I personally, a retired colonel and Vietnam vet, have lost a lot of respect for our citizens who voted for a narcissist person with zero integrity.
26
We understand that you are not used to volunteering or that sort of things Mr. President. Rather than staying alone, how about taking a simple, low key walk for couple of hours along the National Mall or just ride the Metro ?. You will get to meet ordinary folks from all walks of life to reflect on your policies and the presidency.
6
Christmas morning at the White House finds the President doing what? Not talking or Tweeting about goodwill toward men, women or children. Not talking of charity, hope, peace and extending a helping hand to those in need. Not talking of family, citizenship, working together to achieve a better democracy, a better nation for all. Instead, our President continues to rage, complain, denigrate and threaten over the state of his personal circumstances and affairs. His wants, desires and accolades. Trump has replaced our fundamental ideals of building consensus and bi-partisanship with barriers and walls; hostage taking of millions both in people and treasury. Yes, the Grinch baton is not Trump's alone, but it bears his name regardless of whom he passes it to.
Cindy Lou Who: Santa, what's the meaning of Christmas?
The Grinch: VENGEANCE. I mean... presents, I suppose.
9
I worked for a narcissist once. Eventually he crossed a big line and was fired. I understand that he then suffered a complete break down, and his personal life collapsed too. Although I disagree with everything Donald Trump stands for, I can feel some personal sympathy for him because this is his fate. On the other hand, Mitch McConnell will just smile, find another puppet to be President, and continue on with the conservative agenda. I have no sympathy for him at all.
15
He’s having an old fashion nervous breakdown.
Mueller hasn’t even delivering his findings.
We should all be terrified. Stock market will bleed again on Wednesday …
I only hope he doesn’t order four of our aircraft carriers to The South China Sea.
7
Trump is now in full Apprentice Mode. His supporters love it. They don't own stocks so they don't care about stock markets. They're in debt so they don't like higher interest rates. He promised a Wall. He'll build it by any means necessary. Including using the military. Even if it means smaller cages for caravan kids. We don't need NATO. What does it mean, anyhow? China is caving. Russia is cooing. Earth is getting warmer. Which means lower heating bills. It's all good. And anyone that disagrees with the president will be fired.
8
I heard an interview on the radio yesterday with a guy who's a border security agent on our southern border. He's pleased about the partial government shutdown because he believes a wall is necessary for our border security. This just goes to show the mean spirited view of the world held by many Republicans: As long as I am not personally affected who cares about policies that might negatively affect others?
3
My respect for America as a country never really waned, but I have no respect for the current US President and his cowardly minions or for the self-serving Republican party. Most of the world shakes its head in disbelief, and hopes this crazy ride will soon be over. We remember all the great presidents that have preceded this present one. Listening to Trump is like listening to your old grandpa who is slowly losing his mind, who never stops complaining and blaming others and whose negativity and anger are so poisonous to everyone. Except that this study in utter madness is really harming the world and could cause a planetary disaster for all of humanity. I personally have also lost quite a bit of money in my pension fund, as have many other people outside of the USA. We are all affected. If Trump disappeared, if the tariffs were lifted and if all the ill-conceived policies seeking to destroy Obama's legacy were overturned, the stock market would definitely rebound and the world would heave a sigh of relief, save perhaps for the few dictators who enjoy watching America's temporary demise, never having understood what democracy and freedom really mean. I am impressed by the high quality of the articles published in the NYT and the comments of its readers, and that's why I now subscribe to your paper. Almost everyone here would be a better president, because they are knowledgeable of world affairs and would listen to their experienced advisors. Merry Christmas!
19
The Caine Mutiny. Starring Humphrey Bogart.
Google it.
Capt.Queg. On the witness stand.
That’s our boy donnie.
Someone took the strawberries.
8
“I am all alone (poor me).”
Sadly, that's exactly how I feel since Trump took office almost two years ago.
5
" ALL ALONE". Wonder if the children in Texas's camps feel the same way?Our troops that IT see as a waste of money at a time when the world is coming unnerved and uncertain. Our allies wonder when this COUNTRY and CONGRESS will get IT OUT!!! SOONER CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!
2
Respected again! Really! More delusional thinking on his part. Except for the really right wing autocratic leaders and almost dictators, he is reviled. Europeans shake their heads in disbelief that the America they once held in high esteem has plummeted to these depths.
5
Now he's totally alone in the White House. Except, of course, for the many who keep the building running—but they're the little people who don't matter in his world view.
Perhaps he better start checking under his bed before he goes to sleep. You never know who's lurking down there, intent on doing him harm.
Better check in the closets, too!
4
(Please read this listening to Carly Simon's You're So Vain)
Just because trump tweets it, does not make it so! The world sees trump as we do: weak, insecure, a bully, and crybaby.
The US does not have a leader, it has an insecure bully at the helm and the GOP owns him and this shutdown.
Last January, when the markets where high, Senator Chuck Schumer agreed to fund the border wall at $20b (trump's number) as part of a deal on DACA (as reported in the Atlantic 1/2018).
trump had the White House, the House, the Senate, and he had $20b! Chuck agreed to $20b "in exchange for Trump’s support of permanent protections for the nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants covered under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program" (1/2018).
trump had $20b IN HIS HAND and he told Chuck No. Now let's see if trump will use his GREAT skills to "negotiate" a DACA deal for a wall.
trump arrived at today, all by himself: respected by a solid few, disdained by a solid MAJORITY.
6
Invoke the 25th amendment, or we will end up in Hooverville, or worse, an oligarchy.
"When good people do nothing" is more relevant now than at any other time in our American history.
To the GOP: Country ahead of re election.
4
This is unreal, it seems people are experiencing some sort of a jet lag, combined with feeling of indigestion, possibly before projectile vomiting. Trump has the “power” to make one feel very sick, uncomfortably losing track of time. It was yesterday that this clown was elected? Or it has been decades of destructive politics that destroyed the USA as we used to know. Or is this just a horrible nightmare? That these two years seems an eternity?
4
Somebody call Bethesda and have them bring the nets.
4
This year, I was in Australia and I've just returned from visiting five European countries. Trump came up all the time in conversation: I didn't meet a single person, whether liberal or conservative, who thought America had not be weakened, even degraded, by this Presidency.
Make America Great Again? My God, what a travesty!
8
And you may ask yourself (especially if you are in Michigan, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania?) "My God ... What have we done?"
P.S. It is not now the way it ever was. (The "Teapot Dome" and "Watergate" years were exemplary by comparison. The trumpian times … be they ever so limited … will be regarded in history as 'less ugly' only than those 'we' spent enslaving and killing our more colorful brothers and sisters, and those we spent enslaving and killing our 'other' more colorful brothers and sisters, the North American "native" peoples who -- because Chris Columbus 'got lost' -- we call "Indians.")
5
This scene of Trump rage-tweeting into the wind, all alone in the White House at Christmas, seems like the perfect opening scene of the eventual blockbuster to be made of his presidency. Except that we need to first survive the rest of his term...
4
The real question is whether Trump really believes America is respected again or, more likely, is simply operating on another frequency from the rest of the world.
His pronouncements simply defy logic. If Trump thinks that Xi, Putin and Erdogan "respect" him (or America) he is absolutely, unequivocally delusional; so delusional that it isn't hard to imagine there is some other motivation for such idiotic comments.
Then there are our allies. My few European friends are scratching their heads. The most frequent question I hear from them is, "What happened to your government?"
3
No cheer Mr.Trump? Not even one day a year? Sad!
2
Maybe it's time for the president to tweet that we are no longer the leader of the free world and that he doesn't want to have that responsibility. It's way too much work.
2
Me, me,ME, mE, etc. That is what everything is all about. There is nothing worth knowing except about ME, what i want, who I am angry at, what I ate ten minutes ago, where I put my private parts. Worship or wither! It is your choice!
2
Of course he tried to make Christmas all about him.
4
Time for the 25th.
2
Is Trump really all alone? He could be bowling in the basement of the WH with the ghost of LBJ.
3
"‘America Is Respected Again!’ Trump Tweets": A news headline.
"Allies Question His Leadership": A news headline.
"‘America Is Respected Again!’ Trump Tweets as Allies Question His Leadership": An editorial in a news section.
3
Trump is totally deluded. Psychologically unhinged.
If he thinks other countries respect the US more as a result of his policies and leadership he needs to be removed quickly before he does more damage.
1
Simpleton. Anything good is all to Trump’s credit, anything bad is someone else’s fault. Incompetence, chaos and blame, the MAGA strategy.
1
Tonight, Mr. Trump shall be visited by 3 ghosts.
Greed, Ignorance and Vanity.
He shall welcome all.
5
Trump is all alone. Maybe Santa will visit him carrying a bag of coal.
1
Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Trump was not allowed to attend a war hero and senator's funeral because the family wanted it kept "with dignity."
There's nothing to respect here.
8
Yet another example of this President’s idiocy in motion. He seems to have no understanding of how government or the economy works, what policy is, how to govern, or how to do anything more than tweet, watch Fox, and blame other people for the damage he has caused. This is lunacy, people! Instead of writing long works for the comment section, we should bombard the White House with letters and phone calls to end the trade war, the attack on the Fed, and all his other crazy ideas.
2
"America is respected again" is the latest news from Drumpf’s Opposite World, aka “Drumpf World,” aka “Planet Drumpf.”
Next up: renaming the days of the week after his children and their parents. The months of the year will be Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh...
2
The USA is going down the drain. I hope Trump is miserable this Christmas and that his Supporters really begin to worry about their future.
1
Ok, two years ago I still had my sense about me, thinking this person could may be at least be quiet, leave the rest of us grown-ups alone. But nooooooooooooo,He is the master of distraction. Syria today, no Syria tomorrow. Blowhard. Always, something today, something different tomorrow. His Tweets are now officially insane.
You know what, I hate waking up every day. It's awful, everything he does is awful. My husband and I used to talk about the news frequently now. All I say now is don't wake me up unless he's gone.
Merry Christmas to all those who voted for him, because I predict strongly, that come tax time, you will all know how you lost in believing him. You all file your taxes and see what, if any, little pittance you get. A rich man is NEVER on the little mans' side. You all voted wrong.
4
America is certainly not respected again. It is looked upon with embarrassment and pity. Also with a sense of shock that the people and institutions can stand by while a childlike narcissistic bully can destabalisd the world with his lies and deluded tantrums. How he came to be elected is the one mystery and how America will recover is another.
Get rid of him one way or another. Quickly.
4
خيانة
измена
반역
No matter how you spell it, the meaning is universal: TREASON is the selling out of one's country for personal gain.
Those who purposefully and knowingly work for foreign powers and against our country are guilty of the highest crime in the land. Trump is guilty, beyond anyone's reasonable doubt, of Treason.
He, quite publicly, roots for our enemies and eviscerates our allies.
Why is it our Congress refuses to say that Trump may be guilty of Treason? Are our leaders in the Senate guilty of taking money from our adversaries abroad in exchange for legislation, influence and votes as well?
The longer Congress refuses to take action to remove the lunatic in the Oval Office, the more guilty they become.
Why doesn't Mitch do anything? Is it because his wife is in Trump's cabinet? Does he have bank accounts we don't know about? Inquiring minds have a right to know about all of them who are choosing to sit this dance out.
3
He's quite simply mad.
5
With a Christmas stocking full of self loathing, an overweight, possibly illiterate old white guy sits 'alone' in the WH. Why is he alone? Does that not ring a bell for him? This is a guy who sucks the air out of a room and leaves irrational tweets in their place. This is a guy who has bankrupted six business and assisted with Russian money laundering. His wife spends lots and lots on beauty products and clothes, as does his daughter. His sons , one a braggard and the other disturbingly strange, spend tax payer money on private planes to get to business 'deals'. My father worked 3 jobs in my youth, went to the National Guard (Sergeant Major) every weekend and now lives on 50 cents. So, I wish you a very sad and lonely Christmas, President and spawn. My Dad lived a life rich in feelings, you have none.
20
You know who else is alone this Christmas, all the children and parents yet to be reunited after being separated at the border.
35
Because of Trump America is feared. Unfortunately it's our former friends and allies who fear what we have become. Our enemies smell blood in the water.
10
Little Donnie sat on Santa's lap and said, "I want a wall for Christmas."
Santa says, "No, Donnie, you have been very naughty! No wall for you!"
9
Got to believe the Trump presidency is a bitter lesson learned. Our country must come out of this nightmare with understanding what happens when logic is ignored and the quick fix of a charlatan is embraced.
Democracy is a precious and fragile, something that can slip away with a X on a ballot from a misinformed, misguided, and deluded voter. Now, with the knowledge of cyber trolls, and facebook conspiracies has to mean we are now armed with information that should equip us and make us immune to lies and falsehoods.
Never again.
13
Home Alone 45: Christmas Special
Featuring a grow child who's lost the plot and imaginary villains...
8
Emperor Trump will not be alone this Christmas.
He will be looking at himself in the mirror without any clothes.
8
“Tracking Santa on radar”
The poles are melting and not enough snow left to move the sled. A lump of “clean” coal is all that Trump deserves in his stocking.
9
Well who knew? He said he was going to save the coal industry! We just didn’t realize it would be Christmas lump by Christmas lump!
3
"America is respected again". If there was any doubt that this man is delusional that tweet just gave everybody the concrete (or should that be steel slates) proof they needed.
9
This is the time when Mary ad Jesus wandered in Bethlehem, looking for a place for Mary to give birth. As they wandered many told them there was no room in the inn.
I think of those 2000 or so children waiting for months in internment in the southwest desert, a truly biblical trial for them especially at Christmas time separated from their families.
12
And the stock market is doing so well!
5
America is respected more only in Trump’s mind.
He is deeply disturbed and he hasn’t heard from Mueller yet. One can only imagine what his response to the Mueller report will be. Chances are high that he will demand that Whittaker put the report in a locked safe and keep it secret from the American people. He will invoke National Security and will provoke a Constitutional crisis, blaming the Democrats and maybe even Hillary of the deep state for the witch hunt.
Just imagining the predictable scenario and its destabilizing effects on the markets is exhausting.
But America will have to witness this self imposed chaos all next year. It is as mad as Trump himself!
6
Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. I must continue to bear testimony to truth even if I am forsaken by all........ Mahatma Gandhi about being a lone leader. It is remarkable that President Trump has stayed in the White house during the partial shut down.
Sure allies are questioning Trump leadership. They cannot take advantage of the USA and make it the police dog of the world. Finally after a 100 years a president who has placed America First and useless regime change wars outlawed. Mr. Trump, president of the USA. Thank you for the bloodless revolution in reality and peaceful equilibrium in the world. It is tragic that one of the 100 senators shepherding his flock of lambs and sheep and telling you, you cannot get the wall that you have concluded that it will secure our porous border and prevent entry of drugs and human traffickers.
