I am exhausted by the continuous news of the scandals re the Trump crime family and his GOP swamp creature abettors. Can't we vote now , please.
1
Unfortunately Mr Trump did not have a worse week than the children his administration has stolen from their parents. We’ll talk about his tender feelings when those families are reunited. Surely his fragile ego can handle his disappointment better than the emotional and psychological damage done to those children.
36
As always, we can trust Gail Collins to deliver just the most adorable perspective on national crises.
2
To: King Donald; cheer up; when I was working we used to tell each other: "Cheer up things could be worse;" we were right;- things went South really, really fast.
11
The staggering contrast between President Obama's speech and the drivel constantly spewing from Fake President is something to behold. FDR should never have run for a 4th term. He was approaching death. If he had made the correct decision, maybe the 22nd Amendment wouldn't have been needed, and President Obama could have run for a third term, if he wanted to do so. I'm sure a lot of readers might object to this, but consider the presidents since FDR. Not a single one could have run for a third term anyway until Obama. It would be nice to have a Real President instead of a Fake President!
21
Actually having a person with the stature of Anonymous is comforting to not just to Americans but to the rest of the world too.Anonymous is knowledgeable, informed, thoughtful and quite capable of Articulating his or her rich message.He or she doesn't shy away from acknowledging the many great qualities in those with fundamental difference in principle with that of Pres DT, par example the late Sen John McCain.If the Pres chose to be +ve he could take pride in having in his team someone like Ano.It is conduct very unbecoming trying to rat out Ano and unwise to press NYT's Op-Ed team into revealing the person.Actually Ano looks a person of great discipline and Pres DT's team badly needs such personality to have a healthy balance in The Exec Body.TMD.
The anonymous op-ed author and Obama are both mistaken about one thing. Trump is not “off the rails.” Trump is sitting between the rails,asleep. And two huge freight trains, Mueller and the midterms, are now barreling down the tracks from opposite directions, with Trump, sitting with his arms folded, in the middle. Which one will hit him first is a tossup.
26
Actually Gail, I think this country could use someone just like Elon Musk as president. He has been a major force in revolutionizing our payments system with PayPal, rocket technology with SpaceX, solar energy with SolarCity, and of course electric vehicles with Tesla. His ideas on boring and hyper loop technology hold promise to solve many of transportation’s thorniest challenges.
Great genius is often accompanied by quirkiness and unorthodox behavior. If publically smoking a little weed and drinking some fine bourbon is the price we pay for breakthrough changes in government, I say stock up the liquor cabinet and replace the bok choy in the White House garden with some fine ganja!
12
"...Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs. On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons."
After the revelations of Mr. Woodward and the Times' Anonymous Opinion writer, how can we be sure Trump's "bigger Button" is actually connected to anything?
7
Donald Trump is a unique, who on the one hand was born in affluence and to a father who was snobbish and prejudiced, while seeing the world as winners and losers - if you don't win you're a loser. And young Donald apparently believed that. Besides he witnessed his older who was belittled by his father, became an alcoholic, or so he believed. He decided not to drink & remains so to this day!
He was also born with hypomanic diathesis, was rambunctious & somewhat destructive when things didn't go his way. He was sent to the military school where he thrived, managed to observe the rigid discipline there.
His hypomania led him to be vastly ambitious, went to Manhattan where he was shunned by the aristocrats. He gathered to lie his way to appear bigger than he's. Eventually he fantasized to be big. He forgot to check reality.
Then Roy Cohn taught him to be a professional liar; never admit mistakes.
The influences of his father & Cohn were detrimental to Donald Trump. His hypomania and narcissism aggravated this impediment. The huge burden of presidency is actually crippling him.
He has FLASHES of good, even conscientious desires he wants to bring to his presidency, which disappears the next moment.
Impeachment is I think uncalled for. Nevertheless, with a threat of invoking 25th amendment, if he can be persuaded to accept moderate doses of mood stabilizer medication, he could be resurrected into be a satisfactory president. Leaders of both parties ought to do that.
1
Musk may not have nuclear weapons, but he *does* have flamethrowers.
2
September 8, 2018
Dare say Trump agenda conscious and unconscious is to enslave the modern rights of American educated classes and that's means the majority of us. Why, gamesmanship the Atlantic city syndrome and the power of power to rule for narcissistic glory - yet his delusions is so gross that his being kicked out of office is very, very soon - yet not soon enough - Say what goes around comes around and a kick in the bottom to Don the magnificent is done for....
jja Manhattan, N.Y. ( A registered Republican )
3
Trump is hopelessly confused. Everyone but him knows that it was President Lincoln who built the first railroad on the moon.
3
On the positive side, Trump will be happy when he’s draped in stripes - it’s suppossed to make you look thinner This is the level of political discourse and expectations in American politics today
One wishes that some real courageous Op-Ed writer and/ or editor would throw caution to the wind, put their livelihood on the line for the sake of the nation and discuss honestly how and why we got to this point; who got away with looting the economy, unwarranted military invasions that caused the wholesale destruction of global regions the economy.
The trouble right now is that Some Democrats like Senator Schumer seem to approve of the Jerusalem give away. So, what next? Jarred Kushner as Nobel Peace winner?
1
I can't imagine Trump spending sleepless nights in the war room reading dispatches from the front, agonizing over casualties, thinking of ways to end the bloodshed, hoping the better angels return. Trump thrives in the world of winners and losers, where leverage is used to win.
5
The man cannot keep one thought in his mind for more than two seconds.
SaraH Palin and Trump are cut from the same mode.
6
I think Elon Musk is actually a brilliant man, making many valuable contributions to the world. I'm sorry to see him maligned by cheap shots in the press. Comparing him to Trump is beneath you, Gail.
6
I can think of few things sadder than Donald Trump comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln, and worse yet comparing any speech he ever gave or will give to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. At Gettysburg, Lincoln contrasted his words with the deeds of the those who gave the last full measure of their devotion to the founding ideals of the United States--the honored dead. Has Donald Trump ever given a speech about--or a thought to--anything that wasn't himself? Lincoln at Gettysburg said that the world will not "long remember what we say here," and was wrong. Does Donald Trump really believe that 50 years after he is gone, he'll be remembered for anything more than his self-serving folly? I guess the answer depends on what he meant when saying "In different ways, that's going to happen to us." "Different ways" covers an awful lot of territory!
10
Has anyone ever considered if Trump's ancestors were actually FROM the moon? By the way, how does he get to watch movies before they are released? The whole "executive privilage" thing has goten out of control.
2
Cute, but it misses the premise put forward by all the Trump apologists, and Trump himself, that everyone in the Administration (and the entire government) has to have personal loyalty to Trump. With the admonition that not having that personal loyalty is tantamount to treason.
The apologists are wrong. Everyone, elected or appointed or simply hired, works for We the People. Their loyalty is to the Constitution and Laws of the USA and it is their duty to inform We the People when things are going drastically wrong.
Of course, a sufficient number of We the People (in the right places) elected Trump into office despite the character and behavior flaws that have been evident through his entire life.
Call them the "Deep State" if you will but these are the people loyal to the USA not to a single man who would be KING (Kept Incumbent in National Government).
4
I still have sympathy for Elon Musk.
4
When Musk put an affordable flame thrower on the market, and Trump took a verbal flame thrower to our nation, it was just plain sad.
2
Abe was a kind hearted soul and he would never have separated undocumented immigrant workers from their children. Sense of humanity is absent wih Trump
7
To get that "' a telegraph system" in the White House, Mr. Trump shadowing Lincoln would have to rely upon the invention of Granville T. Woods
" whose inventor was a multiplex telegraph, also known as the "induction telegraph," or block system, in 1887.
Woods also was descended from Africans, who were freed slaves in Ohio.
4
"While Honest Abe rolls in his grave …"
Dear Gail,
I am sure most of the Founders have been rolling in their graves as we gotten further away from the original purpose and meaning of the Constitution. Trump is just continuing that infamous tradition. You can also blame Congress and the Supreme Court for the mess we're in, but you can't blame them unless we take a collective look in the mirror and admit we're the ones who put these people into office for our own selfish gain.
9
The shining bright spot for the week was a speech by President Obama!
11
Bad news, then Trump rants at yet another rally, and we taxpayers must pay for his transportation and security costs. Not a good expenditure of our tax dollars.
8
Well, it doesn't mean much to homeless people. I just read that homelessness is on the increase in the USA, according to some statistics in a survey done by The Department of Housing and Urban Development. The article in this link said that on the night in December 2017 that they did the survey, there were some 75,000 homeless in New York city.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/the-cities-pushing-its-residents-ou...
4
Don't forget about all those children taken that still don't have been returned to their parents.
9
And you didn't even mention plaid shirt guy! If the trump team can't manage a rally in Montana what can they manage?
5
The most telling event of the week was Nike's decision to put the face of Colin Kaepernick on its new ad campaign. The republicans really should be asking themselves what it means when corporate giants in America are defying the hatred which the republicans embrace. You could call it the result of these corporations taking a gamble that they will earn even more profits by making these choices. My belief is that they are simply more ethical than the republicans who are running the country. Wow. Maybe corporations are people after all.
8
Folks, the Republican Party is like a street conman.
While we are all distracted by the left hand of the Trump clown show, the right hand just picked our pocket with another McConnell / Ryan tax cut for the rich.
The deficit is already projected to go from $600 Billion before the tax cut to at least $1 Trillion by 2020.
And the projected added debt over the next ten years is $12 Trillion. That is $80,000 per tax payer.
All Republican senators voted for that tax cut. Not one Democratic senator voted for that tax cut.
Very few people are talking about this.
And very few voters know these numbers.
6
Remember Obama’s $900 billion contribution to the deficit?
Too disheartening to be funny this time, Gail. Couldn't get by Trump's remark on Gettysburg, which illustrates his utter and complete ignorance of history.
If Lincoln was ridiculed at all, it was only momentarily and only because of the brevity of his speech. People were taken aback by that; there's no photograph because Lincoln had sat down before the photographer had set-up. But he wasn't the keynote speaker that day (who went on for more than an hour). As a sort of curtesy, Lincoln had been asked to "say a few words", which is exactly what he did.
But the buzz about the speech started the same day and within weeks it had been reprinted in just about every paper in the country.
4
Elon Musk doesn't have a thing to do with me: Trump, backed by the GOP boy's chorus, and the Trump Family Singers, is messing with my country.
They're out of tune, with no harmony, and very repetitive lyrics
11
I saw parts of his speech where he was talking about Ronny Jackson, and most the audience behind him looked they had no idea what Trump was talking about. In fact, during that speech, a lot of them looked like they had no idea what Trump was talking about.
The guy in the plaid shirt behind Trump during the Billings rally, said they were given MAGA hats and told to clap and cheer a lot and look enthusiastic about Trump. He wasn't a Trump supporter but just went to see what a Trump rally was all about, and he won tickets to the VIP section behind Trump.
When Trump's team noticed that he sometime made faces and wasn't being as really enthusiastic as they wanted, they removed him and his two friends who were with them. He was detained by the SS and police for 10 minutes, before they told him to go and not come back.
Meanwhile, there was a girl behind Trump who had a big American flag, and at one time she actually used the flag to wipe her nose. Apparently, that was totally acceptable.
29
Gail, this is wonderful! Could you with Stephens, please do something where in our present 'so-called' president's persona, you comment on the big news stories the presidents of the past 50 years were forced to deal with. I think this may help Trump fans to see how ill equipped he is to lead in a major crisis.
8
Lincoln HAD a telegraph at the War Office and used to go there both to maximize his use of this new technology and to escape the White House press of trivial business, Lincoln's Gettysburg address was not ridiculed, although opposing newspaper criticized it as a policy matter. The professional orator who spoke first (and for several hours, in accordance with the fashion of the time) promptly said that Lincoln's short address had outshone his own his. Lincoln's address was so popular among Union soldiers that reprints were made available to them.
18
@D: Today Lincoln is remembered for how much more he could say in fewer words.
2
I believe that the best thing that the anonymous author did was to stay anonymous. Trump responds to criticism by attacking the source. He never speaks to the content of the criticism. He is driven frantic by the article, because he cannot follow his usual script, and he does not have the intellectual power to actually make a counter-argument. Additionally, the basic point of the article is that there is a large group of officials who believe that Trump is incompetent. The speculation should not be about the one source, but about the ten, twenty or more members of the "resistance."
36
@Michael, I don't know how Trump's people can afford the necessary expense to lawyer-up to work for him.
4
I'm amazed that more people who attend these rallies aren't offended by a clearly unprepared president who barely speaks to the issues that affect their lives. What can they be getting from attending these rallies? At least during the campaign Trump was pretending to care about their lives; now it's all about him, all the time.
40
@Justine Dalton Perhaps this is how they really feel and so he is perfectly embodying them. Most of his supporters agree that he is speaking to them and for them. His words at his rallies are a feature, not a bug.
4
Rumor has it that Montana rally attendees were recruited on Craigslist and paid. Shades of Trump’s original announcement gathering at Trump Tower.
7
Comparing Elon Musk to Trump? Come on! Who has started a mass market auto company since the 1930s? No one other than Elon Musk. Who has pushed tens of thousands of CO2 producers off the road? Who has built the largest battery factory in the world, one that doubles world battery production right when we need them to replace coal and natural gas factories and drive polluters off the road. No one other than Elon Musk. His little whatever you call them are more than forgiven in my eyes by his enormous accomplishments. I'm sorry, but comparing Musk to Trump betrays some kind of serious myopia.
22
@Bob: There are 5 battery plants as large or larger Elon's under construction in China.
After watching Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, potential presidential candidates, along with the radical socialist candidates the Democrats are presenting, Mr. Trump’s base and the Republican Party have less to worry about these days despite his typical antics. Chuck Schumer, additionally, seems to be having a problem corralling his party.
After hearing Barack Obama speech one would wonder when Hillary would show up again.
3
Some ex-presidents are proud of their party. I do t see the Bushes doing
Much extolling republican principles
4
He does Diet Coke® some consider it a drug especially in the dose he takes daily.
10
Someone might mention to Trump and friends upset by the alleged lack of American patriotism in the movie, “First Man” that former Nazi Party member and SS Sturmbannfuhrer Wernher Von Braun, the Soviets Sergei Korolev (designer of the first rocket to reach the moon and the first rocket to photograph the far side of the moon), Yuri Gagarin (first man in space and to orbit the earth), Alexey Leonov (first man to walk in space) and others might have had something to do with the American flag on the moon.
12
Trump is so besotted with Trump. Trump, you are the worst fraud in American presidential history, get over your bad self.
Does he actually believe that any of his inarticulate, disconnected rants and ravings or even speeches from Miller or his predecessors in any way shape or form are in the same league as the Gettysburg Address?? That was a Trump joke, right?
Fifty seconds after the latest Trump spout out or verbal spit up most of the world has shut him off from transmitting any further to our brains as we want to maintain good mental health.
As many people have said, or written about Trump, including the NYT anonymous Op Ed writer, he has the attention span of a gnat. Gnats are also relentlessly annoying.
28
The idea of having everyone on the White House Staff as well as the Cabinet take a polygraph test would be well worth the time if one of the questions was: ~"Have you, at any time, thought of President Trump as intellectually challenged, a 'Moron' or an 'Idiot'"~
Think of the dilemma: answer truthfully (yes) and you're out. Answer it falsely and "buzz" -- you're out.
Everyone would be out.
30
Worse than Trump are the republican coattail riders, like Congress and the anonymous op-ed writer, who say “Trump’s a dangerous idiot, but he’s our dangerous idiot; just look at all we’ve accomplished with him as front man; we won’t let him kill you though...”
Rather than give anyone comfort, this should terrify us all. Trump is clearly wackadoo, but so are the people he brought with him, none of whom were chosen by us. Now these unelected ghosts are running the country behind his back, as heralding themselves as heroes for doing so.
Remember the film “King of Hearts?” The inmates are running the asylum. We deserve a do-over.
23
He may have had a tough week, but on the other hand? He's getting everything he wants - politically thanks to the Republican Congress, economically thanks to Barack Obama. He's about to get the second Supreme Court justice he nominated. Nations he's targeted with tariffs are scrambling to make nice with him. He has very high approval ratings from registered Republicans. He's taking credit for all of it, and Republican voters seem willing to give it to him.
Despite all the talk about a "blue wave" in November, I still get this sinking feeling in my stomach that this certifiably insane man is going to do far more existential damage to the country in the two years left in his term, but tens of millions of American voters don't care as long as they have money in their pockets.
17
@William LeGro
And how could I forget this one? He's got the media in the palm of his hand. When he says "jump," they ask "how high?" Despite their best intentions, despite all the editorial page denunciations of his moral and political corruption, despite all the stories showing how he's wrecking the country, he can change the subject with a tweet and shift everybody's attention away from things that need far more serious consideration. He, not the news media, sets the news agenda, and it's whatever he wants it to be. He can change a bad week to a good week two or three times a week. Not bad for someone with antisocial personality disorder.
6
@William LeGroFar, far more bad weeks than good ones.
Speaking of Tesla, I imagine the day when we have solar panels on homes to charge batteries during the day.
Then we transfer that charge to our electric cars at night.
We will be literally driving powered by the sun.
But here's to all those who still believe that "clean coal" will make America great again.
10
@Independent There is no need to imagine such a day because today one owner of a Tesla I know has the solar panels and the batteries and charges his car solely with the electricity generated by the panels.
3
Yes, Trump is a clown, but his administration is effectively dismantling the U.S. government at Putin's and Bannon's behest. Could this be the ultimate distraction--Trump acting like a fool, while his minions destroy America? That should be a topic of an op-ed.
25
In my little town, one of the two local theaters is showing Birth of a Nation, with its split image on the poster of Trump and Lincoln (the film created by the child of immigrants disgraced and then pardoned by his president) and at a local restaurant (Mellow Mushroom with its retro faux hippe vibe) I saw a fit young man with bedazzled jeans and a muscle shirt featuring Trump carrying an AR 15, standing on a tank, and flanked by missiles, one with "You're Fired!" emblazoned on it. I am beyond depressed at this point. Obama sort of kind of cheered me up, and then I saw the ad for the movie and I am sorry, how do I talk intelligently to people who buy this drivel? I want to think I can, but honestly?
4
want to get even more depressed, Wanda?
it was YOUR neighbors, not mine, who elected McConnell and Paul.
it is probably the result of toxins in the drinking water leaching in from mining tailings and causing mental problems.
I am so lucky my grandfather moved from KY over 100 years ago.
6
And yes, let's the guessing game begin!
Who is the mole???
TREASON!!!
Well, just another unsuccessful diversion from what's really at stake for this country.
WH sets itself on fire with palace games and real witch hunt for distraction of general public.
The problem is no one calls 911 for fire trucks.
7
Trump has already succeeded on the narrative of his anonymous (and yes, probably gutless, but not in the way Trump thinks) whistleblower--it's become 'Where's Waldo' catnip for the masses. They've apparently narrowed it down. To what, four or five? So he can't tell who it is, and there are multiple people in his inner circle that think he's out of his mind?
That's the mainstream narrative he's been able to bury. So far.
Breaking News: Trump's Truly Terrible Narcolepsy - Trump a man who claims "I Don't Need Much Sleep" now he says "I Fell Asleep" while drinking his 10th Diet Coke...
5m ago
8
as Syrians in Idlib and Yemenis prepare for almost certain death and refugees in great peril seek safe passage the most inarticulate and inept POTUS dominates the news cycles. We are all culpable, especially the 50% of America that didn't vote in 2016.
220
Heck, I might be relieved if Trump sat back and smoked a doobie or two, it Might Just Mellow out his whole attitude and provide him with a new outlook. It might even keep him from tweeting for an hour or more.
As far as the Repub Congress and Kavanaugh goes, the entire Repub Congress should be held for dereliction of Duty in allowing Trump to continue as he is, and they, the Repubs in Congress, are so close to being voted OUT of a Majority that they have No Business is trying to ram through a SCOTUS Nomination in such a delicate election period.
Doing so is almost guaranteed to be one of the major reasons for them losing both House and Senate in November. The People are actually angry enough at them, and the whole Republican Party is standing there like deer in a spotlight, standing and staring blindly into the light and what they have been doing, and NOT doing, has been blatantly apparent to Everybody.
And Nobody is liking it aside from a very few, very very rich people who gave a little of their money to influence everyone else through political action groups and disinfo campaigns (See Jones; Alex, InfoWars).
Holding back of Truth is as bad as lying, and Kavanaugh was evasive enough that he essentially lied through omission and distraction all the way through his preplanned, set-up questioning from the Repubs who had conference calls on the subject of how the questioning would be done. I know of no similar behind the scenes collusion on the Dem side. For a change.
4
The confluence of J Kavanaugh's somewhat raucous vetting, leaking of Woodward's"Fear," the NYTimes' publishing Anonymous and PT's reactions - including linking himself to Lincoln - and Ms Collins' juxtaposing PT with Elon Musk, warrants singular kudos to her for weaving most of those components together archly, humorously, informatively and accurately.
Said confluence causes this old man (latter eighth decade) to exclaim "no mas" and terminate his don't-quite-keep-up-with efforts to follow these "developments" of the current era, owing to their multiplicity, his various and increasing debilities (age related of course) but finally owing to an inability to accept that all the elements are real when almost every other of them seems to be the work of a talented writer of fiction, intentionally writing fiction.
Instead I will revert to the (Persian, not-biblical) "this too shall pass" and devote further efforts to speculation on how historians at an appropriate interval down the road - say fifty years but,, presumably, historians will work out the number - will characterize what a number has already and preliminarily likened to Rome's decline under Nero.
And, yes, worrying for a grandparent, but less wearying.
2
Trump's Truly Terrible Time is largely because Trump is forever stuck in the temper-tantrum-throwing terrible twos.
10
Yes, we are blessed with our self-appointed genius POTUS Trump. Yet, unbelievably maybe the short stay Trump will have at the White House will ironically turn out to be good for America. Before his success in 2016 we were a nation fed up with D.C., its worthless politicians on both sides that couldn't even talk about the weather or agree on how to cook a hard boiled egg. With Trump, we are even more so discontent. I'm hoping there will be good that will come out of this mess we are in. We thoroughly know now who we don't want to be our president come 2020. I just hope there are still some sane people that curb Trump, keep him from doing more harm.
1
Please keep speaking out, President Obama. The more Trump sleeps, the less damage he can do to our country.
8
@Joyce It also makes people remember what a REAL President with Class was like, before the Trump was electioneered into the office.
3
Reading Masha Gessen article in the New Yorker, also coming from the same Soviet regime as she did, I find it extremely interesting how Russian intellectuals and intrepid rebels against Putin regime, now trying to save America from itself.
Her outspoken courage on LGBT rights, is
absolutely remarkable and made her a persona non grata back in Russia.
She keeps her struggle here, with all her brilliant books, articles and insights, and if you think of it who is better than Russian activist/rebel to fight for this country. They've been doing it for centuries.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-anonymous-new-york-tim...
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripboo...
3
When I read something like "“Our ancestors built the railroads, linked the highways,” coming out of Trump's mouth, I get the feeling that his speech writers are once again watching the last minute of the speech from the opening episode of Newsroom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw&frags=pl%2Cwn
but of course Trump and his writers miss most of the points.
1
He really just means, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, "our white ancestors."
3
wasn't it Chinese laborers who built the transcontinental rail line? and wasn't it Ike who was able to get the interstate highways built during the era of 90% top marginal tax rate?
Trump is not one to give credit where due: to the Chinese workers and to high income taxes on the rich.
release the tax returns and reveal whether or not Trump even had to take the American History Regents upstate in private military reform school.
4
Trump would not be able to stay in office if it were not for the venal self-serving Congressional GOP enablers and the benighted MAGA-heads, whose measure of Trump seems to be their drunk uncles and local loudmouth barflies.
Trump's "bad week" is only a week in which his actual day-to-day behavior was on display. He will not change. He will only get worse. The challenge for the rest of us is whether we can contain him until 2020 when he can be sent into retirement--or to prison.
6
I have many very intelligent friends who, like chickens who believe that Colonel Sanders wants a better life for them, believe that the Republican Party is looking out for their best interests.
Much like those who believed in “weapons of mass destruction”, they make easy marks.
Sure, many of them benefit from ”conservative” policies, but the vast majority suffer under them.
It’s a puzzle that we may never truly understand.
19
Today’s lead headline: “Congressional G.O.P. Agenda Quietly Falls Into Place Even as Trump Steals the Spotlight”
Remove the unnecessary modifier, “even”, from today’s lead headline and it reveals clearly the purpose of Trump’s crazy show, as a highly effective diversion behind which the right wing is looting the public.
268
@walkman The two are independent. When they're in control, Republicans always pass tax cuts for the rich, deregulate the banks, decimate the poor, and destroy the environment. All of this has been covered in the news and it's no secret. Grover Norquist wanted a President who had a working hand to sign off on this and Trump, who has no agenda or philosophy, was able and willing to oblige. The Republicans could have gotten anyone to do this but they wound up with Trump, who turned the White House into a 3-ring circus, not to advance any agenda, but solely for self-gratification.
3
@walkman
And don't forget about the big distraction away from the Mueller investigation that scares the donald witless. Oh right, trump is both publically and most privately having less focus on anything else. He does try to disguise his desperation every day except when flogging his favorite whipping boy, AG Jeff Sessions.
When I was a young lad a family tradition was gathering to watch The Ed Sullivan variety show on Sunday evening. Ed had certain acts on repeatedly, and one of my favorites was a nutty charcter who called himself "Professor Backward". That was hilarious, but that was a variety show and we all knew it was just for laughs. But this is the US presidency, and I am definitely not laughing. And neither is the rest of the world.
109
Since when have we allowed a draft dodger, adulterer, international money launderer and total lier to criticize our FBI, Intelligence agencies, free press, and run down the very principle of the rule of law from our Constitution? We've done it in Donald Trump. What are we gonna do about it?
14
As per usual, Trump keeps Trump center front regardless of the task at hand.
1
You have to wonder who in Trump's staff is telling him how great he is on a daily basis. Yeah, there are those flowery little speeches by sycophants around the meeting table, each trying to outdo the other. But I can't believe they're doing that everyday. Who is daily giving him bull about how great he is and comparing his speeches with Lincoln's. I just can't see Kelly or anyone else on the staff being so obsequious and so full of bull to pull that off without becoming sick to their stomach. Maybe it's Conway, or Sanders? But I believe it's probably Steven Miller. He writes the speeches, doesn't he? Miller seems egotistical enough to believe he himself is a genius. Therefore, every word he puts into Trump's mouth or idea he plants in Trump's mind is a magnificent, phenomenal work of pure genius and great stature. He's probably the one that planted the idea that Trump could win the Nobel too.
10
@TuesdaysChild
It is only a rumor, but I did hear they deliver case lots of Pepto Bismol and Dramamine to the Whitehouse and Capitol Building Staff via the service entries.
1
Try to imagine Abraham Lincoln telling the folks at Gettysburg “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and … you know they really need to install a telegraph system in the White House.”
Epic.
However can we focus more on the deplorables in Congress? Esp. McConnell and Ryan - Tweedle Dee and Dum.
And Grassley on the Judiciary...who sounded like the cliched elderly, should be out to pasture, High School principle making long-winded and rambling announcements over the PA. I half expected him to call Bueller to the office. Maybe reinstate hiding under the desk nuclear bomb drills.
Why are so many decrepit white guys in charge of us? Or deciding how a woman can control her body? They look like the Elders of a dystopian story, such as Handmaids Tale. Whew! Had to be a whole row of swollen prostates sitting there.
Then Sen.Harris nailed the whole thing. "So tell me Brett (my words) can you name a law that governs the male body, that limits his abilities do with it what he wishes?"
Ive been waiting for a Senator, anyone in that position to say that for decades! Its the whole of the argument about justice! If it aint good for the gander, then its not for the goose either!
Trump is losing - all as I predicted by his own hands. He cuts himself, slashes his own skin every day he continues to rant and rave and show exactly what Anon and pals and others before keep saying. And what those of who watched him here in NYC have long known.
He's crazy.
22
Yes, Trump is a toxic, mean-spirited, blithering idiot. A bigot, a misogynist, and an embarrassment.
None of that matters to Republicans. What they see is that they're getting what they want: lower taxes on the rich, deregulation, draconian immigration policies, the the buttressing of white supremacy and anti-woman policies, speech and behaviors, and - at least for the moment - lower unemployment.
