Keep reality at a distance through hyperactive fakery.
Trump is a fake and that’s obvious to anyone the minute they see and hear him. Thank MSM for injecting the hyperactivity. This whole mess is thanks to a mutual symbiotic relationship that each has to take individual responsibility for. So please, spare us the pretense of adult perspective.
35
"the readiness of Americans....for post-truth."
And not only Americans. The disease is epidemic: we are now plagued with post-truth Brazilians, post-truth yellow-vests, Italians, Germans, Poles, etc. etc. etc. All they can thinks of are their own petty burdens--how to schlep through the week, bread, rent, tax money--while Prague coffee-house Leftists spent their days mining new "truths" to solve bogus global crises like the 100 year plan of mass taxation to yield 1.5 degrees. You lost the peasants, Roger, because of (as Bolsonaro so charmingly put it) "socialism, the inversion of values, statism, and political correctness." He kindly omitted the worst: the corruption of leftist statism. Did you catch de Blasio's rant on "socialism, the inversion of values, statism, and political correctness"--he wants to make paid "leave of absence" mandatory. We've come far from the bread protests of our fathers, haven't we. Now he wants to start vacation riots. Peasants (or post-truthers as you call them) are content with bread, Roger, they don't know what vacations are. When the Left lost the peasants, it lost its soul.
19
It's absolutely true that, more than a liar, the charlatan-in-chief is a bullshit artist. It's also true that detecting a bullshit artist over a liar is easier, making the mindless minions who voted for Trump that much more contemptible. There was never any doubt to any thinking person that the man peddled in bloated self-aggrandizing bullshit, making his election that much more of a defining moment in American history. He didn't lie is way into office - his lies were so blatantly devoid of fact as to be bullshit, as the author of this column states. Therein lies the horror. If so many millions of Americans can be taken in by all this bullshit, what hope is there for them or this country? Do YOU really want to live in a country where over 30% of the public STILL support this man in spite of - no, BECAUSE OF - the bullshit he peddles?
197
In the court filings by the Mueller team the BS artist you describe is designated as “ individual 1 “. Let us hope that Mueller has extensive and convincing evidence that “individual 1” is a fraud and has indeed obstructed justice and colluded.He has denigrated every officer of the government and everyndepartment and has now decided to punish federal employees.The time is long past when we should have to tolerate his illegal behavior!
77
We're screwed.
83
Fascinating column that provides the realization that Trump even bullshits himself. Failed casinos, failed airlines, failed football league, failed University, failed steaks, failed ties ... All businesses created, not by market analysis or facts but from Trump's gut.
The Apprentice was a show that thrived because Americans loved the image of a powerful leader saying "you're fired". They loved the clown show. The cheering crowd told Trump he was successful, not facts or planning.
Contributing to all this is a set of learning disorders that keep him from being able to read or absorb briefing papers plus narcissism that makes him search out an audience that will cheer.
But lacking a storehouse of facts in his brain, he is a failed negotiator too. Negotiation requires compromise and sitting real time with opponents and doing a trades analysis of what you will give, its advantages and weaknesses, and what you can extract. Instead Trump picks his "gut" position and threatens, belittles, and throws tantrums -- like a 2-yr old -- to get his way. There is no compromise because Trump can't retain enough facts and their related trade offs in order to carry on such a conversation.
So Trump placed his demands in the recent meeting with Nancy and Chuck and when he didn't get them he stomped out of the room. No negotiation at all. His way or the highway.
Thank you Mr. Cohen, for a marvelous, insightful column.
161
After years of nonstop analysis of this man on the pages of the Failing NY Times, this very scary editorial really hits the mark.
Given the mountains of manure thrown out by this one man, it is amazing that the laws of the land have held up against the avalanche so far. He has a lot of help flinging his meaningless bull shit around. His administration, skimpy as it is, and the GOP have enabled him every single step of the way.
"Uncharted territory" is the phrase of the moment. We are flying blind. One wonders if and when the wall will buckle and if it does, what next?
76
You are underplaying Trump's malign character. He is a racist, authoritarian, lazy, superficial, untrustworthy and morally bankrupt man. Maybe an actual agent of Russia. A fan of dictators. The ultimate narcissist. A spoiled brat. A danger to our democracy. A danger to the common man. A danger to everybody.
186
Very interesting. Trump's bullshit may be a greater enemy of the Truth than, say, Hillary (or Bill) Clinton's lying. But lying, mindfully, is a greater enemy of the People. Your capacity to manipulate reality is limited if you don't pay attention to it. Hitler was not a bullshitter. He spelled it all out in "Mein Kamp" - and then did it.
I don't think Cohen, who seems to understand that American consumers are "suspended between the real and the virtual", appreciates what fraction of America actively bullshits over the course of a day. (And since we have a democracy, the people can't really be the enemy of themselves.) Bullshitters know they do it, to a degree, and assume all others do it. The underprivileged in America are far more cynical than the average NYT reader. They believe success in America comes to those who spin bullshit the best, who know how to work it at deep, unseen levels. (They're less starry-eyed about capitalism than most commenters here.) To them, more important is for what PURPOSE one does this. A Good person does this for a Good purpose, which would be, for example, for others rather than for oneself. This is why many in the Heartland voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton. Believe it or not, they feel that Trump is taking on 'the powers that be' on their behalf... certainly more than Hillary would have. There's more depth to Nashville or Branson burlesque than meets they eye. The "rhinestone cowboy" was actually a cowboy.
11
Right now,there are rooms FULL of Russians slapping their knees
and complaining their "sides" hurt too much from all the laughter.
Moe and Curly with extra surly. What a gift!
43
Thank you for the article, for the references for sharpening my focus. Your piece, along with the two essays cited, will appear in the inbox of multiple friends and acquaintances.
There is another essential human characteristic the “bullshitter and chief” benefits from; our tendency to ignore repetition and sameness. Trump lies and repeats, lie and repeats... Blah, blah, blah. Along with all his sins he is also a bore. Our human intelligence shuts him out. “Nothing to see here.” “Same ol’, same ol’.” “Move along.”
Good reporting, good writing, calls our attention back to the risk. Thank you.
39
This is magnificent: it is THE core insight, that identifies the source of all the behaviors that emanate from Mr. Trump. It even accounts for his complete lack of empathy, as cited many times by Tony Schwartz, the real author of ‘The Art of the Deal’. But how does one convince Trump’s supporters that they’ve been duped? (“‘Come into my parlor,’ said the spider to the fly.”) I don’t think that’s possible. When has Mr. Trump ever admitted he was wrong? Neither he nor his followers will ever let go of the myths Trump has invented, even as the walls come tumbling down. In years to come, Trump and those followers will look back at 2018-2019 as having produced the martyrdom of Donald Trump. They may even found a religion in his name, with DJP as its latter-day Jimmy Swaggart, or Jim Bakker. Trump and his family would love that, since churches, of course are tax-exempt ....
45
Cohen makes one very salient point: Trump’s b/s is delivered with a dose of cruelty. Just as he disregards facts which establish the truth, and even contradict his fabrication, he disregards the consequences to those affected by adherence to his assertions. His b/s is intended to create a world view that satisfies his needs at a moment in time. The government shutdown is a perfect example of the cruel affect of Trump’s temporal b/s. He needs to retain the undying loyalty of his media cheerleaders and his “base”, so in the moment his demand for a wasteful wall achieves that need—- government employees, contractors and recipients of government services be damned. He is incapable of empathizing with their real loss, suffering and needs. His b/s is paithological: he must satiate his needs at any cost, disregarding collateral damage.
41
Frankfurter acknowledges most people can identify bull when they hear it. People know Trump's statements are detached from objective reality. His base cheers him anyway. A sizable portion more view the bull as innocuous at the worst. Their acceptance is extremely puzzling.
To quote Quinta Jurecic:
"The irony of all this, of course, is that the American right has spent thirty years objecting to the supposed war on the concepts of truth and meaning by the poststructuralist left, only to see key elements of its coalition embrace exactly that poststructuralist rejection in the form of Donald Trump."
The question of course is why do millions American casually embrace a post-truth society. Most bull is innocuous and harmless but objective truth can and will kill you if you ignore the basic order of the natural world. As Frankfurter says, "...it is preposterous to imagine that we ourselves are determinate..." Truth doesn't care whether or not you care about truth. If you get bit by a rattlesnake, you're going to regret getting bit by a rattlesnake. Ignorance is not a free pass on survival.
So too with government policy. Now two years into Trump's presidency, our institutions have mostly prevented Trump's bull from doing real world harm. However, the situation cannot last. Ask federal employees. Wafting along in a ponderously post-truth world has consequences. That's the truth of the matter. To borrow from Frankfurter again, a post-truth world is "bullshit."
25
You cannot let the Republican Party off the hook. The damage done by Trump could have been mitigated had Party officials not joined him in his pile of bullshit.
99
The distinction between lying and BS’ing is great. Never thought of it that way. I do, however, keep wondering if the term ‘sociopath’ might also correctly be used in reference to Trump?
34
Painful as it was to watch the master of BS performing throughout the campaign, then as Chief of Bullshit sitting in the Oval office, nothing surpasses the obsessive, cheering, bullshit loving hoard that pictured him a messiah brought forth to lead them, beating back the unclean forces of racial diversity.
With the help of a timid congress, actually a cowardice congress, the master Bullshiter continues to enthrall the base. Looming investigations will end this period of insane narcissism and return the dotard to his proper place in histories dustbin.
25
The truth for Donald is whatever he wants it to be at any given time.
12
A masterful piece, but I have some reservations. You seem to imply that he cannot help it and therefore bears no moral responsibility. I do not accept this. Whatever his mental defect, he is basically a LIAR and is morally culpable. His continuous perjury merits impeachment and his complicit Republican counterparts bear moral responsibility for not seeing to this. I am an ex-Republican.
966
On the one hand, nailed it. On the other, no: he's a liar: said one thing one minute and the opposite the next. He DOES know--unless he's a complete moron, which I grant is a distinct possibility.
43
The emergency is at the White House. It needs to be stopped. Now
47
The 1,945th article explaining Trump's pathology, now well-established and thoroughly-documented. He is an evil, cruel man, a conscienceless psychopath. An antichrist, if you will. There is no doubt about the extreme damage he has done, is doing and certainly will do.
Is it not time to do something about it? Will no one rid us of this plague of a creature?
72
I can't dispute anything that Mr Cohen says in this piece; would only add that this guy is a certifiable psychopath. You can look up the description in Wikipedia, and it's obvious. Heck, a blind man can see it. I'm sure Mitch McConnell can see it, and in my opinion he is the worst criminal in this whole thing. Trump probably can't help himself, but Mitch can. He's in a position to stop this insanity but instead he stands there and watches the republic crumble, apparently enjoying it immensely. He's even more amoral than Trump.
92
Excellent analysis. I add the source of Trump's defensive behavior which operates as offensive: he is dyslexic, learning disabled. Which is why he does not read, cannot spell, uses limited vocabulary, is pathologically afraid of being a "loser." Dyslexic students of his era were considered stupid, lazy, i.e. losers. DT body language, arms protectively crossed over his chest, is in a sense a "wall" warding off those whom he views as enemies. Add to dyslexia an upbringing by a father who had no moral values and measured success in dollars. Thus we have the dyslexic sociopathic malignant narcissistic child-man in the White House today.
56
Is it not true that the democrats, in the past, before Trump, voted for funds for the wall. Is it not true that the $5 Billion for the wall represents 0.00125, of the $4 Trillion budget for 2019.
Why is it that the politicians, both democrat and republican are letting this border wall funding keep the government partially closed.
Is it not time that these same politicians, both democrat and republican, finance this ( in the scheme of things) minor expenditure, and move on. Unfortunately, none of our duly elected officials have any "skin in the game".
They keep getting paid. Go on vacation. Take paid time off, etc.
The Senate, the Congress, and the Presidency, in other words our elected officials, care so little about their constituents that they keep this masquerade going.
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or should I say, POLITICS AS USUAL.
The only ones losing are the citizens.
5
To continue the Trumpian metaphors, he can now say to his base, with all sincerity, "'You knew I was a snake, When you took me in...'"
19
The border crisis is real. No one has any idea how many people cross. How can you spew this then you don't have facts? Good fences make for good neighbors....Ben Franklin, but then again you most likely revile him too.
1
What an insightful column! What about the 62 millions Americans who voted for him and his devoted base of support? Is there a primal element of bull and sadistic cruelty coursing through these Americans? What does it say about the US as a society? Is hope for enlightenment lost as the US regresses? If Trump is reelected, becoming an expat is becoming an obvious choice.
22
Roger, while you are correct that faux Emperor Trunp “just can’t help it” you have not correctly diagnosed why “he can’t help it” — that he just can’t help leveraging the monumental ‘trick’ he learned when he avoided bankruptcy by threatening the big banks that he would expose how corrupt they are — and he has now used the same ‘trick’ against what uninformed people would call the US government (but is actually this disguised global capitalist EMPIRE only HQed here, and ‘posing’ as such).
Faux Emperor Trump has now been trapped in the same ‘trick’ he played on some big banks, but he has no idea of how entrapped he is by a global Empire in which he has no “Membership Privileges”.
Trump’s role is only as an expendable ‘patsy president’, in the final act of a play (Oswaldesque style), now that the continuation of “least worst voting” (s)elections of presidents may well be ended.
“The U.S. state is a key point of condensation for pressures from dominant groups around the world to resolve problems of global capitalism and to secure the legitimacy of the system overall. In this regard, “U.S.” imperialism refers to the use by transnational elites of the U.S. state apparatus (soft and hard) to continue to attempt to expand, defend, and stabilize the global capitalist system. We are witness less to a “U.S.” imperialism per se than to a global capitalist imperialism. We face an EMPIRE OF GLOBAL CAPITAL, headquartered, for evident historical reasons, in Washington.” William Robinson
4
"It has been said that Trump’s extraordinary election victory owed much to his intuitions about the anger in the heartland. There is some truth in this. But his essential intuition was into the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency."
But what created "readiness" for Americans to believe in lies and "post truths?"
- The Rightwing Media Cabal of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, et al.
- Mitch McConnell and the rest of the RepugniCants in Congress who spewed lies over the past 10 years.
Trump didn't create this moment in history. He's merely the apotheosis of the Conservative movement's strategy initiated by Newt Gingrich and Lee Atwater.
Writers need to start talking about that!
955
Also watching from outside, there are two impressions. First is the enormous damage being done, to the United State and its allies (with friends like these…). This dysfunction will have enormous consequences for our collective future, that are just starting to play out. Second, a significant minority of Americans are willing to enable the chaos. I have not seen another force able to redirect their anger and frustration into a more constructive future. For a country like Canada, there is an urgent need to re-assess our place in the post-American world, limit the damage and build a new set of international relationships.
538
@David Gairder
Agreed. Once trust is broken, is it ever restored?
78
@sjs
Big issue for all of us. Canada and the US are tied together. But an illiberal United States is an existential problem for Canada's future. So, now what?
82
@David Gairder Take comfort in the 2018 election results. The ship is damaged but not sinking.
66
"The longest shutdown ever! No other President has managed
a longer shutdown than I have! They say this is the longest that we will ever have! Crying Chuck and Nancy will want to claim they did it just a little bit but I did it all!
The longest! Huge! The LONGEST shutdown EVER!!!"
18
I am so sure that Trump gets such existential satisfaction from having the entire nation come to a standstill as he acts on his maniacal whims. He cannot help himself, indeed. And we tolerate it. We accept it. He is a malignant narcissist, who delights in pulling down his pants and mooning the entire nation that does nothing about it except stare.
27
Donald J. Trump has had such a severe Narcissist Personality Disorder from an early age that it is now a Malignant Personality Disorder. Please see the following:
1. National Institutes of Health / U.S. National Library of Medicine-MedlinePlus, Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
2. American Psychiatric Society Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, DSM-5, Narcissisti Personality Disorder, 301.81, Diagnostic Criteria
3. The Mayo Clinic, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Symptoms
4. PsychCentral, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Symptoms
5. The Malignant Personality by Caroline Konrad, 1999
6. The Narcissist Next Door by Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, July 18, 2016
7. Psychologists define the'Dark Core of Personality' ScienceDaily, Science News, September 26, 2018, Source: University of Copenhagen. Also published in 'Psychological Review'.
19
I've been waiting for the day when Trump "burns the Reichtag" and that day hasn't arrived yet. When it does, he will take away our rights. The Nazis blamed the Communists for the Reichtag fire, Trump will blame the Democats. Those jails on the border...what do you think they are for? Say all you want about Donald Trump, but you cannot deny he is a student of Adolf Hitler, who would have given him high marks for his performance.
27
Who is the captain of Titanic today?
I, said the shark in the icy bay;
I lie a-tanning-bed among the carp
My orange fins make the Squid look sharp;
Thumbs Up I get, from down in the Net
In a pool in a lake under Moscow pavement.
Where is the hole into this captive ride,
Where the anchor dropped on polluted tides,
Where one-and-one went wrong with the sum,
I am the anchor, said Anne Coulter, now.
14
Please, please, don't mention Reichstag.
6
Donald Trump is personally responsible for his every thought, word and action. As long as he is standing in his present position he is responsible for leading the government and caring for the citizens of the United States of America. It is about time that he is called to task and challenged on every stupid phrase he utters and for every reprehensible act he performs. To say that this man cannot help himself is wrong. He has been enabled and in many way supported in his behaviours all his life. Show the emperor for what he is - a naked fool.
20
I know this is around the internet but it's worth viewing as we think of the bullshiter-in-chief. Sixty years ago, the 2016 the con was captured in this little seen TV show...
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trackdown-walter-trump_us_5c383e90e4b0c469d76cbfd3
5
We are a great nation? Lead the world?
Well, let's see a little great nation behavior, i.e. start
proceedings to impeach this vile, stupid behavior by
a president who flips and flops wherever Russian
wishes lie.
9
Most cons work because the mark cannot bring himself to face the fact that he has been conned.
For doing so would mean admitting that he is intellectually inferior to the conman.
That’s why the MAGA crowd, the minority of voters that make up Trump’s base will stick with him. It is the easier choice than admitting that they have been conned.
Let’s face it. If Donald Trump—who is “a moron” and “an idiot” according to Kelly and Mattis—was able to con you, what does that make you? An imbecile?
This is the reason that Trump did not win in New York.
Everybody here is a bit smarter than Trump. Even the immigrants. They speak better English, too.
31
I shudder at the thought of the 40% who even still are enraptured by the man. Was it W.C. Fields who said "there is a sucker born every minute"? Anyway we have way too many suckers in our midst.
18
If Trump could be defeated by newspaper columns this one might do the trick.
But his base - they are just lost.
Only after they drink the kool aid and froth at the mouth and vomit will they finally be able to admit that they have been had.
17
The nature of Trump's Alice-in-Wonderland statements was obvious when he first ran for president. The truly appalling thing was that his "base" was and remains so gullible, and that GOP legislators care more about re-election than our country. One can only hope that the Senate is purged of Trumpists in the 2020 elections and go down in flames along with their demented leader.
31
"A sociopath is a term used to describe someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). People with ASPD can't understand others' feelings. They'll often break rules or make impulsive decisions without feeling guilty for the harm they cause." www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/sociopath
Even a casual reading of Mr. Cohen's article describes our destructively mentally ill President.
The Cabinet should initiate his removal using the authority of the 25th Amendment. Then the Congress can get on with the business of impeaching Mr. Pence.
25
Scurrying ants . . . The build impressive colonies/hills. Some extend hundreds of miles, unified, harmonious and successful. But remove the queen ant and it’s bad news.... sciencing.com says “When the colony loses its queen, whether through old age, rebellion, human interaction or tragic natural circumstances, the colony is pretty much doomed.‘’ no more eggs, no more ants, it just fades away. So when trump, in whatever fashion, bows out.....
7
In 1968, thousands of Americans marched on the White House to protest LBJ's Vietnam War policy. Not only did they curse LBJ and spew chants against him, they burned him in effigy. LBJ heard and saw the protesters. As a result, he did not seek reelection.
Now, if there was ever a president who deserves to be marched against and burned in effigy, it's Donald Trump. If he were to gaze out the White House windows and see thousands of citizens screaming at him, cussing him out, and burning his likeness, he might--demented bull artist he is--get a dose of reality. With thousands daily spewing venom at him and with Mueller breathing down his neck, the First Bull Artist might actually quit.
20
Isn't it possible that Trump is both a pathological liar and the "Michaelangelo of bullshit artists"? Clearly, Trump willingly lies when caught saying or doing something bad, as in denying any knowledge of payments to Stormy Daniels or denying he ever said the wall would be paid for by Mexico or be made of concrete. On the other hand, it's clear that his constant lying about virtually everything (pick the subject: immigrants, crime, Obama, etc) is part of his bullshit schtick. Both aspects were part of his NY real estate personality and now as President.
14
A friend of mine, a highly regarded picture restorer, got a call from Trump about three years ago to examine a damaged painting. She drove from Miami to Mar-a-Lago, examined the painting and gave her estimate of how many hours it required. Trump pushed her to increase the time so that he could claim more on the insurance and then invited her to look at his collection of fake and mediocre paintings. After which he invited her to lunch at the club with Melania. At the end of the meal, she found herself with a bill for $18 for her salad. Since the club doesn’t take credit cards —members sign— she handed him $18 in cash, and he put it in his pocket, I should say that my friend, a classmate of Hilary’s at Wellesley, is not the glamorous type— not the type Trump offers $10,000 to go to bed with. I tell this story because it illustrates this man’s utter lack of grace, manners and decency. Not to mention morality or the slightest consideration of anyone but himself. The vast majority of the planet looks on aghast. In my country, his negatives are in the 90’s. His only positives are in pariah states like Russia, Saudi Arabia and, I’m afraid to say, Israel. That the United States has lost so much credibility so fast, is deeply disturbing. I hate to think what condition the world be in in 2020. It is unthinkable that he will be re-elected. But it was unthinkable that he could be elected in the first place.
51
Trump just Friday issued an executive order regarding the future status of H1B visa holders. Apparently, the US grants approximately 65,000 H1B visas every year for people to come into the US and take "highly skilled" positions with American businesses.
Why can't Americans have these jobs? The answer is that our population is not sufficiently educated enough for these jobs. Why?
It's called the dumbing down of America's citizens. I would wager that the attack of the value of education by labelling it "elitist" is part of the problem. I would wager that the lack of commitment to public education is a deliberate ploy used to keep us dumb down on the farm so to say. I would argue that by design the efforts to withhold a robust public education to Americans also serves the purpose of keeping people of color from advancement in society.
I would argue that the destruction of our public education system creates the disproportionate advantage to the rich - and white - populace that can afford private tuition thus forcing many into years of debt not easily made whole
This a specific agenda of America's growing oligarchy of white men to keep the balls on their side of the court. If Americans do not have the skills to think through an idea or problem, all the easier to sell them the smoke and mirrors.
Government Bad, Education Bad equals let 'us' take care of it for you. Except, they have no intention of taking care of things for you. It's your fault you got sick, deal with it.
20
"Keep reality at a distance through hyperactive fakery."
Not only is Trump the BS artist in residence, the Republicans are at his side assisting him in this fakery which is even more disconcerting.
17
If we can possibly find any silver lining here, mine would be this brilliant piece of writing it produced.
Hard times always generate an outburst of talents in every art form.
It really matters especially now!
I've been watching remarkable documentaries, films like "Roma" that stays with you forever, books that I can't seem to finish and not because it's not what I expected...outstanding works of writing, but the avalanche of daily interferences and multitude of absolutely exceptional investigative reporting WOW!
You really can't overt your eyes.
The history is full of infamous con men, demagogues, mind tricksters, cruel instigators, so called rabble-rousers.
Exposing them requires a great talent and perseverance, determination to follow every dark hole even if you might risk your own life, this is not the job for the faint of heart.
Once again, BRAVO to our INDEPENDENT PRESS
You Rock!!!
24
Roger, what you just described is a cult of personality. All cult leaders are full of bullshit.
While living in the Bay Area in the autumn of 1978, my congressman, Leo Ryan, was murdered in Jonestown, Guyana, by thugs working for Jim Jones, infamous cult leader of the People's Temple, which was based in San Francisco. In Guyana, the Peoples Temple had its Agricultural Project, at which people were being abused, hence the investigative trip by Representative Ryan.
A few hours after Ryan was ambushed, Jones led his followers in a mass murder-suicide, which occurred after everyone drank poisoned Kool-Aid. 909 adults and children died.
Think that the cult of Trump is awful now? It's about to get worse. Much worse.
21
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit." - W.C. Fields
"The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of the nation are, in the depths of their hearts, more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one." - Adolph Hitler
17
I would take this analysis a step further. I think that Trump not only has a disregard for the truth, but also he often believes the things he says. It is clear that he forms opinions without any analysis of the relevant facts. Then when he hears something that supports his opinion, he assumes that it’s true. This is why he says and does things that are not in his best interests. He’s delusional, which makes him a greater threat than if he were simply lying.
12
Mr. Cohen, of course, nails Trump down.... though, in all honesty, who did not know all or much of this over two years ago? I read the NYT's daily, with coffee; I love this morning routine while it's not particularly good for my bp I suppose. I love the way Michelle Goldberg, Charles Blow, Frank Bruni, and others hammer Trump and those complicit with the denigration of our country, Pence, Mcconnell, and until recently Paul Ryan, and a host of non-
qualified advisors, cabinet members, crooks, etc.
I recognize many who provide 'replies' to the articles, as I occasionally do... I even look for certain writers who add to the arguments, observations. I enjoy and frankly need the fortification I receive from these Time's writers and other readers.
I do wonder though, while we preach to the choir, and we know the words to our favorite songs, and we're so obviously right... we are! Are we getting anywhere? Is the 30 - 40% who apparently still support Trump learning anything, seeing the light, becoming disgusted with this merit-less scoundrel?? Why is he being exempted from expectations of decency, honesty, honorable purposes, on and on?
Will Mueller's investigation and others expose this adnominal
misfit?... And, thereby, the character of his 'base'. Harsh? Yes!
Tough! This includes the GOP senate.... complicit.
"Allusion is the first of all pleasures" ( Voltaire). Once tRump is bought into, the down hill slide is easy.
20
The art of the conman is not that he earns the victim's confidence; it is that he first shows his confidence in the victim. Disarmed by this charming con, the victim is then easy pickings.
12
To paraphrase Lincoln "You can fool all the people some the time, and some of the people all the time but you can't fool all the people all the time unless they are sycophantic Republicans.
14
Trump just cannot help it due to his incurable, malignant narcissistic personality disorder. Might have worked OK for him as a hard-nosed real estate con-man in NYC, but we are seeing what a total disaster he is as President.
8
"It has been said that Trump’s extraordinary election victory owed much to his intuitions about the anger in the heartland. There is some truth in this. But his essential intuition was into the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency."
You're giving him way too much credit. These "insights" were really the brainchild of people around Trump, such as Bannon, Stone, and others. Trump lives in a complete bubble. In fact, it could be argued that the person most taken in by his bullshit is...
himself.
17
Wonderful description of a con artist whose only straightforward aim is to systematically fool others if that is what is required to get away with 'murder', self-enrichment and/or satisfaction of a most insecure ego. Although some of us still think he is a pathological liar, as time progresses, he may have begun to believe his own lies, hence, unable to tell fact from fiction. Trump is a lost case, that's why he must be expelled from the White House...before this proto-fascist thug completes the destruction of this democracy. What is so dangerous is watching the republican party not only supporting the unsupportable...but being in awe of sucn an unscrupulous man-child that has no idea what's going on, a true wheather vane attentive to the winds of a Coulter-Limbaugh-Alex Jones ilk (Ugh!). Incidentally, if Trump were to go (as he must), the prospect of the Vice (Pence) in his place, ought to give us shudders as well, a sly fraudster himself.
14
The saddest result of electing this incarnation of Narcisus, is that Trump was able to con evangelical leaders like Falwell, Franklin Graham, Jefress, et al and keep them under his spell. Not unlike the proverbial, ' evil angle called Satan' has done to mankind...
7
One fact is true Donald Trump diet, drinking Coke and eats Big Macs could cause a lot mood swing.
Many staff report Donald go down halls White House talking out load nobody around, that kind scare for Commander in Chief .
Here is highly recommended reading, example of one of many exceptional reports...
https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstruction-was-collusion-new-york-timess-latest-bombshell
1
We elected Trump, for what seemed to be good reasons at the time. We are keeping him in office, because enough people are not yet convinced that our mistake is of sufficient magnitude to justify removal. I agree that impeachment, trial and removal is a scary process and fraught with long term implications. Yet it is becoming increasingly obvious to all but his most hardened supporters, that Trump is in way over his head. He is in fact doing serious damage to our people and our nation. As Mr. Cohen points out, he is both unaware, and doesn't care. It is all about him, the rest of the world be damned.
I will not say that the impeachment of Trump will cure our divisions, in fact in the short term, for a small group of people, it will make them worse. What it will do, is make the healing process possible. That cannot happen as long as Trump is in office. We must stop further damage, for the good of the nation and our people, we must remove Trump.
10
Trump is not only a bullshit artist but also a bully. The combination of the two, along with pockets full of money (much of it from his daddy, especially when he got into trouble) and very aggressive lawyers, allowed him to become a NY real estate mogul. Unfortunately for him, this didn't translate well when he became president.
5
Somehow, we need to get rid of this charlatan before he destroys our country.
Speaking as a former long-time Republican, the likes of Mitch McConnell (who knows full well the damage he is doing by not confronting Trump), and Mike Pence (whose obsequiousness makes me want to puke), make me wonder just what happened to the party I used to support.
I have no doubt that Trump evaded taxes, is laundering money, and is in bed with the Russians. Hopefully Mueller will prove it, (and soon) and Republicans in the senate grow a pair of balls and will excise this insidious cancer on our nation.
23
This shutdown has completely changed my attitude and I now am more scared than ever. I can no longer find humor or shrug off the danger we are in. The fact that it has gone on as long as it has and no one is saying anything dire about it confounds me.
Innocent Americans are being hurt because Trump wants to show that he has the strength to damage people without fear to prove he is a formidable adversary. The Democrats are doing exactly what should be done when a sick individual with great power attempts to show his strength - they are standing up to him and fighting for the system that established this country.
That the news media and Republican Senators and rank and file Republicans do not see the facts in front of them and express their disgust makes me question if we as a country are now beyond repair. I don't understand how they can stand by and allow this to happen as if this is just a normal thing.
Trump is truly a demented, sick individual and for some reason the system fails to reject him and make him out to be the pariah he is proving to be with this shutdown.
