked up as a win in the minds of many voters. The tax bill was merely a way to allow the wealthy to not pay any taxes, so it has gone unnoticed by most of the country. The Democrats have a lot of work to demonstrate the folly of these policies by November.
5
I subscribe to M-W's word of the day and The Free Dictionary word of the day. It's amazing how many times those words describe Trump. Here is today's combination: M-W Garrulous, given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity: pointlessly or annoyingly talkative. The Free Dictionary Harebrained. You get the picture.
2
Yes, all of us should be "open minded" and objective. However, Republicans have openly embraced our crook president, so Trump is triumphant. Our only hope is the next Congress. And the hope depends on how thoughtful and rational we are; we elected Trump.
2
The bar is so low for Trump, just showing up—just traveling somewhere other than his golf club or a deep-red state “rally”—is hailed as a victory for him. Hence the commemorative coins, what we call “participation” trophies in the real world.
6
I think it is a temptation for any rational human being to want to identify even a scrap of sanity coming out of the three-ring circus now embedded in the White House. Thinking this whirlpool of shameless corruption, overweening vanity, and overt cruelty could, even accidentally, produce an outcome that is not totally catastrophic for the world is understandable. Without that shred of hope, clung to with while-knuckled desperation, all we are left with is the daily battering of our institutional norms and our basic decency, a constant barrage of venal vulgarity which seems to have no rhyme or reason to it.
256
Most rational people would fine it painfully easy to resist this temptation. Then it would be back to the default setting that you so aptly describe as "white-knuckled desperation" as we continue to struggle against the incessant assaults on our values & institutions. But we know we are legion & we will continue to resist.
13
Well the three ring circus is a better show than our former illusionists president.
3
Who does 45 want to immolate? President Abraham Lincoln who said " we should offer charity for all and show malice toward none." Or, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who savaged Turkey's democracy, took over the press, jailed many lawyers, professors, generals, soldiers, and bombed our Kurdish Allies in Syria? Who does 45 want to emulate?
3
Excellent, as usual.
4
Please Trumpsters, remember this in November!
3
Can we please stop giving Trump credit for the meeting?
Kim DID NOT stop testing at Trump's loud-mouthing; he stopped only when we were forced to acknowledge that he could hit any part of our country with nukes. Then he said, "OK, now let's talk."
The whole idea that he is responsible for Kim's coming to the table is a huge vanity. And even worse is the idea that Trump could take it from here and negotiate a good deal when he doesn't even understand what's happened.
6
Well, of course "con men should never be given the benefit of the doubt".
But that presupposes that a large majority of people have the wherewithal to separate wheat from chaff and not be marks, and to recognize the con.
Never underestimate most people's desire to gull and be gulled; "you can fool too many people too much of the time"; people want to lie to others, and to be lied to, because the truth is devastating. We've been advised of all this before. It didn't help then, and it's not helping now.
5
Trumps skill at blowing deals is on full display now. Kim Jong-un has pushed Trump over into the passenger seat and will drive the US out of South Korea, without concessions.
Or, Trump seizes the opportunity to both distract attention from his swamp swirl and look strong...and attack Kim in his lair.
Like so much bad that happens in history...
It was all entirely unnecessary.
NK should be left with their current weapons in place, cease and desist from testing and weapons development in exchange for a broad peace deal including a large reduction in our forces in the south.
Close but no cigar... just smoke.,. Sad.
2
"Never give a con man the benefit of the doubt!" Its so sad that this brilliant time age old line is the message of our times. I am still waiting for the cartoon of our "President" driving his horses pulling a covered wagon emblazoned with "Snake Oil for Sale."
All I can say is if you elect a clown you can expect a circus.
Thanks Ms Goldberg, your contributions to the real news of the NY Times have been consistently outstanding!
8
"Memory says, 'I did that.' Pride replies, 'I could not have done that.' Eventually, memory yields."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
This is Trump in all matters & outcomes.
1
It is amazing how everyone is scratching their heads trying to figure out why workers salaries are stagnating. What is it about essentially giving a raise to corporations that is NOT a one time bonus, but a permanent raise that they refuse to pass along to their workers, as promised by Trump don't you get? Remember way back when Carrier was threatened by Trump not to move its jobs to Mexico? Where are the threats to corporate America to share their new permanent windfall with the workers by raising their wages? And where will these workers be as they watch their own tax cuts fade into the sunset essentially knocking them down another rung of what has been transformed from a step to an extension ladder? Oh, Donald, you are our hero. As to North Korea....we staged military exercises after agreeing to the summit. It would not surprise me in the least that on the day before the summit, with Trump playing golf in South Korea, Kim sets off a missile into the sea. One right out of the Trump playbook..
116
Good comment!
Is anyone keeping track of how many campaign promises Trump has reneged on already during his first year and a half in office?
At the rate Trump, his destructo cabinet, and the GOP are going, Imagine what this country will look like by 2020.
This love affair the Trumpsters are having with him is not going to end well. Unfortunately, they are taking the rest of us down with them.
But, have you ever tried to warn a friend that he or she is in a really bad and damaging relationship? It never works, so do we just have to wait until these Trump enthusiasts come to their senses?
Why are 35-40% of the deluded citizenry able to tell 55-60% of the rest of us that we are nuts and that Trump is sane and doing great?
16
Carrier’s move was temporary. They ended up getting rid of jobs anyway.
10
In addition, it is a slap in the face to all those, military and civilian, who fought to keep the Communists from completely overrunning the entire peninsula in the early 50's.
NK's only goal here is to get the US to sit down and talk, a victory in and of itself. NK's thinking is: if you talk to me, I am legitimate. If it takes throwing a few pieces of candy Trump's way (release of 3 political prisoners, faux offer of "denuclearization"), then so be it. Trump's vanity, ego and thirst for flattery would cause him to fall for such a flimsy deal every time. Work worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously? Of course, Trump says, "People are sayin'..."
11
I think we should hope that the meeting between Trump and Kim goes well. The world would be a better place if the endless threats and confrontations on the Korean peninsula were to stop.
However, the chances of this happening are slim at best.
Kim has "made nice" with the US and South Korea before, only to revert to his old ways. Hopefully China will pressure Kim not to "act out".
I think Trump's motivation is getting the Nobel Peace Prize. For a egotist like Trump, that would validate his chaotic presidency, giving him a rare win on the international stage in time for the midterm elections.
This meeting, should it actually happen, certainly has the potential to go very badly. Let's hope it doesn't.
There has been a simple rule to apply to trump since he lied to the NJ Casino Board in 1983 to wrest control of the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
If trump says it, it is almost certainly false.
On a side note - Republicans seemed fine with endless investigations of a terrorist attack in Benghazi. Everything that there was ever to know about it was known within 2 months. The investigations stretched on for 4 years.
They were fine with a 2 year investigation of an IT routing issue. Everything there was ever there to know was known in a matter of weeks.
Every day new evidence surfaces pointing to a much broader set of crimes by trump, his family, his campaign, and the Republican party. Vote only for Democrats this November so we can make sure justice is fully served to those who are doing so much damage to the once great America.
12
Trump is anxious to do something -- anything -- that wins him adoration -- from anyone. Now he has something to win Kim-Love: acknowledgement that North Korea has a legitimate government headed by a guy who's just as compassionate and peace-loving as Trump. Why aren't our TVs equipped with an audio-visual system like Kim-Land's that broadcasts daily messages from the Great Leader we are all required to watch? This technological triumph would trump the need to spend all day following tweets from own Little Rocket Man.
3
"In South Korea, it’s basically an open secret that this whole thing is flattering Trump,” Kelly said. “It kind of amazes me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this.”
It doesn't amaze me. Trump's staff is as uninformed and self-centered as he is.
11
Yes, we have a "reality show" for an administration. Everything is all "flash and splash," spur of the moment, staged for TV and with no predictable outcome, because there is never any planning and zero strategy.
It might be amusing, except that our national security and nuclear destruction are the stakes in this "game."
Trump does nothing but pander to his MAGA-head "base" and his oligarch overlords. Once the headlines have been touted, everything collapses, but the public doesn't notice because they have gone on to the next tweet-distraction.
I don't know who is more foolish, Trump or the rest of us poor schlubs who keep hoping things will change. After 16 months they have not. And if Democrats don't win at least one Congressional chamber in November. it will be time for Trump to release the Kraken, and then we will really see the full horror of his presidency, from which we may never recover.
5
A commemorative coin?? Thank you for this news, I'm going to get mine! Will it cost a three dollar bill? If it's an "encounter coin" do they pay me $130,000 never to cash it in ever? Folks, let's write the mint -- the mint? -- and request other encounter coins!
4
The difference between what happened during Watergate and what is happening today is Fox News. It is not only how they manipulate their viewers, but now they inform the president about what his agenda should be.
7
What you write about here exposes a very serious problem for our democracy. Even if there was justification early on for giving him the benefit of the doubt, which would require more generosity than I could summon up, that time has long passed. We have proof to support this view on a daily basis.
What oozes out of the White House and Capital is presented as fact by many of your colleagues but in no way does it become more credible.
The defenders of Trump sound more and more desperate and erratic to me as he continues to be exposed as a corrupt and ineffective lecher whose smallness of character and lack of ability combined with absolute power are causing much damage to go unchecked.
Writers like you are true patriots in my view.
5
A few years ago I met a Donald Trump lookalike. I was a substitute teacher when I subbed in a fifth grade class which included a young boy who had special needs - behavioral problems. That child bullied, blustered, lied and was unable to learn because he already knew better than anything we had to offer. He even had a younger version of dominant physical behaviors. Of course, he was also very vulnerable to collapse from any force that objected to the reality he believed. Because of that experience, Donald Trump has always been a man with behavioral problems. I cannot describe the fear that passed through me when I understood we had elected him as our president.
7
"The tax cuts are creating larger deficits than Republicans predicted, and those deficits are now being cited as a pretext for cutting spending on the poor. "
STOP giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt, too. Ever since Ray-Gun verbalized the strategy of "starve the beast" they have been saying "NO."
Who cares if the poor have to file medical bankruptcy - just revise/strengthen the bankruptcy laws so debts chase them. Who cares how long the lines are in emergency rooms?
The so-called president has , at the top of his TV agenda, watching out for himself and his rich co-conspirators. Other than that, who cares?
3
Are any of President Trump's advisors telling him that Kim Jong-Un is playing him like a fish? Kim has nothing to lose from any outcome of this meeting with the US. Are President Trump's delusions of winning a Nobel Prize (just like President Obama) overwhelming any sense of reality? In fact, is this yet another way our president is trying to match (or one-up) President Obama?
5
I keep thinking of the Infinite Monkey Theorem: put a monkey in a room with a typewriter and with the keys being hit randomly the works of Shakespeare will be produced.
So it is with this president. I am sure that out of his chaos theory of governing, mathematically he might have some degrees of success. But that kind of governing theory gives me nothing but agita, and I suspect much of the nation shares that feeling with me.
7
Never underestimate the power of the Republican Party to appeal to the base desires of their supporters to stick to “those people” all the while not realizing they are “those people”.
The best example of this is the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Somehow many Republican constituents believed their ACA insurance was good but Obamacare was taking from them and giving it to “those people” who weren’t as deserving. In several news stories when it was pointed out the ACA and Obamacare were the same thing many still didn’t believe it.
Trump and republicans understood this and used it to their advantage. Same principle applies to those corporate tax cuts that would put the “forgotten people” back to work and relieve their tax burden, not happening. Trickle down economics is a fallacy.
Whether or not the Summit comes off as planned, even if Trump is the one to tank it, he’ll come out smelling like a rose. Trump is the Teflon Don.
5
Trump does not have the benefit of the doubt. What he has is the benefit of our outdated and warped electoral college system!
7
Everything Trump does is intended to solidify his power and continue to line his pockets. He could not care less about wages, national security, health care, jobs, etc. His only concern is that these issues reflect positively in the eyes of his base, in order to feed his ego and improve his poll numbers. His tax cuts are nothing more than a deficit buster which enriches his wealthy donors so they feel justified in contributing more money and support. As far as any foreign policy decisions go, Trump bases them on their potential for personal financial enrichment and egomaniacal gain. Like any successful crime boss, he has no concern about whom or what he steps on in order to make money. And yet the Republican Congress endorses everything he says and does.
4
Trump is not a serious man, he plays people in order to have them do what he wants but he does not seem to want much. He likes attention but it’s superficial, it’s just for his personal gratification. He does not care about consequences that go beyond that because he does not see how it matters to anything that is important to him. He has no interest in history. What happened before he was around and what will happen after he’s gone, bore him. If he had not so much money, the effort of running for office would have discouraged him from even trying. It would have demanded a sustained and determined effort to achieve which Trump simply would not want to make.
3
"It kind of amazes me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this."
What staff?
6
It was providing Trump the benefit of the doubt while providing the exact opposite to Hillary Clinton that arguably contributed to his election. Until they publicly own the monster they willfully aided and abetted, nothing will change.
5
Those who support Trump should realize the pendulum swings both way and unless Trump fulfills his dream of becoming Supreme Leader for life, the next person to take his place may have a totally opposite ideology from conservative capitalistic brutality and be much more socialistic. With out the guardrails of the rule of law and an independent justice system the wealthy and the corporations may suffer a backlash of the working class in ways that history can only imagine.
2
I agree with Ms. Greenberg and the majority of posters, Trump is a disaster and a joke but there is a more insidious cancer spreading through our democratic country.
When the "Tax Plan?" was rammed through, most if not all of the congress claimed that they hadn't read it, didn't know the details/contents and became very agitated when questioned by the press.