We the people should determine that, not senator Schumer. The senator from NY does not speak for the country. He was in Louisville, KY earlier this year to give the McConnell lecture. If he were to come again and leave his ivory tower, I would not want him to be an obstacle to securing the border, leave that to the president. As Sen. Graham exposed senator Schumer in his most memorable speech pf 2018 at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, it is clear he is unfair.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/27/graham-kavanaugh-hearing-a-sham-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/kavanaugh-ford-senate-hearing/
1
I don't think you understand border security, international trade or diplomacy any more than Trump.
If the country were a dishwasher Trump was trying to install, it would be in pieces on the kitchen floor, with Trump on the phone to GM, insisting they "fix this defective product."
7
20 foot wall 21 foot ladder = no security.
2
How much clearer does it have to be for Republicans to act? Really? No one who is even a little bit aware would do anything he's done in the last week.
America isn't respected - and he is why.
My 7 year old knew better than to tell other kids Santa isn't real.
No one on earth thinks you just talk to another leader and then randomly pull your troops out without talking to your advisers, friends, etc.
He claims the shutdown as his, then blames others.
He blows up the economy with tariffs and insanity, then undercuts his own chairman when he tries to smooth it over.
He whines on twitter about being all alone
This is well beyond "Madness of King George" territory. Even those willing to tolerate unbelievable levels of disrespect are now quitting all around him. He's throwing tantrums refusing to talk to people.
And yet - Republicans can't muster a few votes to override a veto and get our government working again, let alone finally impeaching this literal lunatic.
12
Reading a Trump tweet is a waste of time. His disjointed sentences are rich in exaggerations and falsehoods. Better to just ignore what the simple-minded Fake President says or 'writes'. Watch what he does.
1
Since Trump is going stir crazy to night, I hope the nuclear football is way out of his reach.
The poor fella. All alone on Christmas Eve and working hard on Twitter. Such a sad situation. All he needs now is Santa to drop by with a sack of coal to liven up the mood.
“Only over the weekend did Mr. Trump realize that Mr. Mattis’s letter was a critique of the president’s policies, leading him to accelerate Mr. Mattis’s departure.”
———
How is it possible that we have a president who didn’t even bother to read a resignation letter from one of the top people in his administration, or worse, read it but didn’t absorb what was in it until he saw others castigating him? This is a man who not only has not a shred of personal dignity, moaning about being alone in his palace when there are kids on the border at Christmas who will never see their parents again, but whose cognitive dissonance is so great that it defies measurement on a human scale.
8
@Frau Greta Trump's ego does not allow for the possibility that someone in his cabinet, a man whom he formerly respected, would see through him and his braggadocio. He is truly a man without any redeeming quality. And he is our President.
2
I don't know how to word this but President Trump is illustrating, in the most historic and public way visible to all the world, a person's descent into madness.
10
“...the [16 day] government shutdown in 2013.. the U.S. economy took a $24 billion hit, according to Standard & Poor’s analysis.” Newsweek.
So in Trumpian eCONomics the shutdown money is $24 billion which is almost $25 billion which equals his big beautiful wall. Doesn’t matter if it’s money lost it’s the right number.
1
My Christmas Wish;
That Marley's Ghost visit our lonely President, Ebenezer Trump in his Counting House (once known as the White House) in order to frighten Trump into visiting the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future who show him a desolate vision.
In the vision, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and MBS host a lavish party just at the moment when the U.S. Senate convicts Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors.
2
@Frank McNeil
Bad analogy.
Scrooge's problems in life were partly due to a neglectful father. Trump's father gave him millions of dollars and rigged it so he wouldn't even have to pay taxes on it.
2
Tonight at midnight mass, our rector was asked why Scrooge hated Christmas. Fr. Rick said, "It's because he couldn't love others." Sounds as if our president could use that same reflection. I will do what I can to continue resisting his atrocities, while serving my community. May we be led to brighter days.
6
What is “shut down money?” Does this person, who neither deserves the tag and moniker of President and really cannot be called a man, think that the “shutdown “ is money in the bank?
3
It's good he's getting used to being alone. It's good practice for when he goes to prison.
6
I can think of a much better use for $25B than building a wall, and that use would put all of us out of our misery.
2
Jim Mattis’s last laugh on Trump may be that he never told him that the military only pretends to track Santa on its radar.
5
Are we certain the man doesn’t drink? Sounds like the ramblings of an alcoholic—and if he doesn’t drink, maybe he should? Or see a shrink, one or the other because there is something radically wrong here.
3
I’d like to meet anyone - besides Trump- who HONESTLY believes that America is stronger and more respected since Trump took office.
Oh sure, Kellyanne and Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Mike Pompeo will all volunteer to lie about how great America now is, but I’m looking for truth- tellers.
5
Almost every Trump voter believes it, unfortunately.
1
Only a first class twit conducts policy via twitter.
And speaking of the Brits, why don't we have half the resistance here, as they did there? He practically got booed out of the country. And here we are, commenting about it.
When is there going to be a march on Washington?
5
Who’s keeping an eye on Donny while he’s home alone?
Perhaps a panel of clinical psychiatrists could keep him company.
The 10-minute Moca screening exam by Dr. Ronny Jackson back in January was a farce.
3
"America" is the sum of its parts ... so to say "America is respected again!" ... takes into account the best (which has always been respected) ... and the worst (the bombastic tweets that are endured for what reason we do not know). This performance needs to close ... can someone close the curtain on this very bad actor, please?!!
1
Another week goes by, the president is still delusional and getting worse. Another week goes by, and republicans do nothing. Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
6
"Poor me!"
All politics is transactional. But Trump's version of it - humiliate your underlings, exploit your allies, cajole those with money and be obsequious towards those who can do you harm may work in real estate (and does work in Equatorial Guinea) but cannot work in civilized world. HIs disastrous Syrian decision cost him much of GOP support. If he starts losing his base over the shutdown.... the vultures are circling.
1
His continued lack of self-awareness is stunning and frightening. McGurk is a “grandstander?” The flaws he inaccurately sees in other are often tRump’s greatest. How the Republicans continue to back this dullard is baffling.
3
Excuse me, only now our allies are questioning his leadership?!
1
No wall. No way. When Individual 1 coughs up the pesos he can have his vanity project. I am so disgusted by his lies and incompetence and the abdication of responsibility by the GOP I have been politically activated and will remain so for the next thirty years of my life.
4
"The leader of the free world" is a complete and total embarrassment.
6
As long as our Republican leaders sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing to stop this madman for fear of angering the delusional Trump disciples and losing their power, as long as our nation becomes swallowed up by hatred and ignorance, maybe we'll be forced to ask England or France to liberate us as we plunge into freefall. And what goes on beyond closed doors that even the esteemed New York Times hasn't covered? The next global crisis is us!
3
Trump is confused about his quest for the respect he never could get; not from his father or the power brokers of NYC.
He thinks being snarky, bullying others, picking fights makes him appear tough...a big man...finally a Winner!
He derides knowledge, serious study and now- even generals who used to carry all the machismo he longed for and he could hide behind.
But swagger isn't strength, snarling isn't leadership of a nation.
The Emperor has no clothes.
2
The Wall is the bait-and-switch scam of all time. Mexico wont pay for it. Let Trump pay for it.
3
When an angry mad boy playing with his toy train, ravishing his room, in a rage of hysteria feeling all alone on Xmas Eve, his wise parents will probably come up to his room, comfort him and calm him down. Only this boy is the president of the USA and it seems that there are no wise parents around to neutralize the anger and the chaos this child is in. Where is the once wise G.O.P. ?
1
Meltdown is an understatement...everything is becoming more alarming every day with every tweet. Poor world. Poor us.
1
Someone, please, take the phone away from him.
2
In his imagination, any object of his abuse respects him. He is unable to recognize what is perverse about this equation; to him, everyone is characterized by his behavior toward them, not their own behaviorr. A president who possesses no foundation to judge reality.
1
What exactly is the end game here?. Will Republicans finally stand up and save us from this demented morally bankrupt president? For this to work politically, they would have to break with him now and start the public elation campaign. Will that happen with Mitch McConnel's wife as part of Trump's cabinet? What about McConnel's behavior so far would lead anyone to believe that he would put the country first? We will not be rescued.
1
sound vaguely familiar?
“MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” - Bush
the sad thing is Trump’s followers believe, or at least act like they believe, everything he says so...
unless we (democrats, republicans, and others who have morals, ethics, and brains) stand up, this nonsense will continue...Trump is NOT AMERICAN!!
3
Mr. Trump, the only person who is responsible for this mess is YOU. You said so yourself. So, why don't you take a little personal responsibility and do something about it? I'll guarantee you one thing. In a few days, when the Democratic House of Representatives comes to town, you won't be able to get a toothpick for a wall.
2
A child left home alone at Christmas
Haven’t I seen this movie before?
4
I’m waiting for the tweet that says, “let them eat cake”.
1
Go visit with our troops at Walter Reed/Bethesda. They can't go home for the holidays.
5
Rather than wallow in your facade of self-pity, why not spend the holidays serving in soup kitchens, to help the Americans right nearby who are suffering and in need of food and support? Maybe volunteer to read Christmas stories about generosity and gifts and selfless kindness to the children you've locked in prison camps along our border? Or to go and change bedpans for veterans spending the holiday in hospitals? There are many, many ways that millions of hardworking Americans give of themselves to make a positive difference over the holidays. It may come as a surprise that tweeting is not on that list.
117
If Trump thinks that disdain, ridicule, apprehension, worrying about what he has done to international commerce and fear of what Putin may do next, is respect, Trump shows that he does not know the meaning of the word. His inability to show respect to friends, co-workers, allies is a sure proof that he may cause discomfort and resentment, but it will never bring him respect.
1
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to our Constitution says:
"Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."
It is time for the officers with the power to remove Trump from office to do so. Trump clearly lacks the mental stability and judgement necessary to perform the duties of president.
5
King Lear.
4
Macron said it all in a phrase: "An ally should be dependable." America is not "respected" because of Trump. America might be feared because he is unpredictable. And Trump might well confuse "respected" with "feared." Unpredictable is good in poker. IBut it undermines international relations.
1
Trump is doing no worse than the past presidents. The past presidents brought us the Vietnam, Iraq and Syrian wars. They left to Trump to clean it up and for that he is pulling out our troops from foreign countries. After Russia brought down the Berlin Wall, why couldn’t we extend hand friendship to Russia. Instead, we extended NATO into Eastern Europe. We fought for our so called ‘friends’ who are now lecturing us what to do. We need friends for whom we can fight for and who can fight for us. Trump is wrong with border wall. But, he is right on trade war with China. We must read his intentions and not his words or how he is saying. Sometimes, even if you do good, you may end up lonely. Next couple of years, instead of fighting Trump, Democrats should work with him and get things done. After all, he was a Democrat first before he became Republican.
@Kodali I have lived through many presidencies. I watched Johnson decline to run for a second term due to the Vietnam war. I watch Nixon perform many feats to ensure his legacy, and, to deflect from his domestic plumbing problem.
I watched many, many other foibles, failures and successes.
Please explain how Trump was left to clean up Vietnam? Which other countries, aside from Afghanistan and Syria, is the grifter pulling the military from?
I could go on and rebut each point you bring up, so, I will sum it up-try again with facts, not fiction.
1
@Kodali
"We must read his intentions and not his words or how he is saying." In other words, Trump is incapable of expressing himself clearly.
And we know his intentions. It is to get rich.
1
The US didn’t extend a hand to Russia at the time because they were Communist and the US under Reagan was petrified we would turn Communist too (as if!).
Now we shouldn’t extend a hand to them, given what they are doing around the globe. Read about Magnitsky, then get back to me.
1
Thank you President Trump for Keeping America Safe and Making America First.
Build The Wall Now. Elections have consequences. President Trump won, and those who elected him want Border Security.
Immigration reform may provide a more reliable and reasonable solution. Please consider that the president is elected by some but must be a president of all.
Peace
@Brewster Millions Dear Brewster, Elections do have consequences and we are seeing those consequences-the largest stock market loss in 10 years, haphazard policy in dealing with Syria and Afghanistan, border apprehensions that indicate the sacred wall of Trump is not needed.
I direct your attention to the fact that more people overstay their visas than cross the border illegally, more drugs enter in cargo than are carried across the border, and those hoards of bad hombres invading our border is more Trump gaslighting and con artistry.
Basically, you have been played.
1
@Brewster Millions
Trump lost the election. He won because of a silly Constitutional construct called the Electoral College, which was invented to solve a temporary fuss at the time the Constitution was written.
1
President Trump, we admire your courage and integrity in fulfilling your campaign promises. You are not alone. We are with you.
You saw “courage” and “integrity” in the actions of a putative “leader” who agreed to a deal and then walked away from it when Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh were mean to him on TV and the radio?
Hm.
3
I don't get this sentiments. Make America great again, respected again. What next? Make America american again?
The only way to make America great is to downgrade it and then reverse all damage. If that's a plan, then Trump is doing well. But what about respect? You can't just undo things and gain lost respect. That will not happen any time soon.
Totally fascinating reads in the NYT about Donald Trump (Kevin?) alone at home yesterday and today. He seems in meltdown - and - one might assume is at both his vulnerable and dangerous. Best if the republic can find a way to remove him now, I worry what two more years of Trump- without his more adult advisors - might bring about America and the world. Let me assure you, writing from Germany, a non alcohol drinking ‚leader‘ mainly focused on his base, otherwise undisciplined, getting up late, sending out a couple of conflicting directives, bragging over own accomplishments over dinner and then watching a lot of propaganda TV (or cinema, in our case), I.e. getting high own his own supply, can do a lot of harm. If you can, I would get rid of him now.
1
Oh Andreas, from your lips to God’s ears. If only it were possible.
It is a source of comfort and security that I hope most of us never experience - the delusion that the world's leaders love you, respect you and admire you and that everyone in Washington has been working to undermine your presidency when the reality is so plainly different. Perhaps is now time to 25 the 45th?
3
All alone on Christmas eve? With any luck the ghost of John McCain will appear before Trump and warn him that he will be visited by the spirits of investigations past, present, and future.
3
The holiday season, generally speaking, is to be a time for gatherings amongst family, friends, and fellow holiday well wishers to celebrate the year that has just transpired. Gatherings filled with many moments of joy and happiness. Yet this holiday season, around the country and around the world; there appears to linger an air of caution towards looming crises and uncertainty across several spectrums of most everyone's day to day affairs. How could this be?
Is it only Trump who could be solely to blame for all of this mess? No. It is not. Sadly there are many other players involved in this mess that parry the same techniques as Trump uses, in an attempt to drag the entire world into the swamp. It is ironic that the terms 'gutless' and 'weak' used by individuals that either have supported Trump in the past, or individuals that are still supporters have made those statements. Are they correct to have done so? I leave that to the reader of this comment to decide. However, should the reader of this comment think of it as being correct for those individuals to have called Trump such names, there is just one problem. It was not appropriately used in the correct context for the given situation when stated. Partially shutting down the US Government because no funding for a 'useless' border wall along our entire southern border is just plain absurd. Respect and American security was thrown into shambles when Trump announced those troop reductions and withdrawals. A wall won't help.