Republicans are focused on immediate policy, business and financial outcomes, not on style, and certainly not long-term impacts in terms of the deficit, the national debt, the environment, America's place in the world, and ethics.
Most people aren't noble. They're selfish, short-sighted, ignorant and uncaring about things that aren't in their immediate, day-to-day lives, and they're perfectly comfortable with other people (especially if they're women or non-whites) getting the shaft as long as they're doing OK in very concrete terms (mostly money, and the humoring of their fears and prejudices).
I'm hoping for a blue wave this November, but I'm not counting on it. It isn't a good idea to forget that this country was founded on two things: African slavery, and the wholesale annihilation of the indigenous population, both extremely violent and dehumanizing processes. We are not a noble or exceptional people. We are just people. November will tell us just what kind of people we really are these days.
21
Well, sad to say, the Trumpster has robbed Gail of her sense of humor. And, in addition, he seems to have infected her brain with the Trump scatter gene, her thoughts wander as unhinged as her tormentors.
I saw a news clip of Trump standing in front the hapless folks in Montana, who had the honor of standing behind him while he frantically strived to boost his spirits to combat the harsh reality of Bob Woodward's fearsome new book, his disloyal-traitorous White House palace aides spilling the beans about his mental instability, and his declining poll numbers (poll numbers that have never come close to reaching 50% of the people.
As Trump started veering off topic and free-associating about his fabulousness, you could see some of the faces of the chosen folks shift to what the f____? is he talking about.
It reminded me when Clint Eastwood started talking to the "invisible" Obama in the empty chair at the 2012 GOP Convention.
I don't know if Trump is suffering from paranoia and just about every personality disorder in the DSM, dementia (short-term memory loss and delusions are a couple of signs), or both.
At this point, it doesn't really matter what the diagnosis is.
The point is most of us are getting the picture that our current president has gone round the bend big time, is not playing with a full deck. What is the Republican Party's excuse?
22
What the heck is wrong with the American people to continue to allow this lunatic to be president? It is clear, and has been for some time, that he's incompetent and unhinged and the fact of his cozying up to Putin and Kim is beyond frightening. What's it going to take to get this guy out of there? I can't believe the Republicans are so scared of him, they are allowing him to run unchecked. If the Democrats do not at least take back the House in November, I fear for my country!
12
bad bad very bad comparison:
On one hand hard working genius Musk who wants to rid the world of dirty gasoline cars and is a true American hero;
on and on the other hand degenerate loser Trump who wants to poison our children with toxic fossil fuel fumes, and is a true American villain.
8
Eh, both have cults that automatically excuse or defend everything their idol does.
1
I just wanna know where somebody dug up a picture of Trump in which his mouth wasn't so far open, he appears to be trying to swallow his own face.
4
I know a woman who deserves a room full of expensive roses from all of the Americans who had a hearing comprehension problem and failed to believe her.
I believe the phrase she used was "Temperamentally Unfit".
Graciously, she has not done an "I told you so."She earned one.
Every book, ex-employees who have been escorted out the back door has told Americans this for months. We have observed erratic, angry, venomous anger on numerous occasions on camera and via tweet.
Still, we are subjected to his endless therapy session on a daily basis. And our weariness grows.
The "Deep State" is ours and and it one of anxiety, depression and profound frustration at the impotence of those who could fix this.
9
The fact that obama reappeared speaks volumes for the shoddy state of the Democratic Party. No leadership or policies, only the repeats proclamatio of how “ghastly” trump is. They have learned nothing.
1
Great column Gail. You make me laugh while I’m furious and deeply frightened by the blatant lack of integrity and humanity of the Republican Party. That Lindsay Graham would publicly admit to keeping the deranged and clearly demented president in power to “get results” is the most transparently traitorous think I have ever heard. What are these people drinking? Ah. Power shakes!
7
Question: How do you measure one of the Don's campaign events?
Answer: I.Q. levels begin to decline as the room cheers on each crowd pleasing statement the every witty Donald makes.
By the way, we expect that the GOP is paying for the fuel on all these jaunts. But what about all the wear and tear on the aircraft, the addition security, the inconvenience to air and ground traffic. But by all means continue to stump for GOP candidates: it worked so well in Alabama didn't it? Yes, I know he didn't physically enter the state he just howled from the border.
3
Gail, just for the record, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The west half was built primarily by Chinese immigrants and the west by Irish immigrants. They did, however, wave the flag when they met at Promontory Point, Utah.
7
To keep sanity, the best thing for the normal, rational citizen to do is to ignore Trump entirely and focus exclusively on his Congressional supporters. These are the silent killers who are running an agenda in the background to turn the clock back to 1900, and they're using Trump's reality TV skills to keep the general public distracted while they work in the background.
13
Those so unhappy with President Trump should finally accept their responsibility for his election - they nominated Hillary “ Corporate Shill - It’s my entitlement” Clinton - maybe next time they’ll offer a reasonable alternative.
1
@Happy Republican - Hillary is one smart lady. She would have made a great president if: 1) popular vote mattered; 2) the GOP electorate was not so naive to fake news fed to them by Russia.
5
@Happy Republican -- it utterly mystifies me now somebody can complain that HRC was "a corporate shill" and then vote for Trump.
11
I'm frankly really tired of the Elon bashing out there. Am I a fanboy? Yes. Why? Because unlike practically any other corporation out there, Tesla under Elon's guidance is actually acting on first principles. How do we make a real difference in saving this planet from self-destruction? If you actually watch the entire podcast referred to here, you just might be amazed by the transparency, intelligence, and thoughtfulness of the man. Towards the end, after talking at length about how he believes people are, for the most part, good, he then goes on to say that success and happiness all boils down to one thing--love. I can just hear the cynics snickering at that. Which is PRECISELY the problem.
4
“You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, you know he was ridiculed?”
So then, President Lincoln ordered his attorney general, Edward Bates, to round up all the usual suspects and arrest them for subversion and to abridge the freedom of the press.
Yes, there are definite similarities.
9
It would seem to me that many of the people who would have experienced Trump in all his unvarnished glory, and crazy town antic, would have been his classmates during his high school (military school) years. I have never read any interviews of those folks. Just wondering.
6
Didn't trump just ridicule a speech full of words from former president Obama? Didn't he just say he almost fell asleep? Now imagine him listening to Mr. Lincoln's speech. Trump would be the one to sneer "boring!" and telling everyone how he could do better.
Now we hear him gloat: “You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, you know he was ridiculed?”
Sigh. trump cult members, you make me despair.
11
And despite reports that the list is narrowing, Trump doesn't have a clue yet who wrote that essay full of leaks. And gues what, no one on his staff seems to be helping him get to the source, not really. Wonder what this tells us?
5
Dear America,
Thank you for making our chaos-seeding strategy to destabilize your democracy such a successful operation under the helm of the ignorant, ineffective and malleable puppet we have chosen and groomed. That accomplished, we now have ample time to perfect our continuing cyber warfare iniatives in your upcoming elections and beyond.
Gratefully, Vladimir Putin
4
Actually, Gail, we had a good week. Obama’s back!
300
@RTC And we need more of him before the Mid-Terms.
2
And soon to be forgotten when the economic indicators are pushed to the forefront of the debate. We were more racially polarized under Obama than in decades. He promised to heal the racial divide and move forward the interest of the disenfranchised but did nothing. An eloquent orator but his poor performance overshadowed everything. He weaponized the IRS to attack his detractors, and went to great lengths to keep the actions of his administration secret. How did he enter the Whitehouse poor and leave a multi millionaire? Why has he not engaged in the politics surrounding the racial unrest in his hometown of Chicago? Black on black crime is rampant yet he chooses not to engage on that issue. Why does Obama shy away from kneeling down on racial issue and taking a meaningful stand?
Is the 15 mins of national attention worth more to him then the lives of those he swore to improve? He should remain silent and acknowledge his shortcomings!
He's so far gone. And I maintain Elon Musk is having a nervous breakdown.
6
Trump doesn’t do “drugs.” There seems to be enough evidence that he is taking meds of some sort...perhaps reread your column... And you didn’t note he couldn’t get the word “anonymous” right...
10
Gail - Time to come clean. Were't you among those on the Hilary email bandwagon? Have you ever given the least amount of thought to the merciless and unwarranted bashing that brought you so much glee before November 2016? Does it make you feel better now?
Rend your garments. Sackcloth and ashes for you.
5
120 years ago the owner of this newspaper said "it will be the aim of the Times to give the news impartially, without fear of favour.
What happened?
3
Since Donald Trump proclaimed himself to be a "stable genius", the need that his own hand picked administration officials each write " It wasn't me" letters to him, denying that they called him unfit for office; an idiot; a moron; having a fifth graders grasp of facts, and having the attention span of a gnat, proves that he is neither stable, or a genius.
That is, unless he was referring to shoveling manure, as is done in an actual "stable". He is indeed a genius at that.
11
Abe Lincoln lead a genocidal campaign against southern cultures. Seems like a pretty appropriate comparison.
1
John, if you mean that he fought a war to preserve the nation against a “culture” which enslaved others for their profit and livelihood, then maybe, maybe you have a clue, but I doubt it.
6
@John there are actually many books on the civil war period. I know its very unfashionable these days, but it might prove helpful to read some of them.
4
It's "led," actually, but congrats--never seen a war fought to wipe out slavery described as "genocidal," before. Hey, let's run with that: "FDR led a genocidal campaign against Nazism!" "Presidents from Truman to Reagan led a genocidal campaign against the gulags that were a quaint, traditional part of Russian culture!"
6
Every week is his worst week.
9
@Kris Every week is every thoughtful and intelligent human being's worst week.
2
The fact that the imposter prez thinks that any of his garbled 5-word incomprehensible sentences can compare to any of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches is proof enough to invoke the 25th amendment.
He now says he fell asleep during Obama’s recent campaign speech excoriating him; that’s because he didn’t understand any of the words.
This administration only understands the meaning of lie, cheat and steal.
Keep publishing columns like the anonymous op ed until his head explodes or he resigns NYT, we can’t wait for long impeachment proceedings.
9
I actually wish that the president did drink and smoke a little weed. The country might run a little better.
7
@RJR
I wish someone was giving him lithium in his water.
1
Ha! That's an easy, easy question. We'll take Elon Musk any day. At least he is a real businessman (not just a money launderer), a real billionaire who doesn't have to lie about his net worth, and admits that, yes, he makes mistakes.
But Trump will be remembered all right. He'll be remembered as the President who had it all going for him when he took office: a great economy, a growing job market, a booming stock market. Even a normal idiot could manage to be popular under those circumstances. But nope, Trump is not just any idiot, he's a criminal, vindictive, petty idiot who has managed to bankrupt the country morally in under two years. And in the next two years, we will be bankrupt economically, too, because the cows are about to come home on this trillion dollar deficit, and I seriously doubt all the wealthy guys who sheltered their tax cut earnings overseas are going to give it back when we really need it...
29
Absurdities abound: No shortage of things that can be funny, outrageous, or plain stupid.
1. Graham says "the Constitution doesn't mention abortion so it must be illegal".
2. Zena Bash, sitting behind Kavanuts with a constant white power sign on her hand announcing to all the faithful to not lose faith.
3. The Constitution does not mention Jesus, does that mean he is illegal?
You know, inquiring minds.
18
Ms. Collins is supposed to tickle our funny bone while passing on her sagesse to her readers, so why is Alexander Harrison not laughing?Perhaps because Collins always appears to have an agenda, an anti Trump one. If she did not, why would she not choose other subjects of ridicule like, say, Cong. Ellison and his thus far successful efforts to cover up, minimize allegations of physical abuse against his paramour!Whatever happened to that story which Times newspaper has muted for all intents and purposes, as well as accusations of sexism against its own Glen Thrush,DWS's comical attempt to fix the primaries against Sanders, which backfired on Dems since, if Sanders had been nominated, he might very well have won in 2016.Re charges of chaos within the WH,impotence of c-in-c,backbiting, all unsubstantiated, what is needed is someone like Edward Jay Epstein who fact checked story of 13 dead Black Panthers allegedly killed by the police in 1971. Epstein found that contrary to what had been believed as factual, of the 13 only 1 was found to have been a member of the party, others were still alive and not even affiliated with the group.Last two public editors , Sullivan and Beth Spaeth urged their colleagues to try to live up to the highest journalistic standards, which is a goal that Ms. Collins might set for herself as well!
1
Someone needs to do a week by week
compilation of the bizarre, crazy things
Trump has done. (Day by day would be
too long). Just when you think it cannot
get more bizarre, something more bizarre
happens. I am exhausted. The worst
of it is that he is winning...he really is
doing irreparable damage. The
little finger that he raises in
speeches to make a point
is a restless member of his body,
too close to the nuclear button.
His clown act may be amusing to
some but he is a dangerous clown.
8
His speeches now are somewhere between a Rodney Dangerfield wannabe act and theater of the absurd. His audience looks like they’re being paid to hear a talk about Florida time-shares. This man is the President of the United States and he’s under constant observation by the senior center volunteers who are his Cabinet. How how HOW could have people been so incredibly stupid to think this nincompoop could handle this job? A con-man who went bankrupt four times. A racist, rude, ignorant, leering creep who thinks he can sexually assault women when he “sees beautiful.” Let’s use this November opportunity to retrieve our checks and balances, wait for Mueller’s report and go from there. Meanwhile, the freak show will go on with a new “unprecedented” low every day.
15
As long as the gutless, selfseeking, syncophnant, amoral, enabling republicans continue to remain tongue tied, we will spiral downward. How very sad that their grandchildren will bear the names of such traitors to democracy!
7
The horrible thing is that Il Donaldismo is doing exactly what less than half of American voters wanted him to do: stick up for white people and give it to those godless liberals in the sodoms of the coasts. They've built a GOP that has vote suppressed, gerrymandered and lied its way into minority power to do what? Deliver a tax cut and destroy the environment, not to mention wreck western alliances. They have sold out their own interests to cater to their resentments. What next?
One hopes enough of the people who couldn't be bothered to vote now have a mind to heal the grievous wound they've inflicted on their country.
13
Four score and 20 weeks ago (give or take), the shameless g.o.p. put forth the proposition that an ignorant and demonstrably amoral (make that immoral) 'man' -- their presidential nominee!!! -- would (tsk, tsk and tax cuts for the rich) "make America great again" (for The Dred Scott fans and their moneyed ilk?).
Least of the problems then foisted upon a now only "once great" (erratically) nation by 'our' anti-democratic 'electoral' system (and Russian operatives) is the circumstance that we now have a 'Potus Degeneratus' (the first 'PDB-In-Pictures-Please' Commander-In-Chief) who regularly forgets or misplaces his 'subjects' -- and wouldn't know a direct object from a predicate nominative if his emoluments 'depended upon it.'
9
You know, all the reading I have done (and I do read) on Lincoln confirms that his Gettysburg address, while surprising the audience with its brevity, was a great speech. I resent Trump implying that Lincoln's speech is his greatest accomplishment. Trump is an idiot and there is no doubt that that is his greatest accomplishment (takes work, eh Donald).
10
If anyone needs drugs, it's Trump
9
Despite political affiliation it is a fact your life would be miserable should Trump be your neighbor. He possesses every trait that makes a bad one and sincerely wish this was an exaggeration.
Some people may not like Obama but no one can deny his speech yesterday was eloquent, insprirational but above all else honest. In describing Trump as a symptom not the cause of obstruction, negativiity, laws not in the best interests of the majority he could have chosen the word face rather then symptom. It is the insidious behavior behind him and that has gone on for decades however it has reached a dangerous undemocratic note as the OpEd written by Anonymous and Congressional Republicans who know better who have stood by him despite the wrought inflicted on this country. There is no need to reiterate the abuses since they are flagrant and well known.
All citizens regardless of age, especially political figures and those aspiring to be on State and Federal levels should view Obama's speech in order to learn and remember the values that should define as a country.
8
The news media, seduced by consumers who gobble it up, have gotten ensnared in the trap of obsessing on the odd behavior of Mr. Trump (by trade an actor and provocateur) while the agenda of the right-wing moves steadily forward, virtually unscrutinized. Many of the important issues of the day have taken a back seat to the president's antics though, in the long run, they are more important than his hijinks. We don't hear much about climate change, infrastructure, immigration reform, and income disparity, but we spend whole weeks on Mr. Trump's faux pas--each a "bombshell!"... Very few of Mr. Trump's actual policies have gained traction—the wall, the zero-tolerance policy on immigrants, making nice to dictators, jailing dissenters—all too weird. He deferred to his Party on all the important stuff, like undermining the ACA, tax cuts, and his supreme court nominations, and those things did gain traction... I'm sure, at first, the Republican Party was worried that having an "off the rails" president would be a detriment. They might have to follow his lead. But as time went by, they saw that his ability to suck all the oxygen out of—not a room—but a whole country was a Godsend. They found they didn't have to listen to a word he said. While everybody was having a ball watching the Keystone Cops fall all over themselves in the White House, the right-wing could go ahead and pad the pockets of the rich and ignore the environment, roads and bridges, and those in need of assistance.
10
The more beleaguered the crooked moron who thinks he's president becomes the more hopeful we can be. It's nauseous to see his face, hear his voice or say his name.
He's obviously hearing voices saying "Mueller is coming." Fox News isn't enough to quiet the voices so he goes to "rallies" and hopes his storm troops will drown them out.
8
It could get worse.
For us.
Trump could decide to take Alex Jones along on his never-ending rallies. Not only do they share the view that Americans are a bunch of dupable fools, they're both greedy and evil to the core. Made for each other.
Can't you just see those two on stage fighting over the mic?
9
Can you believe this clown is our president? Crazytown!!
4
If Trump wants to know the identity of the anonymous NYT Op-Ed writer he could ask either of his dummy pet puppet masters Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin to tell him who the person is.
8
Unfortunately this president is a demented buffoon.
It is astonishing the absolute, utter garbage that comes out of his mouth every single day.
No former President would get away with 1% of the nonsense he spews.
I have never in my life seen such a congenital liar.
He is incompetent beyond belief.
It's Mueller time.
I do not want to see him impeached however I would love to see him indicted and convicted of all the criminal acts he has committed in the last 30 years.
And I can wait until he is a private citizen again thank you very much choir boy Kavanaugh.
8
Mr. Lincoln is doing about 3500 RPMs listening to all the drivel spilling out of Trumpolini's mouth. I can hardly imagine 2 less similar humans, although in my mind only one was truly human. Trump is one of those people whose stupidity precludes them from realizing how little they actually know.
Voters save the Republic.
3
Dear Gail Collins,
You’re talented, articulate, and sharp, but this column is jumpy. Out of whack. Lacking mojo.
Which of course helps prove the fact that you’re talented, articulate, and sharp, and tells us that the monstrous news about the current government of the United States just can’t be funny anymore, and can’t be made funny. Even by you.
It has become bloody. A grave threat.
2
Sounds as though Musk is having some kind of mental breakdown- a manic episode, maybe - and that an intervention is in order. But Musk was fine before and, with treatment, will be fine again. God speed, Elon Musk.
In contrast, Trump has always been unstable, stupid, incoherent, and a crook, liar and phony. Now he is cracking up under the pressure of a job that he never should have had in the first place. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never make Trump a whole, functioning, ethical human being. Never was one, won’t become one - too late.
But the reference to the Hollywood Neil Armstrong film may be telling. Maybe Trump has had enough and wants to go to the moon. Or Hollywood. Or Mar-Lago, forever.
Who cares which? We Americans have all had it, and are having a collective nervous breakdown due to the chaos and uncertainty that this crazy, dangerous man has caused - so let’s put him in a rocket ship, or a Tesla, or his private jet, and send him somewhere. Then he can plant a flag, film himself doing so, and post it on Instagram. Go away, Donald Trump!
5
He is despicable, unhinged and deleterious. Period.
When he disappears from the headlines, good riddance. It can't be too soon.
5
Dear Ms Collins,
Trump is like Honest Abe the way Daffy Duck is like a real duck. In fact, each morning I wake up (for almost two years now) and it seems like an orange version of Jim Carrey’s character from The Mask has taken over the White House and stolen the media spotlight in a manic whirlwind of destruction. Thank god the real Mr Carrey is a thoughtful painter and half Canadian! Somebody stop me!
Speaking of which. Have there been any studies of correlation between diet and politics? Do liberals tend to be vegans who move to Canada? Do GOPers lean carnivore, raging psychopath, blood thirsty cannibal? Judging from the past administrations, Father Trump and his altar boys have too much transubstantiated red meat in their diet, and could use a yoga class or two. Just a suggestion.
To those soldiering on in the resistance: Somebody please drain the cesspool! Maybe install a nice solar powered composting toilet, and save the planet. Eat more tofu. Whatever you do, please don’t move to Canada!
Yours truly in liberal CA (California, not Canada)!
5
How long will the country want this low-life bottom-feeding vicious man?
2
Elon Musk may be losing it but comparing him to Trump is a low blow Gail.
While Trump, in center ring, is embarrassing us, disgusting us, terrifying us....take a glance over to ring right. There you see the Republicans in Congress working methodically to dismantle all the rights of equality and freedom that we have won since the beginning of the 20th Century. There you glimpse Republicans working hard to please their donor-owners, continuing to remove regulations which hold them accountable.
We should not devote our attention to "It" in the center ring. "It" is a distraction. We need to focus on helping Democrats campaigning across the nation to win in November. Don't wait until November 6 to simply cast a vote. Get moving now!
7
Trump is an absurd human being and his devote followers are complicit in this absurdity. He has narcissistic resiliency and dogged perseverance. Unfortunately the country is being dragged down by his behavior and our government is accomplishing nothing. Regrettably we are marking time until the election and even with a democratic takeover Trump will get no pressure until after January 2019. We are kidding ourselves if we believe the fall of 2018 will give us any significant actions to make our lives better. We are watching and paying for world class theater in Washington. It's a disgrace.
3
I don't know why all of us; especially the political cognoscenti, keep dancing around this. What are we thinking!!??! We all know crazy when we see it; and Trump is waaay out there around Pluto in that regard. Yet we continue to indulge his mania.
So let's look at this thing clearly shall we? The POTUS is one guy. One. The editorial reveal exposes how much power he actually has. And it turns out he is like your early stage Alzheimers addled grandpa, the one who thinks he's in command and wants to drive the car.
So what do you do? You say "Okay Grandpa," and put him in the front seat, on the passenger side, with one of those kiddy driver console toys in front of him so to keep him happy. Meanwhile YOU drive the car. Happens all the time.
Those in this family/parents situation know well the truth of this ugly dynamic. So this is what is going on in the Administration. Heck of a thought I know but I'll bet it's more accurate than not.
Which leads me to the obvious question. How much longer is the American family going to tolerate it before we remand grandpa to better care? 'Cause I'm exhausted and fed up with this situation.
John~
American Net'Zen
9
My first anger with Gail-
Elon has some foibles, yet is not evil, nor stupid, nor racist, nor misogynistic, nor fascistic, nor psychopathic.
Trump* is all those. Your comparing the 2 is extremely unbecoming.
3
@Ann O. Dyne
Actually, Elon is showing some erratic behavior.
Maybe sleep deprivation, stress and some slight drug slowdown are impairing his judgement at times...,such as when he says he will take the company private without board approval.
4
“I cannot tell a lie” George Washington, “Honest Abe” Lincoln, “The Great Communicator” Reagan, “The Decider” W. Bush and now, for our great comedy act, direct from Queens, Daffy Donny, the bestest, the most bigly wannabe despot we could find.
This latest debacle from Trumplandia would be laughable if he was some banana republic’s unhinged Leader. But, he is ours, insane or not.
Those former presidents I named knew and understood their weaknesses and our constitution-something that Daffy Donny is loathe to learn and understand-or he chooses to ignore our laws in wanting the DOJ to root out a, well, rat.
Hopefully those who covertly work to prevent the carnival barker from causing more damage continue their work-and ignore the screeching from the rabid supporters-and Fox “News”.
5
Gail. Thanks for making me chuckle while walking to the firing squad. Looking forward to one more slow burning smoke.
4
.
We're just getting started here, pace yourself
3
The only salvageable human in this story is Musk. Would someone close-family, friend, board member-please, please, snatch him up and get him a sabbatical. He is drowning and it is not entertaining.
1
Well fellow Americans, as "we the people" suffer through this travesty of "Government" and "Leadership" ! All you need to know is " Congressional GOP Agenda Quietly Falls into Place as Trump Steals the Spotlight". This whole mess was constructed by the GOP to inflict their idea of Government upon us. Quite a strategy but at what cost to our life and liberty?
Get these GOPers out vote, protest, write and throw all the wrenches you can into their nasty mess.
4
If you're the boss and you staffed your office with the best people, then you should have no problem with your team. The administration is a mess, but the real culprit is a nitwit boss. Use the 25th Amendment, fire Trump.
5
Trump compares himself to Lincoln— had no idea. Thanks for the update and laughs!!!
You remind me of another set of opposites ... watching Kavanaugh hearings I cringe at how Hillary was pummeled for her hair but he’s is given a pass. He meticulously craft a FALLEN bouffant! Can we have a Supreme w/hair like that? What if it catches on? Gail? It’s up to you; Sen Harris could ask but he’s not answering her
4
Are there any "conscious" people out there who are scared / concerned about what's going on with the Dems / MSM?
Every week there's a new "bombshell" that is going to take Trump down (99.9% from "unnamed sources"). Now they've gone to the extreme of having "unnamed sources" (Woodward book) corroborate the recent NYT Op-ed piece authored by ---"anonymous".
There's a comment about Trump "attacking" Tester. So now, setting the record straight is an "attack" (i.e... most, if not all, of Tester's allegations against Admiral Jackson were shown to be false)?
Hatred of Trump is one thing, but 24/7 negative reporting by the MSM + "insider", "unelected", members in his administration ---working AGAINST what 62+ Million American Voters elected him to do --- is quite another.
Who appointed / elected these self-proclaimed "protectors" to act in such a self-enduldging manner? What's next to "protect" us? Sabotaging Air Force One? Blackmailing the WH kitchen staff about what meals he's served? These delusional, and potentially dangerous, people need to be identified, and removed, ASAP!
If the "anonymous" COWARD doesn't like how things are going, then s/he should resign and run for office. When they become President, then they can pursue a different course.
It's the doggondest thing, then, that Adm. Jackson pulled out of his hearings after Republicans also started voicing doubts. Which allowed Trump to put three of his high-contributing cronies from Mar-A-Lago in charge of the VA without telling anybody.
Those pesky darn facts, huh? Next thing, it's a-gonna come out that Jon Tester's not a commie. Or that Robert Mueller's a lifelong Republican and combat vet. Or that the prosecutors going after right-wing Trumpists in Congress were hand-picked by Trump.
Why, the infamy will never end!
3
I think you made a Trump-turn in your own column, Gail. You were talking about Trump when all of a sudden you were talking about Elon Musk. One seems certifiably psychotic, the other simply appears to be over-stressed. Who do I think is worse, you asked rhetorically. The one with the access to the nuclear weapons obviously. But the other one should ditch the Ambien and weed and spend three days on a quiet beach.
2
It's quite telling that the person he was supposedly championing didn't get much love from the narcissist he invited to his rally. Trump will hopefully be the gift that keeps on giving to those Republicans that have abandoned their integrity to allow that huckster to abase our nation with impunity. I was bowled over today when I heard President Obama eviscerate Putin's best pal today, which was sure to add to his 'truly terrible time" this week. "How hard can it be to say Nazis are bad?" Indeed!
4
The first topic in the “Trumpesburg Address” would be to praise himself for the size of the crowd, then his intellect, and then wonder why that ‘Southern Dummy’ hasn’t arrested any of his critics yet...what a great country!
4
Are you kidding? Trump is loving it.
3
Our “stable genius” may have been taking mega doses of his friend Alex Jones’s products like “Super Male Vitality” and “Brain Force Plus” for some time now, but they are “sooo” not working.
The only “male vitality” he ever displays is in his love for fast food, golf cart rides and TV watching, and as for “brain force,” he might as well be one giant amygdala with legs.
Will someone please get me enough Gail Collins columns and Ambien to last until Election Day.
5
I'd unflinchinglyly choose the brains and humanity of Elon Musk over the pettiness and hatred of Donald Trump.
You didn't watch Musk's entire three hour podcast interview, did you?
3
And meanwhile, as this raging dumpster fire called the Trump disaster continues, the business of governance goes by the wayside. Disgusting.