The question than becomes, who wrote the bill? Apparently, it was written by lobbyists by some very wealthy and powerful people i.e. The Koch's, the Mercer's etc. After all, the day the bill was signed, Paul Ryan was paid 1/2 million dollars by the Koch's. Just recently Ryan's people picked up a check for 30 million dollars ear marked to the GOP from Sheldon Adelson. It is estimated that he earned a windfall 670 million dollars during the first quarter from the GOP tax bill.
Need I say more, need I discuss Pruitt and the EPA, DeVOS and Education, Carson and Housing for the poor, Manuchin etc etc.
I'd say our problems lie much deeper than Donald Trump, who I still wholeheartedly believe is a front man for the real people "running the show"...and that scares me to no end.
7
Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize about as much as I deserve the American League Cy Young Award. (I have never pitched a baseball for pay in my life.)
I suspect that since Trump is now playing in the "big leagues" for the first time in his life, with no preparation at all, he is going to end up with egg foo young (or the Korean equivalent) on his face. In public, for all to see.
Donald Trump is going to be seen as the Potemkin Village of diplomacy, all facade and no substance at all. Last time I checked, they do not give a Nobel prize for whirled peas.
5
Look at what's just happened with the tariff non-negotiations with China for a taste of what the potential is for the "peace" and ill-defined "denuclearization" summit between two egomaniacs and their attention-desperate minions who may not be able to understand the difference between kimchi and cole slaw, nor want to if that understanding doesn't raise their value with their respective leaders. Neither leader understands the other's definition of denuclearization, and this is not some benign issue for consequential discussion between two men who may not even be able to pick each other out of a police line-up.
3
Let us hope that Michelle's "Stop Giving Trump the Benefit of the Doubts" will be given more consideration by the NY Times' 'brass'.
As fellow prisoners in an excessively capitalistic socio-economic system, we can empathize with the need for ambitious journalists working to expand their presentations of truth to include being more than necessarily fair to Trump in their opinions and reporting. Polite society does that in every walk of life. But if politeness is not balanced by another value it facilitates our captivity in a dysfunctional socio-economic system -- just as freedom unbalanced by responsibility does.
Would authenticity be the value with which politeness in the US must now be balanced?
http://www.authentixcoaches.com/ACReadingMaterial3.html
1
Michelle, The undertow and gravity metaphors are brilliant. Kep up the good work.
5
It's not just Donald Trump who craves legitimization; it's his base as well -- the idea that white male voters in America still control the world as they did in the decade or two after World War II. It hasn't been too hard for Trump to cater to this craving by inventing an alternate-reality show, starring you-know-who, complete with commemorative coins. Maybe that is the kernal of an idea to restore America's role as the sole standing industrial power circa 1945: a commemorate coin marking America's return to the top of the economic heap, tours leave the White House every 15 minutes, including the possibility (not guaranteed) of the Supreme Leader beavering away at his desk in the Oval Office planning his next golf date.
3
I'm hoping that Trump's cowardice streak will kick into high gear so that he uses an excuse, no matter how flimsy, to back out of the meeting with Kim.
There is no doubt in my mind that Kim's outreach for a summit was very well planned taking into account numerous variables that he could use both before the meeting as well as during a meeting if it were actually to take place. We must not underestimate the North Korean cunning.
Unfortunately, Trump with his usual bravado and narcissism jumped at the invitation for the summit without any consultation with experts before accepting. His shallow grasp of issues and his lack of cognitive ability to adequately prepare for the meeting are cause for deep concern.
If Trump goes through with this meeting he could truly end up the emperor with no clothes.
4
One thing which the nightmarish fiasco of the Donald Trump presidency has taught me is this: Most moderate and progressive journalists and commentators either are not skilled in logical thinking or they are lazy.
Donald Trump is a very lucky man. He came along when journalism -- in spite of the speedy research advantage of the internet or, perhaps, because of it – is at a low ebb of competency.
1
Thank you for continuing to point out what should be obvious to all, but unfortunately is not: Trump is unfit, unfit, unfit for the presidency.
6
Seems that Borowitz has nailed it: "Millions of Americans are demanding an investigation into why, if F.B.I. operatives managed to infiltrate the 2016 Trump campaign, they utterly failed to prevent a nightmarish despot from being elected."
How true!
3
Credit belongs to people who identify a problem, become well informed about it, analyze possible solutions, and methodically work toward bringing about a solution. Does this sound like Trump? Has there ever been a more impulsive and ignorant president, one less likely to do the hard work of weighing alternatives and crafting thoughtful policies?
In the background, current events are continually churning, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Credit or blame for such events should be assigned to the man who happens to be sitting behind the desk at the time only if he has played an important role in bringing them about. By this criterion, Trump deserves little credit for the steady economy and much blame for the chaos in government and the declining status of the United States in the world.
198
Are you kidding? The liberal media has been driving the narrative in a 24/7 spin fest. Stormy and Russia panels abound. Stormy's smarmy lawyer is ubiquitous and Maggie Haberman is now de rigueur in all the tony West Side salons.
Always pleased to read your article.
As a french canadian, it's a privilege for me to share your thoughts and opinions about american and world politics.
Thank you very much
Marcel Robert
5
Thank you Michelle for your consistently sharp and criticial columns. We have a president who is unfit for the office. That news has not yet reached his supporters who- for their own reasons- have yet to see through his flim flam. But New Yorkers who have listened to him and read about him in the tabloids for years knew he was a self-promoting windbag What we never imagined was that - once in power- he would be dangerous.
7
Wake up.
Trump and his recently approved Secretaries agree that North Korea will be denuclearized. Soon.
One way. Or the other.
1
Trump's "only real talent is the manipulation of reality." No argument here. So, let's try to take a step back into the world of reality for a moment.
Why would anyone believe that Trump, of all people, will be able to pull off a break-through diplomatic achievement that has escaped every Administration before him? Seriously, Trump? His uniquely awful combination of ignorance, incompetence and undeserved confidence in himself make Him the LEAST likely person to negotiate a U.S./North Korea peace agreement.
May want to put that Nobel Peace Prize on hold.
6
trump has a pathological personality disorder, and his behavior is exactly as the profile. His only end is control and he has no empathy, no remorse, no compassion. trump doe snot care about issues except as they can be used to increase his control. Everytime you treat him with respect by discussing issues he wins, i.e. he gets more control. He needs to be removed because he has a pathological personality disorder. It is likely at the next election there will be armed people preventing some American citizens who are profiled to vote Democratic from voting.
4
Some of us stopped giving Trump the benefit of the doubt long before the election. His ridicule of the disabled reporter was a disgusting episode and revealed the type of man he is. There should have been no way, in a normal political environment, that he could win. The fact that he did win says a lot of disappointing things about the electorate.
8
"The tax cuts are creating larger deficits than Republicans predicted, and those deficits are now being cited as a pretext for cutting spending on the poor."
Nothing new here. This has been a tried and true, three card monte tactic of the Republican Party for years. It hasn't worked before and it isn't going to work now.
The real problem is how Trump is making so many believers appear to be even more stupid than he seems to be. Now THAT'S incredible!
4
Spot on. When commentators and reporters continue to act credulous of the relentless fire hose of mendacity that flows from this administration, they damage their own integrity and credibility and the news organization they represent. False equivalencies are not fair and balanced: They are gaslightling and they undermine truth. There has been too much of both in the mainstream media. Those who traffic with this corrupt administration for whatever reason are tainted by it. The smell does no wash off.
6
Reality will catch up to all of us, including Trump, at some point soon. His fake tough guy act has played well domestically, enthralling his base, many Republican congressional types and even the mainstream media. They have all accepted his willful ignorance, laziness, greed, crudeness, constant lying, misogyny, racist behavior as acceptable because they all gain something from him. Outside our borders, it’s a different reality. Those who are able, will take advantage of Trump’s obvious weaknesses. Already the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, and Israelis have been able to outmaneuver him. He was planning on stopping off in Oslo to pick up his Nobel on his way to meet with Kim, but that might have to be put off for a while. Trump was excited to declare trade war victory until the Chinese ruined his talking points. Our allies are sitting back, waiting for his first big missteps to exact their price for his outrages. All bullies meet the same horrible fate, unfortunately we have to meet it with him.
2
The problem is that your media brethren make money and careers off their coverage of Trump. By media, I mean not only unscrupulous network TV producers, but progressive papers like the Times that can find space for conservatives like Stephens and Douthat but not for Chomsky types. Trump is the carnival act that you’ve all been waiting for: Big ratings. Lots of clicks. Truth? Whoever made money off that?
1
"In South Korea, it’s basically an open secret that this whole thing is flattering Trump,” Kelly said. “It kind of amazes me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this.”
Really?
Remember Trump's first cabinet meeting that started with a secretaries profusely flattering the President? Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnell's wife, delivered an Oscar worthy performance.
3
When was the benefit of the doubt given to Trump? I must have missed it. Maybe it was in another paper.
He has done and said things from the start that if Obama, Bush, Clinton had done would have been excoriated and yet there is a lot of "well, that's just trump" and not just from his supporters. Constant lying, the kind that is easily caught and noticed, comes to mind.......
1
I've been waiting for more than 2 years for a legitimate journalist to say this. It's way past time to stop treating Trump as something other than what he is--a disturbed, dishonest criminal with an unquenchable thirst for attention and riches.
So, please, no more reporting that even hints at the idea that this administration is at all normal. Every objective story written about the Trump administration should re-emphasize the ugly character of the president and his sycophants.
Would the right-wing media laugh at such reporting as hopelessly biased? You bet they would. But who cares? They're already doing that even as legitimate news outlets give Trump undeserved credit.
4
Michelle, please continue to keep us in the reality-based universe. Trump is like a black hole creating a reality distortion field around him, warping anything he touches. Journalists are really our last hope. Stay relentless in pursuing the truth, checking facts, calling out the lies, and piercing the cover-ups. Otherwise we will all get pulled over the event horizon into the alternate Trump universe where democracy really will die in darkness. (Tip of the hat to the WaPo).
3
Dear Amelie,
An early spring bird tells me that you are about to take flight when we are about to visit Paris in our Bermuda shorts and take photos of your native pigeon which looks similar to his many descendants in the City of New York.
The Nation continues to move with the Burden of Trump and little is getting accomplished in rebuilding America The Land of the Free. The man looks like guilt personified and half the Country feels he is being unjustly persecuted. Our loyalties misplaced; a weak administration without clear governance; the Media is duking it out; violence is escalating like the plague.
The Red Queen would have admired Putin while wondering if she could beat him at chess. She would have found that something is wrong with Trump, not only based on his appearance but because of his base nature. In all fairness, friends with a love for America and hard-working are attempting to remain neutral during this dark passage, and nobody is about to declare 'We voted for the stupidest man in America'.
My boss, the economist who traveled to France as your U.S. Representative, would have told his cleric that she was walking on ice if I had just so much suggested that Trump could be President one day. In possession of a dry sense of humor, he had his limits when it came to twisting his whiskers, and I usually ended on the far side.
As for your nephew coming to school in America, the timing may be off. Another tragedy has taken place. No Fortune Cookie for Trump.
1
It's interesting how trump plays to the two audiences. He plays the victim to his base, and Faux News, "look how badly I'm being treated by the others" identifying with the "forgotten man" And look how I smash up the mechanics of the elites, customs, norms, I'm rude, vulgar and disrespectful and I lie to get what I want.
He plays the threatener to the rest " the other" after all you have to have an "enemy" to keep the hate alive. You know the list by now: fake news, immigrants, scientific facts, women who think and talk, anyone who has success that doesn't allow him or his family to profit. Robert Mueller. The rule of law, anyone in another branch of government that doesn't profit him, his sycophants, and family.
He lies prodigiously so much so he contradicts himself regularly. He demands loyalty like a Mafia boss. He swaggers and rants at his rallies.
He's limited intellect is balanced by his insidious plotting and con man skills as he erodes our Constitution. He actually hates this country and all it stands for. Loyalty for him is a one way street as demonstrated by " I hardly knew him/her" , " If they were in this room right now I wouldn't recognize him/her.
Never give him the benefit of the doubt. He plainly laid out his intentions in his campaign and rallies. He is determined to dominate, and "win" at all costs. He is a dangerous and despicable man, but the Republicans have joined his club of hate and daily commit to breaking our country's laws, daily.
3
Pitch perfect piece by Ms. Goldberg. I have watched journalists I admire contort themselves in unbelievable ways simply to find a grain of something positive in order to applaud our chief cretin. This person, his so-called cabinet, administrators and Congress is no laughing matter. I am all for fair and impartial IF these were normal times. They aren't!
4
Something is disappointedly wrong with the media and politicians’ refusal to acknowledge what we are facing with Trump: the end of a constitutional democracy with three equal branches of government separately fulfilling their mandates. The wavering and myopia highlighted in this article are scary. Someone please step up in Congress and declare a crisis of our government. Thank you for your disgust and clarity.
3
Trump himself is the original “fake news”, but he’s had others to imitate:
“Tear down that wall”...as if that was all it took.
Media and politics have danced this way together all too often, embracing insatiable gratification.
The long con of the GOP has brought us the long con of the Trump presidency. And 80% of the public identifying as GOP are OK with the con. Why would this many people serve their time behind this wall with the con? What is it in the con's reality that people think their interests are best served? Why is their concept of freedom so stunted and perverted?
1
You got it exactly right. This was true on day one of his campaign. The guy manipulates because there is an audience willing to be manipulated, but is disturbing when that audience is the press.
The press must stop saying "Trump was right" when he said that we need to deal with China or when he points out that it is raining. All he is doing is forcing you to say that he is right. The reason is not relevant. He is manipulating your attitude, your mental state to put you in agreement with him, therefore you are with him and you will be less willing to be critical, much like when a car salesperson tells "but this is a great car", forcing you to say yes even though he or she just gave you an outrageous price.