I pray that if we survive this disaster there will be a serious examination of how we got here and expose all that facilitated this nightmare including Mitch McConnell, every Cabinet head, and any representatives that tried to make this man legitimate in the eyes of the country. They are traitors to our democracy and failed to do their sworn duty of protecting and serving the American people.
1376
Why in God’s name must the nation continue to writhe and be tortured by the day to day damaging rampages of this criminal. It’s our whole nation against ONE MAN!
What are we doing here? Why must this continue?!
40
Yes , it is possible that Donald Trump can’t help it, he can’t help making a fool of himself .He can’t help betraying the American people ,and he can’t help flagrantly betraying the oath of office that he took to protect the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. He can’t help being a pawn of Vladimir Putin and he cannot help being a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. He can’t help making a sham of his presidency, alienating most of our allies who we have taken years to build trust with… and he can’t help but be responsible for this government shut down which will hurt our country and our citizens.
While Donald Trump, in his arrogance and stupidity cannot help himself, the American people certainly can help themselves. We can hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions and we have the power to insist that he is removed from office by any legal means possible.
Maybe Donald Trump cannot help himself. Maybe he is too arrogant and ignorant to save himself, but the American people certainly can save their own country by ridding ourselves of this miserable con artist .
How much longer will we have to be held hostage by a group of cowardly and hypocrtiical Republicans in Congress , and from a dangerous president who just cannot help himself?
17
Every word from this schmoozer's mouth demeans us all.
Today on the BBC, seeing him pray in conference was beyond revolting and sickening. It was a demented act.
We are forced to respond to his diseased mind that only produces the diseased landscape that lies before us.
He must be removed. We cannot take anymore of this.
It is intolerable. This cannot go on any longer.
All, -- all -- people of conscience must bring their conscience to work on Monday next, the first work day of the week.
11
You have done a disservice to dogs.
6
It's time for the Democrats to begin impeachment hearings no matter whether or not the Senate will concur. It's the right thing to do even though Trump's ignorant Christian Right racist base will never see their hero for what he is, a fraud and a traitor.
11
The man is a stone liar, His word is worthless
so there is no point to agreeing to anything.
Even worse our allies don't trust him either
Pompeo is a fool. He was part of the Benghazi
hoax.
18
He is a sick manchild.
When it is so blatantly obvious he is totally detached from reality that is the time to put him in a padded cell.
He would do it to others and so would his wolfpack base.
Winning. In gaga land.
5
So good to know the FBI has been on this Russian asset from the gitmo. I didn't read all about how J-Trig and Tempora keep US informed just for Nuttin'. We secret squirrels like to crack a few during the long winter games just for kick backs.
Like Putin didn't advise Trump to claim the Tower meeting was about adoption moments before Trump took off in Air Force One to plot against US. What HASN'T Trump done for Putin lately? Every destabilizing statement Trump makes probably gets him a month's interest relief on Trump's massive debts to Russians. Putin plays Trump's slots better than the Gambinos!
What would Dorothy Kilgallen guess? "Are you a CIA informant, a Mafia associate or just a run of the mill Russian asset? Have you ever been to Dallas?"
Time for someone to take a ride in a sugar barrel. Handsome Johnny says "WHEEEE!"
Trump had better concern himself as Cohen has about outside threats to family security. I want his testimony before Putin is done with him.
6
You have been fascinated by Trump's compulsions? I am appalled.
Of course he cannot help himself! He is a pathological liar and most likely a malignant narcissist.
Who, besides Mueller, is protecting our country from this man?
15
As always, a thoughtful column for Mr.Cohen. But what I want to know to is, Why are we not organizing marches in the streets? This moron of fakery is doing this to US. He insults US. He is destroying OUR country. What are we waiting for? The corrupt Republican senate???
15
Trump is doing a lot of damage to our country ,he was in business & as POTUS is a conman,liar,thief,abuser of women,racist ,he was all of this in his business world he will not change.
5
Jolly good...banged that nail squarely you did...
...even so, what a pity there isn't a policy appropriate synonym for 'b... s...' that projects with the same clarity and oomph as the profane...at the least, it might reduce the double standard over what authors can write and readers comment.
5
Frankly, I can’t stand to read anymore articles about the ugly, menacing clown squatting in our White House, or any more speculation about his circus sideshow of an administration, no matter how skilled or concise or insightful the columnist is. Cancel the show NOW, somehow, someway. I’m sick of reading the minutae of the ways it will end, just finish it before we’re on the hook for years of financial ruin and anxiety trauma.
12
"National emergency " based on 8 possible terrorist arrest in 2018 via the border. 40 from Canada. 400.000 immigrants down 80% from 2000. Ten there is the realization by the Repubs that the money being stolen from FEMA is mainly to help the Southern storm damaged Red states, not the Blue states. Whoops!
3
Not exactly comparing Trump to Hitler, but look at the atrocities Hitler created, caused, and pulled off. And did he get punished? Not one single bit. He killed himself when things closed in. Not one day was he held accountable.
Hitler suffered nothing, yet he murdered millions of the innocent, decimated his country, caused the death of millions of others in other countries, separated families - for years and lifetimes, stretched economies beyond the stretching point, rewarding the rich. He hated anyone who was not identical to himself, even tried to clone his identity type.
Adolph Hitler thought he was justified, too, in his insane obsessions and delusions. He got everybody on board that he could and they stood behind him through thick and thin - or else. He lied, he bullied. He mandated loyalty. He had no idea of caring for personal, mental, physical strife of anyone, not even his loyal attendees. He despised the disabled and made fun of them, even killed them because they were not perfect. He shunned other decent countries and took lead with the cruel and evil that he, for some reason, admired.
See any likeness in personality, behaviors, attitudes? How far is this country going to let Donald Trump go? The United States is not better than what it is right now, than what has happened to it under this administration? What has the United States become? Just sayin’.
13
"...the readiness of Americans...for a post-truth presidency" happened long before Trump emerged. George W. Bush's fake WMD's were a predecessor. And we can go back even farther to St. Reagan who lied continuously but did so with a big smile. He led the charge against scientific facts revealing global warming. Conservatives stopped caring about the truth a very long time ago. The question is, when will Americans wake up to this fact?
22
Congress's failure to perform has resulted in a "power vacuum" at the Federal level As time goes by our only hope is that the individual States counter the Trump affect. The fact that the U.S. is a Republic rather then a direct Democracy has contributed to our present ruinous condition , possibly this structure can serve to mitigate it's destructive effects .
4
The success of the Leader - or would-be leader - depends in part on his audience. Trump was successful, by all accounts, in his crooked business career because his behavior was serially brazen before a constantly changing cast of characters - contractors, banks, agents, partners. His problem today, which he doesn't seem to have noticed, is that his constant lying, and, to paraphrase Mr. Cohen, his bloviating, even about inconsequential things, occurs on the world stage, with reporters and indeed the general public as an audience. They - the reporters et al - have the ability to remember. He can therefore lie to some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but he cannot get away with lying to all of us all of the time.
16
How many of us have gone back to read Trump's Inaugural Address on January 20, 2017? When you do you find that the mess we are in now is all predicted by the extraordinary picture he gave that day of a country held powerless by "crime and gangs and drugs" and a country that "defended other nation's borders while refusing to defend our own." His promise to end "American Carnage" sounded weird. He said other countries were stealing "our companies and destroying our jobs." I remember wondering what he was talking about but being too shocked by his winning the election to pay much attention . Now Roger Cohen and others help us with the example of other tyrants in history who have used fantasy to incite their public's imagination to accept dangerous fantasy. Another word for it could be paranoia.
17
Roger, the difference between you and your ilk and the Trump supporters in fly over country is you all believed his bs while the chumps who voted for him knew it was BS.
1
@Philip Getson, what makes the traveling circus carnival fun for many ordinary people are the clowns and their antics because they know it’s all crazy costume and gags. It’s only those who have never been because they only go to the opera in black tie and tails that are freaked out by them.
@Philip Getson
And, so, you're saying that they like the BS? Really?
3
@Philip Getson. wait. you are saying that people knowingly, willingly, in some cases gleefully voted for a sham, a conman? That makes me feel sick. That is...sociopathic...it verges on careless infliction of harm...a desire just to cause hurt and harm. It brings a sense of despair, if what you say is true, those "chumps" -- millions of folks, of regular people -- have no sense of responsibility to their fellow citizens ("us and out ilk" to use your words) nor to the country we all comprise. In that way, if they knowingly chose untruth and fakery on purpose, that is a kind of treason. Without sincere good faith, we are lost. there is no compass.
3
While many of these comments have kernels of truth all are overlooking the real issue which has brought us to this point. Our nation is now divided (Balkanized) on multiple levels. This has found it’s ultimate expression in the total dysfunction in the Congress. Also, this process has led to increased radicalization of both parties.
Those who voted for Mr. Trump (over 60+ million) are not all poorly educated “rubes” from the South or West or Appalachia as some have suggested (phrasing that attests to the division among our people). What has occurred is a loss of faith in our governments ability to act. This has been clearly demonstrated by the ping pong of Bush41 to Clinton to Bush43 to Obama.
Trump was seen by many as someone who might be able to break the stagnation in Washington and get things done. Unfortunately, just as in past recent administrations, the Congress under leadership of both parties has sought confrontation and/or obstruction. As Mark Twain famously said, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself”.
The end result is further alienation and disallusionment of the public at large. This frustration is fertile breeding ground for ever more authoritarian politicians from both left and right.
We must reject radicalization on both ends or we shall totally lose the middle. It is from the middle that the Republic is strongest.
239
You make a compelling argument against established political parties. It should come as no surprise that an increasing number of voters are registering as or changing their registrations to Independent. That could ultimately prove to be our remedy for political Balkanization.
30
@JNM This may be true, but only one party benefits from the insistence that Government does not work, and only one party has consistently, over decades, actively worked to damage the ability of the Federal government to govern well. The GOP: party of anarchy.
204
@JNM To late I'm afraid. I'd allspice to add that the disfunction we see in Washington today goes further back than Bush 41. As a Democrat it pains me to say that Johnson's war in Vietnam began what would become the political break up in our country. Add to that Nixon's evil extension of that war and Watergate, Ford and Carter's ineffectual efforts, Reagan and Clintons deregulation and we find the roots of our problem. All of that was the fuse and Trump became the match.
38
Roger,
Agreed that trump is malignant bullshit, but what of the GOP? They seem OK with this man, but what of the survival of the Republic, they appear not to be the least concerned.
26
While I truly believe that there is something seriously wrong with our dear leader mentally, in how his incessant narcissism intersects with all his 'bullshit', and in his total lack of comportment that befits the stature of the office - he has had his enablers in the Republican Party. They have clearly and repeatedly chosen power over country, McConnell, Graham and Ryan being the most obvious examples. By every objective measure (should that still exist) they know how dangerous he is, but the Republicans still will not defect. Power over country, they just can't help it.
25
McConnell, Graham , Rubio are all in it with the Donald.
Russian assets. So obvious.
3
Initially hard-edged, the "bull" word is an apt moniker for our fake president, subsumed in his own world of smoke and mirrors. Fortunately, the fire is coming under control (fingers crossed for the Mueller investigation) and Windex is being applied.
2
The fact that he can't help it is one of the few saving graces of this whole sordid fiasco. Imagine if this guy had even a modicum of discipline, intellectual, moral, or other? Now, that would be a disaster of epic proportions. This is more like a really bad Netflix show that is going to get worse but will end some day soon. Impeachment or indictment - I am good with either. And besides, think of how much fun it will be to watch Lindsey Graham (let alone Ol' Mitch) try to weasel his way around this after our President-cum-felon is gone. That's a gift that's just gonna keep on giving.
14
The US just looks more pathetic every day it presents this sadistic fool as its face to the rest of the world.
26
Observers who know us understand
That we live in a fantasyland
So eager to believe
We’re easy to deceive
Sinking in politicized quicksand
4
Just so: "the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency." For an historical overview of how we got to this low point, read Kurt Andersen's FANTASYLAND. Trump is simply a very bad bit of downward deviancy of our cultural quirks.
4
Roger Cohen is telling us that Trump is incapable of carrying out his oath of office because he does not care one bit about it.
He gets a thrill out of misleading people and just talking about the topic of the day he is misleading people on. Whatever he does is just a game to grab something for himself. Let others deal with the consequences of ignoring the nation's needs. National security requires impeaching and removing Trump from office. Everyone in government in Washington knows this but no one wants to get down in the pigsty with Trump and mud wrestle. It will take a group of deeply concerned people, acting in unison, to do this. Who will step up ? We shall see. Perhaps Special Counsel Mueller and the federal prosecutor in Manhattan will tie up all loose ends on one day with multiple indictments, stretching hundreds of pages, of Trump and his gang. Then we shall see if the republicans in Congress have the stomach to stand by Trump, especially if the indictment spells out chapter and verse of Trump acting in the interests of Putin and Moscow, and why.
14
I think Mr. Cohen has put in words the extreme anxiety and almost nausea that listening to Trump engenders in many of us " normal " people.
It is because we realize we live in " his " world where words have no meaning! It is like living in fun house mirror , everything is distorted , its frightening .
Some days I feel like America is being led on to a six lane highway by a toddler , ( " come on , lets play , it will be fun , lol nothing matters " )
13
Maybe Trump can’t help “ it “, but Republicans have no excuse.
Trump’s Shutdown is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Voters will remember this Republican fiasco !
17
If a Liberal claims that there is no crisis at our border, that is somehow fact.
If Trump claims there is a crisis at our border, that is a lie.
While both are opinions.
Never mind that in 2014 Obama gave a speech declaring there was a crisis at the border. He must have misspoke. Watch it yourself and see.
The penchant for calling people names for having the audacity to disagree with Liberal orthodoxy will be what continues to drive Americans from the Democrats.
4
@Ken
Ken we have to agree on the FACTS, otherwise its just shouting at each other forever. Border crossings are DOWN , that is a fact. I hate name calling too , but when someone deliberately lies to our face that person is a LIAR .
6
Whatever happened to the troops sent to the border? Are the troops still there?
14
I think I have read about enough articles explaining Trump's pathology.
Isn't it time something is done about it?
12
This elegant proof of the obvious does not advance forcefully enough how deeply tragic is the conundrum faced by our liberal, representative democracy. While it is true that we have a deviously malignant, psychopathically narcissistic monster wielding the reigns of power—the equal of which no other lifeform on the planet possesses—he would not have succeeded in achieving his hostile takeover of America were it not for the ignorant acceptance of the cargo load of hind-end droppings from our Capuchin in Chief, who still fiendishly sources his work product for a gullible electorate to consume. This inveterate, un-American conman cannot help himself; we let him succeed every step of the way, without any remotely effective resistance. As a nation we have much to be ashamed of.
Sadder than the production and distribution of his nefarious message is the consumption of it by the gullible majority forming the the glide path ending in his becoming the most powerfully deviant President in our nation’s history. Even a venomous snake regurgitates the meal it has just consumed when sufficiently threatened by externalities. So far we have not demonstrated we have a similarly operative survival instinct within our body politic. That is the real tragedy in this nasty affair.
6
The longer this goes on, the more obvious it is to me, Mitch McConnell is as big, if not the bigger problem.
McConnell is totally aware of what is going on and it fits with his agenda. The question is why? What is in it for McConnell? Holy Roller Mike Pence would appoint the same judges that the Federalist Society dictate.
McConnell is complicit in this debacle.
I recently saw the movie Vice. Dick Cheney has nothing on Mitch McConnel. They are both the embodiments of evil.
30
Well stated, but, if we agree that he is incapable of the truth, why can’t we move beyond reporting on him and get to reporting on those with the real power to do something about it?
I’d love to read articles about what Mitch McConnell and other senate leaders are thinking and planning. No legislative action of import has occurred in the last two years that has not been orchestrated by republican leaders. This is the current locus of power. It’s frankly shocking that they adjourned for the weekend while thousands are being asked to work without pay. Can we have a story about that?
Senate Republicans are fully responsible for the current situation. We need to hear from them.
15
If the reading audience or NYT management require a more delicate turn of phrase, may I suggest one used by a late friend (career veteran of Navy, Army, and Airforce)? Horse pucky!
Makes the point and sounds amusing as well.
As if it were not already clear: Donald Trump is profoundly deranged. He may well have been elected through a treasonous conspiracy with Russia. Regardless, he is a transparent sociopath, pathological liar, sex offender and bigot.
Every day that we delay his legal removal from office America is poisoned anew.
13
yes, but besides all that, he is a racist and his performance of the character he created, also called Donald Trump, gives permission for others to express, their own racism. hence, his base of voters. of course, not all Trump voters are racists, but without this core, he would never have been able to carry white, Christian, rural precincts, even with the Trump foreign aid program. ge President doesn't gibe two hoots aboutnthe Southern border; as usual, he's playing to the cheapest of the cheap seats.
Bravo, sir!
9
AMEN
5
Trump will have his own Reichtag fire.
And it will be literal fire.
And it will come on the day the Mueller indictments land on his desk.
3
He cannot help it, it’s his nature. But his Collaborators, that’s a different story. They are Traitors to America, full stop. Despite the occasional mild protestations and “ concerns “ they VOTE in lockstep, to appease their dark Master and avoid enraging His loyal supporters. Craven cowards and political prostitutes. Those are the polite and printable descriptions. The GOP deserves a release from this mortal coil. Politically speaking, or course.
2020. Tick, Tock.
13
Trump is an unwitting everything, except on Russia, where he is a witting agent. His name should be removed from all United States buildings and he, himself should be removed from the United States Presidency. He and the entire Republican Party are a perpetual disgrace.
7
Trump manufactured the shutdown in order to force Nancy Pelosi to knuckle under.
Trump wants to force his will on her.
And if Nancy Pelosi submits, it over for the people and our country.
Nancy Pelosi must remain iron strong and never submit to this vile bully.
Make no mistake, Donald Trump did force the shutdown, but not because of the wall, no Trump orchestrated the shutdown to force Nancy Pelosi to submit to him.
17
He needs to go. He's killing us.
10
With Bond music in the background.......
The name is “One,” Individual One
4
Please America don’t fall into the arms of fascists. The Republican Party has become Insane. We are better than this.
10
Everyone that does business or has dealings with The Con Don ends up being diminished, or being cast aside, or losing money, losing reputation, or being made a laughing stock. It happened with bankers who lent money, contractors who did work, sycophants who debased themselves to serve, decorated Generals who though that they are the "adults in the room."
The only constant in the world of trump is his need to be the center of attention, to always be right, and to always play to the trump base.
577
@Aubrey
Mitch finally got his turn in the barrel, and now he's not monkeying around with Trump and his circus act. He's afraid of Trump making him look like what he is. A Russian tool.
72
I wonder what the bullshitter in chief will say when a plane explodes in mid-air, the result of the TSA sickout allowing a sicko to slip through.
10
He'll easily find a way to exploit that for his own purposes.It wouldn't surprise me if he blew up a plane himself so he could blame it on Nancy Pelosi.
4
Well, Mr. Cohen. Even for the b_________t artist (and I'm sorry to be so squeamish), reality closes in.
"Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain." As (with ever growing desperation) the "little man" grimaces--pulls levers--turns knobs--
--all to avoid the six, suspicious eyes of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow boring into him--
--as the three (their suspicions now a certainty) close on upon--
--the erstwhile Wizard of Oz.
"No no," says the little man deprecatingly. "I'm a very good man. I'm only a very bad WIZARD."
Millions of angry, American eyes are boring into Mr. Donald J. Trump.
We do NOT find him a "good wizard."
We do NOT find him a "good man."
We want him OUT of the White House.
All your points, Mr. Cohen, are perfectly valid. I agree with every one of them.
But reality closes in, doesn't it, sir. Strong, pitiless hands strip away the fakery--pull back the curtains--let the light of day dissolve the illusions, the dreadful magic show--
--that goes on and on and on.
Myself, I think the House should impeach this man. Let the Republican-dominated Senate do what it will.
They should send a message to the people of America. "We do NOT stand for trickery--lies--evasions--distortions!
"We stand for reality.
"TRUTH if you will."
And Lord, Mr. Cohen! I am THIRSTING for some truth to come out of our federal government. The 1939 film I enjoy very much.
I don't need a "Wizard of Oz" in the White House.
6
Hats off to Roger. It is becoming increasingly difficult to read opinion pieces about Trump. By the end of the columns he has usually done two or three things of great concern that muffle the points of the column. This column will stay with me until the end of our national nightmare. No bull....!
14
Yes yes yes. I read and listen to and watch the news but in the last week I just could not bear any more of Trump’s pollution, and ultimately destruction, of the national discourse that is so vital to a functional democracy. Roger Cohen’s column revived me.
We do have an immigration problem in this country which NONE of our political leaders of either party have addressed in years. Trump has made addressing it impossible. I worry about this country I love and which has been a beacon of hope and the possibility of freedom, self determination, and justice in the world.
4
The bull merchant will only be able to bull because those around him are all bull merchants.
This and next month will be the implosion of the merchants or the democracy.
5
Mr. Cohen's piece today is the example of responsible journalism. For the most part we voters form our political opinions through journalism, news channels, books, etc. In 2015-16 journalism failed us.
How is it possible that for decades Trump captured headlines, particularly in New York City, and survived his corrupt empire to be elected President of our country?
And how is it that Fox News survives in spite of being a propaganda agency?
And why wasn't Trump's corrupt corporation investigated long ago?
I'm frightened, and I'm also mad as hell. I also vote, and hope I live long enough to vote in 2020.
11
@Pat Boice
Because there was (is) money to be made.
5
I recall that this was Obama's private verdict on Trump as well, that he is a bullshitter. Few people notice that Trump also has attention deficit disorder. I have a son with ADHD, so I recognize the patterns - the need for immediate gratification and almost constant stimulation, the inability to concentrate on boring things (e.g., briefing papers), the focus on the here and now, with a lack of concern for future consequences. Some people can adapt, but Trump's wealth means that others have instead adapted to him.
ADHD is often accompanied by ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Trump displays this disorder as well. It is characterized by blaming others for one's own mistakes, spitefulness and meanness, anger issues, argumentative and defiant behavior, refusal to comply with authority and vindictiveness. Sound familiar? The longer Trump is president, the greater the risk to the American people and the rest of the world. Let's hope the recent report in Vanity Fair turns out to be accurate - that Giuliani told a friend that the Mueller report will be "horrific."
14
@Jon - And he's a traitor under Putin's control with fealty to Saudi's Mohammed bin Salman and Kompromat held over his head by Erdogan . . .
The problem, as I see it, of calling Trump using bull hockey is that it is still, under it all, lies because it is not the truth.
Bull hockey or not, people believe him. Support him. Pass on to others his bull/lies for them to believe.
i could question whether or not he can help it, but very likely that is true because it is an ingrained habit from his youthful past.
5
Great op ed. Perfect metaphors. Disgusting so-called president.
That he lies so publicly without conscience speaks to his deep mental illness. For those who don’t want him in jail, then a psychiatric institution for many years is the perfect alternative. And I mean many years.
Any way you put it, he must go. He is not faithfully executing his oath, by any means.
As for the shutdown, McConnell, do your damn job. Put the bills up for votes, let trump veto if he will, and stop being such a self-serving toadie. The GOP (Government of Putin) must be dismantled.
8
I suppose this behavior has worked for him as it relates to avoiding some financial and legal consequences. But does he have many true friends? How many long-term business partners? What banks will lend him money? Why is the turnover in his administration so high? I’d suggest his lack of responsibility, dishonesty, lack of honor, and constant BS explains a lot.
1
They knew damn well he was a snake before they let him in.
7
Yes, Trump is a bullshitter, for sure, devoid of meaning. Laughable, but not.
But if he's so obvious, how does he become our frenzy? We don't go berserk over dogs eating horrible things, or puppets who jerk.
What places him in the sphere of meaning, though he doesn't merit it, is the media, particularly cable news, but also the Times and the Post.
How many millions of words about his meaning where there is none? Words animate that lifeless doll with strings into a freaky deaky puppet, scary enough for films.
The media is at a frenzy. Such a mix of motivations. Old scores to settle. New careers to be made. It wants a Pulitzer. Vanity, lots of vanity. Altruism, honor, valor. Monetary greed, and for power. Dullness and stupidity.
The media is what makes this feel like a kamakaze nightmare. It wants excitement. TIt isn't quite a liar, or a bullshitter, though it is both. It believes in itself, and in its own stories.
Reality is not our stupid politics, economy, or wars, which need not be as they are said.
Trump doesn't care about reality, even to make a dig into it. The press, on the other hand, desperately wants to be real.
How I wish it were much more reflective and introspective.
The media gave us Trump, A-Z, ingloriously. There is no indication that it has taken this to heart or that it won't repeat the same mistake. It has a choice and could sure do better.
2
@Eric
Awesome (pre-90's sense). Please keep it up!
Trump's no fool about his choice of words. "False" doesn't suggest intentionality like "fake" does.
1
If he stood alone atop his mountain of bull, it would be far less disturbing than the reality - his enablers and fellow bull merchants ( especially those form FOX) are standing with him.
1
I seldom use profanity and more rarely B S. In the world of Trump he has normalized the profane and the scatological.
His constant assault on the truth and on decency and I mean decency of every day manners is appalling.
How low we have sunk.
5
Reichstag fire...you're really gonna go there Roger?
1
"the sheer gall of his fakery, make of him a malignant, rather than a benign" explains why everyone around Trump (Sarah Huckabee Sanders. John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Kirstjen Nielsen, Steve Mnuchin, and the number 2 biggest Bull-spouter of All, Mike Pence) fabricate and fantasize even the most obvious of lies. It's Trump Disease and our government has a terminal case.
8
Truly, a bull shit gish gallop such as we are living through needs a new name. I leave it to the readers to determine a suitable word. Bish gallop? Bush gallop? Democracy wallop?
@Chip
Democracy Death dollop.
Don't deny Trump a credit where credit is due. He is a liar indeed. He knows the truth and tells the opposite. Like his campaign conspiring with Russia. Like paying Stormy and others. The list of him knowingly lying is long, maybe only exceeded by the list of his bull.
7
I was struck while reading this piece by the similarity of "bullshit" to the wafflings and sometimes threats purveyed by religious extremists, also a dangerous breed, and, like Trump, wolves in sheep's clothing. The President usually contrives to look like a harmless grandpa, which is a good idea because his attempts at a look commensurate with his office rarely succeed.
However, like many frustrated grandpas, the President can lash out and ruin people's lives with a sentence. "Pig-ignorant" in different ways - sorry, all you pigs - no respect for his office, for his fellow citizens, for the officials and elected representatives of the country he seems to consider "his" ... I have already stopped imagining what Boris Johnson might have done had he become Prime Minister of the UK, but it would probably have resembled what we are seeing now in Pennsylvania Avenue. Both Johnson and Trump (a good name for a music-hall comedy duo, by the way) have no respect for their fellow men and will lie and posture all it takes in order to get what they want.
3
Some in America have been bull-----ing themselves for a long time. Slave holders convinced themselves that the Bible condoned slavery, that slaves were better off than if they were free, and that "Colored folk" were meant to be slaves. Confederates talked themselves into thinking the South would win because of the superiority of their soldiers: so much better fighters than northern soldiers. After the Civil War, southerners set up the idea that their cause had been "noble", and that their antebellum civilization was superior and that "colored" folk often deserved to be lynched. Heck, they turned a lynching into a show! Racists may never be able to change their opinions because the illusions are too central to their opinions of themselves. It's very hard to admit that your self-image is based on evil rather than real.
6
The hallmark of a real bs-artist is the endless use of vaguery. Like all political hacks, it's the art of saying something without saying anything. Trump does this constantly.
"We're going to looking at that..."
"Maybe, blah, blah, blah. Who knows?..."
"We'll have to wait and see..."
"Could be..."
"I'll discuss that at a more appropriate time"
And an extensive use of disconnected adjectives like "Tremendous", "Great", "Special", and "Wonderful".
I've been saying for some time that Donald Trump's mind and decision making process is like a Magic-8-Ball. Nothing is based on reality. Nothing is concrete. There is only a vague notions of things, and no real meaning or conviction to be found anywhere.
The only thing that isn't vague about Donald Trump is his never ending love affair with himself. It's his one and only consistent trait. Well, that, and his racism. Other than those two things, nothing, and no one else really matters. He exhibits the temperament and demeanor of a self-absorbed 3 year old.
Having Trump as president is kind of like living in that Twilight Zone episode "It's A Good Life". A world in which all the adults have to live in fear of a child whose power is inversely proportional to his ability to wield it properly.
Donald Trump is a petulant, racist moron. And the only reason we are stuck with him is because, like Bush, our broken election system allowed the "wisdom" of the majority to be superseded by the "stupidity and ignorance" of the minority.
6
I think that it is important to read this article in conjunction with the just-posted article in the TImes, "FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Working Secretly For Russia." Important, because I believe that both articles underscore the method to the apparent madness here; namely, that Trump has all along been attempting to squeeze as much personal benefit from that office as he could. But we all knew most of that; so what is new?
I believe what is increasingly coming into focus is just what a hold the Russians have on both he, and apparently his family. Cohen wasn't entirely truthful with the SDNY lawyers because he is basically a Russian mob lawyer, and has been for a long time. If he tells all, the mob takes out his family. Manafort has made a conscious decision to lie consistently to Mueller because he fears the Russian mob a lot more than he fears life inside of a prison.
Think of the voters in this country in his (Republican) base as his stakeholders. Now, think of the Russians as actual shareholders, because they have been investing in his company for a long time. He needs to BS the stakeholders, whom he BS's because he does not care about them, in order to remain in office. But he won't BS his shareholders for long because, if he stiffs them, the sun will come up one day after he leaves office, and there will be no place to run, or hide.
7
Lies from politicians are much, much worse than simple B.S. Lies by politicians is propaganda, something autocrats and fascists use to destroy democracies and take away freedoms.
Millions of Americans died fighting fascism to save democracy. Letting politicians lie with impunity is an offense against every one of them.
6
The Reichstag fire on February, 27th, 1933 was blamed by the just appointed Chancellor of Germany, aka the Austrian paperhanger, on a Dutch communist.
Although never proven, Hitler persuaded then 86 year old President von Hindenburg that communists were trying to violently overthrow the newly formed government.
Immediately a national emergency was declared, resulting in arresting political opponents of the regime without trials, severely restricted press freedom and human rights across Germany and other dictatorial means.
Trump's smoke and mirrors and sick 24/7 rotating thoughts' obsession about his wall is indeed similar to the Reichstag fire, blaming "invading hordes" for every crime known to men.