5
Actually, Trump’s act is producing results. While we focus on his antics, his administration is doing an outstanding job eliminating regulations, destroying the environment, undoing 60 years of civil rights gains, reversing Roe v. Wade and woman’s rights. Distraction is a mighty sword.
9
@Little Pink Houses umm are you not just gilding the lily here? When was Roe vs Wade reversed. Maybe I missed that. By you are right, trump is getting results and the distraction is all the work of democrats trying to get their hands on the Reins of power, at any cost to the American people.
What I want to know is...who is Little Donnie's speech writer? Because, if those speeches are actually being written by a real person then s/he can not write proper English.
6
America's focus should be on Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, the two cowardly "Leaders" of Congress who not only allow, but embolden, this unhinged president to grow more egregiously lawless each day.
As House and Senate leaders, Ryan and McConnell took a constitutional oath to exercise checks and balances over the president, yet they do NOTHING.
Never in the history of these United States have we had a president who routinely attacks our own intelligence agencies, our judicial system and our free press.
DJt is clearly a danger to our nation.
McConnell and Ryan know it and yet, they do NOTHING.
Write, call, tweet, text, email, whichever you choose, but contact Ryan and McConnell, the only two people who can stop this presidential scourge.
390
@JM: This comment is precisely correct. Ryan and McConnell are thoroughly corrupt in allowing this individual to remain in the presidency only to achieve their objective of enacting highly unpopular legislation.
2
@JM They don't care.
1
I wonder to what extent Mitch is influenced by his wife’s cabinet position. I think he has a true conflict of interest.
2
Gail, you had me until you made those ignorant comments about Elon Musk. Come back when you understand the engineering behind, the societal impact of, and Musk's role in creating, the Model 3 and the Falcon 9. You don't want to be like Trump, taking cheap shots because you know nothing.
1
I take it that noticing when a CEO shows up with a joint in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other, then rambles strangely on the radio for a while, is a cheap shot.
1
Poor Gail.
The lower, the darker, the sadder events that have occurred and continue to do so at an alarming pace, the higher, the brighter, the wittier she has become by addressing those events in the spirit of H.L. Mencken and Will Rogers yet still in her own inimitable way. And as the light at the end of that proverbial tunnel gets closer, we all hope that it's one of a truly decent, compassionate and normalized society instead of just another train.
Vote like your life and our country's life depends on it. Because it does
In the meantime, keep up the great work, Gail!
4
George Washington: "I cannot tell a lie; I did it with my little hatchet." Trump: "I cannot tell a lie. Obama did it with his little hatchet, only it was a big axe."
1
Trump and his flock make me ashamed of having once been an American.
5
Thanks, Gail. Always on point.
3
“Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump? Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs. On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons.”
In a strictly either/or scenario, I would opt to not participate.
What is to be admired about celebrity white men with hairlines receding even faster than their careers? Many have wondered, fewer have cared.
1
They are all the same if they have an MBA from a US school. 50 shades of MBA. All the same.
1
Trump did not get an MBA from Wharton; he has a much less prestigious undergraduate degree.
3
@Parke -- and it's in real-estate too. He went there because it was the only B-school with a real-estate track.
The Liar and Chief compares himself with Honest Abe? Now that's rich!
I wonder if Donald will (re)read "Art of the Deal" before trying to negotiate a potential plea deal that includes a big, fat prison sentence for His Lowness.
If the little field mouse Pence doesn't pardon him (which he, of course, will), Trump will need all the help he can get before he takes his love of orange to a whole new level.
2
"Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs."
Or so he claims.
@ThatJulieMiller Somehow I get that his interpretation of reality is so distorted that drugs are not needed for him to hallucinate, and he seems to show the effects daily with a Tweeted record of them.
1
“Fifty years after his death they said it may have been the greatest speech ever made in America. I have a feeling that’s going to happen with us. In different ways, that’s going to happen with us.”
Abraham Lincoln would never have said anything like this. Trump lacks the capacity to say anything else.
Abraham Lincoln was a humble unifier who died loving his country.
Donald Trump is an arrogant divider who lives only to love himself.
Lincoln revised the Gettysburg Address over and over again, right up to the time he delivered it. Trump barely gives a thought to anything he says, writes, or does.
We can forget about Trump. He's always been a pathetic travesty. His sad little story will be over soon. The real problem is whether or not we can get over the travesty of having been stupid enough to elect him in the first place. That, unfortunately, remains an ongoing saga.
7
He sounds like a bad comedian in the Catskills.
4
Poor Gail. The faster, the crazier, the sadder things have gotten, the wiser, the funnier, the wittier she has proven herself to be.
Rising to the occasion in the spirit of Will Rogers and H.L. Mencken. Let's hope that the light at the proverbial end of the tunnel isn't another train, but the shining promise of a more decent, normal and positive future.
Vote like your life and your life, and our country's life depends on it.
In the meantime, Gail, keep 'em coming!
2
Pity, if Trump was more like Elon Musk, and everyone else in NYC back in the 80s, and he knocked back a few and talk a few tokes on a doobie, he would be a lot less trouble. Well, probably not, but at least if he was wasted everything would make a little more sense.
Somehow I don't think we'll have to wait 50 years to understand this malfeasance of an administration. Gawd.
3
No matter how many vapid hit pieces you guys do on him Mr. Trump will succeed. He is a force of nature and America is much better off because we have him. I can’t imagine the disaster that would have been the Hillary administration. Keep it up, all you do is make him stronger.
2
Funnier, actually.
Trump is his own worst enemy. The more that the plain truth about just how much of a rampaging boor he's been through all his life; once the economic effects of the tariffs start to really be felt in Red states; once he starts hurling insults that resonate as insulting to his base, "dumb southerners," for example, then we may expect the solid wall of support to start to crack. Ironically Trump may well need to learn the wisdom of Lincoln's famous maxim, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
"But are we ready for President Pence?" he asked the Times commentariat pensively...
7
Is it comforting that the voices in Trump's head keep yelling "Squirrel!"?
6
It is amazing how ineffective you can be without taking drugs or alcohol.
9
Incredible hubris. tRump's truly terrible time can't possibly match the terrible time the rest of us are having.
9
When people talk about the constitution they are not really talking about the constitution, they are talking about some paper with some words on it. The real constitution of America is We the People, and yes we do have a constitutional crisis. Americans are willing to lie, cheat and steal to disenfranchise each other. No paper work is going to fix that. We need to fix ourselves. So I guess a general going around Trump to avoid assassinating Assad and the lot of 'em is a bit of a constitutional crisis, but compared to what, a genocidal firestorm raging through a stateless Syria?
1
I've given a lot of analytical thought to the quandary we find ourselves in and...hey, look, a squirrel!
5
Just how crazy do you need to be before the men in white coats strap a straightjacket on you and give you a giant dose of antipsychotic medicine? Trump slid past that moment last week and is in danger of doing harm to himself and others (Described as Volcanically-Unstable). When will he take a box knife to White House artwork or set the Lincoln Bedroom ablaze? This gentleman is unstable, unpredictable and dangerous. Does anyone think that he might jump into the Potomac River naked or try to scale the Washington Monument in his underwear? He becomes maniacal speaking to his base at his rallies in a manner that mostly resembles Bento Mussolini. I think he is diagnostically crazy-ill and in need of skilled psychiatric intervention for his own wellbeing.
5
Obama rightly said Trump is a symptom. He is exhibit A with what is wrong with America and Americans. We made it happen, we are all complicit. We are all voyeurs for entertainment gossip foul mouthed exhibitionists. We cling to every word Trump utters, either as shocked resistance or as fawning fans. The whole world is watching us and saying what's up with these Americans, they seem to have lost their way, used to be the destination for all free spirits, now they are simply whirling in their own muck.
8
@Petey Tonei
Exactly. It's why replacing Trump is a necessary but not sufficient solution to our problems. We need a radical reform of our system of governance, inclluding amendments to our constitution.
1
Beyond the bonds of their racist and sexist brethren, I wonder if Trump rally attendees actual listen to anything coming out of Trump's mouth. I think they just want to be there to hate together. I cannot fathom listening to Trump at all. It is truly painful. Elon Musk, addicted to marijuana, pain killers, whiskey, and half dead, would make a better president than Trump.
6
Musk can dry out. He's got means, muscle, and motivation. What do we do about a president who's got nothing except a spineless cabinet and a craven and morally corrupt Congress.
7
Donald Trump's Gettysburg Address:
The crowd -- you're soooo amazing! And there aren't too many outside protesting ... my supporters ... I love you guys! Matthew Brady, you know I’d love it if your camera could show this crowd, because it is rather incredible. It is incredible.
We're here because we won! Are you so tired of winning yet? Well the winning isn't over, let me tell you. I'm a winner.
Yes, we're here to bury ... OUR LOSERS. That's right folks, they lost. You won. That's why we are standing here today .. and they aren't.
So what I did is I thought, I’d take just a second, and I’m really doing this more than anything else, because you know where my heart is, OK?
We are making America great by winning. You make me great when you win! Losers ... are losers!
If you’re reading a story about this war you assume it’s honest, because it’s like the failing New York Times, which is like so bad. It’s so bad.
They are all so bad and so pathetic, and their ratings are going down.
They are telling you we haven't been winning this war, and a lot of young men ... well ... they're losers! Today we are here to be winners!
I always hear about the elite. You know, the elite. They’re elite? I went to better schools than they did. I was a better student than they were. I live in a bigger, more beautiful apartment, and I live in the White House, too, which is really great.
And that's why I'm a winner, and I didn't ever fight, and lose.
MAGA!
284
So much more powerful when you see it in print! The stream of consciousness is incoherent.
@Lee Harrison
Spot on.
@Lee Harrison
Well done. U nailed it!
Now how do you think Trump would answer a few of Mueller's basic questions. That would be interesting.
Your tough week is to others more indications of how the radical progressives in the Dem party can not and should not be in charge of anything. Especially the great examples in the senate hearings, and those probably paid protesters. Sure they want a new face for their party, one that is even more radical, disrespectful, etc. Trump is having fun working to his base around the country and dems and their friends are helping a lot.
@vulcanalex I keep reading about this right-wing conspiracy theory on paid protestors. Where does one apply for this position? Or is it all done by some double-secret leftist hand signal sort of thing? Oh wait ... that’s the alt-right’s thing. So confusing!
Anyway, if anyone’s getting paid it has to be the good folks who attend Trump rallies wearing MAGA swag, which I’m certain they have to buy, with the obscene profits derived from cheap “Made in China” goods (curiously not subject to tariffs) going to Trump. There’s no way that “tens of thousands” of hard-working Monatanans, or West Virginians, or Tennesseans would willingly give up several hours to stand in line, then listen to an incoherent 2 hour rant, hooting and hollering all the while, if they weren’t being paid to do so. Go ahead, prove me wrong.
4
To get to the bottom of the anonymous NYT editorial, it's fun to think what detective would be best suited for the job.
In keeping with this president's cast of characters there's Peter Falk as Columbo. I can see him walking out of the oval office, turning around and saying to the president, "one last question".
When you think of it, though, Kojak starring Telly Savannas is tough to top.
For the sheer farce of it all, however, I'm going with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau of The Return of the Pink Panther fame. How sweet it would be to hear him say in front of the White House "I suspect everyone. I suspect no one".
3
Trump seems to be having a worse LIFE than many of us -- would you want to be constantly publicly insulted, angry and stressed in the golden years of your 70s? and with all that money, power and influence, he is still just not a happy, contented guy. At some point you'd think he'd just decide to chuck it and live out the rest of his life in (in his mind, well-deserved) comfort, security and protection from the constant scrutiny of that pesky free press. Waddayuhsay, Donald? Resigning would be a win-win all around.
5
I am glad someone is protecting this country from this man. I feel like we have some hormone rampant teenager in office, and anyone who has raised a teenager knows what that is like.
3
For Trump was not at all a bad week: he loves it when he's attacked, because it gives him a chance to attack back and the only thing he loves more than brawling, chaos-making and attention-getting, is himself.
5
Trump beats Musk. At least Musk can go to rehab and start over. Trump is beyond rehab, he does not need drugs to be erratic.
I cannot believe I would want to see Pence as president for 2 years. He would be a terrible president but one who seems to adhere to our democratic principles.
1
Actually, this is our terrible time.
3
We now have a far right government and the Supreme Court is heading in that direction. The Republicans are crowing as the supremely wealthy count their bounty. As for the majority of Americans, they’re paying the bills, in dome cases, with their lives. The Trump administration circus is a horrifying, chilling distraction.
4
Do you think the reason that Putin, Kim and others have warmed to Trump is because he does have nuclear weapons?
“With malice toward none, with charity for all...” I forget which president said or tweeted that phrase, but I’m sure it was either Abraham Lincoln or Donald Trump.
214
@WmC
Actually the quote would be "With malice towards some..."
I understand the description of President Trump as a man who, "cannot keep one thought in his mind for more than two seconds". His style of speech is a choppy stream of consciousness that tends to reflect his less censured thoughts. I am still looking forward to hearing anyone anyone admit to being a speechwriter for Donald Trump. Those who listen carefully are able to seperate the truth from the fluff and the fun. Those who want to hear gibberish or worse can find more than a few examples - but they miss the best parts.
2
The Gettysburg Address is more along the lines of Trump's reading tastes, lengthwise, that is. That said, as with the Constitution, I'm pretty sure that Trump probably has not read in its entirety, Lincoln's finest and noblest address. And it's probably a safe bet he has absolutely no idea what "four score and seven" is.
9
What's even more weird and frightening is that he was "reading" off a teleprompter. I live just 2 hours from Billings so I watched that speech. The only other speech I've watched was the one he did in Helena, Montana. In the Helena speech, he sounded completely crazy. I one you quote from in Billings, his handlers must have gotten to him as he was more tempered. Just hold that thought!
4
@Justine
Is that the one where they removed
the young man? The woman who
asked him to leave, and replaced him
in the cheering squad, was the anxious
person sitting behind Brett Kavanaugh
next to Don McGahn, the ”Mafia” lawyer
in the hearing. She is obviously
one of Kavanaugh’s
White House handlers. She was making
all kinds of funny faces, looking full
of contempt in the hearings.
The look of incredulity
on the young man’s face was one
of the few sane, honest moments in
a Trump rally.
2
McConnell thinks his legacy will be engineering a
conservative Supreme Court that will endure for generations.
His and other GOP enablers' actual legacy will be the destruction of American democracy.
15
In the alcoholic family I grew up in all 7 kids would huddle in our rroms and figure out way to work around Mom and Dad's erratic moods and behaviors. We knew, and we explicitly told, never to speak to the anyone outside the family (especially the NY Times) about the dysfunction inside it.
When the cops came to restore order we knew, or at least hoped that they wouldn't take us as well.
It's not hard to understand the Trump White House in this vein.
21
There's nothing scary or unstable about President Trump. Consider this: President Obama spoke beautifully yet secretly sent billions of dollars in cash to Iran which would eventually be used to fund terrorism. And he also lied and I mean big lies not these kind of lies alluded to in this editorial. But Obama sounded nice. President Trump on the other hand has done nothing to warrant the abuse and accusations of treachery, insanity or instability. The economy, international decisions, etc,...his performance has been stellar and it's time people stopped the truly unethical name calling of this President who won fair and square.
1
You have your facts totally wrong on the Iranian issue. Please look at non-partisan sources!
8
@Brad Lloyd -- read the fact check:
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/apr/27/donald-t...
As to "has done nothing to warrant the abuse and accusations of treachery, insanity or instability" ...
Where to start?
5
Pres. Obama returned Iran's money to Iran. Trump blew up the deal that kept Iran from bullding nuclear bombs.
5
Actually, Gail, it's you and your fellow Progressives who are having a truly terrible time. A majority of the American people see the Progressives are incessantly and unfairly attacking Trump on everything and never giving him any credit on the occasional things he does right. This in turn permits him to portray himself as unfairly attacked. If you and the Progressives had only let him be, even for a short period of time, his flaws and foibles would have dragged down his popularity. As it is now, you're virtually assuring his re-election.
2
@Uysses --
Baseball is a really tough sport -- these days a .350 hitter is a really good one. But no team keeps a .050 hitter, nobody gives them credit for "the occasional things he does right."
Get da bum outa here!
3
“You and your Progressives...?” We Progressives constitute the majority in this country. Let’s not forget that.
Moreover, no one called out Hitler during his reign of terror, and look where that got Germany. Perhaps we, too, should blame Trump’s senior staff member(s) for being the messenger of what is occurring behind closed doors in the West Wing.
It behooves ALL of us to speak out -and loudly - when fascism rears it’s ugly head, as it is now in America. That is our moral and ethical duty as patriots.
2
I wonder how many parents have stopped saying to their children " when you grow up, you too could be President". Since Trump, those words aren't nearly as inspirational....in fact, they almost sound like a threat.
12
Lot’s of sleep deprived nut jobs running loose in contemporary America. Combine that with too much screen time and you probably have a new disorder worthy of inclusion in the DSM. I suspect Trump and Musk send out emails and text messages at all hours to their staff. Anyone who has worked in corporate America in the last ten years is all to familiar with these types and their behavior.
So what’s the problem? Trump has delivered for the GOP! Cutting taxes, packing the courts, and dismantling regulatory agencies. Yes, Trump is always off the rails and if diagnosed would probably have the Dark Triad. Is that a problem America? It becomes more evident everyday that having an unstable person with the nuclear codes creates the possibility of something going terribly wrong. Is this what you want America?
6
Sorry, Gail, you missed a few things in recounting the Trumpster's bad week. Not only was he disinvited to the McCain funeral, he had to watch television all day on Monday because it was too hot to go golfing. Maybe MAGA stands for Make America Golf Again.
10
I am interested in Ms Collin’s take - as a former head of the editorial board - on the NYT decision to publish a salacious anonymous op-ed that provided absolutely no new information. Is she at all concerned that the NYT has become the liberal equivalent of Fox News? Or is this okay because the President is awful? I may be naive but I did not think that legitimate journalism worked this way......
1
"No new informtion" - So the president is going nuts over nothing at all? No this author is providing proof that he is a crazy as all the books. No one needs to lie about Trump. It is right there for those who choose to see.
1
Trump needs a psych evaluation now! Did you hear him yesterday try TWICE to pronounce anonymous? He said, “anomynous” TWICE.” It sounded like he was slurring his words. Aneurism? Or just plain stupid?
9
It'll all be better for trump when he gives himself a Purple Heart for avoiding sexually transmitted diseases during the Vietnam War.
11
I'll say it: Trump is the dumbest public official of all time.
18
@Diatribe
Trump has a lot of competition there (see example below) but he's definitely the nastiest.
"I will tell you: It's three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the — what's the third one there? Let's see. — OK. So Commerce, Education and the — The third agency of government I would — I would do away with the Education, the — Commerce and — let's see — I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops.
— Rick Perry, Republican presidential debate, 2011-11-09
1
Musk v. Trump. Which is worse?
Well, Musk is a genius, and though he doesn't have nukes, does have an arsenal of vehicles capable of delivering them, multiple times. That he designed. So what if he takes a playday every once in a while.
Trump is a certifiable idiot, with nuclear weapons. Who really does need to loosen up, take a toke and a Jack-and-Coke (the legal liquid, not the nasal candy variety). The man could certainly benefit from a good joint of fine Colombian, a pair of headphones and an 8-track tape of Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida. After a few hours of therapy, he might even begin to make sense.
Now as to which is worse, if we mean "worse" in the sense of being let down by one or the other, it's no contest. Musk has such great promise. We can't help but feel he's unraveling.
Trump, on the other hand, has been the definition of "worse" for about 70 years. (One must assume he was a cute baby, and maybe even as a toddler, though the smart money says more than likely not.) But since he hasn't changed, we can hardly say he has let us down.
Musk had --still has-- great promise. Trump? The last four letters of his name say it all.
4
Freaking brilliant!
1
The events of the past week confirm that Mr. Trump is now King of the United States in much the same way Elizabeth is Queen of England. Congressional Republicans and Trump's staff, with Trump's efficient help, have neutered the office of the president.
I do wish Mr. Trump could develop some of the Queen's decorum and elegance, but, alas, dethroning the monarchy in England required some Trump-like nuts generations ago. Over decades the monarchs got the message and settled into the art of the deal--a life of royal ease and show with none of the responsibilities of governing.
This week, having come to this realization, I've slept much better. Just think, we have great cause for hope. November 6 will right the balance. We will almost surely have responsible government again just without a president.
5
We must find the anominous, amonimous gutless loser.
8
Surely this country, or at least a portion of it, has sold itself out if the Republicans will accept the outlandish, bizare behavior of the man occupying the revered office of the President of the United States. All for the sake of filling the courts with left of center judges? All for making the most powerful and richest among us more powerful and rich? I am at a loss trying to understand. We have been through difficult times in our government before but President Trump is totally without the qualifications to represent the office of the most powerful country in the world.
5
I think I see, in photos of DT, a lot more stress and strain than when he first took office.
3
Thank you, thank you - this provided just the laughs I needed today! The best comedy is based very closely on real life, I guess... what a week. The only objection I have to raise is to put Elon Musk in the same basket as Trump -- Musk may be having some problems and a bit atypical of a CEO, but he has accomplished wonderful things. If anything his problems are trying to work too hard, do too much, and be too self critical. The President is the utter opposite, a lazy ignoramus who lacks any self awareness.
7
I realized years ago that President Trump is not the best fit for the monstrous pressure of being President of the United States. Today, while nearly 80 bloody wars and big and small carry on throughout our Earth, and in her poorest and most dire regions, there are perhaps a handful of men or women that could endure under such pressure. Donald Trump is a septagenarian, as am I. He may be filled with worry over his family and himself as we reach the ends of life. Surely there must be less terrifying ways to move Donald Trump from his follies, nightmares, and illness with some grace, not an abasement machine gun and neverending attempts to humiliate him? Yes, something must be done, and now. Yet, just maybe, a lengthy chat with the best of his family and wisest of his close friends would offer him an exit less punishing for him, for us, and our world. If this sideshow of denigration and lies does not end, and soon; it becomes seemingly apparent that our finest leaders are even more confused or worse.
3
I find it hard to have sympathy for Trump because of the humiliations he is having to bear. He has a nasty habit of publicly humiliating others and now he is learning how that feels.
2
Nice idea, excepting the man has been a nut job his whole life. He grows worse because of difficult problems which he has made for himself. He could do all of this but the reality is that any real look into his past or present reveals a miserable crooked man.
Gail, you are right on target: this has been a tough week for the Trumpster and isn't it reassuring to know that his loyalists continue to support him? A strong criticism from within his monkey house and then a book filled with destructive material . . . what's our esteemed leader to do?
I have a couple of ideas but you won't be allowed to print them.
6
Trump’s speech reference was not to Abe Lincoln the President, but to Abe Lincoln who owns a slightly damaged used car dealership in Teaneck, New Jersey. Trump sees Abe’s commercials when he gets his top secret briefings from a Fox News. Like Trump’s Presidency, all of the above is purely fictional.
4
No worries apparently there’s some folks on the inside preventing the launch codes from falling into the wrong hands...
2
My liberalism and laughter left the building on election night 2016 , when too many fools, save the 1%, voted against their interests.
I no longer care what happens to them. When they start sinking and begging for help, I'll be happy to throw them an anchor.
12
Meanwhile, you and I are the ones left holding the anchor.
2
Musk is losing it, but he has built a business empire and done great good by promoting electric cars. Trump has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
15
Are we a robust democracy these days?
Trump operates on payback and revenge. He's packed the court with sympathetic judges. An enabling Republican-led Congress has not been checking presidential power.
Early on when asked about Trump’s conflicts of interest, Speaker Ryan replied to CNBC, “This is not what I’m concerned about in Congress. Trump should handle his conflicts “however he wants to.”
Bottom line: there simply has been no oversight.
As a president forms his opinions from Fox News, and conspiratorial ideas fuel his agendas, his own staff are desperate to let the nation know of his chronic, dangerous dysfunction.
9
One year a from today, where will Trump be in his agenda?
What will be the price of Tesla stock?
Will NYT readers feel the country is moving forward?
1
The USA have been built as a country rejecting kings and their nobilities. Now, it is a country hijacked by incompetent people with money. Is is it better?
19
I cannot listen to a Trump speech. And “speech” is not really an apt description. Stream of conscious word salad is closer to the mark. But when I read some of the quotes in a column like this, I simply cringe and ask myself, “Who are the people that actually attend the events and applaud each line?” When your speaker is drawing analogies to the Gettysburg Address, a bell should go off that you’re being snowed no matter your allegiance to the guy behind the mic.
23
When the Trump administration comes to a close there is no question that more books and movies will be produced about the inner workings of the administration. Those people working with him will finally tell the truth and we will see that the President was
truly a very sick man. Trump proves, if anything, that anyone can truly become the President of the United States.
6
The Donald was elected President. His actions and reactions and loyalties should not surprise anybody. His loyalties to the former Soviet Bloc were written about in April 2015 in the NYT. The actual author of the Art of the Deal intimated that Trump was not able to pay attention to help write the story!
Comments to the article have said get out and vote. The dilema, which helped elect the current President, is 1) what candidate is qualified, 2) do their loyalties align with groups that fund their campaign or are their motive is working for the best interest of our citizens. Is a Trump like office holder the result of a broken system and how do we fix that system?
2
@Greg trump is the result of an outdated system called the electoral college and the fix is getting rid of it. My question is, how do we get do it?
3
@Norma Yes, but who funds many of the campaigns? Who has the power to highly influence policy legislative and executive decisions on a state and federal level?
ok, even if trump is all the things you say (btw, saying more of this during the campaign instead of laughing at the clown car might have kept him in his tower) its time to stop stewing and get moving.
trump was a bloviator way back before you got this job ms collins, throwing the book at him, woordward's "FEARsay,"
if you will, will do more more harm that hitting him with a rolled up NYT, as for lincoln, c'mon, he took more press abuse than any prior president and only FDR (not even nixon) since then can measure up.
what to do now to make a serious go at getting government for, of and by the people back, may be difficult but its not complicated.
listen to and heed the voices of america's working men and women, once the party base, handed to trump in a couple of baskets, and SHOW them what we can offer besides clever quipping (FDR ain't a bad place to start, especially now that history has elevated his effort)...imagine what a WPA style attack (adjusted by what we learned from the first one) on decaying infrastructure and inner city blight would do for what ails our weakening "unum."
for all our differences, in color origin and creed, we, the "pluribus," all have to get up and go to work (and if not employed, go to training) every day.
so back off the chicken little and let's get back to "can do."
6
Personal responsibility is a great thing, and paramount to the constantly shifting techno-economic economy in which we live.
Beyond that, your comments (well thought out and mostly accurate) regarding infrastructure etc. are the job of the President, Congress, our State Governors and Legislatures. So far, no one in any governing capacity, save a scant few, have done a lick about those vital issues. Miami is quietly preparing for the effects of rising sea levels, at the cost of BILLIONS to the City. Smart local governing is key.
Plus, don’t you think all of the companies that flee States and Cities owe their former employees something? How about putting new-tech training centers in the abandoned offices of the factories designed for antique industrial energy mining and production? Why don’t the Mega-Corporations pay their CEOs practical salaries and do the SAME for their lower-tier employees? Senator Sanders and other Socialist Democrats have the right idea. Stop Corporate Welfare, for good.
Trade? Think Block Chain. Not arcane.
Employ proven techniques to budget for improvements to our transportation, electrical and city infrastructures. Cutting regulations, corrupt bidding practices and cronyism have stolen the confidence of our Citizens.
Ending taxes only creates disastrous, long lasting and destructive results for, let’s say Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia- I could go on. It’s time for Grover Norquist to quietly retire, perhaps to Oregon, Kansas or West Virginia.
1
@Pete
yes, take all that fallow space for training, regional project oversight, even as small shop/business centers for emerging entrepreneurs who, in addition to their open to the public efforts may also supply, feed and otherwise service the projects and people of the infrastructure overhaul...just put a trader joe's in the middle of each and keep the street clean.
One only has to read Rick Wilson's book about Trump, i.e. one written by a Republican, to know that the problem is far larger than an orange buffoon with a bad hairdo. As Rick put it so elegantly: "I've watched the stalwarts of the Republican Party and the conservative movement slip into the sewage tank of national populism with barely a ripple." Example: wasn't it Sen. Lindsey Graham who called Trump a "kook" and "unfit for office" back in 2016, and who now faults others for calling him a kook?