In reality, the press should remind him how unqualified he is to be president. Not telling him that he was right. Any obscene character can be right here and there, and that is irrelevant.
2
The last line is great. When cable news reports on every teeny piece of information to fill their 24-hour news cycle the general public does not have time to digest the news from an hour previous, thus the orange menace gets the benefit of the doubt.
1
The people who most give Trump the benefit of the doubt are his supporters and journalists from the "main stream media," who don't want to look "biased."
This is just another version of the false equivalency that helped get Trump elected in the first place and feeds the right-wing narrative that he is being persecuted. Notice how FOX, Rush, Breitbart, etc. never gave Obama the benefit of the doubt?
The New York Times and Washington Post have been doing great work. However, journalists need to use words correctly. Trump LIES. He has the most CORRUPT administration in the history of this country. His cabinet is DESTROYING the departments they are heading while ENRICHING themselves.
A scorpion is always a scorpion. Trump won't learn a thing except how to amass power to hurt his perceived enemies. The press needs to do its job.
5
It's the American way! To push aside reason for pomp and empty promises.
meh. My thing is how much should I care? I mean America. How much should I care about how awful America wants to become? Because it ain't becoming a paradise I would consider. I see a gambling haven across the coast with listless and mindless drones working McJobs and having no ability to discern truth from lies.
Certain key elements of the art of the deal are absent in the days leading up to the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. For one, our president has already weakened his position by jumping at the offer to meet the North Korean leader. Prematurely, he tips his hand as to what he desperately wants, a Nobel Peace Prize along with adulation and world acclamation as a diplomatic genius. The North Korean leader will do everything in his power "to surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard" by denying him his moment of glory. Kim Jong-un will block any effort to afford President Trump the benefit of the doubt, as one con man plays another with the N. Koreans holding the better hand.
2
Don't believe an alcoholic who says after a binge, "I'll never drink again." Only AA can dry him/her out, while you go to AlAnon to learn to detach from your alcoholic. Unfortunately, Trump is so pathologically psychologically behaviorally ill that he can't be dried out. So we must detach from his illness before it destroys us. (Ironic that Trump abstains from alcohol, when his behavior is so similar to that of an alcoholic.)
1
Wow - thanks, Ms. Goldberg. You nailed it.
2
Mr. Trump won't/can't even read. His briefings have been dumbed down to one page summaries with pictures. His total lack of knowledge of history and economics, is glaringly obvious. The best he can hope for is to contain the embarrassment he's about to generate.
4
Trump won and continues to hold on to his base not by any rational or analytical message but by using emotion. His lock on his base is re-enforced not by objective journalists but by fawning sycophants on Fox and inflamed gasbags on talk radio. For all practical purposes, Trump has created a new political party. Its segments include the willfully uninformed, the white bigots, revenge-seekers, the greedy ultra-wealthy and the "might makes right" hawks.
It is unlikely that fair-minded journalists are ever going to be given a fair hearing by this conglomeration. Their minds are made up and nothing reported from a factual perspective is going to change their allegiance. Perhaps higher interest rates, death of child by gun violence or a dried-up Chinese soybean export market might be influential, but Trump can always point to Democrats or his newest villain, the "deep-state," as the cause. And quite likely, his new party will believe him.
My advice to fair-minded journalists is that they continue to be thoughtful, analytical and fact-based. Don't revert to multiple exclamation points, unnecessarily capped words, incomplete sentences or misspell the First Lady's first name. We'll stick with you.
1
The Presidency is primarily a decision making office vested onto an individual,cloathed with powers to effect & enforce the decision.
The individual,in this case Donald John Trump has been elected & solemnly administered into office to take the wisest & best & most prudent decisions.He was elected for that.
His election is an reflection of the majoritarian view that he has the necessary Perception & the Vision to take the right decisions & hence was duly elected,albeit with a few helpful helps.
There exists an existential crisis of an Dictator with his chubby fingers on the dreadful N-button,targeting a mass of highly creative & peaceful citizens of the West Coast of the US.
The President’s got a choice to either decimate or to negotiate with the dictator.
Sometimes our choices could be wrong.
The decision of the President to hold a Summit with a reasonable leader is a prudent decision.Usually in most cases,exceptions are Comrade Kim Jong-un
But to attribute in advance malafide to his genuine desire to de-nuclearise is tantamount to Bias/Prejudice.
However,
In my opinion, the US State Dept should get assurance from Comrade Kim Jong-un,that N -Korea will TOTALLY DENUCLEARISE & FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS.
WIthout such crystal clear commitments,Seconded by China, the President should not go to Singapore for the Summit.
The purpose is de-nuclearisation & if it’s not on the table,what’s the purpose of Summit.
This needs Decision making at the Oval Office.
I wonder what poor wretched person got the job of designing that coin.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/world/asia/coins-trump-kim-jong-un.html
Did he/she do it willingly? Or was there a possibility that like Andrew McCabe they would be fired one day before retirement and lose all retirement benefits?
1
10 days ago a writer for this paper paid serious tribute to Trump's "lizard brain" and complained that those of us who don't want to dance to the tune of thugs, lack reality.
Some are so anxious to find virtue in a man who is an evil menace and cancer, that they are willing to disavow civilization itself.
As for me, I believe Donald Trump is the exception to the rule that even a broken clock is right twice a day.
2
THANK YOU!!!!!
Agree in absolutely every way.
2
I don’t know what news channels you are watching but it must be Fox. Every other channel I have watched blatantly favors the democratic view. So much so that I just turn off the TV and read a variety of news outlets on the Internet. I find it very strange and out of touch that you think the right owns the media. It is notoriously the other way around. You must either comment without reading, especially this ridiculous article, or you are so far to the left you have lost all perspective. Trump is not the most eloquent president we’ve ever had but he’s not part of the systemic problem in Washington. Just maybe he will stumble onto some solutions because of that. Please read more objectively and admit the obvious - there is no longer a media as we once knew it. Just mouthpieces for the left.
1
I think that there is a deal in place - North Korea gives up all nuclear weapons and the US pulls all troops from South Korea and signs a peace treaty. Trump wants troops out of foreign conflicts and this pulls a lot of people home, so he feels US is giving up nothing of value. There was a credible threta of a limited attack on North Korean nukes in the background so North Korea agreed to this. Now they are playing jerkaround because the US did not cancel (unneeded) joint US S Korea exercises in response to N Korean anouncement of gving up nukes. President genius pinhead does not know what to make of this, and of course his advsiors are all over the lot without good ideas/options to finish a 'deal' that is sitting out there waiting for the two fascists to come together and hug.
Ms. Goldberg, you see through this scam with clarity. You have stated the precarious situation with the North Korean “summit” perfectly when you stated: “A hastily arranged meeting between two bellicose egomaniacs, premised on basic misunderstanding, is unlikely to resolve one of the world’s most intractable geopolitical conflicts: a flimsy agreement that roughly preserves the status quo...”.
Follow that with the nerve of taking credit for something not yet accomplished by a person with no depth of understanding ... we the people .. are once again being taken for a ride by a con man.
2
I find the analysis of this columnist persuasive on every topic she covers,( except on gender issues).On the North Korea issue it seems that the dumber the leader the more indulgent the audience.As the author notes, the whole arrangement , if it does not unravel before June12, will do so afterwards.Look at his puerile negotiating tactics with North Korea and China,( insult and make up and expect concessions) and witness the ravings of a seriously deranged person. But we keep hoping....
2
What will they do with all those commemorative coins if the whole thing disintegrates into chaos? (Which is highly likely). GIve them as a second bogus bonus to a workforce getting less than nothing from the tax cuts? Or to the poor, whose programs are being gutted by the regime?
2
On this very page we have Krugman's incisive comment on the wishful thinking of our "give Trump a chance journalists." As he writes, the problem is deeper than Trump and it isn't recent.
Here is a quote from Krugman's oped today:
"much of the news media, spent years in denial about the radicalization of the G.O.P., engaging in almost pathological false equivalence. And now America finds itself governed by a party with as little respect for democratic norms or rule of law as Hungary’s Fidesz."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/opinion/europe-euro-democracy-wrong.h...
3
I am reminded of my workplace, where certain managers and project personnel like to call a lot of meetings, where ideas are sought, hashed out and regurgitated. No action is actually accomplished other than confirming the meeting in a document, and giving the appearance that something was produced. Then the meeting itself is fodder for an upcoming status report.
5
Great column. Moon can take the reigns from the US and make peace with the North. He is too smart for our administration.
3
Perhaps meeting with some other president would do this, not meeting with Trump. The meeting is nothing, and if it gets the agreement that we want it will be great. If not back to more pressure and perhaps military action. Yes the tax cut goes to the owners, perhaps directly by stock buy backs (which should generate tax revenue), through investments that produce profits, only when labor becomes scarce will wages go up. Of course with "full employment" there is a cap on employment gains. Just more highly biased opinion by someone who really knows little to nothing.
Ms. Goldberg, you have rapidly become a go-to source for unvarnished and essential truth. Kudos to you, and to NYT for bringing you on board. Keep on! The nation needs you, and your colleagues.
16
Garry Kasparov, a former World Chess Champion, has noted that people often ask him if something was a "good move". But many moves could be good, but only if they are backed by a good strategy and is made by a player with the skill to execute it.
Too often, when Trump does something impulsive, we find ourselves trying to explain how it COULD be a good move.
10
I don't recall anyone on these pages ever giving Trump the benefit of the Doubt. The attacks have been incessant from long before he was elected.
There is much to challenge in Trumps behavioral norms, much, much. But some of his policies represent known approaches and tactics for eventually resolving differences. He does use some that an anathema to his critics from the left and right but they are not unknown nor so unorthodox that they should not be tried with other politicians have tried and failed with more conventional methods.
8
It used to go without saying that the highest office in the land is subject to unceasing scrutiny and pressure.
9
Thanks. Anyone interested in helping shine a little light on the awfulness of TrumpTax etc can pick a race, a state, a county, type in 'tax effect on taxpayers of Trump Tax' and you'll bring up dozens of well put together articles, graphics, punchy head-lines by journalists and bloggers sitting in meetings, groups of actual intelligent policy-makers going against the grain and producing actual data for their areas. You can pop these nuggets onto the twitter feeds/chains of Trump's henchmen, Mitch, Paul et al, and any good candidate, any local news twitter feed, any group w/ a facebook page - farmers, manufacturing groups, Scouts! They'll show up Big! Will be retweeted. And you can send a check to a good candidate.
We can remove the doubt.
3
As I watch the latest from the reality show, Survivor-White House, I see the star of the show, Donald "The Negotiator" Trump declaring he is in first place with Kim.
As we watch the episodes we see the turmoil in the background in Team Trump and in a split screen the laughter coming from Team Kim as they bamboozle Team Trump.
Sadly, Team Trump does not see the bamboozling as harmful as Team Kim sent some shiny baubles and praise to Team Trump.
Too bad this scenario is not fiction. We have a "president" who relies on his bluster to add to his negotiation "skills" and apparently relies less on the learned experts. However, those learned experts are nowhere to be found in Team Trump as the star of this show believes he knows more than anyone else and wants any glory, and gloating rights, for himself.
Yup, the great negotiator has been, well, trumped. Perhaps he can sell the commemorative coins to help reduce the deficit, or pay for more trips to his palace to golf.
20
Great column! People giving little-t the benefit of the doubt need to wake up and do a little research - this person has never been one to trust and his actions only support that no one should start trusting him.
19
Those who want to be live POTUS Trump to be trustworthy should look at his numerous lawsuits and settlement including the Trump University pay out.
Thank you for this. And I have to say it: Duh. Why would anyone believe anything Mr. Trump says or does regarding Korea or anything else? This is a man who welcomed home the most recent hostages released from North Korea by thanking Kim for his hospitality toward the people he'd kidnapped. Mr. Trump hasn't the slightest clue how to conduct himself, what to say, how to govern, who to endorse or what policies to espouse. And he doesn't care.
26
Don't forget the conflicts of interest. The $500M deal between China and India, which benefits Trump holdings in India was followed by a Trump move to save ZTE. Is this diplomacy, or the "play" for "pay to play." I propose a deal with Trump in which Trump gives up all of his conflicting business interests (put his assets in a true blind trust) and in return, he can keep his salary instead of donating to the VA. This would assure us that his foreign and domestic policies are not self-serving. But there is little motivation for Trump to take such a deal because the salary donation is paltry compared to what reaps from countries and persons seeking his favor. I also suggest upping the ante to motivate the deal by threatening to use the emoluments clause against him. The midterm election results may also motivate him to pay attention to the electorate at large instead of to his base. As things stand now, he can do as he pleases, worse yet, as his financial supporters foreign and abroad please.
15
Although the 2017 tax bill had some good points, I opposed it because it was a budget-busting bill that would increase the federal deficit and the national debt. I agree that the one-time worker bonuses were designed for PR purposes only. However, when you say that money from corporate tax cuts will go mainly to shareholders, my reply is . . . so what? The shareholders are the owners of the company; they are supposed to receive the lion's share of any financial gain the company achieves. Workers' pay rises when productivity rises, at least in a healthy economy. Pay also goes up as a function of supply and demand, when companies face a labor shortage and are chasing workers. Tax cuts may be invested by the company, but otherwise that money belongs in the pockets of the shareholders, without whom there wouldn't be a company to begin with.
1
Let me correct that for you: Without workers, there would be no company in which to invest.
22
@RS: A typical left-wing response, as opposed to a correction. We have to base this discussion on the fact that human beings exist and require sustenance, and that most of us no longer practice a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Given those facts, people will be looking for work in order to support themselves. They depend on those with brains and capital to create opportunities for work. If there were no workers, then obviously we would be living in a different world, basically a hunter-gatherer world. In such a world there would be no need for corporations. That might be preferable to what we have today, but we are discussing the world as it exists.