2
Perhaps it's a fact that no body likes Donald J. Trump. He seems to misinterpret fear and loathing for warm human feelings. His father might have recognized this when he sent young Donald off to a private military school.
1
The truly intellectually gifted people I have known recognize that the more they know, the greater the amount there is to learn. Making statements such as not believing in climate cannot be challenged as to what he bases this belief on. He will not answer or even acknowledge this question.
This is a good example of many of his self assured pronouncements. What scientific evidence is he basing his belief that a border wall will solve the immigration problem, That pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal because it was one of the worst deals ever made is a conclusion based on what, etc. etc. and on it goes.
There seems to be no accountability to support so many of these declarations he considers the product of his superior mind. I thank the media every day for holding up these autocratic pronouncements to the light of day.
3
The holiday season, generally speaking, is to be a time for gatherings amongst family, friends, and fellow holiday well wishers to celebrate the year that has just transpired. Gatherings filled with many moments of joy and happiness. Yet this holiday season, around the country and around the world; there appears to linger an air of caution towards looming crises and uncertainty across several spectrums of most everyone's day to day affairs. How could this be?
Is it only Trump who could be solely to blame for all of this mess? No. It is not. Sadly there are many other players involved in this mess that parry the same techniques as Trump uses, in an attempt to drag the entire world into the swamp. It is ironic that the terms 'gutless' and 'weak' used by individuals that either have supported Trump in the past, or individuals that are still supporters have made those statements. Are they correct to have done so? I leave that to the reader of this comment to decide. However, should the reader of this comment think of it as being correct for those individuals to have called Trump such names, there is just one problem. It was not appropriately used in the correct context for the given situation when stated. Partially shutting down the US Government because no funding for a 'useless' border wall along our entire southern border is just plain absurd. Respect and American security was thrown into shambles when Trump announced those troop reductions and withdrawals. A wall won't help.
1
Not only did Gen. Flynn sell out his country, so did everyone who voted for Trump. So did every eligible voter who didn’t bother to cast a vote against Trump in 2016. So did every Republican senator and representative who has failed to hold Trump accountable for his crimes against immigrants, campaign finance laws, and his obstruction of justice.
5
The Syrian and Afganistan pullouts along with the cancellation of war games in Korea and the breakdown and pull back of the Pacific Fleet should cover the cost of the Wall especially if he has the military build it. If private contractors build it it will be another Trump bribery and bankruptcy disaster that somehow the Trump family will make money from.
1
Remember. He is the result of an uninformed and uninterested electorate. Over the next two years ALL of us must find someone who will put ALL Americans first. Although we get who we deserve , we certainly deserve someone better than who we have now.
3
@Steve
No, he is the result of a flawed Constitution that nobody will admit needs fixing. Electoral College. Difficult impeachment rules. No "no confidence" rules as Britain has. No term limits for Supreme Court judges.
Trump blaming the Fed for not understanding the market is like Evel Knievel blaming his injuries on his motorcycle. Trump: six bankruptcies. Fed bankruptcies: zero. Trump understands how to use the tools the market provides for his own self interest. Would you lend him money?
2
A solipsist alone on top of the world : my mind and its thoughts are the only true things that exist. I am Goddonald, the master of the universe.
1
Mr. Pence,
Please do Americans a favor and invoke the 25th soon. All the unpaid federal workers, and the ones put on temporary leave during the unnecessary government shutdown, especially need this to happen.
2
The "all alone in the White House/poor me" tweet is telling.
For one thing, he doesn't have to wait on the Democrats, but could take the initiative on border security in more creative ways, including by going over to Capitol Hill, pressing the flesh, and cutting deals (albeit not on Christmas Eve). Obama's reluctance to sully himself with such politicking with Congress hurt his presidency, and Trump is doing a similar thing here. Of course, there is also the more general sense of a victim mentality, which he has ridden all along -- the notion that everyone is out to get him and his base, led by the press and the Democrats. People should not mistake this as merely as a psychological tic. It is political cunning of a sort, and has served Trump pretty well. Still, the psychological dimension of tweeting that line on Christmas Eve shows a core insensitivity to his role as a moral leader of the nation. Stunning. It also suggests that he is beginning to buy the narrative that his presidency is beleaguered. While a lot of people are out there reading scripture and finding fellowship of all kinds during this season, Trump is fulminating on his personal problems as president. It's a tough job, and all presidents deserve some leeway against the impossibly high standards set by Washington and Lincoln. But this is really low by almost any presidential standard.
2
Isn’t clear now? A paranoid individual, all alone, ruminating his very own thoughts... over and over we were warned by mental health professionals, Donald J. Trump has visible mental health issues. Although, there is no treatment for personality disorders. Simply imagine if Trump could be medicated for his mental health issues, we would have to face his untreatable personality disorder. We are caught in this dilemma, for how long? Two more years?
1
no one will stand up to him. not any republicans who are afraid that he will turn people against them and cost them re-election (money). His wife won't suggest anything because she can't divorce him until he leaves office and/or Barron is off to college. At least Chris Christie and others are learning to say no which just leaves enablers left for job applications. I am once again reminded that money rules.
1
I guess there's a nice thing about having to live hand to mouth with an inability to save: I didn't lose anything in the stock market.
Of course, since I won't be able to retire, there'll be more people competing with me for the Walmart greeter position when I am 75 - unless robots will have replaced them too by then.
5
I suppose the "President" has conveniently forgotten that Fed Chair Powell was his appointee, because he couldn't bear to appoint a WOMAN to a second term.
3
A general strike may be the only way to wake the Republicans in Congress from their stupor. Americans should be out in the street protesting until Trump is removed from office. The 25th amendment will not work if the people who control the process, Cabinet members and Congress, are part of the problem.
4
A very wealthy man, holding the most powerful job in the world, actually has the audacity to bemoan his personal situation on Christmas Eve, saying
" poor me" because he is in the American people's mansion for our head of state.
He says he is "alone" there, while staff wait on him and Secret Service personnel also work.
But a daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren have remained in town a few blocks away so they can be nearby and keep him company when he wants. And his wife and youngest son will fly back on Christmas morning to be with him.
Instead of pouting, ranting in tweets, and saying "poor me", why wasn't he spent hours that day visiting our wounded at Walter Reed Hospital?
Why wasn't he handing out blankets and hot soup to the homeless on the streets of DC?
Why wasn't he playing Santa to children and women in My Sister's Place, Ruth's Home or another of the shelters?
Why wasn't he visiting troops stationed on an aircraft carrier or in a war zone, like so many Presidents made certain to do on Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Why did he not send out a tweet acknowledging and thanking the military who are away from their families for months, including the holidays?
What type of a Commander-in-Chief sends out a self pitying tweet that only thinks about himself Xmas Eve that is supposed to be SO sacred for someone who claims to be a member of the Christian religion?
White House decorations don't remind him to give thanks and love!
It is Tragic--for us.
4
It’s just struck me: the 5+ billion Trump wants for his “wall” is his buy-out money for giving up his claim on the White House property. Only after his payoff will he disappear. Negotiations should start immediately; deadline is when new House takes over, really on Jan. 3.
It’s either the buyout or Trump grows more truculent by the hour, you sees.
1
My daughter and I had a conversation about djt. She said," "Mum it's like he's living a movie and he's the director and the star." She's not far from the truth.
He is delusional, irrational and it's getting worse. Impeachment is now imperative.
3
It's late Christmas Eve, I'm 71 and all alone since my dear wife died, relatively broke since my publishing business died in the Bush recession, and there's a snow thunderstorm going on here in the mountains (I'm not actually in LA any more, can't afford it), threatening to knock the electricity out at any moment.
All that said, I feel as if between me and Trump, I'm the happier man by far. Certainly the saner.
Merry Christmas to all.
Not you, Donald.
11
While the country's economy, foreign policy, and reputation continue to decline in an alarming way, and untold innocents are made to suffer, the president bloviates like it's nobody's business. The incongruous manner in which Trump handles policy and legislation demands immediate corrective action. His probable culpability in numerous crimes points to the lawful justification that this aberrant fool be housed in a state or federal prison. To achieve the desired result, all investigations must be fast-tracked to end this atrocity some call governing.
3
I can’t take this much longer. Nothing matters any more. Honor, truth, character, they have been replaced by crude, infantile temper tantrums. America has been hijacked. The person in charge isn’t doing anything to make anything great. He takes down people who disagree with him. He creates chaos wherever he goes. He has no loyalty to anyone but himself. And even frequently sabotages himself. Have him checked by a mental health professional. People are depressed, acting crazy all over the place. I work in mental health we are busier than ever. People are scared, confused, feeling unsafe. And it’s for good reason. We really need to send him home. Come on people this is our life. It’s disorganizing to live like this.
5
Unfortunately for the U.S. and the world, trump
is seriously mentally ill. There is no rationalizing
anything he says and does, because he makes no
sense what-so-ever. To top it off, he is just plain
mean.
We're already seeing the fall out from all of this and
we'll be lucky if we're not attacked and the economy
doesn't completely implode over the next few months.
The scariest part is republicans completely ignore all
this behavior.
Markets are open overseas on our Christmas day and
are in free fall. There is no good news on the horizon,
(unless Mueller comes up without enough to indict
and convict trump, his family, pence) so we can expect
the same for some time to come. This type of volatility
never ends well.
6
This must be beyond Vladimir's wildest dreams. Hard to imagine anyone else doing a more thorough job of dismantling US democracy. And most of the GOP are guilty of allowing Trump to do this .... as they have not stood up firmly to control his dangerous behavior, or alternatively to remove him from office. He is not fit to be a leader of anything.
2
In an earlier article, I had read about the tweet where Trump laments being all alone in the White House "(poor me)". It led me to believe that all of his family had gone down to Florida while he remained in DC. Yet, another article shows the President and First Lady taking calls from children--in the same room--in the WH. How sad that even with his wife there, Trump considers himself "all alone." Sorta explains a lot.
4
I suppose it's asking too much that he'd be visited by three ghosts...
4
We may be respected again. But it's for our enduring the pain Trump has inflicted on the country.
2
Come travel abroad, Trump and mingle with common people, not politicians. You’ll see a certain someone has made America the laughing stock of the world.
2
This character is over the top, 'poor me'. The good thing about Tweety Pie is he is leaving a clear record of his mindless self indulgence for future historians. Unfortunately this is also the bad thing for US. If he didn't have that sneaky fundamentalist vice president as political life insurance, everyone except his 20 or so percent 'base' and the repub legislators on the take from the 'donors' would be calling for his early retirement long before 2020.
3
Objectively speaking, should Trump in a future fit of infantile pique start WWIII and end civilization as we know it, it would be somewhat fitting that Armageddon be brought about by a democratically-elected leader of the United States, which once was rightly described as "the last best hope on earth" (Lincoln) and "a shining city on a hill" (Reagan).
Let's at least try to see the humor in that as the lights go out around the world. And I'd take some solace envisioning Putin, while watching a screen displaying missile arcs going both ways over the North Pole, thinking "Even I didn't think it would come to this."
"God is a comedian playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh." - Voltaire
1
I don't know who his babysitter is but that person should be keeping close watch. God knows no one else is. Do we not have two other branches in this battered democracy to stand up?
2
Some grim wit in this article made me laugh despite myself. Waiting to hear from Santa and instead getting a call from Trump must be just about the biggest letdown I can think of.
2
If there is ever another presidential election, I'm sure the first candidate who swears to never use Twitter will win in a landslide.
4
For Christmas, this man deserves A LUMP OF COAL. Nice, clean American coal.
2
"I am all alone (poor me) ...” wrote trump. Why doesn't he visit some of the memorials and museums in the Mall down the street? Lincoln and Jefferson might inspire him. Washington might remind him of his youth. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed by Maya Lin? trump just stay away. My vote? The National World War II Memorial. He got mad at me when I wanted him to talk about it but a knew a man who was a young soldier at the battle of Bastogne. He's no longer here but I can not even imagine his loneliness on this Christmas Day in 1944. trump doesn't know what it's like to be alone because he can always buy his company but my friend suffered because he believed in America.
59
@carlo1 the mall is a National Park, so it was closed last night. Not entirely sure if it is fenced off, but the bathrooms were closed and the park rangers were furloughed. Sad! he couldn’t visit for inspiration.
7
Donald why don't you put down your phone, stop tweeting and go be with family. Or are you truly the Grinch? Let the world turn without you tonight. Wish people a Merry Christmas, since it is so important to you that we all say that without interference from those peaky "Happy Holidays" people who have been so annoyingly politically correct in your view. Now is the time to say it: Merry Christmas. And while you are at it how about adding "Peace on Earth, Good Will to all."
19
While Santa is distributing gifts to bring smiles on faces, Trump is cursing everyone but himself to spoil the Christmas eve joy of others.
37
I just watched the 1951 cinema version of Dickens "A Christmas Carol" this evening. I have enjoyed this Christmas tradition for many years, the central figure is the character "Scrooge". Watching tonight however, I felt this is the embodiment of Donald J. Trump. In the movie a redemption occurs, which in real life unfortunately, will never occur. My thoughts are with all Americans this joyous night.
91
Thank you for your good wishes. We need all the good wishes we can get. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
3
Nice thought because the ghost of the Donald past might just be Mr Mueller. We'll see what comes of that, but I'm not optimistic.
1
Dear Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi:
Please let Mr. T have his wall (way). Taxpayers will foot the 4 billion when Mr. T puts up the first billion dollars. Offer to call it Trump’s Great Gift to America First. Or perhaps, T’s first Great Gift to America.
It would be a cool stimulus plan. After 2020 we could then invest in the dismantling of such a wall and use the bricks for other infrastructure. Bridgebulding would be cool. Sort of like material symbolism for all the bridge building America will have to to with its Allies and Treaty Members.
53
Trump is now completely as delusional as Nixon was in the final months leading up to his resignation. What is even more terrifying is that Congress is unwilling or unable to act upon its responsibility to curtail his activities. At least in the Nixon era, there were members of Congress who took their responsibility seriously and put an end to the madness. What will it take for the Republicans to realize that the current situation extremely dangerous for us and our allies? The first order of business for the incoming House of Representatives should be to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.
146
Trump who famously said that "you can say Merry Christmas again" turned Christmas into Festivus - the holiday for airing grievances created by and made famous on the Seinfeld show.
85
Shouldn't have left Trump alone in the White House. No telling what damage he may do. It would have been preferable to board him at the vet clinic.
164
The biggest favor Mattis can do for our country before leaving office is invoke the 25th Amendment. When the president puts his own desires before national security as Trump has done, then that president is unfit for office. What is Mattis waiting for?