First he told "Nancy and Chuck" and the world that he'd gladly wear the mantle of a government shutdown. Yet in typical Trump fashion, it's "I don't care about my bull.... of yesterday, I've changed my mind and say the opposite".
People are afraid of flying, a large proportion of 800,000 federal employees plus thousands of contract workers have to chose between paying their bills and putting food on the table, yet the Crook-in-Chief bull.... that the vast majority are for his wall. Hallelujah!
8
It's true about Trump's nature, but what's also true is that it's the nature of journalists after eyeballs and clicks to play up his BS in ways that don't quash them. As most in the media know, spending much time and space on debunking falsehoods is like trying to make a nail not exist by pounding it into wood. Yet they persist, cowering over the idea that a rival news organization will generate more ad revenue then they.
2
Trump is an American rogue, so American adjectives are needed to describe him. He is
A loudmouth: He is in love with the sound of his own voice.
A fourflusher: He promises what he can't deliver.
A bullshitter: What he says has no connection with the truth.
3
My late ex-husband was a consummate bullshitter, but he was much smarter than Trump. He frequently made outrageous statements which he insisted were true, but once in a while he would say something so outrageous he was bound to be challenged. On those rare occasions he would then produce evidence proving the authenticity of his claim. It was a perfect escape hatch.
1
Trump bullshits about himself. That's his defense against the ruin of having publicly to deal with the truth about himself. But that's not the core of what got him elected. The BS he used to stir up the waves of bigoted folly he rode into power was supplied by professional liars who cook it up for Breitbart, Limbaugh, Fox and GOP politicians. Surely what is required is the purchase of ad time on THEIR shows to discredit them. Not to argue with them, but to portray them as genuinely untrustworthy for those who consume their product. Otherwise this machine just grows more powerful and its next sock puppet might not be so full of it as to remain inept as a destroyer of America.
3
"When Trump was in business, his shtick…"
Yiddish really is the language that should be used to describe Donald Trump. The man is a putz.
8
This fiasco is 30 years in the making. Mr. Cohen has hit the nail on the head. Trump is a Bull artist and, unfortunately, Bull is in great demand as our country cannot face the truth. John Wayne and Any Rand set us up for this psycho. It used to be that there would be no difficulty in discerning an emergency . . . now Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Houston, etc. are just means to an end and smoke and mirror border emergency is what he promised in his campaign so it must be so. Absurdity reigns.
1
Goebbels and Hitler did also manufacture reality.
3
Yes. Do follow the money, as I suspect Mueller is doing right now.
Indeed, now the Don is stiffing the American people. We are all stopping the buck- with our butts.
B.S. means the utterer bases his opinion of himself on what he thinks the hearer thinks of the utterer rather than utterer's own internal opinion of himself.The utterer to some extent must have an opinion of himself based on what he thinks he can persuade hearers to believe about him.Dizzy Dean said "it ain't braggin if you can do it".If the reason Dizzy said it was to have a higher opinion of himself it might be B.S.If he said it to get a higher pay from Branch Rickey it might be just a negotiating tactic.
As every liberal politicians said, Cohen also said what is happening is a "manufactured" crisis. It won't be a crisis, if you let in anybody coming to our border. If you won't do it and thousands of them come everyday seeking to enter the country, then there is a crisis as is happening now. Majority of American see it a crisis or a problem. It has to be solved by creating a barrier at the border. To Cohen and other liberal pundits, it may be a bullshit fight. But, for most Americans it is a fair fight, and Trump is the one on the right side and with logic.
2
Best damn NYT dissection of Trump/Trump Bull ever. Now we need the journalistic guts calling for Trump’s resignation, probably the only way this Republican creation will exit sooner than later.
1
Does the Donald have any connection at all to reality? After all he is a slave to his TV as all of his'ideas' are formed by by those talking heads on FOX news. Does a parrot know what it is saying? Perhaps more than Trump does. But FOX gave him the election so that becomes his 'truth'. His words are endless BS because there is nothing behind them, only the endless reliving of a time when he seemed victorious like the time when he could say 'your fired' or that time when he had the 'greatest' inauguration of all time. Never mind that he did not know what he was saying when he said those words and now we need to listen to endless rantings as they were from a god. Someone find this guy a nursing home or padded cell quick. Sorry parrots, you are much better than this guy we elected.
1
Occupying the world's most powerful office.
The world is starting to look elsewhere for power. New alliances are being forged. New trade partners are being created. People, educated, contributing people, who are not Americans, are looking beyond the US borders to establish their careers in safer, more welcoming countries. When the floor is cleaned after this particular bull is no longer in the Oval Office, Americans will experience a new world order that is now being created.
6
As the great philosopher and bull---- artist George Costanza once put it, "Remember Jerry, it's not a lie if you believe it."
4
Trump’s election tells me that many Americans and most Republicans who support Trump care very little about democracy and the Constitution.
They still turn their heads and hearts away from
the truth that everything about their President is bs.
But think about it. McConnell as a leader prevented
Garland from becoming a Supreme Court with bs that it was about upcoming elections, secretly envisioned his role as to make President Obama a failure and not to work for his success through dialogue and compromise , passed a Tax Scam reform through subterfuge without open hearings, and Democratic Senatorial Participation and filibuster power. It was all bs, all just sheer manipulation to hold onto power without conviction, decency, and concern for fair policy creation. Now the manufactured border crisis over the Wall that is never to be built and another Republican inspired government shutdown; all created to deflect public attention from the corruption of Donald Trump and his likely crimes. Of course McConnell will prevent a vote to open the government that passed 100 to 0 just three weeks ago and the Republican Senators still will have him as their leader. It is all about power. Forget serving the public and working with the Democratic party and facing the truth about their President and themselves. Yes it is all BS and trust in democracy by the public suffers and government workers are again abused. They are shameless!
6
But at some point, b.s. to the extreme becomes delusional.
The threshold for involuntary committment in most states is danger to self or others. The next time Mr. Trump travels outside the District of Columbia (courts there have been curtailed during the shutdown because they share space with federal courts) it shouldn't be a problem to find two or three--or two or three hundred--physicians and a judge to agree that Mr. Trump's shutdown has recklessly endangered all of us.
1
As a NY’er who’s known about this putz for more than 40 years, I describe Mr. T to my out of town friends this way: “he’s a blame storm trooper, a wanna be mob boss with a narcissistic personality disorder - a 3 card monte grifter, whose marker with the 5 families was traded to the Russian mob 30 years ago. As a former headshrinker, I also see Mr. T is the “identified patient” of the American family. The good news, in my optimistic worldview, is that we’re about to get some reality therapy. “It’s Mueller Time”!
10
Yes, Trump is a malignant bullshitter. An unambiguously horrible person. But if it weren’t for the aider and abettor Mitch McConnell and his control over the Republican Senate Trump would not be able get away with it. McConnell is worse than Trump. He is a cynical, evil, shameless man whose only interest is holding onto power.
5
I remember during the campaign that when many Trump supporters were asked about his lying. They said he was just a bullshitter, like their brother-in-law or neighbor. They said they knew it was BS, so they didn’t care. Liars, however, they hated them.
Little did they know that we would all be swimming in it for years. Unfortunately, based on the polls, they still don’t seem to care.
I guess that if it fills in their own personal narrative, it’s fine with them.
In another time and another place, it would be called propaganda.
3
President Trump, alias president Bone Spurs , also know as President B.S.
4
Nonetheless, Trump would not have been able to get to where he is without an army of enablers.
We need to look to the media, not just Fox, which hung on his every word during the run-up to Trump’s nomination and subsequent election. Without the hours of free publicity that CNN, NBC, CBS gave Trump, he would not have been able to move a essentially non-campaign along. We can all recall the cutting away from scheduled programming just to follow Trump. This is In addition to Trump being allowed free access to call into programs and spout bull$hit without limits.
Then there was the Republican Party, where most of the leadership acted like Captain Louis Renault who is “shocked” by evidence of wrongdoing, but is a willing participant in sharing of the spoils.
Then there are the Democrats who, as a party expressed total disdain for those who once were its base. Instead the party focused on social issues, while paying only passing reference to crucial economic issues. This allowed Trump to grab those issues away from the Democrats.
Finally, we get to the Democratic nominee who was so sure of victory, that she stopped campaigning and began to plan the inauguration a month before the election. I guess that she forgot the Aesop fable about the tortoise and the hare.
3
It's worth recalling how Trump first introduced himself to the American people, howling about imaginary Mexican "rapists."
I recall too the failure of Trump's GOP primary opponents to challenge his bombastic lies. They essentially agreed with him.
Let's note that the Trump horror isn't unique.
"Peace with honor" "balanced budget" "No new taxes" "compassionate conservatism"
All B.S. from GOP amoral clowns willing to say anything to get elected.
4
It is true that Trump is a b.s. artist. This means that the entire Republican Party are either the rubes who buy it, or are in on it too. But my mind does wander, is Paul Ryan a liar or b.s. artist; I don't think Ryan is smart enough to lie. Mitch McConnell is easy, he's a liar.
If the nation can be held hostage by the 40% or so who support Trump, just think what a focused, socialist 40% could do. The rest? They are sheep. It is a generational challenge.
1
Why would Trump stop being a "bull merchant?" He's been one all his life and it resulted in him being President of the US. From his perspective, he is committed to just being who he has always been, no matter what the situation.
2
Sure, one outcome is BS, but the ultimate problem is malignant narcissistic personality disorder. He is also sadistic. The narcissm leads to bizarre and dangerous thought and behavior patterns, one of which happens to be BS.
The cruelty we see is another manifestation of the disorder as is the impulsivity. Most dangerous in the tendency of malignant narcissists to lash out in unpredictable ways when frustrated. Trump could quite easily launch a war to make himself feel temporarily better.
He is a very poorly made and dangerous human being.
BS confuses and immobilizes his audience because most people, who are not poorly made but rather psychologically intact, find it hard to understand how someone could be like Trump. Mental health workers, prison workers, and the police are more likely to have experience with people of Trump's ilk.
4
When I watched "Survivor" for the first time and then noticed the Emmys had invented a (and later several) categories called "Reality Program," I started wondering whether I should add "reality" program to my list of most dangerous inventions of the 20th century. When voters believe that "Survivor" is reality and refer to it as such during their coffee breaks the next day, but do not believe that what they see on CNN or CBS is, we are in trouble. When presidential campaigns are treated like an endlessly renewed "reality/competition" show (the 2020 edition of which has already begun, though the fallout from the 2018 election, the shutdown, has yet to be dealt with), we're in real trouble. Fortunately, not everyone loves "reality" shows, and many of those who do can still tell the difference between what purports in BS-land to be reality and their everyday, real lives. They must come out and vote for reality, not BS reality in 2020 and try to separate entertainment and politics, like they used to. How about everyone voting for the most boring qualified candidate instead of the most amusing unqualified one?
4
“we have a duty to insist that words have meaning”.
Let me remark, once again, the deep resemblance between this Presidency and the sad experience of Italy’s Government under Berlusconi. The essence of both can be perfectly expressed with the word “bullshit”, that, as Mr Cohen rightly says, means something worse than “lie”. The damage “Berlusconi’s bullshit” has done to my country is a lasting one, whose consequences are felt long after the demise of his government. His heritage lives on in today’s young “new” leaders. I sincerely hope that the US political landscape will not be as deeply affected as our own has been.
5
Most of us have had guys like this sit down next to us in a bar. .
They start their rant about 'the system', or 'the man'
or 'the secret society of seven families that control the world' or whatever.
The difference is that we have the option in that setting to either move away or walk out of the bar.
There's another archaic word one doesn't often hear any longer that applies perfectly to Trump, unprintable probably, so I'll doctor it:
he's a complete jack donkey.
2
I am no longer fascinated by Trump's BS.
I just want it to stop.
4
It may be bullshit, but the core of Trump's essence, and his message, is truthiness. As made famous by Stephen Colbert, the measure is not what might be objectively true, but what we feel is (or should be) true.
In that, Trump is not so different from most of us. Ask yourself: how do you know you are right about your most important issues? Can you really provide and explain actual facts and fundamental concepts, or do you extrapolate more from opinion? How often do you challenge your own "truths"?
Trump has discovered a method to get what he wants from people that play by the rules. BS is part of the method. Intimidation is another. Shifting the topic enables control of the link to his audience and with social media significant control of the audience. Fear and Trump as the response to what causes the fear is the constant in Trump's message, regardless of topic.
If Trump had played by the rules of the game a qualified presidential candidate would have won the Republican nomination. Trump has survived and managed a stable approval rating regardless of gut wrenching incompetence. The continued strength of the U.S. economy is a factor, but Trump himself is the prime reason.
Trump may appear to be crazy, but in the long term his method has worked for him.
What are Trump's rational goals for his seemingly irrational behavior? Trump urgently needed to draw public attention away from his foreign policy and legislative disasters to an issue where he can claim success. Funding the Wall would yield a major Trump success and set the stage for the next two years leading to the 2020 election. His prospects for a "deal" for which he can claim credit remain strong. I would not underestimate him.
1
Donald Trump is indeed he Michelangelo of bullshit, a word that only the vileness and vulgarity of our president necessitates.
Let’s consider the epistemology of this bull merchant and why it is effective.
Mr. Trump has tapped into the anxieties of those stupid enough or craven enough to believe him. We must not forget that the singular catalyst for his elevation to the Oval Office came from a masterpiece of racist bullshit, the birtherism rubbish.
The reality of Mr. Trump and his followers is the negation of reality. It’s a flight from reason. It’s a world of make believe where will and passion fabricate reality. Inconvenient questions and careful theories from honest reporting and rigorously assembled facts have no place in such a world.
The old proverb that fish stinks from the head will be the party of Trump’s epitaph. Dishonest accounting, scientific illiteracy, the amen choir of the rightwing media, and the purge of experts and intelligence gathers is the natural consequence of Trump’s systematic negation of truth.
But there’s hope.
I'm reminded on the words of the British historian Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt. Absolutely power corrupts absolutely." But there’s a corollary from George Bernard Shaw: "Power does not corrupt. Fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”
It will be Mr. Trump’s fate that power has corrupted him and everything he has touched precisely because he is a fool.
1
The elephant in the room that no one seems to want to recognise is the power of white evangelical Christianity. Many if not most evangelical pastors are the masters of bullshit. "Give me $1,000 and you will be rewarded with $10,000." Of, course when the magic fails to happen it is always a question of "lack of faith". Meanwhile the pastor enjoys his private jet and his luxury lifestyle while his/her flock live the betrayal as the necessary price of their own salvation.
This con game has been flourishing for the last 30 years turning 25% of Americans into mindless gullible fools who because of the power of gerrymandering and an 18th century constitution wiled enormous power.
5
While Trump was propagating the mythology of Trump on “The Apprentice”, Americans fell victim to the trajectories of reality television - an oxymoron if there ever was one - and the ascendency of Fox News, itself a version of reality TV. The proliferation of programming that seemed real enough, coupled with news reports that felt honest but twisted the truth sufficiently to further their agenda and here we are, a couple of decades later, with a populace convinced of things that are simply untrue. One man’s bullshit is the fertilizer of the masses.
2
Good distinction between lying and bull shitting. Well stated and certainly applies to DJT. As a political independent for ~50 years I’ve voted for both Dems & Repubs for President. Pre-DJT I could not have imagined an individual like him becoming POTUS. It is easy to point the “finger of blame” at DJT b/c of the position he occupies and he is indeed in the most powerful position in the world... but he is but ONE! It is unbelievable, fascinating, and frustrating that ~30% of the electorate - milllions of people - actually support this anomaly in the human gene pool known as “The Donald”. That said... equal, actually greater blame, must be directed at the Republican leadership in our supposedly “equal” branch of government - the US Congress. There are many of them who have/are enabling the anomaly in the White House wreck havoc on this great nation. McConnell and Ryan as leaders in Congress have done NOTHING to counteract the ignorance and idiocy of the man in the Oval Office. The bespeclacled, “bookish” McConnell controls the Senate with an “iron fist” and has used his power to throttle any attempt to rein in DJT. All in all... this is NOT democracy, this is NOT America!
1
So spot on, Mr. Cohen! On Wednesday, trump announced that he had absolute authority to declare a national emergency and was likely, even certain, to do it to stop gangs, thugs, murderers, rapists and 4,000 terrorists who are invading the country via the Mexican border at this very moment!
On Friday, trump announced that 'What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency...' The 'crisis' didn't magically disappear; trump just manufactured it, and now he has to bullshit his way out of the rash threat to avoid being overruled by saner branches of government.
Meanwhile, the trump shutdown continues.
1
Bullshit is the mark of the psychopath. When Professor Robert Hare was doing the definitive studies on psychopathy in the 1960s and 1970s, his graduate students interviewed psychopaths where they were most readily available: in prisons. Although his students had degrees in psychology and knew they were face to face with psychopaths, they could still be swept away by the unceasing torrent of self-congratulatory, just as often self-contradictory, bullshit that their subjects spewed.
To fall under the BS spell is a natural human response that goes right back to our primal ape ancestry: the urge to be aligned with the alpha male who struts and postures and beats his chest. Trump is not a sophisticated manipulator. He just knows how to play full ape.
4
Welcome back, Roger. Now, if only Christopher Hitchens were still around to as incisively point out the BS and the resulting danger.
Personally I don't think Trump was smart enough to recognize the value of Bs'ing those heartland underlings caught in the economic void. He no doubt had direction from people who recognized his natural ability to push truth aside in favor of Alice in Wonderland politics.
BS is probably the number one tool of professional grifters. I am going to guess that most grifters are eventually found out and pay a price for their deliberate deceptions. I am also going to go out on a fairly safe limb and imply that Trump is as close as he has ever been to paying peneance for his life of BS. Couldn't happen to a more deserving grifter.
1
I feel that one fact that is not indisputable is that not all BS artists are con men but all con men are BS artists.
Honestly the GOP has had a major problem with BS artists over the last 50 years:
Ronald Reagan - supply side economics AKA trickle-down economics will benefit the common man
George Bush the Elder - Iraq did it
George W Bush - Mission Accomplished
Mitch McConnell - this Supreme Court pick belongs to the next President
Paul Ryan - GOP tax cuts will lead to so much growth they will pay for themselves
With Donald Trump the GOP thought they were getting a normal, run-of-the-mill BS artist but instead they ended up with a con man extraordinaire.
Many Americans insist that words have meaning, but those people tend to be Democrats. Democrats believe in science, and science uses facts which in turn means that words must have meaning.
Republicans, on the other hand, believe in what they believe in regardless of whether those beliefs are grounded in reality. Facts are not important to them, which means that words do need to have meaning.
It is no coincidence that most of Trump's strongest supporters are White people with a high school education.
The GOP likes to claim that schools are hotbeds of liberalism which is why they do what they can to undercut the American educational system. Republicans do so because if they were educate Americans better there would be a lot fewer marks for them to dupe with their BS...
6
Our president is nothing but a salesman and huckster. His technique is to disorient his marks (the American public) with a blizzard of contradictory statements, B.S., outright lies and, of course, heavy doses of self-aggrandizement.
He creates his own secure space within a thicket of confusion and deception. His transgressions are obscured by the baffling intellectual and psychological camouflage designed by the sheer volume of his manufactured, manipulative madness.
We are in the thrall of an incomprehensible Reality Show, which eventually must be paid for. The instability, insecurity and unpredictability of Trumpomania has divided America into warring camps, neither of which is capable of extricating itself from the crippling effects of political anxiety syndrome.
A unifying figure or circumstance could free us of this pestilential presidency, but lacking that we are little better than ants, scurrying blindly in despair and darkness.
Brilliant! Just brilliant!
Having watched, or rather, been exposed to trump’s antics … and hideous, tacky “architecture” with oodles of polished brass and logos using schmaltzy wedding announcement script … in NYC since the early 80s, Roger nailed it!
Crap & BS all the way!
4
I don't think Trump won the electoral college - or for that matter that the GOP won the House and Senate in 2016 - because they managed to adequately capture people's anger, let alone capture it better than the Democrats and their campaign platform.
And I'm truly convinced that Trump did not win because Americans were ready "for a post-truth presidency".
GOP voters don't care less about the truth than Democrats. The main difference is rather that after having been fed lies for two decades by Fox News and the GOP, they ARE living in an "alternative facts" bubble, so what for any non FN watcher is a proven falsehood, IS for them the truth, and it is because it's the "truth" that they felt so fired up when Trump took over all those lies in a much more convincing way (thanks to his decade-long training as an actor on The Apprentice) than any other GOP primary candidate.
That's also why the GOP is sticking with him today. They knew that none of them can lie so well as Trump, and without those lies, they couldn't possibly win elections and pass their agenda of systematically shifting wealth from the 99% to the 1% wealthiest Americans, preferably those among them who are GOP donors.
Analyzing Trump's electoral success as if his voters actively wanted a lying BS president is only possible when you "watch the Trump show from a distance". Go talking to those people and watch FN, and you'll see that for them, the only BS out there is what all the other media and politicians say ...
3
This is so on point. In the last few years I've remembered guys like Trump in high school and college -- constant talking, always making bold claims that no one ever believed, but there was just something fascinating about them -- their ability to lie and fabricate without guile. "Does he know that everyone knows he's full of crap?" The answer was never clear.
Trump BS'd his way into the presidency with feet of clay. But who could have ever guessed that the GOP would have decided to find his crap charming?
2
I read Frankfurt's book years ago, and I've purchased extra copies to give away to friends/colleagues. The book was written in a response to the George W. Bush Administration.
The solution, according to Frankfurt, is to value the Truth - easier accomplished among professional colleagues, less so among friends/family, very hard nationwide.
Maybe it's the cottage industry of fact-checkers, but that will require a National Exorcism: remind yourself of the detox intervention of a friend suffering from Fake-News Syndrome (unpleasant truths are, by definition, fake news), how it took months of rehabilitation, and now imagine that process on a national scale.
Lastly, Frankfurt doesn't spend much time talking about Good BS, which is necessary, too: the brainstorming of new ideas when starting a new company, department, or project. When the lottery makes news with a billion dollar jackpot, everyone is permitted Good BS - talking smack about what they would do with their money, which is completely unrealistic and probably untrue of they won the prize.
Because Good BS is acceptable and can be positive, this is why Bad BS is hard to eradicate ... and so hazardous.
2
Because Trump's continual web of BULLSHIT reigns, we are literally held in the sway of a madman's mind. Mr. R. Cohen (& in turn Frankfurt & Jurecic) has put his finger precisely on our problem with the president in outlining the difference between lies and fakery. Trump is NOT about lies, but about the unending crazy-making of fakery. To support this, all in Trump's sphere echo his fakery to the point where it's difficult to parse truth from fiction or even what the original disputed issue was. Put us out of our misery and end this soon, PLEASE! (Mr. Mueller, Congress, Senate...somebody!) So we can get back to the land of the living and out of this national nightmare, with madman at the helm.
1
The prescience of Frankfurt and accuracy of Jurecic's predictions are as you say, troubling in the extreme.
That BS artists exist is not surprising nor unusual, but that our nation was so captured by one is what drives me nuts.
Here is a quote (mid 20th century) from another prescient cultural observer, HL Mencken (1880-1956):
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
1
Roger, Are there certain qualities necessary to thrive in the midst of a B.S. artist? As when the Cabinet sings hosannas in homage to his greatness? Is it genetic, do his offspring emulate from fear of not measuring up on the B.S. bar?
Opportunists, jesters, strapper on’s, a retinue followed courts of yore. Explains much.
As usual, I love your column.
My only comment is that you mostly look at bs from the top down. The person producing bs does so with no regard for truth or falsity - only with an outcome possibly in mind.
But to us on the consuming end, who have no way of independently ascertaining truth or falsity, a mixture of truth and lies and mistakes from a particular source become indistinguishable from bs. For an American who has been through the Kennedy Assassination, the Gulf of Tonkin, the Iraq War buildup, etc, it's hard not to see all government pronouncements as bs. Yes, some pronouncements may turn out not to be lies, or to be actual lies, but at the time, who's to know, and who's to care?
A quest for truth, and a pledge of honesty and good faith, should be the Hippocratic Oath for people in the political arena. The issues are complicated enough, without being lost in a haze of lies and bs.
Great analysis of BS - & that's no BS! Of course until the Dems get off their rear end & start attacking McConnell "nowt" will be achieved. McConnell is guilty of undermining the US constitution by refusing to allow a vote on numerous bills the Senate could and would likely adopt (i.e. see the ever growing GOP members who openly say they will support the Dems' bills). So as so many observe McConnell refuses to allow a vote FOR PERSONAL Reasons. Clearly putting his "SELF-INTEREST" ahead of that of the country. He should, ethically speaking, be forced to resign. Calls for that will not succeed, but how will he enjoy a re-election campaign in 2020 by being attacked for putting himself above the country's interests - just like his "great leader"! This needs full page ads in Kentucky - now.
2
Roger, I always suspected that the Trump bullshit, fake news, alternative fact world was the logical conclusion of the deconstructionist tendency of modern media--though I do think the proponents of the "there are no real facts, just power" philosophy have definitely misconstrued what those French philosophers were actually saying, if those proponents even have any idea about the message at all. (I've learned not to attribute to planning and forethought what can be adequately explained by stupidity and accident.)
Still, a big part of why the Trumpian approach to the world has been so successful is that there have been absurdly few consequences for it. Did those who plunged us into the aughts Great Recession through their complete lying about credit worthiness of toxic derivatives ever spend a moment in jail, or even need to forfeit their ill-gotten gains? No. They got bailed out instead. Has Trump ever faced a major seizure of assets or incarceration for his stiffing of contractors or his defamation of the Central Park Five? Not at all. He got rewarded with the Oval Office.
Obviously, we can't expect there to be renewed respect for honesty and factuality until we stop rewarding their opposites. But that's going to take a massive systemic overhaul of our sociopolitical system, and the entrenched oligarchic interests that benefit from it.
Many who read these boxes know I think it starts with complete public funding of elections--but it's hardly limited to that.
1
I would add that the Michelangelo of bs artists also views absolutely everyone, especially the public, as marks. To say during the campaign maybe a thousand times that he'll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it, then turn around and say he meant that figuratively, is to assume everyone out there is an idiot and he can get wiggle out of anything by making stuff up.
1
Trump is a consummate BS artist. Always has been. Always will be. Deep down, his supporters know it, and somehow this knowledge makes them feel secure. They aren't fooled, the joke is not on them. They are Trump's dung beetles.
You’re right. Bullshit artists in low places are usually dim-witted but quite amusing. On the other hand, bullshit artists in high places - I dunno’, say President of the United States of America - also, dim-witted but wa-a-a-y scarier and potentially the unwitting architect of the beginning of the end.
2
Bullshit artists thrive because they are not questioned to their face on their words. Hence, the smattering of briefings that Trump has held during his 2 plus years. And the now almost defunct press briefings by Sanders. Or the microphones set up during walks to and from his plane or chopper, where he can respond to one or two questions with his bs, then turn and walk away. Or his one-way twitter/144 character bursts of bs, and watch the media parse it for some semblance of logic (unless you are state TV).
"Donald Trump is the Michelangelo of bullshit artists" - priceless.
2
Roger Cohen is spot on in following Frankfurt's parsing the difference between lying and bullshit, and he's correct in arguing that Trump is a bullshit artist.
Trump is also another kind of artist--an actor. He knows how to pretend to be what he is not. After all, the one venture he was successful at was The Apprentice, where the persona was that of a person who wasn't a bullshit artist, but a straight-talking truth-teller (ah, the irony...). This required more than being a bullshit artist--it required acting talent. It also required the approval of a particular kind of (pardon me) repulsive audience.
While Trump's base includes all sorts, we can be certain that the same sort of repulsive people who watched and admired Trump in The Apprentice admire and support the man as president. Finding a way to rid ourselves of Trump is imperative, and will not be easy, but finding a way around these people will be the real challenge.
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.”
So, like an addled, precocious teenager, he's given a pass by his cultists who just want to see the world burn.
If bullshit was concrete Trump would already have his wall.
2
Thanks for this column. I agree completely. Not only is Trump a true BS artist, he (and McConnell and Pence and Sanders and Conway....the list goes on) is a stone-cold sociopath. They are able to lie, give demonstrably false reports, and purposefully endorse hypocrisy without a shred of internal conflict. He has no fear or anxiety or even slight discomfort when he spouts his BS and that is a scary and lethal combination. He is the kind of criminal that, if not for the protection of his father’s money, would be in prison in a normal and just world if only from his shady dealings from decades ago.
To me and most rational people, the willingness and ability to lie like that is frightening. Only sociopathic people can lie and rewrite history and deny as he (and the) they do without any discomfort. In the case of GOP leadership, they know it’s wrong and they don’t care. That’s what makes my skin crawl and heightens my fear of the lengths to which they’ll go. When will more Americans say stop this gaslighting and go to hell?
3
This is what happens when you swallow wholesale the BS that the government hands you - like 'OBL obviously carried out the biggest surprise attack of all time against the largest military of all time from a cave without electricity and 19 suicide bombers who weren't on the original flight manifests, including of two flights that weren't even scheduled that day and for which there is no record of their taking off' and oh by the way, 'two of the largest buildings in the world fell after less than an hour and an hour and a half of a limited fire, and blasted themselves into dust on the way down but also managed to shred themselves because of their weight' and oh yeah, 'the air in NYC is safe to breathe'... need I go on?
But hey, I'm a 'truther' and that's far worse than a deplorable, right?
Carry on, fools.
Most BS artists do no harm. This BS artist as caused people to lose their farms, children to die and our country to be less safe.
There are many examples of straightforward lying when responding to reporters questions, as well the more common BS-ing such as the urgency for a beautiful wall. So is it safe to conclude that a BS-er is, when the need arises, always a liar? What about the reverse?
I question whether Trump has the capacity to lie, because to lie, one has to grasp the truth and deliberately and consciously make a statement that is contrary to what one knows to be true. It seems to me that Trump has such an engrained and indelible reflex habit of dishonesty that before making a statement, he no longer wastes any mental energy on perceiving the truth; he just says whatever meets the need of the moment, without bothering to ponder whether what he says is true or false. Most likely, he long ago degenerated from being a liar to being a "bullshitter" as Frankfurter defined that term.
389
@Mark
Putin’s Puppet inability to understand lying is called delusion.
21
Probably “horseshit” would be more apropos a term for his myriad prevarications.
I mean, after all, he is a self-professed ‘stable’ genius.
3
Please allow me to call it BS and leave the full form to stouter hearts.