1
And the money was a gift from future generations to contemporary shareholders.
1
As a general principle, the proposition that Trump should not be given the benefit of the doubt is absolutely correct. So too is the proposition that the impending talks with North Korea are unlikely to yield the substantive changes in the situation on the peninsula that Trump is claiming.
This piece, however, is making some other points that should be challenged. The first is the suggestion that Trump meeting with Kim is somehow an unacceptable concession. The second is the suggestion that Kim's recent hedging was driven simply by his own desire to improve his negotiating position. The third is that the only "denuclearization" of Korea that is worth consideration is a unilateral on bey North Korea.
Behind these points is really a defense of the status quo in which a nuclear-armed US dominates Korea and engages in frequent military exercises that threaten the North (which is what Kim's hedging was actually in response to) without contemplating the removal of its own nuclear weapons.
A nuclear-free Korean Peninsula is both achievable and desirable. The country standing in its way, however, is not North Korea. It is the United States. What liberal imperialists like Michelle Goldberg are really worried about is that in his bumbling, Trump will expose that fact to the American people.
2
Trump has initiated a complete reconstruction of the US nuclear arsenal. The man is psychotic. Nobody in their right mind signs any contracts with psychotics.
Michelle,
Firstly, let me thank you for your appearance at the Munk debate Friday night. You and Stephen Fry were the winners despite being on opposite sides.
I supported Trump and still support Trump because although he has no interest in politics his ignorance and corruption put America notice that 38 years of inaction and the sale of the country to disreputable and dishonest brokers has destroyed a once great nation and same old same old does not work.
Today's 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court that yours is a nation of law without concern for justice.
The next election will leave a corrupt judiciary in place and the constitution no longer is in effect.
The only remedy is a possibility of articles of deconfederation as it becomes obvious your President is an empty suit and only a symbol to coalesce those forces that hate America for what she has become.
4
The problem in crediting Trump with careful thought and foresight, is that those are characteristics he lacks. But pandering to his ego like a child seems to momentarily calm him. Unlike the mean child in a Twilight Zone series, his behavior appears too random. We should not give him credit unless there is a very good reason. Chancey of Being There fame was at least benevolent. But he did fool many who heard him speak. If we allow, Trump will make fools of us all. It just wont be deliberate.
12
Reports are Donald Trump contends he doesn't have to prepare for any meeting with North Korea if it indeed one does occur.
He's operated on ego and impulse since day one. Obviously he's approached this entire scenario as amateur hour.
It's become Episode Ten of Reality Television Foreign Policy. Where even failure equals success in the World of Trump.
He irrationally glommed onto the notion of meeting when synchophants started chanting "Nobel Prize."
And he looks rather foolishly inept right now.
19
Very well put, Ms. Goldberg. I despise Trump and still feel the undertow. Could you please send copies of this op-ed to all the headline writers--and some of the Washington correspondents too (you be the judge of who!). That goes for the Times, the Post, and the WSJ while you are at it. Also the chyron writers at CNN and MSNBC, too often. They really need to Stop Giving Trump The Benefit Of The Doubt. He does not deserve credulous deference and we are badly served by credulous deference. Skepticism is no longer bias at this point.
15
I vividly remember the moment the news alert appeared on my phone. I laughed and, although no one was home to hear me except the pets, I said out loud, "Trump is never going to meet with Kim."
I said it because the news fit the Trump MO perfectly: Make a huge, showy and completely unrealistic promise, then as the complications mount, fade quietly into the bushes a la Homer Simpson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lPJ9J-6vDw) until everyone forgets about it.
So I was gobsmacked by the number of commentators who suggested, however reluctantly, that this represented a real break-through in US-NK relations. Where had they been for 50 years?
The Lucy-Charlie Brown-Football analogy for this administration is wearing thin, but that makes it no less apropos. If the news media want to avoid looking like idiots, they should treat every bold proclamation from Trump with polite skepticism, and withhold their applause until he actually produces the promised results. Past performance guarantees they will not wear out their hands.
28
"President Trump on Tuesday said that his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un may not go ahead as planned, adding that if the June 12 date does not hold, 'maybe it will happen later.' He told reporters: 'We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens.'” (https://tinyurl.com/yclmf2fc)
Aaaaand into the bushes goes Homer Trump, the "We'll see what happens" president. Never saw that coming, did we?
Bravo Michelle , very to the point in your analysis . I wonder if those who see things thru their alternate reality veil will ever admit to their folly , or continue to believe they are being open-minded . Denial runs deep until the onset of hunger pangs are felt . It will take many years to correct what the Republicans have undone . America begin its decline in earnest with the election of this erratic man , who has the king Midas sickness , for him it"s all about the gold.
5
Don the Con Man. That's right, Michelle, no matter how many facts, examples, reports, comparisons, histories and scholarly references the best journalists summon to reveal the dangers of the Trump Presidency (and the people behind the scenes), you can't deny that this is all about the Art of the Con.
15
And he's a 4th rate con man at that
I find it amusing how Trump, a master manipulator, a con man his whole life, is being played by Kim Jong Un. Trump so desperately craves recognition, he desperately wants that Nobel that "many people are saying Trump may win" that he's being played up, down, and sideways by North Korea. Watch how he lets them set the agenda, define the limits, spin the meeting, and walk away with everything they want while dumping on Trump. He's "the deal maker" and he's being outplayed by North Korea. They're laughing at how easily he can be manipulated. All Trump cares about is being in the news - he'll do anything to hit the headlines yet another day... and the North Koreans know it. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to discover that North Korea planted the 'Trump Nobel' buzz to set him up better, so they can play him for more concessions while delivering even less than they intend to already. Its like catnip in front of a cat - Trump gets that idea, and everything else goes away... Deal maker? More like easily-dealt faker.
17
I agree that Trump is a fool and a braggart, but there is still a chance that the stars are aligned to improve the situation on the Korean peninsula. If it happens, and, yes, it's a big if, Trump will crow and celebrate. (He's likely to that anyway...)
Just as the economy doesn't depend just on the whims of the American president, international affairs don't depend just on what the American president wants or thinks.
The greater danger is that Trump doesn't get that history-making meeting and feels that he has to somehow assert himself. John Bolton is standing by his side to show him how to do that.
3
Yes, Trump is a con man, but he’s not up to the con.
He is, however, in love with Kim Jong-un’s tyranny of overt display and terror. He would clearly love Kim’s parades, propaganda machine, and the ability to punish his political opponents with anti-aircraft weapons.
We elected a man who craves adulation more than anything else to the most consequential position on the planet. North Korea, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, and anyone else who understands the dynamic of flattery has effectively conned Trump.
Unfortunately, the rest of America is part of the con—as the mark.
19
Some (probably most) of us saw this coming back in 2015/2016 when he stated he was going to run and during his campaign. Once a con man, always a con man. The game hasn't changed for him at all; only the stakes are higher for this country (not necessarily him). And all the pundits who kept saying he was going to "pivot" and "become presidential" are looking more & more foolish by the day (including some NYT reporters and columnists).
12
Everything...every single thing, that we feared about a Trump presidency is coming true. We saw this unfolding disaster coming and we continue to allow this mistake of nature to be our president. He is a criminal, he needs to be treated as such.
24
During the run-up to the second Iraq war some "serious" journalist suggested that George W. Bush's war of choice to democratize that country and the entire Middle East might succeed BECAUSE he was so ignorant of the underlying pilitical realities.
That worked out well.
16
Trump is getting away with everything,except murder...yet.
All the concessions from the justice department will be meaningless as trump will eventually fire anyone he wants. Why..because congress won't do anything and the press keeps giving him passes. We should be in the streets now. Democrats in congress should be screaming. If this continues by election time he will have the country in some state of emergency and have the police out to keep people from voting. The quiet democrats are assuming they can win...just like with Hillary.
5
@Mary Lloyd Layi - This is what I’ve been thinking for the last 17 months of the Trump presidency; why
aren’t Americans in the streets about this assault on
our democracy? My hope is dems in Congress have
a line in the sand in regard to Trump’s attempts to
obstruct justice. I’m not sure they do. Everyone is counting on the midterms to bring some constraints to this train wreck, but if that fails what then? This nation is heading toward a constitutional crisis
5
And how was Obama's meeting with NOKO? Was that a mess as well? Or was the Obama Administration in such a mess they couldn't actually get a meeting on the table? How about a little fairness in reporting instead of a report that whose only purpose is, apparently, to sow discord amongst Americans?
1
They didn’t want a meeting, nor did any previous administration. That was kinda the strategy, like Trump with Iran.
7
The meeting is happening because Kim wanted it to happen. He reached out to Moon who is so intent on pacification he came when beckoned. Previous administrations attempted to negotiate a treaty but North Korea always broke it.
Maybe if they have a big parade with lots of soldiers in fancy uniforms and tanks Don the Con will give them anything they want.
The President is a sleezy con man whose overriding impulse is self aggrandizement and enrichment. It underlies all his impulses. That should be the basis on how his actions are judged. The media must resist the temptation to intuit that, somehow, the man strives for the good. His lifetime of duplicity in both his private and business life show no evidence to support that wishful thinking. The media had better step up and fight for the right if we are to survive this poisonous administration.
11
Ouch!This hard hitting column rings so true.Why do we have to placate Trump so he doesn't do anything worse or throw a tantrum?It is not the job of the electorate or the press to protect the president from himself.He should be held accountable for misrepresentations and mistakes just as Bush and Obama were before him.If he cannot negotiate with China or North Korea successfully it is his fault-no excuses.We are demeaning the presidency if we buy in to Trump propaganda and boasting Tweets.Whatever happened to the tough Truman declaration:THE BUCK STOPS HERE!
7
With all the gaslighting by Trump and his minions, always remember that the gaslighting narrative is almost by definition false.
7
Is there a present day heir in Congress to the late Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin's biting, yearly "Golden Fleece Award"? If so, the Dotard/Little Rocket Man government-issued commemorative coin should be the consensus winner in 2018. Can these ridiculous trinkets at least be melted down, recycled, and used for dog food cans?
10
While I agree with you and appreciate that you are using your platform as a reality check in the house of horrors, I’m always aware while reading the NYT that I am immersed in an echo chamber.
2
When a sitting President disregards the rule of law on a daily basis , lies pathologically to protect his interests , obstructs justice by investigating the investigators , and betrays his oath of office to protect the Constitution and the American people , calling him a con man is indeed accurate .
When a president engages in all of the aforementioned , including telling a lie obsessively and ceaselessly until some of the American people begin to believe it as the truth, he is no longer a leader . He is no longer trustworthy . Who among you can honestly stand by such a man ? How many of you still are willing to be conned ?
7
Quite a spectacle this.
Putin should win best writer and producer for Trump’s peace prize.
4
Stop giving him the benefit of the doubt? Most certainly.
I doubt he has any benefit at all.
9
It seems to me that the Republicans have 'owned' the news media for years and really know how to work it.
Examples and contrasts abound: James Comey stated that he released his notification on Hilary Clinton in October in part because he was afraid of media uproar. The media has barely mentioned the horrible practices of the Trump Foundation, but excoriated the donations of the Clinton Foundation. Devon Nunes' memos get top billing but Democratic responses are hidden on the back pages. Trumps current business practices are ignored.
We have Fox news and Sinclair. In the Public Radio bandwidths new frequencies are sold to overwhelmingly conservative Christian stations.
If I didn't know better I would say they literally do own all the media. it may not be true yet, but it sure looks and sounds that way!
526
If they don't own the media, they certainly control it and the message.
29
It's always in the interest of fairness. When in reality it is false equivalency. I know that is a trite often repeated statement but, it's still true. Trump is like a predatory fish controlled by the central nervous system. He lives, lies, and reacts in the moment with "nary an instance of forethought."
40
Remember the unending uproar about Hillary's private email server, and how it was so insecure? Read the current article in Politico about how Trump won't allow even minimal security checks on his phone. Also Cabinet members like Nicky Haley apparently openly flout communications security. The whole nation was excoriating Hillary over her "criminal" behavior, but now we can't even be bothered to pay attention.
68
Trump has so lowered standards and expectations that a non-disaster seems like a soaring achievement.
16
Michelle's description of various articles about something that hasn't even reached the 1st meeting stage epitomizes what much "news" has become. Instead of waiting for an event to happen, or a verified revelation of new information, instead of informing us about all manner of things good and bad on our planet, we too often get speculation about what "might" happen, what might be the celebrity's state of mind, and focus on subjects that sell the most ads, a very narrow choice of what is covered. Look at the school shootings. It's like watching the same horror film repeatedly with the same actors doing the same commentary about the film on a bonus section of a DVD.
The narrow focus on the same subjects over and over- all day long on TV cable stations the same hammer hits the same nail.
Let's hope there's good news in the fall election, otherwise it will be the same Republican nightmare of giving free reign to a dictator. Think of it, fear of a voter base that consists of the most irrational, hate filled citizens paralyzes even the handful of decent Republicans.
Give up your office if need be, you venal Republican narcissists, why won't you care about the welfare of our country? Do you really in your heart think Trump helps the US?
6
For decades the rich have sought to shift their tax burden onto the poor and the middle class. They are succeeding due to a Republican party that they have bought with contributions to their election campaigns. This is out-and-out corruption.
12
I have to hand it to Trump, he destroyed John McCain. And this recent Trump-Kushner Tax Cut for the Rich is certain to take a chunk out of Social Security. Somebody is winning, and it ain't us.
In the long run, Iran has been proven right, we are the
"Great Satan". I don't imagine that any time soon somebody in Washington (or Israel) is going to point out, that we are essential at war with Iran and that it is only reasonable for them to push back (defend themselves) any way possible. Hence, there support of Assad and Hezbollah and the populace of Yemen.
