Mr. Trump is rejected because he gets all the respect that he deserves, which is to say, little to none. He may sit in the seat of a world leader, but he is not a leader and never has been.
He runs the country as he would run a small private company, with his son-in-law and daughter right next to him. None of them have much idea of what running a country entails. They treat it as their private fiefdom.
Even during his tenure, Mr. Trump has continued to treat his base in a mean manner. He and his company are being sued by vendors who built his new Washington hotel, because once again, they were not paid.
I'm neither famous or known to the Trump family. Nonetheless, when I go, please make sure they don't come to my funeral. I would be embarrassed.
37
Trump has successfully got his Wall. It's around him, around his Administration, and anything that involves interacting with him. It's invisible, hasn't cost the taxpayers anything for (traditional) construction, yet no sane person wants to breach it.
31
The question that is never answered is why Trump is the pinnacle of Republicanism. How did they get themselves to backing and worshipping Trump. This did not happen over night. Trump the mob boss takes over a mob political party. A perfect fit.
Also a misogynist nation felt the greatest pleasure in taking down Hillary Clinton. How many times could we punch her. Republicans were successful in destroying democracy. What could be better if Russia and Vladimir Putin helps. The greatest blood sport of 2016 was destroying clinton and cheering Russia. That is the Republican Party that is Mitch McConnell. The enemy of his enemy is his friend. If your goal is authoritarianism and stacking the federal courts, Putin is your very best friend.
19
Remember the Peter Principle? It appears valid in the the USA
8
When you dance with a gorilla you don't stop when you are tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.
Here we have a gorilla that no one will dance with. If you do after the dance he will say you had two left feet and bad breadth. So why do it?
Reminds of the line from 'Cabaret': If you could see her with my eyes. Well we all see her quite clearly with our own eyes, but for a lonely few who seem to have Stockholm Syndrome and are unwilling or unable to admit they were very wrong.
Trust is a two way street and this President has shown over and over that he is not loyal to those who now or in the past served. why get near such toxicity?
Picture the job being posted on one of those employment Internet sites:
Man for all seasons needed to run Oval Office, keep an eye on the always revolving door, an ear to the phone chatter and three eyes on the three TV's tuned to the three cable news channel. Prior experience not necessary. No education requirements needed. Bad spelling is find.
6
Frank, you have the best way with words when it comes to Trump. Hands down!
1
You know what...Cry me a river.
Trump,s bullying strategy is to take the office of the president and use it's power to hammer people over the head and pick up some revenue on the side.
It does not matter whether they are world leaders, former presidents, Robert Mueller, former lawyers, his own executive staff, democrats in general, critics in particular, African-American athletes, women specifically, Nancy and Chuck, movie stars...actors and actresses, singers, the poor and...who am I forgetting?...his disdain is obvious
No one likes, wants to work for, or will fondly remember this president when he is gone. He's made his own bed, now he can sleep alone in it.
11
Over 60 million Americans wanted him. By naming less than 50 people are you trying to make WHAT point exactly?
2
While he occupies the most powerful position in the world, he is really a weak, insecure, and ultimately nasty man. With the exception of his low-knowledge base, the rest of the world clearly sees him for what he is.
16
Um, no fan of Rex Tillerson, but he ran the 9th largest company in the world. Who does Trump think he is? What a joke, honestly. A small-time nothing who has no clue what he is doing or what he is saying.
20
The 2020 election, if he makes it that far, is going to be surreal
5
We expected a boor with four bankruptcies and a history of not paying his contractors to be a decent guy.
13
The mean rich kid with his big train set always plays alone in the end
19
Mr. Bruni may be correct but the alternate universe that Trump exists in where he is The Second Coming does exist. According to the GOP and his rally crowds, Trump walks on water. Pence apparently turns into muted wonder at the mere presence of Donald.
I wish he were in fact rejected enough that people would actually put him in is place once in awhile. Enough with this cruel, mean. lazy, ignorant and selfish old man.
10
Pelosi is right. Trump’s behavior is about his perception of his manhood. Stated more accurately, it is about his insecurity regarding his masculinity. This explains his misogyny, his need to cheat on his wife by having sex with a porn star and a playmate, his bragging about being able to sexually assault women and then denying each of some 20 or so such accusations against him. He thinks being a tough guy makes him masculine. He sees Putin as a tough, masculine guy and admires him and likely would like to emulate him. The same is so for other despotic leaders.
Pelosi’s attack on his manhood will unravel him more than Rubio’s assertion regarding the size of his hands. And she now has a quick reference point for each of Trump’s antics, she can say it is “just another Trump manhood thing” by which she can be entirely dismissive of him.
Given that the Democratic controlled House has the ability to turn Trump and everyone and everything inside out, he is going to find his very insecure masculinity truly challenged.
17
Reading this--and remembering other times this president tried to fill a position with a qualified candidate and was turned down, I can't help but think of that scene from "It's A Wonderful Life," where Mr. Potter offers a job to George Bailey. George shakes Potter's hand, and then recoils, saying: "…The answer's no!... You think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't. In the whole vast configuration of things…you're nothing but a scurvy little spider."
7
He's crying all the way to the bank.
I don't care how you word it. I will not feel sorry for this man. He deserves to be isolated. He is a cancer. He is the result of a country that stop talking to each other when Barack Obama was elected. This country entered its second civil war, and Trump is the losing sides revenge. Now they see just how ugly they really are. This country was moving ahead and their willful spitefulness and ignorance has undone all the good that was achieve prior. Now the reckoning begins. There is a whole lot of economic, cultural, and environmental pain that is coming to this country. We brought it own ourselves. You can't do wrong and expect to get right. To paraphrase the scripture God is not mock you. You will reap what you have sown.
4
Who ever thought it would be so hard to remove such an incompetent, inappropriate and criminal President??
10
Who needs migraines or darts being tossed at them in random fashion? Kelly did not, along with Sessions, Tillerson and McMasters. Trump waited too long to make the change. Mueller's latest plea documents and further installments of Trump unhinged must have shaken Ayers. Can't blame him if it did.
The US Senate the last to recognize the GOP foisted off on the American people a Forest Gump minus the heart.
1
Trump reaps what he sows...total emptiness.
5
Lindsay Graham still wants to hang with Trump. Nobody understands why. Maybe Graham should become in Chief of Staff? That will make everyone happy!
5
You know it’s bad when the National Enquirer turns its back on you.
9
POTUS's Approval among Likely Voters remains at 48%, which represents about 62,000,000 actual American voters. Besides, they were chanting in Europe, "We Want Trump!" @realDonaldTrump! Trust the sounds of the masses your ears hear, not the bloviations you hear from the Fake News Media - The Enemy of the People around the globe! https://youtu.be/VVs78cBSoQM
1
The somewhat predictable tragedy of Trump is that among people who do not spend too much time examining what he says or does, but like the idea of the Trump "character," he can be popular and win votes. But Washington, and government in general, is a world where facts matter and unlike Trump, most people in government (and academia, and the press), suffer severe consequences when they get facts wrong. Trump is inevitably going to held in contempt by such people. Most of the "best" people for jobs in government or in any knowledge based job are considered the best because of a track record of getting things right. How many people with this kind of track record, regardless where they are on the conservative/liberal spectrum, would want to work with a man with Trump's track record of lies as a way of life?
7
What's the pay? I can't stand Trump but if they can't get anyone else, and the pay is really high, I'll take it- and contribute the money to the Democratic Party.
17
With Nick Ayers - (take a close look at pictures of the young man - a Trump with a stronger chin) - I think Trump envisioned a son, someone who actually looked and thought like himself, maybe smarter than his biological adult sons, who would be the perfect clone. His mini-me.
His failing to probe Ayers about his feelings about taking on the position - and his inability to imagine any reasons for hesitation -are an another extension of his narcissism. And his conviction - despite all the turnover and bitter infighting -- that no one can resist a Trump invitation (and the hope of riches by association).
Frankly, the situation is a little scary: what will he feel impelled to do to show his control???
7
What Bruni and the rest of our know it all pundits and major media continue to deny is what the election of Donald Trump says about the collective contempt, greed and just plain incompetence of our whole political establishment (both parties),major media, and the business owner, financial institution, Wall Street, CEO American nobility who control our elected "representatives" like puppeteers - the whole organized crime US elite that crashed our economy in 2008. Trump was the only one running for president that even pretended that he would obey the proven by polls for decades - over 80% majority will and interest, by enforcing our immigration laws, reducing wage-killing 1+ million a year legal immigration, and stop the sending of our manufacturing jobs to no rights slave-worker $1.25/hour countries like China and Mexico. Anything that comes from the election of Trump that Bruni or others bemoan is their fault! Our capable of brainwashing with their trillions 1-10% professional American economic nobility, alternately could have rigged or orchestrated a reduction in their Cosmopolitan themed lie/fantasy of "global labor competition" race to the bottom by offering us a different candidate. But they didn't, and now according to the wailing of the NY Times we are paying the price! Although its inconceivable for the half of Americans that voted for Trump that things could get any worse, and that's something that the NY Times editors and journalists, really need to think about.
2
He has no friends. At the Republican convention, he had to trot his mediocre family up on the stage because there are no respected lifelong associates who want to speak up for him. And he had no Rolodex of veteran administrators waiting in the wings to step into cabinet and assistant-secretary positions. Now he will get his whole family arrested. They richly deserve it, I'm afraid.
29
Sometimes I feel like the only gadfly here.
Socrates (the real one) was always a hero of mine. You know, "an unexamined life is not worth living" and all.... But it just occurred to me, how would HE know?! Come on folks, get off that group-think train.
3
It was not just England who had a Trump balloon. We had it in Scotland too - even though he’s half Scottish. And for dumping him on the rest of the world, we in Scotland unreservedly apologise.
20
Hahaha...we’ll happily give him back.
5
I agree with every point in this litany. In the final analysis, what is now driving even the formerly politically craven away-- ones who would have been perfectly happy to take the Chief of Staff job, even a month ago-- is the burning reality that this ship is going down. News is now breaking by the hour, none of it good for DJT or anyone associated with him. The man is toxic.
No one wants the job because everyone knows taking it would almost certainly involve having to seek legal counsel. There are staffers who are going to be impoverished for having thrown their hands in with this thug. Who would willingly take that on?
This story, from the onset, has been almost biblical in its scope (and Shakespearean, Dickensian, and Kafkaesque). Turns out...you really do reap what you sow. And what goes for DJT goes for this nation.
If this man is not impeached or held to account in some formal, legal, dramatic way, this nation has sown the seeds for the next tyrant wannabe. Criminal wrong doing and pure, venal, nastiness and corruption of the magnitude outlined in this article must not go unpunished.
If he gets away with any of it, we'll reap the whirlwind.
16
The more Trump, Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr., etc., are exposed to light, the worse they look. Their ignorance, depravity, and lack of conscience (it's OK to kill a troublesome reporter with recorded torture to eliminate critics). There is literally nothing this band of merry thieves will stop at. I think Trump will drop a nuclear bomb on some relatively innocent country just to distract from impeachment. He will declare martial law. They are in too deep to go willingly. Their businesses are now so tarnished by their political escapades.
Fox News presented the 24/7 propaganda as the sole source of "reality" for most Trump voters. Most Trump supporters don't know the counter arguments or any facts by which to evaluate Trump's outrageous statements about immigrants, African Americans, Latinoes and Latinas, expertise, Global Warming, coal, protection of national parks and refuges, protected areas of the oceans to forbid taking sea life so the protected areas can spawn healthy babies to replenish our marine food supply. Democrats have had too many petty regulations perhaps. Trump proposes lawless rape of natural resources and lack of planning to enable bad people to exploit all of nature!
Sooner or later, the Trumps will be gone. Our long term problem is Fox News, designed to misinform folks without much education. We will continue to have Trump-like elected officials until folks start getting facts rather than Fox.
17
Trump's own hubris is bringing him down.
He could have gone on forever as a petty crook if he hadn't run for "the ultimate validation".
9
I'm surprised he hasn't called over to Fuax News to see who would come over. Hannity perhaps (and god forbid)?!
2
Psychopaths are clever. One thing Trump understands is that no sense of belonging is a pervasive issue. It's primal, and that type of rejection was also harnessed by Hitler. It results in eating disorders, from anorexia to bulimia, to eating and working off, to just eating more than you need as a habit. It causes substance abuse, greed, and terrorism.
It also puts people in fight, flight or freeze thinking.
And Trump aligns with these people at an emotional level. He aligns with their sense of anger and betrayal.
Where are the social science reporters? Read up on Bem's Theory of Self Perception, Dweck's get a great book out on Mindset. How about the Nobel prize winning work of Kahneman on Casual vs Deliberate Thinking? Or even Covey's 7 habits. To be understood, seek to understand.
What's needed: ignite a peer based, volunteer driven, prosocial, macrolevel, community/resilinecy building movement thru coffee shops and dive bars by asking grads who internalized a critical reflection based community service learning practice to pass along the skills they internalized while building their own resilience at San Francisco State, a public, urban university with the most diverse 1st gen student population, many from immigrant families.
Yes, it's innovative. And fun. And easy! Let's build an Army of Care made out of tiny support group troops that generate a sense of belonging and broaden world views while building critical thinking skills.
Hurry
4
@Chris
I thought academic disciplines like psychology and sociology aspired to be objective and not have political affiliations and outputs.
3
What did Cohen get for his total loyalty to Trump, other than a prison sentence?
6
Trump is the most corrupt President, most corrupt politician America has ever had. His endless lies, willful denial of reality, his grotesque narcissism, paraded daily as a national obscenity, his threats and ceaseless bullying, his overt indifference to the rule of law, his almost daily criminal behavior... which is not even covered up or excused anymore.
To all his enthralled supporters, WAKE UP! You are sadly duped. Even yesterday, he still claimed he had done nothing wrong. He also incited riots should he be impeached - after all, he had done nothing wrong.
A Nation Of Sheep Begets A Government Of Wolves.
-Edward R. Murrow
Trump is the wolf. His followers - and the Republican Congress - are sheep.
How much longer will all the horrible disclosures: his daily criminal indifference, his denial of reality combined with endless pathological lying, his painfully obvious functional illiteracy, his refusal to be briefed, to do the job of President in any real way - to even believe or respond to Reality - be tolerated by the Congress who has a Sacred Sworn Duty to uphold and protect this country?
Enough!
11
Pity he and Omarosa had a falling-out. She would have been perfect for the job. I'm sure whoever he picks will be just like her, a wanna-be willing to toady up, who has no morals to speak of and figures that, whatever happens, he/she can write a tell all book afterwards to cash in.
6
Ayers: Republicans who have watched his rise (and who sense in him more than a bit of Trump). Is it even possible that this Trump is spawning new Trumps? If we get through this intact, presidential front runners need to submit to a brain scan and release tax returns.
5
Donald Trump has a reverse Midas touch. Everything and everyone he touches turns to dross. (I am refraining from using a stronger impolite word.) He is the ultimate empty suit, ignorant, willful, spoiled and a professional grifter. He makes (yes, present tense) his money from licensing his name, but its value decreases more each day. He was lifted to the presidency by a minority of the people, but a rabid one who will believe anything he says despite evidence to the contrary. There is not an authentic bone in the body of this pathlogical liar. There is no substance. All that counts is appearances - the con. He is singularly unqualified to be president and has shown no inclination to learn. No briefing books for Donald. The extent of his learning is from Fox News. He has no idea of governance, civics, policy, diplomacy, international relations or anything else. We are coming to the time when more and more people will understand that the Emperor is naked. Those who have worked with and for him will be forever tainted by that association, rather than it being a resume enhancer. Many will be indicted and perhaps jailed by the time the investigations are over. No one wants to join the crew on the Titanic. And, as time passes, fewer will want to go down with the ship. The only question is when the investigations will reach his family and then leapfrog to him. Then this sorry story will finally be over. It can't come soon enough.
12
I’m going to NYC next week to see Bryan Cranston in Network, the Broadway version of the film that prophecied ALL of this—in 1976!
4
If he could only spell.
Richie Rich had to create Mar-a-Lago so he'd have a Palm Beach social life. Can you imagine being so disliked and then so crude as to spawn a D-list country club?
7
Pence got to Ayers, gave him the insider’s 4-1-1 and convinced him to wait for Pence. Both of them are rent-seeking opportunists.
9
This being the Yuletide season, I am reminded of the Dickens story, particularly the part where the ghosts show Scrooge just how bad and lonely and unloved a person he is. However, where Ebenezer finally realizes this, I am not so sure that the failing New York president ever will.
7
Here in New Jersey we have a potential federal chief of staff who has been slavering for such a position for years. His initials are CC. Jared K. still smarts from CC's having put his father in jail and is generally assumed to have had a say in CC's being given no place in the new Administration two years ago. If CC finally gets his brass ring by default, due to its rejection by everybody else, this not being a job that can easily be left vacant for long, may his connection with the big guy tarnish him irreparably, and more deeply than Bridgegate has. It's past time for us to read Michael Cohen's "three years in prison" headline with CC's name in it. Let's go!
5
The administration’s attempt to get the backing of the Russians and the Saudis is one of the most sordid chapters in our nation’s history. Who would have thought that the Russian president, former KGB chief Putin, would have access to damaging intelligence on the new, naive American president? Who could have dreamed that the Saudi crown prince, ruler of one of the wealthiest and most corrupt, murderous regimes on earth (remember 9/11?) wouldn’t have Jared Kushner’s interests at heart after loaning him billions to prop up his failed real estate firm?
This most corrupt and failed presidency in American history has allowed the foxes into the hen house. Now it’s time for them to be tarred and feathered and allowed to fully experience the fate they have so richly earned for themselves.
12
I wish that many, many people would send compassionate good wishes to Mr Trump, pray for him if you follow a theistic tradition, meditate using the Tibetan tonglen directed toward him, keep in mind that he, like us, is a suffering potentially sentient being.
5
No thanks. I'll pass.
4
@mistah charley, ph.d.
I care more about stray dogs than Trump.
3
Trump against the world, no way will it work. He has to go. and go soon.
3
I wonder when the Russians will kick him out of office. After all, it's their government, not ours. They run the show here.
5
Nicely put, but is it news? Is it a surprise? We have a braggart, a liar, a thief, a slanderer, a draft dodger, an election loser, and an incompetent office holder. No one likes him. Do we really need to wonder why?
4
Donald is a con artist and sloppy crook at best. It seems that anything he touches is corrupted. Funny how is he obsessed with the Trump name and image, it will go down in history as inept.
3
Toxic orange, indeed.
This is my opinion on 45's lack of support system in the Oval Office, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
You reap what you sow.
3
The people who support Trump don't want a friend. They want action. They think he is succeeding and believe...
1) The ban (Executive Order 13769) on travelers from 7 nations is proof that the US is safer and can’t be invaded by evil Muslims (even though the 9/11 terrorists didn’t come from a banned nation).
2) The hiring of administrators hostile to the departments they run is proof that Trump is “draining the swamp” (even though those departments improve life for Americans).
3) The tax cut is proof that Trump is enriching Americans (even though the cut helped only the very rich, took money away from infrastructure, and increased the deficit).
4) The destruction of one nuclear site in North Korea is proof that Trump forced Kim Jong-un to destroy his arsenal (even though nuclear sites still exist and Kim is still a threat).
5) The imprisonment of migrants is proof that Trump is securing the border (even though most migrants overstay visas and Trump’s ham-fisted approach ignores asylum law and creates unnecessary misery).
6) The rejection of the TTP, the renegotiation of NAFTA, and the tariffs on China are proof that Trump is saving American jobs (even though the opposite is happening and US manufacturers and farmers are suffering major losses).
7) The cancelling of environmental protections is proof that Trump is creating jobs (even though eco-degradation causes job loss).
Trump's supporters LOVE his meanness because they think it will get them what they want.
12
@Heather
7) Trump's inaction on climate change is dooming us all.
7
It just dawned on me. Aren't we as a collective here just as bad as he is? We attack him on a daily basis, the Times hasn't let up since 2016 isn't this a form of bullying as well? Or does he bring out the worst in us and we as a defense rail back at him?
4
@Margo Channing
Reporting is not 'attacking', and if you think it is, then you have fallen down Daycare Donnie's rabbit hole of Grand Old Projection.
What has Donald done to Make America Great Again ?
The man is objectively awful.
18
@Margo Channing
A beautiful thing to witness. You have broken free!
1
Yes to your first and second questions. There's a lot of recycling going on in these op-ed pieces. I keep waiting for somebody to write something fresh.
2
A snake in the grass hates another snake in the grass especially a hissing one!
3
The issue is that Trump is used to running things like a business, where upper and middle management are beholden to the top and where they fall on the sword and stab with political infighting and no accountability to their customers (beyond lip service) and some accountability to their shareholders (but basically limited to shareholder value regardless the cost to society).
Trump has shown us that running a government like a business is bad, but more it shows that running a business like a business is also not for the betterment of society and has limited ethics to the point of not getting caught or living in the grey area rather than merely occasionally visiting it.
This has always been the problem of top-down rule, whether in the public or private economy. One-sided loyalty never works out in the long run.
6
@James Wallis Martin
Great comment. But Trump supporters believe, with some justification, that government run like government (or at least like a federal government) is ALSO subpar and fairly "top-down", whereby they are far from the top.
4
@James Wallis Martin
While your comment makes good points. I work in a management position for a fortune 500 global corporation and work closely with upper management. DJT does not posses the knowledge, experience or temperament to work in the excuative level in my corporation. DJT has run a family owned corporation which has no shareholders and only answers to the "king". He very far removed from being qualified to run a publicly traded corporation. The business analogy you use here does fit our current circumstance. Like Comey says, DJTs business is modeled in the same vain as a crime family.
13
If you plant corn, you get corn. Pretty simple, but he's never managed to grasp it.
4
Any person who runs an organization of any size would know that you must have a backup plan, a succession plan. You must have at least 3 to be in the running for any senior post. More than anything else, this highlights how poorly this President runs his organization. His bubble is bursting with reality. We know what's coming next, Javanka, the new Chief of Staff. Let the spiral continue!
6
How lawyered up would any sane person have to be to feel comfortable taking the Trump chief of staff job? His supporters in Congress only have to face their voters after his inevitable fall. Anyone and everyone who takes a job in this White House has to figure they’ll be facing subpoenas for the next decade. Though I understand that the health plan is excellent.
6
Everyday I wonder how this most odious of humans made it and still resides in the WH.I knew it was going to be bad but never realized such evil could exist in one man.It says something awful about we Americans that he is still there and I only hope his demise will be swift and thorough.
8
@susan mccall = you write ' I only hope his demise will be swift and thorough' - no doubt you mean his political demise, not his physical demise
3
@mistah charley, ph.d.why would you think such a thing??Of course I mean his political demise and I still hope it happens tomorrow and he spends the rest of his miserable life in prison.
1
To get a better sense of why Nick Ayers rejected the demagogue Trump’s C of S offer, read “The Shadow President” (Pence).
Pence needs Ayers, more than he still needs the demagogue Trump, because Pence is on a “mission from the Christian God.”
2
The sheer meanness of spirit that Trump displays every day in his constant, harsh demeaning of those he considers enemies, and in the ravings that make up his tweets, naturally would appall any decent person.
204
@Debra Petersen
That would make about half our country indecent. Is it possible they are not such bad people, but that they are simply more willing to disrupt the established order because they are victims of it? If they were more educated they could do this more gracefully... but then again, they wouldn't be in this position (a bit of a Catch-22).
12
Well over half the country finds Trump’s personality lacking. Even some of his supporters acknowledge that he crosses the line, they just have a misplaced faith in his policies.
9
@Alexandra Hamilton
This may be true. But there are many voters where I live that don't buy into the Camelot ideal and didn't vote for Trump because of his personality. Also, if the non-participatory half of voting age Americans (who tend to be independents, libertarians, anarchists, etc.) were required to vote, as in many democracies, Trump would have likely won by a massive margin. Hillary was lucky that most disenfranchised people don't vote.
1
How could Ayers say yes? Trump has taken down virtually everyone in his direct orbit. How could Ayers, finally, think his fate would be any different? How could Ayers, with his inflated ego and sense of self, think he could compete and win with Trump's inflated ego and sense of self?