One great problem with it, as with Trump's misdeeds and his omissions, is that no single instance is quite enough to spring a Constitutional tripwire and move the country toward relief from this crisis. Trump is swarming the ship of state with many smaller offenses than Congress or the Cabinet clearly must act on, either to impeach him or to remove him under the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
Yet the assault is undeniably staggering. Everyone knows that Donald Trump is utterly unfit for public office, that he's constantly speaking and acting harmfully, that he's weakening America's position in the world and causing the US Government to deteriorate even when he isn't absolutely shutting it down.
Of course, "Everyone knows" is not in itself a premise for legal action. But it seems to me that when one can point to a great many known deeds, omissions, statements, and signs of mental instability, the *accumulation* ought to be sufficient to satisfy the spirit of the Constitution and to pass muster with the letter of it. We should be pressing both parties in Congress to build a case from the abundance of awful evidence, and not wait for Mueller or Trump himself to hand them one tied up in a package.
Trump's BS has already been allowed to go much too far. America needs a good BM, and soon.
1
Still waiting for that Presidential pivot. Trump praises China and denigrates duly elected U.S. officials because China flatters him and Nancy Pelosi does not. Pompeo gives a speech in Cairo denigrating former President Obama and then adopting the same Middle East policies. To the world, the U.S. looks completely dysfunctional maybe because, right now, it is.
3
Abridging these comments, past to future:
The two main political parties failed and Putin & Co. long knew that Trump could not help himself and took advantage.
He can dismiss the truth as manufactured and/or pays no attention to the truth at all.
The far right in the U.S. has risen on the idea that government is unnecessary, so in a week or two air traffic controllers and TSA agents will refuse to come to work and you won't be able to catch a flight.
Creating more pain for more people allows him to exercise a stunning demonstration of power for his base.
The power of the conman lies in his victim's ability to accept that they have been fooled.
Trump would claim the authority to declare martial law. If Trump knows he's going down, he might as well take us all with him.
As tragic and depressing Donald Trump may be, it pails in comparison to the American voter and the American electoral system. Trump will go in time, the damage he has done and will do to the stature of the United States in the world and to its most vulnerable people will be undone in time by his successors. The damage to the planet may be another story. -- not easily repaired.
Unfortunately, the American electoral system will go on unchanged. Fundamental precepts in democracy, like one person one equal vote and the candidate with the most votes wins and that the composition of the legislative branch should reflect the votes cast, will continue to be ignored. Campaigns for the Presidency will run on for 18 months costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Candidates will be considered viable if they can raise the money to run and wealthy individuals and corporations will be the source of funding.
5
If we must wait before impeaching Trump, we can at least do something that is just as imperative. We must begin immediately to make life for Republicans in Congress a living hell.
Start recall campaigns. Hound them in every public venue. Disrupt their movement between home and office with civil disobedience sit-ins. Stage large protest crowds at the entrances to their homes and offices. Fill their telephone lines with calls for their resignation. Identify and do the same to their donors. Boycott and shame every corporate donor. Do the same to media that treats them as deserving respect.
Our institutions move too slowly to wait for elections to throw Trump and Republicans out of office. Instead of sitting on our hands we must have the courage of our forefathers and act to save America for future generations. Republicans in Congress are responsible for the disgrace of putting Trump in the Oval Office. They are all scoundrels. They must all be banished from government, ostracized from decent society.
9
A third of American's choose to believe the mans bull. So what? Isn't it about time the other two-thirds (of those American ants) start calling him on it rather than standing around working their worry beads? It's easy, just stand up and do it. He'll fold like he always does. He'll have no choice.
John~
American Net'Zen
4
No bull here! Very insightful from Roger Cohen. No interest in truth combined with sadistic cruelty. Our "ruler".
Brilliant article.
Trump by design or inclination - I tend to belief he has no design on any act - its all inclination ( his often mentioned 'gut') wants only to build a wall through America. His instinct tells him that turning us into Iraq, Kosovo, Syria, Lebanon or any of the countries that have been plagued by civil war, neighbor vs neighbor, brother against brother, is his best hope for his autocratic control, which its clear he would embrace.
What is not clear and what needs to be said in this paper more often - is the role of McConnell, Graham, Thune, Collins et al and the other so called 'statesmen' of the Grand Old Party.
More articles should be written about these men and women and how they enable the demise of democracy.
Less about Trump - we know he's a madman - and more about them, who look upon him and exclaim " the Emperor indeed has fine clothes!"
11
If bullshit were music, Trump would be a brass band and played badly.
2
Enough with the BS,let’s talk about Trump’s future after the presidency. I believe his parents lived a long time and so there is no reason to think he won’t live another 20 years.
If he were to get impeached for conspiring with the Russians will he still be entitled to secret service protection? My apologies to any of you that have to be around such a wretched soul, but seriously is the taxpayer on the hook for this job perk?
And what about his properties that he leases his name to. Does he honestly think after being found guilty that the public will tolerate his name plastered on any of this any longer? Same for the golf clubs. It’s my guess that all of this supposed empire will come down with his demise, but be voted for him and now we own him.
Something will have to be done with king of BS after his term is up because I seriously doubt New York wants him back.
My suggestion would be to put him up in Point Roberts, a sliver of land on Vancouver Island that belongs to Washington State. If it’s not surround by water it’s surrounded by Canada and the only way in and out is through that border. Seems like a fitting end for the king of BS and lover of walls.
7
@Ted Siebert
Gitmo.
1
This seems too nail the compulsions of Donald Trump and his behavior to a "t", as it were. Why does he act and do as he does? Because he can. The difference between a person who simply lies and Trump's actions as described by Ms. Juercic make the case for his "foundational disrecpect for meaning and consequence--that is to say, for reality and the very concept of law..." Cohen makes the last serious point in stating that Trump is a "malignant, rather than a benign, bullshit artist...who happens to occupy the world's most powerful artist." Yes, there's bullshit and there's danger from malignancies.
1
Mr. Cohen, is Trump outrageous and appalling? Indeed, but allow me to opine. How is it, learned, nuanced, enlightened gatekeepers such as yourself expect someone like me, just another chump in a flyover state, to manifest your draw a line in the sand proclamation? Is Trump the end-all-be-all exclamation point of "bullshit" that shall we agree, may be the undercurrent of the past four decades? The insanity of Trump was made possible how? What happened in 2008? What caused 2008? What didn't happen in the aftermath? What happened on 9/11/2001? What happened in the run-up and aftermath? What happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and didn't happen in Saudi Arabia? What's happened in Saudi Arabia since and what is the consequence? How do we interpret Israel? Brazil? Panama? What we're in the midst of isn't a self-made populist wave intent on burying the liberal democratic order because white supremacy once again found its footing. It's because liberal democracy vanished thanks to neo-libs-cons that are CORRUPT! It's corruption in every direction and dimension and Trump is simply the ultimate bullshit doppelganger. What has enabled all of it is ivory tower illusions that have lost all touch with reality, or maybe never were in touch. The disconnect is not holding the financial-fossil fuel juggernaut accountable that fuels it all. Trump is bullshit. The rest is a cancer that has rotted everything that matters to its core. History is prologue.
6
This column will be churning in my mind and stomach today as I realize how close the country next door to me is slipping away. How can one man have this kind of influence and power over so many and do it so easily as the BS artist.
The question that continues to elude me is what do his followers see, what draws them to him? Is it the drama, the entertainment of “what did Trump do/say today” like some episodic show. But what really has my stomach churning is what if this is it, what if this is what America wants, someone who can endlessly entertain them with this BS, what if that is the attraction? I do know this, the republican party is his best and most dedicated audience, his mini-BS artists who nod and clap in agreement, selling their country out for this cheap, phoney, BS huckster.
7
@Holly. You hit the nail on the head, Holly. Me, I am still trying to understand how Hitler did it and caused millions of deaths.
1
A most thoughtful and helpful column. A lot of effort continues to be spent to understand the root causes of what is happening. You clearly describe a key distinction: we are being swamped with bullshit vs lying. Toxic, hateful, at times random and exhausting bullshit. I will think about this for a while... Thank you Roger Cohen for this piece of the puzzle. It should help us as we resist and fight back.
3
@JS Minneapolis
Why didn't we believe Steve Bannon when he declared Trump would flood the airwaves with so much BS we would need a compass to lead us out of it? This is an obvious strategy to reduce logic and rationality to useless ideology. I had no idea people needed to make it a complexity so as to excuse falling for it.
I am very familiar with this kind of lying as it has fueled atrocities for much of human history. If one succumbs to the belief hate and fear are the keys to winning, one misses the love boat. It's that simple, folks. You can make it as complex as you require to confound yourself, but I find this the best expression of it if you want to land a convert.
3
Roughly 44% of the population, and 89% of the Republicans that supports this incompetent bulls**t artist has suspended its capacity to be swayed by reason, evidence and analysis. This subset of the population can be easily manipulated to do the bidding of rich charlatans.
6
@Zor
I disagree; it's worse than that. Many of those who you presume buy this BS are actually fans of watching our heads explode each time Trump lies to us. They know, and don't care. They gave up on the truth for perverse pleasures long ago. Nihilists all the way down.
2
Let us hope and pray that Robert Mueller soon says, in an unmistakeable way, "I call BS!" on this master bullshitter. Our republic depends upon it.
8
Thank you Mr Cohen for introducing me to Professor Franfurt’s piece on Bullshit. What concerns me gravely is that Trump’s propensity to Bullshit his way through life was NOT a novel issue. What concerns me is that the GOP made a Faustian deal to support him and continue to enable him even with an increasingly overwhelming amount of evidence that he is not only unfit to run this country but poses a clear and present danger to destroying it. Listening to his daily and increasingly irrational rants only reminds me more and more of Little Boots Caligula as he orders the Roman Legions to attack the sea/Poseidon(and collect seashells in the process). Our country is besieged from within. One can only hope that the Praetorian Guard realizes what it is protecting soon.
6
People are much more likely to admit they made the mistake of marrying the worst person in the world than they are admitting they made a mistake in the voting booth.
Add to that the embarrassment that they were totally taken in by a bullshit artist, and it’s not difficult to understand why Trump’s base clings to him.
4
"Emergency" - a situation requiring immediate action.
3
"Like the Dog that returns to his vomit" is the perfect description of the world's most toxic bullshit con man. I would have said "bullshit artist," but that would imply a vision is held. This sad, insecure man has no vision whatsoever.
7
The latest bullshit is the government shutdown owned by Trump and McConnell.
It is their revenge for the midterms when Trump and the GOP crashed and burned. They are holding up priority legislation for the majority of people they don't care about.
These two 'good OLD boys' are telling the majority of Americans that we don't count and they have all the power. Again it is a revenge shutdown and very deliberate in intent.
We, the people need to take back our government and let them know they work for us and we are not victims or hostages to either of them.
17
Writer Cohen is spot on in that Trump is doing precisely to 800,000 federal American workers (and the well-being to the rest of the country and other contractors) as he did when he stiffed vendors looking for a paycheck after working on "his" various real estate projects out of NYC. But Trump is so mentally deficient that he does not know that being a con in private enterprise is not fit for being a leader of the free world, the US president, and the commander-in-chief. While Trump is a bullshit artist as the author rightfully references, he is now an irrelevant nobody to the government shutdown. Irrelevant, you say? We don't need him to end the longest shut down in country history, even though he can notch it on his belt under this watch while blaming others for it. It is McCONNELL'S FAULT, since he has the power and ability to call up for a vote all the appropriation measures passed by the House a couple of weeks ago to which McConnell's caucus agreed, and rubber stamp the ones the House is passing now. Sure, Trump can, and most likely will, then veto the legislation, but, guess what, Congress can override the veto. But the problem remains, what is more important to McConnell, the voters that sent him and his ilk to be their representatives, or to Trump, the bullshit artist? McConnell, who has been in hiding without really nary a word in recent days, the ball is in your court. Repeating, and as Cohen scribes, do you want to stink with bullshit as with Trump?
12
Trump may be the bullshit artist, but hold the GOP accountable for selling tickets to his sideshow. Trump’s shutdown drama cannot exist without Mitch McConnel’s acquiescence and silent support. Trump wouldn’t feel so emboldened but for his previous enablers, Paul Ryan and the GOP congress. Trump’s circus offers such weasels the perfect foil to very deliberately fulfil their own agenda, but history will hold them accountable.
20
>>There really is no alternative to it, for Donald Trump is the Michelangelo of bullshit artists.<<
Yes, he is. Thank you for calling a spade a spade!
1
There's no denying that Trump is a bullshit artist, a simply read of the "The At of the Deal" should confirm that; it did for me.
But, and it's a big but, the one last element in this opinion article says Trump is a dangerous bullshit artist; we need to keep this in mind even if too many republican senators aren't.
Good luck to us!
3
Trump is not a "bullshit artist". He's just bullshit. Nothing "artist" about him. Others have coached and encouraged him into being somewhat good at being bullshit. And, with bullshit sitting in the oval, we no longer can claim the U.S. presidency is the world's most powerful office. That honor now belongs to Putin.
Trump would be removed from office were it not for McConnell, Ryan and Graham covering for him at every turn.
9
Yes Bull Shit artist.
Yes Malignant Narcissist.
Yes Psychopath.
Trump is evil and will destroy us. As with Global Warming, we may have passed our window of opportunity to save ourselves.
11
Trump is putting up a pretty good front for someone who's days are numbered. He won't go down without a fight, but he is going DOWN. He does not seem to realize just how much political and legal trouble he is in.
8
@rab
I hear he's really foundering inside the WH. Doesn't even think it makes a diff if he shows up or not.
1
Roger, you refer correctly to "... the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency."
'Post-truth' has been a historical U.S. failing, and gained added momentum in 1980 when Reagan contributed to the fate of the 'deplorables' through robber baron economic policies. The resulting socio-economic chasm created the foundation for 'easy' military solutions and the self-serving demonisation of 'enemies', both domestic and foreign, who longed for a return to the U.S. polices of the sixties and seventies.
So Trump may indeed hypnotise observers as would a King Cobra, but the nest of cobras was created long ago, and Trump's rise to the top was the inevitable result of policies established long before his emergence as the personification of 'post-truth'.
6
All true but our republic had rules against behavior like Trumps. The problem is Mitch McConnell won’t allow a vote and it is well past time to investigate why that is
What does Trump have on McConnell and how many others are involved!
29
@Deirdre I believe the issue is that McConnell can count. He is also a shrewd politician (as well as one of the most evil people in government, in my opinion) who has said publicly that shutdowns are bad politics. I think the indicators are clear that if McConnell could over-ride a veto, he'd allow a vote. But it takes 67 votes for an over-ride. He'd likely get the 48 Democrats/Independents, but needs 19 more on the Republican side. Once you get past Collins, Murkowski and two or three others, where are the votes going to come from? Again, the man can count and he is not going to risk another humiliation by Trump, who pulled the rug out from under him just a few weeks ago, by reneging on a deal.
2
The nicely crafted sense of dialogue in this essay recalls the form in Montesquieu in "The Persian Letters," and of course in Sheridan and Congreve, Diderot and Voltaire. All the trap doors we can summon for the scaffold of this interesting public figure have one persistent thread in common. They are too much rope of wasted time.
6
The media had gotten better at calling out his lies as lies and in real time. But most are still engaged in this fiction that he is capable of fulfilling his duties. I don’t know to fix it, but there needs to be more of a recognition that something is very very wrong. We have a guy in the WH who is not doing the basics of his job. He is playacting. Concocting photo ops. Tweeting nonsense. Everyone is running around in circles trying to explain the unexplainable, undo the ridiculous, justify the unjustifiable. And, yet he is covered like past presidents, as if he is making rational policy decisions upon which there is simple a disagreement. This isn’t about policy disagreements, or at the end of day even about the lies; it is about the fact that our president is unfit for office - and we don’t know how to deal with that.
45
@Maureen Well said. But we do know how to deal with it. Two options --25th Amendment and impeachment. And one or the other may well still happen.
What I think is more important is that our broken antique, the Electoral College, has once again, for the second time since 2000, put someone in office against the will of the majority of American voters and certainly in this case was totally unfit for the office (I personally feel the that the same could be said about GW Bush). The Electoral College does not work as Hamilton envisioned it and it needs to be eliminated. It is anti-democratic and it is producing dangerous outcomes, as we are currently much too well aware.
22
So President Trump can't help himself, but what about the GOP?
They are the shills in the crowd of all this madness. It's clear VP Pence will continue to give Trump cover and Lindsay Graham should get an award for his theatrics. Which leads me to the evil McConnell, who refuses to help.
If there was a national emergency it's the inaction by the GOP. Come election time it be hooves us to remember this moment.
20
The longer Trump remans in office the quicker the office will decline in worldly stature. It is impassible for a country that has a leader who is not respected accross the world to remain its leader.
It is apparant to all world leaders that Trump is immoral and incompetent. The question remains how long will it take for thise leaders to transfer those feelings from the man to the country he leads.
Time is running out
11
I am the opposite of a Trump fan, but...there is a big problem at the border right now. Immigrant families are crossing illegally, knowing that if they seek asylum then after their hearings they are released and can disappear. Because there is a delay processing asylum applications at legitimate checkpoints, these families are venturing to far off parts of the border to cross illegally, putting themselves in grave danger and overwhelming U.S. authorities. Here, read about it in the Texas Tribune (a relatively news nonpartisan organization):
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/05/trump-immigration-border-crisis-little-urgency/
24
@tanstaafl
A "big problem", yes, and it has been for some time and the failure of the legislative branch (House and Senate) to address it is a national shame.
There is no national emergency. And the problem is not something that a wall can fix.
128
@tanstaafl
I agree that we have a "big problem at the border;" however, it is of Trump's making. Legislation was passed that would have eliminated all this mess, but Trump decided - at the last minute, and under the direction of Fox News - to walk away leaving us with the mess in which we now find ourselves.
111
@tanstaafl
You may be "the opposite of a Trump fan," tanstaafl, but you're drinking the Trump Kool-Aid just the same, making the assumption that these families have absolutely no intention of being hard workers with the end goal of becoming American citizens. That they undertake such hazardous treks is done just to get on the public dole AND to destroy America is part of the Trump lie.
182
Oh, how I wish the NYT paid me for my contributions to its pages. Then I, too, could use the really good words (as long as I include the "" to bracket them, like I'm just quoting something someone else said) that really do accurately, precisely and deliciously describe and define Donald J. Trump.
1
My husband made me a list of adjectives to use when writing or speaking about our leader. I would like to share some of them with you.
Abhorent
Appalling
Atrocious
Contemptable
Loathsome
Obnoxious
Odious -------I could go on, but what is the point? I think everyone gets the idea and I think Mr. Cohen is right on in his analysis of DJT. He is a danger to this country. I would also use some of these words to describe the Republican Senators and Representatives who support him.
14
Had Obama done his job and put in place an immigration policy rather than govern by presidential edict, we would not now be dealing with the fall out. The Democrats have equal blame for the issues at our borders. Fund the wall and further secure our borders. Even the Democrats cannot deny that drugs, guns, and violence crossed over from Mexico to the US.
21
@George, had McConnell and Boehner done their jobs and worked with Obama to pass legislation rather obstruct, we might not be in this mess. It's laughable to criticize governing by presidential edict considering the ease and frequency with which Trump has done just that, even with a majority on Congress for two years.
334
@George--In your haste to blame President Obama, you have overlooked the bipartisan committee that revamped our antiquated immigration laws. When they presented their work in 2013, Mitch McConnell announced the bill would never be voted on.
Do the research. They were called "The Gang of Eight" led by Marco Rubio.
456
@George Immigration and border security Legislation was brought by the “Gang of Eight” in the Senate and was passed during the Obama administration. Boehner never brought it up for a vote. Pretty sure Boehner’s republican. Also, the guns are crossing the border north to south. If we really wanted to do something about the violence in Central America we’d have to address gun control in our own country, a Republican non starter.
329
As long as we are not focused Mitchell. Graham and others who are playing echo to this narcissist, we are the fools.
Trump has no power without few people who know the system.
Who are they and why are not writing about them?
12
After reading this excellent column and some responses to it, I ask myself, why is that we do not shift a bit and focus on the congressmen (and a few congresswomen) who are willing to support this fake man? Where is their sense of integrity and responsibility? What lies will they tell their constituents when they return for re-election? Share the shame--share the shame. The president is an obvious target and he deserved everything he gets--but those who support him are complicit and even more so, responsible for keeping him in power. AND let's forget about Trump being the most powerful man int he world. That is no longer true.He is a pathetic sick leader playing to the interests of another really powerful nation. Guess who?
11
While Cohen and the rest of the trump haters in the leftie media rail about the smoke and mirrors, Trump is patiently placing checkmarks on his campaign promise list - now the most successful president in the history of the nation, in that respect.
9
@Objectivist So, in other words, you ain't paying attention.
143
@Objectivist
Yes successfully attempting to destroy the republic and those who support it.
138
@Objectivist
Objectively, Donald's specific promise was for an extended concrete wall paid for solely by Mexico. He did implicitly promise a dramatic, entertaining reality TV show -- on that he has delivered. Unfortunately life on 'The Island' is not how things work in the real world.
146
While most Americans are fond of expressing their horror at Trump and his imbecilic behavior, the greater horror is that there seems no depths to which he will descend that are sufficient to alienate his base. In fact, we all should be talking about how terrifying it is for democracy that in some parts of our country Trump continues to enjoy a majority favorable rating. This includes large segments of the South, Appalachia, the plains and mountain states (https://morningconsult.com/tracking-trump/). One may express amazement and shock that Germany could ever have let the Nazis into power, but parts of our country continue to support our own deranged demagogue. There is no indication that anything would move them from blind loyalty to their Fuhrer. Their submissiveness to Trump not only fuels his continued rampage of unbridled caprice, it reflects upon who we are as a country that many of us are willing to embrace intolerance, prejudice, greed, chicanery, and immoral behavior as incarnate in our elected Satan. In embracing Trump, his supporters define themselves by his horrific actions and lunatic rants. Who are we, that we are a nation of Trumps? I shudder to think on this, and so should we all.
14
@Samantha
Similarly, around Trump has been constructed an authoritarian cult of personality, divorced from the facts on the ground.
"He happens to occupy the world’s most powerful office."
No. He happens to occupy what was once the world's most powerful office.
Through his nationalistic, isolationist actions, he has diminished both the office and the United States. It will be a real challenge for the next president (if DT does not establish an autocracy) to regain the trust of other countries and re-establish America's pre-eminent position of power and moral authority in the world.
18
What is most worrying is that Americans have become like the peoples of other large countries, and lost their sense of smell..
5
Donald Trump is the man who mistook each and every one of us for a chump (apologies to Oliver Sacks).
7
I get the ants analogy, but for me the imagery is more like a petulant child not getting his way. And not just throwing a temper tantrum but but losing it emotionally and wildly throwing everything off the shelvesas he runs through the house creating a path of utter destruction behind him with everything he has trashed - the destruction being the US government and any person who is in his way. Kind of like the cartoonish Tasmanian Devil. Except the cartoon character was ultimately less destructive than Putin’s Puppet.
The one thing you missed is there is indeed a crisis at the southern border - a humanitarian crisis created solely as a distraction by Putin’s Puppet and that should be addressed by the international humanitarian watchdog group like the UN.
The Dems should not give in. This is 100% on the Republicans.
No Wall!
17
@Radha
And one more thing, the GOP’s McConnell and Graham are as abhorrent as Putin’s Puppet in their propping up the conman.
The GOP is at the root of the destruction of the democracy.
2
We need to stop obsessing about Donald Trump and start focusing on those actually responsible for this protracted embarrassment, the Senate Republicans. Donald Trump leads with his gut and they are gutless. Trump's eructations spew out of his mouth while nothing comes out of theirs in response. If fifteen Republican senators could find or borrow a spine, the shutdown could be over today. The House has already passed the necessary bills. Everytime one of those gutless wonders talks about a secure border, the response needs to be, “How can the border be secured if we won't pay those responsible for securing it.” We are, or used to be, a republic of the people. Let's stop being a republic of the Donald.
16
By declaring a “national emergency” over a trumped up “national crisis,” our Malignant Buffoon in Chief is about to take the first step in declaring an autocracy. Your reference to the Reichstag Fire is not only apt but also should be setting of sirens in our Emergency Alert System (EAS) from sea to shining sea.
Trump has doubled down on dehumanizing immigrants, specifically brown and black immigrants. Why not a Northern border wall? The optics are unmistakable. So too the corollary with a previous power grab by a future autocratic regime over a trumped up communist menace. When the communists were discovered to be an unrealistic menace, the regime, then in power, focused on "other" enemies of its pure, lily white, Aryan state.
It is not about immigration. It is about power. Somehow this excuses the sadistic cruelty or the sadistic cruelty is part and parcel of the appeal as Adam Serwer noted in The Atlantic last year, “The Cruelty Is the Point."
As Trump goes all in with his version of Texas Hold ‘Em, the argument shifts away from immigration issues. The choice is between autocracy/plutocracy and secular representative democracy. If he wins this one, the path is clear for other, perhaps more substantive, abuses.
14
Tremendously on target article describing this most malignant con man. The only thing I would take issue with is maligning ants - they are possibly the most organized, focused, and successful beings on this planet and have zero in common with our grifter in chief. But point well taken, DJT's actions are not the actions of a rational man. More like a man that is cornered and has no way out. And, amazingly, this con man still has millions of blind followers.
3
What did Trump and Putin discuss in Helsinki?
No one still knows.
Nancy Pelosi needs to find out.
17
Apparently, the GOP can't help it either.
4
"Like a dog returning to its vomit," Trump likes the fight more than what he is fighting for. He doesn't really want the Wall, he wants the fight about the wall and hopes it will last two years as the bedrock issue of his never-ending reelection campaign. The GOP, however, does not want this fight. Having bamboozled the most ignorant segments of our society for so long with trickle-down economics, anti-science, anti-education, climate denial, white racism, anti-government and pro-pollution policies, it has become a victim of demographic change with shrinking membership and no new ideas other than the same old tax cuts. And now it finds itself chained to a maniac who is taking the party -- and perhaps the country -- over a cliff. It remains to be seen whether Mitch McCoward & Co. finally grow a spine or meekly follow their Dear Leader into the dustbin of history.
8
@Christy
McConnell’s spine is actually quite developed. He figured out how to outmaneuver the Congress before they even took their vows of office. The chaos Trump creates, buys Mitch time. RBG will be 86 in March. McConnell is after only thing, a SCOTUS hat trick.
2
PLEASE...Some of us have labeled this “elected President”as an Active Diagnosable Psychotic...a Sociopathic Personality Disorder. We, the People, have been confused by his blatant
propensity for chronic fabrication and Lying. Fitting with such a diagnosis, this man is also Enjoying his 24/7 Exposure to
National Publicity. Our CEO is our COA (Center Of Attention).
He can be an active Character Disorder. Meanwhile, he does Not
Have to Care that We, The People, are Sick. “President” Trump
is Beyond Treatment.....We, the People, are N Need of It!
3
@Richard Deforest"8 - This is how the 25th amendment would get traction.
1
@Mark.....Thanks, Mark....Any way Out Of this
Malaise!
Nothing new here. Trump is a developmentally disturbed man due to a hostile family environment fueled by misguided myths around what little humans need to grow up to be well adjusted adults. Add the protection from accountability that money provides and a culture that's capable of creating a myth that actually defines slaughtering people as a triumphant "winning the west", for example, and you get a pathological nation headed by a pathological president.
6
What a fine piece of writing.
5
He acts that way because he has been rewarded for that behavior. Blame those who reward him! They are called Republicans.
7
Mitt Romney has millions... he could start shouting from the limbs of trees that this is nonsense. The lowest level of illegal immigration in 42 years or so ??? And they are talking about diverting funds from genuine disaster victims ???
This is the time for a real leader to step up.
And where is Mitt Romney ? Did he at least make a three sentence statement via Twitter ???
Pence is out. Pence is « in » with Trump. But apparently Romney is out too. Just sitting on his tush while this happens. That’s no leader.
Probably Romney is studying the poll numbers and seeing that among the ignorant public, the sort of people that watch Fox News, there is support for the wall.
That’s what he is doing at this time of need for a leader. Studying poll numbers.
6
Trump is working hard to create a dictatorship in a country based on rules of law. Is success at hand?
6
Thank you for stating what should be obvious. God help us.
9
Trump has always lived by one motto: “get away with as much as possible, for as long as possible”. He feels no shame for the most shameful behaviors. He is a sociopath.
Cohen used to be Trump’s “fixer”; now it is McConnell who is shielding Trump, by refusing to let the Senate vote. McConnell has totally surrendered the “checks and balances” co-equal position that the Constitution expected of Congress.
13
We need to declare a deadline for Congress to act and call it Removal Day, then start renting buses to DC. If they don't get the job done, we go with good old tar and feathers.
7
It sure looks like Trump is beholden to Putin, with his Republican followers complicit. If he (and they) weren't so incompetent, the US would be much further along in the effort to make it a fascist state.
5
That's part of the definition of being "out of control" and unfit for office.
Why has it taken some people this long to realize the obvious? Hillary said it very clearly during the primaries and boy oh boy was she correct.
I pity those enablers who are still hawking for this hack Trump. Probably a traitor; certainly a clear and present danger too national security.
5
Trump desperately wants to be a dictator, but he is bungling every step on the way and the institutions of the United States are more robust than he can pervert ... so far.
Trump is a narcissistic bungler who surrounds himself with sycophants and worse bunglers.
Trump has really stepped in it this time: goaded into what may be the terminal own-goal of his presidency.
Trump needs the Republicans in the Senate. They are the only thing keeping him from impeachment, and even jail. Double-crossing them and making them fear for their 2020 elections is the height of folly.
You can see and smell the fear now in the Trump administration, and in his increasing destabilization. Mueller is after him, Letitia James is after him and his family, and Chuck and Nancy are smiling and watching him self-destruct before their very eyes.
3
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for this accurate description of the Trump presidency whose true motto should be drain the swamp and build a cesspool.
2
Those of us who have known Trump in his NYC dealings for years have observed his fealty to Russian mafia, which in turn has been in Putin's control for well over a decade.
We have witnessed Trump's innumerable business failures at close proximity and his laughable declarations of 'winning.' His presidency was the accidental alchemical marriage of Mark Burnett's fictional "The Apprentice" and the concerted efforts of the FSB & GRU on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
Trump is a traitor, and has been an obvious traitor to those of us who know him and his putrid "organization" - a crime family - for years. It is tragic that the New York Times indulged his criminality as 'entertaining' or dismissed him as a court jester or buffoon, instead of insisting that he be indicted and jailed as a racketeer years ago.