7
Kim, Xi, Putin all know what they have in Trump and what they need to keep him and his GOP allies in power. And it's working. Thank you, Michelle, for keeping these facts before our eyes.
10
Your colleague, David Brooks, fell for this ruse. He called Trump a lizard, suggesting that Kim is the same type and therefore has some special affinity or understanding with Trump. This has enabled Trump to achieve this remarkable breakthrough, so Brooks thinks. I didn't buy it and neither have you. Trump is getting played.
8
Trump has been crowing about his "statesmanship" in bringing Kim Yung Un to the bargaining table. In Trump's mind, his puerile threats on Twitter cowed Kim into submission.
Now we're seeing it's Kim who is besting an unpopular U.S. president so desperate for a foreign policy "win" that he'll give the North Korean despot everything he wants. Kim's goals are the lifting of economic sanctions and withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula while retaining his vast superiority of conventional weapons over South Korea. Without U.S. troops in the South, Kim will have the green light to invade.
The North's nuclear capability has always been a bargaining chip for negotiations with the United States. Nuclear weapons have little value in Kim's ultimate goal to control South Korea. Trump has swallowed Kim's bait -- hook, line and sinker.
10
It does seem to be human nature to keep the hope flame lit as long as possible and unfortunately, to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Even I who as a resident of the metro area my whole life with a bird's eye view of arguably the most talented and diabolical con man of our era held out a small sliver of hope that Trump might follow through on a few of his more palatable positions along with his most heinous. But, no. Instead, I've been gobsmacked by this president's instinct to always take the most ill advised and perverse stance on every single issue.
Ms. Goldberg is absolutely right; it is of the utmost importance to remain vigilant and always view Trump with skepticism. Of course, one can't guarantee that a congenital liar will lie on every occasion, but it's safe to assume that and be pleasantly surprised when once in awhile he tells the truth.
8
This dangerously deficient apparent human has earned no credit, has earned no respect, and deserves none. Not on one single issue. The commentators who say "maybe just maybe he's right this time" are just looking for something to distinguish their words among the gloom that accurately describes what is really going on. There has been no letup. There has been no learning where learning isn't perceived as desirable.
7
Good article. I think the theme of many of these thoughts is why do we concede power to Trump and others at all? Because we elected Trump. The idea is that we should want our elected officials to succeed. But our nation now is full of trolls.
5
Trump is a little kid let loose in a candy store with no adult supervision, and a calculating a cunning little kid at that. The best we can hope for is that all he manages to do is stuff his face with junk food (that is, enrich himself through the office of the presidency), but inevitably some candy jars will crash to the floor and break. Nothing will be fixed or improved during this time; cleanup will be left for others, sometime down the road.
North Korea is an apt metaphor for the chaotic turn of events in the U.S. China, which controls North Korea, has already analyzed Trump and knows how to control our little tot. Small bribes of sweets (Trump's financial gains, Indonesia recently), and Trump will sell out his country without further thought.
The best we can hope for is to tie Trump up in a stroller on a golf course somewhere, somewhere he can do as little harm as possible until the next two election cycles play out. Walk him, water him, and keep the candy bars coming. We'll need him later to prop up as the poster child of presidential toxicity and destruction, the type of person we should never again elect as the leader of our country.
7
“In South Korea, it’s basically an open secret that this whole thing is flattering Trump,” Kelly said. “It’s kind of amazing to me that Trump’s staff hasn’t picked up on this.”
If anyone knows the necessity of constantly stroking Trump’s ego, it’s his groveling staff. If success in the real estate sector is all about “location, location, location,” keeping your job and avoiding a presidential tirade as a member of Trump’s staff/cabinet etc. is all about “flattery, flattery, flattery.” Unfortunately, it isn’t just his staff who know this, but every head of government throughout the world and it continues to make us a “sitting duck” whenever we negotiate. If this meeting does take place it will be no different.
11
Where can I get one of those coins? What a great show-and-tell item when we are apologizing to our grandchildren for all the ruin that Trump brought.
7
Thanks Michelle, I find your writing to be very thoughtful with an element of humor. Your thoughts are well worth the time to read.
4
Trump has issued a commemorative coin promoting his achievement.
As if.
Trump has more concerns about trinkets and awards to satisfy his ego than leading America. Trump's "ratings" are the only information he seeks daily, how many headlines?
The Saudis had Trump's number from the start - flattery will get what you want from Trump. Just give him a toy, he'll behave.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell look the other way and allow this to continue. They are complicit in Trump's actions.
Vote Democratic in your local Primary and on November 6th.
Changing Congress is how we begin to fix this mess.
9
I can always depend on Michelle, Jennifer Rubin and- at times, Dana Milbank for exposing the current Ship of State for what it is; a dinghy with a rubber ducky at the mast.
6
Not to be snide, but we have concrete evidence that Donald is preparing for this summit assiduously--the dear leaders coin. You always need a few pieces of silver in exchange for selling someone or in this case, the United States, down the river. Donald, always mixing up the facts, is bringing both the silver and the betrayal. Anything to feather his own nest, especially with the Nobel. Always slavishly emulating his sworn nemesis, Barack Obama.
Donald fails to grasp the historical perspective or the long view of the power alignment within Asia and the world. For him, this is like a groundbreaking at a Trump property. Show up with a shovel and spend a few minutes moving it. Viola. Mission accomplished, as they say.
6
Lowering the bar for conservatives by the media is nothing new.
They establish the liberal as elitist, haughty and dismissive and the conservative as a plain spoken person who can learn on the job.
Think Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump.
As Trump consolidates all power in the Oval office (record filling of judgeships beholden to him or else, picking the next Speaker, getting the deputy AG to be his very own Roy Cohen) the media knows it can no long stand up to him. Think Washington Post and CNN.
Reporters know in a few months they must go back on the campaign trail with Trump's flamethrower turned up to maximum and many of them are concerned for their personally safety.
2
Giving Trump too much credit and cautioning about "veering" to the left with "aggressive" demands -- such is the state of the conventional wisdom class today.
1
So sad to see that Michelle works so hard to rally all those that are "appalled". Time will tell whether anything positive comes from meeting with the North.
I will await to see the results of whatever happens before making judgements.
In a time when we are reminded of Love, I am sad to see so much hate.
i wouldn't be surprised if in the near future the president crows about some deal he has made. an exceptional deal. quite possibly the best deal ever. then when the smoke clears we find out he gave away Delaware. i just do not trust this guy to get anything right.
10
Thank you for this article which speaks to "Truth" and "Fairness" instead of some false ideal of "Balance." Trump is constantly given the benefit of the doubt because of over 50 years of Republicans undermining democratic institutions and showing utter contempt for truth and basic fairness. They attack the media if it disagrees with them as not offering "balance," which they then cynically pretended is the same as "fairness" and "truth." For decades the media's been cowed, constantly justifying Republicans doing bad things because they feel they must act as if all sides to a debate are equally meritorious. Trump is a primary beneficiary of this catastrophic obsession with balance at the expense of truth. It's no different than saying it's unfair to report that a black man standing in front of his house was nearly beaten to death by white supremacists if you don't also tell a sympathetic story about the white supremacists.
It is both fair and truthful to say that Trump is driven entirely by personal animus, vengeance, and hatred, none greater than his hatred of President Obama. Look at the very few things Trump has tried in a consistent way to undo and destroy and you'll see that every single one of them was something Obama accomplished. For Trump, everything else is purely transactional, subject to whatever he can personally get out of a situation, as in eliciting bribes from the Chinese on the condition that he misuse the presidency to save Chinese jobs, which is treason.
5
The "what if we don't" subject topics immediately limit the conversation and turn any critical examination into one of speculation and exaggeration that often invites only defense and not critical examination. Critical examination of the large historic and geographical substance is replaced by opposing sides on Sunday mornings. This construct perpetuates Trump and Bannon's Great American Machiavellian Nightmare of manufactured self reliant information purely fascist propaganda any reasonable commentator must first abide to contend (benefit of the doubt).
Benevolence has been jettisoned under this administration. The simply facts of starvation and carnage from blockades we effect in Yemen. I am supposed to first abide arms deals to Saudi Arabia as not blood money of wars in the Middle East but that are to contribute to our economy. This trick is constructed only within the context of itself in a contemporary view and not one of a critical history. That is not giving the current administration "benefit of the doubt" it allows them substance where history proves them wrong.
A school shooting every other week is not looked at within a context of many in the nation, or viewed within a world stage, but singled out to be separately scalpeled each alone in a vacuum of itself.
We should be watching historians on Sunday morning shows and call opinionators what they are.
Republicans are a tribe, like any other. And if this tribe has produced a bad seed--as they have with Mr. Trump--they are going to treat him as any tribe would treat a troublesome member. That is, they will keep their distance, so as not to contract shame, but in their heart of hearts they will wish that the bad boy will succeed, since he is, after all, a tribal member, and blood is thicker than water. So we shouldn't be surprised if, when the slightest chance arises, the anti-Trumpists, the silent right-wing legislators, and the conservative punditry jump at the opportunity to praise even the smallest possibility of presidential success. They are, at heart, Mr. Trump's tribal members and, though often reluctant, his secret supporters.
1
I've said it before in one comment or another: It's time to start taking it to those who continually prop up the president. Every time Trump puts himself in harm's way, with lying tweets, sexual immorality, staff problems, obvious lack of understanding of international politics, etc., etc., the FNC folks, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, et al, rise to the occasion to support Trump and to resurrect any number of the "oldie but goody" news items such as Benghazi, the Clinton email scandal, James Comey, President Obama, etc., etc., to deflect criticism of Trump. If The Times wants to be of service to its readers and the people of the United States, it ought to start picking those people and their arguments apart in order to show their lack of credibility. I still laugh when I look at my copy of Bennett's "Book of Virtues" and wonder how Trump fits into that lofty piece of work.
4
Once again, Ms. Goldberg has hit the nail dead-center on it's head and hammered it home. If "I hereby demand" by presidential tweet isn't enough, I don't know what is. Trump is a lot of things, but deal-maker he is not!
5
America's is endowed with an abundant national resource that when used properly has empowered hope, defined justice and enshrined equality in the human imagination.
Beneath the amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties lies 3 trillion cubic feet of optimism -- some high grade informed optimism, some wishful thinking, and some microwaved into denial.
High grade optimism is that America isn't Trump, his supporters are misinformed not self-destructive, and it's always darkest before daybreak.
Wishful thinking and denial is that Trump isn't the monster he is and at worst he's like a broken clock that's right twice a day.
Genuine optimism is we'll fight and survive this and be better for it. Adulterated optimism is Trump saves us by making himself great again.
I think this explains the false start mea culpas proffered by Greenfield and Cooper who seem less offended by Trump than not being the first Trump contrarians across the news cycle line with the scoop He's a maverick, not a maniac.
What they forget is that so much damage has already been done, there's absolutely nothing maverick or maniac can do to balance things.
Optimism is everyone fooled last time won't be fooled again.
4
So far Trump has not achieved one positive thing. Personally, I've taken a page from the GOP playbook. I want Trump to fail, and fail miserably. I'll take the personal hit, whatever it amounts to. There is no reason to support this president. There is every reason to oppose him. Ironically, the Trump supporters who are weary of "political correctness" will tell you that it's not politically correct (patriotic) to oppose your president. Forget "benefit of the doubt." Do your part to make sure this president fails. This is bare knuckled politics, not an armchair debate about democracy.
4
You had one line in your piece that struck me. Due to Trumps ignorance and vanity.....That pretty much sums up his presidency and his day to day mode of operation. Still surprising are those who voted for him, those who still support him, and those who choose to work for him. As bad as he was in the campaign (his competition wasn't much) and enough voters in the right states he achieved the electoral victory. I'm still of the belief the ignorance is wide spread as he pulled off a victory that will cost our country for years to come. He will see many more political losses then wins and the press will have to report the actual truth.
3
It is appalling how easily some of the news media continue to indulge in the "false equivalency" game. To praise Trump for his impulsive and potentially reckless move to meet with Kim Jong-un without doing the hard work of diplomacy, only serves to feed his ego and move the bar of what is a success for Trump even lower.
414
What "hard work" is required? We have demands, we have sanctions, they either accept them or not. If they accept no work needed, if not the work is already done. You think Trump is Obama, it is simple, not complex.
2
Since you ask, @vulcanalex, it is hard and painstaking work to discover and modify what one's diplomatic 'partner' needs, along the way distinguishing for that partner 'needs' from 'wants' -- even as one is doing that for one's own polity.
Simple solutions are the product of and appeal to the simple minded. That's why people voted for Trump because actually confronting complex issues with some thought is just too difficult and time consuming.
As long as Trump is in office, Democrats in Congress can operate on boilerplate autopilot.
If Democrats were to really try to do something about Trump, like push for impeachment or resignation, they would expose their thin skins. If they actually managed to force him out of office, they would be responsible for whatever came after him (a caretaker Pence government trying to cope with the monumental messes left behind by The Donald and his shady gang of incompetents, perhaps?)
Americans cannot rely on the "loyal opposition" this time.
Not just because loyalty to a syndicate of gangsters is an impossible way to counter them, but because the standard "opposition" on offer has long since lacked any real backbone.
It is time to finally wake up and see the two-party system (especially the two comatose parties now constituting it) for what it really is: a wrecking ball smashing at American democracy.
Small wonder that political parties are mentioned nowhere in the US Constitution. They are a prime example of what the Constitution was designed to protect us against.
1
Korea, exploited by Japan's colonialism in the first half of the 20th century saw an opportunity to become independent after WW2. The West (read USA) prevented this and militarised S.Korea as heavily as Japan. The tragedy is that American nukes in S.Korea are a deterrent towards China, and more or less petrify the weird situation of the 2 Korea's . Korea-North and South- is hijacked by the USA and Trump will not change this.