61
Can anyone other than the VP invoke the 25th? My understanding is that the answer is no, but I’ve found explanations on this matter to be unclear. One plausible but disturbing explanation for an “adult in the room” such as Mattis NOT invoking the 25th—or for the House not to impeach in 2019—is the specter of a President Pence.
From a broader historical vantage point, this is a moment in which we would expect to see a political coup, perhaps bloodless but certainly backed by military force, followed by the installation of a moderate “uniting” figure who may or may not be the figurehead of a junta or strongman. This prospect offers an explanation to “deep state” propaganda as preemptive defense against such a coup attempt.
Another scenario is a “humanitarian intervention” by a neighboring country, such as Vietnam invading Kampuchea/Cambodia to depose the Khmer Rouge. THIS scenario actually offers a logical explanation for the wall and the trade wars. I could just be paranoid (as American a disease as opioid addiction and childhood obesity!) but seen in this light, the policies and personal behavior of this man (and his enablers) are those of a hostile agent ordered to undermine the functioning of the state and public confidence in the government.
That a coup hasn’t happened yet should be no indication that it’s particularly unlikely to happen. We are clearly in uncharted territory, flying blind, and completely rudderless, to mix just a few metaphors.
1
How can he think America is respected again. From my friends abroad I hear that the world is laughing at us and looking at us with disdain. He is certainly destroying all the things that have made us great. How much longer must we put up with him?
128
@vivian Here in Europe, Trump is regarded with utter contempt. Few can believe how someone as obviously ignorant of history, diplomacy and even basic literacy could have been elected to the White House. For all our sakes, it's time he was gone.
8
We are all preaching to the converted in these comments on another preposterous and frightening day in the Trump presidency. And yet, the base endures. That is the confounding mystery of our times.
145
@Andrew
Point well taken. To me,the fact that an irrational Trump cult exists isn't as confounding as the sheer number of people who are still cult members. But then again, recent history is replete with instances of entire populations getting caught up in cultic thinking, from Germany to Cambodia to North Korea. Thank God for our system of checks and balances, as well a deeply rooted tradition of rationality and critical thinking. (Not to sound naïve. Quaint perhaps but yes, our country's Enlightenment legacy still influences our thinking, albeit not always in plain view.) They system is holding things in place, despite the loonies and extremists.
3
@Andrew - I would share your confusion if I hadn't finally gotten around to reading Harper's Index today. Sourcing Gallup, they tell us that 30 percent of Democrats prefer that the congressional majority and the president be of the same party. For Republicans that desire nearly doubles, to 59 percent.
Some people just need an enemy. Considering the powers granted to us by the limitless capabilities, the lethal combination of creative genius and opposable thumbs, we can tinker with ourselves at the primordial soup level or make the whole planet uninhabitable with the push of a button.
How we decide to handle those options while in search of a better way is an ethical dilemma that, barring extinction, will eventually have to be dealt with as a condition of the survival of our species.
We simply cannot continue to be at each others throats over resources and ideology and not employ our available technology for the greater good.
Trump, like many leaders before him, is the distillation of the Seven Deadlies personified, the worst of which is the lust for power at any cost that has subverted our democracy over the past several decades. Blind allegiance to such a leader, that confounding mystery to which you have alluded, must be repudiated.
That repudiation must begin on January 3rd, 2019.
1
I am a little confused ..One of the tirade O' tweets state the dems. stonewalling will end up costing more than the wall...Yet another tweet says the wall could be paid for with shut down money ? Am I supposed to understand the shutdown savings will pay for the wall ? But the shut down by dems .will cost the price of a wall ? Sorry to ask, but it just seems so, ummm , trumpish ?
50
Donald Trump is the maestro of chaos and confusion at a time when the world appears to be in disarray, and as the world turns to the USA for direction, it finds itself aghast. I would remind Donald Trump that true leadership requires more, more possibly than he is able to fathom, because his whole life has been given over to unruliness and disruptiveness; and this lack of order in his life makes it difficult for him to act with discernment and precision. However, one of the most sincere forms of respect, is actually listening to what another person has to say and then taking the time to reflect upon what they have said to you. Tolerance only for those who agree with you is no tolerance at all. It would behove Donald Trump to give to every other human being, every right that he claims for himself. But for all those who admire Donald Trump, please be aware that nothing is more despicable than respect based upon fear.
44
So many posters here saying Trump is crazy, gone off the deep end, etc.
What if he’s not.
Seems to me his actions are in complete accord with Putin’s wishes: destabilizing the markets and putting fear into capitalism; allowing the Russians to be bigger players in the Mideast; wrecking decades old Western Alliances; and putting a big dent in the concept of American Democracy.
Crazy? Or the sellout traitor right under our nose?
123
I agree. Seems as though Donald is the most effective agent of Russia's foreign policy since . . . I don't know when. An outsider looking in would have to conclude that the POTUS is doing pretty much what the Russian leadership wants, ie to destabilise the west
5
I do not see it any other way. The facts have never changed my opinion they have only made it more certain and disturbing as to why the checks have not put a stop to it. instead it's like the Republican party is mesmerized watching the mushroom cloud of a nuclear bomb.
3
@Mickey Kronley It's not either/or.
3
"America Is Respected Again!"
Maybe it's time for Macron and other world leaders to publicly and explicitly refute this claim.
65
Methinks DJT is staying put in the White House because he’s afraid someone will change the locks on him. We are almost at a tipping point.
75
We've passed the tipping point.
2
Trump is the proverbial pigeon one should never play chess with - no matter what one does, the oblivious pigeon is going to strut around the board thinking it’s won.
25
What reality does Trump live in? Can he even comprehend what is truth and what is fiction?
34
You would think the family would take pity on the poor long suffering Donny. I guess empathy is not a family strong point.
25
@GUANNA love is the trait that binds that family together.
Ok, it's love of money above all else, but love none the less .
1
Why doesn’t twitter just cut him off for violating its policies? I’m sure they have one related to offensive language. I mean, what could he do to Twitter? Fire it?
30
@Babac he attracts users. Users means you can sell af space.
This isn't all that complicated
Sadly, this poor wretched soul will be 'in house' for longer than many around the world can humanly comprehend.
Think of all the needless suffering...it is indeed upon us now.
18
Mr. Trump is alone in the velvet prison known as the White House by choice. His family business is being investigated. He can't hid is past transgressions.
14
To Republicans in the U.S. Senate: Isn't it finally time to admit that the 25th Amendment should be invoked?
54
You guessed it. There is no such thing as "shutdown money".
Unpaid government employees should pay for his wall by being denied the right to work on behalf of the nation?
Famous for stiffing -- not paying the wages and bills of workers and contractors -- he, the cheater beloved by the dimwittted until he walk out out on his diner bill or drives off with paying for the gas, thinks -- i can use the money I cheated these workers out of to pay for my real estate fraud project.
nope.
But we all knew that.
37
Will we know when he starts to talk to the paintings on the wall. We dont need a psychiatrist to tell us this guy is bonkers. Wish we had someone with more backbone than Pence to invoke the 25th. Often one feels empathy for people that are intellectually and emotionally challenged. I guess that changes when he has the nuclear football and has never heard of nuclear winter. Please just get rid of him.
40
WE! WE! WE THE PEOPLE
Ushered this man into the White House. All 48% of elligible voters who sat out the 2016 election.
What did you expect?
27
Trump's cabinet will do him - and the country - a huge favor by putting an end to this misery. Please. You must know there is no good end to this.
25
Of course donald trump is very insane when he rants about $25 billion in border security and declares his wall will be built with Shutdown dollars, whatever that is. trump flails inanely, while our world standing and ecconomy tanks at his direction. Everyone should note that trump eats his meatloaf on White House china, he rides in motorcade, he files in Marine 1 and Air Frorce 1. To play golf. He spends most mornings in Executive Time to watch TV and twitter. He and his family costs $100 million to protect every year he's in office. All for an incompetent, sick person who can attract only 4th-class aides, whom he ignores to begin with. donald trump is not close to presidential stature. The only realistic course is to remove this blight on the landscape.
63
Twas the night before Christmas,
and through the White House,
No one else was present, not even his spouse.
He then took to Twitter,
to rant and to rave
at the Dems and the Fed
who knew how to behave
Far better than he.
A man with no thoughts,
no class and no sense
to know that most people
would prefer Michael Pence
25
“AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!”
Not a chance! Speaking as a citizen of Canada, your favourite whipping boy, I can assure you this is definitely not the case. Continued beatings will not improve our attitudes.
69
The Repubicans would benefit from getting together a group of mental health recognized experts to assist them with understanding what they are dealing with. Then they might be able to act with knowledge instead of being paralyzed with uncertainty, or deep in denial. But it is best to understand from professionals where you are and what you are up against. It would take a great weight away and give them direction.
Compassion is appropriate on Christmas eve.
36
The hillarious thing (in a fairly dark way) is that it took him about 3 days to actually figure out that the Secretary of Defense had strongly criticized him in the resignation letter. And I imagine he didn't actually figure it out -- someone told him.
137
FOX News explained it to him. You are correct...he did not and could not figure it out on his own.
3
@Mary
Do you think he actually took the time to read it?
What seems to be a glaring omission in the comments so far is that the american voter, with the american political system, elevated this man to the presidency. Perhaps Trump is not a cause, but rather an effect....
36
@Martin
I think of this often, but cannot hold such thoughts in my head for long for fear of slitting my wrists.
14
Thoughts on Christmas Eve:
Trump is a scarier, up-to-date version of Scrooge rattling around his accounting firm besieged by phantoms of his own making.
It remains to be seen whether the ending will be Dickensian or like Stephen King.
Pray for the former.
33
Don't leave out Game of Thrones which provides a variety of ending scenarios that would be intriguing.
2
No. It is decidedly not.
Remember his appearance at the U.N.? When he declared that his admin had accomplished more than just about any previous admin?
They laughed at him. The delegates and leaders of the entire world laughed out loud.
They did it again today.
90
This drama is a tragic one. There are no easily found redeeming notes in this story. Perhaps some reflection alone will help Trump to gather his thoughts for tomorrow.
We all wait for the Republican party to come to its senses and recover its spine.
Perhaps a bit of Christmas grace will seep into the situation. How about a small Christmas miracle?
20
Is there no one in the administration or in his family to prevent Mr. Trump from degrading and criticizing those serving our country? I frankly don't know what to expect of him from moment to moment! He is ready to even fire the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. It's time for US to stand up and force him to resign or to impeach him. He certainly isn't making us great again. He is shaming us in every corner of the world. And he is hurting those very people that voted for him monetarily.
33
I don’t know how much more evidence the members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, need to take action to remove Trump! The man is unable to responsibly discharge the duties of the office of the president and is dangerous! God help us all.
26
'Poor me.' trump must have realized that his 'billions' have dwindled to mere millions and all in the past six months, during his greatest-president-of-all-time tenure.
17
Trump: “AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!”
He's obviously gone stark raving mad.
Prima facie evidence for the 25th amendment.
51
The Home Alone president doesn't get my sympathy. That is reserved for the thousands of immigrant children without their families or homes. My holiday wishes also go to all the federal workers who don't know when they will get their next paychecks.
Most presidents have happily stayed in the White House and celebrated the holiday with their families. Where does it say in Trump's contract that he must have one fourth of his presidency at his own golf resorts?
Imagine George Washington moaning about his Christmas at Valley Forge.
58
Hmmmm...
It it his choice to be alone today and tomorrow.
Congress is home until Thursday-he can be in Florida-his office travels with him.
Please somebody explain the fundamentals:
-He should stop waiting on Democrats to come to the table
-His party and his party alone currently owns the power-he needs to talk with Mitch.
-We did not elect Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter or Laura Ingram-lets all contact our actual representatives and let’s give them the support to act.
12
There can no longer be any doubt that 45 is in the pocket of (and receiving direct orders from) a foreign power whose ultimate intent is to disable and destroy America. Literally everything he says and does seems expertly and precisely designed to create maximum chaos and damage to our nation.
39
OK folks, this has gone far beyond insanity. Anyone who has watched one of the many documentaries about the Jonestown disaster should recognize the voice of Jim Jones in the verbiage of our unhinged "President." Although Jones was far more articulate...
23
Benjamin Franklin perhaps said it best more than 200 years ago: we’d been granted ‘a Republic if you can keep it.’
The Trump presidency is the greatest challenge to our Republic since then.
25
Oddly enough, Mueller may be the one to make Trump's dreams of a wall come true. Indeed, he might possibly give Trump not just "a" wall but four! Orthogonally positioned. three of cinder blocks and the fourth of steel bars.
33
Respec is earned. I the USA - the people and the country has earned respected in the world.
Unfortunately we currently have a President who has not earned any respect and deserves none.
9
I wonder what psychologists have to say about Mr. Trump's mental state. It appears, both from his tweets and the news reporting sourced from anonymous White House insiders, that he is having some emotional difficulties, but I'm not a psychologist or mental health professional.
17
From the article: Mr. Trump said on Twitter that a “complete” border wall would be paid for with “shutdown money.”
This fool now thinks that the shutdown will save the federal government billions in unpaid salaries, which can be leveraged for his farcical wall. He's gone from Mexico paying for it to government workers paying for it.
Ever the fraudster, he now wants to bilk federal employees out of their jobs and U.S. taxpayers out of their government services.
40
I never thought Pence would look as good as he’s looking right this very moment.
9
Let's not get too comfortable with Mr Pence. I'm betting the Mueller report finds Pence complicit in the conspiracy to undermine the elections and our security.
4
As much as I understand your intent, please speak with people from the State of Indiana. Pence is a different villian.
3
Careful of what you wish for. He's quietly lying in wait.
3
I guess Trump better get busy enacting that 10% tax cut for the middle class he promised. That would very certainly improve the economy, too bad it was just another lie.
11
He is not alone, inside that little mind of his is an entire village of people talking to him.
The only real problem is that he's talking back.
19
Trump has passed "unhinged", is currently "unglued", and is heading toward "full tilt bozo" (R.I.P Robin Williams).
Today's statements sound like they're coming from a delusional and depressed hermit. Trump's ego will NOT let him step down, so the world will see the total meltdown of a US president.
At some point Republicans will HAVE to act. To trigger the fourth part (from USA Today "Eight things to know about the 25th Amendment") :
"The vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could declare the president unable to “discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If the president disputes that determination, two-thirds of both the House and the Senate must vote to put the vice president in charge. In addition, lawmakers can designate through legislation an alternative group – other than the Cabinet – that the vice president could work with to declare a president unable to serve."
It's complicated, the situation would be past "spinning out of control", and the same barrier that's gotten us to this point would still exist ... Republicans are unwilling to do anything that might offend Trump's base and cost them votes. At the rate Trump's mind is failing - and with two years left - we'll see what it takes to make Republicans put country over party.
56
@chris87654 The catch is, once we get him out, then we get Pence. It will be a miracle if we make it to 2020 without internecine bloodshed in the streets and incoming missile strikes from all sides.
1
The problem with that is who in his right mind, would like to end up with Pence as president?