When I compare the extent to which the New York Times exerted itself to chase after Representative Charles Rangel, for what turned out to be his legal renting of an extra rent controlled apartment as his office, versus the plenary indulgences they have sprinkled on Trump's many felonious offenses over the decades, I am disgusted and disappointed in the Times' editorial wisdom and discretion. They have failed in my view, and much of its reporting subsequently seems to be an attempt to rationalize and justify that failure. They let a traitor into the White House and they "pooh-poohed" the findings of a generation of reporters like Barrett, Bastone, and Newfield.
15
@jwp-nyc - Here here!!
1
@jwp-nyc - Correct - as New Yorkers all of us have been only one or two degrees of separation from Donald Trump's poisonous filth and his clan's criminality for years. If the district attorneys had done their jobs years ago, he'd be in jail already, instead of ruining our planet. Could not agree more. Roger Cohen at least is a voice of reason at the Times and not this pretend objectivity. The jury's in. Trump is guilty of treason and worse.
1
Donald Trump just "makes it up as he goes along."
He does not care what he says, or what he may have promised, as long as he "gets his way."
Unfortunately, being an APPRENTICE POTUS and spewing nonsense and lies is going to get him into trouble.
You can't swindle all 300 million or so of us Donnie.
We are going to put you in your place, hopefully sooner than the election on November 3, 2020.
It is not going to be pretty, unfortunately.
3
Practitioners of forensic psychology/psychiatry, such as I, are familiar with the psychopath's "deception delight." Recommended reading: 1999 book by Canadian forensic psychologist Dr. Robert Hare, "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us."
5
Now we must be careful what we purchase in the way of foods....no food inspectors now and who has time to be sick.. No, trump cannot help being rotten to the core. Where does he get his moronic ideas from that is causing so much misery all around the country. Each issue has its own domino affect or didn't anyone try to explain that to this non-reader. He's dangerously close to becoming an authoritarian. Can't anyone put an end to this destruction before it's too late.
4
Remember when you rewrote Billy Joel's's piece on fire starters like a wrap artist because we thought things were gone so wrong back THEN? Put a bow on it. Trump is the conclusion to this really rappy opera, Lemony. Just because I knew the ending did not profit me.
1
The pitiful part is men like Lindsay Graham, who should know better but whose cowardice in enabling Trump's sociopathic presidency, is beyond the pale. Trump blaming democrats for some sort of kibosh on his wall idea when the GOP ran all the branches of government for 2 years is insane.
"Let them eat Fake".
10
Trump is obviously mentally ill, but what is the excuse for Mitch McConnell, the GOP members of the Senate and the brain trust that's supposed to be the cabinet?
5
Americans should demand more than a Liar in Chief...or reality tv show president. Counting the days until the sad and dangerous specter of fear and hatred of the trump administration is over.
2
Repeat after me, there is no national emergency
Trump says "want" which means no emergency
YOu act in a real emergency because you "have to.'
This is all nonsense
oh yeah, he lies a lot and his word is worthless.
Walls, wheels, total gibberish
2
According to Harvard Professor of Psychiatry, Lance M. Dodes MD and 33 of his colleagues who are also members of The American Psychiatric Association . This Letter states that Trump has a severe psychiatric disorder of extreme narcissism which is going to become very dangerous: this is the truth about Trump and the havoc he is causing.
I would hope that the Congress would use Amendment 25;
Section 4 in order to get rid of Trump...The Mueller investigation will continue even if Trump is dismissed as unfit
to hold office.
Read Letter to the Editors of The New York Times from
Dr. Dodes dated February 13, 2017
3
I find the most apt comparison Cohen gives us is the simile: "Like the dog that returns to its vomit." That metaphor also has a more literal life in describing our president.
1
Trump wouldn’t know the truth if it stared him in the face.
All of this speaks to the probably fact that he is a sociopath. Most of us recognize the Narcissistic Personality Disorder.Those are two separate assessments and I believe both can exist in the same person.
The descriptions in The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout bear uncanny resemblance. The book was published in 2005, before this man was even thought to be electable.
1
A lot of Trump supporters don't know much and they know it. Not to be unkind nor to intend a pejorative but they're essentially stupid, objectively stupid. By what measure? The Fate of the Earth. Ultimately the measure that matters most.
His people don't comprehend much. They believe what authoritative sounding people tell them. Why would anyone believe or for that matter, even listen to someone like Rush Limbo or Sean Hannity?
The sum total of their life experience is talking into a microphone in glassed walled radio booths, staring at a producer in the control room gesturing wildly. Their "skill" is winding up their audience, creating and pushing hot buttons, telling listeners what they want to hear.
And that's someone who makes them feel better about their stupidity. Rush and Sean are serial killers of "Experts" -- scientists, researchers, academics, legal scholars, politicians, government officials -- who usually are messengers of change and complexity, which frightens or enrages the Stupid. Rush and Sean will reliably trash what experts say to reassure their people.
Along comes Trump as a mash-up of Stupid -- Rush, Sean, Laura, Kanye, George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Kid Rock, Cheney, Louis C.K., Archie Bunker, Roseanne -- and those who don't know much had someone who validated them.
Playing chicken with America over a cartoon line in the sand, blithely dismissing or being oblivious to the catastrophic risk just to score points, is immorally malignant.
5
Roger, where ya been? I missed your humor and introspection!
1
The sad truth is that Trump is a very sick man. He displays all the signs of a raging psychopath. If that's what he is, then Cohen is right...Trump can't help himself. But the country can...he can be removed from office before doing any additional harm.
2
Can someone please declare Trump mentally ill. Non compos mentis. We have an incompetent and sick person as leader of our country and no one in Washington will step up and get this retched man OUT. I can't believe this is happening and Trump continues to get away with everything. Just like he has always done.
3
Such a painfully accurate portrayal of the mendacious, cruel, narcissistic occupant of the Oval Office. I believe also Tom Friedman nailed it with his recent comments, paraphrasing...”the root of the problem is we have a President with no shame, a GOP Senate with no spine and a propaganda arm in FOX NEWS with no integrity.
3
In a novel, Hemingway distinguished between the summer fool and the winter fool. Essentially, we can't distinguish the latter until he discards his winter garments and he stands unclothed in the puddle he has made as he undressed. Trump now stands before us, naked, in his puddle.
2
I have always known that the stable genius is lazy. He is even too lazy to lie.
1
"The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is that good men should do nothing. " Edmund Burke.
4
Trump offers his followers what they crave: Revenge.
7
Trump's faux border crisis "Reichstag fire" echoes another American dire threat to its safety, the faux rationale for the ever escalating war in Vietnam. "If we don't stop them there, we'll have to stop them here." For probably too long a time, a majority agreed with that claim. Today, it appears that a healthy majority already knows the actual facts and see the toxic baloney coming from the White House and it's media chorus of right wing sycophants.
1
"There really is no alternative to it, for Donald Trump is the Michelangelo of bullshit artists."
Incredible column. Incredible I can quote such an eloquent writer and not have my comment thrown out. Mr. Cohen, I have never read such a frightening piece and I don't say that lightly.
Frightening because if the president isn't consciously lying, but even more carelessly, simply toying with us with effortlessly bull, well, why is he doing it?
Corruption, sure. To evade justice, double sure. But what if its simply because he can, revealing his full contempt not only for our institutions but also for all of us?
A man like that, could easily decide that if he's going down, he might as well take us all with him.
Which, given the anarchy unfolding in Washington, feels like it's rapidly happening.
2168
@ChristineMcM
His artistry as a bullshitter is not new - it isn't something he's come up with because he's "going down."
He has been a bullshit artist since he first appeared on the scene in real estate in Queens and Manhattan. His artistry is what kept his name and photos in the tabloids throughout the 70s and 80s.
That is how he managed to con his father for $200 million, con banks for millions of dollars, con contractors and employees and investors, and even con bankruptcy judges six times.
His artistry was perfected for TV as the boss on a TV reality show where millions of Americans outside of NYC were sucked in.
What do you think convinced 63 million Americans to vote for him? Bullshit artist, indeed.
308
@ChristineMcM
In addition, Roger Cohen emphasizes the 'sadistic cruelty' which is powering much of this presidents unanchored bullshit. I have long supposed that cruelty, and phobic fear of contamination are more important notions necessary to comprehending Trump, than is narcissism. Above all, he fears vermin, and he loves to hurt.
245
Its narcissism and ego, combined with as yet undefined handicaps, a truly Shakespearean combination of traits producing a real Shakespearean tragedy.
119
I think of this kind of talk as equivalent to a squid releasing its ink, neither true nor false but as screening the speaker from the situation. It may be protective as well as misleading and it prevents any rational discussion of the issue.
3
Where is the tipping point? What will it take for Republicans to accept that the president is a danger to both the country and the world? Since inaugural day, psychiatrists have said that Trump has a mental illness. It appears to be getting worse.
I have believed that things are bad but let's wait for Mueller. But dangers are mounting. We are now in a race between Mueller releasing his findings and watching as Trump runs completely off the rails. Meanwhile, we absorb the damage he causes, with casualties mounting on a daily basis.
461
@BerkshireBoy
Accordion to Nixonian physics, when Trump's approval drops below 35%, the bottom drops out and Ellen takes over. That's what brought out the Goldwater in the GOP.
13
@BerkshireBoy Possibly the tipping point has past. Right in front of the world Trump sided with Putin against the US government. That is the point at which everyone's hair should have been "on fire". This is not a President but a operative.
68
@BerkshireBoy
I think Giuliani intends to scrub Muellers report before releasing it to congress. This will never end.
21
This whole thing is very simple. The people who choose to ignore the real problems caused by inadequate border security have more media and political power than those who cannot. Furthermore, the "ignorers" BENEFIT politically in the long term from a larger and larger population of illegals, as they vote predominantly democratic. IOW, its a win-win for those who oppose Trump.
1
@c smith
No, the problem is the ignorers who ignore the funding this Democratic House has currently proposed that includes money for border security, including some wall enhancement and repair as well as electronic and personnel measures. These ignorers could look it up themselves on Congress.gov. There are ignorers who also ignore that Trump has already conceded he cannot wall off the entire southern border. Both sides seem to ignore that there is obvious compromise between these positions that could be figured out with the help of the border control, the border communities, and some civil engineers. But such a practical solution ignores the political reality.
2
@c smith
Opponents of the wall are not ignoring the real problems caused by inadequate security--they are saying the wall is not the answer. Also, illegal aliens CANNOT vote for anyone.
3
@c smith
Cite ONE instance of "illegals" voting.
One.
2
What I don't see mentioned here is that the criticism of people like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News' Anne Coulter are the triggering cause.
Mr. Trump, besides fitting the profile of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, also fully fits Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) traits. According to the manual of mental disorders*, HPDs "...have a high degree of suggestibility. Their opinions and feelings are easily influenced by others and by current fads." Trump reverted himself on the wall situation only after he was criticized by Limbaugh and Coulter.
Note*:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, www.bit.ly/dsmhpdnpd
16
My theory is that Trump's emphasis on the wall is a result of America's Game of Thrones obsession. Trump intuitively understands that many Americans live in a fantasy world where what happens on TV is more important to them than what happens in real life. These many millions want a plot line they can follow, with opposing armies easily identified by the color of their uniforms (or skin). They want suffering and last minute plot twists. They don't actually care about any of this. Or rather they care deeply about team loyalty and nothing about policy.
Asking suffering farmers if they are going to abandon Trump is like asking a Jets fan why they don't just switch to the Eagles. Loyalty Trumps rationality every time.
380
@ML yes to the idea of the Game of Thrones influence. You have noticed the chanting of ‘Shame!’ at political gatherings. Many of our fellow citizens model their behavior after tv. The ongoing Trump show provides them a way to realize fantasy in their lives.
32
@ML
Yes. That is why the promotional posters he displays on the conference table have a “Game if Thrones” vibe. Like everything Trumpian he can’t even come up with new ideas to promote himself. He must steal them.
27
Slang words tend to have whatever meaning the employer chooses to give them, and their accepted meaning alters with time. It is a pity therefore to try to analyse Trump with a word that will mean something different to whoever reads it and is universally offensive, even if widely employed.
So much better to describe the man's behaviour in simple accepted English.
For a start, I would write that the man says whatever comes into his head for the moment, and is then quite happy with denying he said it; his words have therefore no meaning.
The one issue of importance now is: how long will he be tolerated?
3
DJT has a severe narcissistic personality disorder with grandiose, delusional and especially sadistic and sociopathic characteristics. He cannot change; he is not thinking, but enacting primitive emotional states and patterns, continuously. Everything he does is in the service of enacting control and dominance, whether sadistically humiliating someone or grandly making pronouncements and decisions that contradict reality. What is more omnipotent than being able to declare reality? Primitive psychology dictates that the world is filled with victims and victimizers, only. You can be one or the other, so which do you choose? DJT grew up with a heavy, pathological influence I see in families as a clinician; he is formed to be a victimizer rather than be a victim. As we see, he creates victims, while he dominates the victims. Look at what is happening with the government shutdown. It is important that these primitive psychological principles are built into everyone; we have to work to make the right choice, when there is an unconscious pull to identify with the omnipotent aggressor, and as we see from DJT, there is also the reality that if you are not with him, you are against him, and thus in danger of his power and destruction. McConnell and others fear him; his supporters feel primitively empowered to be 'with him.' Since his presidency is only about his psychopathology, no governing can be accomplished, and this will not change with him. It cannot.
19
@bb Unfortunately for those of us who see Trump as a psychologically damaged and damaging personality, the behaviors that characterize Trump have a certain appeal to all too many Americans. In particular his appeal to many evangelical leaders and their followers is because of his sickness and not in spite of it. They too are pedaling and swallowing nonsense and they see a fellow traveler and not a deviant personality.
1
The symptoms are with DT and GOP.
The causes are within ourselves.
6
Welcome back, Mr. Cohen. You were missed.
9
No analysis of President Trump is complete without considering the incontrovertible fact that he is mentally ill.
Analyzing his words and actions, attempting to divine some underlining thread of coherent thought or purpose or continuity, etc. is futile --- at least when one attempts to impose some template of rationality.
Reference the American Psychiatric Association or many other fine sources for a definition of narcissistic personality disorder. It is a mental illness, and it fits President Trump with troubling precision.
There should be no disparagement of those who are physically or mentally ill. But I do not want a short-order cook who has active tuberculosis, nor do I wish to fly in a plane piloted by a schizophrenic. Nor do I want a President who lives in a bubble of artificial reality, constructed of lies, bluster, abuse, and bloviation.
It should be noted that, due to the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder, persons with this illness are extremely reluctant to seek or undergo treatment. If one's concept of self involves an "extremely stable genius," any treatment becomes an existential threat.
23
I think you give Trump too much credit.
He did not have any great "intuition about the anger of the heartland". For someone to have an intuition like that, it would require empathy to recognize that anger. That is not a capability I would attribute to our President.
What he did do was continue test market phrases and stuck with the ones that had the largest cheers. (per another NYT article). While some people were angry, the overwhelming number of Republicans are conditioned like Pavlov's dog to react to those dog whistles. Like Pavlov's experiment, they could not help salivating to the food being fed them.
13
How can Americans continue to dismiss this?
"When Trump was in business, his shtick was stiffing contractors. If confronted, he would try some bombast and storm out of meetings, as he did the other day with congressional leaders, ending talks on the partial government shutdown caused by a crisis he has manufactured. His shtick now is stiffing all Americans. The technique is the same: Keep reality at a distance through hyperactive fakery."
12
Maybe he can't help it because it's really hard to to change elements of a personality disordered/perhaps psychotic character without therapy especially at his age. But what's Mitch McDonnell's excuse other than blatant disregard for the country? Though I can think of a few diagnoses for him as well.
11
The problem begged by this column is that if Trump by his very nature cannot help himself for his outrageous ways of conducting the presidency (which, in the basic sense, is not his ... it’s ours), then he cannot possibly be responsible, morally speaking. That would be like declaring a vicious animal immoral because of its viciousness. We’ve collectively entrusted the presidency with Trump ... we did this. And now we’re blaming him? Not to justify him in the least, but the American people who are sickened by him (probably a sick person) have some work to do with themselves. There’s a lot of growing up to do ... or at least paying more serious attention to the beautiful but fragile democratic system we are.
3
Trump’s bull “artistry” is more an immaturity than it is a conceived behavior to fool the masses. There are screamingly clear similarities to a child not yet capable of understanding his place in the social order or of self-monitoring frustrations to how Trump defends his gut reactions. We joke that he’s the toddler-in-chief, but the truth is that his stunted development forces us to equate his low skills to those of a not-yet-evolved child’s. I see no artistry in that.
5
It's very important to remember, as George said to Jerry, "It's not a lie if you think it's the truth".
2
Let's reflect a giant magnifying glass on the ants.
3
To Roger's insights I would add that, as much as Trump correctly intuited the psychological needs of his base, and took them for a ride, they, mostly evangelicals, cynically voted for a deeply flawed con artist who would advance their Biblical destiny in The Holy Land.
As we used to say, It takes two to tango.
242
@Taz I agree. How can a moral person believe that the end justifies the means? As a friend has said, "I wish he would tweet less, but I like what he is doing."
25
@Taz
You cannot expect a rational vote from people who believe the Rapture will transport them away from all this.
36
Trump is akin to the arsonist fireman setting fires so he can be the first “hero” on the scene to discover, rescue everyone, and put the fire out. Accolades all around until he gets caught with the matches and fuel, and hurts people. Like the arsonist, Trump becomes so engrossed in his own grandiosity and addicted to the fix of the next big one he can’t see alternatives to the fires he sets.
7
Brilliant analysis, especially "But his essential intuition was into the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency."
That roughly a third of Americans have fallen sway to the notion that truth, facts, and scientific inquiry are outmoded and quaint notions, is horrifying. Add those powerful members of Trump's association - silent and acquiescent Republicans holding Congressional seats - and we have a cabal aimed at enriching themselves at the cost of what is left of our national honor.
I have been of the opinion that calls for his impeachment are sophomoric, ill-timed and self-defeating. With his incoherent ramblings over the government shutdown and his wall, Trump has changed my mind. It is time to fight him with the only real weapon made available through our Constitution. The Trump presidency poses a clear and present danger to our democracy.
35
Mr. Cohen applies numerous labels to Trump that certainly are accurate. I would propose that, in an effort to preserve our own sanity as things spiral out of control, we each nominate two terms that best describe Individual 1. I will lead off: "Grifter" and "Rounder". Next?
8
@Lee N: Traitor, Fraud.
1
@Lee N
You took the best one, ‘Grifter’.
I’ll add ‘Conman, Liar, and Cheat’.
2
Decades ago, when I started dating, my mom sat me down and said, "When a boy shows you who he is, believe him." This big boy showed us exactly who he is from the get-go, but we decided we could change him. That never ends well.
26
If Diogenes is looking for an honest man, he should be knocking at your door. Unfortunately, because he was Greek, he wouldn't have been able to come to the U.S. were he alive today. He would have been stopped at the border as a security risk.
As for Trump, his shtick wasn't simply stiffing contractors. He piled on excessive amounts of debt (sound familiar?) and regularly stiffed his lenders. I know; I was there and watched it happen.
As president, he is similarly aided and abetted by his minions, just as he was as a businessman in his private life. He chooses to be this way, as do they.
Trump may well be a sociopath who has no regard for rules, but he knows what he is doing, and elects to do it, just as he always did.
Of course he, and they, can help it. They just choose not to. And so far, America is letting him get away with it, just as it ever was.
32
Excellent piece of truth. Somehow however, I fear that this nightmare won't end with the declaration "at long last, our long national nightmare is over."
Keep your eye on the ball, people. Keep your eye on the ball.
16
@cuyahogacat
Keep your ear on the bull …that is.
Google "Fareed Zakaria bullshit" for links to an excellent exposition by Zakaria on Trump and his BS - in August, 2016. Yes, we were warned,
15
Calling Trump the Michelangelo of bullshit is inaccurate. He is the Johnstown flood of bullshit. In his constant flood of lies and exaggeration, he makes no attempt to legitimize anything he says. He doesn’t care that his lies are easily proven to be lies. For a while legitimate news organizations struggled with the notion of calling the president a liar. Now they rarely bother mentioning he’s lying. He lies so often and so artlessly that we have come to accept that it natural for our president to lie. Therefore, equating him with an artist is wrong. He does it constantly and poorly but without a trace of artistry.
33
"Donald Trump is the Michelangelo of bullshit artists."
True, but incomplete. Trump is also a born rich bully and worse still, helplessly narcissistic. So you have a man with an unparalleled gift for bullshit who lives only to glorify himself and is devoid of empathy. To that, add a lifetime of mostly avoiding meaningful consequences from his almost endless list of malfeasance, thanks to a team of lawyers and a daddy with very deep pockets. Then add the ego boost of headlining a "reality" (irony can only shrug here) TV program that further stoked his already bloated ego. Oh yeah, then he won the presidency of the United States.
So now America and the world suffer through the daily indignities and swirling existential angst of having a barely literate, bored 72 year old ignoramus as leader of the free world. The hell of it is, if Time Magazine told Trump they would put him on the cover for three issues in a row - a new record! - were he to quit the presidency, he'd be gone in a second.
36
@Rob Gosh, could we get them to do that?
3
Sorry, Roger, Trump's not the root cause. It's the millions of Americans who prefer Trump's bullshit to reality, even when it puts the nation into real risk.
We've seen a leader like this before and the results of his BS. Norman Schwarzkopf described him:
"As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist nor is he schooled in the operational art nor is he a tactician nor is he a general nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man."
29
The only reason this bs artist occupies our White House is because his voters were and are, like his contractors, sold a bill of goods. Even if they or their children or grandchildren are hurt financially or emotionally or intellectually, they will die before they admit they hired a fake president.
27
Thank you Mr. Cohen for refining our understanding of the personality and pathology of our current president. He is not only a malignant narcissist but an amazing bullshit artist as well. He’s been bullshitting and scamming people for decades. He is hyperactive and dumps more sewage into the MSM system on a daily basis at a rate nobody can keep up with. This is how he stays one step ahead of everyone trying to pin him down on something. This is indeed his shtick and he’s still working it.
But let’s be less jocular for a moment. This is a very sick, disturbed man, who does love to hurt others. He is as you said sadistic and cruel. The economy of his own pleasure and pain in the way he functions is that he gets more satisfaction from hurting, attacking, destroying than he does from – ironically enough – from building anything positive. By all logic, given Trump’s personality he should have been in demolition not building. Trump as a “builder” of anything is a cruel irony in itself.
The selling of the republican soul to support this danger and menace is tragic and dangerous. Trump is wreaking incalculable damage on our culture. You describe very well how people forget what effective governance looks like after living in chaos and deterioration of social contracts long enough.
This sadistic bullshitter needs to be removed from office ASAP. It's already way too long that he has been allowed to play around with the cogs of real power to affect other human beings.
28
@IntheFray, I agree with you wholeheartedly, except that I'd like to add Trump doesn't actually build much of anything. He leases his name to real builders' projects and then sends his ignoramus children in to manage it - usually into the ground. Just saying.
7
@IntheFray "Trump is wreaking incalculable damage on our culture." History, I think, will judge Mitch McConnell just as harshly as Trump. His enabling borders on the criminal. Esp with his wife as a member of the Cabinet.
6
An excellent column that clarifies what so many native New Yorkers, having a nose for BS, have been able to sniff out regarding Trump for decades. It is likely that one significant reason for the unwavering support from Trump's "base" is their reluctance to admit that they fell for his BS, just as so many victims of con-artists fail to come forward out of embarrassment.
25
Nice academic expression mixed with a blunt label— bullshit.
The fact of the matter is that Trump has no need for reality. In his mind the hungry person must simply believe he is not hungry and the sick woman must reject the notion that she is sick.
If a million people crawled to the Whitehouse to request a drink of water, his solution would be to tell them they are not thirsty.
Solutions are not required, only changes in perception.
7
@K. Corbin and those without paychecks coming must simply do without. Yet he ‘understands’ what they are going through. That was one of the biggest BS moments I’d ever heard.
I doubt the Diagnostic Service Manual (DSM) has a category called "malignant bullshit artist", but perhaps it ought to have one. One thing that struck me about this piece was the way it sort off explained the devotion of the typical Trump follower. They want to be conned, to be taken into a fantasy of the bullshitter's making. I have a relative who is pro-Trump and he is always trying to defend the guy, as if the President were some poor chump and not the leader of free world (despite his atrocious ability to be one). I get the feeling that if we were to examine this more closely, a malignant bullshit artist is the consummate victim while he's out kicking everyone else into the street. Mr Trump could set himself up to be the greatest victim of all as we impeach him for the good of the country. He might even try to force the issue.
4
Great article. One should ask: How did this happen? The fundamental original lie of the republican party that allowed it to become the party of BS is that cutting taxes raises revenue. Once you base your platform on a mathematical lie, you become susceptible to the BS artist. Once you accept the 1=0, you can prove anything. The conservative party in America is non-existent. Conservatism is a statement about staying close to the mean. The mean no longer has meaning for Republicans.
12
Thank you Roger. You've answered a question I've had for some time. If Trump is even a little bit as smart as he claims he is, how does he not see why he gets overwhelming negative press; blaming the press itself, or his communication people?
The ultimate was responding to UN laughter at his comment about his "accomplishments" by saying "I didn't expect that, but that's OK" carrying right on with his delusional fiction.
In his world of BS he has accomplished more in 2 years than any other president and had the biggest electoral win. No lie.
Mueller has his work cut out and I don't see any other path out of this nightmare. I've thought from the beginning that he was guilty of bank fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, AND conspiring with the Russians over the election. A quid pro quo: Clinton emails (and social media targeting) for sanction relief. The lead story in the Times today reveals that the FBI was concerned about his relationship with Russia from the beginning.
Now there's a national security crisis that's off the BS meter.
10
Mr. Cohen: You are absolutely correct. There is a reason for this Trump stuff. I read somewhere (I cannot remember where) that he attended the church where the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale spoke. Peale wrote a book called "The power of positive thinking". I think Trump thinks "If I think it is so, it must be so!" He is not the traditional lier. He is the quintessential bullshit artist!
2
Im trying to find an answer to Trump's end game. His bullshit has been evident for 40 plus years with his lawless business scams, moral duplicity, anger and deep distrust of civil norms toped off with probable deep emotional damage inflicted at adolescence or maybe worse, a genetic antisocial flaw that requires destruction to those around him, to prove his self worth. Even the most casual observer of people , think the guy is not right. But we need more insight as to why he does the things he does. I'm scared what follows.
6
@george I think you nailed it when you said ‘requires destruction of those around him to prove his self worth’. People like him need conflict to survive. They’ll start wars, fights, bully, kill, anything to conjur up the image that they are winning. Let’s hope McConnell gets a spine and realized if he doesn’t do something soon about Trump it may be too late. And then he will have blood on his hands.
"Trump cannot help himself", says Roger.
WHY hasn't any of the media commentators, including Roger, told us the REASON(S) WHY Trump can't help himself ?!
after all, Roger Cohen is not suggesting that Trump " can't help himself" because he's a bullshit artist. being that kind of an artist, as much as its not complementary, is still not a reason for not being able to " help himself". so - there must be other, more complex reasons for Trump's inability to " help himself. WHAT are those reasons ?! arn't the american poeple deserving of that information ?! the answers may be found by simply googling :"psychiatrists on Trump mental health"- and read.read everything. there are plenty of REAL REASONS explaining why Trump " can't help himself".
2
@amir burstein I think he's a sociopath. Honestly. He's just a rich celebrity who has learned to work the room.
2
@JL22among that reading I’ve suggested there’s a DETAILED description of Trump ‘s mental health condition.
It’s not me suggesting it - it’s a bunch of forensic psychiatrists from the most prestigious places. So prestigious in fact that this paper published it all. But the public ( let alone the politicians still pretend the Emperors cloth are perfectly new. By NOW: it’s clear : the king IS NAKED. What’s going to be done about that !?
One of the great powers of the bullshit artist (as opposed to the liar) is that nobody is assuming that he's telling the truth. Instead, people choose to believe some of the statement - or whatever version of the statement makes most sense to them / they like to believe. That also means that pointing out the lie (factcheck) doesn't really matter to them.
You can't fight a bullshit artist with the truth. But you can undermine his charisma by revealing the winy, incompetent, and petulant failure that he really is.
10
This article reminds me of the high school newspaper I started in 1975. I named it the “Chronicle Bullshit Report”. Maybe it’s time I start republishing it. The pages would be full of Trumps chronicle lies and of course, bullshit.
3
And, we can’t forget, Mitch McConnell and the Republicans have supported this malignant bs-er every step of his malignant bs-ing way. Witness McConnell’s refusal to let the Senate even vote on re-opening government. We are committing suicide as a democratic nation. Trump’s plunges the knife, but all the Republicans are hold it.
11
@CathrynThis is the real question: why does McConnell aid and abet him and enable? To what end? Is it pure power?
5
Wonderful editorial.
Sad truth: nearly half of the population of the richest and perhaps most advanced society in the World likes to be around bullshit. Are we an evolution from flies?
6
Bullshit Asymmetry Principle: Publicly formulated the first time in January 2013 by Alberto Brandolini, an Italian programmer, the bullshit asymmetry principle (also known as Brandolini's law) states that: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to create it. "
Therein lies the problem.
5
When I went to school in NYC when I was a kid, the taxi drivers, the bus drivers and the doormen were WW2 and Korean veterans. I did not know that at the time, but I felt safe in the street. There were adults around. Men of consideration. All the presidents, though some might have been square as some of us put it, were also men of experience. These people would have known what bullshit was, some might have been polite or silent, but somebody would have SAID it out loud!
3
This whole fiasco is an incredible example of a bullshit artist coming in contact with a conspiracy artist or artists, and compromised Republicans, who discovered that their goals could be forwarded by his handicaps: a needy ego and a lack of reality and a gullibility. It is a chance symbiosis that is truly remarkable, effective, and efficiently destructive to Democracy, serving their goals nicely. Books will be written and plays and movies produced ad infinitum. It is truly Shakespearean--- A tragedy.
4
@joyce
Trump is cratering out all out institutions so Putin can shove in his own kind in our place. Talk about your immigrant take over! Why has Mnuchin been allowed to oversee financial criminal investigations of Trump and his campaign when he ran Trump's campaign finances?
My SSMom's Great Uncle was the GOP's Ways and Means when he blew the lid off Tea Pot by getting caught. He was a big fat NYer whose daddy made him rich, too. He converted the GOP's entire slush fund into Liberty Bonds, which the GOP helped him launder...serial numbers. Mellon refused to help out because he was Mnuchin at the time.