1
Politico and Daily Beast both sometimes seems like a PR firm that works for Trump.
As do the major television networks.
The most damaging mistake of giving Trump credit for achievements when there are none is being made by conservative journalists appearing in liberal publications, who try to maintain the conservative moniker.
1
Of course the media gives Trump the benefit of the doubt. It's part of the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the people that contributed to his election. But, of course, her emails . . .
1
The title of the historical account of this administration should be: "Into Thin Air." All of Trump's policies very quickly vanish into thin air. This continual vanishing act is a product of a process or lack thereof that never pays attention to the devil in the details--without details, nothing is left but air.
1
Nobody with any sense is optimistic about the summit meeting with North Korea. I’m guessing you spent a couple of days to find some off the wall commentators who said good things about it. As for the tax bill, whatever may have been said, no one looks for higher wages from tax reform except pointy headed economists. Real people look for lower taxes. Next April is when we’ll hear about that.
1
Given today’s story regarding infighting and internal contradictory positions vis a vis China trade negotiations—does anyone even know what it is exactly will be offered to North Korea?
The constant infighting, sheer incompetence and complete ignorance of the President in so many areas of basic historical and geographic fact—were all well established by the time this meeting was compulsively decided upon. Trump’s compulsive lying is a matter of record.
There will be no meeting—or the meeting will quickly collapse and Trump will declare that it was all the fault of Kim. The media’s initial response to the announcement should have been to ask the President why this will not be the case.
The burden of proving that everything he says is not a lie is on him—and should always be the media’s default position. It sounds like a hateful thing to say, but it just happens to be the only position to take with a compulsive liar. We wouldn’t accept less than the truth from our boss, spouse, or workers, teachers or students, doctor or pastor. Especially if they repeatedly have lied in the past. You either demand proof that this time it’s not a lie or you end the relationship.
3
You said it, Michelle. And please go on reminding your colleagues in the fourth estate, upon whom reasonable people are depending more than ever to defend our democracy, that they should not allow their eagerness to generate column inches to lead them to give this administration any kind of a break whatsoever, because we know that it means most of us nothing good. You might start by having a word with David Brooks, who just the other week wanted us to believe that Mr Trump, having been around gangsters and other skeevy characters his whole life, has some kind of superpower in doing deals with other tough customers (as in, Kim Jong Un). The actual evidence for such a superpower does not exist, and Brooks suggestion stands as a poster child of the rush to credit that you describe.
2
Michelle Goldberg is such an outstanding thinker, writer and speaker. I agree wholeheartedly with this editorial. The other night I saw Ms. Goldberg on television making the incredibly relevant point about how much nefarious behavior of Trump's is becoming normalized. The other panelists kind of briefly acknowledged the point and then moved on to some other topic. Ms. Goldberg has it completely right. Write and speak more often, Ms. Goldberg!!!
6
Though the window was there I never took the opportunity to complement Trump. Let's face it, a stopped clock can be right twice. But one second later it is wrong again. So goes this farce of a an administration.
2
The author has her ducks in a row, for sure. I would have been happy with a peace agreement. But rest assured, I am no longer an idealist. Trump has cured me of that. Now sign the papers and let us have at him. His accomplishment will be forgotten soon enough.
1
"But Trump, whose only real talent is the manipulation of reality, exploits this impulse."
Ms Goldberg, that is the simplest and most poignant one sentence description of Trump I have read.
Thank you.
6
The one thing Trump really is good at is self-promotion. But it's worth pointing out that, since the Reagan years, the Republican party, in conjunction with its allies in the right-wing media, has perfected the art of political marketing. Simplistic, emotionally-charged slogans, demonization of their opponents, lock-step repetition of focus-group-tested messages, and a lack of fealty to truth or fairness have conditioned their voters to respond unquestioningly to their sales pitch. The con man and carnival barker we have in the White House now is there because the groundwork was well laid by people like Lee Atwater, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, Newt Gingrich, and Frank Luntz. Trump shows the depths to which our democracy has sunk thanks to the replacement of statesmanship with marketing, but he is no aberration—just the next logical step in an ongoing project started many years ago by the GOP.
6
If you think the Republicans and their affiliates have given up on their egregious tax plan, think again. Here in North Carolina (and undoubtedly elsewhere), ad spots are running on broadcast media that use “working” men and women —actors — who pitch the many benefits of the bill, as if it were the New Deal.
The purpose, of course, is to help GOP incumbents in the mid-terms.
There has been no Democratic response. Period. Conclusion: if anyone is giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, on taxes, North Korea, the assault on the DOJ, the trashing of environmental regulations, the threats to Iran and our allies, it is — by its silence — the Democratic Party.
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That's true in Indiana as well. In the Senate race, Koch brother funded ads claim that Joe Donnelly doesn't support the working man because he didn't vote forTrump's tax cuts for corporations and the rich. Meanwhile, our minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Teachers in Indiana are among the country's worst paid.
And the GOP senatorial candidate, Braun, is known for
being unfair to his own workers. Trump's tax reform is another entitlement program for the merely rich and the very rich. Yes, it's helpful to small businesses, but what it takes away from the rest of us is unconscionable.
50
Alas, how much money does the North Carolina Democratic Party have to spend on ad spots? "Citizens United," the Citizens United decision -- we need campaign finance reform, by whatever means necessary.
40
Be the change you want to see in North Carolina- give money (at least) to the Democratic Party.
23
Michelle, you work for a newspaper which consistently equalized Trump and Clinton in the 2016 election. Clinton may have been a "flawed" candidate but her "flaws" were within the range of norms. Trump, from making fun of disabled people, calling Mexicans "rapists," or grabbing women's nether regions was always put in opposition to Hillary's emails. And now liberal democracy has rarely been in much peril as it is now.
24
Thank you for climbing up onto the rooftop and shouting it out, Michelle. Most of the media tries to bend over backwards to be fair, when there is no fair with Donald Trump. They keep wanting to see something that isn’t there and will twist themselves in knots trying to make his blunders look good. And yet day after day, Trump pounds the media into the dirt, followed by a boot stomp on the head. He now has the entire world caught up in his own brand of chaos, the one that only New Yorkers used to have to deal with. It’s disheartening that only another crazy person like Kim Jong Un will stand up to him, rather than kowtowing. The rest just play along with his insatiable need for praise and attention, thinking they’re going to pull one over on him by flattering him. Why, oh why, can’t someone just stand up and say, “No more!”?
26
This seems a classic example of the press trying to respect the office of the presidency, if not the man who occupies it. But since the day Trump lied his way through the oath of office, there has been nothing respectable about him or, given what he's done to it, the office either. The office may regain its respectability one day with a new occupant. Trump? Never.
Of course journalists don't want to seem biased against a president, but it would do them well to remember the words of Christiane Amanpour: ‘I believe in being truthful, not neutral’
51
Indeed -- and that is why Trump and his Republican partners-in-crime and the Fox and Friends couch-liars want to so obscure the truth, sow doubt that it can even be perceived at all, and push end-justify-means false narratives that serve only their tribe of miscreants, thus generating a smoke screen behind which they can do their worst, unobserved and unchecked by sane observers and unbiased media, followed off every right-wing cliff by a Trump-addled, dumbed-down, wholly-conned, Moronic MAGA Mob.
Thank you for your truth telling. It buoyed my spirit this morning. With so much pandering to this president under the false belief that somehow he will become normalized, too often as a citizen do I awake each day only to be depressed by the morning “news.” I pray this long nightmare will someday be over without us getting us into a war or political problems that will take a generation to heal.
24
About time someone (other than Paul Krugman) said this!
A corollary is not to give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt. They have celebrated the sub rosa alliance of intrenched wealth and racial resentment since the Dixiecrats, and their policies in the current Congress (reduction of health and education spending, a loosening of banking regulation, tax cuts for the rich, denial of science in behalf of enviornmental pillage, intrusion of religion in matters of democratic equality) reflect the same trends which told Trump he and his authoritarian fantasies would be right at home there.
52
Brilliantly said. Should be required reading for every breathing American.
There isn't a shred of rational justification for what passes as "Republicanism" now. It is all just putting oneself above the law by posing as God. I wouldn't assign any of these people to responsible jobs.
4
I love this column, but it's preaching to the choir. Is voting Democratic in November the ONLY way individual citizens can change the way things are going? I am so frustrated.
26
Politics is the only lawful process we have to amend and renegotiate the social contract that governs how we negotiate all our other contracts.
2
Yes, so do it. The fate of the country depends on it, and that is no hyperbole.
1
Apparently, it is. It has come to the point that anything with an (R) behind its name is toxic.
By now,17 months in office, we should know that the Trump administration is incompetent and untruthful.
But the reality of Trump as president requires us to continue to let him continue and hope that the republicans in the administration and congress would protect the country.
So far the Republican party has not put country before party and if that continues we are in danger.
26
If republicans had any interest in checking trump they would have shown it by now. Instead they show the opposite. We need to wake up to the fact that we are living under a dictatorship enabled by a stolen election in collusion with a hostile foreign nation. We are in danger--much greater than you realize.
As the constant pressure on the Department of Justice to violate all the norms of investigation clearly indicates, we are already in great danger. The Republicans are complicit in that danger and will do nothing to contain it. After all the lying, voter suppression, gerrymandering, obstructionism and, finally, packing the Supreme Court are we to pin our hopes to Republicans suddenly developing a conscience and a respect for the Constitution?
See you in the gulag!
Thank you, Michelle, for this excellent piece. Always enjoy your work. Never forget that there are many of us out here who hunger for real news and political insight.
35
We are still not asking the questions about what this means to our democracy and what we need to change within ourselves to ensure this Trump phenomenon is a fleeting one. We all own some blame.
28
The US is in an existential crisis because what it has called "democracy" obviously isn't.
There is no rational justification whatsoever for the most cosmopolitan Americans to be dealt out of influence over judicial and executive appointments and treaties with foreign nations.
20
No, Mike, we ALL do not 'own some blame'. 67 million of us saw him for what he is in 2016 and we should not have to bear the blame for the misguided 63 million.
4
The benefit of the doubt? Sorry, the only thing I'm willing to extend to this President is the presumption of innocence.
7
Yes--and even that only as the barest legal formality. Rarely has the evidence of criminal political misconduct, and plain criminality, been so overwhelming.
All I want to hand him is impeachment.
A presumption of innocence, Cwnidog, might be OK. But, per Ms. Goldberg, the assumption of idiocy is the one to go with.
A friend of mine came to talk to me about a deal he was being offered. The company is trying to buy him out of his pension and they were offering him $15,000. He asked me what he thought. I grabbed a calculator, did some fast calculations with monthly amount and years of expected life and pointed out that he was giving up $60,000 in the future (when he would need it) for $15,000 for today (when he doesn't need it). It was a bad deal and, in my opinion, he shouldn't take it. The point of this story - he didn't do the calculations before he came to talk to me. He could have, but he didn't. I see this type of behavior over and over. People don't stop for a moment, think, and do a little math and apply a little logic. If people did, they never would have voted for Trump. They wouldn't support Trump. A little math and a little logic and result is the knowledge that that Trump is a bad deal. But people don't do it.
258
Thank you. This bolsters my position that we should forego Voter ID requirements and in their stead require Voter IQ standards.
18
Great analogy!
13
A public paucity of reality-checking skills is only to be expected in a nation that propagates the ludicrous conceit that it is "under God".
12
If Trump has succeeded in anything, it is an amazing ability to generate news. The cable networks in particular feast off his words, proving that the more he's discussed, the more legitimacy he gathers on main street. Every institution, treaty, law, agency, policy and vision this country holds dear is being tarnished and trashed by him and his minions almost daily. What was once viewed as Strangelovian is now creeping into mainstream acceptance. Journalists and their outlets seem to be our only hope.
56
He is a master at media manipulation with his ability to toss out a shiny object of the day or of the hour and the media breathlessly covers every tweet. In the meantime his minions are busily undermining the foundation of our democracy.
The only reliable sources to follow where Trump is concerned is Colbert, Meyers, Kimmel, et al. At least comedians don't have to pretend that any of Trump's utterances are worth a pinch of any substance.
CNN, being a "news" channel have to keep up the pretence that they are reporting the news when all they are reporting is P&W. Why else the salacious reporting on "adult film actor Stormy Daniels for the past 6 months or more. Don't get me wrong, that woman deserves a medal for outstanding courage and grace under fire. Her chosen profession aside, Ms Clifford is a woman of substance.
But I must hand it to Ms Goldberg, the phrase: "to humor our idiot president", is a classic and states the obvious, that Trump is just a vainglorious pretender to the office he holds.
In Australia we pride ourselves in having the world's most boring politicians and some NYT readers may recall prime minister John Howard, a man so dull words fail to describe it. And yet, this man was elected to the highest office in our land three times.
To my mind that's democracy at its finest and one of the primary benefits of compulsory voting, which is the norm in this fine land. A flim flam man like Trump just wouldn't stand a chance down here.
1
just a small dose of insight:
Home depot was in the news for "sharing" their tax windfall with their employees. There was a lot of media about $1,000 bonus checks.
A friend of mine had worked at home depot for 18 years. The $1,000 checks were for employees with 20 years tenure. 18 Years tenure earned
my friend $500.
84
This begs the question .... why is your friend still working at home depot? Surely in 18 years he has acquired skills and knowledge to move up into management and or start is own business. Nobody owes anybody anything. If he is not happy with his $500 who is stopping him from moving on and up? If he got his $1000 would anybody be motivated to build, invent or develop anything new?
2
The tax bill was sold as being good, no great, really terrific for workers. It is not.