30
Who would have though that the "deep state" ends up being Republicans?
Trump's voters probably feel more secure knowing that.
After all, the Republicans are in charge and everyone that voted for Trump must feel protected by these non-patriots who put Party above Country.
The distraction that is Trump is playing right into the Republicans hands and nothing will be done until the Republicans get all of their agenda passed.
Once that happens, they will begin proceedings to get rid of Trump.
Trump is a useful puppet.
9
If Trump were just running his Organization again (that is if he WAS running it whole doing a TV show - I must admit I never watched that slime) the IRS would be investigating him, his businesses would be failing,
And every day when he left his tower he’d tip the guy who polished the gold handle of the big front door, and make sure it went on the guy’s W-2.
And nobody would really care except for his audience, who went wild when he “fired” someone from his non-existent Reality Show Shell Corps - same way they do when they go gaga when someone wins a new kitchen - for a house they can’t afford on “The Price is Right”.
And we’d feel sorry Musk can’t hold his weed, after designing a neat car.
But we would know the country was safe in the hands of President Hillary Clinton - who was working for a progressive tax plan and better health care, actually telling both parties to “play nice in Congress”, and be able to go to sleep unafraid the President would threaten a trade war, or change her version of “the truth” 3 times in 2 hours, for we knew she was a sane leader.
Not perfect, just not totally out of her mind - with the experience of actually helping her husband govern a state, serve 8 years as president, and get him to be willing to lock his fly when he went out, followed by 4 years of running the State Department and helping President Obama clean up the economic mess left by George W.’s inability to run a budget, and destroy a whole nation to prove daddy was a wimp.
21
When are the staff writers at The New York Times going to stop making flippant remarks about Trump having the power to launch a nuclear attack without reference to any other authority than himself?
What is it going to take for this newspaper and its staff to take this possibility seriously? I believe Trump has already planned a nuclear strike against Iran as the start of an "election stunt" war to enable him to run for re-election as a "war president". Is there anyone in the op-ed team who wants to argue that is an unreasonable prediction?
It is just terrifying. The editorial and opinion staff of The Times have described Trump as a real danger to the Constitution, the Republic, democracy itself and still we get this appalling, glib gibberish virtually mocking the idea that a very serious disaster is possible at any given moment.
When you wake up to news that Trump has launched a surprise attack on Iran's nuclear sites with cruise missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, are you going to be surprised? (Trump will say, "The fallout was going to be radioactive anyway.")
When that happens, are you going to know in your heart that you did everything in your very real and significant power to stop a worldwide catastrophe? You guys need to answer these questions but you can't answer them until you look in the mirror and ask these questions of yourself.
In times of national emergency, everything depends on patriots doing what they believe to be right - despite the consequences.
5
@Colin McKerlie Gail's column is an opinion column that gives us the opportunity to comment and does not represent the views of the NYT.
An editorial would represent the NYT editors' views without reader comments.
2
"You’ve probably heard that Donald Trump has been comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln."
As opposed to Obama's non-denial denial yesterday:
“I don’t mean to pretend I’m channeling Abraham Lincoln now, but…"
Personally, I would go with the honest Abe, the straight-talking Lincoln.
Timing is everything. The prime mover of the coup should have stayed hidden.
Trump is wrong about one thing: Obama's soporific speaking style, owing mostly to his empty selfie mindset with its slo-mo self-congratulatory playback, is more than offset by the intense rage generated by his corruption, hypocrisy and betrayal.
Obama on the hustings ensures GOP victory. 1000 D seats were lost under Obama's watch.
Don't be fooled, Ds. Obama is always out for Obama.
Even in his "McCain eulogy."
The eulogy was empty, cliché-ridden, not about McCain at all. Reread it. It was about Obama. He tethered himself to McCain to elevate himself, to ratify a patriotism that many are now, as the evidence mounts, beginning to question in earnest…
3
Get over it, already! Obama won two terms as president and is respected for his dignity, erudition, and speaking skills!
He was, by the way, gently making fun of Trump's self-aggrandizement and references to Lincoln, with his Lincoln comment...
Or, was Fox Fake News playing too loudly in the background while you were reading the paper?!
3
@Marian While you republicans have always questioned or criticized everything President Obama ever said or did, the majority of us--who twice elected him--welcome his words.
It spoke volumes that Mrs. McCain asked him to participate in the funneral ceremonies and specifically barred trump.
2
Don't know what's more scary, Trump saying all this nonsense, or so many heretofore McCain/Bush voting mainstream Republicans believing him.
446
@logocThe latter, most definitely.
1
Meanwhile, below the radar, immense and widespread damage is being done by the systematic sabotage of every department of the federal government, from safety rollbacks, to infrastructure degradation, to gutting education budgets, to undercutting vital medical research, and the list goes on and on. Recovery could take decades.
36
@jimline - or we may never recover. This may be the death blow to our way of government. We have nothing but the oligarchs in both the house and senate.
7
Definitely, the reality perceived by Trump is different from the Sr. Administrative officials of Trump administration - it is not the difference in opinion between two individuals. Repeatedly Trump states that he is trying to do good to America and to American people, and that exercise leads him to act to destroy the constitution of America, weaken the National security system build after WWII,and make justice department as his personal lawyer, and Trump understands that these actions will do good to America. About 40% American believes that Trump is right and those actions will do good to America. So the question is which reality is correct? Recently, Physics has come to similar dilemma - is space time and causation are reality or the evolutionary construct of human mind, very fundamental question of our reality. We do not know how the mind of Trump was programmed - definitely it used different software version than the Sr. Administrative officials.
2
It’s all about the flag, folks. Next Trump will call for a law that every movie produced by Hollywood has to include a scene where Old Glory is shown, and everyone in the scene stops what they’re doing, puts hand on heart and with tears in their eyes recites the Pledge of Allegiance or breaks out in rendition of the National Anthem. The whole purpose of the “Space Force” is to hang a giant, illuminated American flag in the sky. I’m getting choked up just thinking about it.
9
After 2+ years of hearing everything negative about trump and pals is fake news, made up and a lie while he babbles on just making stuff up and contradicting himself at every turn even his followers must be getting doughts.
4
@Thomas Renner ---
dought (usually uncountable, plural doughts) manhood, virtue. the age of manhood, maturity. virility, manly power or strength; excellence. (collectively) men, people.
I'm sorry to say I see no evidence of dought at all, nor much if any doubt among the men.
On the other hand, at least some women do seem to be getting the message.
2
The best pick-me-up - Trump's having a worse week than me! I love this column, although as always I'm torn between laughing and crying. I work with people who have dementia and Trump is displaying so many of the early symptoms it's scary. This man is way beyond just being an idiot. He's truly mentally unstable. The photo says it all; brilliant choice.
28
We shuld not miss the very point which has to do with many autocrats: HE has been elected by US the people as Hitler was. That may mark where the illness is first.
16
Hitler was not elected! He ran second and a tribunal appointed him as a compromise candidate for the Chancellor position, figuring that they could control him. It didn't work out too well, though, did it?!
But that makes Trump's actually being elected even scarier!
5
@Filippo Aleati Neither Hilter nor trump were elected by us.
trump was appointed by the out-dated electoral college. Over 3 million more of us voted for Hillary.
Our "illness" is the outdated electoral college, which gives extra weight to votes from a few states that in the distant past were less populated.
1
I wish President Trump would look for a chorus of approval somewhere other than Montana. It is giving the state a bad name, and making its residents look like bozo boofheads.
22
Sure Gail, go for the laughs--easy but with bitter overtones-- of comparing Donald Musk and Elton Trump. Yes, both are stable and in near-genius orbit. And yes, Wall Street and Silicon Congress both betray the impress of their gravity-defiant pollarization.
But laughably you are comparing moons and oranges. In fifty years our ancestors in Montana, while exhaling, may wonder: "these two idiots knew Sean Hannity?"
3
Oh, Gail. You get lots of points in heaven for this column. Both funny and accurate. It saves my soul and heart every day to know that people like you are around to make the darkness a little lighter. Maybe we could create a little limerick about Hannity? What about it, fellow commenters? Got a limerick about Hannity's sanity?
5
Hannity's insanity
Is almost as bad as Trump's profanity.
Except that Don the Con's inanity
Trump's Hannity's insanity.
And, thus,
He should be
toppled faster than Humpty-Dumpty
on a golf tee!
3
Very thoughtful, column thank you!
2
If trump were to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, it would probably be his other foot.
16
Maybe Trump should drink and do drugs...but not make cars because then we'd all be killed.
7
This just in...the Secret Srrvice has been issued tranquilizers darts for use if the president asks for the nuclear football.
7
Seems to the rest of us it’s been a pretty good week.
Continued great economic progress, a SC nominee that is perhaps the best in years, 3-4 packed rallies, and progress in NK.
For The resistors, the mountain they must climb keeps getting steeper.
13
@hawk Actually Merritt Garland was the more esteemed, qualified nominee.
3
@hawk
Not so great for engendered species, migratory birds, and coincidentally, hawks.
4
@hawk indeed. National honor, international respect,faith in our institutions, are such quaint, 20th century notions. The important thing is to make money hand over fist courtesy of the red hot national credit card before the overdue recession hits, right?
5
Fifty years from now all the Trump supporters will be dead. In their place will be a very diverse nation. It will be a lot like Houston.
The Houston Community College states that 145 languages are spoken in the area. It seems there are a dozen or so cultures. All of them, except for the about half the white, baby boomer culture, are very family oriented and very community supportive.
In school, children 50 years from now will be asking, "Were white people really that racist?" "Did white police really shoot unarmed black people at traffic stops?"
They'll also ask how Trump got elected. They'll hear words like, "Evangelicals," "racists," "women haters," "gay haters," "lies," "propaganda," "gun rights," and "immigrant and Muslim fear." Hopefully, they'll also hear about gross income inequality and how that came about by how easily the baby boomers were conned out of all the social protections and equalizers that their parents, the Greatest Generation, had left to them.
We have to vote this Nov 6th but the wave following the blue wave, the wave that will repair the damaged content of our democracy and restore its arc toward increased fairness, those waves will be the Millennial generation and our great wealth of first and second generation immigrants.
And what of the Trump supporters? They'll be very expensive landfill.
759
@Liam Jumper OUTSTANDING! Thank you!!
16
@Liam Jumper
I'd like to think your vision of the future could come to be, but it seems equally likely that my descendants will live in a dystopia dominated by networks of wealthy people and their corporate partners. People will be set against others to scramble for survival. Human dignity will have been forgotten.
Too many people are willing to sell out for tax cuts, deregulation and military buildups, which they think are good for our nation. They are willing to ignore suffering and to deny asylum to those who are persecuted.
Voting is important, but you are correct that it will not be enough. The vision of liberty and justice for all must be reaffirmed so loudly that there is no mistake.
@Liam Jumper
Glad you said half the white baby boomers - don't know how accurate that figure is, but you can be assured there are many, many, baby boomers who are absolutely appalled at Trump's election, his conduct, and psychological condition and dangerous decline, his actions, the actions of his supporters, the Congress, the GOP support in general, and the appalling cult-like behaviour at his weird and sychophantic "rallies".
1
Republicans are justifying their accommodating Trump by saying he (they) are accomplishing their goals. They are dismissing the things Gail Collins talks about.
One commentator here sums this up by saying, "Continued great economic progress, a SC nominee that is perhaps the best in years, 3-4 packed rallies, and progress in NK."
The more Democrats focus on Trump the man the more they are letting these policies be presented as great successes. And many voters are interpreting Trump's antics as either inconsequential or as brilliant theater.
My point? -- We all have to explain the policies as what they are and find a way to get people's attention focused on these great dangers -- to world peace, clean air and water, Social Security, Medicare, health care for those with preexisting conditions, affordable health care for everyone, and to fair taxation and an economy that serves us all.
We are so busy watching the circus that we forget that outside the big tent is a real world with young parents working hard to feed and educate their children, elders needing medical care, etc.
39
@JustThinkin
"We are so busy watching the circus that we forget that outside the big tent is a real world with young parents working hard to feed and educate their children, elders needing medical care, etc."
absolutely true, and exactly what happened to the press in the 2016 election
14
It is beyond ironic that Trump thinks he is like Lincoln.
Lincoln fought to end slavery: the using of humans to work for no pay.
Trump used workers in his business whom he then did not pay: the equivalent of slavery.
One doesn't have to mine too deep to think that, if he really were faced with the moral aberration of slavery, he could never have been in the slightest like President Lincoln.
210
@Marty
Trump has much in common with a long list of American standouts: George (Lincoln) Rockwell, John Wayne (Gacey), Paul Revere (and the Raiders), the list goes on.
Frankly Scarlett -- oops, I mean frankly, Gail, we are all so far up the dystopian spout today that all we can do is pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again. Our unhinged president could not pronounce the word "anonymous" (4 syllables, like he can't pronounce his wife's name, Melania, either), and he told us he fell asleep listening to President Obama on the hustings in Illinois today. Trump's "Ambien" is Obama. These are symptoms of bizarre behaviour, Folks (no matter what Lindsey Graham says about Trump's base not giving a shizzle about Trump's mental fitness for the presidency or anything the New York Times publishes). Donald Trump needs more than 4 hours of sleep a night. Isn't Trump's great Aspartame (read formaldehyde) intake (Diet Cokes) 24/7 ominous? So how much longer are we going to be doing this totentanz, this danse macabre, dancing as fast as we can with the most ignorant and unfit president in American history? Dysfunction within families is one thing, like soiled linen, hidden from outsiders. We Americans and the world are witnessing not only mega-dysfunction in our White House, and the disintegration of an American president, but the murder of Democracy. Trump has murdered sleep. Now what?
347
@Nan Socolow It does seem odd that Trump's intake of junk food and soda doesn't take a toll on his body (my cousin's six-a-day intake of diet Coke made her sick, but she kicked the habit); however, it certainly does seem to be affecting his brain. Yet this senior citizen was given no true mental analysis or physical checkup during the campaign, while he accused his opponent of hiding an illness several times. It seems simply logical that presidential contenders should undergo some such examination, even if superficial. (They should also be required to produce their most recent tax returns.)
23
@Nan Socolow
Not to mention the GOP putting the screws to Womens rights, public education, people of color, minorities, the right to be who you are as well as the poor and the middle class working people, the environment and on and on!
Was Donald Trump's week really that bad? Look I'm as sad as the next person about what he's doing to our country, and I deeply rue the day that he was elected president. I know he was enraged by the op-ed and the Woodward book, perhaps more so because of their likely accuracy. But this was also the week that Trump got a major ally on the supreme court, and a solid economic report. I sorta wish that my week had been like that. I imagine this won't be a popular thing to say, but I wonder if we in the resistance sometimes focus too much on only the tea leaves that make us giddy.
127
@Lester Jackson The economic news is indeed good, but it is likely built on a foundation of sand. The trillion dollar deficits that Republicans used to decry will eventually cause big problems in terms of inflation or, if the blue wave doesn't materialize, decimation of the social safety net by Republicans. It remains to be seen if Trump's terror trade tactics will work, or if he will upend the economic order and cause a contraction in world trade. Remember, we may be at the end of this particular economic cycle, one of the longest in a while.
1
@Lester Jackson Nice post. But would you be happy about those articles and books if you were president? I would be beyond what I see from him. Everyone would be taking lie detector tests that anybody thought might be the author of the op ed. He has not done that.
@Lester Jackson. What President has gotten a negative economic report since 2010? Oh, and how much of that growth in GDP has raised worker wages?
Kavenaugh may get appointed, and that is not only not clear yet, but there hasn't even been a vote. Americans aren't going to be happy when it hits them that he thinks birth control causes abortions.
And if you truly are "In the resistance" may I suggest you act like it and focus on getting non-GOP candidates elected? It takes a few minutes of thought and effort to post here. You are "in the resistance" but post positively about Trump and his faux "successes?" That's all you have to say about Trump? What WOULD you have the "resistance focus on insead?
I'm jut more than a little bit suspicious of your post. If you are a Trump supporter or GOP just say so.
Perhaps the single most powerful thing which President Obama said on Friday is that what we are witnessing is "not normal." The Trump White House is trying to normalize, interalia, abusing power, demeaning the media, and justifying hate. None of those reflects the better angels of our nature. None of those should be seen as less than abominations.
Maybe this was a good week after all; finally, that voice of real moral leadership was heard over Trump's din.
647
@NM
You done forgot to mention lying. Joyce in Finnigan's Wake had it right. Where we start is where we end.
1
@NM When you desire large change, usually you need things that are "different" which means of course not "normal". Normal never got Kim to even talk, normal won't re-engineer the federal government. Normal was not delivering the results that many desire, so normal goes out the window. If you think Trump is not normal, try me. I would not Tweet, but rather go around the government and either fire or remove from their jobs thousands of bureaucrats thus destroying the deep state.
Abe would be spinning, as would other great Americans. But not b/c of what the author thinks.
E.g., I watched most of the Kavanaugh hearings. Witnesses who actually knew the nominee, m or f, multi- ethnic, D or R, swore to his fairness, decency, charitableness and scholarship. D witnesses said this is exactly the R you want. Only witnesses who did not know him, including prepped children, imagined otherwise. None of the criticism seems to have anything to do with him or his voting record, one quite consistent with Merrick Garland's.
I've been an independent for decades, though raised a liberal. I rarely vote D or R and did not vote for Trump or Clinton. I have seen Rs behave abominably in the past. But, I was disgusted at the malevolent and duplicitous behavior of the left at this hearing, from the organized screaming protesters to the D Senators, who do not deny a scheme to derail it. Senators Hirono, Whitehouse and Blumenthal behaved with hysteria and viciousness. I've seen R pols behave similarly, but right now, most of the dignity, intelligence and fairness is on their side, certainly at this hearing. The kerfluffle over records appeared to be a sham.
And that is just one hearing - it is much the same throughout the political process, media and on the streets. Kavanaugh, said a witness, understands - the process protects us. Trump is unsuitable for the office, but he is better than the "resistance."
14
@DHEisenberg Say what you want but it is very clear to many of us watching this confirmation process that the reason this candidate was picked was to stymy any effort to charge the president criminally should matters get to that point. Getting him named as what seems to be the deciding vote in the Supreme Court is preparing for that scenario and I really don't know how you can stomach that, no matter how marvellous you feel he is. And time and time again under this Trump presidency we have seen how the process does NOT protect us, not al all, when the President, having been given all these powers assuming his good faith, is in bad faith.
57
@DHEisenberg "the dignity, intelligence and fairness is on their side". And the guy who chaired the hearing , Chuck Grassley, is the same guy who for ten months wouldn't even hold a hearing for Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. Yes, there were a lot of American women who showed up at the hearings to protest a nomination of someone who, according to the person who nominated him, was selected to take away their right to a safe abortion. Last I checked the right to protest is supposed to be protected by the constitution. Maybe Kavanaugh can fix that for the Donald as well.
42
Let's recall that US v Nixon was decided by a 9-0 vote. There is no guarantee that Kavanaugh's appointment alone will forge a majority to quash a subpoena against Trump.
2
Why are rich men able to get support from average men? In Elon Musk case, he is able to get people to invest in a car company that loses thousands on every car it sells. Donald gets people to vote for him that he tries to take away their health care and gives their tax dollars to the wealthy.
16
Musk is by all accounts a genius, but his recent erratic behavior shows that the line separating genius from madness can be wafer thin. I hope he takes an extended break to rest and rejuvenate.
Trump is by his own account a stable genius, but his extensive erratic behavior shows that madness can afflict anyone, including people who play at being President. I hope we give him an extended break by removing him from office and taking away his cell phone.
270
@PaulB67. Nice observation. Over the years the insight that geniuses can sometimes be difficult and erratic has unfortunately morphed into the manqué adage that “I’m difficult and erratic, therefore I’m a genius.”
1
@PaulB67 ditto
@PaulB67
Trump may be (or have been) an idiot savant.
But when your only claim to genius is self-promotion ... you're mostly just an idiot.
Dear Gail —-
There’s not enough Xanax in the world to calm the effects of President Trump. “...a man that cannot hold a single thought for more than two seconds...”
How about that Adolph Hitler folks...Whatta guy huh...?
Do they bus all the same people to the Trump rallies?
34
How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? First of all, the light bulb really has to want to change. Donald Trump does not want to change. He may be miserable, and may have had a truly terrible week, but as the shrinks say, he gets something out of it.
Trump throws off a lot of heat, but he cannot fairly be said to throw off much light. Nor does he appear to be screwed in properly. He may never come close to rivaling Honest Abe insofar as his speeches are concerned but, by comparison, he does make another former president, George W. Bush, look semi-literate, and that's quite a feat, or feet, as Trump might tweet.
For that alone, Trump deserves recognition, in spite of his apparently convoluted cognition.
13
The only sane reaction to Trump comparing himself in any way with Lincoln is to shake one's head, roll one's eyes, and sigh "Is this man nuts or what?"
19
You have a President who wrote his own medical record dictated to his doctor and consistently shows signs of mental degradation and delusion. There is more training with checks and balances on junior doctors looking after lives, and teachers looking after healthy minds than anything anchoring the Presidency. The President can affect hundreds of thousands of lives and minds yet you can be let loose until a lone congress member in majority house has the temerity to put up his/her hand. No probation, no mentoring, no training. You are straight in there if you have money and a big voice. America needs to wake up & put in place systems of checks. Waiting till mid-terms is too late and still does not arrest mental health issues. That is not a check.
If you have not been a senator, congressman/woman, or state governor, you should have a 12 month probation with an experienced politician by your side. You should not be allowed to tweet under the guise of the nation. You should not be let loose on international leaders or allies when you have not even tackled litter in your home state or heard a senate debate. He was duly elected, correct, but the American people need to save themselves from themselves. The constitution exists and is archaic but does not protect the country from implosive tweetstorms, diplomatic armageddons, domestic racial hate made normal or attacks on her allies. The hour has truly arrived.
6
Gail--I HAVE been in a deep, deep depression since November 8, 2016.
23
Donny is on the edge. I expect major public breakdown any day now.
13
The Breakdown has already happened. This is the breakdown looks like.
2
I don't give Donald Trump many months or even days to be President. Since I was a college student during Watergate, I think this turkey is done. Stick a fork in it!
9
Gail, while comparing himself with Abe, Trump should read about the last days of Nixon's presidency. He should also read about the last moments of Julius Caesar.
If he does, he'll find lot of similarities between the assassination of Caesar on the "Ides of March" i.e. 15 March, 44 BC and the recent plot by his members of the cabinet who wanted to invoke 25th Amendment to remove him from power as we learnt from the Op-Ed in NYT by an anonymous person.
Although all his staff wrote their denials that they're not the "anonymous" writer but if Trump reads the story of Caesar's last day in the "Theatre of Pompey", he''ll be surprised to find out that even some Republican Senators want him to resign now than later.
With the upcoming midterms less than 60 days away these Republican party stalwarts want to save their party from extinction and protect America from the hands of a madman who should've never been allowed the nuclear buttons to play with.
Although this is 2018 and not 44 BC when Caesar was assassinated but Trump will find ample reason to suspect that a plot might be on the way to remove him from power through a democratic and peaceful way by invoking 25th Amendment compared to Julius Caesar's assassination by the hands of Brutus Albinus and other Senators.
If his Republican party takes a beating in upcoming midterms,Trump can be sure that all the G.O.P. Senators and House members will vote"Yes"to an "article of impeachment" that will be introduced by the Democrats.
6
@ihatejoemcCarthy
Trump, read?
2
@ihatejoemcCarthy
The UK had a plan in place to assassinate Hitler, however, it was decided to leave him in place in case a decent leader took over toward the end of the war and put up a good defence of Germany. Why has Trump not been impeached or the 25th amendment used? because the democrats want him in power until after the Midterms. To continue wreaking havoc.
A question: who pays for these little manufactured rallies like in Montana. Trump is supporting a candidate; nothing to do presidential polities, what's good for America, etc. Are taxpayers on the hook for this? And how many of the attendees are put there for the show?
Just wondering how that works, and how much we're paying for this nonsense.
21
When the circus comes to a small town and rgectickets are free you go. Gives you something to do.
1
Ms. Collins, why are you so sure Trump doesn't drink or do drugs? Because he said so?
10
What a great piece. I can't stop laughing and agreeing. Thanks for a bright spot early in the morning.
6
I wonder whether the paid media will ever get round to acknowledging their responsibility, together with the corrupt Democrats and their uber-rich backers, for the American people looking at the choice they were being offered and preferring to elect an obvious narcissist with a bad hair-do.
Trump inherited not some enlightened liberal Shangri-la, but a world where, despite a working economy, 40% of the population own less than one family, decades of war as an engine of profit had devastated the Middle East, and the police state had been rolled out to disturbing levels in most of the western economies. This despite the fact that the number of people killed by foreign terrorists over a long period is less than one thousandth of the number of people killed by their fellow Americans. And the American working man has been ground down financially to peon levels of poverty, with millions of good people struggling while the economy trundles on with margins skimmed off by the very people who would have gifted us the Clinton Project.
In that context, all this guff about the Lord of Misrule takes on a somewhat different character. The man's a clown. But better a clown than the devil.
39
And Clinton would have vetoed an unfair tax bill, and protected social security, and expanded health care, and fought against a Congress willing to take away our voting rights and yes, voted for a liveable wage. But hey....you have Trump. Congratulations!
3
@Joss Lynne Evans
The Koch brothers aren't exactly starving coal miners who lend their undying support to all Republicans no matter how awful. Do the Democrats have their own TV network lending their undying support to all Democrats no matter how awful? Not that I know of and the last time I checked Rupert Murdock wasn't a poor out of work coal miner living in Appalachia. Don't think Wall Street is a hot bed of Democratic support either.
2
@Joss Wynne Evans
You took the words right out of my mouth, but said them better. Thank you.
Um, the "Gettysburg Address speech" was not a speech. It was, um, an Address.
11
At this point it is pretty simple. There are two camps.
In one camp are people who don't care who runs the country or what he does as long as (1) they get tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks, so they can make/take/keep as much money as possible, and (2) the guy stops us from being overrun by brown people (i.e., the scared, racist white group). These two groups make up nearly all of the Trump supporters. Virtually everything Trump does is aimed at pleasing these two groups. He cares not about governing anyone other than these two groups.
In the other camp is most everybody else.
Trump's camp doesn't care what Trump does as long as he takes care of their thing. The "everybody else" camp doesn't care what Trump does so long as stops being president as quickly as possible and they don't much care how that happens.
9
@Jack Sonville
Jack, they do care how it happens. They will show up November 6th and begin the process of stopping it themselves. And "most everybody else" means a large majority of patriotic Americans. Winter is coming for the Trump Family.
4
@Jack Sonville The second camp also doesn’t care about the erosion of constitutional freedoms so as long as they get to keep their guns and shut down free speech. That’s why they don’t care a whit if Trump calls people “mentally retarded” or “dumb southerners.” All he has to do is deny that he said those things, and they’re good with it. What they fail to grasp is once those freedoms are gone, they’re not coming back. There is a sizeable segment of the U.S. that favors dictatorship, so long as the dictator is on their side. That NEVER works out — dictators are for themselves — yet the people are always duped. Beware the person who promises you everything — life is not like that.
Ms. Collins makes a connection between Trump and Elon Musk, two men having a rough patch recently. From our plebeian perches, we may enjoy a certain schadenfreude in their misery but that’s not the point.
Stay with me for a minute. Both men get little sleep. The White House physician reported that Trump gets 4 to 5 hours a night. (We can bet that both Trump and Dr. Jackson fudged those numbers.) Mr. Musk works 19 hours a day, meaning that he’s getting far, far less than the CDC recommended 7+ hours per night (https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html). Plus he’s popping Ambien—a drug that induces unconsciousness but no healthy, natural sleep.
Why all the focus on sleep? Aren’t we all sleep deprived? How is this relevant? (Read Matthew Walker’s brilliant book, "Why We Sleep".)
These men are more than just a political and a business leader. They are emblematic of the crisis of sleep deprivation. Consider a short list of symptoms: moodiness, irritability, forgetfulness, difficulty in learning new concepts. Who do we know that fits that description?
A contributing factor in the fall of the Roman Empire was the lead in the pipes leaching into Roman drinking water. Perhaps our always-on, electric-blue haze of lights and screens is contributing to the fall of our political culture.