2
Hmmm . . . the "moderate" republicans who pushed him away . . . you make that sound like they had finally found their heart and mind. But as I recall, Our terrific president, Obama went through the same 'denial' with a whole herd of democratic politicians during the second presidential election. You think maybe it has more to do with a selfish self preservation than anything? I realize the comparisons of black and white (not literally, in this case) are enough to gag the average person, but politics has an interface that doesn't include moral judgement.
1
Imagine you're Donald Trump this Christmas as a 2018 Ebenezer Scrooge. How many ghosts from Trump's past misdeeds are going to show up to hound Trump into insomnia? A fleet-footed Paul Manafort to dance in front of him, partnering with Mueller and then partnering with Rudy Giuliani, as he puts his hands together in the shape of a bowl, lipping "Pardon. Pardon. Give me my Pardon." A tired, bedraggled Michael Cohen, directing Trump to wire more funds to another paramour, and then to Putin's account in Switzerland. A sleepless Trump stumbles down the stairs from Air Force One and demands--lying prone--that Kellyanne Conway fix his hair. A disheveled mess as the leader of the free world, a whale of a lump of man at his nadir. Meanwhile, Mike Pence looks around him and rubs his hands together.
3
@Michael V.
That would be a huge, box office money maker... afterall, you don't have to worry about the people who can't afford the movies.
Trump is certainly awful, but then the Repub's are populated by the likes of Ted Cruz, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, zombie Mike Pence, Matt Kavanaugh... the list goes on and on. Trump likes to be surrounded by people who are dumber than him (no easy task that) but as a Repub, he is also surrounded by some of the most odious pol's imaginable.
5
@pauliev I think none of the above are "dumb", just willfully blind.
1
This is an administration brimming with ultra-reactionaries and life-long turners of cranks, where nepotism rules the day. What Trump really needs and does not have and cannot get, rather than the gang of incompetents and halfwits who are his adult offspring and their spousal accompaniments, is an experienced and clear-sighted nipote. The Renaissance popes knew how to do this. The thug in the Oval Office doesn´t have a clue.
2
It won’t do him any good to find someone competent if he continues to go with his ignorant “hunches” rather than anyone’s sane advice.
Applications now being taken for Chief of Staff (soon to be known as Individual-2)
8
No one has ever wanted to hang out with Donald Trump. If his father Fred hadn't been wealthy, perhaps then Donald would have received a different type of "education" at the hands of unimpressed peers. Alas, he did not. If he didn't own the bat and the ball, no one would have played with him on the playground.
Donald the ladies' man? Without cash, he couldn't get a date with anyone, male or female.
Donald the deal maker? Mr. Bankruptcy wouldn't have gotten out of the blocks without his dad's money and, quite possibly, ties with the Russian mafia working in the area where Dad made his money.
Donald the negotiator? Just ask China and American workers who the tariffs are working out for us.
We are enduring the reign of a Reject in Chief. He is a con, a liar and a immoral thief. The only cure to the disease that is Donald is his removal.
10
From a legal standpoint I suspect Mr. Bruni intended the double entendre of his sub-headline question, "Is there anyone who wants to hang with Donald Trump?"
5
Not to worry, Trump will always have Ivanka, Jared, Don and Eric to control and abuse.
2
Who even wants to be near him much less work with him......I doubt he has ever had a real friend.....such a pathetic sad weak guy.....but he is destroying so much, he needs to be removed from the world of decent people and contained where he can't continue to hurt others or himself....I think prison would be ideal...but he will never be safe while Putin is alive, his tentacles are long and even prison will not be a safe haven for poor old sick Donnie. I expect Putin will hunt him down eventually and take his pound of flesh for not delivering the goods. Consequences for Trump's bad decisions are looming.
2
Remember that line from "Tootsie" When Sydney Pollack tells Dustin Hoffman that "No one on the West Coast wants to work with you". That's 45 in a nutshell. The man is living in his own bubble. Maybe he should ask the woman he'd love to date if she wasn't his daughter. That one. She's about as qualified as her father.
2
He made his bed now has to sleep in it. He will never amass any friends or associates of integrity if he constantly ridicules, bullies, mocks, or humiliates people. A very simple lesson many have impressed upon children both in words and actions.
3
@Brenda
Donald Trump doesn't care about having "friends".
1
Here’s a guy who quit working for a shallow pompous VP, so why are folks surprised by his rejection of the “opportunity” to work closely with Trump? What is the human limit for exposure to bombast, deception, and innate ignorance? This boat is about to go over Niagra Falls.
1
Well, Michael Cohen just announced during his sentencing hearing that by protectingTrump he chose "darkness over light". Should we start comparing Trump to Sauron the Dark Lord in the"Lord of the Rings" trilogy. He didn't have many friends either.
Don't make me bring up Gollum..............
1
Very true everything you say Frank. Yet there he still sits in the Oval Office. So does any of it matter?
69
@Bob Hawthorne In a way Trump serves a reminder of our own vanity. We think of ourselves as having upstanding qualities and use this notion to make ourselves feel superior but in the end Trump will have lived a rich and eventful life and will have made his mark on history, for better or for worse. He will have singlehandedly exposed the lies we tell ourselves about the values we stand for as a people. He will have lived as a free man (in the philosophical sense) who went after what he wanted and often got it, instead of domesticating himself out of fear of repercussions.
To paraphrase Joseph Campbell, he will have experienced the rapture of being truly alive. It is him who will have the last laugh even if he is impeached or jailed tomorrow, while the rest of us timid souls will only know the satisfaction of having sent a few witty tweets here and there and our collective holier-than-thou mindset.
4
But he has done all that at great cost to others. Children separated from parents and left to god knows what is not a legacy any of us should want. A domesticated life that harms no one and perhaps does some good is what many people want.
16
@Virgil T. - "It is him who will have the last laugh even if he is impeached or jailed tomorrow, while the rest of us timid souls will only know the satisfaction of having sent a few witty tweets here and there and our collective holier-than-thou mindset."
Spoken like yet another who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Better a handful of witticisms than a bursting-at-the-seams trove of agonizing inaccuracies, misspelled malaprops, egregious exaggerations, and outright lies.
Donald J. (the J. is for "jazz hands") Trump couldn't get a dog to fetch a pork chop right now. Rather than "swipe right", as Mr. Bruni suggests, I fully expect to see him signing every bill the House can get past the Senate for the remainder of his term.
"Lame duck" is not derisive enough a term to label this failed demagogue. Nancy Pelosi has it right.
8
Nick Ayers probably considered the likely cost of legal representation and the resulting bankruptcy and made a smart move - he jumped overboard and swam for shore. There's also the additional benefit of not having to surrender to federal marshals at some time in the near future.
The likely short list for White House chief of staff is now down to Jared Kushner (whose eagerness to fire John Kelly would make a fitting reward), Rudy Giuliani (the ultimate sycophant), or no one. Donald could fill the job and then praise himself for being president AND chief of staff. After all, he's already assuming the role of press secretary.
2
THE best answer to 'who should Trump select for Chief of Staff' is Theodore J. Kaczynski, and here's why:
- He does not require Senate approval.
- They both have a strong belief and confidence in violent, destructive, and moral-free behavior.
- They both hold other people in contempt.
- They both have an equal, abiding belief that others are to blame for whatever displeases them.
- They are equally incapable of self-reflection or personal growth.
- Kaczynski is less contemptible and dangerous than any Republican candidate for the position, as self-advancement isn't his goal.
- Following Kaczynski's required pardon, there'll be a space available for Trump in the SuperMax in 2021.
4
"...the presidency...has given him his bitterest taste yet of rejection."
What's not to reject?
1
Why have a chief of staff? Let Trump be without one. It's a modern invention anyway, and there is no legal requirement for it. The President has a cabinet to help him accomplish his goals. He probably just needs a couple of good assistants.
3
So we have perhaps the vainest man living. He is now being very publicly dissed, not just by his enemies, but by his "friends" and allies. Deservedly so, but....
When he feels slighted, his well-known thin skin develops massively toxic boils all over.
As they rupture inevitably, we all D+R alike need to hope that something keeps him from a "hold my beer" moment. Like most really vain people, when it gets pricked, he loses his self-control. Because...he is the only person who counts. Just ask him.
Republicans - tired of "all that winning" yet?
2
I once worked for a person who was psychotic and it was a living hell. I believe working for Trump would be far, far worse that what I experienced. In that light I would severely question the motivation and/or the sanity of anyone willing to work for Trump as their right hand man.
3
THANK YOU, MR. BRUNI. "The Most Powerful Reject in the World" is the finest summary of 2018.
3
This is what happens when people vote for President Boaty McBoatface, because they are tired of the lockstep conduct of both mainstream parties.
1
@vandalfan
The first part is a tad subjective. The second part is right on the money though.
His (non-wealthy) devotees will only love him more in his isolation. They suspect that they'd be snubbed by GOP blue bloods and the Washington elite as well. Do they not see that while he may be sticking it to the elites, he's also hurting their interests? Or do they just not care?
@Laurabat
They care, of course; they just don't see it like you do - and maybe it's not the case. Maybe they can judge what's in their interest better than you can. I don't know, but I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.
1
Why would anyone want this job from this man? When things go wrong, you’ll be criticized via twitter, maybe even fired via the same route. When things go right, all the accomplishments will be his alone.
145
@Paul P: Very true. But that kind of behavior isn't limited to Trump. If you've never worked for a boss who stole your ideas, took credit when you solved a problem, staved off a disaster, yet blamed you when something went wrong, you're very, very, very lucky. The difference is that with this particular job, with this President, every move you make is public, and magnified. If he trashes you, it isn't just your colleagues who will know, but the whole world. So yes, anyone with half a brain would reject the job.
2
I don't think Trump has or has had any friends his entire life. He has business acquaintances, who he uses and then throws aside. He's a very unlikable guy. I've yet to read any stellar comments from anyone who knows him that they like him except for comic effect. Where are Trumps friends? He could use a few.
1
@markd I'm trying to imagine his state funeral if he lasts that long as POTUS. I wonder as I watched just a week ago the funeral of Bush, the accolades, the praise, I wonder as he sat there uncomfortably for 2+ hours without his precious phone arms crossed puss on his face. What went through his tiny little mind as he sat and listened? Was he thinking what will they say about me? Will the Church be filled to capacity? Will people line the streets to wave goodbye? I for one have a bottle of veuve clicquot chilling waiting for an indictment.
3
The biggest train wreck is not the personal repulsiveness of the man or of the associates he does manage to attract, as vile and evil as that is.
It's the fact that the malice and incompetence that grows and spreads in this kind of environment puts the country at risk. It looks strong to the deceived, but it makes our nation weak and vulnerable.
Second, and related, is the fact that about a third of our fellow Americans still support this disastrous president and administration.
The danger to our nation may be centered around the president, but it extends far, far beyond that.
9
So how did we get here? We have the Democrats' rejection of Bernie and what he stood for to thank for that.
3
@Victor
Right on, brother.
1
@Victor Correction: We can thank Sanders' delusionary campaign and his relentless attacks on Clinton for the mess we are in now.
3
Besides fearing the orange jump suit, Ayers did not want to be tainted with being part of Trump's "The Worst and the Dumbest" assemblage. He was acting intelligently by refusing to fit in and thereby proved that he was unfit to be part of Trump's misfits.
3
If Mr. Ayers sticks with Pence, he might end up being chief of staff to the president after all.
3
But he is leaving end of the year. That way he has a better story to tell the president on why he can’t work for him.
@DKSF He'll be working on 45's re-election bid for 2020. True.
The focus should not be on Trump's "unwantedness." Many fine people have been unwanted and rejected throughout history. Wanted or unwanted, Trump is not fit for his role.
2
@Diana Senechal
The problem isn't Trump's "unwantedness." The problem is that his criminal actions make him eligible for a "wanted" poster
7
As I read down these comments and check recommend time and time again, I realize how unleashed we have become to state our feelings toward this man, the President...Our comments ...sometimes funny sometimes angry. We have lost any respect for him and it is he who is responsible. You know all the adjectives so I need not list them. Surely we will not have to suffer him much longer.
6
@Rudder - Decent people never had any respect for him.
2
@Rudder
Respect is earned.
I respect the Office of President, I do not and never will respect that man who currently resides part time at 160 0Pennsylvania Avenue.
2
A presidency that will live in infamy.
8
@Claudia K Yes, he will live in infamy, and many other Presidents do, too. Jackson, for example, and Bush Junior. Our nation has survived far more dangerous threats than this easily manipulated vulgarian. Trump is just another little mistake in the long line of the history of the USA, and now we'll enact new laws to prevent another like him.
@vandalfan - Trump isn't a little mistake. Many of us will not live long enough to see the damage he's inflicted on us remedied.
6
I feel as though the country has been required to collectively wear, “I’m with stupid,” tee shirts, thanks to the 40 percent and their friend, the (non) Electoral College. He’s an embarrassment to this nation due to his utter lack of training and, worse, his antipathy for the values and institutions he promised to protect and uphold. He should resign and spare us all—and himself—from the additional ugliness that is sure to come.
13
I don't feel I live in a Nation so much as a neighborhood in the midst of a gang war. The so called president thinks he is a major crime boss. Real crime bosses are doubled over with laughter. See: Putin and MBS at the summit.
11
Maybe Rupert Murdoch would formally and publically accept the job of Chief of Staff (which he already holds in secret anyway).
7
@TS
I think something new, something bold is in order. A chiefs of staff triumvirate composed of the Fox And Friends hosts. They could just move their couch into the White House and begin interviewing supplicants immediately.
1
The real mystery is that trump has any supporters at all, much less a sizable chunk of the population. It's really a near traitorous bunch.
There's a very real, diseased miasma in our country today. The truth is that trump is not a cause, he's a symptom that exposed it.
9
"A Reject."
A failure, loser, incompetent; useless. In the case of Donald John Trump, there is some merit to the moniker:
He has exposed the world to the sleazy, slimy underbelly of American politics; a pathology of greed, lying and destruction. Like termites, they breed and destroy the host.
In this case, Democracy is the host.
3
Live by the media. Die by it.
Live by lies and they will swallow you up.
Most fifteen-year-olds can fathom both from simple experience.
3
Rick Wilson said it best: Everything Trump Touches Dies.
8
Despite Trump's imaginary exhortations, he won a very slim (6 votes per 1,000 cast in three states going the other way and he loses...That's slimmer than a sliver.) electoral college victory due to fraud - hush money pay-offs to former sex partners, deception - the GOP congressman dirty-tricked the Comey "re-opening" letter and and tampering by a foreign intelligence service...He is neither popular or the people's choice. Pretty ironic that a government that draws its power from the consent of the governed uses a method by which that consent, when expressed, can be overridden?
Let's expand the House so that the likelihood of electoral college/popular vote mismatches is greatly reduced.
5
@Jack: Trump's cowardice is manifest in his lost opportunity to actually win a mandate for his revolution by calling for a run-off election. A president representing all of the US equally would have a more credible base.
2
Trump promised to shake up the system and he's delivered, but causing political earthquakes is not the same as making real progress.
You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing in this Administration. Ambitious, career-minded people know it's time to seek shelter from the storm.
5
Beyond the surreality of the Washington nightmare sits a lonely, insecure old man who knows that his mental faculty, never strong, is failing, and his body also weaker by the day. The bluff and bluster that worked in the New York real estate game is useless now. But it's all he has.
11
what about that hair?
1
Okay.
Should I now begin to exhale? Is it safe to assume that - never mind people outside the US - American voters (at least by a tiny majority in states that count) - are beginning to reject religious-ethnic nationalism and dis-embracing their single minded pursuit of affirmative action for white people coupled with the intent to destroy the republic and the environment?
If so, phew! Because I am horrendously paranoid, I worry that this 'reject' from within is one of convenience (and fairly healthy concern about not going to prison for Ayers) and temporary.
3
@Kalidan
You CANNOT!! But try to squeeze in some additional O2 and hope it is enough to survive on.
1
"...a president who burns quickly through whatever good will he has, a president who represents infinitely more peril than promise,..."
skipping the message for the moment, Frank Bruni, you are an exceptionally good writer.
11
Colin Powell blasted candidate Trump as "a national disgrace" and "an international pariah" in an email to a former aide on June 17, 2016. He also said there was “no need” for Democrats to “attack him” at that time because he was “in the process of destroying himself.” There was a need to attack him then. There is a need to do so now. The American people should not have to wait another day for his self implosion at the cost of our unraveling democratic norms.
14
Sane people have a hard time comprehending the nihilism of folks who like Trump.
10
Characterizing hacks like Matthew Whitaker as "B list" does an enormous injustice to the alphabet. There are 24 better options.
And as to the clever suggestion that Trump find friends and cabinet members on Tinder, I don't think so.
Folks on Tinder are looking for reciprocal relationships, not assault.
12
"It’s about how he behaves — and the predictable harvest of all that nastiness. "
You said it, brother. What neither he nor any of his rabid supporters seem to comprehend is that if he were a competent & truly patriotic visionary, a man who actually wanted to learn & to grow & to work for ALL Americans, a man who understood the value of wisdom & humility, a man motivated by more than merely his own voracious greed, he would have a much broader base of support both at home & abroad. Nobody expects perfection, although most of us expect a man of his age to possess at least a modicum of common courtesy & to comprehend its value.
I can only assume that Trump thinks he can retain power by retaining a death grip on that same small gang of foolish haters who continue to scream joyfully at his pep rallies. I see his point. Look how far Adolf Hitler went using that same strategy.
8
“And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make” — The Beatles
8
You are absolutely spot on, Frank. The guy is a total loser and always was.
7
Eric's the one for Chief of Staff.
3
The rank toxicity of this president has become so evident I am amazed anyone who works for or associates with him don't wear hazard suits. Like many any commenters on this article, I am still at a loss for why why the Trump base continues to show such tenacious loyalty to this raging incompetent. The two explanations I see offered is that either many viewed Trump as the Great Outside Hope and subscribe to Deep State conspiracy theories to explain his many failings or that they truly are committed to an authoritarian white Christian nationalism that in their minds is the only form of authentic American patriotism (I'm looking at you Steve King). However, I think there is a third explanation for the fanatical loyalty of the Trump base and that is many have bought into the message first promoted by Goldwater conservatism that government is the enemy. What we are seeing now is the logical culmination of that belief in a president that is doing everything possible to demolish effective government on the Federal level to the cheers of his followers convinced that this is the path to a free, prosperous and, of course, Godly America. Due to the flaw in the electoral college that provides greater political leverage to small rural states where most of the Trump base lives it is my fear that Trumpism may persist long after Trump returns to his gold tower.
8
@RMG: States are the biggest obstacle to equally protective law in the US.
4
Trump is living for the moment when he can start his Town Halls and rallies again, for whatever reason. That's all he loves for, and the depression he's evidencing now is just a sign of his temporary loss of adulation. Get him back in front of one of those MAGA crowds and he will be just fine again.
5
@E Campbell - Rallies are trump's addiction - like
heroin.
9
little chance of a lucky overdose, though.
2
@jahnay more like methamphetamine
Trump reminds me of Bill Agee and Michael Eisner, CEO's of Bendix and Disney, who built their reputations by selling off assets that had been assiduously accumulated by their predecessors. Donald is recklessly using up the soft capital of his office because he lacks the expertise to create his own assets. It's the zero sum game that his limited intellect can encompass. But it looks like he is scraping the bottom of the barrel lately. At some point he will run out and then he will be done. Maybe he will slink off with his low life MAGA friends and start a TV network with Jerry Epstein and Howard Stern.
8
"Ayers’s decision was doubly humiliating" Really? Trump doesn't know or own humiliation. He dodge the Ayers refusal in terms of it being a "feeler" and move lower down the list. Just the fact that Syers found Pence attractive put his whole thinking in the negative. Witness the Pence bobblehead at the Pelosi, Schumer, Trump childish squabble yesterday,
3
@Cone: Pence is a perfect example of the inverse relationship of brains to the belief that anyone could comprehend what a hypothetical all-knowing, all-powerful, immortal being thinks, to while away the eons of eternity.
7
Many are loathe to hang with Trump because understandably they fear being left hung out to dry.
6
Frank, With due respect Ayers may not have wanted another two years away from his family.
1
We need to think carefully about the circumstances prevailing in our nation that allowed this man to become president. Our massive income inequality, opioid problems, elevated suicide rates and the election of a man like Trump are all symptomatic of tremendous national dissatisfaction with the directions this country has taken. Many desperate people thought Trump would shake things up, fix what is broken. Trump is the monster many people accepted and still accept in their desperation.
The devil made me do it!
But as I read your piece, Mr. Bruni--
--my heart and soul were flooded with a sense of gratitude.
Not that you told us much we didn't know already.
Not that your sentiments were different from most of ours.
But just laying it out--coldly, unsentimentally, ruthlessly--
--how to say this, Mr. Bruni--
--it was like a swift shot of adrenalin. Really. There has been such a cloud of lies, innuendos, malignant and opprobrious epithets slinging around not only Mr. Trump--
--but his lapdogs, his poodles and spaniels in Congress--
--(all diligently contrived, of course, by himself and themselves)--
--that columns like this are like a sudden, bracing draft of cold, clean air.
And my gosh! do we ever need cold, clean air in these United States right now. Truth. Light. Illumination.
I mean, we gotta BREATHE for heaven's sake. Breathe SOMETHING or other.
And--the TRUTH is as good as anything going. But one last thing:
I spoke of Mr. Trump's enablers in Congress. All sitting (as they used to say) in the Amen corner. Praising, lauding, glorifying the stuff this man spouts--
--and the abominable initiatives he endeavors to get going.
They been pretty quiet of late.
Haven't they?
Thanks again, Mr. Bruni. Fine column!
6
OF COURSE Trump is unpopular among Washington polticians and corporate leaders! This is EXACTLY what he was voted in for. (There's no way around the use of "duh" here.) To state the obvious. draining a "swamp" of entrenched, self-serving political and corporate interests in Washington does not encourage smoozing at their social gatherings. Whether you like his camapign promises or not, he does have a good record of delivering (and attempting to deliver) on his capaign promises, at least, in comparison to other recent presidents. Furthermore. Trump's initiatives have been met with a phenomanal level of resistance and ostracism from the educated establishment. Again, whether you like him or not, he does seem to have great tenacity and, yes, courage. (Anyone who has taken on an establishment order/organization should recognize this.)
2
@carl bumba: Trump never looks back to see what could be gaining on him.
@carl bumba - Where's the Mexican funded wall? Where's the fabulous health care? Where's the great infrastructure?
2
Draining the swamp and and attempting to create another one just as bad or worse isn’t much of an accomplishment!
2
There are certain rooms in this world that are so exclusive that when you walk into them it means you have arrived. Rooms that host international meetings such as the G-20. or remembrances such as those help all over the world on Veteran's Day, or those in cathedrals when we come to honor the dead. In each of these cases, if you look at the pictures, you will see the rest of the world's leaders looking comfortable and you will see Mr. Trump looking like a petulant four-year-old. The contrast is striking. Although he yearns to belong in such rooms, he simply doesn't because of his character. His body language tells us that he knows it. There is a huge difference between campaigning and governance and while Mr. Trump will always be the sales guy, he simply can't govern anything, not even himself.
9
Let's put it plainly: this pathetic wretch of a man simply drains the life out of whoever and whatever is near him. Elevated to the presidency, he literally sucks the oxygen from the world, leaving only a vortex of debasement, even for those not in his orbit. One might come close to pity, if it wasn't for his pathological malignancy.
12
He is mentally unstable and behaves like a toddler. Who would want that for a boss?
Who wants that for a president? I really wonder at Trump supporters.
3
Many are loathe to hang with Trump because they understandablyvfear they will end up being left hung out to dry.
3
“Getting elected president is the worst thing that’s ever happened to Donald Trump,” Michael Che
4
If Trump is having problems filling positions including chief of staff it is no surprise. Given he is terrible to work for and doesn't add to a candidate's resume the only people who want the job turn out to be patriots afraid of the U.S.A. having a disaster because there is nobody to handle the U.S. government. This is perhaps a fitting ending for a President who fired his transition team. Perhaps he will spend the next 2 years golfing and the lower rank non career nonpolitical civil service will manage the government.
1
Let's not forget Trump is POTUS because of one outmoded US institution: The Electoral College.
Delete this ignoble institution and make the majority of all American citizens count again.
6
@rlk: Trump's failure to call for a run-off election was the last straw of any possible respect for him as far as I was concerned. There he stands now, devoid of all legitimacy except the trappings of the office.