2
Trump’s launch persuaded millions to believe he was a great deal maker and this was the fundamental hot heaping pile he shoveled to the electorate since reality has always been the opposite. Trump claims ten billion dollars of wealth when that’s the number he’s lost during six bankruptcies he considers the deals that canceled his debts, in short means by which he stiffed thousands of creditors across four decades, not only two big banks but hundreds of plumbers and painters and landscapers etc. His base even today tout his business credentials only because they neither read nor think through that after forty five years since he inherited his trust and his brother’s business he has earned maybe two percent per year. Without his daddy’s money he would have been fired from any job he could find, including walking behind the elephant in the circus with the same shovel he now uses to dig a thousand dark holes under the big beautiful walls on the border. Brethren, this is the same freak who remarked after the towers came down that now he owned the tallest building in town. Of course that was bullshit too since he didn’t. As for the Reichstag fire, Goebbels started it so as to justify the Holocaust. It was more than a fire.
8
A great column. You made me laugh at this pathetic man. Hopefully this will help bring bullshit into the political lexicon so the press can quickly net out descriptions of certain individuals and situations.
2
Quinta Jurecic's original essay in Lawfare is extraordinary. In drawing the critical distinction between lying and bullshitting, Jurecic reveals the truly disturbing truth about Trump. This is required reading, as is Frankfurt's book that inspired Jurecic's essay. Trump has created a presidency antithetical to the rule of law. What additional calamities will be created by this bullshit artist in the service of self-preservation before his time is up?
7
How do you stop a B.S. Artist who is working for you?
Give them no attention.
Take away any power they have.
SInce there really is only one action that will stop them from being a B.S. Artist, you must fire them!
2
spot on Mr Cohen,
galactic level bullshit is one thing but add to the toxic mix sadistic cruelty and immense power and you're in a whole other place as a country and in serious trouble.
I believe there are enough people of goodwill and loyal to the Constitution to save the day but it will be a very close call.
6
"But in Trump the element of sadistic cruelty in his personality (mocking the disabled, for example), and the sheer gall of his fakery, make of him a malignant, rather than a benign, bullshit artist."
And his "marks" want to be just like him. As the evidence piles up about the The Don and his family, they double down, willing to lose the farm so The Don can get his signature wall.
There is no understanding why The Don's supporters love him. Perhaps a crash course in National Socialism would help.
1
In not being able to stopping him so far, America has become Bullshit in the eyes of the world. Let´s hope that with the help of the new house of Representatives and through direct active action, Americans can shake of this avalanche of bullshit which present dirties its tradition and its image. In the meantime, no more a beacon of liberty. Let´s hope no Reichstadt fire ignites America before it can recover its lost dignity.
2
If Trump is not a liar but a bullshit artist (the difference being that according to Frankfurt a liar knows the truth as opposed to a bullshit artist who doesn't) then it appears that Trump cannot be held responsible. The more interesting question then becomes if Americans (who voted for Trump) and Republicans (who allowed Trump to be the GOP's candidate and still support him to this day) were and are smart enough to know if they voted for a liar or a bullshit artist (and a malicious one at that). What does it make them if they did not know and still do not know? Are they also not responsible?
2
Your column reminds me of George W Bush and Cheney and how they manufactured reasons to go to war with Iraq. And they misled the entire world. So also the Vietnam war, prolonged by American Presidents. Somehow American Presidents get emboldened to further their bullshit fakery. Causing much grief distress suffering to innocent people worldwide who have nothing to do with these Presidents, personally or remotely.
4
@petey tonei
Bush and Cheney (and Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. etc.) were not bullshitting about Iraq and the WMD. That was outright lying, the real thing.
2
And so, it has come to this.
A man whose command of the English language is almost without peer has been reduced to talking about "bullshit artists" and...watching ants?
For that I don't blame Trump; rather it is on Cohen himself. He is simply flailing wildly as the pace of change in the 21st century overwhelms him, and his decades-long status as a "thought leader" comes to a rather pathetic end, as virtually everything he has espoused is being utterly rejected by those unwashed masses.
Looking forward to his thoughts about his hero, Macron.
1
Brilliant analysis of Trump's ability to bullshit and how dangerous it is to society. That people voted for him and continue to support him shows the insidious nature of bullshitting, how easily the context and substance of any given bullshit becomes 'reality'. I said it before I will say it again: the Trump people (supporters, enablers) have been and are being psychologically manipulated with terrifying effectiveness and results. It is similar to the hypnotic effect of watching ants, as the author states. And the longer people 'watch' him the more engrossed and mesmerized they become. We as a people have been so thoroughly conditioned to watch advertising then run out and buy buy buy. All through the art of advertising, using subliminal suggestion, a highly effective way controlling behavior. And trump knows exactly how to do this masterfully. If only he'd stayed in television selling his stupid shows.
I too am very fearful where this is leading. As others here are pointing out this current smoke and mirrors act could easily lead to declaration of martial law and a true fascist state. He is testing out whether he can create a strong enough 'emergency' and if people will Buy It. He is terrified of Mueller, Pelosi and Cohen therefore he is amping up the Bullshitting machine. The press and the judicial system are our best counteractors and so far they are working to protect us from the madness that is happening. More than prayers needed, but I am praying.
5
Growing up a few bus stops away from Trump, I learned that, “You can’t bulls*it a bulls*tter,” which is perhaps why I’ve never believed one syllable of anything he’s ever said. But this has now created an existentialist crisis for me because of course, that makes me a bulls*itter, which is not how I thought of myself. Perhaps that’s not for me to decide.
However, what does it say for the legions who voted for him, and chant back his B.S. at his B.S. rallies?By definition, they cannot be bulls*itters for having believed the B.S. But by repeating his B.S., do they themselves become bulls*itters? Because I feel as though I have nothing in common with them. Perhaps it’s better to be a liar.
Who would have thought that we would have a president in which the grandest philosophical work elicited by him is an opus on the differentiation between lies and bullshit? "We have a duty to insist that words have meaning..." - The problem here is that the meaning that the GOP wants is what it takes to win and stay in power. In this, the BS is working...
2
"... make of him a malignant, rather than a benign, bullshit artist."
This horror show of a presidency will go on as long as it has to.
We should be taking to the streets in protest. We should be willing to walk off our jobs, losing pay. We should stop paying taxes for a government that no longer functions for us. We should be willing to make extreme sacrifices to end this insanity. We should be striking fear into the hearts of Trump and his GOP, not the other way around. But we are unwilling to do any of these things. We are mired in the bullshit of our own complacency.
That is the most tragic thing of all.
4
An apt analysis of his motivations. Well done. One quibble. "Michelangelo of bullshit artists" is too generous. Wouldn't the random paint-throwing of Jackson Pollock be closer?
3
@Bruce Rozenblit
It's Mitch McConnell's conspiracy.
He and the GOP were looking for a puppet who would sign anything they put in front of him without reading it. Trump was his man.
McConnell thought Trump would be content with just playing President for the cameras, and Mitch would run the Oval Office a la Dick Cheney.
But it hasn't worked out that way. Trump believes his own bullshit and is mucking up the works with his steady stream of lies and chaos.
McConnell's pride and ego are worse than Trump's.
He long ago put the GOP's and his own selfish desires before the good of the country and his own state. Mitch is a large part of the reason Kentucky ranks 41st out of 50 states, worse on healthcare, education and fiscal stability.
I hope that when Mueller cleans house, Mitch McConnell is on his list of trash. Along with his recently departed co-conspirator, Paul Ryan.
9
McConnell is a liar and a hypocrite. He repeats and defends trump’s BS, but he knows it is BS. He serves his donors and will say and do anything to please them. He definitely needs to go. He is one of the worst things to happen to our country.
2
About 30-40% of American voters enthusiastically support the bullshit artist president (BAP). Many well meant op-Ed pieces spend a considerable time explaining to us that Trump is a BAP. It’s an attempt of carthasis to come free from one’s own unhealthy fascination with panoramic bullshit and fakery. Understood. But we need a way to open the eyes of those who still mistake bullshit fakery for real. They have been fooled and some know this, but human nature resists admitting this until the pain of reality becomes unbearable to reconcile with the delusion.
3
You are right Mr. Cohen to conclude that trump is a mean spirited bullshit artist. And, he has been that way his whole life. We need an America with a legal and judicial system that punishes rather than rewards bullshit artists. trump has been coddled his whole life through manipulation of legal loopholes available only to the rich.
3
"panem et circenses" this once politicians used to keep the electorate entertained. It was never meant politicians to be part of it. Even the old romans obliged the wearer of the crimson toga (senators) to be silent in public.
It is wrongful that the democrats need someone like Ocasio-Cortez to pick up a fight for the political supremacy. Trump is not just a bulls*** artist, he made bulls***ting the art of the political deal. And the democrats can only win by finding someone who is better in the bulls*** art.
Even if the democrats beat him someday, this kind of politics will linger. This will be the painful legacy of Trump. Democracy has become panem et circenses.
Having read Mr. Cohen's column and the 135 comments currently published, it's clear that a lot of smart, well-intentioned readers are rightly appalled at the state of our politics and government, starting with Trump and proceeding downward through the spineless, integrity-less ranks of the Republican members of congress like McConnell and, until recently, Paul Ryan.
But it strikes me that our focus may be too narrow.
Yesterday, CNN published an op-ed by James Davis of the so-called Koch network, claiming that the network is now officially eschewing partisanship. As is clear to anyone who has followed right-wing radicalism since the days before Newt Gingrich, this is - to borrow the term - utter bullshit. It is also a great example of the con job being perpetrated on American voters by the Kochs and fellow billionaire conservatives/libertarians like Richard DeVos and Richard Farmer. These are the people whose money enables the sophisticated marketing and polling machines and "research" institutions (think Cato and the Heritage Foundation) that have "sold" and continue to sell us Trump, McConnell, Mitt Romney, and charmers like Scott Walker, and whose motivation is plainly the dismantling of the modern American democratic system in favor of an effective oligarchy consisting of... guess who.
Unless these people are exposed and widely recognized for what they are and believe, we're going to continue seeing people like Trump and McConnell "leading" the nation.
8
Of course Trump has had assistance with his post-truth concoction. Fox & Friends, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Alex Jones, and the unending barrage of disinformation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram. And may we mention rabid right-wing fundamentalist religious rants.
This propaganda machine of the Mercers, the Kochs, the Uihleins, the Adelsons, the Spencers, the Wilks ... is the most successful brainwashing apparatus since Goebbels and the rise of Fascism. It is the definition of “reality” for 85% of Republicans.
Bullshit indeed. But pernicious, dividing, and consciously deployed to undermine democracy.
8
All his life he has been a bull#*$t artist; in the construction business, no one cared as long as he paid. He was probably just laughed off as a schmuck. His daddy paid for all his "issues": Most kids whose parents send them to military schools are usually either misfits or sociopaths. He is just a bad seed.
The horrifying fact that 60 million people voted for this deranged imbecile is frightening; more so for what it says about us.
5
Thanks Mr. Cohen for the important distinction. Many (most) of us have wondered how Trump could lie so casually and so often. But if we understand that he not only does not know the truth and that he doesn't care, then the fact that spouting BS is just what he does naturally becomes understandable. He has been just spreading BS his entire life. He says whatever fits the specific situation. It doesn't matter that what he says is untrue or contradicts what he has said before. Truth is irrelevant. Truth for losers. We are all unfortunately the losers.
5
If Donald Trump is a bullshit artist and a post-truth president, then how would we describe his faithful supporters, most of whom are evangelicals? A post-truth Christianity is the necessary antecedent of a post-truth presidency. Serial and brazen lying, mean-spiritedness toward others, and sexual immorality have become identifying characteristics of the aberrant Christianity that Trump and his supporters embody. Trump's supporters are not chumps who have been had by a con man. They know exactly what's going on and they are fine with it. If they were to ever push back against him, he would in a dramatic and seemingly miraculous way alter his behavior. In reality, the irresistible compulsion to return to one's vomit, as it were, is not characteristic of Trump, who will do anything to survive, but characteristic of his supporters.
5
Trump is who he is and has been for at least the last 40 years. He is definitely a bullshit artist - nothing new there. But how he is using his power and becoming increasingly autocratic is what scares me. Power doesn't necessarily corrupt but how a person uses that power reveals a lot more about the person's character. Trump is becoming increasingly power hungry and autocratic - enabled by increasingly autocratic Republicans in Congress. That is what scares me the most.
2
Excellent piece. The country and the world are being held hostage by a presidential hybrid: a liar, a b.s. artist, and a con artist. The president doesn't speak the truth because truth and reality are outside his psyche. Because there are no moral fibers in him, truth and honesty have nothing to cling to. Possessing the truth requires insight and a sincere desire to find it wherever it is; whether it's searching in a haystack or it's staring you in the eyes. The huge risk in truth seeking is that like a boomerang, it may come back to haunt you as you suddenly realize that you're the underlying problem. Taking that risk is something the president is incapable of doing because like all dictators or would be dictators, he believes he's omnipotent and omniscient.
3
the big issue here is not Trump but the people who voted for him. Yes, some will vote republican whoever the candidate. But here, this "bullshit artist" has genuine support. People who believe in his bullshit. And that should not be the case with well raised, educated people. And consequently it should not be possible in a modern democracy. This is what the next President will have to fix.
3
Yes, yes, and yes; thank you, Mr. Cohen. And this is related Trump's condition of (diagnosable) "pathological narcissm." For Trump, the "national emergency" at the border, and the government shutdown, are only about him. He does not care about Federal workers, or about migrants, or about Americans watching or experiencing this slow-rolling disaster. All are only disposable bits and pieces in his personal psychodrama. His bullshit, which he "can't help," is entirely at the service of this internal drama, and what's external to him -- what's real and true -- doesn't matter at all.
4
Mr. Cohen -- Obviously, bullshit works. Why should the president alter strategy?
I'm not looking for an answer that has to do with decency, or integrity, or any ethical consideration.
The goal of a candidate for president is to win. Mr. Trump won.
Roger, one thing needs to ALWAYS be clearly understood by the recipient when dealing with any B.S. artist: the B.S. artist is truly committed, truly faithful, to the B.S. they deliver at moment of its utterance. The B.S. artist is convinced that they are espousing "truth" ...yes, truth, even if for a nanosecond. That's why it's so compelling and convincing. Then later, the B.S. artist may readily dismiss his/her previous statement as a partial truth requiring modification by simply creating a new version of B.S. to explain away what was once perceived as truth. Any B.S. artist needs to called out immediately...loud and hard. Problem is his/her critics are still scared to challenge: believing instead that by alerting their audience, the B.S. messenger will somehow be shamed into stopping the nonsense. It doesn't...and rest assured, any B.S. artist is being equally being B.S. by those close to him/her.
Some people cannot (will not?) recognize bullshit even when it hits them between the eyes. It appears that about 40% of Americans have a faulty BS meter. This adds to my fear about what is happening to our country.
3
I've never understood why more people don't follow Mr. Cohen's lead and call out Trump as a bullshitter. He bullshit his way through the primaries and he continues to bullshit as president of the United States. The media gets sidetracked on how and whether to call him a liar, and ties itself in knots with euphemisms like 'states without evidence' or 'falsely asserts' and so on. As Mr. Cohen points out, with the help of Frankfurt's book, that is missing the point. Like every other bullshitter, Trump mixes elements falsehood and truth together indiscriminately as ingredients of convenience for his rhetorical paste.
3
The essence of our problem with Trump is not that he is a supreme bullshit artist. The bs is tactics. The essence is that he is a supreme manifestation of evil. In former times he might have been described as "the spawn of the devil."
Worse, his supporters, enablers, and defenders aren't much better.
What is most alarming about this column is not what it tells us about Donald Trump. Well before he launched his campaign for the presidency, we knew that he was a purveyor of bullshit, a man who was continuously on the make. No, as I have repeated so many times in my posts since November 2016, I am both terrified and depressed by the fact that such a large segment of the American electorate supports a bullshitter. One could attribute that to an outbreak of gullibility, except for the fact that even the gullible wake up eventually after they have been played one time too many. I’m inclined to think that Donald Trump successfully slings his bullshit because such a significant segment of the population operates in the same channel. The current American preoccupation with celebrity, with superficialities, with success at all costs with little or no thought given to others or to society as a whole indicates that in the American body politic there is a significant malignant tumor that may one day kill us. And what terrifies me most is that I do not sense that there is sufficient will or interest to treat this dire condition.
3
The introduction of Frankfurt's book mentions Donald Trump as a definitive example of a bullshit artist. The book was published before 2016. Too bad too few voters were paying attention.
3
Trump's greatest pleasure is exerting power over others. He takes pleasure watching other powerful people like Lindsey Graham grovel at his feet. Trump is also a bullshit artist through and through. All of his words are simply instruments, objects that are used to manipulate others. He knows he's all about bullshit but he just doesn't care as long as the words serve his will.
So..... bullshit + a malignant will to power = gaslighting.
1
I guess I finally learned the difference between being full of hot air and a bullshit artist, particularly a malign one.
1
Lies are to bullshit as immorality is to amorality, and Trump is an amoral bullshitter. He terrifies me.
1
"He cannot help it" is the biggest bullshit of all.
This excuse has been used to explain why people are cruel to "The Other" for too long. It is a lame excuse.
Yes, Trump is a long-time bullshit artist. In "The Art of the Deal," he describes telling the architect of one of his buildings to "give them the old Trump bullshit" and add 20 stories to the height of the building. A 40-story building became 60 stories.
There, Trump was aware he was doing BS. The question is, does he always do it deliberately or does he sometimes delude himself. When he boasts that he knows more about tax accounting than the biggest tax accountants, or that he knows more about drones than anyone, it seems he's BSing himself and is out of touch with reality. That's where it gets scary. This nonsensical boasting calls for a mental health evaluation.
2
A fascinating and helpful article, reminding us clearly what bullshit is and its lack of connection to reality and indifference to it. Sums up Trump perfectly.
Unfortunately, the article appears to feel our propensity to be sucked in knows no bounds.
1
"Malignant narcissism is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism.[1] Grandiose, and always ready to raise hostility levels, the malignant narcissist undermines families and organizations in which they are involved, and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate.[2]"
As you say, it's Trump's nature and he cannot help himself. But we the people must help ourselves to rid the Oval Office of such a deformed and monstrous individual. Are you listening GOP?
10
@Lise Well said. I always tell people to look up “megalomaniac” in the dictionary.
This is a perfect profiles in courage moment for Mitch McConnell. He could, if he put country first, walk over to the Oval Office and say bluntly to Trump, I have a bill on my desk which will end this shut down. Now, either you open up the government or I will. And, after this brief exchange, Senator McConnell should go on.."now that we have this settled, you need to get your act together fast or else--you will not be sitting that chair very long---do you understand me ---don't try threatening me with being primaried--you will be long gone before I run again--do you understand me...
12
Roger Cohen accurately describes Trump as a sociopath and congressional republicans as Trump's willing enablers.
This morning we were reminded of Trump's meeting in the oval office with the Russian ambassador and the Russian foreign minister and his boast of having shut down the Russia investigation by firing the FBI director.
6
The Congressional Manifesto: The objective of each party is simply to obstruct the goals of the other party regardless of the needs and wants of the nation.(Warning: Agreeing to this manifesto will cause legislative impotence.)
A great olive branch to Trump would be for the new Congress to offer Trump a compromise, some money for the border, so everyone can save face. That would be in the best interests of the nation regardless of how much you dislike Trump. Just five years ago Democrats were in favor of a wall. Nobody wants a Swiss cheese border. Hate begets hate.
Trump is just one of many negative effects when the legislature stops legislating.
2
@dudley thompson
No, history is replete with its Neville Chamberlains and Quislings. We are dealing with a psychopath who is satisfied with nothing less than the severed heads of his "enemies." Face-saving and accommodation are a cowardly way to deal with what is becoming an existential threat to the nation.
1
Donald Trump is a snake oil salesman and not a particularly talented one. But Donald Trump, ultimately, is not the issue here. It's that America could elect Donald Trump. Even more: it's that millions of people still support him.
If Donald Trump is possible, what is impossible in American politics? How bad could it become? That's what's scary about this phenomenon.
Democracy, the rule of law, decency; these all may be far more tenuous than we imagined.
7
If Trump's very make up is his and our problem, what then is the cause of McConnell's betrayal of the Country and the Constitution? He must think he can control the situation, taking what he wants from this malignant President. The history of civilization gives example after example of how that delusion is always wrong. In a real sense, it is the republicans, who arguably do not suffer from mental defect, who are the responsible felons in the situation.
8
The people who support this charlatan and con man are of a piece. They share his anger, self serving focus, and greed. Fortunately it is a relatively small number. However, I believe that he can help himself but just does not care. He is full of vengeance and spite. And since he has no concept of empathy he has no problem with making 800000 people hurt. He will use any means to beat Pelosi in this case. He cannot tolerate a woman telling him what he cannot have. Unintended consequences are one thing, but intended consequences in Trump land is another. The 800000 people fallout is deliberate and he intends to hurt them as much as possible until Pelose gives in. How do you like this so called president now, Republicans?
6
This column buttresses something I've been thinking for 2 years: Assuming Trump loses the 2020 election, he will simply refuse to leave. He is "constitutionally" incapable of accepting the verdict that he is a loser-as he has demonstrated in denigrating/dismissing/denying/splainin' away every adverse verdict in his litigious past ("I decided it was cheaper to pay the verdict than to appeal...". He will take a page from the playbook of dictators the world over: declare the election a fraud and do everything in his power (which may or may not be enough depending on the integrity of state Republican officials - a slender reed that) to challenge/ignore the results. Meantime, he will remain in the oval office. Who is it that will order the Marines to evict him? Mike Pence? Will loyalist Marines in red MAGA hats come to his defense? The Supreme Court may (or may not!) act-but if so would be dismissed by Trump as stooges and tools of his enemies. The Reichstag fire is a very apt analogy and the one error in Mr. Cohen's piece is what I perceive as a tone of jest in raising this deadly serious comparison.
4
It is undoubtedly true, as Roger Cohen discusses, that Donald Trump makes no effort to distinguish fact from fiction, but we have to be careful about concluding that “Trump cannot help himself.”
Whether or not mental health experts still subscribe to the “compulsive liar” concept, it was a useful term only in diagnosis. In the real world, the liar does not escape the legal and moral consequences of the lie.
The havoc created by Donald Trump – and his insistence upon The Wall along our border with Mexico is only one example – invariably demonstrate other flaws in his makeup.
Trump clearly lacks a capacity for either empathy or sympathy regarding people who suffer because of his mercurial temper and rash decisions. Trump is very insecure and nasty, perhaps because deep down he knows he is incompetent.
As we ponder how such a flawed man with no government experience became president of the most powerful country in the world, The New York Times reports that the F.B.I. determined nearly two years ago what most of us suspected: Donald Trump was compromised by the Russians and likely became their asset to the detriment of our national security.
If Donald Trump is a Russian agent, imagine how furious Vladimir Putin is right now that his investment in Trump has produced buffoonery along the Mexican border.
3
When the history of this era is writ McConnell and Ryan will be cast into the lowest levels of Dante's inferno for in times of great moral crisis they did nothing.
5
As awful as Trump is, he would not be able to wreak so much havoc if it were not for Mitch McConnell. Isn't anyone still bothered by the fact that Mitch's wife is in Trump's cabinet. What other things tie the two together?
6
@Michael Kelly
Colluding with Russians. Mitch now knows we know he knew about Trump and Russia, and he still is covering for himself because he was told by the FBI, too.
2
Buckle up! We ain't seen "crazy" yet. Wait for the family indictments to fall.
3
@Davis
Back in the dayz of Tea Pot Blown it was common for those who colluded to cover up those no-bid leases of naval oil reserves to recover their character by taking a pause that refreshes in the local sanatorium.
Worked for the WaPo's publisher! He lied by affidavit he had loaned the Interior Secretary all that money those dirty oil men slipped same in a "Little Black Bag" in exchange for US property. NYTs just had to start spilling that oil industry story, THEN.
No surprise this Dome style mess all comes down to Putin's energy men. Same plot, foreign actors.
"The Reichstag fire was at least a fire. Here there is only smoke and mirrors."
A good point. But I was disappointed when Donald Trump backed away from declaring a national emergency in order to do an end-run around Congress (and the Constitution) to get his wall/fence/berm - pick one - built.
Not because I believe in this president or support his policy initiatives. As a life-long moderate Democrat I despise Donald Trump and all that he and his Republican Party stand for.
I was disappointed because it would have set a precedent for the next president, no doubt a Democrat if the recent mid-term elections are a portent of what's to come in 2020. S/he could then declare gun deaths a national emergency. Or the planet warming at an alarming rate. Let's add our decaying infrastructure to the list, and the opioid crisis. How about the alienation of our staunchest allies around the globe.
Real crises, not the sketchy manufactured ones that are as shaky as the steel-slatted wall prototype that a hand saw from Home Depot could easily cut through. Actual national crisis issues, not fairy tales about caravans of murderers, rapists, druggies and child molesters descending on our Southern flank.
But then, again, we would have a real president by then, a person who is not ignorant of how the government works, who doesn't put himself first above all else, and who actually cares for the people of this country.
Maybe by 2020 the country will be ready for a post-lies presidency.
4
For the moment let’s focus on just one consequence of our Liar-in-Chief. He has no facts about what difference a wall would make to border security. He apparently knows nothing about the number of people crossing our borders. He just lies about the drugs and type of individuals “coming into” America. But he and his partner in crime, Mitch McConnell, are affecting 800k employees times 3 (family) or approx, 2.5 million Americans with this shutdown. Of course, we must add in all the ancillary businesses affected whose customer base has dwindled. All this harm to fellow Americans over a useless wall. All this to prove what? Protect the pride of Donald, Mitch and a few far right conservatives who really don’t care about the wall, just declaring a “win”. This is outrageous! This fight over a wall is really happening and really affecting families - it’s wrong and Donald and Mitch should not be allowed to do this to millions of Americans.
6
Indeen, Ravens can't help feasting on roadkill, but unlike Trump, they are smart enough to get out of the way just in time.
1
This is a laser-like depiction of el Donald. Let’s consider who consumes his excretions and why? Are they simply undereducated racists? In some cases perhaps yes. Some alienated “Americans” have always despised those who are different. For them, a wall along the Mexican border means everything.
Some have a policy agenda. Libertarians want a “fortress America”, characterized by minimal engagement in foreign affairs. Right-to-lifers salivate at opportunities to appoint their minion to the judiciary. Guns rights advocates want their arsenals. The DeVos breed aspires to undermine public education. Uncompetitive industries seek protective tariffs. Many want to unwind government regulations. Too many Republicans want to immortalize government by the minority by gerrymandering voter districts, disenfranchising millions from access to the ballot box, and legislating reduced authority for democratically elected governors. They want a Justice Department and judiciary that disengages from protecting voter rights for all, does not pursue criminal indictments of corrupt business leaders, and shields the first amendment rights of corporations to donate large sums to political campaigns.
Trump is the champion for all of the above. Among his devotees are those who countenance his tortuous epithets so long as he delivers the goods. They know a buffoon when they see one. But he’s their buffoon.
2
Roger, rather than "Trump Can't Help It," I think a better title for this sorry episode is "The Welsh of the Deal."
Let's remember that Trump at first accepted the Congressional compromise that would have allowed him to claim a victory, i.e., Mexico would "pay" for the wall or "steel barrier" or whatever.
It was only when Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et al. questioned his manhood that he welshed on the deal (as is his wont).
2
"But his essential intuition was into the readiness of Americans, suspended between the real and the virtual, for a post-truth presidency." This is a worthwhile point. I recall that Democrats had been harping on the lies of the CIA which were used to justify the Iraq War. WMD were never found and Obama won his primary against Hillary by being anti-war. Oddly, then, he mimicked Bush and justified his wars in Yemen, Syria, and Libya by a cooked up defense of democracy and the so-called democratic impulses of the Arab Spring. This neo-con lie was a non-stop refrain used to justify our use of bombs in 7 countries throughout the Obama years, so we were indeed establishing a post-truth presidency for 15 years before Trump's election. Then we had terrorist bombings in San Bernardino and in Orlando, only to be told that the motivations of the terrorists were unknown: the Obama WH refused to identify our country's threat. It took Trump and his rejection of PC platitudes and bromides to clear the air. Many voted for Trump because they were having trouble breathing the gaseous lies from the democrats, including, the lie of a healthcare program which would protect our choice of doctors. These lies and the conspiracy of fibbing laid the ground for our present benumbing. Trump is to be faulted, as you point out, but we must see it in context, and remember that one key factor in Trump's popularity is his willingness to call it like he sees it.
1
Deeds not words...
Understanding that Trump has impulse control issues is not particularly germane to the main event before us.
Anyone who has taken even a passing interest/view of his history knows that he is a monster (regardless of his pathology) with no moral compass.
The real issue is what he has done (not said) to us…and what we are going to do (not say) about it.
Deeds not words…
6
@JL1951
Well said, thanks.
I fear to wake each day, wondering what stupid thing he's said or tweeted overnight, or which able advisor he's driven out. I cringe at his demeanor and pomposity.
But then I think about what he's done, and feel a lot better. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem; the two conservative justices on the Supreme Court; the attempt to rein in China's unfair trade practices.
Not as much as our country needs, but at least a start, and far, far better than what Hillary would have done.
Trump knows he's lying and his accomplices in the Republican party and the administration certainly do.
15
@John
Pretty obvious to me the GOP are in this as deeply as Trump when it comes to colluding with Russians to rig an election. NRA, too. No surprise the most destabilizing forces in the US are Russian funded.
2
Roger! Glad you are back. In December, I resolved not read about Trump anymore. But you are the exception and as usual your insight is spot on. Hopefully, your health is fine.
23
After nearly 250 years, America is faced with another King George.
The entire intent and structure of the Constitution was to avoid that eventuality, through checks and balances.
Pressure upon the toxic narcissist, while apt, won't change him; railing against his supporters leads most of them to dig in their heels further. America had its Tories back then too.
The one person who has been skirting by with remarkably little blame or pressure is Mitch McConnell, who could fix this standoff with a snap of his fingers by allowing a vote on a bill that was already passed with near unanimity.
If we believe in the structure and institutional logic of our own Constitution, then excruciating pressure must finally be brought to bear on the singular enabler of King George: Mitch McConnell.
Mitch McConnell should and must be front and center in every discussion of the stupidity and cruelty of this situation from this moment forward. He shares blame equal to that of trump for failing to fulfill his constitutional function.