The above may describe the color of the crisis in leadership we face, but it’s not really the cause. Those go much deeper. But as a first step, get more sleep. Everybody.
7
@David Potenziano
Good point, David... just what we need, a sleep deprived psychopath in the white house.
More seriously, the blue screen haze is the topic of recent research...and more study is required.
Well perusing Fox and seeing the comments reactions from their viewers, plus a few readers, it is clear that his followers see the op ed as proof positive that the deep state is conspiring to thwart his good deeds. Meanwhile he works tirelessly to protect them from terrorism and evil liberals who want to invite in alien hordes to take over the country from god fearing Christians. Trump stands firm protecting us from the destruction of the USA, but we all must be ready to take up our arms.
Don't expect the Congress to act before the election with those folks at their backs.
12
@Federalist The "deep state" is at least 65% of the population . . . all of us, in and out of government, who see how dangerous and unhinged Trump is. It's not just about policy, it's about competence.
5
@Federalist
I love the irony and sarcasm. Too funny!
Thank you for following Trump around his rallies, etc., so that we don't have to. Trump said he fell asleep listening to Obama's speech. Those complete sentences are so boring!
30
Comparing Musk to Trump is really irrelevant.
1
How about a reality show where they swap roles for a month?
2
“What do you think would happen, people, if an actual business had a C.E.O. this out of whack?”
I’m sorry but DJT wouldn’t last a day working at MacDonald’s!
18
The Big show will be in three weeks, your President giving a speech at the UN security council. Does the US of A have enough anti depressants to move on after that speech. Who needs books and movies? Just follow the President. Great show.GREAT!!
2
The problem with Trump is that he is a businessman not a politician. People have to stop comparing him to one. He has no political experience. Never been elected to any position. He acts and thinks and runs government like one of his businesses.So to compare him to Lincoln is a disgrace to Lincolns memory. Trump has no political savvy. He is all about money. It is sad that we elected a businessman and not a leader.
7
@Charles -- every businessman I know is smarter and more fit to be president of the United States than Donald Trump. And this includes Pablo, the guy who runs my favorite taco truck.
5
@Charles
And not a particularly good businessman, at that, Charles.
If you started out with $100M, I'd bet you could amass a reasonable fortune, without going bankrupt four times, and sticking outside investors and vendors with disastrous losses.
3
@Charles
Not a businessman either, a con man.
1
Have you seen the goofy smiles, the incessant head nodding, and seal like clapping of the people behind Trump at these rallies Trump's incoherent rants and Joycean stream of conscience speaking style makes entire sense to this crowd. They are in a state of nirvana with their "Great Communicator".
9
Thanks once again Ms. Collins for an article that brings a smile to my face. I never thought I would live long enough to see my country being deliberately soiled in every way by a traitorous republican party and a mentally ill leader that lauds greed, racism, misogyny, divisiveness, dictators, and lies consistently. At seventy-eight years of age I have seen the best and the worst of what was once a great nation. A quote from the bible says it all, 'money is the root of all evil'. I would only add religion to that quote. Stop the insanity. Vote in November to begin restoring our nation. Send a message to our adolescent demented baby president that the adults are taking over.
20
@E-Llo sums it up perfectly!
3
While the flag is shown on the moon in the movie "First Man" it is not shown being planted! I understood that is because the moon people were having a football game at the time, and we were being very respectful and standing so as to not interfere with their game! Is that ok Pres. Trump?
2
These constant Trump negatives are boring. It is America as a whole that created this absolute disaster. Obama in his speech yesterday admitted it and now urges all democrats to please vote for a chance. The weakness of this country gave us Trump - the more we blame Trump, rather than looking in the mirror, the worse things will get.
9
@rudolf we were not weak ore-Trump, but we sure are now.
2
Gail asks: Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump?
Elon Musk is a smart, forward thinking risk-taking workaholic that likely would benefit from and accept therapy to stabilize himself and his ventures.
Donald Trump is intellectually lazy, self centered, lacks moral compass and was born with a silver spoon. No amount of therapy is going to save this man. He simply does not recognize there is something amiss.
Musk obviously does. This separates these 2 by miles.
Traditionally, we applaud individuals like Musk... many big thinkers and idea people throughout history have been a bit bonkers. Likewise, we traditionally decry the brand of bonkers that Trump embodies- for good reason.
Bottom line, however, neither is fit to be leader of the free world.
5
While Honest Abe is rolling in grave, Dishonest Don is roiling in his stew, as he free associates his way through Montana.
And as to the word salad about American ancestors with moon flags, maybe he is thinking of one of his German ancestors like Wernher von Braun.
It would appear the old movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" is ready for a remake.
7
Let’s just say this country needs to rejoice Donald Trump was nowhere around in 1861-1865.
26
The Presidunce is rehearsing for the role of Captain Queeg in a remake of the Caine Mutiny. But you have to worry what crazy things Hair Twittler will do when he finally realizes the game is up.
5
Elon Musk goes a bit crazy and might make his Tesla go up in flames (like some have) or run into vehicles in autonomous mode (ditto).
Donald Trump goes a bit crazy and (as the Times told us today) Venezuela could go up in flames with a military coup. And his flight-of-ideas governance throws all of us in peril sowing disorder around the nation and the world.
I'll take a crazy Mr. Musk every day and twice on Sunday.
5
I fervently yearn for the day that the Republican Party goes by way of the Whig Party!
4
Democrats are dangerous enough when they’re challenged by Republicans. Can you imaging if they had free rein?
1
While democrats and the so-called ‘fake media’ keep listing and retelling all the ways Trump is screwing up, his followers don’t care.
The only thing that will fix this is to go back in time 50 years and fix the education system that has produced so many gullible citizens!
28
@Brian Naylor from Toronto is mostly correct: For the past four decades Republicans have been chopping public education funds, cheating teachers out of a living wage, looting state-sponsored retirement funds, mis-directing state tax payer funds to so-called "Christian" schools, exempting those same religious-sponsored schools from competence evaluations, hiking student costs at every grade level, and exploding the costs of tuition at so-called "state" colleges and universities (many of which now received only about 1/3 of their annual funding from taxpayers).
Meanwhile, those same Republican legislatures shower private corporations with a grotesque variety of "incentives" such as waiver of income and property taxes and outright monetary grants - again, misusing taxpayer money.
The most egregious recent example is the $3 Billion (with a "B") give-away by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to Foxconn. As one expert points out, "between 1990 and 2015 local and state governments more than tripled the tax breaks they offered to businesses, from 9 percent of gross taxes to 30 percent. The average job created was subsidized to the tune of $2,400 a year – and the Foxconn deal would take that to $15,000 or more."
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2017/0927/Wisconsin-goes-big-to-lure-...'t-make-sense
2
Trump said he fell asleep during Obama's speech. Well that rings true for someone who can't read briefing papers and has the comprehension of a fifth or sixth grader. (Lot's of fifth graders are really smart though so it is not fair to compare them.) How could we expect Trump to follow an intelligent thoughtful speech like Obama's or the speeches at McCain's funeral? It's tragic though and I have a hard time finding it at all amusing.
18
Fifty years after this presidency Trump and his followers will be remembered as the last bastion of white supremacy hanging on to a thread of hate and anger. Unraveling this country's democratic values they would rather destroy than allow it to undergo its natural course of change.
They choose to forget or ignore the fact that it was immigration that made this country great. It was enslaved people from Africa who built the house djt is freeloading in as well as much of this country's wealth. It was Chinese immigrants who built the railroads. Depression era jobs creation funded highway development and so it was out- of-work poor people doing the labor.
DJT and his followers believe in a fantasy version of US history in which wealth and infrastructure and buildings magically appeared when the great white men came and waved their wands. Piles of cash and gold just appeared out of nowhere.
They don't know the real stories because our history books scarcely cover it. Until education improves and until the true stories of slavery and labor movements are told people will continue to buy and believe the myths of how this land was built. And prople like djt and the power brokers will continue to profit while people like djt's supporters will continue to lose out and suffer.
In fifty years the heroes will be the journalists and leaders brave enough to stand up to djt et al, who tell the real stories and dispel the myths.
32
@Ellen Sullivan I hope you’re right but victors write the histories. If Trump and his kind “win” in the long run the history books concerning America will be as full of lies and delusions as the president’s own brain.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise? If a President acts like an out of control toddler, and none of his voters care, does it make a difference?
We are preaching to the choir, to load on the cliches.
Trump stumps, and stumps stump. No matter what it is he is going on about out there, he is the man. The guy who speaks truth to power, who shows people what's what.
And our anonymous savior, there in the WH? How amazing that as the GOP needs to be sure it can keep it's majority, Uncle Sam himself volunteers to read us a bedtime story, and comfort us before bedtime. "No worries, kiddies, no worries. There are adults in the room. Rest up, sleep tight and vote Republican. There's no boogeyman."
There might be adults in the WH, but they are fully engaged in letting Trump loose to take the future blame for the destruction the party is driving and complicit in executing.
How many of them are protesting that they got 2 Justice picks?
2
Today's political officer from NYC is here to remind us that at NO time can obedient progressives take jokes or funny remarks as funny. No, ideologues must react to all jokes as crimes against the beloved Deep State. No exceptions!!!
The United States is doing better now than it has done in a decade with 200,000 workers finding new jobs. Many or most of those Americans had so-so jobs that they are glad to leave behind, so Pres. Trump is also raising worker incomes just as Reagan And Bush 43 raised middle class incomes by over 12% - NOT cutting those incomes as had happened earlier this century.
Only Barack Obama was able to reduce the U.S. middle class to a minority, the only time it had ever happened. Those terrible wasted years are now behind us.
So yes, there ARE strong parallels between Lincoln's (and Grant's) presidencies and Tump's.
@L'osservatore
Most of the jobs being "created" are at the minimum wage level. How does that help citizens live a decent life?
The 12% increase in income mostly has one to Executives. You must be one of them.
3
@L'osservatore I guess you were asleep during the Iraq War and the recession? We were lucky to have a thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate President in the aftermath. Trump can’t take credit for an economy that was saved by a Democratic President. Sorry.
3
@Jean
This retired schoolteacher learned a log timeago to tell liars and users from honest people.
Obama took people with a decently-paying job before Obamacare and when their employers cut staff down to the precious 49 employees, left them scrambling for 29-hour-a-week rookie work at minimum wage.
It is almost autumn and we know the elections were and will be hacked. I’m not seeing any relief insight. The GOP has targeted ending Obamacare, social security, and medicare. They won’t impeach him until he is done.
4
We now know why Republicans love this non-President. They don't really want a President, they want to run the government themselves. Forget about three branches of government, they only want one. Make the Supreme Court political, pretend to support the man who would be king, and voila! we have it all. Big money wins! They realize now that they couldn't have asked for a better pawn than Trump, who singlehandedly takes the spotlight while they continue to crush democracy in the background for their own gain. Long live the King, er I mean, President of this great nation.
13
Trump spent two hours on Google Earth trying to find the Gettysburg Address.
26
@goofnoff -- so that's why he never goes to Camp David?
1
@goofnoff LOL!!!
1
The anonymous author is likely to be a group of people acting with the full blessings of the GOP. The aim of the article is likely to be a check on the president in an undemocratic way. It is sad.
2
While it is important to call out Trump for what he is, a disgrace, I feel the press doesn't put enough pressure on the Republican Congress to do something about him re discipline from simple warnings, to censure up to impeachment, conviction.
At the end of every media piece, a statement re above should be included.
9
I realize there are a huge number of comments already, but I just have to say that donald trump comparing his speeches to Lincoln’s has to be the absolute most delusional idea he’s ever come up with. - so far. Beats birtherism, inauguration numbers, genius IQ, sleeping with Diana. Beats all of these by four score and seven miles.
31
Do the trumpkins at the rallies actually listen to this stream-of-consciousness drivel? If they did they would be horrified-but perhaps they just don't care. And that's terrifying.
7
his supporters' minds are just as disorganized as Trumps.
Record real estate and stock market prices, record low unemployment and shrinking trade gap?
I’ll take this “terrible” time no matter who’s president. Many of us are making money hand over fist and things are humming!
@Crossing Overhead
“Apre moi, Le deluge”.
7
@Crossing Overhead
Yes and making money is all that matters.
Don't worry about the planet dying, nuclear war, children locked up in cages, gun massscres in schools, no affordable healthcare, stagnant wages , collapsing infrastructure. It's all about you and your portfolio.
17
@Crossing Overhead You could say the same thing in 2006. What makes people think that stock prices and home prices will forever go up? We have awfully short memories if we forget about a catastrophe that happened only 12 years ago. Both are primed for a downturn. We have a terrific economy but it is built upon false pretenses. It is a full employment economy and to make it persist, the GOP has added tax cuts and increased Federal spending. Those are tools best used during downturns when they are direly needed. At an economy's apex is when deficit spending should be reduced.
As far as the shrinking trade gap, not so fast. The trade gap under Trump is much greater than under Obama. Obama's on average during his tenure is about $-40 billion. Trump's about $-50 billion.
1
Does Trump actually have a machine controlled by an algorithm that uses a collection of Trump self-praise assertions to produce statements like the Lincoln gem? He tells the machine, compare with people famed for their honesty or truth telling, and today he gets Lincoln and tomorrow George Washington.
No fully functioning human mind could possibly produce that Lincolnism with short-circuiting, sparks flying.
And by the way, today at 5 AM Swedish time I heard a wonderful BBC World The Real Story program, the opening spoken line being "Is Sweden Losing Its Cool" that very quickly gives us Trump's "You look at what happened last night in Sweden, Sweden!" Hilarious.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswkdm
Election tomorrow in Sweden, stay tuned, 7,267,578 of us may vote, more than 1,000,000 already have! Next I vote in the MidTerms!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
2
Elon Musk may (or may not) be nuts but he is an infinitely more creative businessman than Trump can even imagine and he made a lot more money than Trump in a much shorter time without inheriting anything. As whacko as he is don't insult him by comparing him to the master of illusions in the White House.
5
The presidency brought out the worst in Donald J. Trump, and he in turn brought out the worst in the republican party which is dedicated to overturn everything Obama no matter how good the things he did for the country. Spite ? I think so.
22
Musk offhandedly suggested, when asked how he'd already accomplished so much, that it could be he's actually an alien from outer space. So is Musk sincerely attempting to explain his behaviour or is he iseeing bankruptcy in his immediate future and trying to interest Trump's base in making him #46?
2
Elon Musk seems to have a problem with substance abuse.If he recognizes it he can check himself into a treatment center and get help to get clean. Mr.Trump has a serious problem with ethical behavior and mental stability.No chance he will recognize it- the more he is challenged the more outrageous his behavior becomes.No rehab for him!
5
Spiro Agnew was an alliterative anti-intellectual.
Dan Quayle was a lovable C minus student a heartbeat away.
Sarah Palin was the personification of right-wing America's crush on alternative reality. She was the slowly rising crest of the know-nothing, resentful wave.
Donald Trump now washes over us, leaving us nostalgic for Agnew's "nattering nabobs of negativity."
Dan Quayle was the GOP exemplar that seemed to hark back to the opening scene of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
It was hard to believe that an American official could be so dense and so happily divisive. Consider:
"It's rural America. It's where I came from. We always refer to ourselves as real America. Rural America, real America, real, real, America."
I had wondered where Palin's "Real America" originated. Now, I'm not contending that Quayle invented the term, but he was GOP smart enough to use it to butter up those whose resentment had been building since Agnew addressed them, saying, "I apologize for lying to you. I promise I won't deceive you except in matters of this sort."
Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists," blazing a new path of unfounded accusation, pleasing those who would later cheer Trump when he said after Charlottesville, "... but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."
Mencken put it best: "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance."
Or, as Dan Quayle once said, "If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure."
21
I used to read about any given banana republic, or Russia, or Korea, and think to myself that their "leadership" disasters could never happen here. Oh, I was very smug. I would think, "people in our country would never allow that to happen here." "The Congress would never allow that to happen." Terribly funny now.
10
@Bob G. Yes, I remember when I had such faith in my fellow Americans that I really believed that Trump was going to lose in a fifty state landslide. It's been a very rude and very unwelcome awakening. For the first time in my life, I can't feel proud to be an American.
1
would that we could blame whiskey, pot and ambien for trump's wayward thinking and actions. no, i think it's a bit more machiavellian than that.
3
President Donald J Trump is a frail human being sent to save America.
His list of countless foibles,shortcomings & weaknesses are stuff that helps identifies the common man with him.We the Ordinary people have loads of shortcomings.
He has a certain character,very unique & unlike most professional politicians that he acts on his promises.A rare quality.
He is the first president after a very long time to represents the American masses in Washington.
This outlier behaviour is disconcerting to the Set Washington establishment.
Not since Abraham Lincoln’s Administration has come a Government “FOR “ the people & “OF” the people.
One interesting quality of the President is his dynamic decision making that has unnerved countless countries from Iran to China.
It’s said that a politician should always be in the news whether it’s good news or bad news,to be re-elected.
In this field President Donald John Trump is a true Champ,every third article of the NYT is blessed with & for & of President Trump.
Truly Trumpesque.
@VIOLET BLUE
I hope this is satire. If it's not, and you're saying Trump was sent to save America, then God truly does work in mysterious ways.
5
@VIOLET BLUE True only if you consider yourself "the people". Most Americans do not agree with you. Our world has been made worse by Mr. Trump's actions. The tax cut did not benefit us. Many of us have lost our health insurance because of challenges to Obamacare. Gas prices have increased dramatically and our expenses have therefore also increased.
One of the biggest problems I have with Trump (and with George W Bush as well) is that both govern only for their base. Temporarily gone is the concept that the President is elected to govern on behalf of ALL the people.
3
@VIOLET BLUE
“......helps to identify him with the common man”.
If the common man is mentally infirm, psychopathic, megalomaniac, malignant narcissist.
Is this how you see the common man?
Dynamic decision making in respect to other countries? That’s laughable.
He changes his mind several times a day, lies prodigiously, and has his finger on the nuclear button.
The average American knows little about the world outside America’s borders, so has no idea that Trump is seen as an ignorant, dangerous buffoon around the world.
If this is truly the common man in America, then God help America, because it won’t help itself.
3
A mind is a terrible thing to lose. The hyena laughter at these rallies shows that Trump supporters have no sense of humor either since it is always laughter at insults, mockery and incoherence.
However the plaid shirt teenager and others temporarily behind Trump redeemed the farce somewhat by reacting with stone faces or disbelief in a more authentic way. That is, until Trump propagandizers rushed in to make more happy face living wall paper behind him.
President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was a great speech on a fresh battlefield about the tragic loss of human life on behalf of their country that had just occurred. In the last week, we also had great speeches by former presidents that honored Senator McCain and condemned the rise of authoritarianism.
November is coming. Vote out the clowns and the frowns, the corrupt and the cruel.
16
President Trump was right in one respect, the author of the Op-Ed and his cohorts, should be rooted out so we can see the full crazy America elected.
1
Gail,
I am waiting on an article on Brett Kavanaugh's character. The public does not know him very well yet, but observing him during the hearings, I had a feeling that he could not be trusted. He truly seems to be a snake to me. A very clever one at that.
8
Mencken's remark aside (...no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the...), surely there is no one in Montana who believes that Trump and Lincoln have anything in common?
Other than non-functioning brains.
Elon Mush is almost as tiresome as Trump. While he may not have nuclear weapons -- yet-- but he does have missiles.
1
@Fred -- Elon is considerably smarter than Donald, younger and handsomer too.
Elon's cars actually run (if you can buy one), his rockets have been flying very successfully, and so far as I know, he doesn't play golf.
Elon's trophy wife is younger, speaks better English, and in my estimation prettier than Donald's, too. And she hasn't been put in the position of delivering a plagiarism of a speech by Michele Obama.
We've never heard Elon talking about how he'd date his daughter, or seen those pictures were the teenager is nearly lap-dancing him.
Elon doesn't have a deal with Pecker of the National Enquirer, to kill bimbo-eruption stories.
However Elon really was born in Africa, so you needn't worry about him becoming president.
4
Actually Lincoln was not universally regarded as such a great President at the time. First, he was elected with a fantastically low margin, something like 38% of the vote, and his election triggered a civil war. Second, he was viewed as a hayseed and boob by sophisticated urban types; he spoke with a squeaky voice and told cornball jokes. And third, he often suspended the constitution in very material ways, and was roundly critiqued for these authoritarian moves.
The difference between Lincoln and Trump is that Lincoln was a man of great intelligence, motivated by humanitarian goals, who understood and took the duties of office very seriously. Trump is the south end of a northbound mule, whose only joy and skill is giving "the finger" to the world.
7
All one has to do is search for the recent 30-minute phone call Trump made to Fox and Friends while that trio was on the air - I believe it was on a Saturday or Sunday - and listen to Trump's rambling and incoherent statements in order to realize he is off the rails.
One can see the alarm creeping onto the faces of the three Fox friends as they listen to him - they even cut him off telling him that they are sure he has "more important things to do" than talk to them. That's how bad it was.
The nation is experiencing a political nightmare, a bizzarro world where up is down and right is, well, extreme right. I wake up each day and ask myself when this nightmare will end. It cannot happen soon enough.
41
To sum up the article, the GOP sold its soul to Trump in exchange for a big tax cut, deregulation and two Alt-Right Justices on the Supreme Court. Once the Democrats take control of the House and/or the Senatel, the Republicans will end their bargain and be respectable and sane again, until they get another chance to help their sponsors.
139
@Pat Choate
Have you ever read a news story from any sources other than the progressive Left? You have to go tto the new media to have any kind of handle on events.
Can I just say that I needed this? There's something about Gail's wit that comes in handy when I get down about America these days.
I remember when I was young, hearing about the wilder moments in history, like the civil rights movement, and wondering what it might have been like to live through such a wild time in history. Trump (and the worldwide conservative moment), the environment, trauma and drug-use, the rise of gun culture... it's a tough time.
Thanks for giving my day a moment of sanity and clarity leavened with levity.
29
Re: Trump and nuclear weapons. By any measure, Trump is an unstable personality, even his supporters would say so. He is so unstable and so ill informed, that he should not be any where near our nuclear weapons. If Trump was actually in the military his personality disorders would prevent him from getting even the lowest level of security clearance, let alone Nuclear Command Authority. I hope and pray that the military has instituted a check on his ability to order a strike.
54
This is all just too much. I think it may be time to leave.
22
I was sitting here, reading the comments, and listening to Obama's speech. I began to feel so comfortable and reassure that we have a sensible, intelligent, thoughtful visionary in charge of leading America through these uncertain times ... but then, the harsh reality set in. It seems to me that trump is a one-trick pony who has "no bold ideas" beyond staying ahead of his impeachment demon. And that seems to be the favor for the week.
27
@carlo1, the Republicans are gleefully watching as Trump is supposedly delivering "results". They don't care about Trump's amorality or short comings, all they care about is Trump is loudly declaring he done this he done that, all by his lonesome self. So the Republicans are glad that someone however amoral and crooked is making things happen for his electorate. It is party before country, all the way.
3
So if we take this to the logical next step....the board of Tesla will have to do what exactly to keep the corporation afloat and minimize the damage the CEO is inflicting on the company? I believe that would be the same thing that Papa John's did with theirs.
And the "board" of the U.S. government. What will they do to keep the country from going belly up because of the behavior of their "CEO"? Ah yes, they will do absolutely nothing. They will get their short term profits, ignoring the CEO's behavior and then when the U.S. "share price" starts to drop, it will be too late to exercise their responsibilities as "members of the board". So they will force the "shareholders" to step in and replace the board and then the CEO. VOTE.
15
@Walking Man
Beatifully said. Don't just VOTE, get out on your block and knock on the doors of your neighbors to do the same, like the African America community did in either North or South Caroline a few months ago, not just knocking once, but sometimes four times, even driving some to the polls, resulting in an astounding upset for the Democrats. Full disclosure: I'm a Democrat, depressed, yet actively apoplectic, and exhausted by the developments in the Kavanaugh hearings.
1
Elon Musk is very likely displaying the cumulative effect of months, perhaps years, of severe sleep deprivation. His recent public missteps seem to me to be indicative of something tragic. Get that man some time off, some medical care, and above all some rest and I'd take him over Donald Trump in a second.
26
I have a question: when Trump travels to these political rallies far from DC to give Lincolnesque speeches, who pays for these trips? I presume he takes Air Force One and stays in fancy hotels, when necessary. Are WE the taxpayers paying for this?
The spectacle of him traveling to places like Helsinki on official business is one thing. Nothing I can do about it. But non-stop campaigning in this country? Are all of us paying for this???
99
Yes, for most of it, we are.
2
@James I have the same question. I think that he somehow manages to be there for some official reason, and then by the way has these rallies. It is just heartbreaking that Americans are paying millions of dollars not only for trump's rallies, but also his family. Remember Melania in NYC w Barron in school...I think it cost NYC taxpayers a million a day or something close to that for their security and ...for every time she now goes back to visit. James, I am sure some other NYT commenter will have a more accurate answer than mine. Pass the word to vote Democrat:)
3
Of course we pay for it!!!!!!
1
What I wish for is just one week without reading, and hearing about Trump or seeing His face. Just one week, to turn the television on, to read the news, or listen to radio and see or hear no trace of him. We will be happier and calmer, and he will go into deep everlasting depression.
52
@BB Kind of happened when the McCain funeral events were going on.
While we are preoccupied with the circus that is taking place in the White House, the Republican Congress picks our pockets and moves forward with its agenda of deregulation, curtailing the federal government's power when it suits them, and packing the courts with conservatives, all of which will have disastrous repercussions for us and our beleaguered planet long after the orange one is in his grave.
75
If obedience to the rule of law is what we truly want, then yes, the 25th or impeachment, by the book and the elected representatives, as soon as possible (a resignation being way to much to hope for). Woodward's book and the mystery opinion are the payback many of us have longed for as retaliation against the idea of him and the impossibility that people we have known for years, even been related to, could have voted for him. Having struggled with weight all my life, I recognize the reaction: Comfort and affection achieved by mindless consumption of something temporarily delicious that eventually results in you not liking yourself very much. I doubt either literary effort is eliciting second thoughts from the people who voted for him. The tricky bit is going to be getting enough people with enough power to agree that the by the book method (the Constitution that is) must be invoked before the national misery results in a national tragedy. There's also the election. A horse in the race wouldn't hurt.
5
If Obama's eloquent and insightful speech in Illinois yesterday did not shake up the undecided voters or those who still have faith in the Trump administration, one wonders what it will take to free America from its worst nightmare. Go vote in November and make the world a better place!
43
Trump's visits to the hinterlands of the US to deliver so-called "campaign rallies" are beginning to sound like bad Open Mic auditions at third rate comedy clubs. Many people in the locations he is visiting have little access to live comedy, however, so the audiences continue to fill the venues and reward Trump's tired applause lines. It gets him a spot on the local news and all day coverage on Fox. National reporters fill their time by looking at the mid-rally changes in people seated behind Trump.
Yes, Trump is a pathetic person as he rambles incoherently but his audiences come for the remembered glory. Trump fits right in with the multiple "Farewell" tours of musical legends where the audiences are comforted by knowing all the words to all the old songs and sing along when the "legend" forgets the words.
The Republican candidates who are the reason for the "rally" seem to get little time on the stage which may give them plausible deniability as Trump's approval rating drops but is likely to be a plus for the November elections. In the midst of "rally" hoopla, everyone can forget about the nuclear codes, the separated children of asylum-seekers, the permits to mine in pristine wilderness and building the Wall. Trump gets his dose of uncritical applause with the rallies. He is out of the Oval Office so his staff can continue to try to prevent the most threatening of his actions without his knowledge.
Shameful, sad, pathetic and owned by the Republican party.
50
It seems quaint to recall Ms Collins' oft-repeated line about Romney tying his dog onto the top of the station wagon. That meme evoked a chuckle at how the powerful sometimes veer into the bizarre. It was a rare enough behavior that you could even see the political opposition as human while also enjoying the satisfaction of poking fun at them. Sadly, those days of assuming that most people are reasonable even if we disagree are long gone. There is no comfort in chuckling along with Trump's pathology as if we are living through business as usual. Indeed, while the column's satirical humor is based on Trump's absurd self-comparison to Lincoln, we saw a living, real-time former President step up to say "Here's how we can stop this madness!" How I wish for the days that the oddest thing a politician did was to tie his dog to the top of his car.