2
@rlk
I respectfully disagree. It's not the Electoral College, it's the people that occupy it and how they get there.
The political parties should have no business appointing members to the College.
The College was conceived as a last 'wall' (if you will) to prevent something like Trump from happening, but has been corrupted over the years by the parties it is supposed to be above.
3
Don't be surprised if Trump makes Kushner take the job, his revenge for the Ayres humiliation. But there is also a benefit as Mueller circles the wagons: they both can shoehorn their legal machinations into "governing" and seek all the protections of "executive privilege".
2
Well, given that he just choose one of the interchangeable blondes from Fox for our ambassador to the UN, I think that we are way past the B-List. More like D or F list.
12
@sjs
Oops. I mean "chose"
1
The vampires in American popular entertainment got their timing wrong. They should have coincided with Trump's election. Like a vampire, he has taken on people with supposedly good prospects and sucks the political life out of them.
Not many people like a vampire, and fewer people want to be associated with one. Nick Ayers was correct to turn down a toxic assignment.
It's too bad for Ayers that he's leaving his job with Pence, who's next chief of staff might end up being chief of staff for the president after all.
1
Provocative piece.
Some of the world's greatest leaders were reviled in their time.
The very nature of disruption creates enemies, most notably, those with power who fear losing it.
Lincoln is regarded by historians as the greatest US president This wasn't always the case.
Many Americans, Northerners included, didn't like him or think he was even competent.
He won with only 40% of the popular vote,(180/303 electoral votes).
The Gettysburg Address was panned. It was called "silly" and destined for oblivion by Pennsylvania's Patriot-News.
It took 150 years for the paper to issue a retraction.
Trump will eventually be measured by his results.
And The Times, if it is still around, may find itself in the awkward position of having to issue a retraction.
Doubtful...
7
@Marian
And those results would be........?
2
@Marian says,"The very nature of disruption creates enemies, most notably, those with power who fear losing it."
I'm wondering who that may be; corporations, Whites (disclaimer; I'm one)?
The only power these individuals (thanks to Citizens United) are fearful of losing is profit at the expense of the planet.
Eight/Thirty-Six Mark: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
KJV
In this case what does it profit a man/corporation if he profit greatly but there is no world to live in?
Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should.
2
This does not bode well for our country and, although I am not a supporter of Trump and did not vote for him, the President's inability to attract talent is a serious issue. A President needs able and capable people to advise and manage the executive branch.
The media needs to tone down the noise on administration staff so that good people can join this administration and help manage this country. The constant pounding day in and day out of the administration is not helping. The drum beat is deafening. It is a cacophony. I get it, the President Trump is at war with the media.
Media - get this. In 2 years President Trump will be gone. You will not. We are not Germany of the 30s. We are a democracy flaws and all. We are bigger than this person. The risk of alienating the most powerful person in the world is too high.
We should investigate what needs to be investigated. But the anti-President Trump 24/7 (or Fox doing the opposite) is weakening the country - and the most obvious is the lack of good, qualified people willing to work for the President. Again, that hurts all of us - although it may help ratings on CNN, Fox and drive paper sales.
I ask the 4th Estate to rise above it all. This national nightmare will end unlike Russia, Cuba and other countries without constitution.
2
@Jack Trump has no concern for competence, and wants only people who will obey him at all times.
5
All his public appearances are under controlled circumstances. He can't work a crowd at an open event thus the need for his Potemkin political rallies.
Last weekend he attended the Army Navy game, why? The crowd were almost all service members with a different decorum. These were all people under his chain of command. Still if you noticed at the coin toss, the winning team got a greater ovation than the president. Sad when POTUS can't even get an ovation from ginned up cadets at a sporting event.
2
What the NYTimes, and most of "mainstream" pundits
and operatives hate in Trump is that he is not fixated on fitting in to the power elite. He's willing to look at reality and at
least try to do the right thing. He's not willing to go along with the standard "spin" methods and the lies that that entails.
He's willing to think for himself, although the old guard elite insiders can't see that. Thus, you can't understand him.
He's also getting results, big and little. Some of the little ones are very revealing. For example, school children will now have better tasting lunches. So are some very big ones. In case you didn't notice, he just had a great big success against illegal immigration. Its not being highly reported, because it IS a success and IS big.
And that is what I and lots of people value over the "feel good" stuff that this pundit cares about.
23
@Doug McDonald
This is a truly remarkable comment. The mind just boggles. But as long as the school kids of America have better tasting lunches, I guess critical thinking skills can take a back seat. Obviously they have in Mr. McDonald's case.
168
@Doug McDonald Think for himself? Really, please tell me on what topics does he THINK for himself,besides the promotion of his wealth?
118
@Doug McDonald: Trump's stance on climate change is that of an abject nitwit. The whole Trump enablement is the result of the US educating down its public to believe in magic.
168
The First Lady/Third Wife’s swatting away of Trump hands in the presence of other heads of states, diplomats, military corps, the general public, and international media is priceless.
Even Melania doesn’t care.
Must be Trump’s simultaneous affairs with a Playboy model and a pornographic actress while she was recovering from childbirth.
That, or she has gotten a glimpse of Trump’s negative bank account.
6
Frank you need to hang out your shingle. You nailed it! So sad but true.
3
Steve Bannon on Princess Barbie: "dumb as a brick".
Steve Bannon on the firing of Comey: "the worst mistake in modern political history".
This explains it all, rather succinctly. Pretty rich, coming from the man who got Trump in the White House. No?
When Steve Bannon leaves your side, you know you have no friends.
Dark. Triad. Narcissism. The essence of 45
I wonder if Princess Barbie would betray him, and whether he would even care.
4
The double entendre of 'hang' in the sub-title of this column is delicious. My fantasy is that trump loses all support, is impeached, convicted; then indicted, convicted; serves 20 years, and is released into Ivanka's care in a shabby beach condo where he can just catch a glimpse of the sunken ruin of Mar-a-Lago. With the trump and Kushner family fortunes gone to judgments and penalties, it's all they can afford considering Ivanka's meager income as a waitress at a Denny's.
5
This is one of those surprised/not really surprised moments for me. From what I understand, this is *exactly* the kind of situation Trump has been in for decades among the NYC wealthy--desperate for approval and acceptance from his peers, but forever on the outside looking in. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he's still there, despite the change of address.
4
@Aaron-The blame goes to NYC High Society/Wealthy
for rejecting his membership. If they had allowed
him in their midst he would have wallowed in their
acceptance. He would NOT have gotten the idea
to inflict himself on rest of this great country.
Come on, Frank. Not even one Merry Christmas for the sorriest guy on earth? See: What would Jesus say on his birthday?
2
@HLB Engineering Maybe Jesus would take exception to the small children being put in cages. Or the praising of neo-Nazis.
4
Who can afford the attorney fees that come with being associated with Trump?
6
Does trump really want a chief of staff or is this someone to belittle at every opportunity? Just hire Ivanka or Jared or maybe DJ .
3
The more Trump feels rejection, the more bully he will be. His way is a cul-de-sac.
4
And just wait until by whatever means he is finally, mercifully out of office...he will be so radioactive he won't be even able to buy his own hot dog from any pushcart in NYC let alone get a table at a decent restaurant. Of course, that assumes he is not in jail.
6
Another chief of staff for President Trump? Why bother? And the reasons are many.
2
@Chris, so true. Every staff who has recently left Trump, even the senior cabinet ones, have told us that Trump has no idea about "laws". He has always operated in a world where he could do anything he wanted, any way he wanted, he did not care about laws, and his lawyers and accountants were more than willing to assist him, sleazily.
1
@Chris
Clarification: The reasons not to bother are many.
Good story, Frank, but mostly a coda to Trump's management style at the Trump Organization. Interview any of his former executives or consultants, and the story is the same. They stuck around for the money, not for the learning experience or any glory. After a few years, the stench was overpowering, and so they were gone. Trump has forever been a skunk, and he continues as such.
4
The "Times Pick" comments displayed here are wonderful, and give me hope.
It can be very easy to watch this national disaster unfold day by day in slow motion, and to wallow in self pity and despair. It is singularly reassuring that people of good conscience see it also, and reject it. The repudiation of Trumpism in the mid-terms is another hopeful sign.
Perhaps there is a light at the end of this dank, dark tunnel.
4
I don't believe for a minute that Ayers really wanted the job. What he wanted was the job offer...so he could turn it down. So he could burnish his own image as the only dyed-in-the-wool Republican operative willing to eschew Trump in favor of higher, more pure ideals, thereby catapulting himself WITHOUT taking on the Chief role and exposing himself to myriad Trump-association downsides. Clearly a planned Jujitsu move.
That Trump failed to anticipate this illustrates that the Con-Man-der in Chief is acutely, naively, vulnerable to con games.
All pols in Washington, are looking for leverage and personal advancement. Ayers, a conniving wanna be, astutely and cynically hopes that the best way to add to his resume is through subtraction.
8
@Thomas M: These folks who are Christians first, Republicans second, and supreme arbiters of who is American third, are Hell-bent on establishing a formal theocracy.
3
Is there anyone who wants to hang with Donald Trump? Well, Trump’s #1 fan still loves him: the Trump himself. In addition, most the 60 or so million Trump fan’s are still behind him. Mark my words: Trump will win again 2020 and we will continue to be the laughing stock of the rest of the world for another 4 years.
1
@PaulN you may be right.
@PaulN - In that case, get ready for Waterworld.
Why do I have this funny feeling we'll see Kris Kobach--regurgitated--in this job????
2
Ok, I get it, Times readers and Clintonistas in particular hate Trump, but seriously can’t The Times figure out more productive ways to help further our nation, rather than the usual divide and conquer method allowing the two sides of our political arena to carry on the status quo year after year? The Dems are in office the Republicans spend four years trash talking them, the Republicans are in office and they spend four years trash talking the Democrats, nothing gets done: seventeen years later we are still fighting wars on the other side of the world to what end, the enrichment of our defense industry insuring those lucrative board seats and consulting jobs waiting members of our elected officials at Raytheon or the security of Israel: the motive for the same old same old surely can’t be to provide an endless stream of misery for the most helpless among us, but that is the result, oh that and the careening budget deficit thanks to a bloated defense budget that requires finding new enemies where allies might exist. This is not going to end well, shame on us, shame on The America that has been allowed to morph from the worlds greatest Democracy that created The W.P.A. to rescue itself from the depression to the Marshall Plan to rescue and rebuild Europe in the after math of the great war, a war in which 400 million Americans gave their all alongside millions of our European allies and 27 million Russians. We were better than this. What happened in the last 70 years?
4
Before the election, I predicted that the only people who would want to associate themselves with Trump's administration would be political has-beens, fawning sycophants, and ambitious poseurs. Ultimately, this is proving to be true. Trump has run off people with any degree of integrity or shred of competence, and his already teeny tiny circle of trust continues to shrink. Who's it down to now? Jared and Ivanka? When Ayers turned down the CoS position, I thought, that's right, dude, save yourself. Who's going to save the rest of us, I wonder?
2
Donald Trump wanted to be President in the worst way and it is an absolute fact that he has achieved that goal.
3
The lede asks: “Is there anyone who wants to hang with Donald Trump?”
Apparently many have concluded that to “hang” with the Donald involves a noose.
5
We didn't even reach the full range of Trump's international rejection. The British balloon seems down right polite compared to other insults. The entire European continent laughed at the man's self-proclaimed intelligence. Trump looked like the human embodiment of an intergalactic void at the G-20 meeting. Nick Ayers fits nicely with the general global assessment. Trump is the person everyone avoids at the house party. He wasn't even invited.
What a sad, sorry, little man. He is the personification of patheticism. Unlike the sullen pity aroused by poor Miss Brill though, it is humanly impossible to feel sorry for Donald J. Trump. Loneliness is the price one pays for being a terrible human being.
5
This article is one of most accurate and efficient reviews of Trump I've read in the Times or elsewhere. It is discouraging however, that Trump's base - maybe 35+%, still support him. It gives me a pessimistic view of our country's electorate. I can only pray that the Democrats don't shoot themselves in the foot in 2020.
6
Gorgive me for asking, but why would anyone WANT to be Chief of Staff to the President of the United States, no matter who it behind the Resolute desk?
It is a job in the political cross-hairs of the biggest, most dysfunctional bureaucracy in the world in hyper-partisan times that makes governing almost aa superhuman challenge. Someone powerful is always going to be offended by the choices, and the incumbent has to face, without reinforcements the verbal abuse of all an sundry.
Gen. John Kelly has done an admirable job of not becoming "the news" himself on a daily basis. As someone who rose to high rank in the military, he has consummate political skills, a tough hide, and a commitment to both the chain of command and civilian control of government.
Not may have Gen. Kelly's qualifications, and few of them are willing to take the job.
We'll see if Trump is going to get as qualified as chief-of-staff it is certainly on him and to his benefit to do so
Let's judge his choice on the job that he does for the constitutional office of the President, not on partisan political opinions
2
Just say no to crazy.
4
On the bright side, Ayers rejection of the chief of staff position does increase the job openings for December college graduates. Send your resumes to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,Washington, D.C. 20500
2
Which makes Republican acquiescence to his bizarre authoritarian antics all the more troubling!
3
Trump is radioactive. And America may become so soon. :)
4
It is said that an elected president is the mirror of the people. Perhaps, as a nation, we want to take a look in that mirror to see what we have become, or what has become of us.
5
Not a big surprise, in the business world companies that abuse their employees, have a toxic culture, are found out pretty quickly and unless you are as toxic as the leadership, people end up not wanting to work there. It was like that with the Trump corporation, they are notoriously bad to work for, and unless you are a hangers on or a sleazeball, you leave there pretty quickly.
It is easy to figure out Trump voters and supporters, in a nutshell they are as selfish as he is. The racists and the religionists see him bringing back "the good old days" when the world seemed to be run by white men; The blue collar whites who make up his base were looking for Trump to get rid of ACA, which of course was for 'freeloaders', and replace it with gold plated health insurance that cost little for 'the working people", not to mention they were looking for the good old days where you didn't need skills or education to get a good paying job (meanwhile, badmouthing unions as having 'destroyed US companies'). The rich of course wanted the huge tax breaks and getting rid of regulation,not caring what Trump was doing to destabilize the global economy, the suburban burghers, who saw in Trump a chance to get a better deal on taxes, voted for him (then got it, good and hard, with the tax bill). Worse, all these groups don't care what Trump is doing to the US's position in the world, and how he has degraded the office of the presidency, they care only about themselves.
3
So many excellent comments, but no one mentions that it was the antiquated Electoral College that put Trump in the White House. He lost by 3+ million votes, and yet he is President.
While it's clear that he is all the things that commenters say about him, we need to focus on what got him elected, not his popularity or lack thereof. Democrats need to "fix" the Electoral College, and the Republican gerrymandering et alia that contributed to this repulsive human being occupying the White House.
5
Yes, of course, this is the case for Trump. A man who demands loyalty who seemingly is not capable of this. Unwanted; isolated; no real place of acceptance for him ... in “hell,” one might say. While a fact, in fact, l personally do not celebrate this. As much as a disaster Trump shows himself to be, certainly as head-of-state, I feel ... beyond my disappointment and, frankly, disgust ... sorry for him as a person. The worst part of this is though, that he digs himself in deeper every day, even disgracing the language of grace. That all of this is so strange to most of the country ... because it’s not us ... actually may be good news. We don’t like what we we see as us. We are a just people. How odd it is that power, in terms of unilateral migh, is so impotent.
2
All true
All irrelevant
The people who want Trump see his being unwanted as a virtue. The people that Unwant Trump are the “enemy”, being unwanted by them is a badge of distinction & honor. The more he’s unwanted, the higher he rises in their view.
I wish The Times and its columnists would stop preaching to the choir like this and instead devote their not inconsiderable energy and talent to figuring out how to heal the divide that is so deep and threatening.
And saying “they just have to think like we do” is NOT a solution.
2
It takes two. As long as the Republican power base is interested in only in power at all costs, we are going nowhere. The New York Times HAS figured out how to heal our divide - but to heal you have to cut out the tumor first.
2
Frank Bruni is becoming one of my top 5 faves at NYT (and I love them all.) Right on assessment, and fits well with Nancy P's observations yesterday, after (or maybe during?) "The Chuck and Nancy and Donald Show."
Great article Frank!
3
It has become more apparent that anyone who associates or works in our White House leaves with a stain upon their reputation that will last for years, unless they go to work for Fox "News".
In a job that requires some discipline, some order, a working plan, Trump and his band of misfits do not fit that role and are more apt at ready, fire aim.
In a job that should be transparent, truthful and respectful, we are bombarded with dog whistles, gaslighting and blatant lies along with the childish insult by way of a mindless tweet.
So, who would be willing, a person with a long career facing him or her, take a job that will tarnish that long career?
Who would be willing to work in a dysfunctional organization that appears to not embrace ethics and morals? Not me. And it would appear not many others.
Trump in time may find a person that meets his requirements, and those of the prince and princess. The question is, will that person toss their values into the abyss of the Trump toxic swamp.
And before the rebuttals arrive, yes, all presidents at times do fib and stretch the truth and are unable to deliver on campaign promises. Trump has set the bar to a new low in lying.
151
@Dan
Good, we're making progress, now Trump is a fibber.
I know why many voted for Trump. It doesn't take a PhD in political science to figure out. They were tired of the posturing/broken promises from the major parties and really thought Trump was the answer. They wanted a wrecking ball who'd destroy the status quo and stand up for the little guy. And on the surface it seems like Trump has done so, but the change is illusory. The problem with a 'bull in a china shop' mentality is instead of real change you just end up with chaos, drama and confusion. Whatever successes are being attributed to Trump is not due to any executive genius on his part but more to the adage if you hand a blind man a shot gun and point him in the direction of a barn he'll eventually hit the side of it. He has no real, well-thought out plan. He's clueless. In order to have a "lasting" impact you must follow at least some political norms and work within the system the founders created. As president you have to work through Congress (if it will let you, something Republicans robbed Obama of for most of his presidency). You have to follow the rule of law. You have to behave like a civilized adult and not a petulant, immature child. You have to "learn" about how government and the economy and foreign policy works. You just can't wing it. I'm all for the "ideal" behind supporting someone like Trump, but Trump is simply the worst vessel to carry it out.
310
@Jeff G Anyone who ever, at any time, thought Trump would "stand up for the little guy" is delusional. The only "guy" he is willing to stand up for is himself. Period.
40
@Jeff G Trump's election had nothing to do with the "little guy." People voted for Trump because they resent civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, immigrant rights and every other thing that even indirectly suggested that they were privileged by being white and straight.
41
@Jeff G
Your right. And Obama 's apology tours, unmet promises, IRS targeting, Fast & Furious and Catch and Release...etc
"And voters? While many are on his side, many more aren’t. By one analysis of the midterms, the overall vote count for Democratic candidates for the House was 8.6 percentage points higher than for Republican candidates. That was the largest advantage for a minority party since such records began to be kept in the 1940s. "
How wonderful, the fact that people are using their vote for their opinion is marvelous. Shifting from one power - white males- is going to take time and a new way of doing "business". While any transition that makes you feel uncomfortable is difficult, no major changes have happened without difficulty.
Even then the world will always have something else to allow you to fail at.
"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" Winston Churchill.
2
In this column by Frank Bruni, we see the results of Trump's decades-long behavioral problems, described by various and exhaulted members of the mental health profession as delusional, sociopathic to the extreme, chronically narcissistic, a sexual predator, self-serving at the expense of all others ...
The fact is, Trump's reputation for toxicity is so widely known, the only people who want to work for/with him are those eager to make a lot of money (make hay while the sun is shining) such as, family members, and those whose own toxic reputations make them a perfect match for him. Think of common street thugs signing on to a major crime family for some sense of security through a regular paycheck and the possibility of moving up the ladder by commiting horrible crimes on behalf of the boss.
I am sure the West Wing staffers are glad they work in anonymity and out of the public eye. By now, however, they, too, know their resumes are tarnished forever. I mean to say, can you imagine that a White House job could also be a career killer? Hopefully, their ability to survive against all odds will work in their favor at LinkedIn.
And frankly, were it not for Fox News as a safety net for the most morally corrupt of conservative blowhards, Trump administration parolees will be hard-pressed to save their reputations.
5
Bruni's excellent column shade light on one type of personality in the world, people who seeks relentlessly approval while being abhorrently repulsive. rare kind but exists.
Richard M. Nixon and Donald J. Trump in this particular aspect are twins.
Public doesn't like them, Media doesn't like them only people like them have also peculiar personality, getting revenge from everything on this world, so they choose the destructive one.
I am also quite amazed when I read and watch Nixon , how much he yearned for approval of media and general public, Yet Trump so far showed us he is worse than Nixon. Nixon crisis were in the white house and he wasn't showing off to public too much but Trump in everyday appearance on TV , he seems in a heroin withdrawal like seeking approval.
I feel like, as if God sanctioned some good grace from Nixon and Trump like.
1
Of the 63 million people who voted for Trump in 2016 certainly there has to be at least one evil, power-hungry savage in deepest, darkest Wyoming who would take the job. Dick Cheney are you listening?
4
Trump has achieved a kind of isolation in 2 years that required 5 for Nixon. Sad! If he'd been invited to just one A list party--just one!--in Manhattan, we might not be living through this nightmare. On the upside, maybe ( a resolution devoutly to be wished!) instead of running, he retreats to the golf course where The Help are paid to love him.
4
At this rate, Trump may very well resort to naming Jared--or even worse, Ivanka--as his chief of staff. To put words in Ivanka's mouth, 'Who else could handle Daddy?'
1
@Purl Onions That would be ideal in my opinion because it would only hasten his ultimate demise. Go javanka!
1
From Donald W. Black, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine:
If you know someone with an antisocial personality disorder, the best thing to do is: "Avoid them. Avoid them as best as you can because they are going to complicate your life."
Symptoms of ASP/Donald Trump:
Difficult relationships (three marriages, Tiffany...)
Lack of Empathy (his response to natural disasters)
Manipulativeness (Michael Cohen)
Deceitfulness (Really? OK, Trump University, for one..)
Callousness (his dismissals of those he fires)
Hostility (Lock her up!!)
Irresponsibility (climate change)
Impulsivity (his every decision)
Risky Behavior (Stormy Daniels)
3
Who would be a better candidate than Kushner or Ivanka? But then, Trump isn't smart enough to think of that. At least one of them would be truly earning their pay!
1
One thing that I think people overlook about Trump's election win ins 2016: it took an absolute perfect storm of swirling issues to elect him President. Where should we start? Let's go with:
1) dislike of HRC for whatever reason that someone chooses that doesn't relate to facts
(money, past political dealings, etc)
2) misogyny as there have been many Trump voters who stated in exit interviews that "a woman isn't capable of being President"
3) Manufactured scandals as both Benghazi and the private server were just enough to erode some voters' confidence in HRC
4) Racism- an underlying current of racism existed and a candidate that suddenly made the closeted bigots feel ok about themselves, mobilized this group
5) Comey's desire to prove he was the smartest person in the room & releasing a public statement regarding an ongoing investigation of HRC hurt credibility
6) A movement to use social media as an active political weapon that was either unforeseen (Twitter) or completely ignored (Facebook)
7) Obama's misguided belief that HRC was a shoo-in and as a result, failing to release a statement indicating that the Trump campaign was under investigation for collusion (Obama is the only President to date to allow a foreign power to interfere with a presidential election)
8) Ignoring the former (D) stronghold of the Rust Belt
9) Archaic layout of the Electoral College.
So, it took all of that for Trump to win. Do you think his ego can handle that he is a fluke? No and he knows it.
4
@Ken 10: Russian interference
1
@Ken
11. Some people just want to be unconscious.
Mr. Bruni you mention in your article a chief of staff has access to the president’s thoughts. What thoughts in the current WH are you referring to? Unless of course knee-jerks, bluster and twitter are what passes for thinking these days. There is plenty of that for sure.
3
@James: Trump's thoughts originate in his digestive tract.
2
The only solution to the trump problem is to force his resignation or impeach him. Unless one of those two things happen we're stuck with him, and possibly for more than the remaining two years of his stolen presidency.
4
@Kathrine: The federal judiciary may never recover from Trump and McConnell as it stands now.