It doesn't "beg the question." Please look up the meaning of begging the question. And does not; raise the question you do. Perhaps the Home Depot friend likes working there. The commentator simply points out that the $1000 bonus was not given to all HD employees and that it was basically a publicity stunt to make the tax cuts look good for Trump's base.
4
Excellent insights into Trump world. Trump has already started to provide concessions to Kim-- by cancelling the scheduled joint exercises with S. Korea. My guess is that Trump views that the act of meeting Kim is a win and thus will be reluctant to withdrawal. I would not be surprised if additional concessions by Trump are not forthcoming.
Bolton and Pompeo, both of whom backed regime change, will object. Trump understands that he is smarter than they will proceed as he sees fit.
Kim is in a good bargaining position and he probably coordinated it with XI and possibly Putin.
25
It is a no-brainer that Kim will insist on mutual de-nuclearization.
2
''Trumpist bamboozlement'' is the correct term. He has been at this his whole life, an essential skill for many in the real estate development business. It is not what you see that you should believe, it is what I can make you feel about my ''deal.'' It may or may not play out, I just need you to believe, for now, that it will.
We would not be here if the Republican Party, the press, or millions of non-participating voters had taken their responsibilities seriously in 2015 and 2016. Now, we don't even know if we will ever be able to stop Trump bamboozlement and the accelerating decline of America.
Thanks to Michelle Goldberg for exeptionally clear thinking and clear writing in this trying time of distorted reality.
116
I am an ordinary person, not a journalist, politician, or academic, who has been surprised, all along, about the number of people taken in by our president’s brand of hucksterism. Not one of my friends or family members who read the news faithfully, has been taken in by his bragging, his hyperbole, and his lies. It is painful when any responsible journalist gives credit to a president who deserves so little accolades. Is it an extreme attempt at fair mindedness? Peer pressure? Hope? Denial of the lessons of history? It is troubling. Truly, I would like an answer here. Otherwise, I feel as if I am living in a parallel universe.
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Don't forget, @Kuster, that news media in a capitalist society have to 'be in it' for the money or they will not survive. That means they must find ways of being read by people unable to detect, instantly, the falsehoods of politicians. In turn that means writing or presenting points of view that, in varying degrees pander to the same illusory sensibilities that politicians do.
8
We would all like an answer. Any reasonable person should expect a response from the only institution with the power to do so. Sadly though it looks as if that institution is just as morally and criminally bankrupt as Trump. Don't hold your breath.
6
One wonders if the alleged rock solid support for the most disgusting drip to ever serve as US president is fake news too.
3
Today's column by Ms. Goldberg is a perfect example of what's wrong with liberal Democrats. Two glaring contradictions are presented. One, the tax cut and the other, North Korea.
There's no question that the Trump administration runs an ideologically driven, hard right, GOP corporate agenda. Every federal agency that is supposed to serve to public interest is dominated by the same corporate heads that we are supposed to be protected from.
But the Trump tax cut is just an extension of what began with Reagan, accelerated with Bush and has gone even further with Trump. The tax cuts do not "trickle down" and the data from the last 30 years make that clear.
But Democrats went along with most of them! Obama compromised and extended the Bush tax cuts amounting to 10 trillion dollars! Some have even become permanent.
The Democrats idea of an alternative is "we're not as bad as they are."
On Korea, can you believe that the 'liberal" position is sword rattling about making concessions when we are on the brink of a nuclear war?
Trump's negotiations may not work, but trying is better than ramping up our nuclear arsenal, which the liberal Obama administration did, and which Democrats voted for to the tune of 1.5 trillion dollars over ten years.
Ther's nothing "liberal" about trying to achieve the same ends as the GOP, just by different means.
We deserve a new politics that looks at the world through the lens of mutual cooperation, not domination by Dem's or the GOP.
4
That's all fine and good, but remember that Democrats made concessions to extend the Bush tax cuts (which did eventually expire under Obama) in exchange for the stimulus package to help us get out of the recession. Liberal economists do not believe that raising taxes during a recession is a good idea. As far as North Korea goes, experts on the subject as well as journalists who cover the issue all say that North Korea is manipulating Trump. He doesn't know anything about the issue and refuses to learn (he does not attend important meetings). So his overtures appear desperate and could very well be disastrous. He simply does not know how to negotiate on the world stage.
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The Obama administration did not "ramp up" our nuclear arsenal. The number of actual weapons decreased. They did spend money on modernizing Cold War era technology.
1
But Trump IS ramping up our nuclear arsenal.
Seriously, you need to reread this OpEd, especially the last sentence, which should be carved into the facade of every government building in the country.
2
IF - a big if - Trump and Kim meet and IF - again a big if - they reach some kind of agreement and IF the Nobel Committee is foolish enough to think that Trump has actually done anything (sanctions have been tried before, name calling is hardly Nobel worthy) to deserve their "Peace" prize, they will certainly have to award it to him along with Kim Jung-un, and Moon of S.Korea. They made a mistake in giving it to Obama (I was/am a strong supporter of him as POTUS), but will they seriously offer their prize to a brutal dictator? To give it to Trump alone would further cheapen their highly esteemed award.
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There's no Nobel for Literature this year. Maybe they'll find a reason to withhold the Peace prize too!
But I suspect the meeting won't happen, or won't yield Nobel-worthy results, and the Prize will go to some deserving party/parties.
2
"[C]on men should never be given the benefit of the doubt." Nor should anything they pledge to do be taken seriously. Trump has no more intention of sitting down with Kim Jong-Un for serious, face-to-face negotiations than he has of willingly sitting down for an interview with Robert Mueller. The tease is his MO, and the escape clauses are already in place. Any meetings will be strictly for show. If there are successes they will be due to someone else, but Trump will demand credit. Meanwhile, our country's institutions are being destroyed, and our allies are being alienated, with the complicity of Republican leaders whose disdain for the rule of law, and contempt for the 99%, continue to shock me.
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syfredrick, you shouldn't be shocked by the disdain for the rule of law and the contempt for the 99% of the Republican Party. For 30 years now, the Party has made the good of the country secondary to the wishes of their mega-donors who fund them and their right wing ideology. Trump is just the latest tool in their war chest.
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Syfredrick I hope you are right that Trump has no intention of meeting with Kim. I don’t want Trump anywhere near a negotiating table. He will give away the store and then throw in the farm that supplies it. Negotiating is not in Trump’s skill set. He is much better at stiffing his contractors. And bankruptcy.
6
Had the media taken this attitude from the start of Trump's candidacy (or better yet, before) the country would now be in a better position--and Trump might not have been elected. Everyone leaned over backwards to be 'fair'--even when presented with those pesky 'alternative facts' that Kelly Conway introduced shortly after the election.
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The picture of Trump doing his Churchill look.
Except that Sir Winston fought for his country, while Donald never did.
Except Sir Winston and Britain stood alone against the forces of darkness and fascism, the same forces Donald admires.
Except Churchill loved fine wine and cuisine, as well a good cigar now bearing the great man's name, while Trump consumes fast food and Diet Coke.
Except Winston read voraciously and wrote numerous books, while Donald is proud of his ignorance.
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Yes! The Churchill look! He must stand in front of the mirror practicing it. I thought I was the only one thinking that.
He does it over and over and over. ugh
1
To me his imperious scowl is more Mussolini than Churchill.
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In today's Trump universe, a never-before-summit meeting between two egomaniacs--one an absolute ruthless dictator, the second a novice aspiring for the same unfettered power--is as breathlessly awaited as any summit between John F.Kennedy and Nikita Krushev.
as usual, the buildup is more important than the event, irrespective of whether it comes off or not.
Commemorative coins? Seriously?
Kim Jong un has already won. he's got a seat at the table and photo ops with Pompeo. he's also got the upper hand because he knows how desperate Trump and Moon are for a foreign policy triumph.
this desperation for diversion--any diversion, even a failed talk in Singapore--is making the world unsafer.
And Trump's desperate need to be liked, could lead him to give away the store because he fails to read his security briefs or do his homework to prepare for this summit.
Trump isn't used to having someone else call the shots.
in his current state of mind, giving him the benefit of the doubt is the last thing we should do.
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" Trump's desperate need to be liked". Does Trump really have a desperate need to be liked? Seems to me he has a desperate need for people to think of him as a success, which is quite another thing.
2
If Trump achieves success with the DPRK he will be immune from whatever Mueller plausibly could uncover. He may also prevent the Republican hemorrhaging that appears to be on the horizon with the midterm elections. He clearly is motivated -- not just to polish a possible Nobel medal.
It may be that Kim has comparable reasons to be motivated. Given that normalization with relations could result including substantial investment from the U.S., then Korea could be well on the road towards unification and achieving the status of one of the leading nations in the world. This would be a real achievement, not the illusory might that comes from possessing nukes with rockets that can reach any point in the U.S. Half measures, like relief from sanctions may not be worth the trouble for Kim.
Assuming that there is the possibility of a deal that could lead to reunification there are people in the Administration as well as the security apparatus of the DPRK that would want this to fail. This may explain Bolton's odd public reference to a Libya solution. No doubt Trump would need political cover against the Bolton wing for the deal that he appears to want --- which may explain why Bolton is in the present role.
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No, if Trump & Co commit crimes, they will still be answerable to the law. See: Nixon, Richard.
Who does Michelle think she’s writing to? How many among the readership of the Times, how many among this commentariat, are likely EVER to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt, other than me and the less than a dozen other regular commenters here who support Trump? Perhaps she’s writing to the conservative who happens to glance at the column when visiting a hyper-lib friend as it graces the bottom of the friend’s canary cage.
The only ones who would be sympathetic to the argument are those who ALREADY wouldn’t consider cutting Trump any slack in their wildest fights of drunken delirium. Not unusually, we have a pundit making an ideologically self-interested argument to the chorus, merely to stoke them and to provide always-welcome talking-points, yet not narrowing by one whit the immense chasm that separates us ideologically.
But, in the interests of that conservative glancing at the means by which canary-droppings are caught antiseptically in a liberal home, let’s parse Michelle’s argument, just to keep fresh with forensic tactics.
Try to understand that corporations are not in the business of increasing their workers’ compensations unless they must, either by law or as a consequence of competitive pressures. If they had increased base compensations as soon as the new tax law became effective, they would have perhaps significantly and permanently affected their labor cost structure BEFORE the results of that tax reform had been felt.
7
Then, we have an election approaching that could up-end majorities in BOTH houses of Congress (unlikely, but it could happen), which in turn could eliminate ALL the benefits of that overhaul, leaving them with an increased compensation load with NO mitigating benefits – and with new majorities seeking to extract even MORE labor concessions from them.
No business in its right mind does that – not one that wants to remain in business, anyway. What they did with the bonuses, FOR NOW, was pass on some of the benefits of the tax overhaul in a safe way to workers. Give them credit for doing THAT.
I’m forever entertained by the willingness of liberals to argue that we needed to wait a century to see the TRUE cost benefits of ObamaCare (which have yet to materialize eight years after the bill was passed), yet argue that after only five months the tax bill was not only a failure but a meretricious one.
However, almost all the people who voted for Trump and likely will vote for Republicans in November … won’t be reading Michelle’s column, unless they have liberal friends with canaries. If by November continued good things in the economy don’t happen, they’ll likely drop Republicans like fourth period French, without need for Michelle’s criticism. But watch for good things to happen by then, and watch for Michelle never again mentioning this column, opting instead to ask, in an outraged tone, “who … me?!”
1
"If they [corporations] had increased base compensations as soon as the new tax law became effective, they would have perhaps significantly and permanently affected their labor cost structure BEFORE the results of that tax reform had been felt."
Ok, Richard. I'll bite. When will the "results" of the "tax reform" kick in? How many "Friedman units" (look it up) do we need to wait for until these companies start increasing base compensation?
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"Not unusually, we have a pundit making an ideologically self-interested argument to the chorus, merely to stoke them and to provide always-welcome talking-points, yet not narrowing by one whit the immense chasm that separates us ideologically."
Defintion of ideology: "a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy."
I am sorry but there is no such thing as Trump's "ideology". Trump is subject at all times to a primal drive towards self interest and a pathological need for praise (which makes him prone to parrot the ideology of those who have his attention through flattery) . To imagine that he has some sort of personal ideology is to be sadly mistaken. I will not give him the benefit of the doubt on that point, nor on most other points.
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So basically the best that the Trump administration can hope for is that the North Korean deal (if it happens at all) will loosely maintain the status quo, and maybe prevent it from getting any worse. Which is basically what the Obama administration got out of the Iran deal.
Oh, the irony.
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Well, Trump trashed the Iran deal and made things worse, and we still have to see what happens with a North Korean deal - it may not be the best we can hope for... it’s more likely Trump will mess that one up too.
2
Well said, Michelle. Trump has been unable to resolve any foreign issues. Instead, he seems to desire praise and pomp above all else and has no understanding of the work it takes to negotiate a deal, all the background studying of issues, history and people. Trump has ping ponged from idea to idea, with no sense of how important these decisions are as well as how to make them. And, no one can explain anything to him, he is so devoid of concern or care for the well-being of our country that it is stupefying. The only people who are worse are the politicians that supposedly talk to him regularly, not sure what they are talking about since nothing that makes any sense is happening.
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What are the pols talking about with Trump? They're telling him how much they ADORE their Dear Leader and will always be loyal to him. That's all he wants to hear and they know it and so they pander.
Everyone seems so afraid of him. Why? I've never seen a larger group of cowards in my life than these Republicans. I cannot express how sick they make me feel about America.
We will not last long with Trump as Dear Leader. I am so worried about our country and it's future.
2
Moon Jae-in played Trump, giving Trump credit for the success of overtures to the North that Trump opposed, then, when they produced a measure of success, he let Trump claim credit.