90
@Rosemary Galette
Sigh. I’d cut off...not my right arm, but at least a toe, to magically have the power to make Mitt Romney president right now. And I loath absolutely everything he believes in.
7
@Rosemary Galette
How I wish for the days that the CRUELEST thing a politician did was to tie his tog to the top of his car.
3
Thank you Gail for another wonderful column in these depressing times. Maybe, we could have avoided the dreadful Trump and his sycophants if we had a true democracy. Long ago, Abigail Adams wrote her husband, John, a feminist essay, 'Remember the Ladies." If the ladies had been in charge of the Constitutional Convention, this sleazy sordid man would not be in the White House. Their wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq and the Civil War could not have happened if the Founding Mothers and their daughters had been running the country. If the ladies had formed a true democracy, slavery and Jim Crow wouldn't have happened, and we would have racial harmony and welcome immigrants from all over the world.
We should keep men out of politics and out of our hair, maybe by asking them to rearrange the furniture every day, and telling them how smart they are.
24
@Anna Ogden In modern times[20th century] we have had three women who have been head of state of democratic countries. They all went to war.
@Anna Ogde Be careful about speaking up for female power because you might be called "hysterical" by your male colleagues!
@Anna OgdenI couldn't have said it better!
2
Whatever his faults, Elon Musk works hard. Even Trumps closest allies never claimed that about him.
27
When is the NY Times going to finally realize that Trump is a side show. He had already been corrupted by Russia for decades, but he still is able to make everyone focus on his outlandish behavior, while the dirty work of policy goes on. Money buys policy and the money only wants more regardless that for the vast majority it is inhumane and anti-democratic. The anonymous editorial and the Woodward book is more sideshow. It's the policy stupid.
80
[Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump? Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs. On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons.]
Even if Trump did drink heavily or abused drugs his base would give him a pass. His enablers in the West Wing would still pass him the bottle and the Oxycontin. While writing an op-ed on how they keep him away from the hard core street drugs of heroin and meth.
11
I keep saying that probably the most bizarre aspect among these bizarre Trump times is the obvious demonstration by Trump himself of his psychopathology. Collins gives yet additional examples. It's like seeing someone stabbing a person while hearing the attacker say that he never wielded a knife against anyone. Clueless, but a technical name of "ego syntonic" is at issue here and yet another example of a dangerous personality disorder. Trump generously provides multiple examples, and the way he does it without a clue as to how sick it looks and sounds is a hallmark of personality disorders. All he does is think of himself, referring glowingly to himself as he entertains a crowd of people who hardly think for themselves or are paid, or both. November elections cannot come soon enough.
85
@akhenaten2
Nailed it! The illegitimate narcissus-in-chief is so mentally ill, he can't see how sick he really is. And The sideshow goes on; looting and pillaging.
1
I really can't agree the author of the op-ed is gutless or that Trump is a great president in the mold of Abe. The op-ed author, if he really exists, must be under enormous strain and faces loosing his career and financial ruin. To me that qualifies as courageous.
12
@Adrentlieutenant A thought. I think the op-ed author is Pence for a number of reasons.
One of those reasons is: What can trump do to Pence? Pence is an elected official and I don't think could easily fire him. And it doesn't seem like whoever wrote the op-ed has in any way violated national security. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about trump.
3
@Adrentlieutenant Financial ruin? I don't think so. Wait for the book, and then the movie...
1
"On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons."
Well, neither does Trump. He thinks he has the nuclear football. What he does have is a gray, complicated-looking gizmo with a big red button that says PUSH, but of course it's not connected to anything.
5
There's an infernal aspect to this presidency. You can still smell the sulfur, seamlessly blended into the residual miasma of 1980s boardroom.
So let's not forget that we are the ones being tested. It's a mistake to focus only on Trump's weaknesses and transgressions, without paying attention to what we can learn from them to improve ourselves and our country.
12
Surprisingly, Trump did not remind everyone that Lincoln was a Republican in his Montana rant. The Republican rank and file often point out that it was the GOP that abolished slavery, and that the Democrats were and, more importantly still are, the racists. Many of them point out with undisguised glee that MLK was a Republican.
The Republican party of Lincoln and MLK disappeared a long time ago, thanks to Kevin Phillips and Patrick Buchanon who cynically, albeit brilliantly, devised Nixon's southern strategy. And the political descendants of Dixiecrats like Richard Russell, James Eastland, Strom Thurmond, Sam Ervin, et al, crossed over to the GOP and the South is, today, firmly in the Republican camp.
Trump will be compared to Lincoln, and people will ask themselves, how can a country and political party that produced a Lincoln, also produce a Trump. The answer s, of course, the party is different. the country has evloved, the GOP has devolved.
19
Trump's strategies when attacked include counterattacks, relevant or not; contradictory evidence, which may or may not be valid; a non sequitur to sidestep the issue, including his claim that Obama's attack put him to sleep; outright lies; insults of all kinds; vicious attacks on the other guy; and alibis that may or may not be responsive. And I have probably just scratched the surface.
Ms. Collins believes that this tough week was unsettling for Trump. But I tend to believe that all his strategies make him impervious to attack. Oh, he might get flustered for a short while. But if level-headed criticism got to the man, he would have stepped down a long time ago. We all have theories about what makes Trump tick. But I think we can all agree that it certainly isn't a heart. If the man had a heart, he wouldn't have run in the first place.
11
@michjas I do not think Trump has strategies. We are all, even Trump, capable of learning. Trump has learned the theory of "shiny things." If he tweets or says whatever is in his head, he has learned that what comes out is enough to divert attention from his deficiencies until the media sorts out the shiny thing. Then on to the next thing. I agree with you that Trump is impervious to attack. Living in another reality protects him from really understanding the implications of the attacks and what they are trying to get him to understand. But they are futile. It is very discouraging to face the reality that his base is attached to him emotionally as people are to their beliefs that have no basis in fact. The more one tries to convince a person like that with fact based data the more entrenched they become. Trump depends on this to hold on to his 32% of the electorate. Also, from the information of Bob Woodward and the recent anonymous Op-Ed piece, there are more than enough enablers to support his mental disturbance while at the same time attempt to "save" the country from his more egregious "commander-in-chief" desires. Lastly, he may have a heart, but it only functions on his behalf.
8
@Janet
Something will change. What is the tipping point?
Gail, what if all the chaos, outrage, weirdness, crazytown is just a smoke screen to hide all the truly terrible things the GOP congress and the agencies are doing to reorder America to follow the conservative agenda. The press concentrates on the crazy in the White House while everything that has made America great in the past is rolled back or gutted by often unelected lobbyists who have been elevated through appointment to aggrandize the GOP wealthy donors whose industries will destroy the land, the air, the water of the earth while eliminating protections for workers, consumers, and innocent bystanders—collateral damage in the war get as much for themselves and their egos as humanly possible. Sadly, they will never be satisfied, and the rest of us will live with the wreckage.
43
@MDR Thats certainly the outcome, although whether it’s planned or not is debatable. We are going to work for years to correct the damage, if we can.
5
In less than 2 years of Trump, he has given the GOP their corporate tax cuts, massive deregulation, and a conservative judiciary that will protect these gains for decades. From their perspective, he is a great visionary achiever. They (the 1%) will carve his face into Mt Rushmore and make every history book proclaim DJT as the greatest president ever. The rest of his antics are just background noise.
11
OK...Musk is a little out there, but he has accomplished some stunning things in his short lifetime. I find him a refreshing exception to the legion of single minded empty suits at the top of American business.
26
The pep talk Donald Trump gave to his supporters in Montana was considerably longer than Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Trump’s rambling, disjointed remarks will not go down in history, but only because his mind has unraveled on camera too many times to count.
At least, President Trump did not remind everyone again of the little-known fact that President Lincoln was a Republican.
In view of the financial irregularities of the Trump companies being investigated, there is some irony that his Montana Meltdown occurred in a city named Billings.
59
Gail, you just don't know the true backstory on Elon Musk. The SEC relaxed the uptick rule on short selling in 2007, and now short sellers can play dirty to damage companies. While Musk was staying up nights to get his car production up, the short sellers were bribing Tesla employees to install malware on Tesla robots, so the factory line, or the painting robots, etc etc would malfunction and take days to fix. There goes the famous production rate. And Musk could not reveal this sabotage to the press, without giving the short sellers exactly what they wanted. Musk was under so much pressure he almost cracked, but he finally figured out a solution. Give the short sellers what they want, smoke pot on TV, crash the share price, and the short sellers might leave the factory robots alone so Elon could again make cars efficiently. Why the SEC allows this thuggery to happen is beyond me. The Musk tweet should be far less worrisome to the SEC, than the potential of short sellers to sabotage US companies.
24
@Will Hogan
I know there were rumors of sabotage at Tesla, but without more proof, it is difficult to treat those rumors as fact. Nonetheless, your comments about short sellers in general seem to be well taken: they are a threat to many businesses and one of the reasons that Wall Street has taken de facto control of America. The choice for some CEOs is either do what Wall Street says or lose your job, perhaps even to face prosecution for some offense related to not "creating maximum shareholder value". The perils of running a public company are real.
7
@Doug Terry You are correct about short sellers. It is dangerous to allow gambling on failure, especially when you are in a position to engineer the failure, even if only by betting on it.
2
@Will Hogan So the unravelling of norms and safeguards is some kind of nearly universal influenza, with Trump and Musk "suffering" from it and at the same time spreading it.
For all his perceived faults, it seems that Elon Musk has the ability and willingness to be reflective and self-aware.
If only our president (and many GOP Senators) had either of those qualities....
45
@37Rubydog
the annoying thing is that rich people whom we, having traste, despise are winning. They destroy what is great about the Country and the Planet upon which it is planted, but they always did lay waste wherever they went. Very Trump. Essential stupidity. Nothing to see here. You betcha.
Not sure about that last statement of the article. With that kind of wealth Musk may be able to find a seller. And if there is any truth in that anonymous story, Trump may have the wrong codes.
32
@sissifus I pray he does have the wrong codes.
Trump is too pathetic now. He is no longer amusing.
106
@Jim Steinberg
When was he amusing? I must have missed it.
2
@Jim Steinberg.
He was never amusing...
2
@Jim Steinberg Trump is not pathetic at all. He has lied, locked toddlers in cages, spent untold sums on transportation to his weekend golf playground, and lied and lied and lied. He isn't so amusing because he is doing real harm. Nevertheless, he owes us a few laughs. We've endured his destructive nonsense long enough. Meanness , unbelievable bigotry, and cruelty are not a source of the jollies, though. This conman has had us hook, line, and sinker. He's probably laughing his head off at us, although he shows little sense of humor. This is a cosmic joke at our expense.
Ms Collins you are fantastic! After reading your piece, I realized that I never laugh anymore. and, it occurred to me that perhaps, we should sued Donald Trump for causing us relentless emotional stress and distress? Just wondering. And, yes, thank you for your piece!
70
@Maita Moto
Great writers have always recognized that idiots need an idiot to call their own.
That speech in Montana - is beyond frightening because it so vividly reveals how addled Trump is.
If he had children or a wife who cared about him they’d want him out of the public eye and under the care of a doctor treating him for either dementia or the mental illness that he has.
191
@Amanda Bonner Did you notice the difficulty that he had pronouncing anonymous when he was in Montana yesterday? Interesting. His tongue was as twisted as he is.
2
W and Trump, the worst two presidents in the last 50 years, are living proof that we should:
1. never elect a teetotaler (whether reformed or not), and
2. never elect a businessman to be president. businessmen are completely out of their depth governing a country, any country - let alone the US.
72
@Max duPont
I have often wondered about our predilection for considering businessmen/-women presidential material. Consider even one who is probably ethical, such as Mitt Romney. He was unquestionably successful, made an enormous amount of money. How? -- buying up businesses and closing them up, laying off large numbers of people. This makes sense for the business community, but is adding to the unemployed really in the best interests of the nation?
11
@Max duPont
"We need to run the country like a business." Horse feathers. I've heard this at various times all of my life. What makes running a business such a wonderful background for running government? In truth, very little.
Being president, along with other top jobs like governor or, in our case in Maryland, county executive (like mayor for an entire county) means balancing a thousand conflicting claims on time and resources and picking the few that can win support and, with luck, improve matters and, above all, keep the wheels turning. Even a large, diversified business is far different. Businesses have singular goals: produce a product, sell the product, book the profits, repeat.
What most people don't understand about Trump's background is that he did not operate a traditional business and only ran a public company once, a company that lost nearly a billion dollars in market value as it went into bankruptcy. Trump ran a personal business, a web of paper companies that had limited objectives: borrow money to put up a building, put someone else in charge of building it, then promote it and sell it.
Trump's was an episodic business and the main goal, day to day, was to do anything that Trump wanted to do. No board of directors, no stockholders, no oversight by the SEC. Compared to those who run on-going, publicly held major corporations, Trump was a phony.
Trump's main business over the last 30 to 40 years has been promoting Trump, the brand.
9
@Max duPont
Business experience can be useful, as, in fact, any activity prior to becoming president that involves making careful decisions, managing people and complex situations. Any business person, however, who should think that this background gives them great authority on the tangled web of government actions is a certified fool. Trump believes, truly, that everything he's done in life is wonderful, better than anything anyone has ever known before. This makes him dangerous, morning, noon and night.
1
Out here in the hinterlands (Minnesota), we find ourself amazed at the slow-motion crack-up of the Reign of Trump. I am reminded of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, in which Danny, in Minnesota, is timing Donald, on the fast track to oblivion, and he is getting so far away from me so quickly that it is taking longer and longer for any photon I emit to bounce off Donald's pearly whites and return to me with information on his whereabouts. If I adjudge the passing of time by marking each photonic pulse, then the interval from one to the next increasingly permits me to wonder at why he is still in office at all and how the pundits can perceive such fine gradations in the fast approaching remise of his office.
12
@Danny
Reminds me of a variation on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, to wit: the political position and veracity of a Donald cannot both be measured with precision at the same time because neither ever existed at any time. I call this the Insanity Principle.
54
@em Yes, and this is why it is so silly for the news media to produce columns based on what Trump's "policies" are, as though there were any.
@Danny Brilliant!! Thank you!
Trump is dissembling before our very eyes. When will he completely go off the rails, and make a grand gesture to really insure his place in history? Not to overstate the obvious, but the world is and continues to be in imminent danger of being irrevocably harmed by our fearless leader.
51
Does Trump not realize that the flag in that movie would be planted by "Kneel" Armstrong?
29
The inevitable rise of Trump (post Obama) will of course be followed by the inevitable and spectacular fall.
Whether it be by impeachment, and ridicule, or a slow decent in to dementia, senility and most terrifying for Trump obscure irrelevance will remain to be seen but it will be very satisfying to witness.
138
@JK
The inevitable and spectacular fall of DJT will likely not be satisfying. There will be dangerous instability, which will present opportunities for ruthless demagogues to seize power. The rise of right-wing parties around the world suggests that the passing of Trump will not be the end of the tragedy.
@JK I just keep seeing trump's future as crazy, disjointed, 'rallies' in smaller and smaller halls in tiny towns across America. Filled only with old white people aging into senility, crazy young men longing for a nazi like movement, and a few tourists there for the freak show. An attention junkie going further and further to get his fix.
2
@JK
Pride goeth before the fall
Honest Abe, indeed.
All we need now is for Trump to appear with a beard and top hat.
It’s great to have a president who can really give the public a song and dance!
9
Murphy, Gehagan and Reagan are dead - if Bonzo’s keeper had just departed 16 years earlier ...
Now that is a toss up, Musk or Trump when it relates to running a job and/or a country. Truly at this point, however, I believe that even with whisky and pot, Musk could do a better job in leading this nation than our present disaster who has proven he can not even navigate a legitimate business. Elon is smarter for one and does seem to have some sort of a moral compass. Of course, as of 2016, the bar is at ground level if not below when it comes to expectations. (Did anyone listen to President Obama at the University of Illinois today and if so not shed tears for what we have lost? Sigh...)
Getting back to Mr. Woodward and The Anonymous One...half (hopefully) of this nation gets it when it comes to King Lear...I mean King Trump's descent into, let us say, escapism of all things real. It's the other half that keeps me up at night, they and this GOP Congress. I mean what decent Republican could possibly applaud when Trump compares himself with Lincoln! We have to get busy, folks. November is almost here, and we can not let this literal insanity continue.
107
As long as Trump is comparing himeself to Abraham Lincoln, here are some quotes from honest Abe.
“Senator Stephen Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians of his party, or who have been of his party for years past, have been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, postoffices, landoffices, marshalships, and cabinet appointments, chargeships and foreign missions, bursting and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands”
“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.”
“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.”
77
Ironic that Trump would describe delayed appreciation of the Gettysburg Address, because on Friday, when President Obama gave a powerful speech, calling out Trump for the abuser of power and awful abnormality that he is, Trump's agenda as being "radical," which it is, and members of Congress for being willfully indifferent, which they are, Trump's response was to say that he slept through it.
Of course, Donald can dish it but he can't take it when it comes to criticism. For those who can appreciate thoughtful discourse, Obama's speech was a wake up call that voting is how we can save our democracy. Donald can only hope that such a stirring way of speaking is a sedative for everyone else. But we mustn't sleep through that message.
32
Trump is a moral vacuum. Every day in every way he demeans the office of POTUS. Rest assured however that America has the support of Australia in this your dark time. We will not let you down.
65
Alligators in the White House plumbing, maybe?
We don't need to see Donald Trump's tax returns.
his college transcripts would prove very revealing.
36
@Paul
Actually, we really do need to see his tax returns. It will give us the real picture of who this man is.
6
@Paul
He went to college?
I wonder if the University of Pennsylvania wants their degree back. Shame on them for selling diplomas. The mascot for stupidity cannot not be the look they’re going for.
Lincoln gave everything he had to save the Union - our democratic United States. Trump is shredding our union and our democracy with every media-flaying, dictator-worshipping, racism-laden, disorganized, mispronounced speech he eggs on his deplorables with at his godforsaken rallies.
And I'm NOT apologizing for using the word deplorable. I've seen enough of his rallies - watched his voters cheer wildly at his hatred and ignorance - to know they're deplorable.
95
Crazy as this week has been in Washington, many of us in the hinterlands have been bathing in a wonderfully relaxing warm bath of schadenfreude. Trump is absolutely the most miserable man in America and there is no harm in feeling good about it.
196
@Billy Baynew The secrets seem to be popping out everywhere. Nor will this end anytime soon for him. To get a bit 'weird' here, Uranus, the planet of surprise, moved into Taurus, DJT's 12th house of secrets, sometime in March this year, for a 7-year stay.
To quote Abe himself, "You can fool some of the people all of the time and they we be called Trump supporters."
43
I take great comfort in knowing this will not be Trump's worst week. Not by a long shot.
Not for him. Not for his co-conspirator children. (See NYS investigation into the Trump "Foundation", amongst others.) Not for his various other co-conspirators and enablers.
When all is said and done, Melania may be the only member of the cabal not dressed in Orange.
Hmmm. Orange always has been the disaster-in-chief's spirit color, hasn't it? I like to think the Universe has a plan.
34
Delusional Donnie claims to be very well educated. He was admitted to Fordham University, and transferred as a third year student to University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a Bachelors degree without honors. He does not have an MBA from Wharton.
Abraham Lincoln apparently only had one year of formal education, but it is evident that Honest Abe was far better educated, was better spoken and was much more accomplished than Delusional Donnie.
Think about that.
88
@Joe From Boston Here's hoping millions of American youth think about that before they drink the Koolaid and go many thousands of dollars into endless debt to get a college education. DJT is excellent proof you can get out of a "good" school with a Bachelor's degree and be as dumb as dirt, and as ethical as a mudpit.
The only obvious similarity between Lincoln and Trump, is that they have the same number of legs.
36
@Henry Rawlinson But Trump might call a leg a tail and thus have only one leg.... whereas, Lincoln was wiser. Words matter.
2
@Henry Rawlinson
And Abe had much bigger hands.
1
I'm quite certain the rank-in-file Republican will never put it together, but Abraham Lincoln fought tooth-and-nail to preserve the union - not end it. Everyday Elmer Fudd's human persona is in that office is a day that will ultimately have to be undone. But the answer, unfortunately, isn't impeachment, because that will lead to perhaps the only worse option - Pence. A guy who as governor of Indiana, signed into law legislation that empowered racist and homophobic zealots to openly and "legally" discriminate based on their interpretation of whatever religious text they follow...is nothing short of a recipe for Theocracy run amok.
44
@David You are SO right and what I say every time someone mentions impeachment. if only we can hold on until the midterms and then everyone votes!
@David
Your sentiments and logic are praiseworthy.
But, isn't it better to flush Trump away, as he deserves, and the Nation demands, even if it means putting another dunce and right wing zealot/nutcase in charge?
Might not "Satan's son" be slightly more circumspect with the fact of his "Father's" downfall?
Let's eliminate the Republican "Antichrist" and then deal with the spawn of satan.
Well actually, I went into a depression when his election was confirmed as did many of my like minded citizens, because as you said, it was obvious that he wasn't presidential material from years of publicity. How could so many people miss it? But you got me laughing about our ancestors and the moon landing. That got me to thinking how much Trump resembles Jon Lovitz character from SNL, the pathological liar. Trump is so quick to fabricate just about anything as if there really is no understanding of what constitutes the truth so no effort to speak it. "Yea ...that's the ticket." And then I laughed again. I googled it only to find that someone already thought of this before me. Now back to Trump depression.
51
What hypocrisy. Musk should most definitely not be compared to Trump.
Musk asked if it's legal to take a puff - reply: it is. He followed this by explaining he thinks cannabis dims the mind. And he took a sip of whisky. So?
Musk's achievement is fantastic, not least that of persuading millions to invest in his dream. Sure, at times his run has seemed marked by uncanny luck (and luck can turn quickly bad). The company Musk built in a little over 10 years could not have come this far if run by committee, and it is unlikely it could continue to evolve as swiftly as it needs to under a rigid management. Musk is an incredibly energetic overachiever. Age may be catching up with him. He may be driven to an early death or insanity by stress (see: Steve Jobs). Unfortunately Musk can't afford a sabbatical but this is probably what he needs. And if he does: Steve Jobs left Apple only to come back and steer it to a fantastic second life.
21
Musk all the way for me, any day...
10
I have both quoted Lincoln time and time again over the past two years. I also wrote in a response just yesterday about Honest Abe spinning in his grave over the Koch Brothers and Trump undermining everything the Republican Party once stood for. Strange coincidence I guess. However we now come to Ms. Collins column about how the past week has been so bad for the Lunatic-In-Chief. Anyone who is still lucid in America must know Trump has indeed become unhinged from reality. Yet the base still keeps admiring the "Emperors New Clothes!" In other words; we know Trump is basically nuts; but no one has the guts in the G.O.P. to admit it lest they be thrown under the bus just like all the other "Traitors." America is become a nation that is verging on delusional. The world sees it; but the U.S. seems to be unable to save itself from this nightmare. The more evidence of a man becoming a total meglomaniac; the more the ALT-RIGHT closes ranks. Up is down; black is white, good is bad. In Trump`s crazy town world of Alternative Reality; only he matters.
62
@Greg Hodges
"no one has the guts in the G.O.P. to admit it lest they be thrown under the bus just like all the other "Traitors.""
The truth is, I fear, worse than that. The GOP leadership are cynically using Donald as a distraction while they load the courts with extremist and partisan right-wing judges, pushing through a tax cut nothing short of wholesale plunder, and achieving every other item on their corporatist agenda. Then when the time comes they will move to impeach or use the 25th and claim victory as the "adults in the room" saving America from this unfortunate spectacle of DJT, and send him off as the scapegoat carrying the sins of the GOP on his back.
More than DJT's basic rottenness, I fear the cold, calculating machinations of truly evil men like Mitch McConnell.
18
I have a simple question to all the GOP high level officials.. “Donald comes in to the Oval office, asks for the nuclear football and wants the launch codes as he isn’t happy with North Korea!
Tell me your reaction!
10
@Kevin Bitz Those GOP high level officials will give Trump an actual pigskin. They know that Trump will exhaust himself trying to figure out how to launch Armageddon and eventually move onto something else.
This is what we call Crazytown.
2
Maybe Trump could take in an early afternoon production of Our American Cousin.
16
@Bruce Sic semper tryannus...
If Trump wrote the Gettysburg Address, it would be all about his brilliant leadership in winning the war and saving the Union. Not a single word about the soldiers.
50
@Bonnie: I'd like to be wrong, but my hunches tell me that even on a multiple choice test, the president would NOT connect the Gettysburg Address with 'winning the war and saving the Union.'
15
@Bonnie If Trump wrote the Gettysburg Address, it would be "1 Trump Battlefield, Gettysbirg, Pensilvanya"
Of course Abe Lincoln saved the Union...whereas Daycare Donnie tore the nation apart...a subtle difference.
And Abe Lincoln spoke beautiful coherent English...not some guttural, disjointed logorrhea that passes perfectly for verbal excrement.
And Abe Lincoln gave his life for the United States of America...not a note from one his rich daddy's doctors saying his feet hurt.
“Our ancestors built the railroads, linked the highways,” said Trump.
Well that's true of many of our ancestors, Donald, but not yours.
Your ancestor built a hotel-bar-whorehouse in Bennett, British Columbia to fleece Gold Rushers out of their gold before the Gold Rush collapse collapsed the local economy.
Grandpa Friedrich Trump and a partner built the Arctic Restaurant, which was open around the clock with “private boxes for ladies and parties,” according to an advertisement in the Dec. 9, 1899 edition of the Bennett Sun newspaper.
The boxes typically included a bed and scale for weighing gold dust used to pay for “services,” according to a three-generational biography by Gwenda Blair, who has traced the origins of the Trump family’s wealth.
The Arctic’s business model built on food, booze and sex...and little Donald was inspired by the tawdry profits of his grandfather, who didn't know if he was German or American...in the same way Donald can't figure out if he's Russian or American.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-trump-family-fortune/
Abe Lincoln would throw up all over Donald Trump.
945
@Socrates
Nor did the apple fall far from the tree. However. However Obama is right in saying that Trump struts and frets but signifies nothing. The real problem is in the house, the senate, and the court.
2
@Socrates. He's kind of a legacy, in a manner of speaking.
1
@Socrates
While Trump's hair, skin tone and third wife are all fake news the real truth is that he is our one and only Article II executive office President of the United States.
Thanks to the votes of 63 million Americans aided and abetted by Julian Assange, James Comey, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
MAGA!
Elon Musk is a warm, vibrant, thoughtful, intelligent, creative man. He has had some serious personal, creative and business issues this past month. He may not make it as CEO of Tesla.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a pre-dementia Alzheimer victim, who's spent his entire life fleecing everybody around him (especially the justice system, cable news, and the American people) and keeping (occasionally) one step ahead of the law- who is now moving into King Lear territory.
There really is no comparison between the two (even this week).
131
@SSS Also, note that Elon Musk did not inhale that so-called toke on camera. Which is kind of odd if it was indeed weed. Totally agree with your comparison, or lack of.
5
@SSS
Trump is a Malignant Narcissist - no empathy, revengeful, paranoid, cruel.
He does not display the normal mental decline of age.
He displays the mental decline of someone who is amoral, abnormal, spiralling down, while flailing around hurting anyone and everyone he can.
He will get much worse, and has access to the nuclear codes. While he rages about any other country having nuclear capability, the greatest nuclear danger in the world is Trump.
Lincoln said:
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. . . . It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that . . . we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Gosh, just a modicum of editing and Abe is talking to us about Trump and the GOP.
25
It's really the "nuclear weapons" part that bothers me. We have the most powerful weapons systems yet known to man, and we give them over to a sociopathic eight-year old...er, excuse me, to Donald J. Trump. God help us all, though we hardly deserve it. Let's hope we don't get what we actually deserve in this case.
48
Elon Musk or Donald Trump? I choose to put them together. The Donald should dump Pence now and run with Elon. "Trump-Musk 2020/Great and Greater." That's a jaunty little slogan don't you think. If they lose, they can cash in on the slogan by bottling it up and have Ivanka add it to her line. "Trump-Musk, a little splash after you shave will drive you crazy and it's hands free." An extra bonus of Trump-Musk, it will clear the seats around you on all forms of public transportation and institutions. Now, that is what I call a win-win.
5
Musk and Trump are both arrogant, egotistical narcissists.