5
Oh, Donald will have plenty of friends when his time to depart arrives. Those he pardoned, those who lied for him (Cohen excepted) and those who will think he still has clout.
That a 36 year old, deeply religious, reactionary Republican strategist declined the role of Chief of Staff should give the President chewable grist for his very very large brain...why would Nick Ayers say no?
Sadly, the reasons given were unrelated to Trump's egregious behavior - like handing Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman a 'mulligan' for the murder of a journalist, or double-dealing and betraying American allies in Canada, Mexico and Europe...or playing second fiddle to Russia on the world stage. Nope, Ayers made a career choice - this ship is going down. I do wonder if Mike Pence whispered something to Ayers that blew the President's first choice out of the water?
1
@Tom Storm: How does a sanctimonious drip like Ayers get rich as Republican political operative? I don't think he wants to be questioned about it.
4
For the taste of rejection to be bitter, the object has to possess functioning taste buds. Such a capacity requires at least an oblique relationship to reality. President Trump does not have this.
For starters, any candidate for the position of Trump's Chief-of-Staff knows full well that s/he is walking straight into personal involvement in a criminal investigation. This would necessitate legal representation that could cost into the millions of dollars.
Who would willingly walk into such a situation? Maybe someone as profoundly narcissistic as President Trump, although Nick Ayers seems to have avoided such a trap. Or maybe someone as intellectually limited as the president, in which case Matthew Whitaker might just be the right person for the job.
3
@John lebaron: The probable need to lawyer-up makes accepting any of these jobs a bankrupting proposition.
2
Most of the Republicans in the House and Senate continue to enable Trump. It's getting too late for them to save their reputations. Those who wait to leave the ship until it is sinking are called rats, not patriots.
5
If we had a public school system whose sole purpose was to turn out
voters smart enough not to elect politicians like Trump, it would
solve every other education problem you can think of, and, into the
bargain, keep America great forever.
5
@Charles Packer: It is excruciating to live in the US with a thorough civics education. One repeatedly encounters public officials who don't have a clue.
The KKK, neo-Nazis, ignorant and mean spirited people have always wanted a kindred spirit in the White House and to be accepted as the special people that they think they are. This is a predictable and normal human impulse. The shocking thing about all this is that there are so many of them. These are character traits that we like to think are confined to the fringes, to the worst of us and not to 62 million voters. The fact that Trump has an approval rating that is going up and not down with these people says something about the American character that was previously not recognized. That as a whole we are not the good guys, we do not believe in democracy, and we do not believe in equality.
After Trump is gone this reality will still be with us and any attempt to forge a better future for all will have to solve the problem of ignorance and hate that has taken over such large sectors of American society. Until we find a way to turn back this tide there is nothing positive that can be accomplished in almost any area. We should thank Trump for so clearly pointing out the most important crisis facing us all.
4
@Bobotheclown You are right on the real problem.
1
Oh, come on, Trumpies. You've still got the "deep bench" to draw from! Sarah Palin, Louie Gohmert, Jim Inhofe, Ben Carson, Scott Pruitt, Cruz, Jeb!, Carly.
Loads of talent! Only the best people. My money's on Jared or Ivanka. (Uday or Kusay.) Good luck.
4
Will Rogers: "I never met a man I ... Oh never mind."
2
He doesn’t want a CoS so you have to be a masochist of some order to want to be there.
1
Why does nobody want to work for Trump? They've seen too many Cinderellas kiss the toad only to find out that it really was just a toad. And looking into the mirror, the toad had turned the Cinderellas into toads. What a nightmare!
2
This Trump presidency was a bad idea from day one. But the Republican base was going to have its say this time: "no more McCain or Romney candidates," they said..."we want our own flame-thrower to beat up on the liberals, the press and the coastals." They finally had their bully-in-chief.
So visceral was the hatred for Hillary that the centrists, establishment and corporate Republicans signed on. Enough people took Trump's snorting performance at the debates as a signal he cared or was passionate - when in actuality, he was just concerned about not looking bad and not getting trounced. Sadly, apparently Trump's likeability was, if not greater than Hillary, at least equal or even better.
They naively and simplistically thought that a non-insider, a non-politician, would throw a wrecking ball into the system, bomb it with a Malatov cocktail, and that this would somehow end the disorder in Washington. "Aw, what the heck," they thought. It can't be any worse, they rationalized.
Everything came from that original sin of accepting this person as a serious candidate who either cared, had great ideas about how to be a president, or was going to magically serve as a catalyst for change.
3
Yes, he wants "validation." Unfortunately, he is a loser with zero class, and he knows it.
2
The fact that Ayers (among others) is unwilling to take on this position, not only points to the horror that comes with working alongside 45, but also to the cluelessness of Javanka. They thought they could get their golden-haired boy in there, and it blew up in their faces. Very fitting.
4
Let us remember that Hitler was Elected. Mussolini, more or less elected. And recently, Victor Orban, elected. Election through democratic means is the road most taken by the world's autocrats in contemporary international history.
Charlie Chaplin's Dictator is the definitive work of art describing the pathetic emptiness of those who defile positions of power. Power itself does not corrupt. Power amplifies the character of the individual who achieves, through whatever means, the lofty position.
Trump is a grifter through and through. Taught by Roy Cohn, no less, he is a manipulator, a backstabber, and a corporate fraud to make the ghost leaders of Enron blush.
And, guess what? He's fully absorbed the Republican Party - like the toxic Blob from horror movie fame - to infect the entire country with a renewed racism, antisemitism and a deregulatory war on the environment.
The essence of awful, who in their right mind would dare to come close to this malfeasance pretending to the leadership of these United States?
And so, like most dictators and dictator wannabes his next Chief of Staff might have to be the only folks who would accept such a position...Jared or Ivanka, or Orin Hatch or Lindsey Graham perhaps?
7
Only Hope Hicks left unscathed because she is pretty and said nothing. Pence is trying the same approach, but he’s missing the first part.
7
“Empire-builder”, ‘Empire-thinking’, and the most obvious and obnoxious real Emperor who has ever gained (and ‘gamed’) the Whitehouse, is clearly far more dangerous than even General MacArthur — about whom the book “American Caesar” was written.
The imperialist general might have ‘blown-out’ Emperor Trump’s new record if he had nuked North Korea — which might also have led to a ‘domino effect’ and later shortened the Vietnam imperialist war by continuing an accelerated trend of America overtly acting like a global Empire.
But instead any and all of the tendencies of America becoming the visible metropole of this new 21st century disguised global capitalist Empire were delayed by hiding that tendency and temptation behind the facade of dual Vichy parties.
So, IMHO, now that America has allowed a real “Empire-building”, ‘Empire-thinking’, ‘Empire-acting’, but hidden Empire produced faux-Emperor Trump only play one on TV, we should be very concerned about only ‘throwing out the baby Emperor’ with the bath water, and pinning our hopes and future on the ‘smoother-lying’ neoliberal-con ‘D’ Vichy Party working for, controlled by, and better disguising this global capitalist Empire.
Our problems my dear citizens is not in our stars, nor in our Media Star faux-Emperor Trump — who is only a ‘symptom’ (as so many NYT pundits have said), but our problems, dear citizens is in the star that doesn’t shine, but like the causal cancer is disguised Empire.
1
Put everything else aside - the collusion, the narcissism, the sexual scandals, the mixing of business with the presidency, the nepotism, the firings, and the rejection - and you still have a president who should be impeached for being completely unfit, inept, and incompetent.
6
“Ever clueless and oh so useless”....Best line written all year.
3
The job of the leader of any country is to do what is best for their country, not to “hang” with their homies. Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises and letting the world know we are not a paper tiger, something Obama failed to do.
How does it end? What happens when a malignant narcissist such as our BLOTUS (Biggest Liar Of The US) finally recognizes the extent of loathing for him personally and the inevitable historical judgment that he was an abject failure as president?
1
we don't need to look at the current trends of the midterms and trumps own gaffs. this has been a con from day one of his 2015 announcement. Just ask yourself, why a Billionaire developer that is so "successful" has NEVER served on the board of a public company? Nor on a private company board that is not a company he owns? Its not hard to figure out. Anyone who runs a successful company knows Trump doesn't know how to help run a successful company, let alone a country where "deals" are not simple win/lose based on $$$.
3
"Hang" is the operative word here.
There was a joke at the end of "White Rose, Black Forest" by Dempsey. National Socialism was the party of Hitler. The joke runs something like "What is the difference between National Socialism and Christianity? In Christianity one man died to save the rest of us, in National Socialism everybody had to die to save one man.
Sounds like the fix we are in.
2
It's always been clear that, however long it lasts, a Trump presidency will be a failure. That's because the president is a miserable failure in life, no matter how much his foolish voters believe that his reality TV show stardom equals substance and his ostentatious glitz equals gold. Trump is a conman. A bagman for the Russian mob. A multiply bankrupt stooge. Our institutions are rallying to deal with him, thank God. But we have a long way to go.
2
He'll always have Kellyanne.
4
It ain't Trump, it is Republicans. They are a fake and criminal political party that now wins by losing because of the American fake democracy they have cultivated.
It is tiring to read in the paper of record, stupid articles which continually do not tie Republicans to a corrupt and vindictive party. In my view the Grey lady deserves her papers pulled because the NYT is NOT calling out the anti-democracy of Republicans.
1
Impeach him by isolation, exile him to Elba, tell him you're taking him out to buy him some toys and a cheeseburger, tell him you're taking him to a rally and then dump him. But just get rid of him.
1
Poor Donald needs a hug.
2
He bears no good will toward men no matter what the season so Trump will always be a standalone even from his own family whose only ties are money ties. His sons, by all accounts, were raised in isolation, and Kushner is a vampire only working under cover of darkness yet we all know Trump Org corporate headquarters is within our WH.
You cannot hate mankind without mankind hating you right back. You cannot spit upon people, ridicule them, insult them and not care if they live or die and think that they will look upon you, however, with favor?!
The man is an unhinged inept and unfit idiot wandering the halls of our WH looking for a loyal friend when he does not offer friendship and loyalty in return.
2
He's not wanted ?
But he'll win in a 2020 landslide victory.
His every rally more popular than any Super Bowl* fake news folks ... Q
We all know who he is. In fact, we all knew who he was when the country elected him president, pro and con. The only mystery is whether Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, among others, will ever rediscover their lost sense of patriotism and moral backbones and finally go Nick Ayers on him.
2
As pathetic a human being as Trump is, what matters most is the fact that he is a real threat to our national security and to the world order. It is unconscionable that the Republican party has sold whatever soul it had left after the Bush years and made a devil's bargain with this narcissistic, money grubbing, pathological liar. They are all traitors.
5
After reading this column, I couldn't help thinking about the one "insider" who -- at least publicly -- reveres Trump: Mike Pence. He's the wooden one who sat silent as a stone during yesterday's Oval Office hissy fit.
Pence, like virtually everyone who professes to like and support Trump, does so because they hope to get something from him, in the same way that all of Trump's relationships are transactional in nature and not embellished at all with kindness, thoughtfulness, reverence or respect. In the case of Pence, the man would walk through hell for Trump as long as the President executes the Pence agenda, which is grounded in women as servants, government as an outpost of Christian intolerance, and indifference towards the poor, the uneducated and the weak.
Pence ought to become Trump's Chief of Staff, and replaced as VP by a hologram of a tele-evangelist. Together, the Trump-Pence Oval Office team could lead the nation to perdition for the sin of not being sufficiently enthralled.
1
If I had any shred of sympathy for Kelly, I'd be feeling it right now. With no one willing to take the position, is Trump going to pressure him to stay even longer? Why doesn't Trump just appoint Hannity or Ivanka and get it over with?
2
He is most welcome in prison. If we in the US cannot make an example of a rich powerful white Christian male who has gotten away with everything he did, all his life, then what kind of country are we, that we simply imprison a black kid for passing on a marijuana cigarette to his friends, or lifting a shirt from a store, or stealing candy, worse, for knocking at a white person's door looking for directions! The Trumps and Kushners have evaded taxes, laundered money, shifted and shuffled their wealth around, right under our very noses and how do we reward them, by handing them the White House! That is how gullible we Americans are, and that is how double standards our justice system is.
6
Mr Trump is a poor man. So many resources about him to do good, so many levers to make things better, yet time and again he chooses to divide, belittle and hurt.
A pity for all of us
5
Thanks for that link to the Politico story on Ayers. What you didn't mention is how sanctimonious Ayers is, without seeming aware of it. He wants to serve God, he writes, after mentioning all his accolades. But he would do that best by looking a little more inwards at his own ambition and tone deaf, self-centered attitude. I'll pray for him, seriously, because he's the future of the GOP men that the Lord will test us with.
2
this is the trump family:
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
11
All we can do for the next two years is bide time, piddle, drift, and wander about until election time. He's a hopeless windbag to a sinking base. Nuff said.
1
Bravo! Yes, it seems as he has been abandoned by all that wield power and influence. But once again, what about the electorate? Let's not forget how this president got where he is. I can still remember election day when all the NYT pie charts where blue.
I fear that this type of journalism may lull us in to a false sense of security regarding 2020.
2
So let's have a self-review:
1) Best businessman ever--A) numerous bankruptcies and profits only from either breaking laws, the Emoluments Clause or by bullying the little people and keeping THEIR money B) horrible business leader--your own people act like the tutor being paid by the parents of the big bully they are tutoring, outwitting you, manipulating you, trying to move you away before you break anything. People HATE working for you, they are just self-aggrandizers hoping to use your face as a rung on their career ladder (SHAME)
2) I hire the best people--Umm, pretty sure you haven't had a single best person you chose, then you yourself after choosing them, once it comes out how poor each choice was, or they don't kowtow to you enough, kiss the ring, repeat your lies, say what a horrible choice they were (yet your supporters still don't seem to notice
3) I have a really big brain--yes but are incapable of using a vocabulary higher than 4th grade, and can't seem to read a single think except your own Twits, let alone a briefing about important issues before your office and this country
4) I am a media machine--fair enough, and indeed you were, KINDA, elected President as a result, but maybe at this point it's like people watching a car race--hoping to catch the crash, which sure seems appropriate as neither there nor as citizens at risk from your actions we don't want to get hurt or die witnessing that crash
I could go on and on but we just need you to go quietly
1
Wow, "those who do nothing to set the course of our nation's future" don't sit well with Nick Ayers in that 2011 email about his work decision. Web link by Bruni:
https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2011/04/the-ayers-campaign-034908
No invocation was heard in this week's work decision. So, Nick Ayers is just telling everyone that he's excusing himself from the actual work of serving the People to spend time with his family instead.
Must be nice to flitter out of government service just as the course setting enters MELTDOWN territory. That's the difference between "God's Gift" and the career civil servants. Career supervisors worth their salt understand that you apply for your boss's job to ensure that all competent choices are on the list.
The worst part about it, the development of leadership is arrested by such an example. Way to go, Course Setter.
The voters? We have, in aggregate on a national basis, constantly and consistently rejected the orange buffoon, 56-40 by Gallup's last poll.
2
Let's see - people who tied themselves to the President - Sean Spicer, Reince Preibus, Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Gen.John Kelly , Gen. Mike Flynn.. Yeah, that worked well for them.
People who tied themselves the President when he was merely an operator who wanted to be President... Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen... one has been buried alive and the other is hoping for a pardon.
And the hangers on .. Scaramucci? Trump's family? Kellyanne? Even Sarah H-S? They are laughingstocks.
No, it is not hard to imagine why someone who takes himself seriously might just pass.
3
Waiting for him to offer the job to Geraldo Rivera.
2
The only ones who have stuck by Trump for decades and have not rejected him are as sleazy and corrupt and dishonest as he is.
Stone, Manafort, Ruddy, Barrack to name a few.
1
Why would anyone sign on to work with a callous lier who throws temper tantrums and in a heartbeat will cut you down with a “Tweet”.There is no inspiring agenda, just a dreary repitition of complaints about dangerous aliens at the border.If you do sign on to work for Trump the reward for your services is a Court appearance for which you will need an expensive lawyer.You will not be serving your country if you work for Trump because Trump is not working to advance an American agenda, he is working to advance a Trump agenda.
3
Crude, dishonest, loudmouthed, a loser who cannot deal with the truth because he has no ability to reflect or to connect honestly with others. It is sad and pathetic; he needs help, but not in the White House. Enough is enough; he should leave at the end of his term.
3
Actually, it's his policies and values that are the worst of Trump*. His personality is despicable, without doubt, but that we can ignore.
2
I took one look at Donald Trump on the cover of that gossip rag, People Magazine back in the 80’s and rejected him right then and there. He’s never given me any reason to change my mind. Indeed, he’s done nothing more than to further disgust me. Time Magazine should give him the dishonor of showing him on the cover as the most disgusting person of the year.
2
Writers with TDS abound on this column.
Every day, there are increasing signs that we are feeling sorry for Trump. Our laughter has muted; our rage has softened to mere crabbiness; our hate has ratcheted down to disgust.
The sense is that we are now cringing with shame for having this pitiful man in the White House and are hoping that he will just go shut up and go away.
2
Please, Mr. Trump, resign. Tell any lie you wish, as the reason, but just resign. You, in self reflection, should realize that you don't know truth from lies, you have crucified many people, you manipulate working class people into believing you will bring them a better life, and they are so busy working and putting food on the table, they don't have time to educate themselves about your lies. So, they blindly follow your anger and you give their displaced anger, a voice. You have created a model for some leaders to be manipulative lairs, and it has damaged this country. Please resign.
2
"Is there anyone who wants to hang with Donald Trump?"
Is the double entendre intentional? It looks more and more as if a metaphorical public hanging is coming. And nobody in their right mind would volunteer to be metaphorically publicly hung alongside him.
2
Who, pray tell, wants to drive the bus as the wheels go flying off?
3
Ayers probably saw the advantage of keeping a reputation for another 30 years rather watching it dissolve within 6 months ..... at most.
2
Who needs government when we have DONALD J TRUMP, the World's greatest entertainer?
Who needs God when we have the World's only perfect person to lead us to temptation, and deliver us to evil (C.O.D.)?
Who needs a more perfect union when we have #MAGA?
Government failed, and God will not bail us out.
1
Mr. Bruni doesn't mention that fact that Trump doesn't show up at events like the Kennedy Center Honors because those being honored would boycott. The man is toxic.
3
In reality this emperor is figuratively as naked as a jay bird but he (and his diminishing acolytes) thinks he's as dressed up as a Russian general at a Victory Day review.
2
You’ve written him off, but given the disarray of the Democrats, he may be fodder for several more years of columns. The knives are out all around.
The obvious reality here is that Trump is simply a despicable self absorbed ignoramus who behaves like a petulant child when things don't go as he demands. He is rejected because he invites rejection.
The problem he has now is that as a public servant he can not simply demand respect and get it. He isn't paying the salaries, we are. Who in their right mind would want to work for anyone who demands that they honor his every whim no matter its lack of worth or substance? Especially anyone looking for a career in public service.
Wannabe King Trump is soon to be nothing Trump simply because he has no concept of respect or what it means to earn it.
2
Startling, your headline, "The Most Powerful Reject in the World", Frank! But not 100% true -- our 45th President is a "loser" and not totally rejected yet. That one of the most important jobs in any presidential administration is going begging from pillar to post today --- the Chief of Staff office -- is not a surprise, given Donald Trump's death grip on American Democracy. How much more agony under an ignorant, unlettered, bigoted, narcissistic president must we endure before he folds his Trumpbrand tent and steals away? We long to see Trump's terrible caravan pass, and we, like dogs, will bark in glee!
1
I think Vladimir, Kim, and Mohammad are always going to be up for a little bro time. So not a complete reject. Good to have friends to sustain oneself in tough times.
1
Always scorned, despised, and mocked by the real social elites of New York and Palm Beach for being a crooked, nouveau guttersnipe and vulgarian of the most repulsive sort, Trump could only find adoration from the lower orders who’d never been addressed by a rich guy in their lives. In their dumb innocence Trump was the poor man’s idea of a rich guy, and the dumb chump’s idea of a smart guy. No wonder Trump and his pathetic mob are lashed together in a noose of shattering humiliation and total mocking rejection for all concerned. None of these rejects had anywhere else to turn. Soon, when Trump is stripped naked and disgraced by Mueller, and either sent to Palookaville or jail a la Madoff, neither he nor his mob will have anyone to cling to anymore for “respect.”
2
I thought it was interesting that Omarosa believed Nick Ayers likely wrote the anonymous NYT op-ed. The purge seems to be going well otherwise.
1
It has oft been said, there is no one more delusional than the self-deluded – enter stage left, Donald the Dotard, wannabe despot and international pariah, lugging along a boatload of delusions and deficiencies…
Donald Trump can still find love and happiness among the smiling and smirking autocratic likes of Benjamin Netanyahu, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Abdel el-Sisi, Recep Erdogan, Xi Jinping, Julian Assange, Jeff Sessions and Mitch McConnell.
And in a just world the Trump organized crime family and friends would be hanging together on the same gallows for their conspiracy and collaboration with the Russians in order to preserve, protect and defend whatever they are hiding from the American people in their family income tax returns and business records.
2
Even his sycophants and his acolytes know his true measure or lack of. They know he is a clown who is ignorant of the most basic aspects of public service. He is like a celebrity who suffers from overexposure. The crowd grows bored of his antics and his behaviors. He is a bully that is running out of targets. Finally, he might as well post the chief of staff job on craigslist.
1
He got a C+ in Accounting but he flunked Life.
Nick Ayers,a guy with a third rate education, has the Jared and Ivanka pretty boy persona, and for these two, dress up and makeup is all that counts.
3
I listened to Buddhist Dharma talk yesterday where the teacher described our current state as a collective dark night of the soul. I have to agree. Eventually enough of us will find our way to the light. We must.
2
Every morning I check the news to see if something has put an end to this: I can't believe we go on with a person who is mentally and emotionally unstable as President and that he continues to be aided and abetted by the republican party. And head of a criminal conspiracy to boot.
4
Mr. Bruni’s quiet wit is the perfect match for this time of solemn horridness. I enjoy his comments on the Trump presidential fiasco more than any other columnist’s.
Enjoy? Yes, that’s not too strong a word. Thanks to such talented writers as Frank, we’ll go forward from this protracted assault on our nation’s safety and honor with a far more refined sense of the danger signs that should steer us away from cynical politicians.
That’s the only upside to Trump, the only thing to rejoice in. He comes with a notice hanging around his neck, and that notice says, ‘NO MORE PUBLIC GRIFTERS EVEN FAINTLY LIKE ME!’
4
Trump spent years belittling civil servants as a private citizen. Now that he's in the White House, he has gotten surlier.
When I speak with government employees nowadays, I tell them that I respect their work. Because I do--they make our infrastructure work, they keep us safe, and they generally have some pride in their job combined with a sense of duty to their neighbors.
I cannot respect the work of the man currently running the White House because I sense no respect from him toward most of his fellow citizens, including his ardent supporters.
1
I'm sure there are some fine people from the infamous "caravan" who would hang with Trump and provide him with much-needed perspective if given the chance.
Were it not for the passing of a son, it wouldn't be Pres. Trump and we wouldn't be in this quagmire, this swamp, this disastrous mess...
3
Donald Trump strikes me as a thug, and thugs are not liked. He is the antithesis of Bill Murray’s character in the movie, “Groundhog Day,” in that he wakes up each day seemingly determined to become increasingly imperfect, rather than improved.
He may be the most powerful man in the world, but it’s his weaknesses and lack of charcter strength that best define him.
Unless, of course, it is his abject incompetence.
1
The trump toxicity may warrant BSL-2, Bio Safety Level 2 that requires protective equipment (PPE) must be worn, including lab coats and gloves. Eye protection and face shields can also be worn, as needed.
Suit up before West Wing photo ops and those MACA, Make America Corrupt Again red hat pep rallies.
The “odour” of trump and clan are a pungent reminder why air sickness bags are handed out at all events.
I nominate Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Oh, the places they’d go!
2
I had some hope that the White House was preparing for impeachment or resignation by installing Pences' Chief of Staff. Again my hope of ousting this dangerous man were dashed. Although I also believe a neutered lame duck Trump would be better than president Pence.
Perfectly and poetically penned again, Frank! And especially fitting after his performance yesterday in the Oval Office with "Chuck and Nancy".
It would have been so rich had either of them said to his face as he threw his tantrum, "Mr. President, you are not a king, no matter how much you try to delude yourself that you are."