Otherwise we are left only to stage another (real) Boston Tea Party, this time with trump brand products going into the river.
And I would rather not see just how much further unjustly persecuted and desperate Americans would be willing to go in protest of the distant monarch who willfully persecutes them.
58
In 2018, the Border Patrol apprehended 403,479 illegal border crossers, but the Department of Homeland estimates the Border Patrol catches only about 50 percent of illegal border crossers. This means about 400,000 illegal immigrants eluded the Border Patrol in 2018 That’s a crisis.
Democrats assert there is no border crises because the number if illegal border crossers are lower than peak numbers reached in previous decades. However, Illegal border crossers appended in previous decades were nearly all Mexicans. They could all be returned to Mexico within a few days of their arrest. Despite their numbers, they did not overwhelm the detention system because they spent few days in custody.
Today, most illegal border crossers are Central Americans, most of whom claim asylum when apprehended crossing the border illegally. Unlike Mexicans, Central Americans cannot be immediately returned to their home countries. Unlike illegal immigrants of 2000, they are overwhelming Department of Homeland Security detention capabilities and have to be released into the interior with notifications to appear at hearings set years into the future. This has created another crisis,
3
@William Case---Your argument fell apart when you attempted to classify asylum seekers as illegals.
If their requests truly create a crisis, then the answer would be to increase tenfold the number of immigration courts and judges. Trump could do that. Why doesn't he?
2
@Pat
Asylum seekers who cross the U.S. border illegally are illegal immigrants.he United States and Mexico have forged a safe third country agreement. A new agreement will permi the United States to return asylum seekers who cross the U.S. border illegally to Mexico, even if they apply for asylum after crossing the border. The agreement, which is similar to the United States’ long-standing agreement with Canada, is reciprocal; Mexico can return asylum seekers to the United States. Central Americans can still apply for asylum at U.S. legal ports of entry.
This malignancy is abetted by the Party of Trump. This malignancy could be stopped tomorrow if McConnell and the rest of that gang had a shred of decency, dignity, patriotism, or courage.
38
Ponder this notion for a nanosecond:
Our President serves at the pleasure of Their President.
Let that sink in. Because it's true.
Now consider that Mitch and the boys know this, too. And they're doing less than nothing about it.
Do you know what it's called when a candidate conspires with an enemy to put the fix in on a Presidental election?
Treason. And all of the lies Trump can spew doesn't change that stark fact one iota.
49
Fantastic similes in describing the man who Peter Principled as a wrestling promoter, Roger. We've pinned him to the mat, when does the ref call the match?
2
Brilliant column. When coupled with the comments by Bruce Rozenblit and those who point out that the GOP has fallen into lockstep with the old boy, it sums up the whole sorry story.
Indelibly linked now to my image of Donald will be the phrase like a dog returning to vomit. How apt on so many levels.
17
Trump must feel like a kid in one of those ball filled playgrounds at McDonalds. You can do or say anything you want and someone else pays to clean up the mess. How much has been spent sending Bolton, Pompeo, and all the other lackeys to the furthest parts of the globe to prove what Trump says is true when it is not. Or to undo the foreign policy gaffes Trump impulsively creates. We aren't talking about consulting with other leaders here. We are talking about keeping them on our side as the blood oozes from the knife wound in their back. These aren't cheap side trips. Not to mention sending all the troops and equipment to the Mexican border to make it look like invasion is imminent by an armed group of people. He is spending a great deal of money because he refuses to keep his mouth shut. We should total it up and send him the bill. Or at the very least the Republicans, if he gets any money for his beloved wall, should deduct that amount to try and get him to stop. But ole' Mitch, he couldn't possibly do anything other than saddle the taxpayer with the bill. Always nice to go to the casino and play with someone else's money.
292
@walking man
I'm not sure using a cost argument is the best way to analyze this issue. If @William Case is correct and 800 thousand illegals crossed the border in 2018 then we have a crisis and 0.5% of the budget is a small price to pay for solving it.
In some perverse way Cohen's piece describes the real estate salesman Trump has been for half a century. Read carefully, this exquisitely written piece, makes a cogent argument that Trump can't lie. So those who agree with Cohen should put lying in the waste bin. When Trump is doing his shtick, like at rallies, I agree with the writer. But such a malignant personality wouldn't be able to steer an economy to 3% GDP, rebuild military, use missiles to stop Assad from gassing his people, get Senate to pass "First Step" law, destroy ISIS caliphait, reduce illegal immigration (67%) and get North Korea to not test any more nukes, return hostages and American soldier's remains while they now plan for a 2nd Summit?
@walking man
Trump with his capricious partial govt. shutdown, he is now also causing blood to ooze out of the knife wounds he has inflicted into the backs of ordinary citizens. And he is aided, abated and enabled by the profoundly disturbing bull of Mitch McConnell and the GOP who BTW also took oaths of office.
26
Masterpiece, even if deeply troubling.
32
"... not a single mile of additional wall has been built since Trump took office."
And yet, Trump and the Republicans, who were in charge for the last years and did not build the wall, are shocked and outraged that the Democrats haven't fallen all over themselves trying to fund the wall.
Mitch McConnell, whose GOP controlled Senate passed spending bills to keep the government open before the House Democrats were sworn in, now refuse to bring those very same bills to vote instead of cowering in fear of Trump.
Each one of these Republicans is, to quote you, "Michelangelo of ...."
These are the same Republicans who get all out of breath about budget deficits when the Democrats are in charge, but pass irresponsibly huge tax cuts for the wealthy that contribute to the very same budget deficits when they take charge.
Each one of these Republicans is, to quote you yet again, "Michelangelo of ...."
When will the nation see these Michelangelos for what they really are, not just artists, but of the sort of artists you describe.
32
The US rose to the most powerful nation in the world as the role of the president expanded to be not only the most powerful person in the US government but also in the world. There was an extreme danger in that expanded role.
Now, we see the danger in not having a balanced government. The Senate majority leader will not vote on a compromise bill without the approval of the president. The Republicans, for that matter, will not do much without the blessing of the president. What happens to a country with a dictator that is totally insane? I think we know.
34
Can't wait to see how the other Mr. Cohen's - that would be one Michael - congressional testimony aligns with this column's perspective.
8
You nailed it.
Trump Quote of the week:
"Those were just words."
Exactly the point.
24
In the broad animal kingdom, a number of creatures show what we would term empathy. Trump is not one of these.
21
Still I think Mr. Trump is more a symptom than the disease itself.
For decades the Republican Party (does anyone seriously think Mr. Trump would have run as a Democrat?) engaged in a campaign of precisely the kind of ill-faith, dishonest and even delusional deception of the American public that Mr. Trump has amplified and refined to what you see today. While Mr. Trump is a malignant force for precisely the reasons Mr. Cohen describes, Movement Conservatism and the Republican Party are no less cruel for having done the same kind of thing for no greater reason than to hold on to power, and to pay back their donors.
It is that bad faith which is the real disease here, and to me the thing that kept the Republicans so attractive to the Klansmen and bigots since the late 1960's through to the slander of Mr. Obama, to the perversion that is Mr. Trump's presidency are on a continuum.
34
@Robbie J.
What you've left out is Trump's base who are as equally complicit in anything he does or says by never once demonstrating a desire to even question his BS and outright lies to them. Trump could tell them that he just got back from spending time on Mars with Putin and they've both agreed to form a partnership to run America exclusively for the rich and Trump's base would still smile and agree that this is how We Make America Great Again.
2
Excellent and very well written. Unfortunately it is all so true.
14
Nice piece, alas to no avail. Republicans love the thing in the
White House. And, yes, dissimulation, which I define as severing the relationship between cause and effect, is or can be worse than a lie, isn't that what George W. Bush did in the attempt to justify his war on Iraq ?
12
@eclectico They hate him. They love the power he brings, especially when they had both chambers. It’s going to be a rough two years for them with one chamber controlled by Democrats.
“He can’t help himself” = Personality Disorder. Uncontrollable need to create chaos and disruption , to distract by making people fight amongst themselves.
18
A wonderful column, Mr. Cohen. What's really frightening is that nearly a third of Americans support this president. Not a majority, no, but what is it about this man and his vision that draws millions of people to him? Racial and religious bigotry, to be sure, but isn't America better than that?
50
@silver vibes The sad truth that I have reluctantly realized is that we are not better that, because we are the sum of our parts, and those of us who try to be decent people have been tainted by Trump and those who support him (who are most definitely NOT good people, given the horror they gleefully and willingly support).
11
Roger needs to write part two of this excellent article addressing Mitch McConnell. Paul Ryan comes to mind as well, but he’s out of the picture now. I am confident the story can be continued further with a number of other Republican gladiators in the make-it-all-up category.
57
To the comments that not only is Trump governing without a reality base but also the Republican Party has engaged in similar tactics for decades thereby undermining how people understand their democracy. And leading those Republicans in the Senate is Mitch McConnell who will not bring legislation to the floor that benefits all of America. He did not let legislation come to the floor for a Supreme Court nominee from President Obama and now he will not allow legislation for opening government - legislation already passed by the Senate and House. Why does he enable a very dark side of the Republican Party and the lost reality of Trump? What does Mitch McConnell gain by his lack of attention to his oath of office to defend the Constitution of the United States? Trump survives because the Republican Party has lost its moral grounding. Mitch McConnell and previously Paul Ryan could have acted on behalf of the American Republic and enacted the critical checks and balances on Trump. For some reason, they did not, and Mitch McConnell still will not. It is heart breaking that we've lost our instinct for decency and the high road.
82
@Rosemary Galette Ryan and McConnell actually believe what people write about them. They see themselves as powerful, clever, and crafty. They love manipulating people. They love to see their photos and comments in the news. They are incredibly pompous and arrogant--and not nearly as smart as they believe themselves to be. History will not smile on them.
2
Agreed that Trump can not help being who he is. At this point, his intentions don't matter as much as the demonstrable consequences of his actions. Regardless of what Mr. Mueller finds, we have our own eyes to see and ears to hear the multitudinous ways Trump's words and behaviors benefit Russia. At this point, does it really matter why? Time for the House Democrats to take care of business. Trump needs to go.
36
What’s the most frightening is that Trump will do anything, legal or illegal, to stay in power and enrich himself. He also knows that once he leaves, all bets are off with whatever Putin holds over him. Knowing what he knows may also mean he is dispensable and we all know what happens to those who know too much in Putin’s universe. So Trump will manufacture a crisis and start a war if he feels he needs a diversion, and we all know how Americans patriotically rally around a President in times of threat, manufactured or real. The most likely scenario is Korea which Trump can claim is about to launch. No proof is needed, because Trump has already set up the American public with “I know more than the generals”. If Kim thinks Trump is going to invade, or nuke him, he will strike first. Then we will have a full blown war. Great for Trump (and Putin too).
41
@Cranford
We then must hope that above the clouds our intelligence and military communities have a counter-plan that involves either a refusal to obey orders or a plan to neutralize this president.
Yes, this would set a dangerous precedent but, the risks in not acting to save the country are clearly worse.
13
I would add some critical context to Roger's essay:
The Republican Party has been paving over America's minds with horse manure for at least 39 years, so the flourishing of Trumpian feculence owes its foundation to the Up Is Down: Down Is Up political party that systematically planted the seeds of stupidity, cognitive dissonance, and hatred of science, facts, colleges, context, and cause and effect.
The GOP left the surly bonds of reason when Ronald Reagan tore the solar panels off the White House roof and told gullible Americans that government is the problem.
Yes, Trump is a very talented bullshit artist, but 40% of Americans also suffer from advanced acute Pachyderm Spongiform Encephalopathy who reflexively cheer white Christian male spite and who irrationally hated Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton while cheering billionaires that fleece them for a living.
The cultish and selfish love of guns, God and greed at the expense of any decent public policy is prima facie evidence that 40% of Americans have been driven insane by Republicans via the good old-fashioned divide-and-conquer strategy via racism, white supremacy, and fear of the 'other',
These Americans fell into the Republican Down-is-Up rabbit hole of irrational spite long before the Birther-Liar-In-Chief stepped onto the stage to finish off the country.
Sure, Trump is pure horse manure, but the Russian-Republican Party, the Grand Old Propagandists, Gaslighting Over People...is what flushed America down a toilet.
921
@Socrates Very well said and even eloquent. I would only add that having dipped my toe into the conservative world back in the early '60s, I can testify that this shallow, black is white and right is wrong, etc., etc. has a history that goes far, far back .
73
@Socrates. I agree with everything you wrote but I'd like to focus on the context of these times in terms of the electorate. I will not use the perjurative term "uneducated" term to describe those who allow themselves to be filled by Trump. Rather, they are "uninformed" in my opinion. We live in an age of brief marketing phrases, of hours of television watching and playing video games and little study of history or social studies. Hence many people in fact end up voting against their own interests because they think the other party is "weak" or "crooked". Is any end in sight?
43
@Socrates
Methinks Socrates hath fallen prey to the sin of over-writing. What is said is true, but also grandiloquent.
13
With no disrespect to Mr. Cohen, I think a lot of people had Trump's number long before the election. In some corners people expressed hope that he would rise to the office, but privately all knew that he was incapable. Some thought he might quit out of boredom, realizing how government actually works. But with the GOP enabling him, he stayed. If only we could all have a leave of absence, instead most are just leftover.
29
You are right about Trump and his idiotic presence in the White House. But this story about Trump being investigated by the never Trump led FBI, which has been shown to by the Horowitz report to be wrong, as if it were some damning new evidence against Trump is a sham. Gage and Strozik were acting completely outside FBI guidelines. So we have an election that gives Trump a fluke upset win in the undemocratic electoral college. The founding fathers scared to death of majoritarian rule gave us Trump and Bush/Cheney recently. The congress seems poised to make boycotts against apartied Israel illegal. Add to this Pelosi and Schumer proclaiming the US president meeting the Russian president treason. The neo cons are back in ascendancy. Holy cow what a mess.
2
@c harris..I find your basic premise that the " Never Trump " FBI investigation is wrong. "Never Trump FBI"? C'mon. You are repeating Trump True Believer propaganda. Recent revelations of Manafort's turning over polling data to a Ukrainian operative and today's front page NYT piece on Trump's involvement with Russians suggests there is much more to the story than we know.
C harris, you can't wish this away no matter how you try.
3
@c harris
I'm gonna need more than a decoder ring to gain the POV you use to excuse treason. Russia was attacking our democracy. Trump helped. Game over; turn in your chips.
2
Let's never lose focus on the one central threat to America: Donald Trump is compromised and beholden to Russia and the Saudis because of financial obligations. EVERYTHING else is either a secondary issue or a manufactured distraction. Remember that and it all makes sense.
It's still awful but it makes sense.
257
@Brian
Total sense. Has since the gitmo. I'm the horrified town crier whose finally gonna take a break from asking if I'm the crazy one. Trump's turn.
10
There is another element to trump’s personality that is important to understand. He reminds me of a former boss for many years with a similar narcissistic ego (but much greater capacity for good). He had to leave his fingerprints on anything and everything done in the organization, even when this meant first tearing down a program made in his absence (but according to his priorities) and renegotiating it to the same conclusions (NAFTA, anyone?). If he said something to you, he remembered that you agreed with him; if he thought there had been a conversation, he remembered that he had said it out loud, and etc.
For many years it has been my observation that US domestic affairs are the basis for nominating and electing presidents. But it is international events which define a presidency and its end. The Republic is in great peril today.
23
The [insert profanity here] show is only going to get worse. So far, Trump has not faced much in the way of personal consequence for his words and actions. The article today in the Times that the FBI began a counterintelligence investigation into him is just the latest drop of acid on his presidency. With the Democrats finally getting subpoena power in the House, we can expect more drips from that faucet. Whenever Mueller produces his report, we can expect more than drips.
The problem is not just that he and his enablers may have broken the law, but because of the position he holds (as well as the Frankfurtian context that Mr. Cohen ably describes) the corrosive effects will be deep and lasting. They may be catastrophic if he decides to declare a national emergency for any illegitimate reason. That possibility has now been awakened in his mind.
As the charges focus on Trump and his family, we can expect that without a latter-day Senator Howard Baker, we will be facing an existential crisis for the Republic. (For those needing a history lesson, Baker was a Republican senator who pursued the truth behind Watergate, despite being in the same party as his president.)
As the charges mount and the evidence piles up, Trump will be tempted to use his executive powers, emergency and pardon, to avoid the personal consequences. The huckster can bring down the Republic just by being true to his nature.
69
During the 2016 election, there was a cartoon about a billboard advertisement with a wolf in some pasture setting where sheep were gazing. The caption goes like: I am going to eat you! That capture the Trump campaign and his admin.
Why, he famously said he is playing with "house money," but people have ignored the sheer factor he is one of the few - if not the only - moguls who bankrupted his casino at little cost to himself.
Trying not to be schadenfreude, since everyone is hurt by this shutdown, people have this coming. But yet, some still think he is doing "God's work!"
21
@Bos
And I fear that many of the people hurt by him will unhesitatingly vote for him again in 2020.
16
Hopefully, this is the lesson we learn. That words have meaning, elections have consequences, Republican's have penance, and Trump has no future. While every word you wrote about Trump is true, it is equally true for the Republican party. Indeed, it's Trump's party that is the real offenders. No 'Strongman' in history has ever been able to pull off his act by himself, ditto Trump. (Or for that matter Ditto Rush.) So, the Democrats choose a person of color to be on the ballot, and all's well that ends well.
17
Cohen provides a link to a Lawfare essay that points out that an antithesis of the Trump fakery is the courtroom where truth is presumed to exist. There are other societal institutions such as science, most churches (whatever respective faults ),many university classrooms . . . I'm sure you're catching my drift.
6
@31today
"churches"? Religion is part of the problem, not part of the solution. As a species homo sapiens will survive only if it moves beyond religion.
@31today
Yes, and not only many university classrooms - many classrooms, period. And continuing your cogent drift - let us not forget to mention nurseries and dinner tables...remember those beloved tintypes?
Sigh....
Welcome back, Roger. We missed you. And you're back in style with this excellent commentary. I have never really thought of the distinction you lay out here, but it makes perfect sense. It would be one thing if he was like this if he was a decent, compassionate person. But unfortunately for the universe at large, he is quite the opposite.
29
Things are moving fast, finally. Watch for Putin to use this time to ditch Donald and make his moves in countries on his geo-political list.
Our intelligence communities are divided from the congress , the executive branch /and possibly the military. The window of opportunity is wide open for the whims of Putin to blow through.
11
Years from now when historians parse Trump and his misbegotten presidency they should certainly reference this eloquent and unblinking column by Roger Cohen. The words he uses to describe Trump’s pathologically compulsive behavior- “birds feasting on mangled flesh” and “the dog returning to its vomit” are, for me at least, the best and most unforgettable I have ever read.
I won’t enjoy having Mr. Cohen’s images indelibly fixed in my mind from now on when I think of Donald Trump, but no sane American citizen should shy away from the truth about the malevolent and repulsive human being currently leading our nation.
99
This is a most eloquent and insightful essay -- one that I will save for repeat reading and reference -- thank you, sir.
This all points to how complicit Mitch "the thug" McConnell and the GOP cabinet are in not calling for and considering invocation of the 25th Amendment. Anyone with a minimal IQ level and sense of patriotism can see that the man is unfit to serve in any office with responsibility --let alone the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, in today's paper there's a report the FBI opened an investigation into whether Trump was working for Russia when he fired Comey and boasted to the Russian Foreign Minister for doing so. The report said that some folks, perhaps GOP-affiliated, expressed concern that the "agents overstepped in opening it"!!!!! How can any patriotic American even think of something like this? Trump is one man and will not be our main problem in the end. The GOP as an organization is and we should view them as such.
135
I am for humans. I can't help it.
Charlie Chaplin
11
There's a great Mary McCarthy story in which a man spends his whole life robbing from Peter to pay Paul. Finally, he makes enough to be comfortable financially. In the last scene, he's having dangerous elective surgery because - well, he just can't help himself.
2
Orson Welles, had Gregory Arkadin tell the fable of the scorpion and the frog in "Mr. Arkadin." I love the fable. The frog just doesn’t understand and it’s to late for him even if he figures it out.
There is a endless supply of frogs for Trump. Ask any frog, “but look at what happened to all the frogs before you”. They reply, “oh not me, I’m a different frog”.
48
Article is an insightful window into T's personality. On Nov 1, 2018, T--in an interview with ABC News--said
"I always want to tell the truth. When I can, I tell the truth."
Actually, he is saying that he wants to find (and use) a convenient version of the truth--but, if the Truth is NOT convenient--then he will make up something. From that follows his web of half-truths, lies, and posturing.
20
>
Please stop focusing on Trump and start worrying about the 45% that somehow have convinced themselves that he is doing a good job.
Even W's approval poll #s were in the mid 20's just after being re-elected, and they stayed there for 3.5 yrs. (google it)
The problem is not that there is a human being like Trump, but that there are many human beings that think he is great.
This is the bigger problem and the real danger; they can sink the boat.
Humanists can never accept C.G. Jung's insight that: “…the principal and indeed the only thing that is wrong with the world is man”.
62
There is a Creation museum in Kentucky.Somebody actually believes in intelligent design and wants to teach it to kids as science.Americans love magical thinking it gives them an escape from the misery their lives have become.Trump is going to stick it to the man .Unfortunately the man is them.
15
Oh, that the millions that voted for him would read this and see the light. I am not holding my breath.
33
@joyce @joyce This is what i don’t understand. They know he’s lying. They know he’s making up stuff all the time. For things that’s aren’t of their concern, they sit back and laugh bc he’s “owning the libs.” For things that are essential to their livelihood (tariffs, for example), they believe him and stick by his bullshit even at great cost to them. His bullshit soothes their ego and confirms their belief that they aren’t better off because the world is against them. He is telling them what they want to hear to either absolve themselves of responsibility or deny that sometimes circumstances make life difficult. Plus a lot of folks think he’s the second coming of Jesus.
3
@joyce This is what i don’t understand. They know he’s lying. They know he’s making up stuff all the time. For things that’s aren’t of their concern, they sit back and laugh bc he’s “owning the libs.” For things that are essential to their livelihood (tariffs, for example), they believe him and stick by his bullshit even at great cost to them. His bullshit soothes their ego and confirms their belief that they aren’t better off because the world is against them. He is telling them what they want to hear to either absolve themselves of responsibility or deny that sometimes circumstances make life difficult. Plus a lot of folks think he’s the second coming of Jesus.
"Remember, Jerry: It's not a lie if you believe it."
---George Costanza
So, what are the implications if a person who spews constant untruths and nonsense believes some percentage of them? Are they more or less of a threat? Is a delusional state to be preferred to blatant dishonesty?
Thanks to the Republican party and the bullheaded right-wingers in the U.S. electorate, these are some of the questions we have reason to consider, along with another question: Can America recover from this insanity?
21
Well... half of Americans who voted, voted for him.
I have lived 30 years in this country and it does not surprise me at all. What surprises me is the other half trying to make believe like this is not the USA . It is not them....It is not us. We are not like that. Again look at the history : the massacre of native Americans , the French Huguenots transported in mass, the turn after the Independance with the help of France to declare war to France 7 years after and renew relations with the British, then the Civil war, 100 years after the civil war fight against the minorities who were still trying to be free end unslaved, still not , "strange fruits hanging from the trees ", in the 50's /60's organisation and support of dictatorships in South America, Korea, Vietnam, etc...Irak, Afghanistan ...Trump is not American ?
29
@JPH: Don't have time to address everything, but the US had good reason for the "Quasi-war" against France. It was (and is!) a dog-eat-dog world, and anyone who could prey on American shipping, i.e. France, Great Britain, and Spain, did so. To his great credit, John Adam's small navy fought back. Jefferson, by contrast, mothballed the frigates and declared that moral persuasion would be an effective force against Napoleon.
5
@JPH -- we did not "declare war on France." As franco notes, that was the "quasi-war:" undeclared and mostly fought by privateers. The French were outraged by the Jay Treaty (which settled most issues remaining from the revolution between the US and Britain), and even more outraged when we stopped paying our war debt to France, claiming we no longer owed it due to the change of government.
Franco's comment about "Jefferson mothballing the frigates" didn't happen, though Jefferson did start building coastal gunboats that never amounted to anything and didn't build any more sea-going Navy. But the 6 frigates that Washington had authorized and another were in service when Madison's war of 1812 started.
Franco's claim of "moral suasion" is snide; Jefferson was not that stupid or appeasing; no man of our revolution was.
Jefferson thought that coastal gunboats could keep England from invading or blockading our ports, and that we could not afford a navy big enough to take them on at sea.
He was almost certainly wrong about the first proposition, though it was never tested. But England blockaded France quite successfully -- gunboats didn't work for them.
And he was strategically-wrong about the second. We had no hope of a navy strong enough to fight England in a fleet action, but as commerce raiders (along with a very strong privateering effort) our navy was the only thing that persuaded England to sign a favorable peace treaty.
Our land war was a fiasco.
2
@franko Complete lie and ignorance . It was about the Declaration des Droits de l'Homme and abolition of slavery .Planters in the West Indies .And the debts of the Revolutionary war . Napoleon was not there yet .The XYZ Affair ,etc...Please if you want to comment history , know history. And that does not excuse the other abuses. It just confirms the perversity of the arguments...
1
I'm so frustrated and spend far too much time trying to figure out the following: 1) Why does the senate continue to defend and enable him to act in such an egregious way? What happened to the notion of 3 branches of government and checks and balances established by our founding fathers? 2) How can possible still have a "base" that is unwavering and can't be reasoned with. This includes my own parents and my boss. We can't even have a civil discussion about the current administration. They get all of their news from FOX and when I try to reason with obvious examples of his lies and horrible decisions, they are quick to tell me that my news sources are all "fake". Its like they've been brainwashed. A total and complete nightmare.
108
@E
The GOP will keep him so long as he signs their legislation. When he thwarts the Senate, his usefulness will end.
His base is not motivated by logic. They are emotionally attached to the Fox claims of an America overrun with minorities and undocumented invaders who have some nebulous unfair advantage over true Amurricans and who commit all the crimes.
You cannot win arguments about this. Logic will be useless.
10
Putin & Co. long knew that Trump could not help himself...and have exploited it and the pecadilloes of other GOP politicians whose personal behavior goes against the hypocritical grain of "people of faith." It's called Kompromat.
Here is the text of an e-mail I sent to Mitch McConnell this evening:
I just sent the following e-mail to McConnell via that website:
Obstruction isn't "patriotism," nor is putting party above the voters, their needs, and the Constitution. Your failure to act to reopen the government--even on terms you and the Senate had previously agreed to before Trump changed his mind and went back on his word, isn't "patriotism."
At this point, it's collaboration in Trump's efforts to destroy the rule of law and turn the "full faith and credit" of the United States into a fiction that the rest of the world sees through. It’s as if your very oath of office has become a lie.
One can only surmise that Trump and Putin have you by the short hairs.
53
Really? You’re fascinated by this?
I am disappointed in you, Mr. Cohen. A large part of the reason we are suffering is the inability of Opinon writers to control their need for titillation. Used to call it rubber-necking.
If you can’t turn your mind and skills to a useful contribution to the resolution of our growing national distress, I suggest you fulfill your needs less harmfully by binge-watching horror flicks, and leave precious column inches to investigative reporters and leaders with solutions.
4
It may be as you say but that makes it all the more important that the GOP not be complicit because they know it's flim-flam & do nothing to stop it.
4
Welcome back Roger. Your insightful, fluid writing is always a pleasure.
5
Of great concern also, as noted in a different article in this edition, the shut down nonsense is distracting us from the fact that this POTUS is likely a traitor. We need to see his taxes ASAP, we need to know what happened during the "private meeting" in Helsinki.
It's time for the Senate to participate in real oversight of this President, and to compel POTUS to end this shut down. Of course, I'm concerned too that many other R's in Congress may be compromised too.
I am afraid for my nation as we have no stable, rational, trustworthy leadership.
35
@J Why do people keep assuming that what he wrote on his tax returns is at all truthful? (Only the fact that he keeps hiding them provides any contrary evidence. But he could just be withholding them to show that he won't yield to anyone ever.)
2
The disturbing thing is that tens of millions of Americans, controlling by theoir presence a large part of the country not only do not see through this guy but celebrate his absurdities. That is the real threat to the Republic.
18
Excellent article. Thank you.
8
In due time, when all the evidence is ordered for presentation, Trump should be impeached -- meaning indicted -- and brought to trial on the Senate floor, as the Constitution demands. He's not interested in governing; he's interested in ruling -- cruel and arbitrary ruling -- and THAT is not what America is about.
46
@Wm Conelly. Wow. excellent distinction. The diffrerence between governing and ruling is what is at stake. This is what made humanity progress since enlightenment. Thank you.
7
I'm 100% with Bruce Rozenblit, Heather, and R. Law on this -Trump is the front man, the "sock puppet" as R describes it, the rodeo clown sent to distract. Bannon told us right up front - "We are going to flood the zone with bulls@#". Why? Here you have the most militarily powerful country on the planet, which despite many hypocrisies over the decades has generally and more than any other nation consistently supported international order and the rule of law. As such, it is an impediment, really the only impediment, to would-be authoritarian global oligarchs. The Russians have clearly been good students of US society for years, and have observed the increasing polarization aided and abetted by Republican political strategy. The opportunity merely lacked a willing and available inside pawn, one who could, through ego, be reliably played and controlled. His name is Trump. Now the obstacle nation is dysfunctional to a point beyond the wildest dream, and the pickings are easy. But, the question remains - after this, what? What's the endgame?
70
@Michael
"The opportunity merely lacked a willing and available inside pawn..."
Unfortunately, I have come to wonder if the targeted pawns weren't also other GOP-elected politicians, pre-dating the rise of Trump - he is the Russians' greatest, but not only, triumph, the icing on the cake.
8
Thank you for this piece, Mr. Cohen. Strong writing about a nasty person and a dangerous situation.
In the end, though, the attention turns back to us. Trump is what he is, but what will we do about it? When will the people rise up and insist that words have meaning and honesty matters?
24
As a whole, no one challenged him, word by word, fragmented sentence by fragmented sentence at the start, when that would have been useful and effective. The other effective alternative would have been to ignore. This article certainly sheds some new thoughts on this guy, however like so many recent analysis of this guy, this one is about 3 years too late. So maybe Roger Cohen knew back then. I did. Many people did. It was somehow inconvenient to write such things back then. Why? $? Or maybe it woulda been rude. All that said, ..... Great observation, Mr. Cohen. Thank you, G
16
@ggallo
There have been many who did what you commented on both here in the U.S. and in other countries. They were dismissed shouted down severely criticized demeaned and told they knew not what they said.