Trump bankrupted 6 corporations while Musk is still trying to get Tesla to earn its first dollar of profits. I can ignore Musk and refuse to buy his over-hyped and over-priced products. Haven't yet figured out how to do that Trump while he is POTUS. But I am still working on solving that problem....
12
@GTM
Trump is definitely a Malignant Narcissist in the extreme. Musk gives every indication of being a Narcissist.
Apart from Trump's obvious mental health challenges, does anyone else think it's rather strange that Musk thought it was fun to produce, market and sell 10,000 personal flame-throwers, just because he could?
Jimmy Buchanan is smiling in his grave. Nobody ever thought someone would top him for "worst president ever." Trump deserves a golden trophy shaped like the outhouse at Wheatland. Oddly enough, Trump and Buchanan share another notable distinction. Buchanan was the only unmarried president. Trump is the most married president. Soon to be divorced again too. I think he's going for a baker's dozen.
Meanwhile, I'm sure Abraham Lincoln is rolling over in his grave. The change in self-association is striking even for Trump. If you'll recall his nomination, he was very much a Nixon style "law and order" man. Whistling Dixie as it were. Now we've apparently pivoted to... what exactly? I don't think anyone is really sure but southern whites seem peripheral to Trump's currently voiced senility. Oh how strange its been.
While we're on the subject of historical analogy though, I'll simply throw out some positive trivia since Obama is back out on the campaign trail. Our man, now rocking the full-on silver mane, is still in the top ten presidential rankings. That's both pre and post WWII. He isn't high on the list but Mr. Obama made the list. That says a lot about our current circumstances. Please vote this November.
21
Oh, my! This Nation definitely doesn't know whither we are going with this Dude at the helm. Clearly, he, too, does not know, or care either, as long as the Trump Show attention ratings soar. H L Mencken predicted it almost a hundred years ago: our Nation would ineluctably elect an idiot. Now,
finally, we've got him, and he, no surprise, thinks he's a Lincoln.
40
This is crazy. Cut the man some slack. It's a tough job and we knew he would come at it in a unconventional way. That's why we elected him. But, the proof is in the pudding: economy's buzzing and we're about to get a great, new supreme court judge. The mid-terms will be a validation of his presidency. I guarantee it.
5
@Geoff S.
By “validation of his presidency” don’t you mean a validation of the efficiency of Anonymous and his Faustian cabal?
11
@Geoff S. The economy is buzzing on the last fumes of the obama administration, not due to anything trump has done. It will soon crash due to his disastrous trade war. And your Supreme Court judge is about as out of touch as you can get. God help us all.
6
Just contrast Trump's speech to that of Obama. Trump is crude, error filled, nasty, and deceitful through out. Obama is reasoned, full of passion, pleading that we end the silliness and lying and instead begin to respect and reverence America and all its people whose gifts and enthusiasm and good will make us successful and admirable. He asks us to raise our sights and emerge with pride, compassion, common sense and common hopes for everyone in the future, even Republicans...
40
Donald Trump has mastered four strategies for dealing with the Office of the Presidency. First, lie. Make stuff up, the more howlingly, pants-on-fire, absurd, the better. Second, manufacture insincere outrage at some symbolic touchstone which will serve no purpose other than to gin up division and hatred between his dwindling base and the rest of the country. Third, blame a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong and try to steal credit for anything that goes right. Fourth, wallow in pouty victimhood and bemoan the unfairness of his plight. He has proven himself completely unfit to be President and seems to be working hard to win an Emmy rather than a Nobel Peace Prize.
261
@Glenn Wright. Brilliant analysis, Glen. I would like to add a number 5: Give yourself a “TEN” or “FIVE STARS” for what you’ve done, while you’re doing it. EXAMPLE ... throwing paper towels to the victims of Hurricane Maria and patting self on the back while visiting Puerto Rico in the aftermath of its devastation by the storm. That was BEFORE the count in retrospect became almost 3,000 deaths!
Anyone who still says government should be run like a business these days should not be allowed out without supervision.
105
Trump is worse. He is the apostle of anger, resentment, and lies. He appeals to their prejudices and fears.
He takes his base to a very dangerous place telling them
that only they are true Patriotic Americans and that their political opponents are enemies to his plan to make our country great. He is a shameless demagogue and offers misguided policies that will make the corporate state and the extreme wealthy even more powerful. This will only exacerbate social and income inequality. In short he
deceives his base with passionate rhetoric and vacuous slogans disguising poor and misguided hard right policies.
19
@IN
In Montana, he told rally attendees that if he was impeached it was their fault.
Never one to take responsibility for his actions, this is, like all bullies' behaviour, manipulative.
No reference or thought that he may have done something to warrant impeachment. He instructed them to accept that if the Congress changed to majority Democrats, that he would inevitably be impeached, and if so it was their fault.
Typical of the attitude of criminals who can only blame law enforcement for being caught. No responsibility.
1
At worst he’s a Russian asset tasked to destroy America. At best he’s a dangerously unstable and incompetent president who is destroying America. A Democrat with this profile would have been impeached before the inauguration grandstands were disassembled.
98
@B. Windrip A Democrat with this profile would not have been elected in the first place.
18
He looks and sounds very, very tired. He couldn’t even say one of his favorite words tonight - amominus, er... aneminus, uh, anonymous. Sad.
38
Yikes! Trump is now using the royal "we." He's referring himself as "us." Ya gotta love his chuzpa.
9
@Eddie Lew Trump's idea of the presidency is that it's like being a King with absolute power over everything, laws, people, life, and death. He can't be bothered with democracy or the Constitution.
15
@Eddie Lew
I don't admire his mental illness one bit.
Nothing today is normal. So, to continue that notion:
Trump: Hey, Anonymous!
Anonymous: Yes, Mr. President.
Trump: My lackeys haven't praised me much lately, and with Woodward's fiction I need some praise. Can you arrange it?
Anonymous: I'll get right on it Mr. President.
Trump: Oh, and include the sick NYT somehow, while you're at it.
Anonymous: Yes, Mr. President.
LATER:
Trump: Well, Anonymous, have you got something?
Anonymous: Yes, yes, Mr. President. I'm going to write an anonymous OpEd to the NYT - they know me, they'll do it, I know them and they're failing and desperate.
Trump: Terrific. Beautiful, really very very beautiful. But how does it help me?
Anonymous: You can throw a tantrum, toss your toys from your pram again, and demand fealty from your lackeys. Then you can threaten the NYT again. Get Sessions on it. That'll keep the press wondering for days and we'll get Kavanaugh pushed through while they're not looking.
Trump: Brilliant. See, that's why I keep you around Anonymous.
Anonymous: Thanks, Mr. President.
Trump: Oh, and you'll have to write a letter of fealty too, right?
Anonymous: (sigh) Of course, Mr. President. Of course.
Trump: Good. Now, what were we discussing? Korea, China, my buddy Vlad?
56
@James Devlin
Quite believable! Shades of Trump's John Barron and John Miller days.
My son in 2016 when he was eight summed this all up well one morning at breakfast when Trump was on tv and not yet the Republican nominee: "Dad every time that guy is on TV, he reminds me of the Emperor from Star Wars." I'll never forget what he said, and why an eight year old figured it out right away but 40% of adults can't.
257
@Jon Babby
Agreed, it also struck me how Trump resembles Palpatine, a little bit physically but mainly in disgustingness.
I am a little bit older than 8 years old...
1
"Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump? Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs. On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons."
Actually I sort of wish that Donald drank or did drugs. Maybe then we'd have some peace between benders (you can just imagine how moderate this man's consumption would be).
That way, codes or no codes, if he begged Mattis to arrange a hit on Assad or a strike on North Korea, all Mattis would need do is offer the boss a drink--just to help with such a stressful decision, or course--and his problems would be over for at least the next 12 hours.
27
This may qualify as a historical moment, Gail: we've got a current president, with less than two years under his belt, proudly and most emphatically comparing himself to our nation's greatest president. This, you really don't see every day.
And irony of ironies: it's quite doubtful that any future president, should the nation survive to elect one, will ever dare utter his name in the same breath as the 45th.
48
At least he didn’t force government-controlled health care on Americans. I’m not a big fan but we need to remember others aren’t perfect- Obama added more to the National debt than any president in history.
@David L
Donald Trump and the GOP just borrowed $2 Trillion from China to give the top 1% a huge tax cut.
Obama inherited an economy near depression depths. Trump inherited an economy on fire. There is no comparison between Obama's economy and Trump's Potemkin economy.
611
@David L. Donald Trump is the worst president ever.
55
Nothing like a raw, unadulterated example of "you can't fix stupid."
94
"The main address at the dedication ceremony was one of two hours, delivered by Edward Everett, the best-known orator of the time. In the wake of such a performance, Lincoln’s brief speech would hardly seem to have drawn notice. However, despite some criticism from his opposition, it was widely quoted and praised and soon came to be recognized as one of the classic utterances of all time, a masterpiece of prose poetry. On the day following the ceremony, Everett himself wrote to Lincoln, “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”
The text quoted in full below represents the fifth of five extant copies of the address in Lincoln’s handwriting; it differs slightly from earlier versions and may reflect, in addition to afterthought, interpolations made during the delivery."
Donald the Mad continuing his reign as the nations fabulist, continues on his psychotic path, giving aid and comfort to the fans of Il Duce, providing talking points to the great washed, those baptized religions fanatics that hang on his every word. He is their savior eclipsing some of the great demagogues of history He belongs in the Baron Munchhausen hall of fame
90
Good call comparing Elon Musk and Trump. While they are polar opposites in most every other respect, they are both currently "off the rails," or at least seems that way, or at the very least they are acting that way.
11
The comparison of Musk and Trump is string thin and one dimensional. For starters, Trunp has an obligation to the entire country, even the world as to how he conducts not only the United States business but himself as well. Musk owes only shareholders.
11
It all comes down to this. On Election day, every US citizen has to decide whether he/she wants to be Nero.
65
I would take Elon Musk any day over Trump. Warts and all. We are being told anonymously and not so anomalously (John Kelly) by those inside the administration that Trump is unfit to serve. We are being told he is a clear and present danger to our country. What do we hear from Republicans? Crickets - the loud sound of crickets. They do not care what happens in the White House, or how unhinged Trump is as long as they gain control of SCOTUS, because once that happens, they can control the country through the courts (which they have now stuffed with right wing conservatives).
They have embraced "the Manchurian candidate", as the Santa Claus who gave them the gifts of more tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of everything from the environment to the banks, and soon they will have the longed for prize of prizes, control of the Judiciary from the lower courts to SCOTUS.
The best we can hope for is control of the House and impeachment of Trump, but then we will have Pence. Pence may be sane, but he is a right wing evangelical conservative on steroids.
69
@Diana
Better to have someone sane with access to nuclear weapons.
A 71-year-old man who is visibly overweight, who does not exercise (Golf? Oh, please.), who eats like a teenager, and whose default state is pure rage is NOT in "good shape," no matter what his "doctor" says. Even if Trump survives the 2018 midterms and a bid by Democrats to impeach him, I suspect that a heart attack or a stroke will punch his ticket sooner or later. He needs to take better care of his physical health, but he won't, because he refuses to listen to anyone but himself. This would be the stuff of Greek tragedy, except for the fact that Trump is so pathetic and small.
120
@Jack Connolly
Why didn't thy publish his blood sugar number. I guarantee you his behavior is being affected by Type II diabetes. It is almost textbook.
@Jack Connolly I’m hoping he goes on a double-cheeseburger bender. Every day.
1
Added to his troubles is the gigantic dump Obama took on Trump's exploding head just hours ago. How much could this loathsome person take all in the span of one week? May he have many more weeks like it. It matters not how well the economy under his aegis is doing. What matters is the harm this ignorant
and arrogant (a double whammy!) man has done to our country.
And he must be stopped. And the anonymous Op-Ed is as good a place to start as any.
138
Trump doesn't need drink or drugs. This 71-year old with a big belly, poor circulation, and splotchy face is losing it. That is, if he ever had it ...sanity, that is. He never had decency or sense. Or honesty or shame. He could never read or spell. Now he can't even talk without spouting pure nonsense. Don't Americans get sick and tired of their Chief Executive exposing his imbecility every day in public, on Twitter and at rallies? Do they feel they'd do any worse with a ventriloquist's dummy in the White House rather than a con man who fawns on Putin and is ever more paranoid and incoherent?
395
@Hari Prasad
He is 72 and totally incoherent and likely deranged. He knows nothing about the facts and the truth. Just a demagogue!
18
@Hari Prasad
re: "Do they feel they'd do any worse with a ventriloquist's dummy in the White House rather than a con man who fawns on Putin and is ever more paranoid and incoherent?"
He's 'one of them.' That's all that matters.
10
@Hari Prasad Donald has a serious personality disorder and is toxicly narcissistic. He can't be otherwise, it is not a curable disorder. Only the protection from the GOP keeps him in the White House.
8
Holy Hannibal Hamelin! The audacity of this man to utter gibberish, nonsense, lies and balderdash and reference Lincoln!. A house divided skillfully used for corruption and greed, government of the people, by the people and for the people turned into a government for the corporations , of the friends and family and by the heavy donors. To err on the side of mercy reduced to "to err." Our citizens are now fully upside down -unable to tell a tweet from the truth or a hannity from a journalist.
But as Lincoln said in his message to Congress in 1862:
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.
170
@John Quixote "Disenthrall"--great word. Let's get to work on that.
19
Maybe Trump didn’t survive his own personal Viet Nam like he thought he did: undiagnosed hep C infection with Cirrhosis (my dx, from this arm chair) As for Mr Tesla stop acting like your 14 and smokin a fatty in the school yard; you have other people’s money invested in you. Stop acting presidential. Twit.
28
White House straitjackets will be big sellers for Halloween...
38
The Nov 20, 1863, article in the New York Times about the dedication ceremony at Gettysburg the day before included the text of Lincoln's address, noting that it was interrupted by applause five times, followed by "long continued applause", and that "Three cheers were then given for the President and the Governors of the States."
Apparently, the Times was reporting fake news even back in 1863.
171
Since the slave owning Democrats launched their most outlandish, venomous vilification of President Lincoln, around the time of American Civil War ─there has never been this sort of vicious attack made on a sitting American President, in American history. Remember President Lincoln was a Republican. As a matter of American history, the onslaught of attacks made by left-leaning media at the present time, including the present company, is shockingly reminiscent of what Mr. Lincoln had to endure.
2
@ChandraPrince Oh they ate Lincoln alive on Twitter. Sad!
14
@ChandraPrince Favorably comparing "Honest Abe" with the moronic fact-challenged POTUS we're enduring now? You have to be kidding.
36
@ChandraPrince The clear difference is that Trump is reviled for his statements and actions that reveal his ignorance, hatefulness, and arrogant disregard for the laws and the Constitution. Lincoln was disliked by the people who wanted to keep the institution of slavery. Trump works only to feed his insatiable ego; Lincoln worked, and died, for the ideas of democracy and the Constitution.
As for vicious attacks, Trump spent years proclaiming what he knew was a lie, that Obama was not born in the US. Trump's most outstanding characteristic is his reliance on lies to prop up his delusional ideas of greatness.
21
I take sole comfort in that when the political pendulum swings too far one way (usually extreme right), that it comes back quite forcefully to counter the oppression.
This is going to be one of those times.
The last throws of white male privilege is running its course, and with it will bring about some momentous change. (for the better) Simple demographics will change that, but what is happening all around is leading more people to get involved. (directly and indirectly) Not only is about just voting, but it is about running and truly participating.
I suspect that the blue wave is not only going to be a one time thing, but it will be continuous and possibly even grow. (especially as people start to actually see the positive results and change to come)
This Presidency shall become a footnote in the dustbin of history, and will be looked upon as a black mark to learn from as to not what to do or be.
181
@FunkyIrishman
I wish I could share your optimism. That is what we believed after electing Obama. Boy were we ever wrong. I still tear up remembering seeing him come out in 2008 in Illinois, my home state, after winning the presidency. And now I tear up far too often for the opposite reason.
3
@WB
I will be the first to admit that the candidate we had in 2016 was a flawed on. Furthermore, there was quire a few that wanted the revolution now, and not somewhere down the road. (let alone misogyny, racism and selfishness for a tax cut rearing their ugly heads)
We have still yet to determine the extent there was a conspiracy to get help from a foreign power to win the election.
Take comfort that the popular vote was in our favor by millions, and take comfort further that truly Progressive candidates are winning in the primaries and special elections. (regardless if they are supported by the establishment of not) It is always about the message me friend, and that message is finally breaking through. Demographics don't hurt either.
Keep the faith and vote.
@FunkyIrishman I wish you were correct, but the Red Scourge (GOP + Russia) will be with us long after Trump is gone. He is installing scores of judges on federal courts, and the just-barely Republican Senate is approving them all, and quickly. There will be dark consequences for the country for decades. And of course SCOTUS, after Trump's filling a minimum of two seats, will set a reactionary tone for the lower courts for decades as well.
The pendulum theory doesn't work when there are institutional mechanism.s in place that will not allow the pendulum to swing left: the ridiculous fact that large, liberal states and small, conservative states have the same number of senators despite vast population differences; voter suppression on a massive scale; counting states (the Electoral College) and not votes to determine the winner of the presidency
Abraham Lincoln was a truly self made man of great intellect and even greater soul. He is a man that embodied mystical courage.
djt is a man who never had a friend, in the true sense of the term. His intellect is the product of a craven soul. He possesses no courage on a personal level. He is haunted by his inadequacy, which is why he cannot sleep. He knows he is loathed by those around him, even his family. All his sycophants are purchased, with money and temporary power. Borrowed money to boot. But the truth will out. He will end badly, by his own doing.
349
@Bill
Among other things. Lincoln was no draft dodger and was famously honest.
1
Trump ran as the climax to a life of "pot-stirring." He had a very inadequate knowledge of what the job at 1600 Pennsylvania really involved -- definitely not pot-stirring -- and he's truly terrible at the job.
Who's paying for all the trips so he can reprise his "rile the rubes" act and pot-stir in Montana and North Dakota? It better not be us.
104
@David in Toledo: Oh, it is us paying, just as we are paying for him to go golfing every weekend at his own properties.
38
@David in Toledo
It is us just like we are paying for all his golf journeys. and it should be illegal for him to charge campaigning to the tax payers already robbed by the 2017 Republican tax obscenity.
1
Wherever Warren Harding, James Buchanan and Richard Nixon are tonight they are all smiling because Donald Trump is the worst president of all time.
793
@Mal Stone-Bush Jr. too breathes a sigh of relief.
9
@Mal Stone: Surely the worst person to be president by a long way, but whether the long run harm he causes exceeds that of Reagan is still to be determined.
1
@Mal Stone
Bush II is smiling broader, having fare out run his predecessors in the race to the bottom.
1
Polite request: Could op-ed writers please stop making jokes that involve nuclear weapons? Thank you.
8
Martin: It is perhaps expressed as a joke, but it is a very real fear. If we cannot laugh, we will have to cower under the bed and cry. Better to laugh, and fight.
26
@Martin Daly...it's not a joke, Bub. It's real. Radiation is real. Incompetent dude in charge of nuclear weapons, that's real. Let's not hope for any extremes of reality, whaddayasay?
7
Humpty-Trumpty sat on a wall,
ranting... and holding his "base" in thrall.
Humpty-Trumpty led a great brawl
over Mueller, Sessions, Woodward and all;
"Lock 'em up," I predict, will be his next call.
Allow him to do it? He hopes some law'll.
"Fake News," "Illegal," loud does he bawl
whenever he's challenged (keep it up, y'all!).
As dear old Trumpty heads for a fall,
can all good women and all good men
bring fractious Americans together again?
90
How does one comment on this type of stupidity without sounding like a rant? Answer, you can’t. So don’t try. I know people who read my commentary are tired of reading it but, stick a fork in this turkey of a country. It’s done.
9
trump could do with a little Ambien.
48
If Trump were a competitor on American Idol, Simon would have reamed him out and off the show in the first episode or perhaps would have allowed him to continue as the punching bag punch line for comic relief. In now way would anyone have taken Trump seriously. Who is this base that continues to support this incompetent pathetic caricature who does not even have their interests at heart or mind? What kool aid are they drinking?
41
@Rachel
I share your confusion about Trump's followers. But it sincerely seems to me that you may have answered your own question about their "cool-aid."
"If Trump were a competitor on American Idol, Simon would have reamed him out and off the show in the first episode..."
It is exactly this societal shaping by TV shows that is the heart of Trump followers, and many other "followers" too. They measure everything against the false reality of TV.
As you just did above.
9
Ya, but! Abe’s Republican Party, such as it is, is getting everything on its agenda fulfilled with the Trumpster in office and the majority in Congress!
Yes, it is a very dark day. Abe would be really depressed! But hey! As said so well with Clinton’s crew, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
4
@Nodak
We can only hope enough Americans will ask:
"The conomy is doing well...but at what cost?"
5
@Nodak Some agenda! Take from ordinary people to give to the rich. Promote division and hatefulness. Make the world safe for corporations, never mind clean air, water, or global warming. Hand over national parks (which belong to the people) to energy companies, put children in cages. The GOP is the real problem, Trump is a dreadful sideshow.
6
@Bonnie
Ain’t it the truth about the Ayn Randian Republicans.
Sadly though, too many people that live in the United States love a sideshow with a good grifter fleecing their pockets!
Let ‘em have it Gail – give him a good doubled-barreled assault of wit and sarcasm...
Aside from both having started civil wars by dissing Alabama and its citizens and lawyers – the similarity ends there...
This brute – this thug – finds our liberties so inconvenient, he wants to dispense with them as it suits him...
Just in – a frightening piece of his small mind...
“...I...President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may concern, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended throughout the United States...
With the full complicity of a House and Senate totally in the bag for him – for the moment – aided and abetted by a pliable Secretary of State...
Only upside – you scooped WaPo on this one, too...
https://www.nytimes.com/1863/09/16/archives/presidents-proclamation-the-...
Luckily for us – and for America – that [XXXXX] makes sure the NYT doesn’t reach his desk...
And that the Gettysburg address didn’t have to be force-fit into 280 characters...
Though it would’ve fit as a NYT comment – with 35 characters to spare...
(just copied/pasted it, to be sure)
PS
It’s Jefferson – not Jeff – to you, Mr. President...
5
;-)
:-o
:-(
Says it all about the state of America.
7
The only thing our Mafia Don president has in common with the Great Emancipator is that they both have vowels in their first and last names...
35
“ I knew Abraham Lincoln and Donald your no Abraham Lincoln “
38
Ms. Collins, all due respect to your alliteration: putting the TOTUS's [Toddler of the United States] name in your title is exactly what he craves, as much as a junkie hoping to find a dime bag within today's NYT editorial section.
Call it what it actually is: OUR Truly Terrible Time!
And, sadly [at least until November sixth], there is no end in sight...
13
What, no love for the pyramids?
2
Lincoln was arguably our greatest President. It's usually a toss up between Lincoln and Washington. He was known as honest Abe, a descriptor that is foreign to Trump. Government has degenerated into farce. Once respected lawmakers pompously ignore the abominations that visit our government daly. The swamp is now staining us all
15
Elon Musk is a sociopathic narcissist but he's trying to do good things for humanity. His aim is in the right direction even if he's self absorbed and infantile.
Donald Trump can't spell humanity.
76
Mr. Papadopoulos seems to have pleaded guilty by reason of stupidity.
I would have given him a minimum sentence of one year in jail for that.
14 days is a vacation.
The way to help a stupid man become wiser is not by sentencing him to a vacation.
27
Mr. Trump, you are no Abraham Lincoln. Your hat is not big enough.
8
@ Fred Glavin: His hat might not be big enough but his head certainly is!
Trump whines and cries a lot.
16
Wow, Trump really can't make up his mind about Jeff Sessions can he? Trump has tormented the Attorney General for more than a year now, most recently toying with the idea of firing Sessions after the midterms. But then Trump also implored Sessions to worry about the political fallout of losing two House seats now held by indicted Republicans. And now, Trump wants the Attorney General to turn his energy on fingering the culprit who, um, committed treason by submitting an anonymous oped stating that Trump is not up to the job.
After such bruising treatment, it is plausible that Sessions was involved in releasing the oped (and also shared some contributions to "Fear."). But Trump wouldn't even understand that, since the real Donald is the same hopelessly clueless man described in all the damning accounts.
11
Mr. Trump should just smoke a joint.
28
The Liar bragged that he is not crazy since he can talk to crowds for more than an hour without having a written speech. I maintain that he is crazy and the proof is in what you just wrote: he repeats the same phony facts time after time and again cannot finish a phrase without switching to another stupidity. No substance, vapid words.
Mr. Obama spoke in Illinois. Different you say?
It goes without saying that craziness was front and center in Montana.
30
Ahem, Trump's ancestors didn't build the railroads--Chinese immigrants, both legal and illegal did so, under terrible, slavelike conditions.
Everything great about the country--give thanks to the immigrants. Railroads and subways are just two.
337
@Drshar90
Also Irish immigrants in the east, also under terrible conditions. Chinese used more in the west, then not allowed to become citizens or own land.
3
@Drshar90
Don't forget my Irish ancestors please!
1
Trump claimed to a Montana audience that "our ancestors built the railroads" and they cheered. The railroads were actually built by Chinese immigrants, who contributed and continue to contribute greatly to this country.
Trump and his mostly white followers will take credit for something their ancestors didn't even do, something that was done by nonwhite immigrants, all while happily disparaging said nonwhite immigrants when they get the chance.
218
I am rolling in my grave too and I haven't even died yet.
374
How many people think Gail Collins is the best writer on the Times? Hands?
439
@ChristineNot even close. My vote goes to Michelle Goldberg.
@Christine
I agree!
But that said, it's a hard choice because Michelle Goldberg is rockin' it, too.
2
I'm in!@Christine
Given the ADHD performance in the White House, continued optimism for our country literally faileth human understanding.
"Some folks at the White House are secretly preventing Donald from getting his way".
"Oh, good"! (Waitaminnit-you mean things are this crazy and it could be worse?)
Yup.
We now know this because one genius in that group decided to brag to the world (including Donald), and it was published in The Times. "Oh!... Not so good!"
Yay! There's an adult in the room!
Whoops! He's sharp as a pillow, and told his big, big secret to the NY Times... (I said this out loud to a friend to be sure that it was as nutty as I thought: "I wish the person who took over the government were smart enough to keep his mouth shut...) Yeah, it's nutty.
So the inmates are running the asylum, and The Times couldn't wait to let us know. Oh, now I get to have thoughts that the 'paper of record' might have served us better by keeping a government takeover a secret. You know, I don't even have a place to store a thought like that. It keeps banging around in what used to be my sanity and every so often I just say it to another old goat just to see the reaction. We old people don't get to laugh at too much, but that one gets a nervous smile.
'Ya know, years ago, the Italians used to have three or four governments a year, and we all thought it was quaint.
And you say DJT is having a worse week than we are?
That's very reassuring, and you say DJT is having a worse week than we are?
14
@John K. Please don’t disparage our fellow Americans with ADHD. Plenty of ethical, successful, and effective people have ADHD. This president seems demented; that is not ADHD.
7
@MSW I think he's ADHD, but because he's older, he can no longer control it. When one word triggers a few others in a different direction, he says it out loud and we argue about it over breakfast. Dependent and subordinate clauses just fly out over the air, triggering some whole sentences, and then, having remarked about a passing squirrel or a Hillary, he meanders back to the theme. Sometimes you can see the "recovery pause". I still think he's just not at all bright.
Elon Musk has rockets tho ;)
Thank you, Gail Collins. Some days, you provide the only adequate respite from other coverage of the Cretin-in-Chief.
Cuz, you know, some days, straight reality is just to painful to bear.
37
Anonymous ( or “ enema-moose “ in Trump parlance ) has made this the best week in months. Stirring the septic tank is a filthy job, and no matter how self serving, Donald is sweating bullets. Please proceed, anonymous. And enlist your friends. Because in a few months, everyone will be claiming authorship, or claiming to be super secret resistance members. Just wait.
Seriously.
77
@Phyliss Dalmatian Perhaps while stirring up all that sewage, Trump will splash some more on his friends and supporters causing them to stink it up some more. Offer a nice long shower and good scrub to all those who have had enough and are willing to defect.
8
Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary immortalized the words in the 1965 refrain:
"Isn't this a time, Isn' this a time
A time to try the soul of man
Isn't this a terrible time?"