2
You know that ole saying about being placed on a pedestal, only later to be knocked off. A minority of Americans placed trump on a golden pedestal. When he hits the floor it might be a jail cell, we hope.
Nick Ayers is a very interesting person. Mr. Ayers is 36 year old political consultant with a net worth of $12M to $36M! Hard to believe that political consulting could be so lucrative! Trump sees him as a mini me, the christian right see him as one of them and apparently the moneyed contributors see him as a for sale Republican mark. Apparently Mr. Ayers will have a very bright future in the GOP.
3
@Jena Young Manafort.
2
There are many possible candidates who have already sold their souls. Kellyanne and Chris Christie spring to mind—just as they would spring into the job if offered. Even Omarosa would take the job without hesitation. There is a bottomless swamp of cynical careerists with whom Trump has surrounded himself.
4
Americans are truly blessed by God to have Trump. Unfortunately we European people are plagued by rulers that hate the people they rule over.
Watching yesterdays Chuck and Nancy show sitting with Trump made clear to me that there's more to the man's diminished state that just the reputation aspect. It appeared to me that meeting bore all the hallmark of two family members trying to talk to an aging man in the early throes of dementia and oblivious to logic and discourse. The guy is not only diminished; he is LOSING IT mentally. Time for a change before this thing gets tragic. It is time to remove him from office to stop and reverse all his executive orders causing harm to the immigrants, the world, and our USA.
3
Rejection of trump and his awareness of it is simply fitting.
I’ll take President Trump over Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer anyday. At least President Trump acts. Pelosi and Schumer only know how to obstruct. Build the Wall!
You mean to tell that no one wants to have a play date with Donald Trump?
If you do what he says, you end up under indictment. If you don't do what he says, he calls you "dumb as a rock" and worse. There's zero upside, and everything to lose by serving at the pleasure of this president.
But in the old children's game, "the Cheese stands alone" at the very end. So maybe the Orange one's isolation from all people of decency is a hopeful sign that we are nearing the end of our national embarrassment.
2
Donald Trump, Loser-in-Chief, is losing bigly on his way to November 3, 2020. His biggest loss will come on January 21, 2021 when his tweets be ignored and he will be consigned to the political and social isolation he has earned.
He'll have much better company and be appreciated in...jail! A con man who made all the way to the Oval Office. Wow! He'll have an audience, perhaps even find love which seems to elude him!
totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
hannah arendt (who else?)
Love that snarky advice for Trump to try Tinder. That might work if some adjectives work?
I don't think you're being fair. Kim Jong Un and MbS will no doubt stick by him. After all, that's what friends are for.
2
This account omits one stronghold of affirmation for Trump, which will remain true to the last: Fox news with its loyal team of sycophants, ever ready to flatter their dear leader.
1
If Trump dies soon from eating too many night time cheese burgers i wonder how different his funeral would be compared to the Bush funeral. Except for family would anybody show up? Would there outside of family anybody to read warm, kind, interesting touches of humor, eulogies?
There is a line of thought that all our institutions are a sham. Somebody with street smarts and moxie can just power through it all. Stuff like compromise or nuance is for weak losers. But this president thing is turning out to be a ton of work. The celebrity stuff and the rallies are great, but the public service part is for losers.
We his neighbors in Manhattan, who knew him too well from 40 years of lying, boasting and stealing, rejected him 9-1 in 2016.
If only the rest of the country would have followed our strong advice about this well known charlatan.
2
Most people don't like The Donald very much, and grass is green and Pope is Catholic.
What are New York Times columnists going to talk about when Trump is finally gone from the White House, whether next month, next year, or next decade?
Maybe the opinion section could plan in advance to shut down for a month, so its columnists could try to get up to speed on some of what is happening in the real world.
The toxic masculinity and white privilege exhibited by Donald Trump, honed over the years and showcased on a television reality show apparently holds sway over a large swath of Americans. The unapologetic arrogant rich kid bully never admits wrongdoing and never apologizes under any circumstances while writing his own rules and laws. His coarse language and playground threats and taunts reserved for his perceived enemies only endear Trump to his mostly white, older, working class base who naively view him as authentic and only concerned about the plight of the white working class. The gold lavatories and the fashion model wives represent the epitome of success and refinement to some while others view him as a vulgar snake oil salesman reveling in a playboy image that died several decades ago,
Working for Trump would require some combination of thick skin, sycophant and ambivalence about honesty, ethics, morality, civility and lawfulness. Trump is the baddest of bosses on steroids. For those among Trumps faithful base who would love their own children to grow up to be just like Donald Trump, you have failed miserably as parents
2
I think years of writing sheer verbal abuse like this should have honed Frank Bruni's skills. It seems unlikely, but he's no better now than he was in 2015.
Michael Cohen or General Flynn’s punishment should be to serve as Trump’s Chief of Staff
1
There's no shortage of potential and probably eager candidates to be Trump's Chief of Staff:
Bannon -- who's so desperate to be relevant he's taken a page from Newt Gingrich and is potting to take down the Pope.
Stephen Miller -- as Chief of Staff he could really go to town on his immigrant-phobia and set up concentration camps all over the country and prove the myth than any boy can grow up in America and become an unapologetic hater.
Jeanine Pirro -- She could scold Trump everyday to be more Trumpian while teaching Melania the true meaning of "I don't care, do u?" Plus her constant 20 decibel screeching would blow the fuses of any hidden listening devices planted in the Oval Office.
Jared -- No one better suited to focus Trump on critical priorities like finding corrupt foreign despots to invest in Trump and Kushner property developments. Jared could jump start the redevelopment of The White House as a Trump property under private management with a 2 star Michelin restaurant and brew pub.
Elaine Chao -- McConnell's rich trophy wife who's daughter of a Chinese shipping magnate who's very close to the Chinese leadership. She's currently Secretary of Transportation but she rarely shows up for work -- which is ideal for the next Trump Chief of Staff. Big plus if Trump ever needs another Chinese hostage he can just have her detained without bail.
There's always Kellyanne if Trump wanted to poke George in the eye.
Then there's Don Jr. If he's not in jail.
2
“Reject” seems an entirely appropriate school yard nickname for one who has employed the device so cruelly himself.
1
And as my father used to say, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
1
...not if they have any sense of self-worth, morals, ethics, job longevity or freedom from prosecution.
Association with Trump is akin to being "made" by a Mafia Don (funny thing about that).
In case his tribal zealots haven't figured it out yet - it's TRUMP! He is, in every respect, a loser and someone no decent human would want to be near. YOU elected him - what does that say about you?
2
Surprised Mr. Brunei failed to discuss Mr. Ayers possible reluctance to take the job because of Congress looking into his financial background.
1
Trump has no discernable values. His followers are the misinformed Fox watchers.
Even Fox will abandon him when he no longer is a value to their ratings.
Brutal. But true.
Don't forget to vote!
1
I can see it now:
Press Release, Washington, DC, December 20, 2018.
In a surprise move, President Trump has named Sean Hannity as his new Chief of Staff. "I expect great things from Sean," adding, "Our ratings should go through the roof!"
hehhehheh
He's got 50 Republican Senators who will stick with him even while Rome burns. That's all he needs.
1
What is so obvious to me with each criminal, negative or greedy story that is revealed is that not only is Trump probably not the legitimate president, but that he has no love or loyalty to this country. All he cares about is power and money! His dealings with Russia are much more unpatriotic than the NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.
3
The man needs someone to bluntly tell him to resign, to not fall apart on the world stage, because we've seen that before and it's ugly. People who hate you don't win unless you hate them back, right?
Here it is; Donald, get out, don't do it. Get help. Pick up a healthy habit. Stop what you're doing, it's not working. Don't drink. Get all the help you need. Volunteer. You're in bad shape and it's not going to improve with a new initiative, a new program, a new staff. Get out, get help, get better.
Validation? My opinion of Trump has been validated.
1
How did someone so unworthy, so inept, so repulsive in personality, so much the antithesis of leadership and virtue, become President of the United States? It boggles the mind. Having become president, it is stunning how much he is propped up and his fallacies are white washed. When I was a kid, I found the story of the emperor with no clothes so wildly impossible. It was just a funny story of a surely comical scenario. Alas, I did not realize what great truth lies in the fable.
2
The theme of most of your columns concerning President Trump, Mr. Bruni, is the horrid nature of this man and the destruction he rains down upon civility and our democratic institutions. Despite this, millions idolize him and the Republican Party embraces and protects his venomous and destructive ways.
It is wishful thinking on your part to paint Donald Trump as a pariah. He is obviously not being rejected either by the right people whose rejection would end this madness ( Congressional Republicans) or the masses of Americans whose own miopia is leading America off a cliff to authoritarianism.
1
Each exhale by Trump and company poses the most toxic element to the environment.
So when is the reject from humanity going to walk away from this office sulking because no one wants to be in the sandbox w him?
You forgot an important one:
Laughed out of the UN General Assembly.
The tiniest, most insecure nations in the world laughed.
The problem is that our Vice President, if he can lie down with dogs and not pick up fleas - and possibly go criminal as well - is a theocrat, who does not belong anywhere near the Presidency, and is there because of his addition to the Magic Base.
If, and I really hope that's when, Trump goes for high crimes or misdemeanors, or shear public pressure against his "brand", the VP should go as well.
And be replaced by the popular vote winners of the last contest.
Hillary Clinton will have problems, because of all the lies raised up against her.
But her proven ability to handle the worst life can throw at a person - and win, should clean up that mess, and reduce those spouting trash down to their old tiny circle of hatemongers who spend mosyt of their time talking to themselves, or fighting with each other to gain status in the world of hate.
The theocrats will get a lesson too. Hey, you Charismatic Evangelical Christians - do you want Hillary Clinton running your religion?
The Jeffersonian impenetrable wall between religion and state was not put there just to protect the government from the True Believers who have found the One True Way.
It was put there to protect the Believers from the government as well.
Yer man gets plenty of validation - from you, Mr Bruni, and other columnissts and news sources. The man is clickbait (I clcked here not knowing it was yet again about him).
Meanwhile, democracy is under threat and so is the environment. Enough about him, really. Pleases focuse on the Republicans - they own this disaster.
2
Tell lies, cheat, steal, get caught, and yet, still be invited to elegant parties !
"Privilege" really does hold all the cards in the serious (and intermingled) business of having fun and wielding power.
There will always be people desperate to share a seat at this table. And that will always remain the problem.
History shows Trump and his ilk to be the rule, not the exception.
The type of friends trump acquires are the type most normal people reject. To have the most prominent job in the world could have been so different if only he had.......but he has made it the most reviled.
I had a number of individuals that are probably on the President’s short list for the Chief of Staff opening.
None have any unique qualifications for the job, which makes them perfect to fill the role.
It is time the President called back to the White House to interview, Kid Rock or Ted “the Nuge” Nugent. If he wants someone a bit more fawning and a bit more freewheeling, Kayne is probably on call.
No one has floated any females that the President could make a grab at and pull them close to the White Houses inner workings. Two that immediately come to mind are Ann Coulter or Sarah Palin.
The candidates for this job are out there. That they are ill qualified, makes them perfect for this administration.
1
Pay close attention to what is taking pace in Great Britain, France and Germany.
Trump truly is repulsive in every possible way. He exudes the smarmy "charm" of many of the fairy tale villains I read to my second-grade classes. The wolf in Red Riding Hood for example. His noxious greed, his lack of a sense of propriety or even a sense of humor makes me yearn for him to be gone from our lives. I have never in my life thought that the death of a person would be celebrated as his will. That is harsh but true.
His lack of intelligence, heart, empathy, and other human qualities is profoundly disturbing. I am sorry he had such a terrible childhood to be the man he is. On the other hand, the GOP enablers who croon his favorite songs get none of my sympathy and they also must go. Just plain go. Our children deserve so much better.
1
Geez, the impending legal bills alone are daunting.
Dateline Jan 19, 2021--
Trump flies to Russia in the dead of night seeking asylum to escape criminal charges from numerous State and Federal Law enforcement agencies.
1
Sometimes, and I hate to admit it, I feel sorry for Trump. You can sometimes see the the naked need to be liked in his face and his body language. He without a doubt has a serious disorder, perhaps from his childhood. The combination of profound narcissism and insecurity is strange to see. Now, all that being said, get him out of the White House, NOW!
4
So why do so many reasonable people say that Trump will be re-elected in 2020? Why would it even be a contest? Why do so many Americans - Trump supporters - seemingly of a cult mindset? Donald Trump is not a president. He is a cult leader. "It's us against everyone who criticizes me" is the message Trump constantly sends to his base. That is cult talk. So is saying he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose one supporter, an ensuing poll of which showed that to be all but correct . Cult think. And the big question: why are Republicans so willing to back this man they trash behind his back and therefore let the country suffer the consequences? (Rhetorical question). Trump is a symptom of a bigger disease infecting the rightwing in this country.
1
Who really likes a bully? And a clueless one at that! He speaks constantly in rallyesque language. Maybe it is great for his multitudes of fans at a stadium where they can be the pep session for him, but running a government for all....a big failure. Trump will not be the great leader that he imagines himself to be. Michelle Obama: "Being President ... Reveals Who You Are". Many of us rejected having this spoiled man for a president. Others not so much, but now the facade is falling away ....the bully stands alone....except for the GOP who used him.
From early on there were variations on the theme of “when Trump gets hit, he hits back ten times harder.” As if that was a good thing. It’s a terrible, vile quality, actually. It points to a complete lack of introspection in the man. And, a lot of meanness and sadism.
He is NOT to be trusted - with a confidence, money, job security, friendship or loyalty. He’ll drop you like a hot potato. In a New York minute.
I have given some thought to this. What IS it about Trump that would attract anyone to him? He’s not smart or witty or clever. He’s not sophisticated, literate or intelligent. He doesn’t like animals. He’s awkward around children and has no idea how to be with them. He’s not affectionate. He’s not kind or gracious or generous of spirit. He’s a lecher. He has a totally ridiculous hairdo that’s actually cringe-worthy. And he LIES. All the time.
It took a while for some people to catch on. Nobody wants to be his anything! Being seen with or close to Trump is slimy. Even this young anbitious fellow knew being his Chief of Staff would not advance him or look good on his resume. Smart move because sooner rather than later he’d have to lie and be part of the “handlers” that try to keep Trump from acting on his worse impulses.
I remember when being the President of the United States was an admirable position. How times have changed.
3
I don't know why he is looking for a chief of staff. He didn't use Kelly because he told everyone to report directly to him. Let him be his own chief of staff. What a joke!
Trump "burns quickly through whatever good will he has"
He has none.
A "shockingly small and diminishing number of people in Washington feel any real affection" for Trump.
There have never been any.
"maybe it’s time for Tinder."
Only in the literal sense: to start a large fire.
While I do not agree with the politics and manners of Trump, I continually see journalists and others stoop to his level. Using the word ‘reject’ - really? Is this sophisticated reporting? I don’t think so.
What's most astonishing is that you could see these realities coming from 100 miles away. The script was writing itself before he ever stepped foot in the oval office; the details of the story and how his victims would fall was the only drama yet to be written.
Half of ones makeup - temperament - is something you're born with and despite his claims, his isn't a good one. Personality - the other half - was shaped in such a fantastically awful way that he's filled with a mountain of entitlement, insecurity, and (faux) aggrievances.
He gave us 40 years of public evidence of who he was; it should have been obvious to all that he wouldn't change one bit. In fact, with power, it was assured that his worst traits and tendencies would only be magnified.
Why wasn't this more obvious? Or perhaps a more concerning question: why don't more people (especially his base) seem to care?
I don't know how this ends but the next chapter is sure to include an attempt to take us all down with him. He's shown that he won't go down easy and he certainly won't go down without swinging and taking anything and anyone with him.
In the end it may look like self destruction but the horrific news for us is that we are now part of that self. If/when/how he goes down will bring us all extraordinary pain and likely for generations to come. After all, the greatest rejection of all for the person who craves and even demands the greatest acceptance and adulation of all, won't end well. God help us.
2
This article got one thing wrong. He will be Chief of Staff when Pence tKez over as President.
"He has no Plan B, just B-list options ..." A nice turn of a phrase, but it seems we've already exhausted the B-list."
2
I find myself fascinated with watching his hand gestures, how he stops people from talking by pushing his hand out to say, "Be quiet". When he does that I always want to reach through the tv and slap him hard.
He needs behavior modification to become a good person, reward/punishment, as one would train a dog. But there's no chance he could become a good president, with all the training in all the world for eternity.
An embarrassment. And scary. Who is protecting us?
6
Like many other commenters, I, too, have struggled to understand how about 40% of my fellow Americans could possibly vote for this man—and continue to support him!—given his anti-democratic (that’s the nicest descriptor I can write) tendencies.
The single best explanation I’ve come up with is that Trump has an innate and incredible gift for obfuscating facts (also known as “dissembling”) and intentions in a way that allows each and every supporter to hear exactly what they want to hear. If you polled his supporters you’d likely discover that what they hear (or, more accurately, *think* they hear) him saying are diametrically opposed in many cases. How else can you explain his enduring support from certain women, Jews, blacks, or “Christians?”
Support from Jews? How about the fact that his eldest daughter and his son-in-law are Jewish as well as many of his grandchildren. You think perhaps they are loved?
1
I can only imagine the conversations Ayers had with Pence and his wife, among others about the Chief of Staff offer. Only people with very limited options would consider the costs acceptable. For example, anyone with young children would have to ask themselves if they really want their future adult children to consider them an embarrassment. Just imagine what any former Trump Press Secretary will face when all the dust has settled and the full Trump legacy is written. They can do comedy shows, but having to live with this legacy, and their contribution to it, will not feel very funny.
Trump has no chance of survival as a leader in the real world, as his supporters are finding out. Even Trump, in his heart, knows this and is increasingly frustrated at his own ineffectiveness. His campaign was a publicity stunt, but his voters didn't get the joke.
The reality is that in any working environment Trump would be quickly fired, no organization would tolerate someone who constantly, reflexively lies, accepts no blame for his actions, and has zero emotional intelligence. He quite literally could not hold any job where he had not inherited the whole company, and any HR department could easily justify and defend firing him.
Now that he has to share power with Democrats this will all be painfully exposed. His chances in 2020 are very poor.
2
I suppose that somewhere in the universe of serious journalism this amounts to perhaps, maybe, possibly serious analysis. But I doubt it. A better example of the collapse of serious journalistic thought might never be found. I believe I once heard an argument similar to this in kindergarten, on the playground, about someone. It was silly then.
Yes, I agree with all Frank says. The problem is, he has an amazing amount of public support and from the cowardly republicans in the Senate and House. He will be in history books as one of our presidents! Nixon has a library, and in certain retrospectives he is getting cleansed. They cite certain things such as detente with China, and the Clean Water Act.
There will be books trying to make what few things he has done a remake of history. I despise this charlatan, but history will be kinder to him than anything he deserves.
He has sullied our country and everything I thought we stood for.
2
Mr. Bruni, I think you bring some fresh perspective to this terrible person. Now I want to hear what you think of the Kushner/MBS relationship and what effect it may have on potential political stability in the Middle East.
A wise man builds his house on a rock -- on truth, on fidelity, on justice, on compassion, on love. The rain will come because it always does. The floods. The winds. They will beat on that house but it will not fall. Because it is founded on a rock.
A foolish man builds his house on sand -- on lies, on infidelity, on injustice, on division, on hatred. But when the rains, the floods, and the winds come and beat on that house, it will fall and great will be its fall.
This parable resonates centuries later and great will be his fall.
1
Guess what--Bill Clinton didn't win the popular vote when he defeated Bush 41 in 1992. Does anyone really care if Trump has a chief of staff or not? Jimmy Carter didn't have a Chief of Staff either. Did anyone notice? Did anyone care?
The presidency has been frequently described as the loneliest job in the world.
@sharon5101 You're right. Carter didn't, and it was a major mistake, as he came to see. When he appointed Hamilton Jordan as Chief of Staff in 1979, Jordan wrote a lengthy memo about all the problems with the management processes in the White House absent a chief of staff. It was a serious problem.
https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/digital_library/cos/142099/34/cos_142099_34b_07-Image_Analysis_and_changes.pdf
I suspect it would be an even greater problem in the Trump administration, given Trump's indifference to the day-to-day tasks of management. Carter may have micromanaged, but in many respects, Trump doesn't manage at all. He just yells and intimidates.
2
When Donald leaves office, by one means or another, hopefully sooner rather than later, he will be the world’s most reviled man. And he may well be broke.
It will be interesting to see if Junior, Jared and Ivanka stand by him when there is nothing to be gained. The long-standing rumors in NYC among the ladies who lunch were that Melania was restless but agreed to stay through 2020 in return for an amended prenuptial agreement. Perhaps post White House, she’ll find herself in younger pastures.
I guess he can sit alone in his Geri chair, watching replays of his rallies, reliving his glory days. Seems like an fitting end for a horrible person.
1
The gravest indictments of American society:
Treatment of Native Americans.
Slavery.
Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
The election of Donald Trump as president.
We survived the first three. Will we survive the last?
2
And Republicans, even his most ardent supporters amongst them, should know what Trump really thinks about them.
Here is what he said in a 1998 interview with People Magazine:
"If I were t run (for President), I'd run as a Republican. They are the dumpest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be great".
How true and how insulting. Why would anybody want to work for such a guy?
3
@W Ya gotta drop repeating this quote. It's a fabrication. Check any fact-check site and you'll find it discredited.
It probably has legs because it sounds like something Trump would say. To bad he didn't.
1
I think Meadows will take the job. It offers him extraordinary new vistas of opportunity to hurt poor Americans.
1
I just watched the amazing HBO version of "Angels In America," and I'm struck by the similarity of Trump to the odious, dying Roy Cohn (Al Pacino). Both care about nothing more than themselves, both value power and dominance more than anything else in the cosmos. Both have no friends, only sycophants who use them as rungs to higher position; they enjoy having enemies. They are both liars. But there are two main differences--Cohn, though evil, was smart, and he sincerely believed in the right-wing dogma. Trump has no core beliefs other than his own greatness; he would switch allegiance (and has) on a dime for a bigger payoff. And that makes him more horrible, more shallow than Roy Cohn. Not many people can wear that badge of dishonor.
2
It's easy to mock Trump. It's not so easy to reconcile how he ended up as president.
And under Trump, America is also becoming an international reject.
1
Solitary confinement is considered by some as torture. When self-imposed, for Trump, its dangerous narcissistic refinement. It is indeed scary to consider Trump alone at his desk in the Oval Office bunker some dark night staring at The Button --surrounded by his personal Gollums -feeling the need to make Trump, oops, America Great Again.
1
It isn’t so much that Trump is disliked or unloved, it’s that clever Republicans understand being near Trump only benefits Trump. Unlike being close to ANY other president, being in Trump’s orbit drains any light, warmth, blood from that individual, the life force on which Trump feeds. Ayers would be diminished, reduced to the guy fetching Diet Cokes, eventually being forced to humiliate himself daily, like Sarah Sanders. Trump’s downfall will come when his toxicity repels even the most craven, foolish politicians when they finally understand Trump only destroys those who seek to benefit from a transaction with him.
258
Unfortunately, it has not destroyed McConnell or FOX commentators.
12
@DO5 Sarah Sanders is pro-choice. She chooses to humiliate herself daily.
12
@DO5
As I recall about nine Senators and Congressmen/women he campaigned for - Won!
Critically, Trump's economic team has worked like clockwork. They don't work in a rejection mode. They simply get the job done. Ask a few of the millions now employed if they reject the impact of the Trump administration on their well being. Try convincing that brilliant Trump led team it was President Obama, who lacks a business degree from Wharton and any prior experience as a business executive, if, his administration was responsible for the huge economic turnaround.
1
@Curiouser
After the economic crash in 2007, it was the Obama administration that worked to turn the economy around. We had, during the Obama administration, a very long run of rising employment, lower federal deficits, and stock market growth.
During the Trump administration, we have had the stock market doing flips as it reacts to the tweets of someone who is unfit for the job. The job growth is slowing now as the economy is more a reaction to Trump than to Obama policies. I am certain that "brilliant Trump led team" is convinced of their own ability. That doesn't mean they actually did what they claim to.