Likewise, the Chinese are playing Trump much the same way. They give Trump vague openness to importing more US farm products, so he can claim success while there is no progress on intellectual property protection, or the other matters on which the US was supposedly going to demand action.
It would not be surprising if the timing and public disclosure of Chinese financing for Trump investments in the Far East was a Chinese response to Trump's supposed hardball demands. The Singapore project financing was probably a side deal they were more than happy to publicize. They basically told the world that Trump is for sale.
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It is the tactic that we as parents take with very small children
1
Trump, his family & friends have taken out billboards telling foreign enemies and any one else with a buck that they are for sale. Finally reporters are reporting the facts.
Trump has already reached his 'sell by' date. He has broken so many laws, told so many lies and wrecked so much trust in our institutions. He needs to go home to his golden tower and torture New Yorkers once again. St. Pence can finish Trump's term and then also be sent home in 2020. President Biden will clean up their messes.
1
Trump attending a meeting with Kim score 1 for Kim.
After that Kim will not give anything unless Trump gives him much more back - score 1 more for Kim. The trick will be making sure that Trump's base is made well aware of his failure. Bonus- hopefully military action is avoided.
26
"The trick will be making sure Trump's base is made well aware of his failure" would be a far second to making sure Trump's base is aware, period. Sadly, his fans seem incapable of any independent thinking or research whatsoever; they only seem to be good at regurgitating what they have seen on the far out sites of Fox, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, of all places.
If it turns out this meeting between Kim and Trump doesn't take place,or if it does and nothing is achieved, they'll rush to say, "We never cared in the first place".
After months of interacting with Trump supporters online, I don't think it's unfair of me to think I mustn't given them the benefit of the doubt any more than I do their god-in-office, or their new friend, Kim Jong Un.
1
Not enough journalists recognize what Donald Trump represents - a threat to truth, reality, decency, fairness, our collective intellect and responsible governance.
Every day he is president our safety, security, well-being and our rights of living in a free society diminish at an unimaginably rapid pace.
The press/media gave him to us by their utterly irresponsible coverage during the 2016 campaign, tried to redeem themselves in 2017 but in 2018, they are back to their old, worthless ways. Many are now advancing the ridiculous Republican notions that the FBI spied on the Trump campaign, that Trump will best China on trade and intellectual property theft and has a chance to denuclearize North Korea and even win the Nobel Peace Prize.
It's beyond giving the benefit of the doubt. We're back to much of the MSM chasing every ridiculous bit of nonsense Trump and the GOP make up to hide the awful truth of what Trump is and what the Republican Party has become. It is obscene. Ms. Goldberg gets it.
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that corporations were going to benefit supremely from the tax cut, while nodding towards workers was a subterfuge.
the real intent was to create a huge hole in the long term budget so as to leave no choice but to devastate social spending.
Finally, the New Deal is crushed and a lot of us can go back to hunting squirrel for dinner.
79
Perhaps the democrats will finally clearly convey that this has been the primary goal of the Republican Party.
17
The New Deal is alive and well, unless you need to fear and despair.
The Democrats knew this in 1935.
"Everybody thinks" he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. This is essentially true. trump takes solipsism to such an extreme length that the "everyone" he speaks of is Himself. Very few people probably think Barack Obama deserved a Nobel Peace Prize including, I'd wager, Barack Obama. ("Excuse me Mr President, I hate to interrupt your inaugural speech but you have a phone call from Oslo.")
To show trump's "diplomatic" chops, he went ahead with military exercises which the North has always found to be provocative. Diplomacy (usually) means showing restraint where you otherwise would rather not. Postponing or scaling back those exercises would have been a good faith measure to show that there was a new view in Washington. But no. The gleefully pugnacious US president couldn't resist a poke in the eye of his newly-minted global leader.
19
If a drunk driver passes out before he runs over his ninth pedestrian it doesn't mean that pedestrian should have to give him a safe driving award. There are no benefits to the doubts Trump has sown about news media, our elections, our security agencies, our judiciary, our founding principles, our ability to be an honest broker or our word as a nation. A broken clock is right twice a day, it doesn't mean our goal should be to break all the clocks.
64
Instead of the benefit of the doubt extreme scrutiny needs to given to the upcoming deal with North Korea that may include talks or not.
It’s extremely concerning that Bolton, Trump and now I just read Pence are saying North Korea needs to make a deal or else North Korea will end up like Libya. Taken literally this seems to be a real showdown that could get out of control very quickly.
It’s highly unlikely that North Korea will give up their Nuclear weapons or missiles. The Trump administration appears to be saying that the nukes and missilies must go or else no deal.
31
I want one of those coins. I’ll put it next to my baseball from the 1994 World Series.
8
Nice column, with a very timely piece of advice. Kudos, MG!
Trump deserves the benefit of the doubt about as much as the Boy Who Cried "Wolf!' did.
47
"Benefit of the doubt" is conveyed to those who have a record of delivering results, especially when those results have been both positive and unlikely.
Mr. Trump's results in office so far have been positive only if viewed through his tinted lens, while his record before moving into the White House is a mix of fraud and failure.
Therefore, no benefit and lots of doubt, and zero expectations for positive results from the summit, if it happens. (Given the irrational nature of the two principals, we might be better off if they limit their discussion to the shape of the table.)
41
I'm not sure that Kim Jong Un is an egomaniac, though I don't think his father consolidated power by killing off relatives, more or less like the House of Osman used to do, but with antiaircraft guns rather than silk handkerchiefs.
Meanwhile, we will support our president's statements of facts. If he should suddenly proclaim that Kim is an animal, so be it, pig, dog, or tiger.
3
Yay- what a fantastic essay!
It is refreshing to have a clear-headed analysis to dispell the confusion that reins in the world of punditry.
82
Excellent column. Thank you for your insight and courage.
58
What's courageous about the obvious? Might as well cheer the sun for rising.
Who here ever gave Trump the benefit of any doubt? Get real.
22
YOU have and way too often.
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And when has he NOT failed to disappoint? There is no education in the second kick of a mule.
6
First, you should read the column again.
Plenty of people “here” have done just that, including you, by repeating the mantra that Hillary would have been as bad or worse. “Get real” is great advice.
4
Every time I refer to Donald Trump as a homo sapien I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.,..
553
Stu Freeman
Humanity originated in Africa. You and the President descend from there. Check with the Smithsonian if you have questions
Trump is a Homo Sapien but not a fully realized Human Being. Far from it. Sad to say but true.
2
Stu; I think if we can get a DNA sample, more than likely there will not only be excessively more than average amount of Neanderthal DNA - but also a fair amount of Reptilian DNA as well - so considering him "homo sapien" is extremely generous on your part !
1
Trump has claimed that any deals done by Obama or predecessors are bad. His base agrees, although they do not know precisely why. So Trump undies the deals - whether Iran nuclear, climate change or TPT or maybe NAFTA. Trump vows he will negotiate better deals. But he never does, because it turns out that there are other sides in these negotiations, and the deals we got turned out to be pretty good
The same can be said for health care - Trump never had a better plan - and DACA - Trump was unable to negotiate a better deal. It is easy to undo but not very productive unless you can do better; and Trump cannot.
646
Exactly. Trump is the destructor. He has no plans and doesn't even know what he's destroying because he really never reads or follows the details of, well, anything. Oh, except Fox and Friends.
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I do not understand why the Democrats are not hammering Trump and the GOP on the fact that they lied to the American people about healthcare. Trump said that he could cover everyone, with better plans, and for a fraction of the cost. He lied.
The GOP tried to repeal Obamacare fifty plus times without a replacement that provides equal coverage at lower cost. They lied and should be punished for it by the voters.
37
Neither can the GOP. Look at the gridlock that's happened since they took control of Congress in 2010. What exactly has been done to help us 99%? Nothing, really. All they know how to do is say "No" and that's it. What's really sad is that their cult members keep voting them in, believing the poisoned GOP Kool-Aid will somehow save them in the end, as long as they keep drinking it. SAD.
22
Trump is drowning in his own mess. Everything he has promised his working class base has not materialized. He desperate for a big win. The tax cut was a big win for the 1%, but not the MAGA cap crowd. So he panics and sees an opportunity for the spotlight of gory and says he will meet with Kim.
Mr. Kim seized upon the opportunity and immediately began to play Trump. Now our dear leader is having cold feet and is preparing for an exit. This meeting will never occur. Kim will never give up his nukes. And Trump's popularity with the MAGA cap crowd will not diminish one iota.
Anyone out there get that $4000 raise he promised?
470
The only ones who benefited were the "I just made you all a lot richer" crowd that he boasted to at Mar A Lago.
44
Trump has done one thing for his base - probably the brainchild of Jared and Pence - which was to move the embassy to Jerusalem. The evangelicals are wild about it. It will bring on the Rapture for the End Times crowd. What it will probably bring on is further death and destruction for the Middle East, but that's a small price to pay for the adoration of Trump's base.
44
I’m getting a raise because I am part of a union. And the raise was negotiated before Don the Con was elected. No kudos to Donnie boy for this.
48
Trump hold ll the cards. We think we are giving him the benefit of the doubt, but in reality we have no power.
It must feel safer to us to think we have some control.
12
4Average Joe
America:
A government
Of the People
By the People
and For the People.
On the Trump TV show, he has already humbly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, surrounded by adoring family and staff.
During the commercial break, he will displace blame for the failure of the North Korea and Iran nuclear negotiations on staff members. The blame bus appears to be heading for John Bolton at the moment but it can always swerve and take out others in a sideswipe.
Trump: "Bolton, you moron, why did you remind Kim of Libya and Colonel Qadaffi? That totally killed my beautiful friendship with Kim. I was about to invite him to Mar-A-Lago for chocolate cake while I fired missiles at Iran".
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@Look Ahead: Whew. Disaster averted. If Kim accepted an invitation from Trump to Mar-A-Lago, World War III would ensue. Kim would be enraged when Trump followed his custom of having guests served only one helping of dessert while treating himself to two.
14
look ahead
writes a great script from the sinking left.
1
Well said.
4
The Times needs to do a running comprehensive audit of the Trump administration's accomplishments—Department by Department, policy by policy, deed by deed—connecting the dots to give us, by July or August, a complete picture of what Trump has done, with the collusion of his Party leadership in Congress.
450
Go ahead, give us the list of accomplishments. And tell us how he accomplished them. Executive actions can
be undone very easily. And this president’s party controls both chambers of Congress.
So what has he accomplished, really?
96
Yes, NY Times, do so! Too many people think Trump is accomplishing everything he said he would. What has he accomplished? He never campaigned on a tax cut for the wealthy. He campaigned to help coal miners in Appalachia then signed into law a restriction on regulating mining debris in streams, which was a return to the status quo since the regulation never went into affect and did not bar the practice totally. He tried to ban Muslims, but the Supreme Court hasn't delivered their ruling yet. Trumps hyperbole and bombast makes it appear as if he's accomplishing all sorts of things, when in reality he's not.
78
Accomplishments? Wouldn't take long to audit those.
Bungling and buffoonery would be a much more time consuming audit.
23
Trump remains inoculated against criticism. His security blanket of Fox News and the loyalty of the Trumpeteers renders scrutiny so much noise. The media has unsparingly chronicled his lies and foibles. The abiding notion everyone wants their President to be successful tempered by Trump's often offensive behavior. Contrast that with he and his acolytes spewing out talking points about his accomplishments in lightning round style. Doubt is cooked into this cake so Trump will have to earn confidence by words and deeds. Slim odds on that happening.
24
TEXSON
The left never stops trying to destroy the president.
They do not think of this country.
In order to "stop" something, it's necessary to have started doing something. When exactly did the NY Times start giving President Trump the benefit of any doubt, on any issue? When?
7
In all seriousness, the NY Times and other legitimate media give Trump the benefit of doubt all the time: every time they analyse his tweets, proposals, and statements as if they contained rational thought and strategy.
How many times have you heard "Oh, maybe this is 3D chess", or "This is likely a strategy to get such and such"?
No. It's just noise, literally noise.
38
If folks in Ontario are feeling sorry for The Donald's having to take so much guff from the "failing" NY Times, why not invite him up there for an extended stay? Build him a wall and a golf course and he'll be happy as a pig in a, um, stinkhole.
30
The mere act of covering him is giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Ticklishly well written.
25
Giving the President the benefit of the doubt only erodes the dignity of the office, and the ethics of our government as a whole.
One would likely do better giving gasoline and a match to a 'reformed' arsonist, and hoping for no fires.
I have never had any faith in this mans' intelligence, ability to lead, strategic or tactical thinking, integrity, honesty, ethics, morals, humanity, or decency – or more correctly the lack of all the aforementioned.
I, and millions of others along with you Michelle, are not fooled.
Not in the least. All this nightmare and chaos and incompetence is EXACTLY what I expected.
1759
There is no dignity of the office, it is a job to be done correctly. The president is doing that, but way too slowly for my tastes.
1
"I, and millions of others along with you Michelle, are not fooled."
The MSM allows this latest version of 'false equivalence' to seep into the national narrative. (I don't put Fox Opinions in the MSM class) However, millions of us believe that Kim is playing chess while SK and the US are being inept at checkers. China and NK know Trump to be a fool and can be, with flattery, goaded into any impulsive actions they wish.
Floating something as ridiculous as the Nobel Peace Prize for Trump along with helpers Bolting and Pompous strikes many as absurd. Do we hope Trump is successful? It would be madness on our part if that were not true. So, our false hopes help us get through the day.
Michelle strikes the right message here though.
53
I am a Canadian and pardon my asking how did Trump win the Presidency! To the best of my knowledge, it was free and fair. So something is amiss. Is it Tump, the embodiment of these lowly character traits, who is wrong or all those millions who voted him into power.
32