2
Way past time to shut him up and get him out of the White House. Surely the Republican Congress has made enough money now (for themselves) that they can focus on removing this mentally ill and dangerous man from any position of power.
34
Increasingly isolated, openly laughed at by other world leaders, threatened with criminal prosecution, faced with a tanking stock market and and hearing now vocal opposition from the GOP....Donald Trump is getting for Christmas exactly what he deserves.
88
@James Mazzarella
Not so. If he were getting the Christmas he deserves, he wouldn't have any plans after Christmas Day.
2
Pro tips for Trump - stop wasting your time whine-tweeting and spend it on the phone fixing the problems. And try reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which you must have missed at Wharton.
Sometimes I think venting here on NYT is useless, but then I remember - apparently I have the same chance to effect change in Trump as does a four star Warrior Monk general with 20 + years of combat experience.
31
Our POTUS is having a very public, pity party and meltdown in front of the entire world advertised 24/7 on TWITTER.
This might be funny if he wasn’t in charge of our country and all those nuclear codes.
54
There's a ton of disgusted, horrified, outraged, exhausted
verbiage being served up in these comments about
Trump's latest weirdo episode.
Let's keep it simple.
The man is nuts.
Remove him *now*.
68
@Ah, So
Well put.
3
Perhaps, in his solitude, three spirits will visit Drumpf and give him an opportunity for redemption. . . Who am I kidding? Redemption is not within Drumpf’s purview.
16
Why are paying this man to spend all day playing golf, eating, lying, watching Fox and Friends and tweeting?
67
HE IS TRYING TO RUIN THIS HOLIDAY. Resign!
13
Here it is Christmas Eve and our president has gone 'round the bend. Silent night, holy hell. When can we stop being held hostage to this man's insane reality TV presidency? Let's Make America Sane Again.
41
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't his wife and youngest son return to D.C. from Palm Beach so that the family could be together for Christmas? Did he not notice?
26
The “stable genius” strikes yet again.
22
Trump doesn't celebrate Christmas; he's stuck in the Festivus episode of "Seinfeld."
13
@Ann Steeves
Is it time for the feats of strength?
1
Reminiscent of Nixon in his final days as president. But Nixon was less crazy.
41
A 4-hour Twitter tirade, doesn't this person have a job?
There are many people in this country who are REALLY alone tonight because of many of Mr trumps policies...the Tax Reform bill for one, the trump-shutdown for two, and the immigrant children locked up in cages for another.
So please, enough with the alligator tears flowing from the White House about being alone. No one wants to hear it.
In fact, if Mr trump sat down, took his fingers off the twitter buttons, and thought about other people instead of just himself he might have more friends.
27
Trump will win in 2020 unless the 18-26 YO demographic get off their duffs and vote!
They are great at the protest rally, free concert and poetry slam.. come election day they are NO SHOWS!
From what I see.. many American kids 18-26 who are destined to live in their parents' spare bedroom will more than likely vote "neo-populist" in 2020.
That means 4 more years of Trump.
6
@Aaron He won’t win and it’s pretty likely that he won’t actually run.
7
The democrats, republicans, and media need to stop responding to his rants. The very best thing that they can do is leave his comments hanging out there for him to face. Then he can't focus on the responses to his comments. His blathering are counter measures--he shields himself with responses to the tweets. If we want him to come to terms with his thinking, let the tweets bounce around in his head while he is "all alone".
13
I thought the Revolution was fought so that we would never again suffer under the yoke of a mad king. Seems that lesson has been lost to history. Since we can no longer dump tea in a harbor, what can be done to focus the attention of our negligent Congress to the danger? When will it be too late before the damage is irreparable?
21
All alone. Sequestered. Isolated. Sounds like Ebenezer Scrooge.
“Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. Dickens describes him thus: ‘The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.’ “
22
Like our own Madness of King George saga. But in the era of mass communications and nuclear arms.
15
The Founders wanted to avoid the history with Monarchs in Europe. Part of the enlightenment but with nothing equal to our parties, they came up with impeachment and the 25th amendment was later added to avoid violatent overthrow of a President who is a danger to the country whether through actual crimes or other acts (high crimes and misdimeanors). They assumed that the next election would solve the problems that impeachment did not catch assuming an intelligent electorate that they did not trust. The original electors could reject the popular vote.
It's looking more and more that they were gravely misguided men.
Two more years of this madness. Why should the people suffer it from a President who did win the popular vote but won because of the a misfire by the Electoral College a small state power grab the Founders included.
Ben Franklin said a revolution from time to time is a good thing.
14
Mr. Trump, Go to Fox news and host the Christmas day programming all day. They need anchors tomorrow, and you can be closer to your base Live and entertain rest of us.
20
He ALONE is ruining things!
12
"I am all alone (me)." That pretty well sums up Trump's borderline personality disorder. No ability to make real attachments. No ability to empathize. Everything processed with the filter of friend or foe, based on whether someone or something parrots his own narcissistic perspective. Bullying as a method of control. And we made him President, the most powerful man in the world (by our action or inaction). So we have to remove this madman now, through impeachment. How can anyone think that it is safe to let him continue his mindless rants and actions?
56
I’m glad to see someone else mention Borderline Personality Disorder. Earlier in my life, I was married to someone with it, and recognize the symptoms. It’s amazing to me that there hasn’t been more in the press about this. I’ve never doubted that he he has it, and it’s very dangerous for all of us. Instead of throwing plates when he has a “fit”, he can launch nuclear weapons.
23
@Beachbum6556
I absolutely agree that trump very likely has borderline personality. im sure growing up very much an unurtured boy with a narscissist father and likely checked out mother had something to do with this.
unfortunately there is no cure for BPD so his erratic, unstable behavior will continue on until hes thrown out.
1
Donald Trump: A one-man Ministry of Truth.
7
Don't forget the tweet photo of him "signing a bill" that is actually a blank piece of paper. These things would have been scandals under other administrations, but are just part of the daily lunacy from this guy.
25
I have a slogan for the next Democrat presidential candidate:
American reborn.
12
Here's what worries me. DT is a master of distraction. And war is the ultimate distraction.
19
If America is "respected again," it is because outside observers are noticing just how many of our citizens are loudly and proudly opposed to everything our current presidents says and does. There are all sorts of demonstrations opposing just about everything this many comes up with. If we are to truly be universally respected, we will move to the ultimate sign of morality: we will impeach and remove this buffoon, and soon.
23
Idiot.
42
It’s well past time for Twitter to shut down Trump’s account. They are a private business that is basically giving an unbalanced president a megaphone to make ludicrous, unvetted statements that move markets and undermine national security. He will surely find a different way, but why are they aiding and abetting him?
49
@Towansa Whitby
Without Twitter we would not have evidence of his total unsuitability to lead our country. I believe that Twitter enables us to bear witness to his presidency in ways that most likely would be hidden from us otherwise.
1
OMG, he sounds so pathetically pitiful!
But are supposed to feel sorry for him?
9
@Paul-A,
Any pity reserves trump had evaporated way back when he and his daddy were successfully sued by The United States for racist rental practices.
For me anyway.
What he did to Ivana was pretty reprehensible too.
6
It’s darker this Christmas Eve than usual. Humor is our best defense now. Trump’s words and actions, poor he, have stirred the readers’ comic takes. Thanks to readers all; I never chuckled more on the night before Christmas.
8
The depth of the ignorance of this narcissistic sociopath is unfathomable. The spineless Republican Congress deserves the blame for failing to rectify this dangerous situation we are in.
28
He's insane. Merry Christmas!
25
Donald Trump does not have a "feel" for the Presidency.
8
This is an angry child; lashing out, because he isn't golfing in Florida. When he is miserable, then the world must be miserable. He has zero respect for, or understanding of the office for which he's entrusted.
26
What, no Merry Christmas from Mr war on Christmas? Had enough yet Trumpian lemmings?
17
The only visitation that President Trump needs this Christmas Eve is somebody to come in to the White House and tell him to finally shut up. His endless and embarrassing tweets are a menace to the country and his continuous bellowing does no good to our nation or to our economy.
My guess is that his wife has given up on trying to tell him that being silent is better than looking like a complete imbecile, but he will probably end up alone in the future because nobody will be able to tolerate being near him anymore even with his money .
Maybe the Republicans in Congress who seem to love him so much should come to the White House and spend Christmas week with our Idiot in Chief … And maybe then they'll finally figure out that it's time for them to protect the country than their own perceived self interests.
This will all be irrelevant after Robert Mueller's findings are revealed. And when they are, we will see who really cares about America .
12
No, the only visit he needs is a man in a white coat wielding a straight jacket.
25
All alone, poor me! Do some good for a change - work in a soup kitchen, visit the wounded warriors at Walter Reed, go to church and pray for the country, be thankful for all you have. Grow up Mr. self-absorbed, shallow person. Look around and see what chaos and mayhem you have gifted to the country without any sense you care.
29
As soon as the New House is seated, it's time for a "no confidence" vote (25th amendment) for both him and the V.P.
The Pied Piper of Washington is walking us off a cliff. and not metaphorically.
18
Imagine what history would be like of Nixon we're a criminal AND an incompetent leader....
Fade to today.
8
@inverse137 Well I never thought I'd see the day when I felt Nixon looked like anything but corrupt and awful, but compared to Trump he looks deserving of sainthood. Just so bizarre, unacceptable this despicable man and hopefully his end is neigh.
11
Everyone whose heart is bleeding: raise your hand.
We're waiting.
9
I imagine trump stewing over some guy named Jesus Christ getting all the attention today when trump is the real victim.
34
To paraphrase Mr B Bunny - "What a Maroon"
17
Poor you?
Hey! Daycare Donny! My investents are down 22% because if your incompetence!
23
Trump thinks history will look back on him as misunderstood at the time but appreciated after the fact.
How'd that work out for Nixon?
Nixon, at leeast, was a competent leader in addition to being a criminal.
Trump? Not so much
14
I hope to wake up on New Years day and learn that this has been a horrible, sick, disturbing nightmare.
Alas (poor us), it is a nightmare, disturbing and horrible, but it is all too real.
Please, Republicans, make it stop, for all our sakes...
J
17
Somehow, I suspect his "wife" isn't all that broken up that they are in two different locations for Christmas.
13
The Scrooge at Christmas! Perhaps he will have a visitation.
America is indeed "respected" now, similar to the way that everyone keeps as far as possible from the knife-wielding, drooling madman flailing out from the corner of the room.
4
"America is respected again." A lunatic.
16
It is obviously "opposite day."
9
Any President expressing "poor me" is a priori unfit for office. If the President refuses to resign or step aside as others have done, it is the duty of the Cabinet and Congressional leaders to use the process defined by the 25th Amendment to remove him to preserve the safety and security of the USA. The balance of the tweets, statements and blaming provide confirmation of his thinking; his actions prove it. Further discussion and delayed action clearly exposes all Americans and the rest of the world to serious harm. It is difficult to overstate this. Emotional arguments, diversions and noise must now be set aside so that our Constitutional trustees can act, and we must be ready to support their critical and unpresidented decision. At this point any attempt to reason with Trump allowing him to step down will not be addressed rationally, exposing America to increasing danger every day. Act now, as your oaths require.
18
A comedy writer couldn't pen more apt words! Seriously, "I am all alone poor me." And this coming from the US president who is a genius at creating chaos and mayhem across the globe. At least when Macaulay Culkin was 'home alone' he had the smarts to formulate a plan and outwit the crooks. Perhaps Hollywood should consider a movie about a president who is trapped alone in the White House during a snowstorm at Christmas. A box office hit in the making!
15
The thought of this mad man wandering around the White House alone makes me think of The Shining. Instead of pounding away mindlessly on a typewriter, he's preoccupied with his phone. Hope there aren't any axes around...
17
I understand that daycare Donny isn't the most intelligent man time hold the office eif president of the United States, but I didn't realize that the basic concept that right now the GOP is the controlling party.
I mean, his understanding of how are system of government works isn't that lacking, right?
7
Seriously. Think of this. It's Christmas Eve, and a 71 year old's family has chosen to be elsewhere. There's a lot to unpack in that notion, not much of it good.
30
@Rob Mills, but be honest, not really that shocking....
8
No one in the entire world respects The United States any longer. My father was at Pearl Harbor and fought at Midway and the South Pacific. I served our country in Virt Nam. The coward in the White House should resign immediately. He is a disgrace and his ignorance will doom us.
32
Daycare Donny running through the halls unsupervised again.
15
Good lord! How much longer do we have to put up with this delusional embarrassment of a President?
Does he honestly believe that America is respected again, when he is the laughingstock of the world? Most of our allies consider Trump to be utterly incompetent.
Resign, please, as soon as possible.
28
Madmen do not resign.
8
Respected again.
Not really, it isn't like we were trying to corner the world market on blatant stupidity, it was a no charge extra that came with the last Presidential election.
9
America is respected again? It's more like nations are wary of America, in the way one is wary of a rabid animal.
13
I am reminded of Much Ado About Nothing, and Beatrice's first words: I wonder, Signor Benedict, why you are still talking? Nobody marks you.
10
Ah, when will the first ghost visit him?
18
“I’m all alone, poor me.” Isn’t this a doomsday scenario? Loon President feeling sorry for himself calls for the suitcase with the codes.
9
"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"
12
All you need to know about Trump’s incompetence and direct responsibility for the swoon in the markets is that he feels there are “necessary Trade Wars”.
8
@1954Stratocaster,
You just don't understand! Apparently we need a 20% + drop in the markets as well.
Relax....we have a "stable genius" in charge. I mean...look how many times he's survived bankriptcy! If he can do it so can you!
6
I think your headline perfectly summarizes America's trump presidency experiment:
"‘America Is Respected Again!’ Trump Tweets as Allies Question His Leadership."
Total cognitive dissonance. Two separate and distinct narratives that can never intersect. A failure so complete that it may not even qualify being called governing.
8
All alone in the White House, huh? Maybe it's the night he'll have a Dickensian moment with three visitors to get his attention.
10
Astrophysicists warn that the universe is rapidly filling to the brim with Trump’s grievances. Simply listing the topics he doesn’t whine about won’t fix this problem but it does make it easier on the rest of us as we await Armageddon.
8
He boasted Mexico would pay for the wall why hasn't he got the cheque from their Government after all he is the master of The Art Of The Deal. The wall should be half built by now under his grand plan.
13
@Bev-- Today he actually said that the SHUTDOWN would pay for the wall. He has lost his mind.
7
“America reviled again” from “Home Alone”. Would serving turkey dinners to the unfortunate help DJT clear his thoughts?
7
Its a complete shame the world has to witness such delusional psychosis. His abuse of others and utter disregard for his educated elders.
His kindergarten antics from the largest most respected podium in the world have a cascade effect to all points and persons in society. From high echelons of society, other world leaders, Monarchs etc, to the lowest crook and fraudsters out there.