As for Trump, how can he claim to be a successful businessman when he declared bankruptcy 6 times. He had 3 casinos that went bust. How do you bankrupt a casino? How bad is your management that you cannot turn a profit on a casino? Gambling is a tax on people who are very bad at math and you cannot turn a profit?
Trump has done nothing to help anyone but himself. He has done nothing for this country, only to it.
1
@RN
I take it you both to went to Wharton and developed a $4 B business. Right? The routine ups and downs of an entrepreneur on an international scale seem to be something alien to your experience. Finally you have no response to my noting President Obama's gaping lack of executive experience or education in business. You must be admitting it is just not his wheelhouse or perhaps not yours as well.
Trump is on his way to ending like King Lear, the last of Shakespere’s great tragedies about a tyrant losing his mind in old age and collapsing into complete isolation. In the end he will send the last twitter message with a misspelled and not so educated assessment of his life: "They told me I was everything: 'tis a lie, I am no ague-proof."
(Lear, Act 4 Scene 5)
5
What is the similarity between “made great again” by Donald Trump and the last meal traditionally served to prisoners awaiting execution by hanging?
The pleasure derived from both of them is of a very temporary nature and ends suddenly with a terrific jolt.
3
Where will it end up? Lonely, isolated and paranoid folks tend to deteriorate. Who will be this President’s friend? I would guess someone who will take huge advantage of him. Maybe the very shrewd Chris Christie who pretty much left his staff to suffer the consequences of his machinations.
2
@Daniel Salazar
I forgot about his good friend Rudy Giulani. I can imagine him angling now to be Chief of Staff.
"He got nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton did," True, but Clinton's advantage came entirely from California, that bluest of blue states which has no problem with non-citizens voting. "No ID? No problem!" Over the OTHER 49 states, Trump received about 800,000 more votes than did Hillary.
But basically what you say is true, and it does little harm to bend the facts a little in our search for "Truth". Trump is incredibly isolated and he has brought about his own isolation by insulting people right and left. Who stands with our president? Ivanka and Melania?
Melanie is doubtful but maybe Ivanka will stick around, at least until she, Jared, and Donald Jr are indicted.
@Ludwig
Snopes has a good discussion of how that kind of number analysis is meaningless. California could be replaced by "New York and Massachusetts", or you could equally say that "Trump's win was entirely due to Texas." You get to pick what you want to make the point you want.
3
@Ludwig
As a voter in California, I no longer have to show my ID because I have voted in every election in the same precinct for over 12 years. In November, I saw others being asked for ID because they did not vote in the last general election at the precinct. So, I do not see how California is “No ID? No problem!” (Besides which, I showed my ID to prove my address was correct.)
Given that we are more than 10% of the population of the US, and the facts as stated above, I fail to see how that affects the fact that Trump did receive 3,000,000+ fewer votes overall is affected.
If you want to throw out those votes from consideration, perhaps, we should throw out the 16% of the GDP of the US GDP we represent as well, or the fact that we pay the sixth highest per person average of federal taxes (while paying the most overall). Removing either of those would put a rather large dent in the federal budget.
On the other hand, I fully agree with your second paragraph.
1
Watching yesterdays Chuck and Nancy show sitting with Trump made clear to me that there's more to the man's diminished state that just the reputation aspect. To me that meeting bore all the hallmark of two family members trying to talk to an aging 3rd who's in the early throes of dementia and oblivious to logic and discourse. The guy is not only diminished; he is LOSING IT mentally. Time for a change before this thing gets tragic. How does President Pence sound?
John~
American Net'Zen
2
The real riddle is not how unwanted he is , since he is , as you say , a toxic man . The real riddle is how a sizeable part of the population , a minority but still a significant part , still follows him. I do not mean the politicians around him that try to advance an agenda , protect the country restraining him , or protect their careers . I mean the true believers . The answer is that those true believers are beyond reason like the members of a cult . Most Americans are intelligent and sensible persons that are ashamed of their President . The vast majority of Americans are not going to allow the few to force us to drink the Trump Kool Aid . Our democratic institutions and the majority of voters are not going to allow that . History will look upon Trump as an aberration .
323
@Bernardo Izaguirre MD Tragically, human beings are naturally drawn to demagogues.
31
@Bernardo Izaguirre MD
That percentage of trump cultists are without a doubt racists of varying degrees, or extreme right/fascist.
Or both.
I know, I've met them.
39
@Bernardo Izaguirre MD
I mostly agree with your post but I do not agree with, "Most Americans are intelligent and sensible persons that are ashamed of their President ." If most Americans were sensible and intelligent we would have better politicians in office and we would be attacking climate change head on. Instead we continue to burn fossil fuels and pollute the environment creating a terrible future for generations to come.
38
Nothing more than a grifter born on third base who coulda, shoulda, woulda just walked right over home plate. Yet couldn’t because of his fears, his insecurities and his amorality. Nothing less than an impersonal, transactional, tragic figure whose only goal was to put himself above others, above the law and above his country by betraying it to its most powerful sworn enemy for his own personal greed. A person who, despite all of the damage he continues to do to his fellow Americans as Individual-1, has already begun to be discussed and derided in the past tense.
What’s even more disturbing, however, are his millions of followers who picked up his cudgels of hatred and evil and have chosen to follow him to his bitter end regardless of the consequences.
Therein lies our greatest threat.
377
@Guido Malsh
I agree with all you say, but he's not a tragic figure. A tragic figure is someone who learns something in the end. He/she has a "recognition" or realization, a la King Lear. Trump is incapable of that.
25
@bean
The tragedy is a spreading rage and hatred across America. And it's the biggest threat to the nature and character of our democracy.
9
@beanThank you bean. You saved me from a ditto comment. Definitely not a tragic figure. A thoroughly hateful and destructive figure is more like it.
7
Frank, you may not like the folks who are willing and able, but there are plently of them.
Trump is the perfect symbol for the 63 million who voted for him: long on ego, short on self-esteem, a bully who gets others to fight his battles for him, and who stiffs the waiter who brings him his food. Nostalgic over war (though heel spurs would be his fate), nostalgic for Roy Cohn, McCarthy, and Nixon. Confused by anything not processed for him by Fox News . Patriotically, he refuses to pay his fair share of taxes and convinces a heck of a lot of people (63 million, no less) that he is a very smart man of great stamina simply by saying so over and over. America has never had a president whose character was such a fit for so many. Even those who didn't vote for him share many of the negative attributes that those who voted for him love him for. Because, if they did, if the 66 million didn't have a share in Trump's character, then we wouldn't tolerate him, and we do, day after day, only increasing his attractiveness in the eyes of the 63 million with out hypocritical disdain. Talk is not action. Mr. Trump is counting on us, the 66 million to talk, not act. How are we doing, Mr. President?
129
@Max & Max. Talk, (actually firing a; loud, public, sustained, ‘in the streets’, but totally non-violent “Shout (not shot) heard round the world” to ignite a people’s peaceful continuation and completion of our original American political/economic and social “Revolution Against Empire” [Justin du Rivage] “is action today”!
3
A reject at home and abroad. Trump has shown himself to be the worst boss in the world. Working in his White House is not only a career killer but one laced with daily humiliation, insults and legal jeopardy. Abroad, Xi outsmarts Tariffman in trade negotiations, Putin openly brags that he has him on a leash, Kim Jong-un plays him for a sap by continuing his nuclear buildup, and the rest of the world laughs at his denial of climate science. Nothing was more telling than the hoots of derision at a U.N. climate conference in Poland when the U.S. delegation tried to explain Trump's continued love of oil and coal.
250
@Christy
Seems like NATO agreed to pay more, no rocket or nuclear tests in North Korea, China just lowered taxes on autos and Israel is waiting for our peace plan. At home we have a 3% GDP, highest employment rate in history, can put a Lander on Mars and USMCA will help American farmers.
@Frank Leibold:
NATO agreed to pay more in 2014; recently, they recommitted. Trump had little to do with it.
North Korea suspended tests because they no longer need them (they have the bomb and a sufficient means for delivery), just like we did in 1992 after the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
China has NOT lowered tariffs on US auto imports; a plan to do so has been given to its cabinet.
Israeli peace plan? Are you kidding? Jared's on it, though. . .
I think you mean "lowest" unemployment. . . But there are 15 years in the last century that unemployment has been equal to or lower than four percent.
Although global GDP over the last decade has seriously slumped, three percent may not be worthy of an award.
Where do you get your info from, Trump U?
17
The cost of one's personal legal team is a real downer.
Still in all, Trump gets the last laugh because he is the president of the United States and will go down in history as such. This country is totally adrift.
1
Eventually even the most obtuse and ambitious learn the lesson that has led to that other acronym starting to turn up everywhere. MAGA meets ETTD: Everything Trump Touches Dies. Just hoping it doesn't apply to the Presidency itself, but so far it doesn't look good.
2
"He sought the presidency, as so many others surely did, because it’s the ultimate validation. But it has given him his bitterest taste yet of rejection."
One more rejection to go, so go for it House Dems!
3
Your readers deserve better. If Trump was as despised as you say , the 2020 reelection would be a fait accompli, which it is not.
@E delgado
The Times is just reporting the facts.
His former allies are leaving him and want nothing to do with him. Else why would they tell him not to consider them for the post of Chief of Staff.
They have seen, first hand, how he treats people. Calling one outgoing Chief "dumb as a rock."
MAGA, DUMP TRUMP!
1
That Cabinet meeting early on in Trump's administration keeps replaying itself in my head. The one were every member had a chance to speak on camera at how amazing the Emperor is. They went around the table, one by one trying to put together words that would flatter Trump. It was awkward to watch.
But it must have been horrible to know that after the person sitting next to you stopped talking, that it was your turn next.
By the end of this year, many of those panderers will have departed the administration. For those in that room back then, they most likely saw all this coming.
What worries me most is the concept that a cornered animal becomes extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
5
If there ever was a canary in the coal mine concerning the inevitable trajectory of Trump's presidency, it was Nick Ayers' declining of the chief of staff post.
For a ruthless climber like that to turn down that job, he would have had to assess that it was a career killer, or maybe worse. Like him or not, the thought process and discipline he displayed is impressive to say the least, as not many people would be able to say no to a once in a lifetime job like that.
219
Trump is the kind of guy who could really use visits from the 3 ghosts of Christmas. But I suspect that, unlike Scrooge, those visits wouldn't make a dent.
19
Just last night I told my husband that A Christmas Carol should run 24/7 in the Whit House!!
1
@Larry. I had a similar thought when I read Bruni’s piece. But Scrooge had a long-buried residuum of empathy and, sparked by the fear inspired by the Ghost of Christmas Future, more than a shred of self-awareness. Devoid of both, Donald Trump would tweet out his ridicule of Christmas conscience the following morning. And more than a few of his followers would throw out A Christmas Story with the torn-off wrapping paper.
2
I think the question should be posed in a slightly different manner.
3
In another setting the thought of this empty little man—so totally devoid of empathy, intellectual curiosity and self-awareness, of care for a single solitary soul beyond himself—would be immensely sad. But he holds the most powerful chair in the world, and with a tweet he can send the global economy into swoops and dives, with a fit of pique he can reduce the western democratic alliance to rubble, with a single command he can start a war that would devastate the planet. And at least for now he remains enabled by the willfully blind greed of a party using him to corner American political power and a donor class using him to corner American wealth.
The only rational response to his growing isolation is terror.
21
Nick Ayers knows he will pay a dear price for incurring the wrath of Trump but he would have destroyed his career entirely by getting caught in the toxic Trump web. No one wants to be in Trump's company because of guilt by association. Watching Pence anguishing over the embarrassing Trump-Pelosi-Schumer dust up yesterday made me wonder if Pence thinks it was worth it to accept Trump's offer to be his running mate. If Pence had any aspirations to succeed Trump, they are long gone. Guilt by association is a powerful thing. Look at what happened to Gerald Ford and Al Gore.
8
@nzierler It is very possible that Al Gore actually won the 2000 election. He won the popular vote.
2
If he will get us out of Afghanistan, halt the widespread intellectual property theft by China and resolve the problems arising from an apparent shift from a nation-state to a meaningless, borderless entity, this Republican will continue to vote for him no matter how unattractive the Beltway and Upper West Side crowds find him.
@JPE:
The key word being "If." This all still, after two years, remains to be seen.
3
@JPE - I am neither of the Beltway or the Upper West Side, and I find him much worse than "unattractive." What on earth makes you think that someone as isolated and incapable of coalition-building as this article describes will be able to to accomplish these Herculean tasks?
6
@JPE
He's increased the number of troops in Afghanistan; Chinese property theft continues unabated; we're still a nation state; and the majority of the electorate who voted for his opponents in the recent house elections do not all live in Washington or NYC. So why are you still voting for him? Or would it require a psychiatric evaluation to answer that question?
7
Thank you Mr. Bruni for putting all of this in one place. Seems to me that if he were to really take a good look at himself in the mirror he would go mad. Fortunately, he seems to be self-protected from doing that. Or, has already done it, gone mad, and the world is having to suffer because of it. But, I can forgive him his madness. Much harder to forgive are those who support him, friends, foes, and family alike.
11
"Trump’s toxicity" -- Yep! Everything may be traced to this source of the problem with Trump: Top behavioral health specialists' observations (see Dr. Bandy Lee's edited book "Dangerous Case of Donald Trump") about Trump's ample behavioral features of a dangerous mental (behavioral) disorder. The personality disorder cluster is "ego syntonic" in that it's ingrained into the disordered person's sense of being, so that person has no awareness or insight into it. The only problem such people complain about is other people having problems with them. For those who are wealthy and/or well-connected, their typical involvement in crime is convicted later than those who aren't. Meantime, those disordered but syntonic people are also highly behaviorally toxic people who can wreak havoc upon most anybody close to them, like family members and colleagues, as well as make a mess for people in general. Sound familiar? The most compassionate way of managing their clueless behavior is behavioral quarantine, either through court-ordered psychiatric monitoring or if convicted, through imprisonment (latter nicknamed "jail therapy"). Now we have someone like that having duped and conspired with like-minded people to gain just enough votes for access to the presidency. The sooner he is quarantined, the better--a.s.a.p.!
13
Anyone who values their reputation would be wise to stay as far away from him as possible. His sort belongs back on TV Reality or some other third rate comedic show.
10
Trump could use a chief of staff with a gift for humor. Imagine the daily hilarity led by a chief like Lewis Black. "The guy was down on his luck," he would say, "and as a fellow New Yorker, I wanted to lend a helping hand. Besides, I wanted to find out what kind of guy bankrupts a casino."
7
Why would Democrats want to impeach and remove such a godsend? Mr. Trump appears to be a double agent, working for the opposition.
9
I am reminded of the movie, Carrie, whose wrath at being scorned led to total destruction of those who rejected her. I see signs of Trump doing the same. We all need to hang on tight.
11
Mr. Trump's administration is becoming medieval if not Shakespearean in its death throes. Washington, originally a marsh, has begun to take on the appearance of the marshy Bosworth Field.
I can imagine Mr. Trump pacing back and forth in one of his towers while bellowing, "A House. A House. A Kingdom for a House!"
2
trump has given us many reason to impeach him, his “friends” have given us a few more. Why are the republicans so set in keeping this train wreck as their leader. trump should never have been allowed to take office with a three million vote loss. He certainly should not be allowed to keep the office with his lack of respect for the First Amendment and disregard of foreign interference in our election.
8
Gerrymandering; voter suppression; uncontrolled political spending; increased racial division; a once-independent Supreme Court and federal judiciary left increasingly in the hands of one party; a federal deficit problem that Republicans are no longer even willing to discuss; the infrastructure in tatters; environmental safeguards sacrificed to gain crude political advantages; the scapegoating of desperate migrant families; the joining of forces with dictators throughout the world --
these are just a few of the things that Trump and his supporters are knowingly inflicting on the country.
G-d speed to Mrs. Pelosi in redressing a few of these outrages against common sense and decency.
G-d knows she will need it.
22
Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” about an old man like Individual 1. The difference is that Scrooge had riches; Individual 1 has mountains of debt and a tarnished brand.
13
I do feel for the so called left. Donald Trump is no ones hero in waiting he is simply a political eruption . The elites as we call them, need look in the mirror and ask themselves," how did this happen, when we had it all going our way". What is it we are supposed to go back to? What and who is the plan?
2
@Dan Green
I feel for the left because they have significant majorities across the country, drive the economy, and are our country's current moral compass (do not support hate crimes, sexual predators, or the rampant spread of deadly weapons with no controls) and had no representation in our government.
Working for/with Trump is dangerous for one's reputation and future. People are finally seeing that Trump in many senses is a walking socially-transmitted disease.
8
Trump’s hardest-core supporters are fully aware of his loathsomeness and are intentionally inflicting it on the country as a means of getting even for slights -- real and imagined -- they believe they have suffered.
Their support for him has nothing to do with improving their personal circumstances or the collective lot of the American people.
Trump for them is all about getting even.
28
@A. Stanton Also, Donald Trump reeks of the victim persona and has projected it onto the United States as well.
His followers, even those who are prospering and have been for years, are attracted to the feeling of victimhood.
10
It becomes more and more obvious that Trump wold have been far better off had he lost the election. Being President might enable him to pile up a bit more cash but the fallout is not looking good.
8
@David
The irony is that he could have continued his criminal money laundering empire and pass it down to his kids if he had not been elected.
1
One quibble -- Trump didn't seek the presidency for validation. He thought he would lose. It was all about burnishing and reinvigorating his brand and improving his business prospects. It's all about him and all about money.
55
What causes humanity so many times to embrace “Evil?” Is it the thrill of excitement and danger in a sometimes very dull world? I’ll leave the answer to that question to the worlds Psychiatrist and Psychologist, although I’m pretty sure, they’ll be guessing too.
Throughout time, civilizations have risen and fallen, but NONE have survived. The U.S. is a very young empire, and it too will one day fall. We already see leaks in the Dike. Is it possible for us NOT TO FALL? Yes. The question is, are we willing to take the steps now for it’s survival?
26
The presidency also gave Trump he did not have. He was a wealthy business person with love for chapter 11 and a reputation of a womanizer. When he became President, the country no only experienced his awfulness and his allergy to facts but the lack of knowledge and ability to perform his job.
His non-qualification is very loud and he is defensive about it. It is hardly surprising that now Trump is harvesting rejection.
38
@Aurace Rengifo Errata
Should read; "The presidency also gave Trump something he did not have."
@Aurace, is there a word missing from your first sentence? Couldn't make heads or tails of it.
@Marsha Pembroke
yes, Marsha. Thank you. Should read; "The presidency also gave Trump something he did not have."
I simply fear the destruction Trump will bring as the entire ship begins to flounder and eventually sink. This whole coming storm could quickly crash into the rocks, which might be a blessing. Or it could flounder in the surf for weeks and muster countless rescue crews to come and save what’s worth saving.
What’s guaranteed is that Trump will not go down with the ship. Like Napoleon, he will seek exile, perhaps in Mar a Lago, and stay entrenched until he is dragged out in chains or obfuscate until global warming raises the seas and forces him to higher ground in NYC.
Then, if he avoids jail, he’ll go back on radio and a new co-show with Howard Stern, and we will pretend all of this never happened.
34
Not a chance.
"And voters?"
Democrats face an uphill battle with a GOP-tilted Supreme Court, voter disenfranchisement, suppression, and outright fraud, gerrymandering, the Electoral College, two senators from every state, and Citizens United.
The best defense is massive voter turnout in every election, at every level. We should be making phone calls and knocking on doors *now* in preparation for 2020. There's no time like the present.
I hope for the best with Mueller and Democratic candidates, but if we can't trust ourselves to hold up our end of it, then what should we reasonably expect?
61
One, the position of White House chief of staff is the equivalent of prime minister in other countries, such as France.
Two, no thirty-six-year-old ought to be considered for such a job.
Three, under Mr. Trump the job is not the equivalent of prime minister. It's the equivalent of the president's pit bull and toady.
Four, that's why no one wants the job, except for born pit bulls and toadies. Mr. Ayers must have one or two merits.
34
@Dixon Pinfold The COS is the same as the PM? I think you might not understand the roles of these positions. The COS is the head of the staff of the POTUS. He schedules meetings, controls access, organizes the staff, deals with requests and such, and in general is the POTUS right hand man. The PM is the head of government. They actually govern. The COS does no such thing.
22
He couldn’t make money running a casino, for heaven’s sake. Hotels, apartments and condos are suing to have his name removed from their buildings. Why would you think he can sell tickets for the next sailing of the Titanic? When the ad reads ‘Wanted: Chief of Staff for unindicted co-conspirator’ and numerous prior jobholders are cutting plea bargains and awaiting sentencing, a great health plan, pension benefits, even the promise of a lucrative book deal up the road aren’t going to attract fruitflies, much less talented and experienced adult human assistance.
57
I believe Ivanka, Donnie Jr. and Eric bear a large part of the blame for this...the ones closest to Donald KNEW he is not qualified by temperament or intellect to be in this office. And yet, they urged him to do it, basely seeing opportunities to reap more money for themselves in the process.
9
@chambolle trump made money on his casino. he stole it to fund other failing ventures and reap the tax advantages of bankruptcy.
The man who claims that loyalty is the most important attribute in a person can't be loyal to the very people who put him where he is, and who most supported him throughout his campaign and ultimate electoral victory.
He's cheated on more than one wife, he's intimated that his children would be pushed under the bus before it hits him, and his great "personal relationships" with the dictators of the world are about as close as he gets to having real friends.
There are so many unflattering adjectives one may apply to him that it boggles the mind to consider all he embodies. He once said that he doesn't respect people because they don't deserve respect. It's a feeling the whole world reciprocates.
76
He is a reject - the lowest of the low!
48
I think we have seen peak Trump. After the results of the elections, and yesterday's debacle in his meeting with Chuck and Nancy, among other recent events like the chief-of-staff fiasco, it seems clear he is headed only one way and that is down. Soon, when all the legal work is done, his main preoccupation will be how to explain why the shade of his hair clashes with his new outfit.
64
@John Binkley I have been exploring the concept of "tipping point" with friends. Some see the "base" as non-moving for Trump. I do not. At some point it just becomes embarrassing to support Trump. At some point you become the moron, not Trump.
1
Did you mention the time he was getting into Air Force One recently, conspicuously dragging behind him a few feet of white toilet tissue stuck to the bottom of his shoe?
Even though I almost despise Trump as a human being, at that very moment I couldn't help feel a tinge of sympathy for him, thinking how little sympathy or regard anyone around him at that moment had for him - no one felt the slightest urge to call out and say, 'sir, some toilet tissue is stuck to your shoes'? Were they afraid that he would turn around and blurt out his favorite words, 'you are fired'?
Since the TV cameraman could see it, and it was in full view, all the people seeing him off to the plane could see it also - it couldn't be that no one else present there saw it. Weren't any of his hard-core supporters nearby?
Wherever in the world that image of Trump dragging a length of toilet tissue was broadcast, people must have concluded that Trump is probably not the most loved/admired person in America.
Sad.
73
@Dreamer: He *so* deserved to have no one tell him about toilet paper on his shoe! It indicates what little regard ALL those around him have for him. The laughter behind his back must have been marvelous!
2
@Dreamer The emperor has no clothes!
1
Link, please?
2
This is a man who has no real friends and seems to have nothing in which he finds joy. He's the "father" to a 10 year old but when's the last time you saw him interacting with that kid in a fatherly way? Has anyone observed a single moment of sincere affection with his (third) wife? Is there ANYTHING he actually enjoys?
Seems he's just a miserable shell of a man that is finally learning that a lifetime of greed, lies and self-promotion does not pay off in the end. I'd almost feel sorry for him if he wasn't dragging the country down with him.
161
@Trent
Trump has the pallor of Scrooge, "a miserable shell of a man", as we enter the Christmas season. For him however it's Robert Mueller and not Marley's ghost and all he portends that is looming in his future.
9
@Trent He doesn't even have a pet. Has any POTUS before him not had a dog or a cat?
6
@Trent
He does enjoy ice cream and cake and mcdonalds stuff: very infantile.
5
Great Title! Trump brings out the hidden talent in our journalist community.
But, psychiatric assessment and help is long overdue. We might want to extend their efforts to those followers of Trump, who hang on to anything he does or says, that might be remotely valid. A broken clock is right twice a day!
He might not be even, that good.