A deadlocked government is good for no one and this shutdown is a symptom of this. The ripple effect is gaining ground daily and will continue to gain destructive power.
Tom-foolery and hissy-fits help no one this behavior is spreading Great Britain is in it and other countries are showing symptoms of this.
In the meantime I believe the Automatic Governments are watching with glee as we fracture and dissolve into chaos. All those had to do was plant the seeds water and watch as we self destruct.
6
@Alecfinn- Yup. As I said, somehow it just wasn't convenient to listen. And yes, I believe you have a very good point about what many "are watching with glee."
2
@Alecfinn
Automatic should read Autocratic.
Sorry.
1
Trump has been chipping away at democracy, indirectly, through support of authoritarian governments and leaders, and by positions against allies and the institutions of western democratic alliance; and directly, by attacking intel and enforcement persons and agencies, the press which, under constitutional mandate, arbitrates truth and purpose, and more significantly, the courts which fulfill the necessary checks and balances of a separate but equal government branch. Trump has all along been after power—to appropriate and consolidate it to his ends.
This longest shutdown represents the most significant attempt, yet, by Trump to assert his vision of personal superiority and empowered authority over government—to flex muscle and exercise expanded power. Trump, with his “my way…” stand on a wall, has hijacked government and holds it hostage as blackmail, not for his wall, but actually to prevail over Congress, bypassing legislative process as an authoritarian. If Congress caves, whether to demand or abuse of emergency powers, it surrenders its enumerated power to legislate policy and direct funds as an equal branch of democratic government and Trump is permitted to step into the exercise of the dark power of an autocrat.
The consequences of the shutdown are serious, for all. But the consequences to democracy, the exercise of power and the enhanced prevalence for its abuse by Trump or any future despot, is the overriding issue, the value of which is too high a price to bargain.
25
He cannot help it because he has severe personality problems . Mental health experts trying to describe the personality characteristics of Trump have used the label " malignan narcissism ". Let me first say that I am not trained as a psychiatrist . I am a retired 74 years old pediatrician . My expertise , if any , is of a different kind . I came to this Country from a place where democracy died . In 1961 I came from Castro`s Cuba as a teenager . I became an American citizen and a physician . As many other Americans born in other lands I witnessed tyranny first hand . I still remember the excuses people had at the time in Cuba to explain away the behavior of Fidel Castro . Things like " he is not communist , the communist ones are Raul Castro and Che Guevara " . This was something very similar to the assertions during the 2016 that what Trump was saying was just rhetoric or that he was going to change to a more presidential persona once in office . I understand the notion that the institution of this Country are more solid and mature than the institutions of Cuba 60 years ago . But we should not be complacent . We should realize that a madman is at the helm . That is the real crisis , not the one at the Southern Border .
67
@ "I understand the notion that the institution of this Country are more solid and mature than the institutions of Cuba 60 years ago."
Doctor. The implicit message in your post seems not to be a dire fear of Trump, but a warning of what will follow. Why not just indite AOC & the baying hounds of the "left" set to displace the Republican Party standing behind Trump. The status quo is in peril & rightly so. Greed & status made it so.
1
This is The Kobayashi Maru..the tactical no-win conundrum. Unfortunately, even in their incredible wisdom, our founding fathers didn’t conceive of a situation with a Mad King president and an enabling legislature ( Senate). It’s now up to us, the people, to solve it. It’s time for labor actions( strikes) by Federal workers backed by civilian organized labor. A good start would be TSA workers and airport/airline labor groups( pilots,flight attendants,mechanics,etc).
24
Thank you God - for Mr. Cohen - It would be great if Mr. Cohen's words would 'become viral in the social media', because as we all know that is what the majority of the people in the USA are addicted to and read, read, read, and pass it on. Let us hope for this.
11
Mr. Cohen,
I own and have read Mr. Frankfurt's book, and you are spot on.
You didn't talk about how we got this raccoon-eyed bullshit artist in the People's House.
Many Americans themselves are bullshitters.
Many Americans are stupid and lazy, and therefore cannot detect bullshit (even their own) or are too ignorant to care about how it affects them.
Many Americans want Trump to say only what they want to hear. What they want to hear is that their miserable lives are not their fault.
Many Americans want "others" (anyone not like them) to suffer and pay for their own shortcomings and the consequences of their actions (due to their stupidity, laziness, and bullshit).
Many Americans are ignorant, angry, violent racist, misogynist, xenophobes but are too impotent to act out their angry fantasies, so they voted for a guy who would do it for them.
Worst of all, many Americans actually think that no negative consequences can befall our nation with this bullshit artist in charge. They believe this despite the reality occurring all around us.
So, many Americans are returning to their own vomit, scavenging the carcass in the middle of the road, and dangling like a puppet on a string, just like their child-king the Clown. These facts are right there in front of us, for all to see. The Bullshitter is in charge, and we put him there.
104
@Citizen Good comments. I love to think that this is a great country. But then I look at The Con Don. How could a great country elect The Con Don as its President? We all know that politicians are slippery when it comes to truth and integrity, but most try to use good manners and pretend that they are honest, follow the law, and follow the norms of society.
I believe that our elected officials reflect the norms and values of the people who elected them. What does the election of The Con Don and his continued support by about 40% of the public say about this country? Nothing good. Anyone with any intelligence at all knows full well what The Con Don is.
You and Mr. Cohen say some harsh things but they are fully justified.
16
@Citizen: You write: "Many Americans are ignorant, angry, violent racist, misogynist, xenophobes but are too impotent to act out their angry fantasies, so they voted for a guy who would do it for them."
I think your assessment is spot on. For those 60 million who voted for him to blow up the system, I'd love to know how they feel now. Yes, many still cheer him because they love hearing such a powerful man say what they want to hear: that nothing is their fault and if we didn't have all these "others" here--Latinos, African Americans, Muslims, liberals, transgender people, this country would be a really wonderful place.
28
This definition of bullshit fits the legal definition for criminal as a reckless disregard for the truth of the matter. One is aware of a lack of knowledge, but doesn't care and just does it or says it anyway.
18
Having seen this all along when I discussed this I was repeatedly shut down and dismissed. So I stopped talking. I did keep commenting here and things I said were considered offensive I was surprised at the reactions.
There are issues that have been posed as a crisis and now are causing a crisis that are just hissing-fits and temper tantrums.
I have repeatedly said I am scared for my country that fear is rapidly turning into terror.
This government shutdown has shown that most are not interested in compromise. Even though life involves constant compromise from marriage to working for a living.
Extremism for anything is dangerous learning involves dialogue and compromise.
As usual it's the "Common Folk" who will pay the greatest price for this Tom-foolery. And that's sad and tragic.
12
@Alecfinn- Your problem, like so many other people's is that you didn't have a TV show, or radio show, or a newspaper column, or some other soap box with a large presence. Our problem is, those who did, only knew how to get us into this situation.
2
Trump is a bullshit artist, and always has been, but the question is how does he manage to get his bullshit to fly? To answer this we need to look to the maestro of media bullshit, Rupert Murdoch. Unlike Trump, who simply says whatever is convenient for him at the moment, Murdoch dishes out b.s. with a finely tuned awareness of what his audience wants to hear. For this reason, Trump has been able to use Fox News as his own propaganda network. But should Trump lose favor with his base, Rupert will waste no time in pulling the plug on the Donald. There is reason to hope that Trump's lies will catch up with him. Unfortunately. Murdoch's brand of bullshit is likely to endure.
33
@Bob Chisholm Murdoch also owns the Wall Street Journal which is not always kind to the President. Murdoch seems to work both sides of the street.
3
@Snip And in Britain he owns both the Times of London and the Sun. Hedging his bets has always been part of the Murdoch formula.
3
@Bob Chisholm- Mr. Bob, I agree with you about Murdoch, and I would like to add ..........
The lefty media was just as big a shill for this man. And here is what I heard, more than once and in several variations -
"He's a presidential candidate. That makes it newsworthy."
Which begot us the dreaded - "He's the president. That makes it newsworthy."
Shame on all that use and used that misguided rationale.
RATING$$$$$$$$$$$
2
From the bully pulpit of past Presidents to the bullshit pulpit of Trump -- you have succinctly captured the essence of the man and his m.o. And yet more than a third of poll respondents approve of his job performance. Is that because of his bullshit (i.e. they actually believe him) or in spite of it (they like the judicial appointments and deregulation and tax breaks for the rich and tariffs, etc. so much they don't care what nonsense he speaks or tweets)? Sad.
23
Roger, your best.
I have a Bull Shit button in my top desk drawer. I press it several in the morning before things get underway for the day. And maybe once or twice for friends who take BS too far.
You mentioned smoke and mirrors? Trouble is his smoke is toxic to all who expect it to contain oxygen: it's the narcotic version.
Mirrors? Trouble is the only glass he looks into is exactly that! He does NOT know how to look through windows.
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@Walter Brownsword- Yes. The smoke is toxic and it is affecting the real oxygen.
2
Bravo Rodger Cohen - “Trump is the Michelangelo of the bullshit artists!” For nearly three years, reporters, columnists, Op-Ed writers, and the media have danced around and used all sorts of synonyms to describe Trump’s lying and miss representations of the facts and reality. The bottom line is that Trump is just a bullshitter!
Every time Trump talks reporters should reenact John Belushi’s famous scene from Animal House and just say “Bullshit.”
35
@Don P.- Too late?
Mr. Cohen you have made an excellent observation. Trump though goes beyond the bull. He truly does not care about anyone. He truly has no respect for institutions , their history
and procedures. He is an infant with tremendous power. The
stain that he will leave on the highest office will endure for some time. Perhaps among the worst damage that he has done is to diminish the dignity and effectiveness of the presidency. He has managed to turn that office into a joke.
It may be that our nation can never truly recover from his time in office.
22
@DM The U. S. electorate allowed this mess to happen, with the help of our ridiculous electoral college. The U.S. congress allowed it to continue. No one seems to want to admit that our government is becoming (is) a fascistic government with a dangerous "infant terrible" at the helm.
What will be done about it? So far, nothing.
3
Well reasoned but really, too kind. Some bullshitters are innocuous and others are at least good natured. We can chuckle about Bill Clinton's "it depends what the meaning of is, is" but that sort of thing hurt no one, resulted no lost paychecks, did not threaten our allies, security, or economy.
One hopes that during the next State of the Union, Democrats will interrupt with "you lie!" where needed.
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@JR
Democrats will interrupt with "you lie!"
Apropos this op-ed, how about "Bullshit!" instead.
3
I thought the same things as I recently re-read Frankfort's book. We have to keep fact checking and calling the lies what they are however, hoping that his base may "step out their caves".
9
I don't find Trump nearly as interested as the true believers who are so identified with him that no leap of logic is too great. Facebook is full of longwinded, unconditional professions of love. Criticize him and you've slapped his people in the face. There is an unbridgeable gap between Trumpworld and reality. He's clearly not a healthy man, and his followers aren't either. This inability to grapple with the obvious that continues to grip 40% of the electorate is cause for alarm.
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His method in the case of the wall is extortion. It sounds like he uses extortion all the time. "Do what i want or I will hurt you and a lot of other people". Pelosi and Schumer can'r give in, because then he will use this method over and over. And Mitch just wants power; he has no moral scruples about whatever he has to do to keep it. That's why he is AWOL. In a week or two air traffic controllers and TSA agents will refuse to come to work. You won't be able to catch a flight. Mitch will do nothing.
35
Senator McConnell surely knows Trump can't control himself. Trump's already reversed himself in one bi-partisan deal when Ann Coulter complained. So McConnell won't allow any bill to come to the Senate for a vote until he's sure he's got Trump's vote, he says. Which, given that Trump is chaotic bull artist, means he can never bring a bill on the budget/wall to the floor. What's McConnell's plan for governing?
27
@Sherry Senator McConnell's behavior is outrageous as well as disgusting.
4
The worst of Trump's damage is yet to come. Does anyone think this all ends without Trump invoking Martial Law and imprisoning his enemies? Don't laugh.
24
@judgeroybean, which makes us wonder why do we have the supreme court in the first place. Are they not guardians of the constitution. Are they blind to what is going on in this country, the blatant fakery of this President? Are our justices so politicized they do not care about the country or its people, they only look at it from political ideology point of views? We are truly orphans. Helpless Americans, neither the media nor the justices nor the lawmakers nor any kind of conscience that has not been bought over by special interest, help us. There was a reason why we the people delivered our votes in 2018. Unless these characters prove to us that they were worth our vote, we can only hold our heads in our hands, out of despair and disappointment.
5
The most perspicacious and profound observation is Ms. Jurecic's. As Trump does not (appear to) comprehend the concept of "law", he is, objectively speaking, not capable of executing his Office, as this designates him as the guarantor of the Constitution and the Laws of the United States.
All the rest flows from this. And of course from the GOP's misbegotten calculation that Donald the Magnificent would and could act as a tool to entrench measures to advance their donors' agendas. I do wonder what drugs Republican lawmakers and operatives must take and in what doses to continue living with themselves.
23
Not only words have meaning but titles do, too. Trump can't help being rude. Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi call him, as they should, Mr. President. He calls them Chuck and Nancy. They should insist on their proper titles.
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I love the ant metaphor at the open and close of this piece.
In my opinion, a more apt metaphor would be locusts.
America, let us rid ourselves of this plague.
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When someone lies, it is necessary to remember the lie in order to avoid being caught or exposed after subsequent statements.
That would be too mentally inconvenient and challenging for Donald Trump. That's why he resorts to bullbleep. His target is his red-hatted political base and they have demonstrated that they will not only believe anything he says but just eat it up. And the only thing he cares about is his base. I don't know which is more pathetic, Trump or his gullible enablers.
14
If and when Dems get back both houses of congress and the Presidency, hopefully in 2020, a total overhaul of Presidential powers and especially the powers vested in the President under the "National Emergency" prerogatives should be the first order of business. If we have learned anything, we have learned that we cannot count on an elected President acting in the best interests of the country. Trump has violated and will continue to violate every decent norm and restraint we have come to think of as acceptable behavior from a President. He may be an anomaly we will never see again, but we need to make it far less likely that any future President as lacking in judgment and morals as Trump cannot create a situation where he could potentially call up martial law and coronate himself dictator for life. I fear this is a real possibility with this man.
18
In due time Trump and his republican enablers will be removed from office with extreme prejudice. Once the extent of their corruption is known, there will be no redemption for the republican party or its supporters. Good riddance.
27
Everything you have written about Mr. Trump is true, Mr. Cohen.
But -- what are we to do about Mitch McConnell and the Republicans? If they were not keeping mum in the face of Trump's insanity, there might be a way for us to find our way out of this smoke-and-mirrors horror show. They screamed loud and long about "Presidential overreach" during Obama's tenure on any number of issues -- DACA and the Affordable Care Act, to name only two. All they do now is tut-tut-tut and wring their hands and pretend they are powerless to hold Trump to account. They are like the owners of a vicious dog that runs around and bites people. "Oh, dear," they say. "He's really quite gentle at home. Just talk to him nicely and pet him a bit."
Right. When the country is smashed and ruined, Republicans, just remind yourselves that we will remember what YOU have given us in Donald Trump. We will remember.
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"It is a habit "unconstrained by a concern with truth" or logic or consistency. He doesn't even care to keep his lies straight. He never said Mexico would pay for the wall? That statement is unconstrained by a concern with reality. It's simple really, Trump lies and, in the reporting of facts, the proof is laid bare that he lied. But he's convinced his followers that anything reported about him is fake news. So if he says something contradictory tomorrow it doesn't matter because you he can always dismiss the truth as manufactured. The slavish devotion and abject stupidity of his followers gives him all the cover he needs to pull this off. They even have a propaganda arm to give an air of legitimacy to the whole affair. The only things missing were groups of people who would believe anything (Cue the Evangelicals), who believed in one thing (cue the NRA) and, much to my surprise, didn't believe in anything they'd said or stood for for decades (cue the Republicans). You're right, Trump can't help it. The biggest puzzle remains the motivations of those who help him blindly.
17
With all due respect to Mr. Cohen, many of us do not have the luxury of dealing with this administration and Republican controlled Senate and Supreme Court as simply an intellectual exercise. We cannot afford to wax poetic whether Trump is a fascist, or simply incoherent, however true both statements may be.
Many of us are citizens who are ethnic and religious minorities. In the past two years, our families have been spat on, been the victims of vicious racial slurs, and worse -- behavior that many of us native-born Americans have never before experienced.
The allusion to the Reichstag Fire is more than a poetic device for many of us. We now face a real, existential risk. Whether we be brown-skinned citizens, Jewish citizens or other minority groups, we do not look at this administration as the "LOL Nothing Matters" presidency. We are legitimately afraid, for ourselves, for our families. We've already seen that Trump has ordered brown-skinned, Hispanic infants and children be put into cages -- on our soil. We know very much that our families are on the top of his "enemies lists".
Trump has signaled more than once to his rabid, heavily armed base that they should exercise their "2nd Amendment solutions." And this very paper quoted a Trump supporter stating that he "wasn't hurting the people he should be hurting." We know exactly who she means. She means us. Our families. Our children. And as long as Trump is unopposed, we know that we are no longer safe in this country.
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@Charles Dodgson
I can only recommend this once so I am replying as well to try and draw peples attention to it.
What you say is absolute truth but sadly all to often only recognised by people on the receiving end.
It doesnt always show in court cases. It cant always be seen. But it very assuredly is happening.
15
@Charles Dodgson
EXACTLY. My daughter, still in high school, is a minority. This is not an abstraction for her.
My BIL is a Trump fan, and she is aghast at what he says in front of her.
I'm really sick of hearing, "Oh, but it doesn't mean YOU..." It does.
6
Trump's forte is not in management. He is a marketing junkie. He points with pride, exaggerates, glamorizes, expounds, explains, complains, and then disdains anything not of his own making.
He cannot help being who he is because he has, up until now, never had to be anything else. At his age he will never change.
615
@Honey
Please don't insult Marketing.
17
Trump does not hold the world's most powerful position. He is one of many. Americans have lived too long between the real world and the virtual one that constantly beams out its make-believe. Back to the future does not exist, just as back to the past does not exist. Trump is brilliant confusing these worlds and the US presidency was open to such a master.
6
@Jo Ann, Americans live in a world of Hollywood like existence. They are voyeurs of gossip, interested more in the lifestyles of celebrities than in how people in this country become homeless in the first place. One of the wealthiest countries in the world we had the opportunity to be the happiest as well, but we squandered away those opportunities because unbridled capitalism allowed the top wealthy 1/10th of 1% to get even more wealthy, all the rest simple enjoy the ride foolishly thinking America works for everyone. No it only works for the Uber ultra super rich. Who get away without having to pay taxes. Their corporations as well. Meanwhile the poor Dreaners sweat and work hard, pay every penny in honest taxes. And the Donald calls them criminals rapists druggists and horrible names, these highly educated highly accomplished children of migrants. Such is the make belief world we live in, our lawmakers being the biggest hypocrites on the planet, they are being played fiddle by the Donald.
5
@petey tonei
Thank you for replying. How sad and bitter you sound. Fortunately, when the shadow side of a person or a country is revealed then there is the possibility for change. Let's hope this will be the case for the USA.
1
By far the best description of Trump I ever read in this New paper. As frightening it is to read this masterful column, it is even more so to think to even today there are still millions of Americans who really believe that he is a "great" president.
19
This is a really important statement. I hope many read it. Thank you!
8
And don't forget Trump's enablers in the Congress. They are guilty of the same immoral characteristics as Trump because they allow him to continue his parade of violations of everything associated with moral, rational behavior. Only a few Republicans, mostly those concerned with endangering their reelection chances in 2020, have dared separate themselves from Trump on building the wall. On most policy matters, Republicans are in complete lockstep support. It is indeed a sad and dangerous day for the United States.
42
Voter turnout in presidential elections is the key to winning (or losing). Candidates have to motivate voters to vote. Tuesday isn't the best time to vote, coming as it does near the front of the workweek. And if the candidates are lackluster or worse, a large plurality of voters won't. Hence the attraction of "The Theme Chant." Easy to remember. Repeated endlessly. Remember Obama's "Yes We Can." Ok, except for a heavily compromised healthcare law, it turned out that no, we could not. But the Theme Worked. As has Trump's theme -- "Build the Wall." So crucial to motivating his supporters to actually vote. That's been the key to his election. It's way too late to abandon it.
1
Many have predicted that a moment would come like this when Trump would claim the authority to declare martial law. Everything he has done has led to this moment. His intentions were clear as day, but still, one didn't want to believe it. Congress will fix it, we hoped, but they haven't. And now pundits and congressmen are suggesting that a declaration of emergency is actually a solution to the government shut down.
If Trump has his way, Congress is finished. There should be some savings there at least if Trump shuts down Congress. Salaries, pensions, transportation...all those funds can go to building walls, or his own private security force, and he might then make a real case that he would need both- just like all the other dictators.
11
The same sort of condemnation of the invasion of Iraq might have been good idea. However, there was a certain desire to agree with the government back then.
4
@David I think that Mr. Cohen would (now) say that the invasion of Iraq was based on a lie, i.e. knowing the truth and disregarding and concealing it, as opposed to "bullshit" which is the subject of this column and, Cohen believes to be even worse. He quotes Frankfurt as follows: 'The bull merchant “does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”'
5
Thank you Mr. Cohen, for this unique point of view. Normally I would change my attitude toward someone who simply can't control what he does. I would become somewhat more sympathetic. In this case, as you point out, there is danger in doing so.
As of late, with the faux crisis at the border, I have finally and definitively hoped for his removal from office as soon as possible.
45
Excellent column and one that merits keeping for the time capsule to be reread in ten or twenty years time.
Mr Cohen has defined exactly how and why the Trump so-called presidency cannot simply be endured.
Trump is not just a "character", another well-meaning but idealogically mistaken Republican.
The damage he has done to the country, the rule of law and even people's perception of what constitutes public discourse may be irredeemable. I sincerely hope I am wrong.
292
Several people have wondered why Trump followers continue to faithfully believe in Donald Trump even when Trump is clearly devising policies that hurt them.
That is the nature of being conned.
A con man know what someone really, really wants—whether it is money or restored health or an exciting business venture.
Trump knows that people in the U.S. heartland really dislike
a) ineffectual DC politicians
b) the outsourcing of American jobs and lack of compensation for working hard
c) policies that reward slackers (welfare recipients) or outsiders (migrants)
d) the loss of 19th American cultural traditions, values, and structures
So, con man that he is, he created a campaign based on telling people in the heartland that he will give them what they most desire.
And no one wants to look like a fool. That is why little old ladies keep sending money to Nigerian princes even after they realize that they have been had. Pride is a tough master. Who wants to admit to being a sucker? No one.
--The Legacy of Jim Jones and the Cult of Donald Trump
Medium.com - Susie Meister:
“I see so many parallels [between Donald Trump and Jim Jones], it’s ridiculous” Stephan Jones told me. He believes that, like his father, President Trump is a narcissist and relies on similar manipulation tactics. Mr Jones said, “My dad would meet someone, quickly read what you feared most and what you wanted most, and convince you that he was the one to save you from one and give you the other.”
150
@Heather. Welfare recipients are not slackers. The program is intended for moms with young children who have no money.
12
@Ann Johnston
I was providing the conservative view of welfare; far right wing pundits love to imply that welfare is only for people who don't want to work. As for me, I absolutely understand how welfare works to assist moms and others who need financial help.
7
Good to see some powerful imagery about the evil grifter profiteer in the white house. Thanks for the insight on bullshit (I assume I can use the word in a comment, we'll see, since it's in the main text. About time ...) Explanations of extreme vanity and blind ignorance are gilding the repugnant and decorating the obvious, a waste of energy at best, and all too likely to obscure rather than enlighten.
"Like the dog that returns to its vomit, he cannot help it."
Trump is one of the lowest forms a life, a guy who never looks to do the right thing, but only the vain or profitable thing, to hurt to win. His enablers (McConnell et al.) are almost as bad, and his dupes useless when it comes to solving problems and acting for the best.
We can only hope that the hostage taking will finally get through to people who will accept a murder on 5th Avenue.
It's like climate change/global warming. Now it's affecting almost everyone in observable ways, some minor and some devastating, it's becoming harder to explain away. Though too many people live through their devices, the 2D cosmetic way, not getting out enough, we still have to step out into reality and deal with it.
Blaming victims is not dealing with life. It's nasty and dangerous. Hatred and exclusion backfires. It will come for us all in the end, that sting in the tail.
Evil, be thou my good is not a good rule for living.
129
It's just statistics until you're one of the numbers ...
43
What I find fascinating is the Republican Party's about-face on the deficit. During the Obama presidency, the deficit was the Republican-dominated Congress's justification for shutting down the U.S. Government. However, under Trump, Republican majorities in the House and Senate passed tax cuts creating record deficits, indicating, apparently, that deficits are only a problem under Democratic presidents. But, despite their largess to the wealthy who will benefit the most from these tax cuts, somehow they couldn't find enough votes to pass funding for the border wall (whether concrete, steel slats or fencing). Moreover, the lack of border wall funding, which was not possible for two years under a Republican-dominated Congress, has (surprise!) now become a national emergency under a divided Congress. It's not just Donald Trump who has no regard for consistency or truth.
584
@James, Toronto, CANADA It's become impossible to believe that our elected Republicans are principled people, fighting to uphold conservative ideals. Trump and his base have cowed them. Their concern now is holding onto their cushy positions and being re-elected, not working for the good of the country. One despairs.
64
@James, Toronto, CANADA
The deficit has been a Republican strategy since Reagan and Grover Norquist developed the "starve the beast" strategy.
When Republicans are in office they bankrupt our country with tax cuts for the rich, then argue we have to cut spending on the poor to pay for it. Then, when Democrats are in office, they dare them, dare them, to raise taxes on the rich.
2020 is time for the Dems to take that dare.
44
@James, Toronto, CANADA
Excellent point, James. “The Deficit Hypocrisy” might be the title of a Robert Ludlum political thriller starring Matt Damon if the plot weren’t so predictable. At least it dramatize would Frankfurt’s Bull v. Lie distinction. Republicans, most of whom know exactly what they’re doing, are shilling (lying) for a pathological bullshitter.
19
President Trump could cause the United States to become a failed state.
Once a state loses a functioning central government (as in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan), it is hard to reacquire civic structure because everyone gets used to surviving as an individual or tribal member rather than as a citizen. As the years go by, fewer people are left who remember how good governance functions.
The far right in the U.S. has risen on the idea that government is unnecessary. The most extreme evangelicals believe that the Bible can replace the U.S. government.
The unfortunate thing is that sloppy and ineffective governance of the past has created a condition where nearly a third of the U.S. citizenry don’t understand how governance should work.
Too many citizens only see the potholes of the whole civic apparatus. Too many citizens have never seen a copy of the federal budget, don’t know how their taxes are used, and are worried about their personal finances and safety—so they are suspicious of anything that appears to take away what they have.
Trump has taken advantage of this and convinced many people that he is their savior. Trump is like Jim Jones or David Koresh. He is a charismatic con man and cult leader.
Trump is in a position of tremendous power, where he can cause financial ruin, constitutional chaos, civil war, or even world war.
He is the first president who deeply scares me.
837
@Heather Slight edit of your first sentence: President Trump has caused the United States to become a failed state.
19
@Heather ...and the GOP is complicit. He cannot be doing this alone.
51
@Heather It is only a matter of time before Trump gives everyone the Jones "Kool-Aid"
17
I have been saying the same thing here ever since Donald the Swindler took office, but I am not as eloquent as Mr. Cohen. As I have pointed out Dishonest Donald exhibits all the characteristics of a psychopath, not just a narcissist, but one who believes whatever he says and does is his privilege, there is no right and wrong, he is the judge and the only one.
Notice he dopes not use syllogisms, or modus ponens to justify his oratory, you are expected to believe what he says without question. He makes some statement his face and gestures say that is that, no argument.
Notice however his followers are rabid believers too, he is the leader of their cult, no different that that of Jim Jones and the Wings of Deliverance. Or Jim and Tammy Baker, there always seems to be a core of unhinged souls waiting to be delivered. Swindler Donald is delivering them to Ragnarok, their minds shrunken by the witch doctor of self deceit.
102
Cheers for Mr. Cohen! Finally someone is hitting the nail on the head. Trump doesn't think, he just goes ahead and does what he's been doing for 7 decades. Learned it at his father's knee. There is no real way to change him. Not going to happen. The game is to divert and constrain him and somehow get through the next two years.
I get irritated at people who are still acting as if they can negotiate. Our leaders need to take fully into cognizance the nature of this man. Then work as hard as they can to lesson the most damaging effect of what he does and says.
We owe a debt to those in Trump's administration who have managed to stem the dangers of his most wild and erratic behavior. I don't personally like Bolton, but he talked Trump out of a sudden withdrawal from Syria. (And did you notice that Putin was cheering Trump on. But of course! He would have had a clear road to power in the region). Maybe Democrats could take a lesson from Bolton on how he managed to subdue Trump's crazy impulse.
No, the man doesn't think. He's erratic, chaotic and deeply self centered. He doesn't care about anything but stroking his own ego. Democracy, the Constitution mean nothing to him. I don't think he understands what either is about.
And we, we have got to find a way to deal with this sad reality.
189
@MNM
And did you notice that trump seems to have countermanded Bolton to a certain extent? Idon’t t think it’s Bolton who’s giving the orders here. And it’s certainly not trump.
11
@MNM Simply enduring the next 2 years is not an answer. I actually heard some one say that the furloughed government employees should have planned ahead for no paychecks. Problem is they do not have a Fred Trump to bail them out. They do not have contractors to stiff. Temper tantrums aside, every member of Congress should be put on notice that they were voted in to do a JOB. Stand up to this idiot President or prepare to give your seat to people who will.
10
I think it may be best to encourage Pelosi to hold firm while the country grinds to a halt. The mass protests may cause the senators to fear for their seats and turn around. They will be revealed as gutless wonders, and that is very helpful. The real sacrifices people will have to make will be in the service of democracy's survival. Hopefully they will see this, but it is a bad situation for the country to be in. Yet, we really are in a bad situation, and it must be remedied, and this is a chance.
241
@joyce
My greatest fear is that the Democrats will give in to this mad man and then all will be lost.
His blood thirst will then be unlimited and he will correctly conclude that he can bully the congress into shutting down the investigations against him, doing nothing about it, and telling his supporters that he has won, and must be elected if the "Democrat Caravan" is to be prevented from invading the country.
22