They feel because of Trump that no matter how they behave their is no one to keep them in check. The crooks, fraudsters peddle their trades more freely, almost as if Trump and his untethered ways are given them license to be bolder and braver in their endeavours. Trump is the dream standard bearer, the flag waver and hero of all that is wrong with societies moral compass and shows the way for more. Trump is unaccountable, he feels untouchable, his ability to add lie to more lies, false quotes and total lack of policy understanding and his acts of starting a bigger fire to distract from the original fire of his causing, will in time lead only to chaos.
Mr Mueller I hope you have enough evidence to finish his term quickly.
The world looks on and each country once in awe of the USA and to some respect kept in check by its power and influence, are starting to see that without diplomacy and leadership and respect from the top that, America like a once strong but fair teacher in classroom... the children however have seen behind the curtains and no more can order be restored.
Nobody is listening now
11
A casino is a place where people go to throw their money away, quite literally.
This whiner went bankrupt in an environment in which people expect very little or nothing for their money.
And, now, we see how
13
"America is respected again!" Yeah, in some alternate universe somewhere. It's statements like these that show again and again how completely out of touch with reality 45* is.
12
Odds are Santa is going to skip the White House this year. Donald would probably turn him over to I.C.E. anyway.
22
@Seabrook
He has coal for xmas. Maybe he will get enough for his wall. He has certainly been bad enough.
he's alone - no more alone than he's been every night in the WH bedroom....
11
I continued to be deeply embarrassed by Trump. I’m going to take these days between Christmas & New Year’s to decompress.
10
This is a response to Trump's tweet "AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!" I have had the good fortune to travel in South and Southeast Asia over the past year, as well as parts of Europe. In Sri Lanka and Thailand I had many upscale citizens of those countries tell me that they had been planning to send their children to the United States for college, but since Donald Trump became President they have cancelled on that because they view him as mentally unstable and dangerous, and are alarmed by the uptick in racist violence in our country. In Europe I sat on a flight next to a member of the UN High Commission on Human Rights who wanted my sense of how much citizens of the United States are aware of the enormous loss of trust and prestige the US had suffered in just the first (then) year-and-a-half of the Trump Administration. Trump is turning our first-among-equals country into a rogue nation. Putin must be ecstatic.
41
@Mark Sprecher Your service people will be respected for their service while I can only speak for myself it is understood a man who has never served his country in the armed services tweeted that he would withdraw troops who are supporting the Kurds fighting ISIS in Syria cannot begin to imagine how those troops feel walking away and leaving the Kurds behind as ISIS is not beaten and now Turkey who regard the Kurds as a big problem are going to move into the area the US troops are leaving. What will happen next will be watched by the world. When I was travelling on a train in your country there was a young serviceman in the same carriage and everyone in the carriage got up and shook his hand (it was not packed) when I walked past him to get a coffee I stopped and said I am an Australian we don't go up to our service people but I wish you a safe journey he smiled and and said "you too mam". Think the best you can do is to continue to continue to thank your service people and they are political pawns.
8
It's time for the the nice young men in their clean white coats. Someone mentioned awhile back that Trump would either be escorted out in handcuffs, carried out on a gurney or guided out in a straight jacket. We could start a holiday lottery as to which it might be. Think of the funding we could generate for the "WALL"!
Truly, dark humor is about all that's left at this point. Well, I s'pose it's a jolly Christmas at the Faux News Factory.
10
The correct description for our president is a mental patient extraordinaire, he is way past strait jacket, my advise to everyone in the administration and especially Jared is to get out ASAP, the president is on a acid hallucination trip, and the brain is becoming unraveled.
9
If you scripted this pure madness in movie, no one would deem it believable as fiction!
It is way past time the Republicans grew a spine and forced this sad, dangerous individual out of the White House.
12
Liar! Our allies have lost all respect for America. Trump has demeaned, used foul language and just generally betrayed our allies in the name of our enemies, tyrants like Putin and Saudi murderers -his people.
11
The more I read the less sense He makes. Then I realized marijuana is legal in DC.
6
Nope! Do not blame this on pot!
(It might help him chill if he had some!)
8
I feel sorry for this guy. He is inadequately prepared to govern. He doesn't trust even his most knowledgeable advisers. His judgment is flawed. He seems to be flailing. Why not have former presidents Carter, Bush, Clinton, Obama form a rescue committee of four to help him get thru his term. Our country need to be rescued.
10
Here I am alone at home (poor me). I can't take it anymore. In 2020 we will vote for a new president.
I will pretty much vote for anyone who promises to restrict twitter to passing on good wishes for the holidays and announcements like a turkey pardon.
Please let us stop having twitter be a mechanism for policy.
Please find me a president who sometimes shares nothing. Covfefe.
11
So, my hypothesis; Trump is doing the "crazy man" act with Mueller and the rest of the government, with the idea that, as he holds the nuclear launch codes, no one would be willing to pursue actions that would actually cause him to be impeached / deposed / overthrown.
Hey, Trump thinks it worked with all of our "allies", so why not work it on the government.
2
@MassBear
Actually, toward what was to be the end of the Nixon administration, the president's alcohol problem had become so out of control, that access to the nuclear launch codes was removed. The same can be applied with Trump, given his erratic behavior.
6
Surely if there are any adults left in the chain of command they have already taken away Trump's access to the launch codes. Just give him a Staples "easy button" to play with instead. He is way too out of touch with reality to tell the difference.
5
Let's add self-pity to the other "admirable" behaviors we see exhibited by Trump. He is soooo misunderstood! Why aren't people responding to his tantrums? Don't they know that he is president? They aren't supposed to criticize
11
All alone in the WH, poor me. What self-indulgent pathos. King Lear in the flesh.
15
Look at it this way - like Obama, he's ultimately a family man. As dark as this period looks, we know his adoring and supportive wife, Melania, and his much-loved, constantly referred-to son, Brendan(?) (Trump didn't want to name him Donald, in case he was a failure), will be at his side soon, helping him through these difficult times as they should: as an American family, one that we and our own families can look to for inspiration - the inspiration that is the primary purpose of the office in the first place.
Let's get this wretched thing over with, shall we? Republicans?
8
I just want to wake up and not have my first words be "Oh Christ" in a totally disgusted tone.
17
The mad king wanders his house in a rage and alone. Ah, where is Shakespeare?
21
Our president has sunk to new lows best described as self-centered, ignorant and pathetic. Oh yes, and delusional. Hopefully there will be something left for the new president in 2020 to rebuild upon.
10
This man belongs in a white jacket surrounded by people in white coats, not the White House.
May this nightmare for America and the world be brought to an end soon.
13
Hard to believe these communications (tweets) are coming from The President of the United States of America. The greatest and most powerful country on earth.
11
Wish he was truly Home Alone and could not have access to any electronics and we could not hear from or about this terrible person -
Unfit to be president for certain.
Unfit to have any part in government.
Unfit to be a businessman (how many lawsuits against him?)
Unfit to be a father - Melania save your son from this unfit father.
9
As for the wall, give it to Trump, and may it stand for a 1000 years as a monument to the collective stupidity of 38% of the American population and their titanically ignorant populist leader.
13
All of you need to know that he's joking when he says 'poor me'. His off color jokes and sarcasm have been putting people off for years, with good reason, but don't believe that he's ever serious. He has never had to be serious or take responsibility for his failures and so he has not done either, ever. He is an unserious man in a job that would seem to require the utmost seriousness.
5
@alan
I agree he's trying to be funny, but it's like when he tries to feign empathy, he can only imitate what he thinks it should look like. He has no soul...
7
The man is clearly delusional. There is near universal condemnation of this miscreant.
https://www.alternet.org/robert-reich-end-near-trump
AMENDMENT 25 NOW!
10
The fool is insane and has no idea what he is doing or what the country and the world think of him. He must be stopped. It is time for the stupid republicans to realize what he is doing and stop it.
9
@libdemtex...I believe it was either Mitch McConnell or Grover Norquist who (in)famously declared that the only qualification required of a Republican President is to have one hand sufficiently functional to sign his name. As long as 45 keeps signing their agenda into law and packing the courts with conservative judges, the GOP will continue to hold their noses and look the other way.
My parents always said that America was being destroyed from within. They thought it was immigrants, but it turns out to be the Republican Party along with rank-and-file conservative voters. I think it speaks volumes of how conservative ideology has become morally, spiritually, and intellectually bankrupt.
21
We must impeach this president. Businesses don’t trust him and thus the stock market. Resigning would be a safer out for him and he should take it.
8
In what world is this man better than a poor, homeless immigrant child? Dear Lord.
14
As a librarian, I'm curious what his presidential library will be like.
Will it just be a room with his tweets posted on the walls?
60
Yes. A restroom.
20
Donald Trump also tweeted today that he signed a contract for 100 plus miles of new wall. This is a lie. He cannot sign such contracts. Donald Trump is mentally unstable and unfit for the Office of the President. But Republicans know that and will do nothing to remove him from office because they value party over country.
20
@BB Fernandez
They value money over everything. I guess their portfolios aren't looking so good today. Maybe that will make them take action.
7
As my Dad used to say...Holy Smokin Catfish! That's a lot. Home alone?
1
There’s now no one to take the phone out of his hands.
2
So, instead of going to his resort where his employees are paid, the president decides to stay in Washington thus forcing White House staff to work possibly without pay. My home training prevents me from using the language that I would like to use to describe our “leader.”
17
This poor man (can't believe I just wrote that) is in urgent need of medical help. His tweets are making it as plain as the nose on your face he is mentally off the rails. He's alone, feeling sorry for himself, probably realizes he's painted himself into a corner he can't get out of, he's scared and angry. If he were only a danger to himself, I wouldn't care much, but there are staff around him other than his aides.
He did say he could shoot someone on 5th Ave. and not lose a supporter. In his extremely delusional state of mind - think desperate - and given his recent behavior, nothing he could do would surprise me. Someone needs to intervene asap.
6
The Devil, Fox News and Putin are Donald's whispers; they fill his mind and fuel his conspiracies. We'd all be better off if he totally alone in solitary confinement.
7
So much for family values. His wife and son apparently decide against staying together and head to Florida. Where are his other kids?
Please, Ivanka, help your father. Make him a hot toddy and put him to bed. Sugar Plum fairies, watch out!
4
I can't even imagine how I would feel if I was a soldier away from my family for the holidays, working in a hospital, or sick or injured and I read that tweet......he literally said "poor me".....
15
Please, Senators, put country before party and invoke the 25th. He's gone completely loco. You know it, I know it, we all know it. How do we get rid of this non compos mentis megalomaniac?
35
Let’s face it, he, his cabinet and the Republican senate are wrecking my retirement fund. How much more of this inept and naive mayhem do we have to take? The president makes then every error ten times worse with his bonehead tweets blaming everything in the universe for the problems he is creating. The President seems to fire anything that exposes him because he thinks its an applause line, not realizing that he’s slowly kicking out the supports to his reality. Soon it will all collapse on him and all that will be left is his shoe sticking out of the rubble with toilet paper still stuck on it.
12
It's obvious to anyone who can read that he either can't on an adult level, is too brain addled to understand what he reads or is too lazy to bother. We are in serious trouble here. Wag the Dog? No wonder the markets are tanking (among many other reasons).
7
Hey Donald - Festivus was yesterday.
8
Do straight jackets come in sizes if not better get the tailor in .
6
Don't worry, Donald. Stormy is on her way!
Really, I find the bizarre behavior of our president troubling. He's got a lot of stuff to worry about, and his biggest fear is that the public will glom onto those worries, and make life as a self-declared "winner" and "leader" difficult. He needs some distraction. Serious distraction. What you want to bet that as Mueller comes to close, and the markets continue to tank, Donald Trump starts a war somewhere. That'll consume top-of-fold in the major media outlets. Pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan might be preparation for that -- making it look like eh, he really doesn't like war! It'll be against Muslims, and will involve threats of immigration. Heads will roll.
3
I pray for the day when the current White House occupant is all alone in his prison cell (poor him).
16
In the spirit of the season, trying to lighten up from the muck....Ebeneezer Scrooge, before his transformation into the "new,enlightened Scrooge," was magically shown scenes from Trump's life. Especially from the last 2 years. The legendary miser, at first silent, could be heard letting out an x-rated expression of disgust.
2
@Jim Merry Christmas!
1
Does he realize how pitiful and weak he looks when he tweets this Poor-Me-I-Am-Such-A-Victim tirades? The world is laughing at him and at some level I think he knows this. The man has never had a friend, hence he has no idea how to be one. It's only a small extension to see that he doesn't understand what allies are or why they are essential in navigating the world. I do pity this man, but not enough to wish that he could be immediately impeached and sent back to his own private sad small world.
8
The man ought to be in Bellevue...
13
the night before christmas
twas the night before christmas
and all through the white house
only the tweeter was stirring
again to grumble and grouse
his televisions were all tuned
to fox news with care
in hopes that his only friends
would soon be there
his advisors were all nestled
each smug in his or her bed
worrying that their boss might
really be... out of his head
19
Thousands of people are "all alone" without a fancy White House, staff to attend to their needs, or the means to tweet about it. All Ebenezer Trump does is whine, snivel, rant, and fill stockings with coal.
11
This is what happens when Presidents, Senators and Representatives are elected and take office with a minority of the national popular vote. They are unpopular and their policies are at odds with the will of the majority. A little humility and consideration for the public good would go a long way. Instead they try to govern as if they had a mandate, and they don't.
17
Donald’s new slogan couldn’t be more inaccurate. No American President has eroded respect for the US more than Trump. Sorry, world. He doesn’t represent most of us.
7
I am more scared now than I was as a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What makes this president tick? I hope his base appreciates his business acumen now.
7
“AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!”
Just not by a majority of Americans.
4
Enjoy your lump of coal this Christmas Mr. President.
5
In spite of trump's ever more apparent lack of decency or even a shred of humanity, I wish him a Merry Christmas. I hope Santa brings him some sanity, and perhaps repurchases his soul for him. (Santa - just a tip, putty-put will accept rubles, dollars, gold, or bitcoin for his poodle's soul)
3
What a bizarre turn of events. For decades the GOP claimed the mantel of fiscal discipline and accused the Dems of wasteful spending. Now the GOP explodes the national debt and the Dems are trying to protect us from wasteful spending BY the GOP.
11
Apologies, meant "claimed the mantle".
1
I do not personally recall when the GOP was fiscally responsible. Certainly not under Reagan, Bush 1&2 or now. They just take from the poor and give to the defense contractors, to oil and to Wallstreet.
Let's hope he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future tonight, and finally sees how scary he is.
15
Maybe he'll wake up and fetch a Christmas goose for much maligned Bob Mueller and his family.
5
@One Nasty Woman
The ghost of future might be gone. Nuked out of existence by this sad man with a finger on the red button.
2
I don't believe America ever lost the respect, just he whom occupies the oval office...
7
Is he serious? These communications read like the manifesto of a deranged person. We need to put a stop to this.