23
@Texan trump is a sociopath, and that condition cannot be treated in any setting but prison. he is profoundly narcissistic, which is also not amenable to any of our standard treatment alternatives. finally, he appears to have a frontal lobe dementia, which is only going to get worse. in sum, he is a menace to society, and should be regarded and treated as such.
Trump's election to the highest office possible says as much or more about the people who voted for him and who continue to support him. The fact that republicans think they can ignore him as he lays waste to government also speaks volumes. In due time the only people willing to stand proudly with him and his sycophants will be Fox news. Perhaps before he is impeached the president can see if he can con the Russians or Saudi Arabia into paying for the wall along with a nice, new Trump Hotel at the border. I doubt there is anyone left in this country willing to loan him the money.
45
Surely this rejection goes back to the days when Trump was a young vulgarian attempting to mix with other rich kids not so vulgar.
Oh, how it must have hurt. To be so low, vain, immature and trashy and be rejected over and over by well-brought-up socially more developed kids of good character must have been so crushing. But he wouldn't let himself be crushed, as he ought to have done. He could have improved, but he dug in, having triumphed over his parents as a teenager, and set out on a life of trying to 'show them all.'
He's still at it. He'll be at it till the end. The country should have a long look at why they let him do it on their time. It is very much to be regretted but, let's face it, it was pretty much a team effort.
42
Dixon, his parents sent him away at the age of 12. That is how much THEY could not stand being around him. There was no "triumph" there---it was all rejection.
And he knows that.
While I agree that Trump is the biggest reject in the world, I just want to point out that he was already rejected by top NYC developers, NYC and other major banks and the the N.J. casino industry long before he ran for President. Trump’s luster had long ago worn dull and he’s trying to reinvent himself as a politician and world leader is just a wrecking ball.
56
Trump’s response to this would be “So? I am still President”. And he would be right.
7
@QED
For the time being.
The real irony of this president is yet to be unfolding. If as many have assumed, that Trump figured, even if he lost the election, which many sources claim Trump assumed he would, he'd increase his brand recognition by running and likewise increase his worth. But, if things keep going poorly for this megalomaniac, and he gets impeached and maybe even convicted. Or lasts his full 4 year term, but faces jail time after his departure from the White House, and is convicted. His theory of greater brand recognition and wealth might have to wait 5 to 10 years.
15
@jwgibbs Irony aside...The astro gliding, Machiavellian Ayers gained entry, parasitically, into Trump world through Pence....and had the full support of princess Ivanka and prince Jared....and also ironically, obliquely the forgotten Americans struggling to make ends meet.
Let’s not give those corporate leaders a pass. They donated hundreds of millions to the GOP campaign and will donate hundreds of millions more to Trump and the GOP re election campaign. They may not care for Trump but they care even less for their country.
117
@Stephanie Wood That well may be.
However, one party, the Democrats, proposed to raise taxes on the rich (and actually did so), and the other party, the Republicans, proposed the reverse (and actually did so).
Similarly, one party proposed to toughen environmental regulations (and actually did so) and the other party promised to reverse all that and let rich corporations rape the land (and actually did so).
One party offered relief for some student loans and the other party is in the process of taking that away.
One party joined the Paris Accords on global warming and created a Clean Power Plan that, while inadequate, was taking significant steps in the right direction. The other party pulled out of that agreement and reversed all those CO2 rules.
So even if the rich are overrepresented in both parties -- as they certainly are -- not all politicians and parties are remotely alike.
I don't know how you voted. But other folks who couldn't tell the difference put us where we are today.
4
All?
Hyperbole doesn't make facts.
Those corporate leaders own us. It is they who give out the passes, not us.
"..Trump sits at the most coveted desk in the world, but almost no one wants to pull up a chair." Speaking as a foreigner I would not be sure that many of us would want to 'covet', as you put it, this particular job.
Why should we?
13
I've written a bunch of times already, since the "campaign years", and have yet to read an article that offers an explanation on how a nation of evidently talented people came up with such poor quality candidates for the presidency.
With this result.
43
Lifetime of protection! Does that mean he will have secret service agents in jail with him?
1
You forgot to include his lawyers, Frank. Most have been lawyers from New York who were not well-versed in federal law and/or solo practitioners as compared to well-seasoned attorneys from top law firms. Many of his lawyers haven’t stayed around long. Can you imagine being trumpf’s lawyer? Ugh. No money in the world would be worth that disastrous responsibility.
42
Thanks , Frank, for not dancing around truth. DJT is indeed a Reject and deservedly so. Your observations validate what is so obvious to the logical mind.... yet so seldom spoken or written in daily conversations or journalistic reports. Michelle Obama is getting kudos these days for her authentic candor and reflection of our collective public rejection of Trump ; you carry that spirit and integrity as well. And yet , unlike #45 , people like you can speak up while not "going low" .
30
During the Republican convention, Donald Trump famously said, "I alone can fix it." With all the White House departures and rejections, he may soon be running the administration by himself. And then we'll be in the biggest fix of all.
66
Clinton had 2.8 million more votes than Trump. Plus, another 8.2 million more people didn't vote for Trump. They voted for third party candidates including write-in candidates. In total, there were 11 million more people who voted against Trump.
141
@Bill Walsh I wish the press would use this number, it indicates far better the number of American voters who didn't want him.
44
@Bill Walsh
And a mere 90 million or so did not vote at all in 2016.
'None Of The Above' won by a landslide.
This did not happen back in the 19th century, before the two party duopoly monster took over the system.
20
@Bill Walsh
I think America can really benefit from a Multi party system. No one party can (over) rule the other and sound compromises have to be made in order to move forward.
In this way more people have their interests and concerns represented and defended so more people may vote.
14
Socrates said something to the effect that true wisdom is knowing that we don't know; by that standard, Mr. Trump never had it, never will.
His next step will be to ask frenemy former governors (Chris Christie, Mark Sandford). Then he'll try to pressure one of the former celebrity-governors (Schwarzenegger, Ventura). After that, on to executive/managers from outside politics but who are well known, such as Martha Stewart. From there, with the PR cover of the corrections reform bill, he'll try any of a bunch of former governor-convicts--Illinois has some.
Well, Rod Blogoivich couldn't make things worse.
29
@Grennan
Martha Stewart, that's very funny. Rod Blogoivich, zing.
Very funny now. Not so funny when one of them's chief of staff. Trump as president was once just a joke on The Simpsons.
7
You can forget about Chris Christie---he isn't "straight from central casting".
@Grennan Why not Kanye?
Mr. Bruni, when you say that Donald Trump "isn't a magnet," you are unhappily wrong in one critical respect: his approval rating among likely Republican voters remains stubbornly high. That's why no GOP Congress members dare cross him, except for one or two who are quitting. I'd like to see a column that explores why so many people who would never work alongside Trump remain dedicated to vote for him.
73
@Scott Barnes This is a bit like over-use of pesticides that concentrates the surviving population into pests that resist all toxins.
While the Republican core remains loyal to him, independents aren’t, nor are Democrat swing voters. This is enough to win in deep red country but not anywhere else. So what you have left in the House is the Republicans who are either welded to Trump in districts where that works, or who are popular enough to overcome the disadvantage he brings to attracting swing voters (e.g. the collapse or Republican support in CA). In the Senate, Arizona is a good example of how this is a fail.
The dilemma the Republicans have is that he is so strongly supported by a significant fraction of their own base that if, e.g., they supported impeachment, they would lose, if only by their base staying home or write-in votes for alternative candidates.
The last time a party was faced with such a deep dilemma was when LBJ went all out to legislate civil rights. There is of course no moral equivalence.
18
That answer is quite simple. They are unwavering Republicans. Many knew he would be terrible but they would never vote outside their party. Now, they cringe but know Mitch will stack the courts and run the agenda. Trump is just a sideshow that distracts from the corrupt party and their shenanigans.
1
You’re absolutely right, Trump is a magnet for crazy.
1
This president doesn't need a chief of staff - he's so good, he can do on it's own. Who cares about organized meetings, daily briefings? A call with Hannity or Murdoch will do. Structure disrupts your stomach in making decisions and if you're only left with the stomach to lead the nation you can save all this unnecessary staff and book three savings to the budget for the great wall.
47
@PeterB I think the decision-making in this case is much lower in the gastro-intestinal tract.
15
Wow! It sounds like this con man lacks real friends to lean on, find solace in sharing his glaring frustration... with himself (although he doesn't know it yet). Given he lacks any feelings towards his fellow men, reciprocity in his alienation and loneliness makes his situation hopeless, a drag for an economy that lost stability, markets too nervous to react to an imbecile trajectory brought about by such a vulgar bully no one wants to come closer than a 10 feet pole...and holding their noses to the stinking circus where the clown in-chief insists in cheating on his credulous base. Trump is a sinking ship of criminal activity, where justice may finally have a say, and send him packing...to stop the mayhem.
63
I think Donald belongs in a comfy padded cell with a nice view of the ocean waves rolling onto the beach at beautiful, beautiful Guantanamo Bay.
He does so love the ocean, doncha know.
2
I'd like to contribute to the discussion. Really. But I remain much too worried about that caravan of young women and children.
When the threat passes or when I am protected by thousands of miles of protective wall paid for by Mexico I will again be able to focus. I will then identify at least one personality trait of "Individual 1" that is honorable. That should be emulated by Americans and serve as a role model for their children. There must be one honorable action to be found among the tweets, illegal votes and orphaned children.
I take comfort knowing that those who work for Individual 1 will gain an honorable and patriotic entry in their resumé. Such faith and foresight to know that no crime or act against the country's interest was ever committed with their help.
I feel very gladly for them. Still, I look forward to the quality of the third, fourth and seventy-ninth picks that will replace them. They will fit nicely with all the judges rated as unqualified being seated by honorable Republican senators.
27
Vanity and ambition are practically requirements for top jobs in DC. Mr Ayers apparently also possesses some common sense. I can’t imagine that anyone hoping for a future career in politics would want anything to do with this disastrous administration.
54
Sure you can---their names are Ivanka, Jared, Donald Jr, Steven Miller, and on and on.
1
Trump will soon be an object of pity betrayed by friends and humiliated for the next two years by the democrats in the House. Trump after losing his re-election bid will cry voter fraud but McConnell will walk him out of the White House consoling him weeping. Jared will take the silverware and Melania will file for divorce taking him for all he has based on infidelity . Don Jr could be in an orange jumpsuit and Don Sr. will not visit him calling him a loser. Lawsuits for hundreds of millions will bankrupt him and NY State will start prosecutions no lawyers would take his case public defender tells him cop a plea. Say hello to new room mate Bubba upstate facility.
79
@REBCO
From your lips to God's ear.
Once a suggestion was made in a comment that Trump should be ignored and let to roam the hallways of White House like the ghost in Hamlet, yelling, twitting, and foul-mouthing all.
Evidently, his underlings have not (yet ?) been up to this.
16
Still better than any Democrat.
5
@JQGALT
In actuality, he's nothing.
Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987 and since that time has changed his party affiliation five times. In 1999, Trump changed his party affiliation to the Independence Party of New York. In August 2001, Trump changed his party affiliation to Democratic. In September 2009, Trump changed his party affiliation back to the Republican Party. In December 2011, Trump changed to "no party affiliation" (independent). In April 2012, Trump again returned to the Republican Party.
- courtesy of WIKIPEDIA
1
@JQGALT
And there you have it, the reason this nightmare goes on. The us and them mentality is destroying the country. Before Gingrich there was a collegial feeling in the legislature. incoming freshmen were greeted at a reception, both parties. The other side of the aisle was not an enemy camp. Bitter after watergate, their motto became, it is not enough that we must win: they must fail.
2
@JQGALT
Come now, an original thinker could do better than that. Ayn would be disappointed.
He did it to himself. Where do we start? Central Park Five? Discriminating against tenants with Dad? 3 marriages? Access Hollywood? Stormy when Melania is postpartum? Hush money? Mocking disabled reporters? Relentless unapologetic misogyny? Babies in cages? Mexicans are rapists? Muslim bans but embracing Crown Prince murderers? Praising tiki torchers?
Deplorable and repulsive is an understatement. Impeachment is not enough.
We are and have been so much better than this show. It must be cancelled just like the Apprentice.
316
@Enough already. How could you forget the birther movement?!
Some of the children he separated from their parents will NEVER be reunited with their families. Children who have been are terribly traumatized – thinking their parents gave them away.
8
Trump picking new Cabinet members or staff is tantamount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: It has no effect on what happens next.
Trump is the alpha and omega of this administration. Even the vice president is a nonentity, a placeholder, a zero.
Trump may as well pick Kellyanne, Stephen Miller, Rick Santorum, or Ivanka as chief of staff. Improvement is not an option here; it's all action without a plan or a goal. It reminds me of the absurdity and tacit despair during the last days in Hitler's underground bunker. Everyone is just going through the motions and hoping for a miracle that you know won't come.
All we outsiders can do now is basically watch as this accident finds a place to happen. And the only real question is, will the inevitable crash come next month or next year?
A new chief of staff will make no difference whatsoever.
129
Someone please just take away the button. Other than that I don’t care what happens.
1
Ayers was B-list. Trump's on the Z-list now. Although, with Trump you always discover new, surprising depths. Maybe we'll discover they aren't Z-listers, but X-listers, with a some opportunity for their replacements to go lower.
13
Trump is a bad tyrant (and yes, there have been good tyrants -- they're like witches in that way). Read book 9 of Plato's Republic to see exactly who Trump is.
18
@America's oligarchy would make a Spartan blush.
Thanks so much for the classical perspective! Welcome fresh air!
@America's oligarchy would make a Spartan blush., thanks for the reference to book 9.
Mr. Bruni should get to the point avoiding a 3 -paragraphs of a dangler. This is pretty much the basics of journalism. Ofr of reading comprehension, at least.
Mr. Trump causes a ruckus only he can manage, that is why he's unwanted by anyone, because he is pretty much untamed by socialité cliques, journos, peers in G-20 meetings, and so on. You probably can get a quicker list by mentioning people who can get along for 15 minutes, ahehm... 16 minute, after today meeting at WH with Dems n.1 and n.2 in Congress..
But, seriously , the point is not getting along with him, as much keeping the way clear of possible disaster. Kelly used that much leeway in allowing Trump's policies to move on. Ayers is clearly not that kind of person.
Really, how much problematic could be a Pence which pared with Egyptian statue for 15 minutes today? Not even a finger of Trump's problems.
That said, people who get along, organize parties with celebrities, go to correspondents meeting to be roasted by some comedian- yes, i'm speaking of ex- pres. Obama- didn't get Congress back. Ever. In any election while he was in the WH.
So facts say there isn't any political gain in getting along.
1
@Alex p
I think you should have avoided writing your first paragraph about reading comprehension, given that your following comments seem to have missed Mr Bruni's point.
Trump is not 'untamed', as his followers like to think and admire. He is simply boorish, with a limited vocabulary, limited social skills and limited ability, all glossed over with loud and raucous babble.
HIs chiefs of staff can't help him be a wiser, kinder, more thoughtful or intelligent, better president, because better is not in him and never has been. The man is deeply, irrevocably flawed and unsuited for any position involving a leadership role, including in his own businesses, which are run like extravagant cons. As far as running the US, he's running it alright, right into ultimate environmental and social ruin, followed by the economy eventually.
And, for heaven's sake, what is this issue conservatives have with Obama? Are they obsessed with him because he is educated and can talk in sentences.......but is also black?
1
Too many words about something so trivially unimportant
@youcanneverdomerely1thing
it seems to me that by defending this editorial piece you ended up by messing your comprehension of what i have writeen, if you ever tried to.
Your comment is based on two principles: 1) Trump is not the president model you have in mind. You should get over it, after 2 years.
And 2) Obama is not only untouchable but even unspeakable. Make him saint and you're satisfied.
I invite you again to really read other's comment, and if you disagree to tackle it without a generic pre-compiled and good-for-all answer
45 is the plague, run! now!
27
Hang with him? I've gotten to the point where I can't even look at pictures of him.
62
I keep hoping the NYT will publish articles about the Presidency WITHOUT a pic of the President. Happens too rarely, though.
Trump is a grifter who used the election as a means of self promo and financial gain. He didn't expect to actually become president. Now he and his family of con men can't skip down. The rubes are still waiting to MAGA
56
Great idea for a reality show- Apprentice for chief of staff for the White House
12
Donald Trump has been relying on Joseph Goebbels play book when he believes that if you tell a lie enough times people will begin to believe it as the truth .
What he doesn’t realize there is that this only works for ignorant , uneducated people , and it only works for a whille , even with them !
Eventually the country will , thanks to Robert Mueller, know the truth . I just hope that the truth will finally set us free from Donald Trump
34
Just maybe Ayers sees Trump for what he is a sinking ship. Staying loyal to Pence might serve his own interest better. He duped Trump, Jared and Ivanka
7
@GUANNA, he's not staying loyal to Pence, either -- he's leaving the gig as Pence's chief of staff at the end of the year.
2
Not sure why Nick Averys would turn down this job.
He already have the stench of the administration all over Him.
29
The Ayers situation is a real eye opener. I'm the last to admit, but Donald Trump must have a special personal charisma that allows him to scam people he meets face-to-face, primarily for the first time. He lies through his teeth and people suck up his lies and admire him.
Unless you've spent 2 years working near the White House. Nick Ayers has spent that time as Mr. Pence's COS. Working for Pence is like working for whipped cream, but allowed a personal observation of chaos in the White House. It might have been possible for Trump to sell his snake oil to Ayers two years ago. But not now. Ayers had a first hand view of the sinking Titanic and all the ugly contention and finger pointing and wants no part of it. For that he has my respect.
Similar charismatic success occurred with Mitt Romney as a candidate for Trump's Sec of State. Trump had Romney licking at his boots in spite of what must have been Trump's intense hatred of the man because of Romney's campaign-time corrosive comments about Trump. Only a strange dishonest charisma could do that. Trump was doing his best to embarrass Romney for his derogatory comments -- it isn't clear who got it.
Similarly, I recall a delusional quote from Chuck Schumer saying, "I think he likes me." That was a quote on a hot mic after a Pelosi/Schumer meeting in Sep 2017 regarding a framework for the DACA bill. Trump pivoted 180o the next day. No more! Schumer was scammed once, but not again.
20
@dpaqcluck
It has been said and written that Ayres will be working on
Ind 1's 2020 campaign.
Vladimir Putin. Viktor Orbán. Rodrigo Duterte. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Jair Bolsonaro. There's a short list of who wants to hang with don-boy, stellar isn't it?
51
Only the best
There are some posts here about applying intelligence tests to voters. While I'm not in favor of this idea, it would at least keep Trump from voting in future elections. If his felony convictions don't keep him out of the poll first.
34
Nothing like one man with naked ambition jilting another with naked ambition... come to think of it, that’s what recently happened with Putin apparently dismissing Trump. Welcome to Reality TV at its most melodramatic
16
No Republican who really matters—those in Congress and the five who comprise the Supreme Court majority—have abandoned Donald Trump. As long as they’re around, he’s safe and he knows it. Guys like Priebus and Kelly were only there to provide a veneer of order and respectability to this freak show. The chaos is not a bug, it’s a feature.
32
Ahhh, I think he’s lost Chief Justice Roberts. Let’s just pray he doesn’t get another appointment.
It's hard to feel sorry for him. He brought it on himself.
19
Why is this a surprise? Donald Trump has always repelled the “best people.” His entire life has been an effort to make “the best people” think he’s smart and likable. And he’s failed every time.
I imagine it takes about 10 nano seconds for any sentient being with an active brain to come to the conclusion that Trump is, A) an egomaniac B) uninterested in anything but his personal glory C) dumb as a rock. Then they say, “umm, no thanks Mr President. I think I’ll pass on that opportunity of a lifetime.”
And now any association with this President will certainly mean huge legal fees.
So Ivanka and Jared as Chiefs of Staff? Because they’re the only ones stupid enough to take the job.
Remember this line from All The President’s Men via Deep Throat as played by Hal Holbrook: “Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”
Amen brother, amen...
78
Going against all instinct, Trump might finally decide to get a dog.
16
@Michael
When Harry Truman said that about getting a friend in Washington, he had not met Mr. Trump, who might not pass dog adoption screening.
5
Nope, not going to happen. Narcissists can’t stand being around pets or small children because they would have to share some of the attention of bystanders.
@Michael
The father of 5 who boasts of never having changed a diaper could buy a dog, but he would expect others to care for it, then wonder why he didn’t have the dog’s love. That’s the great thing about dogs— they have a better sense of whom to trust based on how they are treated, not titles or money, than some humans.
Not much to add here - wow - good writing, with incredible insight.
22
The fact that this absurdity is allowed to continue, for purely political reasons, is a shame on every thinking citizen of this country.
The POTUS is unwell.
Read his tweets.
Listen to his speeches.
Donald Trump’s current mental state is far, far beyond the point which dictates that the 25th Amendment be evoked.
The president is irrational and delusional.
Have we lost our humanity? This political circus must stop, for the safety of the nation and the welfare of the president.
79
@Tom W
I agree, for the welfare of our democracy, trump must go.
I could care less about trump's welfare - He has done too much damage to our democracy, and he has done too much to divide the people within it.
2
@Tom W he may be unwell, but he has no shame, and he will not leave until 2021 unless Mueller's report shames the republican Senate to convict him. He is an object lesson in the failures of our system which has produced and stokes his base. That's you Rupert Murdoch.
/
3
Yes, but someone elected the Republicans who protect him and facilitate him. Who did that?
1
He sure to join the Pantheon of reviled Leaders in the Human History Books.
13
Trump truly was the kid in grade school that got beat up and his milk money stolen or his Hostess Twinkies. So he gets even in adulthood as so many other kids who had their milk money stolen, by being a bigger, dumber adult bully, stealing vastly more than the few cents that were stolen from him as a well, much younger child. Trump is really just a 70 something year old child, that is getting even for all the friends he never had, for all the true but bad things that have been said about him, his lack of business acumen. He gets even with us all by stealing tax payer money, by being in bed with Russia, by lying about everything from traffic, to the weather. He gets even with us all by destroying an economy that was expanding, he gets even by making us pay more in personal taxes, by taking tax deductions from us, by polluting the air, water, land.
Yes sir, Trump, is not a nice guy, is not liked by anyone, probably not even liked by his own kids. He’s unable to empathize with the average working American, he hates people of color, women, he hasn’t the ability to be a human being, it will be nice to see him leave after being soundly voted out in 2020. Good riddance, he will not be missed by me....
51
Except for the fact that as a kid Trump was the bully stealing lunch money and beating up kids and teachers (as he was running for office a previous teacher was interviewed - it wasn’t flattering). A disturbed individual with a disordered personality.
@James, nope -- Trump was the bully stealing the lunch money and beating up the other kids. Of course, it's what he learned from his father, likely as Father Fred was beating his son.
@James His page in history predicted to be: Name, DOB, DOD. Then - "This page left blank intentionally"
1
If he weren't so dangerous and deluded, I would almost feel sorry for him. Anyone else with this serious narcissism and lack of self-awareness would be considered pathetic and in need of empathy. But it is his total lack of empathy for anyone else, including his own family, that makes him entirely loathsome.
43
"His wife takes public shots at him." The article referenced by the hyperlink does not support this statement.
8
@Olaf S. My bet is she takes her shots privately. Pre-nup probably requires absolute discretion. At some point she will write a book.
She refused several times to hold hands with him in public, knowing that action was being filmed...She selected "favorite" on a tweet about hating her husband, et al.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/know-melania-trump-cant-stand-husband.html/
Pity Donald Trump as a deeply flawed and sick human being. But wish for his rapid fall from the presidency as an unfit and morally deformed impostor in a position of leadership and power. Unable to even know what it is to know anything (as George Will put it), Trump has persisted in what he has mastered - lying, abuse, bullying, attacks. A scam artist of this type would never have been allowed near public office in a healthier society. Most of all, the Republican Party had already become the tool of amoral billionaires waging a war on America's poor and middle-class, ready to enable massive corruption and treason.
77
Its just time to end this crazy. He's unfit, we need to get him out of public office asap.
30
the president has been looking for approval ever since he learned as a young man, that Queens and Long Island are not the centers of New York upper crust societies. Never have been and never will. So his life long buddies like Bill orielly and Sean from long island seek that same upper crust prominence.
his aura is brimstone and that smell that accompanies it dos not wash off. look at his French friend. Macron just danced on the outer edge of the brimstone and now finds himself lessened in the eyes of his country men.
a new chief of staff sure he will find someone to fill that job. a special someone that has no desire for another real job down the line. yes the nightmare that is this administration is not over yet but soon......