Love him or hate him, can't dispute it....
5
I really think it is time to turn our attention away from Trump and focus more upon the addled souls that mistook him for a statesman.
What better evidence is there of the precarious state of our republic than that once Trump is gone (by whatever means or method) the people that elected him will still be registered voters?
Obama said today that Trump is a 'symptom' and I think he is on to something important. Let's stop talking about the symptoms and start to extirpate the disease.
120
[[“You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, you know he was ridiculed?” Trump told a rally in Montana on Thursday.]]
Good God, does Trump think Lincoln gave a speech about the Gettysburg Address? Does he not realize that in this context, "address" means "speech"?
31
Watching the antics of the Trump White House is bad for your health. It causes increased stress and irritability. That said why isn't something being done? The answer is simple:" Its the economy stupid!" Wall Street is in grin and bear it mode. Trump's blue collar base are feeling their oats like never before and their man is plugged right into their anger. He just tells them what to be angry about, such as those horrible Canadians who have been abusing the US for decades with their milk tariffs (1.2 % of US/Can trade btw).
Hopefully the midterms will put the President on mute, and then America can have a truly memorable Thanksgiving.
21
@macbeth
Preach. Amen!
4
The result of "pedo guy" Musk's Ambien Crazy Time will be that electric cars are forever marred by that loon, and few others will be bold enough to enter that "market" after him, so they'll be rare and expensive, and they'll never become popular. Also no one will care about his bizarre space ambitions.
The result of "covfefe"'s Diet Coke Crazy Time will be that electric cars are mauled in the "market" by the even-less-regulated-than-before Petrol-Dealer-Carmaker-Industrial Complex and get their patents bought out by the fossil burners, which means Exxon and its ilk get to take a cut of each electric (or just C&D manufacturers outright) and their price soars, and they'll never become popular. Also no one will care about his bizarre space ambitions.
So my answer to "Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or ["covfefe"]?"
I vote "yes".
4
I don't see what all the "hubbub" is all about.
Trump is exactly what we knew he is. He's an unqualified, unstable narcissist and pure chaos.
32
Laughing through the tears.
6
The Party of Lincoln is dead; buried with John McCain. We now have an anti-constitutional Trumpublican Party that enables him as much as "anonymous" and his/her colleagues are doing in The White House. In fact, they're doing what the elected Trumpublicans in Congress have disgracefully failed to do--rein him in or remove an unstable, apparently mentally ill man, demonstrated by his narcissism in comparing himself to Honest Abe. Maybe he was thinking about Dishonest Donald. Now that "all the President's men" are confronted with a call to prove their loyalty, we have a totally untethered Trump who is on a "witch hunt" for the anonymous culprit or culprits and wanting to turn the Justice Department into the Gestapo with Jeff Sessions as Himmler. This is just what Anonymous and Bob Woodward have been saying: The White House is "Crazytown" with a looney tunes Elmer Fudd spending his time chasing after that drat wabbit. It's time to stop the enabling and the shrugs, and do something before real damage is done. After all, as you note, this is the man who boasts "why have nuclear weapons it you don't use them," and "i have a bigger button" that I can push. This is no longer a cartoon, a fun house, or Reality TV; this is our lives and those of our neighbors.
12
@Paul Wortman
We’ve had enough of the sainting of John McCain. Come on - he voted nearly in lockstep with all republican legislation and only voted for the ACA to get back at trump’s insult. Sure he was better than trump, but that’s a Really low bar.
1
Gail, I always look for your by-line. You make me laugh through the tears.
10
When my kids were both around five to six they went through brief Trumpian lie contests about what was not their fault. The dog, Jesus, Santa Claus, somebody did that but not me. They showed more inventiveness and intelligence in their denials and evasions than the POTUS could ever dream of achieving. They did call people who disagreed with them doo-doo heads however, something the President thinks he has a lock on.
39
Hilarious and enchanting and, yes, now that you mention it, please do allow Elon Musk to replace the President in control of nuclear detonations.
4
I believe Trump is a paranoid schizophrenic and is seriously dangerous to our republic.
Even Nixon realized when he was dead in the water and resigned.
Will Trump show he is as smart as Nixon or will he wait for the inevitable end to his presidency by impeachment.
Either way, it can't come soon enough.
13
@rlk Part of Trump's delusion is that he is really, truly the Greatest President Ever. He won't quit, and when he's impeached or otherwise removed from office, he'll believe himself to be the super-victim of a bunch of conspiracies (led by Hillary Clinton and Obama) and will find lots of people to sue. (Whether he can find a lawyer at that point is yet to be known.)
7
Elon Musk is overdosing on Ambien?...apparently he was also distributing to the vast swath of the American public who was obviously asleep during the last Presidential election.
10
unhinged is about as perfect a word there is to describe trump
drug addict is a good one for musk.
2
Donald Trump always projects his own failings onto his opponents. He called Hillary Clinton crooked and corrupt, and now we see he heads the most crooked and corrupt Administration in our nation's history.
Trump calling Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and says he talks like he has "marbles in his mouth," that is certainly projection of his own lack of intelligence and inability to put together a coherent statement.
Trump is accusing the anonymous Op-Ed author of Treason. He probably is clueless about the real crime of Treason. Treason can only be charged for giving aid and comfort to a declared enemy of our nation. There is only one nation we are currently in a state of declared war against, North Korea.
It may be that Trump believes his treatment of Kim Jong Un could be considered Treason. If he is helping North Korea take advantage of America and he is doing so with criminal intent, then once again he is projecting his own moral and legal failings onto others.
34
“In different ways that’s going to happen to us.”
Now I have no idea what he’s talking about. I have never been to Fargo (I’ll leave out all references to Frances McDormand). I do not know what possessed the “president” to fly out there—maybe to beg forgiveness from the farmers he back-stabbed when he threw his hissy fit on trade.
Maybe it was just another getaway from the Washington swamp; you know, the one where the monster of all monsters crawled out of the murk and growled that, yes, he is keeping Donald Trump from blowing up the world.
Or it could be that he was tipped off that the man who preceded him was about to take off the gloves and meet him face-to-face, something for which No. 45 has no fight.
Or it could have been the rumored “Fear,” which has proven to be not a leak; not a sieve; but a sluice of gushing water that has his White House waterlogged with dreadful tales of the 25th Amendment and Robert Mueller and even Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions III coming off as a man with a spine, a rare specimen for this administration.
Gee, perhaps the “president” went to Fargo playing the guy running from the pregnant sheriff but ended up getting caught anyway because he thought he was too smart by half.
The rooster coxcomb will go well with the orange jumpsuit, methinks.
29
any CEO of a publicly traded company who acted like don the con would have been ousted by the board & shareholders in short order
people thought they were voting for a businessman.... they got a man who gives them "the business"
10
If the president thinks he had a bad week, how does he think most Americans feel about his leadership 20 months into his chaotic rule? As for the Abraham Lincoln comparisons, this president has nothing in common with “Honest Abe”. Ditto for George Washington who couldn’t tell a lie. Better to leave those comparisons alone, right, Ms. Collins?
Does the president intend to hand over the mysterious op-ed author to Gina Haspel's tender mercies when that person’s identity is known? Ms. Haspel was rather fond of torture at one time so all bets are off.
And speaking of the president’s tweets, I noticed that he never uses the words like “democracy” or “rule of law” in all caps. It’s words like “treason” and “impeachment” that he screams at the top of his voice and gets the headlines he so craves.
19
I don't think Lincoln can roll in his grave as it is reinforced with two tons of cement--the same thickness cement that fills up Trump's otherwise empty noggin.
10
I wish the op-ed had been done in the form of a dialogue with Ms. Collins trading gentle barbs and witticisms with the unidentified administration official
4
Gail, you are my lodestar.
32
Gail, how do you know that trump doesn’t do drugs??
Actually, he probably needs drugs — of the antipsychotic or at least anti-dementia type. This guy is one of the best confabulaters we’ve ever encountered.
13
Trump may be having a tough week with the media. But Americans are a great week outside of the media. Jobs market is strong; shortages of construction workers are appearing nationwide. Unemployment below 4%. New jobless claims average is at its lowest since 1969. Wages are rising.
Go ahead and twist in the wind with books and op-eds from undocumented sources. It fits - the left loves undocumented people.
1
@Keith
Look at a graph of job growth starting in 2009; job growth under Trump is indistinguishable from job growth under Obama - and Obama did it without a one-and-a-half trillion tax cut targeted at billionaires (which will deny government services to those in need).
100
@Mary 48% of federal tax filers paid zero income tax before Trump's tax cut - pretty hard to cut taxes for people who don't pay anything now. Despite Trump's tax cuts, tax revenue have grown in fiscal 2018 vs. fiscal 2017. Now that we know Trump's tax cut is not starving the Beltway, we can move on.
At no time in Obama's eight years did we see reports like we're seeing now of worker shortages across America. We have more job vacancies than applicants and job vacancies are at record highs. I didn't expect to see stories like this 18 months after Obama's first inauguration either. But when we still didn't see strong jobs evidence by 2015 & 2016, it was easy to understand that Obama's policies were choking the US economy.
Let's see what the labor market looks like in 2022 & 2023. On present course, it will undoubtedly run circles around Obama's results.
@keith
And now that we have more jobs than people willing to fill them - what next? Where do the workers to continue to fuel our growth come from? Oh, that’s right. Those would be immigrants. Looney tunes anti immigration policies are imposing a stranglehold on American growth.
3
Gail, please find time and the right context to again call Trump not a billionaire but “a thousandaire.” My recollection is it drove him crazy when you first skewered him years ago.
52
@George
Trouble is at the time Gail was probably right about the thousandaire business. But you can be sure that he’s going to be more than a millionaire by the time he leaves DC, and not from the salary.
Course between his vaunted business acumen and the wheels of justice, he probably won’t keep it long.
1
"Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump? Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs."
Dunno, maybe he should start before it's too late.
Actually, it is too late ... I remember him from 30-40 years ago in NYC and never fully understood just how off the rails he is. He's really crazy. Gail, are you sure there's no booze or mushrooms involved ? Just sayin ...
5
Speaking of "Honest Abe", perhaps "Dishonest Don" is the bast nickname for the Apricot Hellbeast.
53
Nope. Vlad calls him Agent Orange and we should too!
Responding to Mr. Luettgen, New Jersey below: Mr. Trump has the overwhelming advantage of a government totally controlled by one party. A ham sandwich could get things done. Besides, I suspect he has had little or nothing to do with the actual planning, management or work involved in "his accomplishments". He's much too busy watching himself on TV and spewing out his bile on twitter. In fact, after this past week, I believe that Mr. Trump's advisors tells him what they intent do and (since he doesn't understand the first thing about how our government works) he is fine with that as long as they let him say whatever he wants. I guess that's how "tactical things" get done.
You're right though, Barack Obama could never do what Mr. Trump does.
77
One question continues to bug me about the anonymous op-ed writer - why write the piece in the first place? What purpose does it serve?
The first lesson they teach you in spy school in "Mole 101" is to try to hide the fact that you even exist. The second lesson is once they suspect you may exist, keep your head down and try to throw them off the scent so they don't finger you.
Publishing this piece spectacularly flies in the face of both principles.
And it's not even like they public is being told something they didn't already know, or at least reasonably strongly suspected. That the so-called "adults in the room" have been slow-walking or ignoring some of Trump's more irrational and destructive directives is not in itself news - it has already been alluded to in many reports on Whitehouse dysfunction and factional rivalry and backbiting already.
We already know, for example, what Tillerson thought of Trump's mental capacity. Yawn. Any halfway intelligent person had Trump pegged long before he was even elected.
So why publish? How does this in any way help the cause of "the resistance"? Trump is inflamed, it's just increases his paranoia and craziness, and even gives him a convenient "deep state" excuse for his failures.
I'd suspect that Trump himself wrote it except it's got too many big words in it.
Anyway, this is the part I just don't get.
14
@Abraham This does nothing to help the resistance. It is a clever plant sold to the NYT to increase Trump's paranoia and send him rampaging in the White House, temporarily reducing leaks. Assuming Republicans sustain losses in November it offers a rally point to tell the president Republicans can help him avoid disaster by leaving before January but after that he, his family, and fortune are in jeopardy. At that point Mike Pence modestly steps forward to save the Republic, the Republican base seeks to avenge their fallen hero in 2020, and the Pence-Bannon-oligarchy alliance sees their gains protected while instability diminishes. The whole Trump show is to camouflage the looting of the country.
2
@Abraham
Maybe the purpose is just to jerk the MSM's chain. Keep the conversation on Trump's character, on migrants, on Russia, etc; keep people from thinking about the tax cut, the attacks on health care access, etc. That's what wins elections for Republicans.
I would gladly allow Elon to visit my House for a weekend, or a Week. The Engineer Husband would be in ecstasy, and in my debt forever. I’m a great cook, wine drinker and listener. Open invitation, Mr. Musk. NO one would expect to find you here.
And Trump. I would burn my House to the ground before I would let him set foot inside. But that’s just me.
565
@Phyliss Dalmatian. No, it isn’t just you.
22
Not just you. Me too. Seriously.
6
@Phyliss Dalmatian
No Phyliss. It’s not just you.
2
Pick a Trump tweet, any Trump tweet. Take a Trump ‘oration’ - I know, let’s try his benediction for the Boy Scouts, or that ‘American Carnage’ classic on the steps of the Capitol. Put to one side, for the moment, his greatest hits, like ‘I’d like to punch that guy in the face’ and ‘carry that guy outta here on a stretcher,’ or ‘grab ‘em by the...’ well, you know.
Now compare and contrast with Lincoln’s elegant, poetic address at Gettysburg.
Have we fallen down the rabbit hole yet? More to the point, will we ever climb back out?
30
Guess he ran out of Andrew Jackson comparisons.
11
We can always count on Gail Collins for her super-terrific, well-reasoned, thoughtful, and truthful columns. I never miss the chance to read them. Congratulations, once again, to her and the 'strokes' of her pen (or her nimble fingers on her computer keys).
21
1. "the Gettysburg Address speech". this phrase brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.
2. "you know he was ridiculed?" in point of fact, as anyone checking the 20 november 1863 edition of the nyt can confirm, the speech was interrupted by applause no fewer than five times, followed by more applause after its conclusion.
88
Gail
You have it all backward as usual.
Trump is not having a bad time.
He is not stressed, he causes stress.
3
Well, Elon Musk is trying, almost single-handedly, to give all us bipeds a real chance at survival ~ he, I completely forgive. Sometimes he must feel like Atlas himself.
Trump on the other hand, is a demented, selfish, abhorrent person, who could give less than half a loaf of bread for anyone and everyone except himself.
22
There are CEO’s who are out of whack. But at least they are not running the USA.
19
Gail, its Friday after a terrible week.
Trump vs. Musk for horridness? I'm speechless.
3
Well done, Gail! Nothing to add after the apt comparison you've made, except; this is all very SAD!!
5
Elon Musk — a real genius who lately seems to be less than completely stable — is suffering from exhaustion due to working around the clock.
That certainly isn't Donald Trump's problem, unless you call golfing, tweeting, watching TV, signing big pieces of paper, eating, and jetting around the country in search of supporters 'work'. The man is just bloody crazy.
66
Has this column been written before or does it just seem like a broken record caught in a grove in an incessant loop of lemming drivel? Much like the anonymous editorial marker a day before, this too is heavy with cowardice, not for what it says, but instead for its sameness, its lockstep parroting of the party/company line.
The loop is narcissism residing too comfortably among two major fault lines playing out for public consumption, illuminating an absence of intellect while exposing moral depravity and abject fear of individuality. Is anyone in the media capable of an original thought which would require objectivity; or are all opinions rigidly fixed requiring no further learning, merely stagnation and regression?
For snide sarcasm to be effective it must have bite and wit. Omitting those ingredients plus originality and instead settling for clever doesn’t get it done Ms. Collins.
2
@Grant except it's all true, isn't it. in spite of your smokescreen of polysyllabic verbiage
28
@Grant, Perchance, say what?
2
Trumpster is in the dumpster. The only question is when will the sanitation workers show up to take him to the dump?
Probably January 3rd, 2019 when the 116th Congress convenes.
As for Elon, well the folks who are getting all upset because he toked some good legal weed, wouldn't have batted an eye if there were a couple of empty Jack Daniels bottles in the picture.
Of course those are the same people that inflicted the Trumpster on the country, so it's no surprise.
9
It is good to laugh at our current President and ridicule him. But let us not forget our responsibility of citizenship. Vote on November 6! And vote for every Democrat on the ballot!
45
Listening or reading even brief excerpts, all I can handle without hitting mute or delete, of Trump's meandering, self reverential speeches I find myself thinking about the fable, The Emperor's New Clothes. But sadly, unlike that tale, a crowd pleaser in the K-2 world, there is no little girl to speak the truth and wake up everyone else participating in the spectacle.
That's not because "she" doesn't exist, given his history that has been exposed repeatedly in a series of books he couldn't sue away and recent stand outs, but because not only will the emperor refuse to acknowledge he is naked, everyone around him is either afflicted with the same willful blindness, have taken blood oaths, are afraid of him, appreciate his signing pen for their own awful policies or believe rightly or wrongly that they must feign allegiance lest he cause even more wreckage beyond the alarming amount of toxic debris he's spread hither and yon and hence, it's all, what a beautiful fat suit you have on, Master Trump.
As for Lincoln, I do think that all of us who graduated from sixth grade do remember the reams of paper outlining his pathological lies, his constant use of insults and vulgarity, the frequent mention of his criminal associations and pay offs for various scams, his many debts and unpaid bills and his incoherent rants on and offstage. The parallels are uncanny.
7
Who knows, but I suspect this was a good week for crooked Donald. We tend to forget that the GOP's followers have been, along with their dim-witted duce, well schooled by 20 + years of Fox and am radio and the right-wing blogosphere to treat anything in the "MSM" as proof of its evil and their righteousness. For the "reality-based community," there was nothing new either in Woodward or in Anonymous, except yet another invitation to act out our impotent frustration. Reality-based, maybe. But not much realism.
7
I bet Doris Kearns Goodwin can’t wait to start her book on the inspirational Trump presidency.
20
@TAO, it is going to be historic!
It's just really challenging to listen to this President and then acknowledge that 10s of millions of fellow Americans think " Yup, he's my man."
He is to coherent thought and speech what Eddie the Eagle was to ski-jumping.
19
Not just Abe, Gail...my parents, my grandparents, their parents, your ancestors, too...all shaking right along with Lincoln. It's Earthquake Week in America.
10
Political pundits of the future would have to look no further than Madam Collins' columns to know why the country elects republicans, and triumphs with the elections and frenzied support for Trump. And revels in every hit every decent, liberal cause takes, and wants the environment, education, and justice plain destroyed.
Because of articles like this.
To be clear, the left thinks that smug, chortling self-satisfaction is currency. It may well be on 8th and 41st, and in upper end salons where you cannot hear the immigrant drivers honking from their cabs.
But it is not in about 90% of America.
We just don't get the joke, and we are not sure whether you are laughing at us. What with having never rowed for Groton, or attend Yale, nor have working knowledge of Bordeaux wines and obscure cheeses.
Get a life Gail. We vote too, and don't like the mockery.
1
I never rowed for Groton, don't know nothing about wine, and I still think Donald is dangerous mental case!
33
@Kalidan I moved to NYC from South Carolina 50 years ago with a state-college degree and $300, and never looked back. Now I may have to return there to retire, as my job has shrunk to a freelance position and my Social Security won't support me in Manhattan. But I recommend New York (immigrant cabbies and all) to anyone with ambition and imagination. And I think 90% of Americans would love it here. (And if they don't, they don't have to stay.)
11
According to a recent poll in Germany, 69% of respondents declared Donald Trump to be the most fear-inspiring political factor in the world today, even more than international terrorism. Something else to be proud of, Trumpistas?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-fears-donald-tru...
46
Oh, Ms. Collins, may I suggest a way to lift everyone out of the “deep depression” that is Trump’s presidency?
Watch & listen to President Obama’s speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, appealing to our “better angels,” defying the ugliness that currently manifests itself in the White House, imploring us to engage in democracy by getting active. It was a cool, fresh breeze and antidote to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, toxic policy and endless narcissism.
President Obama said,
“the biggest threat to our democracy is indifference.”
“You have to show up.”
“Vote. Vote.”
Still presidential, diplomatic, empathetic.
Vote!!!
300
Trump's obsession with the flag makes perfect sense considering the unhealthy nativism (and by that I mean the original natives, white people) that is so prevalent in America today. Patriotism, honest patriotism, is acceptable. Adopting the ridiculous belief that one's own country is superior to others, well that's the Trump Way. He sullies the deeper meanings of the flag with his physical and verbal embraces.
7
@Mac While he may hug the flag, this draft dodger has never done anything to defend it!
21
The people around Trump have been covering for his insanity since the start. It is the only way they can survive in their jobs and as the record shows many can not take Trump's incoherence and leave, some because of their own ineptness or because they get on the wrong side of their boss.
Think John Bolton and his attempt to save the remnants of NATO after Trump's abysmal performance at the G7 or his mouth piece Sarah Huckabee Sanders who needs to cover for his off the rails comments every day.
Trump is surrounded by Republicans whose only impulse is to forward the Republican agenda which is not always Trump's. And to do that they must go around their boss depending on his ineptness to shield them. Trump cares nothing for policy in itself, and Trump of course cares only for himself.
But when Trump feels threatened he can be truly vicious. He will demand total loyalty as he did with the FBI chief James Comey or his DOJ chief Jeff Sessions when they do not act like his flunkies. And now he pillories the NYT and the press for doing their jobs.
When Trump feels cornered he is a dangerous animal who strikes out when threatened. Trump in his own mind may only be seeking love and acceptance, but somehow he never learned how to be a human and for that he will never gain the respect he craves. Alone and vicious a dangerous combination.
25
Very funny, we're all laughing. While our country is dying..
6
As Billings, Montana goes, (population 110,323) so goes the nation. Welcome to 21st century America?
6
Yes, he doesn't drink or do drugs. As Hasan Minhaj said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner -- "think about that... that means, every statement, every interview, every tweet -- completely sober"
561
Your title sounds like it was written by Dr. Seuss. This is a compliment to you, as it is very possibly intentional and perfectly appropriate.
6
This article started off sounding intelligent until Eli Musk was some how thrown into it like an afterthought or a poor attempt to combine 2 stories. Readers are then asked which is worse? Why do I feel like the writer got called to something of greater importance and had to write a quick ending. Maybe I'm missing something.
5
Trump is in his “ terrible twos”, but they never end.
6
It's too bad it's too scary and sad to watch the leader of the longest the free world unraveling before our eyes; otherwise it would be hilarious. Maybe there will be a movie...He'd love that!
3
I don’t even know what to say about this week, embarrassed comes to mind but no it is worse than that.
Trumps cabinet working behind the scenes to neuter him is truly scary these people were on no ballot and are not there to serve that function for the American people they are there to serve the president. If the president is actually crazy then remove him if not resign and tell the voters what you think of him.
What the letter writer is actually doing is attempting to save the Republican Party from Trump. Once again this is a case of Republicans choosing Party over country, that my fellow Americans should be the take away from the last weeks chaos.
22
I’ll take Elon Musk, thanks. At least he’s smart.
45
"Trump told a rally in Montana on Thursday."
Trump seems to be moving further west for his rallies. Hopefully after November he'll have his finale in Guam, and they keep him there until his Impeachment.
Let's all vote, please.
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@cherrylog754
My NPR local news reported today that Arizona statewide turnout for the recent primary election was 33%. The good news: Democratic voter participation in Pima County (Tucson) where I live skyrocketed from 35% for the 2016 primary to *40%* this year. Seems depressingly low, though, doesn't it?
So, yes: "Let's all vote, please." And when we do, we should remember to bring along some friends. In fact, a lot of them.
21
@cherrylog754 How about having Trump move even farther west . . . like Sakhalin Island?
2
@cherrylog754: If he keeps on going, he'll ultimately reach Moscow where he'll be safe.
Perhaps the most bizarre thing Trump said in that Montana rally was that, despite all the evidence otherwise, he is "winning." Wow. There are now two books which portray Trump as hopelessly inept, an op-ed saying that some responsible people in the White House are what Bob Corker called the "adult day care center," Trump was not welcome at the bipartisan and beautiful services for Senator McCain days ago - but this is winning?!
When he was first campaigning, Trump said that under him, we would be winning so much, it would get boring. Well, if by winning Trump means tanking spectacularly, then yes, we're all winning with him. But it's not boring, and we must never become enured to it.
21
@NM "Winning" as in the Charlie Sheen drug induced usage.
6
...and yet...his supporters stand right behind him...
If anything, their strength is resolved. I just don't know anymore...
All those decades of cutbacks in education have really done our nation a disservice, and it doesn't even know it.
40
Few statements I've encountered in life are more absurd/insane than when Trump compares himself to Abraham Lincoln.
That alone should be an impeachable offense, or at least sufficient cause to invoke the 25th Amendment.
126
@two cents
Certainly agree. It is otherworldly in its insanity and discord. Really weird. Cinema-like, to make an obvious comparison. Sorta real, but not.
And so I wonder; does Trump really believe the things he says about himself? On what level is that belief? Just a veneer with a smirk behind it, or some deeply anchored dilutional conviction?
Cinema-like expresses it best. Ratings, novelty, entertainment....Trump is self-shaped in the character of a Gotham City villain. But good guy sometimes, like the Mafia father's goodness to the neighborhood. Except he seems so un-generous....?
The whole thing is about the weirdest----at least on a big political stage---- that I've ever seen. That any of us have ever seen. Strong things will proceed from this. Both good and bad.
2
If a CEO ran his/her business the way Trump runs this country - that business would be ripe for a hostile takeover. Let's hope our country can restore order soon.
11
@DCW i believe a hostile take over is the point of this administration and the republican agenda in general. democracy is too messy for them.
1
Can you even begin to imagine a car produced by Trump Automotive?
I cannot.
16
@j ferguson Actually, yes, I can imagine a car produced by TA: It would be a limo, made in China, big gold "T" hood ornament, get half a mile to a gallon of gas, come with a porn star driver, TVs in each section, the horn would make an explosive sound followed by cheers and applause, and it would be pulling another car to use during the constant breakdowns...
14
Hilarious and brilliant! My depression is eased....
2
Thank you Gail! So many of us rely on your columns to get through these trying times. Your humor helps us stay sane.
11
Ms. Collins, I am responding to your column from several perspectives: a middle school teacher at the end of her first week back to classes with pre-teens and teens; a Canadian watching the slo-mo train wreck known as the administration of #45 and trying not to bite her nails; and a global citizen who - like many others - cannot seem to see the end of this infinitely discouraging implosion.
You made me laugh with your brilliantly witty spoof of Lincoln's line a la Trump. And that is no small feat at the end of this week.
I appreciate feeling just a tad better in the midst of feeling all the worse.
29
I would hope at this point that Trump does not have access to nuclear weapons. Surely someone on the inside would stop him???
5
Gail you are the BEST! Your columns keep me grounded and I feel a little less alone when I read them. Please don’t ever stop writing. Ever.
6
It might seem to us that Trump is having a bad week, but I think he sees it differently. He thinks he’s having a great week, it’s just that everybody is treating him unfairly. Trump lies to the world all the time, but I think he lies to himself just as much. And he actually believes the lies he tells himself - especially those about how amazing he is.
101
Elon Musk may be self medicating, but at least he is medicating. He admits to being an imperfect person, but still a person.
Trump admits nothing, but on occasion he'll remind us of his other worldly charms, insights and superior abilities to great Americans past.
He identifies with the intercontinental bully boys, Kim and Vlad. Why can't 40% of our population adjust to the fact that he is a vicious and scary man.
46
Donald Trump will definitely have a place in history much like Abraham Lincoln. Only the contrast between them and the example of the decline in presidential mentality will be the reason for Donald’s inclusion.
Good grief, I can’t figure out how these ordinary looking (most of them) attendees at his stream of consciousness rallies can listen to the guy. He lurches from point a to pointless and back so often, you can come away with a good case of whiplash.
Elon Musk high on pot in place of Trump on his natural high of being the most and best seems tempting.
6
What's so disturbing is that even if President Trumptard resigned immediately, we'd still be stuck thinking about and hashing over this mess, and coexisting with those responsible for it (those who voted for him). Like Watergate, but almost infinitely worse.
10