16
So imagine if you're Bob Mueller and his team. They actually KNOW for a fact why Don trump does the things he does. They probably know exactly why he pulled us out of Syria and Afghanistan. The rest of us think we know but he really does.
Wouldn't you think that if our guesses are right that Mueller must be very scared for his country right now? He is built of the same material as General Mattis. He believes in the country and what it stands for and if trump is selling us out on Putin's orders because he is compromised then Bob knows it. He must realize that he must act quickly now and that he also has to have multiple copies of his report sent to trustworthy officials.
We're counting on you Bob. It's getting darker outside and it's not because it's winter.
21
On this Christmas Eve, when people around the world are celebrating with family and friends, your president is whining that he's all alone. On this Christmas Eve, when people are being joyous and happy, your President is sulking. On this Christmas Eve, your President is again attacking those who have the audacity to disagree with him. On this Christmas Eve, all people should be saying: I hope next Christmas will bring sanity back to the United States of America.
6
Mr. Trump seems to be more and more divorced from reality. He reminds me more and more of the worst of the Roman emperors. Having someone as unaware of his own faults, and as unwilling to listen to other voices as his own as President is exceptionally dangerous. I hope someone can bring him to his senses before the country comes crashing down around him. Talk about fiddling while Rome is burning.
7
Trump's tweets show that, over time, he's become more and more unhinged. I worry for our country's future.
16
The only problem in our economy is Trump.
5
With the abrupt bug out from Bush's Global War on Terror, Trump has declared victory. Despite W's saying there would be no "signing ceremonies on battleships." The USS Missouri is available as it is not part of the Trump shutdown. We ought to start naming the shutdowns similar to storms so we can keep track.
3
Trump is nuts. Republicans don't care and it's astonishing they care so little for America. Nancy and Democrats do all you can when in power. You're the true Americans.
20
This is a psychodrama playing out in real-time across the U.S. and the globe as the deranged leader of the free world telegraphs his confusion, insecurity, irrationality and ill temper directly to credulous trading floors.
He is the worst of presidents. But as the best of presidents once proclaimed, we have "nothing to fear but fear itself."
6
Dear DJT, no one cares! You make your own hell on this earth. Merry Christmas!
15
I took an informal poll before the inauguration: what breed of dog will he have in the White House? Half my friends replied he cannot share with a dog not love something other than himself.
Maybe in lieu of the 'intervention' James Friedman suggests in his well reasoned column today we should just bring a lot of cute puppies to the White House to get his attention off Fox and Twitter. Dogs can work marvels. One might save America and the world.
Short of a puppy he needs to be impeached. He is a damaged person who cannot serve the American people. He never thinks beyond himself. Though of necessity we get narcissists running for high office he is beyond that and dangerous to us all now and in the future for us, our kids and grand kids. This is serious and cannot be ignored by political opposition.
2
@Harrystc Please, don't inflict Trump on an innocent dog.
11
This is beginning to feel like a Shakespearian play.
9
@617to416
Yes, but more like a Shakespearian play written while Shakespeare was on a bad acid trip.
5
The leaders of the world encourage America to take the lead so we can spend our money. Meanwhile, they use their money they should spend on their own defense on social costs while we don't have enough for ours.
We are going broke. We can afford a Pax Americana any longer. Trump understand this. It doesn;t matter who the next president is. He or she won't have the money either and America will continue to pull back from world events.
1
Men who are nice are often low-status and don't get much respect. It takes moodiness and unpredictability to be looked up to. America has joined the club of the countries with dictators who make decisions and their machinery carries the out: Iran, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia. These are the real guys. The likes of EU, Latin America etc. are like beta males, low in respect. Anyone wanting democracy after this show of strength is a traitor at heart.
True, the US population may suffer in various ways. The poor will have even less of everything. That's why it's important for the better off to make patriotic decisions and keep the country up to par with the other superpowers. Trump as emperor for life!
1
No matter how much one admires the Framers, they forgot to plan for such an occasion: an unstable incompetent volatile narcissist in the WH and a 2-party system where one party controls Congress and won't act to restrain (let alone remove) the tantrum-throwing child.
Hopefully, the Democrats will refuse to pass any legislation that panders to the will of the child. It's quite apparent that this man must be backed into the wall called "unconditional surrender". Nothing else will do.
8
Maybe...hopefully he’s on the brink of quitting
4
One senior administration official has been quoted as saying that the national security process has totally broken down and that Trump is making national security decisions “on a whim” and with no information. We will be lucky if a market meltdown is the limit of the damage he is wreaking on our nation and the world. As for the brave Kurdish Forces, I am ashamed that we have abandoned them. I hope that the British and French governments will be able to help protect them from the Turkish Forces massing near them.
Today’s tweets in and if themselves show Trump to be completely unfit and unhinged. He needs to be removed via the 25th Amendment or impeachment. Had President Obama acted this way, he would have been carted out of the White House.
10
Trump seems unhinged. He is destabilizing the Mideast. And he is in charge of the largest army in the world without the counsel anyone with military expertise. What could go wrong?
5
Is capitalism sustainable for the long run? Critics complain that planned economies don't work. But do UNPLANNED economies work better? In cany case, there are no unplanned economies. The reality is that government always tinkers with the economy. The question is: For whom?
Liberals and conservatives alike utilize different forms of Keynesian economic strategy (massive government spending) to temporarily alleviate the disorder of capitalist production.
Reagan was a conservative who DOUBLED the 204 year old national debt in just 6 years. That's what helped ease the US out of stagflation of the 1970's. Bush, Clinton, Bush did the same in less extreme ways. In 2008 it reached a crisis and Repubs and Dems printed up another 8+ trillion that fed the miniboom of the Obama period. Trump then did the same on a smaller scale so unemployment appears to have dropped The bulk of the govt spending benefits the wealthy, of course. A very small temporary boost trickles down -- to be paid back later by whom?
But if you rely on artificial stimulants, what happens when they don't work, or only work for a short time? Caffeine can artificially alleviate fatigue, but only for a short time.
Then what?
Already, the "Trump mini-mini boom" created by tax cuts for the rich are losing their effectiveness.
Then what?
1
Wow! He is getting more and more unhinged. I am concerned that he is showing symptoms of clinically significant psychological disturbance. We had better be ready to act on impeachment for medical reasons.
6
America is respected again? What, did Trump resign? The man is hopelessly self-deluded.
13
What the living God is "shutdown money"? Clearly, Donald J. is fraying — but no longer merely around the edges, but deep inside his cerebrum.
3
@Rik Myslewski
It's the money that is not being paid to federal employees, like homeland security, tsa, others who still have to work with no pay because they are needed, the furlonged people, all the people who now have no income supply over the holidays.
1
How long before the tweet: "Powell is a Democrat, a trump-hater, part of the deep state deliberately trying to ruin every historically great thing I alone have done for America".
Lord, give me patience!
2
Our president needs professional help. Seriously.
8
@Truthiness
Like watching a reeling, drunk uncle at your Christmas eve celebration....knowing he's about to go off with vile, nasty rage and lurch around from one chair to another, raving, not making sense,...crazy.
Trump needs help.
Where is the Presidential doctor?
3
It's official. He's nuts!
4
Sorry, America, for this lump of *coal*, but you're disliked again. This of course doesn't surprise most of you. Respect, as everyone except your president knows, must be earned.
It's not Vietnam this time, or the mendacious invasion of Iraq. It's the execrable behaviour and policies (environment, trade, international relations) of your truly horrible president.
10
Where are the people in the white coats. This lunatic is melting down fast.
14
The constant finger-pointing by the President has gotten old. I thought the GOP was the party of personal responsibility. Apparently that went the same way as fiscal responsibility.
4
Profoundly mentally ill, and a lifetime con-man.
WATCH OUT when he's cornered.
And no, he won't—
Go gentle into that orange night.
9
You’d think the guy who brags about writing “The Art of the Deal” would have a passing familiarity with the concept of carrot-and-stick negotiations. The whole idea of negotiation is to give a little in order to get a little, so everyone gets something they need.
Trumps idea of negotiation is just a stick. When that fails, he looks for a bigger stick, then a more powerful stick, then a stronger stick, then a more tremendous stick, etc. He’s never heard of carrots. (They’re not on the menu of KFC.) These tweets are like throwing a bunch of broken sticks in every direction. What a pathetic excuse for a leader!
5
By this point any other person's friends and family would have taken him for psychiatric help because his behavior is clearly irrational. I guess "It's good to be the king."
9
One thing I notice about the President in this season of joy is that he seems not to feel or express it. He rants, he fights, he complains, he opposes, he vilifies. I think he is an isolated and ultimately lonely man.
14
In addition to his other innumerable flaws and failures, Trump seems to think that "respected" means distrusted, disdained, disregarded and despised. For that is where his "leadership" has brought us. His arrogance and ignorance know no bounds and are causing great harm, not only to the US but the entire world.
4
I have some ideas on how the President could spend Christmas so he isn't alone (poor him):
- visit injured soldiers
- prepare a meal for homeless veterans
- visit the children still held in detention away from their families
- host a meal for federal employees ("your employees") who aren't receiving paychecks
- visit individuals who've lost loved ones to gun violence
- host an event for persons with disabilities
Just remember the reason for the season and I bet you could come up with other ideas besides watching FOX News.
47
@Paula Merry Christmas to YOU Paula!
EXCELLENT POST.
9
A policymaker is elected or selected to DO! Planning. Implementing. In an appropriate and timely manner. With minimum anticipated and controllable harms. To living organisms. To a range of natural and societal systems. Assessing both processes and outcomes. Learning as best as s/he can each time. “Failing better” each time.When the planning, implementation and outcomes CONTINUE not to be on target, daily, for whatever the human and/or non-human related factors it is time to change the scenario. The script. The “actors” their enabled actions, and at times even the sites; WHO, WHAT, WHERE and the relevant timings! WE, a diverse people, in a divided nation, “drowning” in twitters from a personally and role-unaccountable, daily-harming by words and deeds-President, have the right, responsibility and obligation to do whatever is necessary, ethically and by law, to protect ourselves. Our families. Our communities and neighborhoods. Our schools.Places of employment, volunteerism and a range of other workings. Our sites of prayer and spirituality.Our time-outs for leisure and recovery.Our menschlich enabling values and norms
“seeding”and harvesting civil interactions. Equitable wellbeing for all underpinned by the shared availability and accessibility of relevant human and nonhuman resources.Mutual respect. Caring. Mutual help when and if needed.Each of US, in our various daily roles, need to make a difference that actually makes a difference, to take down Trump’s toxic WE-THEY...
2
“AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!”
Really? Time to cut back on the Fox News Kool-Aid.
10
Trump would never make it onto an executive recruiter's slate of candidates for a Fortune 500 CEO position or any position; he is clearly delusional, bankrupted his businesses and defrauded his customers. He was expert as a reality actor at playing a "CEO" from the perspective of people (voters) who had never met or known a legitimate CEO or businessman.
His insecurities are now manifesting themselves in full view of the world as he cannot distinguish between his lies and reality, he bankrupts the US (tax cut malfeasance), kills the bull market, abandons our real allies, denies human driven climate change (subverting viable remedies) and separates 15k kids from their parents (leaving them languishing in jail really alone). His ostensible Board; the McConnell's, Ryan's and McCarthy's of the world are enabling, complicit and will be exposed by historians as the incompetents they are.
Clinton certainly got one thing right in the election, Trump is clearly Putin's puppet again making the Republican leadership enabling and complicit ... they are not merely deplorable, they are despicable. Instead of worrying about deporting Dreamers and recent immigrants, I would suggest that the country would be much better off deporting Trump and his acolytes, starting with the Republican leadership and his grifter family ... Putin or Xi might take them, then again.
5
I mean no offense, but our President is acting and speaking as if he is under the influence of marijuana.
@Robert Herrera: Pot doesn't make one this stupid unless it is mixed with alcohol or other induced drugs. His actions are a delusion of his own warped mind.
He is his own worst enemy but has never faced a mirror...
2
@Robert Herrera He's more like a meth head on a serious bender.
5
@Robert Herrera
he acts like a coke head and not the beverage.
3
On the day when Christians are gathering to celebrate the coming of light and hope into a dark world in the form of a poor baby born in a barn with the beasts while his parents fled persecution - on this day of all days, Trump spends his time holed up alone, family-less, friendless, sending out self-pitying and angry messages on social media. This appalling spectacle from the man who occupies the most powerful position on earth is just gobsmacking. It will diminish us as a nation for years to come, assuming we survive this concerted assault on our institutions and principles.
5
Donald, remember Nicolae Ceaușescu....
Just saying...
9
The Grinch and Scrooge in one person.
6
Trump Twitters while America burns (Figuratively).
5
Trump is alone and the children who are in cages because of trump are alone. The country has a leader who hates everyone but himself and his base of haters. On the spirit of Christmas he should be alone to reflect on his shortcomings and how he could surround himself with people who hate America and democracy . God hates ugly
2
Like Lonesome Rhodes, alone at the end and howling like a madman.
7
He is probably upset that the catastrophe in Indonesia is taking up airtime that could be devoted to his loneliness.
3
I am terrified. We are witnessing the public mental breakdown of the head of the free world. And he is dragging us all with him into the abyss.
5
Home alone......More like Pesci (small time crook) than Culkin.
poor bubbaluh.
Good training for solitary confinement.
6
Trump is "all alone" because he has antagonized everyone who would normally surround him.
A trained professional should be dispatched to calm him down--for the sake of the nation and world. Where is Dr. feel-good and his Valium now that we really need him?
Does "shutdown money" really mean the funds not spent on salaries of those keeping the lights on, those forced to sit home without pay (furrowed), and those who work as full time government contractors? Sounds like it. Of course, not paying people you owe is an important tool in the Trump "money making" strategy.
We are now looking up from our position as the least trustworthy nation in the world (unless you have Kompromat, and/or paid a bribe to the family). Democrats can't negotiate with him, nor can Republicans because a Trump "yes" is valid only until the phone hangs up, or the meeting ends, or a right-wingnut on talk radio whines--unless you are Putin or MBS.
Merry Christmas, Americans.
1
Poor me? That takes the cake. I would like to know if there is a job description for the President. From what I observe, he spends his time watching TV, firing people, and ranting on Twitter. Surely there is something he could do to make the world a better place, with all the resources available to him.
664
@janellej
Since he considers himself to actually be the "world" then he sleeps well at night because he spends all his time making himself richer or as you say making himself a "better place."
27
@Jenifer He could have had Christmas at Mar-a-Lago if he wanted, but staged a "lonely" Christmas at the White House. However, Melania and Barron are there with him and isn't Christmas supposed to be about family?
28
@janellej "Poor me?" I understand you.
Fortunate that his father was born first, and because of Dad's tax evasion, the President has great wealth that he was incapable of achieving on his own. And with Putin's help but not the majority of votes, he becomes president only to prove he is incapable of managing even an empty room. Yet, his enablers let him run our country. "Poor me" does take the cake.