13
Worth the read for "groan and titter" phrase.
7
What is the point of spilling all this ink, ad nauseum? Why don't you and the other New York Times columnists spend some reflective time, then write columns describing what the world could be like not being just anti-Trump but ...but what, instead? How about addressing policy solutions for such seemingly intractible problems as income inequality, a burning climate, our crumbling infrastructure, an obscenely tilted (towards the rich) tax structure and how to fix it, how to achieve universal healthcare, and the like. Is it that this sort of clickbait of a column sells more newspapers?
9
@Greitje B How about calling for Individual-1 to do all the things you mention? It's *his* to do them, not that of an opinion piece author.
28
Actually, no. In a one-man-one-vote (I know, I know - theoretically at least) democracy policies are the result of public and parliamentary discourse. Ideas need to come from everywhere.
The fix we are in is, that politics has evolved/regressed to a field of purely personal ambition, rather than a service to the people.
11
@Greitje B Voters didn’t vote in the NYT author of this article to address the issues you list. Trump was voted in to Office. Trump is the one who is supposed to be addressing the issues you list. Instead of working, Trump golfs far too much, tweets far too much, goes to rallies far too much, he watches tv far too much. Trump wastes far too much time not working on the duties he was hired to do.
12
I can't understand why he would want Ayers in the first place. If Ayers' work with Pawlenty in the 2016 primaries is any indication of his effectiveness, the current occupant would be even lower in the polls.
7
Why does Mr. Bruni and the NYT and so many other media keep giving Trump air time and word space? PLEASE stop the focus on Trump.
If we could read NOTHING about Trump for one week even, we would all breather easier, the world will continue to revolve just fine without hearing about him, thank you, and, just perhaps, this lack of publicity will cause him to fizzle like the Wicked Witch meeting water.
9
@fearing for
As much as I can’t stand to hear about Trump I feel we must so that we know what he is up to. If we don’t know about the matches he has lit then we won’t be aware of fires we need to extinguish.
10
@fearing for Good point. But, critical to keep the heat on our Chief World Champion Narcissist. He is teaching our younger generations about how not to conduct yourself in life. A valuable lesson. But, yes, it is getting tiresome. Sit back, enjoy the circus, buy more popcorn. Vote. Dump Trump.
But the republicans shut up as long as his administration puts right wing hacks on the courts, eviscerates environmental laws, removes anything that helps the poor and on and on. Shameless.
37
@pbilsky Republican true colors on widespread display. They have fallen a long way. This is what Mitch Machiavelli McConnell has wrought. He is the genesis of their problems and our countries problems. He has directed a cynical game and has had plenty of help. Trump now more out of control - the puppetmaster Mitch needs to re-tie the literal Pinnochio. Whoops - too late Mitch!
5
Yes, he’s a bully. He also has a severe personality disorder. It’s that combination that makes him both repulsive and dangerous. There are others like him, but they’re largely incarcerated. Had he been born poor and without opportunities that gave him power, he’d probably be in prison.
41
@Lesa Dixon-Gray, that would be a huge improvement on the status quo. Maybe he'll get there, it's not too much to hope for.
13
@Lesa Dixon-Gray
That, yes, or a closer at a Lexus dealership. ("Look at that leather. Feel the tremendous quality.")
@Lesa Dixon-Gray For his own protection and safety, when he is in prison he will not be placed in the general population.
No matter what happens in the next few years Trump has his "trumpsters" in the "red " States with their electoral votes in his vest pocket.
Vote 2020
19
@lftash Those red states now moving from Bright Red to a Pale Red - and even to light blue. Time heals all wounds.
Nearly unrivaled access to his thoughts? It seems like we all have that whenever he logs in to his Twitter account or walks out to his helicopter or meets with Chuck and Nancy. That’s the only thing I like about him.
4
Mark our words: eventually this caricature of a "leader" shall become so ensnared by his own conniving malfeasance that he'll fall to pieces before our very eyes. And it couldn't happen any sooner!
27
@Rafael Gonzalez
Oh, I don't know. Why shouldn't he become ensnared by the health effects of his piggish eating habits and poison personality any day now, without much notice? He's in his 70s.
He’s not only brought rejection on himself but to his supporters as well. Gone are the days when decent people could disagree about politics. Now all that remains are decent people and the GOP, the party willing to lie, cheat, steal, and risk democracy for their own power.
Clinton was right: they’re deplorable.
51
I would recommend to the Fake President that, given his serious state of deepening personal rejection, he ask his Secret Service detail to deliver him, pronto, to the nearest kennel for the acquisition of some sure-fire, adorable puppy love. But, since this is Trump we’re dealing with, that would be an act of incalculable cruelty for him to be allowed to own and raise any dog. Perhaps some goldfish though, to fit in with his favorite decor choices, would be an acceptable choice.
10
@John Grillo, he doesn't like animals. He's evidently never had a pet.
And exactly what animal would you wish him on? A hyena? A shark?
17
@John Grillo Would recommend that his "staff" put snapping turtles in the fish tank.
@Jim Rosenthal
Couple of fleas mayby? or a parrot which he can name Sarah Sanders
There is even greater rejection on the horizon for Donald J. Trump: impeachment, conviction and removal from office.
But he'll probably quit first.
22
It's apparent that Trump has relished the plus side to the revulsion normal people feel towards spending time in his company.
He gets to eat all the extra desserts.
8
Trump sought the presidency to make money and to meet his need for lots of attention.
30
I go further. There is enough evidence to believe it was a Hail Mary Pass to see if he could get him and his clan out of a ruinous fix and keep his Ponzi scheme going.
What goes around, comes around.
It's as true, as applicable, in the foam as it is in the dregs.
10
Perhaps it has never been so clear to Trump that he would be out of his depth in a tea cup--and the White House is considerably deeper than that. He doesn't read. He doesn't listen to those who know more than he does about anything--including nuclear war and our country's safety.
He's got to be realizing that first, no one respectable likes him. And second, that most people who know up from down don't respect him. Indeed, most people who know up from down think he's dumber than a bag of rocks. My son tried to tell me that others are typing his texts with typos on purpose to make him seem like an ordinary guy so his fans, who presumably don't tweet but do make typos regularly, will feel comfortable with him. What a sad bunch American voters have become. If the South hadn't poisoned the concept with its racism, it would be nice to suggest an intelligence test for voters. Should a president seek favors from and try to bribe the president of a rival/enemy government? Should a president lie daily to the press and the public? Is it a problem that the president violated election law to hide (at least) two affairs he had shortly after his wife had delivered a baby? If all of those are okay with you, then you must be a Christian conservative. Merry Christmas.
34
@Paula we know he’s dumber than a BOX of rocks. Everything else you wrote is right on.
11
How about an intelligence test for Republican voters specifically? Not racist, and targets the ones who proved they really need it.
Maybe he figures sticking with Pence he’ll have a better chance at a tenured COS position than with Trump, at this stage of the game.
3
Trump's latest communique from his festering id is that he is "in no hurry" to replace Kelly. In case you wonder what this might mean, remember these headlines?
Trump: No Hurry to Settle NAFTA July 8
Trump says there is no hurry to denuclearize North Korea July 18
Trump in No Hurry to Resume Tariff Talks With China Aug 28
Trump Administration Is In No Hurry To Leave Syria Sept 7
Trump In No Hurry to Name Attorney General Nov 28
From this sampling one can conclude that Mr. Trump's "no hurry" means anywhere from 6 months to never.
Has anyone considered the idea that Kelly may actually be Trump's last Chief of Staff?
19
@Lee Harrison Sure have. But then I get this vision of Ted Nugent stepping out from behind the Oval Office curtain.
1
While Jared physically resembles Hurd Hatfield from "A Picture of Dorian Gray," it is Trump who is the true heir to that sad throne; embittered, evil and alone...
14
He’s the symptom. His voters and enabling minions are the real problem. He’s not the only crazy to get elected in last 2 years.
22
It is unfortunate when no one of quality wants to be chief of staff to Mr Trump. He is an angry, bombastic, and completely self-absorbed man. I wish this weren't so but his lying and racism were apparent since 2015. I often wonder why the press didn't make more of an issue of these things then but instead paid so much attention to Hillary Clinton's email servers.
30
@MKathryn Have asked myself the same question. Much of what we are seeing and hearing now about Cadet Bone Spurs has been known for years. If brought to the fore back in 2015 he would never have been the Republican nominee and even if he was, he would not have been elected.
9
Why has he not been arrested and charged with treason yet?
And crimes against the environment and humanity?
Why do we have to sit here, pay taxes and let trump sell off public lands to oil drillers
and destroy wetlands?
I just don't get it.
35
@Carla
The rule of law, that’s why. And no one will be happier than I to see him out of office and charged, if appropriate. But comments like yours smack of a witch hunt. Please don’t give him that gift.
Maybe Crown Prince Jared will step up.
14
"He has no Plan B, just B-list options like Matt Whitaker, the acting attorney general."
Whitaker on the B-list? Try the D-list. From his ridiculous crackpot assertion that Madison v. Marbury was one of the worst Supreme Court decisions to his role in a huckster business promoting time travel and Bigfoot, Whitaker has demonstrated he has no place in government service whatsoever, much less as Acting Attorney General or White House Chief of Staff.
25
To be the man people love to hate on a weekly reality show is one thing. To play that role all day every day before a world-wide audience wears on the viewers.
16
It's all in the eye of the beholder.
As Mr. Bruni writes, what most people perceive as negative characteristics, for anybody, including a president, Mr. Trump sees as positive ones, obviously re-defined.
As long as Mr. Trump offers the best show in town (see "The Chuck and Nancy and Donald Show", by Michelle Cottle) when push comes to shove, he has a good chance at high ratings.
People don't always vote, or pick their favorite show, based on logic, or at least that of Mr. Bruni.
4
YES , some Do like the Donald. Chinese Liberal
From The Economist, this weeks edition
"In this moment of doubt and dissent, many Chinese liberals put their faith in a surprising champion: President Donald Trump. They hope that pressure from Mr Trump will force Mr Xi to keep promises made in recent speeches—to open markets further to foreign investors, better protect intellectual property and encourage fair competition. By way of precedent, such optimists cite beneficial foreign pressure on China when it entered the WTO."
"China’s liberals do not exactly admire Mr Trump. It is more that they hope he will prove a bigger bully than Mr Xi."
Bullies do have their use
8
Be careful Mr. Bruni... If America starts to feel sorry for our President, especially if he/we are attacked in some way from outside the country, everything you are hoping for may not come to pass. And in my travels, while people may not approve of him in a way that gets into a poll, many are starting to feel sorry for him. Outside the beltway, we remain a compassionate people. He's smart enough to play this narrative if it can move him forward. If the Democrats run a poor candidate...
5
@Chrisveit
Trump didn't feel sorry for any of his three wives he cheated on. Trump didn't feel sorry for the businesses he bankrupted by not paying his venders and consultants. Trump doesn't feel sorry for any of the many people he calls stupid, lazy and other childish names.
Trump never felt sorry for anybody in his life. Why should anybody feel sorry for the things he brought on himself?
112
It won’t happen! The Democrats have a deep bench. Has Trump ever polled at 50%?
5
While your point that Trump should not be underestimated is very well taken, he’s the very last person on earth anyone should feel sorry.
We coastal liberals have plenty of compassion (something conservatives are always mocking us for) but we tend to reserve it for those who deserve it, like, say all of the children torn from their families at the border thanks to Trump’s monstrous, white supremacist immigration policy.
0 tears shed for Donnie Moscow here.
26
It will probably come down to Ivanka or Jared being chief of staff. They have no worries about their future reputations like non-family people. Who is their right mind would want this job? They would become a twitter joke within a month or so and then the insults will come full force.
25
Regis Philbin is available, Mary.
13
@Mary Dalrymple
I vote Ivanka. That frosty tight smile and those endless $5,000 dresses just screams Republican.
15
I still say he's the dog who caught the car.
I don't think he expected to be elected, being content merely to stir things up and promote his brand. But, tragically, he got the job, and he has no idea what to do.
111
@akp3
"But, tragically, he got the job, and he has no idea what to do." Most people in that position would make sure that they had competent advisors who would assist him in making good, viable decisions. Unfortunately, Trump cared only about making "deals" for himself.
5
People are saying that he's terribly sad because his best friend Vladimir only pretends to like him. I'm not saying it but many smart important huge people are saying it, believe me.
People are also saying that his energy is weakening and that he even neglects his familial duty.
16
This article doesn't understand the Trump phenomenon. Those who voted for Trump, and will again, believe that rejection in Washington is a badge of honor.
24
@William Taylor
Trouble is, the rejection is not just coming from Washington, D.C. Most people in the country and around the world understand quite clearly by now the "Trump phenomenon." The kool-aid drinking, Fox-news watching folks I'm sure will vote for him again. Sad!
11
@William Taylor
I'm from NJ and have watched his buffoonery, lies, affairs, and failed deals for decades: he's a dismal human. But so many Americans are fed up with the D and R elite taking with both hands while they cannot get ahead that they're fine with Trump dumping all over protocol. I am a college professor and lawyer, voted for HRC, and rather like his kicking over the pillars. America is in real need of a housecleaning and while Trump is the wrong messenger, it's time to listen.
3
@AG Global warming continues unchecked, our waterways are threatened, the unspoiled Alaskan Range is in grave danger, public lands are being sold out from under us, women’s access to reproductive care is diminished, our judiciary is imperiled, migrant children are forever separated from their parents, dictators are empowered, voting rights are violated, our deficit is ballooning by the minute, the middle class grows poorer, the LGBTQ community is in danger, a free press is threatened, and religious liberty for ALL is undermined. The cost of this housekeeping, this kicking over of the pillars that you admire is terrifying and will be felt for many years to come, perhaps for a generation, or, in the case of global warming, until an early end to the world as we know it.
8
'a job that welds you to the president’s side and gives you nearly unrivaled access to his thoughts', does anyone need more of a reason to turn the job down, i didn't get offered the job but the mere thought makes me a little queasy.
42
I hope he knows how right you are. Unlikely though. His insane distortions of any truth about how people feel about him are created in his psyche to comfort his ever lagging infantile ego.
35
Come on, this is obvious. He runs all those golf clubs because he can't get into a decent one.
195
@Jamie
JP Morgan had the same problem.
1
The most fascinating possibility -- in a moth-and-flame sort of way -- is that Trump will ultimately handle this vacancy the way he has handled many in the government: by shrugging it off.
After all, he doesn't like to be managed. He has been stung by the way his chiefs of staff to date have tried to manage him, which has made him feel his need to be taken in hand by competent adults. He resisted the idea of having a gatekeeper on the door of the Oval Office.
What are the odds, I wonder, against Trump's taking this opportunity to free himself from gatekeeping and from letting anyone have "access to his thoughts"? Why risk that with thoughts that are embarrassingly uninformed, unstable, and even criminal? If no one shares his thoughts, there's no need for two people to keep their stories straight.
A Donald Trump under siege may take refuge in accustomed ways and try to run his administration, as he has always wished, the way he ran his family business: out of his head.
24
@Longestaffe He would have to be out of his mind.
1
Nice voting Republicans. Its been 2 great years. Trump has a 39% approval rating, there must be someone unqualified enough to be Chief of Staff.
43
Who really wants to work for a man whose famous catch-phrase is “you’re fired”?
28
We will have to suffer on. But Pelosi and Schumer went into the lion's den and came out un-bloodied and unbowed. There is hope. The same questions have been asked for generations. Why do people vote against their interests? Why are there working class Tories? Clearly, it's not all about facts and logic. It’s about perceptions and feelings. Goethe said: Feeling is everything. In advancing Democratic policies, we must overcome powerful and pervasive lying propaganda. We cannot do it all simply with facts and logic. I recall the phrase: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And now I add: no one has more than a little knowledge in the matters that divide us. We must learn to speak to the feelings of those who disagree with us.
29
@Des Johnson When it comes to Trump, "Speak[ing] to the feelings of those who disagree with us" is dumbing-down ~ not only of-and-to ourselves, but the world at-large.
Mankind is light-years away ~ if ever ~ from not being in disagreement where, at heart, value judgments are not reason.
1
@Edgar Numrich: Do you suppose that Creationists are guided by facts and logic? Climate deniers? E.O. Wilson said it better that I: mankind has godlike technology, medieval institutions, and paleolithic emotions. I come to my conclusions on this after half a century of trying to reason with people who won't even agree on the facts. But here they are, voting, or in many cases never voting, We should ignore them?
2
Its mind boggling how much we can truly assume the opposite of so much of what Donald Trump says (or tweets):
"Believe me."
"I'm a very stable genius."
and back in March of this year,
“They all want a piece of that Oval Office; they want a piece of the West Wing,” the President said during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. “So many people want to come in [to the White House]. I have a choice of anybody. I can take any position in the White House and I’ll have a choice of the 10 top people”.
There is something seriously wrong with this man, and it should be seriously concerning to all US citizens.
261
When a president can't fill his Chief of Staff position, he is in deep trouble. Yet taking this normally plum position puts one at risk for being tweet-shamed, pressured into doing illegal activity on behalf of the president, investigated by Mueller, sued, and ultimately fired. Nope. There's no glory in going down in a ball of flames.
49
Is it possible to humiliate Donald Trump?
Therein lies the problem.
101
Now we know why DJT picked that very public fight with Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Schumer. Whenever DJT feels angry and humiliated, he has to lash out at someone. Does it make him feel “tough” and “powerful” to do this? Probably did nothing to entice candidates to sign up for the Chief of Staff position.
40
I cannot help but think about C lists and D lists.
It used to be said that, in Washington, if you want a friend, get a Dog. Is there anybody out there who thinks that would work for this guy?
And every Cat that I personally know would turn his/her back on him.
31
Howard trump has never had a dog because dogs, being excellent judges of human character do not like Donnie. I've met dogs that were strangers to me and greeted me and was surprised that people I know to be jerks when approaching the same dog would get either ignored or straight up hostility from that same dog. They know.
33
It is ironic and somewhat interesting that Mr. Bruni has deigned to engage with the Trumpster at the very lowest levels of Dante's nine circles.
I am no renaissance scholar but I can posit that the company you engage with is very like the company you keep and neither the Trunpster nor Monsieur Bruni emerges from this editorial the better for the journey.
"Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,
And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf;
Consume within thyself with thine own rage.
Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;
Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought
Vengeance upon the proud adultery."
~ The Divine Comedy: Canto VII
2
@SteveRR I didn't sense that Mr. Bruni raged against trump so much as made fun of him. A man who sought and attained a very powerful position without a sincere word spoken and very few true ones is now a victim of his own behavior. We all can see it.
14
@SteveRR Funny, when I think about Trump and others like him, I always think of the poem that begins, "Breathes there the man with soul so dead..." from the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" by Sir Walter Scott. If you don't know it, it is well worth checking out.
4
I’m from New York. Nothing new to learn in this analysis.
30
By definition this is what narcissistic personalities manage to do...again and again. How is it possible to live on this tiny blue dot all these years and not one person cares if you are alive or dead?!! Fundamentally really no one loves you.....period. One could say look into a mirror and face your demons and fix them. Sadly narcissticpersonalities will always find a reason to blame someone else....always!! The loneliest man alive...exact definition of what you never want your children to ever become. So the rot begins at the top.
30
I suggest that everyone get away from Mr. Trump, the person that is falling. Let him thud to the ground, buttressed only by those at Fox that still believe in him and, of course, Steve Bannon.
It makes no difference: he will land, dust himself off, and go back to NY where he will have the New Michael Cohen waiting to work for him and the family.
But what will become of the mess that he leaves? That's the only important question.
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Trump thinks he's a winner because he inflicts more pain on others than others inflict on him.
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He has pitied none of his victims, still . . . I have to feel a smidgen of pity. Such a shabby, tiny little man. I can't imagine what was done to him as a child. And I keep thinking of Edwin A Robinson's Richard Cory:
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
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I think he was, as Lady Gaga said, born this way. His parents did what they could at the time, but even now, what do you do when your child's a narcissist?
Not to excuse him in any way, but he's like a force of nature. And many voters picked the exciting, unpredictable force of nature over the known quantity.
I expected Trump to pull a Palin long before now and quit. Maybe he keeps asking Putin’s permission to resign, and Trumps handler says no.
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I do. And plenty of Trump voters like me.
2
Give him a call.
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It’s clear that Ayers might just be the crack that will break apart the foundation of Trump’s support. McConnell et. al. are cowards, and cowards tend to travel, and think, in packs. The sandbox scuffle in the Oval office this morning showed us that he feels the heat. When an ambitious young Republican turns on him, this sand castle could crumble very quickly.
Seat belt: fastened.
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Mitch McTurtle exceeds Trump by far in evil intent.
The better question now is who can afford to be around Donald Trump? There aren't many of us who can afford attorneys to shepherd us through congressional hearings and Mueller sessions at $1,000 an hour. That may sound paltry to Trump but then again perhaps if he had invested in someone with better credentials than Michael Cohen, then neither we nor he would be in this inexcusable debacle today.
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Mr. Bruni,
With full respect, I am surprised you do not understand how true narcissists operate. Attention, good or bad, is their air. That's it. Their emotions, which fully control them, are open books with no secrets. So easy for the Russians and who knows who else to take advantage. Kellyanne Conway knows this, as does Sarah H. Sanders to name two ( I'm going to guess they have experience with narcissists in their fathers or husbands). I've been advocating for the press, notably your paper, to start using this knowledge to manipulate trump for the greater good of the population and the planet. It would be "playing" of course and the NY Times probably doesn't like to reduce itself to baby games. But sometimes, when a baby or toddler is accidentally put in charge, its best for the caretaker to talk that toddler into handing over the knife before someone gets hurt. Get it?
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"In his search for takers, maybe it’s time for Tinder."
Don't give Trump any ideas, Mr. Bruni. Cohen is in trouble--and Trump may soon be--for that sort of thing.
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Ayers probably figures that within six months his deaf/mute boss will be in the Oval Office and it is better to just bide his time.
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"Bear in mind who Ayers is: not just any political climber but someone whose every breath is focused on his enhanced glory, a trait frequently mentioned by Republicans who have watched his rise (and who sense in him more than a bit of Trump)."
It takes one to know one. So this is what we can look forward to in some future presidential contest--another Donald Trump?
Spare me. Spare the country. While most leaders need healthy ego to survive the brutality of campaigning, a little goes a long way.
Notice, I said "healthy" ego. Trump's is not. It's as if he has leptin--a stomach enzyme that massively increases appetite causing the suffer to eat uncontrollably--dominating a needy psyche that can't be sated.
I think we're all sick of Trump, not just us who have loathed him forever in living in the NY metro area.
And if the man is now alone, well, that's the rub, right? He alone could have fixed it, but he didn't, and he doesn't. Just look at today's White House reality charade where he was so easily outclassed by two political pros who played him like a fiddle.
Is this the first time in his life he's been rejected? Maybe not the first, but the first on such a grand scale.
Which seems so fitting given what he's put this country through for what seems like forever.
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It seems as if the gods have seen fit to place a banana peel under each of Trump's steps, yet he still lacks the humility to look down.
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I am one of those Republicans who detests Trump, so don't get me wrong, this post is in no ways a veiled defense of him.
Having said that, if you are reading this post Mr. Bruni, the sad thing is that you gave Donald Trump exactly what he wants: You wrote an entire column about him.
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The saddest part of reading this editorial is the fact that dozens of people in positions of power get up every morning and are able to live with themselves knowing they enable this man to continue as president ... by not invoking the 25th Amendment. That Republican majorities in House and Senate allow him to be President... to debase our country’s values and principles every day.
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@Valerie Thaler
don't you think it's because he created a cabinet that is even LESS qualified than he is (DeVos, Carson, etc) and THEY wouldn't know from incompetent (or insane) president if he sat across the cabinet table from them.
and McCONnell won't use the check/balance power of the Senate because the GOP cannot keep power without cheap tricks, voter suppression, and a raft of lies
Trump is the cancerous tumour afflicting American politics and eating away at democray. American democracy is in serious danger, and might need numerous doses of chemotherapy to cure it.
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