Poor us.
47
So Donald is holed up in the White House tracking Santa. Is he concerned that Santa is an illegal alien?
11
Trump simply confirms each day that his first Secretary of State was correct. Rex Tillerson was spot on when he declared our president is a "moron."
5
Christmas Eve; this Grinch in the White House has stolen all the joy from America. Ray Sipe
11
There is an easy way to shut down the Don and his lies. Close his Twitter account and make him mute.
7
It took the president three days to comprehend a letter slightly over a page in length. This does not inspire confidence in his judgement.
10
@kurt Somebody had to explain it to him, assuming he even read it in the first place.
2
@kurt
He never bothered to read it. It wasn't until the tv news told what mattis said that trump knew what had happened. Thus the three day delay.
I man who has no clue how to respect someone is talking about respect. That's kind of funny. Trump isn't even able to respect himself.
3
Mad King Ludwig looked sane in comparison. Trump is close to suffering a breakdown and the Cabinet seriously needs to consider invoking the 25th Amendment. This cannot continue. Incessant tweeting and lashing out is not normal.
8
20 GOP Senators need to get together and show this guy the door.
14
Why isn't he in Mar-A-Lago playing golf?
3
Sick, sick troubled little man. I bet he thinks the coal in his Christmas stocking is clean and saved jobs.
9
So this is Trump’s version of “Home Alone.” Honestly, has there ever been a more vile human being in the White House? To all of you who voted for him, is this “winning” to you? At what point do you abandon him? We, the majority, want to know...
25
I thought Jesus was supposed to be the reason for the season. I don’t want to look in my creche and find the President of the United States swaddled and laying in the manger, complaining because the shepherds and the wise men aren’t on board with his border wall.
Will Santa be dropping gifts off in Tent Town for the detained toddlers?
Sorry, Tiny Tim. The only reason you weren’t toast long ago is because Dickens had a big imagination, a big heart, and a lot of talent. Unfortunately the new storyteller has none of the above. Lay down your crutch. It’s over.
3
Trump is an embarrassment to politicians, an embarrassment to businessmen, an embarrassment to men, husbands, fathers. He is an embarrassment to humanity. Does that cover all the bases?
7
Even my cat is embarrassed.
The look on her face when I read Donald's tweets out loud!
Gotta laugh so we don't cry.
4
This man should be removed from his position ASAP. It seems more and more evident that he has severe psychological disfunctions which will harm the US and world.
7
Will someone please shut Trump up before I have to exit retirement and reenter the workplace. He's such a total idiot he has no understanding of the damage he's doing. Heaven help us all.
6
Time to invoke the 25th Amendment.
The man is clearly mentally incapacitated.
14
Maybe Trump's on Mars with that lander checking soil samples. He's certainly not living in the same world the rest of us are. 25th Amendment anyone?
6
So, the Boards Members of the Federal Reserve "don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders".
Apparently, we're back at Square "Only I can fix it".
Now we know! Fiscal putting lessons DO NOT SOOTHE the markets. Furloughing his Twitter feed is the best idea. Shouldn't a shutdown include some Silent Nights?
1
Trump, alone in his palace, has become a modern-day Jay Gatsby: his party guests have made other plans, his business deals have fallen through, his closest associates have abandoned him. However, he has no redeeming quality that anyone will refer to as great.
6
President Scrooge is now truly delusional to think that America is now, because of him, truly respected again.
My only hope this Christmas is that the 3 ghosts of Christmas make a real effort this year to change Scrooge McTrump into a caring human being. 72nd time’s the charm!
1
If we’re doing golf metaphors, Trump is the golfer who gives himself mulligans on every hole, makes “mistakes” in adding his score, and is constantly looking for new people to fill out his foursome.
5
Trump is very good at keeping his base informed through twitter. Unfortunately, I don't have a twitter account and miss the twit firsthand - I only read about them when they discuss these inanities elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a WHTV and could watch him reading out his tweets live? It will be so much informative. How much can it cost - after all, no multi-million-dollar anchor or moderator or such will be required? It could be a complete self-serve system, with Trump turning it on and off whenever he felt like teevee-ing his 'Trump Brainwaves' to the public eagerly waiting for his next outburst.
I am sure the Republican senate will grant him a few billions to start the WHTV project.
1
Does anyone think trump believes the things he says ? Where does he get his information from ? The president of the USA should be one of the most informed people in the World ! Get off Brietbart , trump !
1
So he's having a private little pity party and wants people to feel sorry for him. Boo hoo. This man was deranged when he was elected and he is now totally derailed. The venal Republicans are so scared out of their wits of Trump's base they have turned their backs on the entire country and the world. We are dependent on the Democrats to rid us of him and his brood and I hope they don't wimp out on us.
I was born in a bomb shelter in war torn London and grew up in the Northeast with the same worries about the "the bomb" that everyone else had in those days. However, I have never been so scared in all my life about what may come to pass if Trump isn't dispatched soon.
5
It's been said many times before, but I repeat..."Everything Trump Touches Dies." Hopefully he will be removed from office before our nation suffers that fate.
3
He needs to be taken out NOW!
The entire world would benefit. Even his supporters who keep running blindly into the fire towards their own demise.
That's the purpose of the 25th. End of discussion!
3
I feel like I am watching that movie where that powerful guy is looking crazed at the end, and ranting all wide-eyed, and his followers start to look at each other with that what-the-heck-happened-to-him look on their faces, and then the sad music starts, and some child or kindly, child-like person takes his hand and leads him away...
Pick a movie, there were lots of them - especially in the waning days of black and white film. It’s so weird, and sad, and tragic all at the same time. God help us all.
3
It says a lot when U.S. Banks won't do business with the Trump organization AT ALL. Because as Munchkin put it, banks are worried that "Trump" will stiff them, or sue them...
4
"Allies question his leadership". I question his sanity.
7
This fellow is exhausting. Everyone is to blame. So much for leadership. Non stop whining.
3
We can't even have a quiet holiday without this barking mad 'president' jumping up and down, screaming for attention.
It's pathetic. Hope everyone is doing their best to tune out the lunacy and enjoy your Christmas.
10
If Mr. Trump agreed to live on the other side of it, he might get more support for his Crazy Wall Idea. But I don't mean to take this too lightly; the man needs psychological counseling.
3
I've no sympathy for this man, the Grinch deserves to be alone on Christmas and every other day of the year.
7
Poor Donald, all alone in the White House, tracking Santa Claus on military radar. (So he can shoot him down??) Meanwhile the rest of us watch our assets evaporate as the markets react to the chaos of Trump's continuing mental deterioration.
Tom Friedman says the GOP needs to stage an intervention. That's unlikely. Is Pence ambitious enough to set the 25th amendment in motion? It seems increasingly obvious that the nation — and the world — can't take two more years of this insanity.
5
Trump all alone in the Whitehouse, with just his wife and son. Sounds like a plot for a Stephen King novel.
2
His wife and son are not there. They already went to Florida.
1
They returned
1
He's so demented and destructive that, if not a federal officer, if he showed up at your local ER he'd be sedated and hospitalized whether he wanted to be or not. His mania is thoroughly apparent. Lets hope the depression is not even worse. Can they spike his Cokes with lithium?
4
All alone in the people’s house? My guess is the only reason Melania hangs around is a prenup that pays out like a college football coach’s contract, stay for 5 years and she gets green cards for her Mom and Dad, stay for 10 years, a luxury condo in Boca next to some Russian billionaires. No wonder it took her so long not to move to DC, she knew how bad it is to live with her spouse.
If someone would just take his phone, perhaps,the nation could rest and have a pleasant holiday.
3
President Trump - your desperate sales pitches remind us of the “has been” you have been before, the grotesque cone figured fake blond who bantered with another aging has been pseudo celebrity: Howard Stern. The amoral GOP tolerates their version of the mad King George, i.e. you, cause they hope to get some bacon. They don’t do it cause you convince them of anything.
USA was respected before YOU and ain’t no more.Sadly.
4
Is this Twitter storm just another sign of the insanity of the man who was elected to run the country. (He was not elected to run the country into oblivion.) Time to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove this emotionally and intellectually unstable psychopath from the office of the POTUS.
5
Trump is delusional, has furious temper tantrums many times a day, is clearly unable to read or spell, has fired his competent staff and replaced them with ignorant sycophants.
He is besotted with dictators, while clearly being played by them in every interaction. He blusters and threatens publicly, many times a day.
What frightens me is the knowledge that Trump has the absolute power to send nuclear destruction wherever his "gut" tells him. As an increasingly isolated and deranged commander in chief, it appears to me that there is no oversight or check to any command whatsoever.
I'm truly scared.
9
Please go to mar a lago , play golf, and leave us alone.
4
The isolationist complaining about his self imposed isolation.
10
Would somebody please disable the
twitter account! Maybe it could malfunction.
We must call our Republican members of Congress and tell them to "just stop it"!
3
Our POTUS is so lost that he didn't know SoD Mattis was critiquing him in his resignation letter until the press hit him over the head with that fact.
Wake up Donald. Your ROME (republic of moronic enthusiasts) is burning. Just wait until your BASE opens up their 401K's on January 1 to see how you've single-handedly destroyed their value with chaotic moves, irrational decisions and ludicrous behavior.
Other than Jared and Ivanka...is anyone home?
1
The only people who didn't respect us are the idiots in this country who still support Trump.
5
With any luck if he is left alone long enough he'll tweet enough insanity to get himself 25th'd.
It is the facts of reality that rebuke Trump not Mr Mattis.
Mattis had simply stated those facts clearly. Isn't Trump really just ashamed at everyone else understanding what those facts mean and he didn't?
10
Alone in the White House on Christmas Eve? at least trump is with those who love and respect him.
21
@steven
The only three people in the whole world that loves Trump, and won't argue with him, those people are, me, myself, and I.....His own kids probably don't care about him. Children learn love from their parents, Trump has never loved anyone or anything more than himself.
2
Trump’s high pressure sales approach never created repeat customers. His business career was based upon finding new vehicles and new marks. This skill set was never going to transfer to the govenermental arena. The glare of the spotlight is too harsh and unrelenting. Like all grifters Trump is susceptible to being conned. He expects a blank slate after each interaction and transaction. Like the rest of Trump’s enterprises he is running out of road. Impeachment hearings are just another bankruptcy court, and they have always presented Trump a way to slither out of responsibilities and obligations. Trump expects the golden throne he sits on to flush.
12
The Red-haired Lunatic rages within the White House, angry and brooding over his public rebukes (DoD Sec Mattis;failed attempts to fund the CR, upbraided by FOX twits for listening to voice of reason and selling out the faithful over the Wall). Trump may tweet out these comments, but imagine being Melania and Barron? Melania and Barron are stuck living with Donald Trump and not soaking up Mar-A-Lago.
Donald Trump has laid forth the most compelling reason for Impeachment - specifically inability to govern and being competent to lead. This is a prima facie case - totally apart for all of the criminal allegations and betrayal of the American public and our electoral institutions by a cozy abetting to the requests of Russia and other foreign nations who have loaned Trump money and were partners in white collar criminal events for over 30 years.
There are NO redeeming characteristics of Donald Trump as a person nor political leader. This administration now consists of "Yes" people and empty headed vessels driven by hateful ideologies. Not even Mike Pence can emerge unsullied by he criminal conduct that abounds around him. A full house cleaning is in store to make the nation clean and full again. No time to lose...…. Trump is a puerile narcissist and megalomaniac, devoid of empathy and common sense.
7
No ounce of sympathy for the ice queen Melania - rivaling Trump in empty headedness.
5
@Peter Vander Arend
I'd rather see him voted out (for a number of personal reasons, one being, it would be hilariously funny). But I'd rather both Pence and Trump get voted out (fired) I don't want Pence to even have a remote chance at sitting in the Oval office for 2.5 terms.
4
How on earth was this man elected?
5
@pepys
By a minority of voters in the Midwest, and because we use an outdated method of electing a president.
It's time for the one man one vote idea to take hold. But if yo listen to the republican's argument about the one vote, they say that the more heavily populated urban areas would be able to vote in who they want. Except, one man one vote would mean that more republicans would have to vote than democrats. Then we could eliminate gerrymandering, making one man one vote the law of the land for every election.
1
Ultimately, he was elected by a defunct and dysfunctional Electoral College. Get rid of it so that we are never put in this position again.
3
@Glenn Thomas
I agree with you and James, but nonetheless millions of Americans voted for this delusional con man. What is wrong with them? Stupidity? Racism? How do we solve that?
4
How long Trump will be respected again? Why there are still people wanted to support him? I hope tomorrow is 2020.
6
He's alone? Where are Melania and Barron?
Not that it would surprise me that they don't want to be around a big, self centered baby on Christmas day. After all, it's the season of giving: and that is a notion as alien to Trump as a holiday that celebrates someone other than himself.
8
Not getting his wall money. So.. Bring the troops home there's his money and manpower. He's already talking about the money being saved.
2
Trump is not alone; he has all of the presidential portraits to talk to. Unfortunately they will not give him any better advice than they give to Nixon. Ultimately Nixon showed good sense. We will never see that from Trump.
4
"America is Respected Again", really(?), sounds like trump is listening to the little voices inside his head again. its laughable to think that he thinks he will get 5 billion dollars now from Congress, when he has had two years already. Plus the fact he and his party have owned all the houses, well, until January 1,2019 when the Democrats take the house back over. trump must have seen his window of opportunity disappearing. not that he ever had one. trump probably could have gotten the entire 25 billion earlier this year, but after accepting the deal which involved the DACA kids, he did a trump and pulled out of the deal. that's what happened here, all sides had made a deal, passed easily in Senate, and most of the members had left for the holiday, when trump pulled another trump, pulled out of the deal. so the fact he is at the White House saying he is all alone, waiting for the Democrats to come around with his money, sorry djt, there not the one's who need to come around. your not the deal maker you think or claim to be, you still don't have a wall (not even close).
5
He's not alone. I'll bet he is hunkered down with his favourite advisor Stephen Miller. Both are working out next year's destruction. Oh, where to begin...?
3
It's Christmas eve and the man with access to the nuclear codes is going to track Santa on NORAD when he isn't whining on Twitter. And the real reason he is whining? Somebody told him that he shouldn't go play golf in his expensive resort in Florida when hundreds of thousands of Federal employees who work for him are without a paycheck, so he's stuck in the White House in the cold. Look for more temper tantrums as time goes on and he can't do what he wants, even though all the adults have left the room.
6
If History serves, and it usually does, the negative consequences of trade wars linger for decades. Trump's trade wars, in addition to his insane tax cuts for the one percent, his reckless spending on a stupid wall (and demands for even more money) added to his hysterical attack on the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, have brought an expanding economic calamity on this country. His conduct as President has been loathsome, dishonorable and ignoble. It is difficult to say but he makes the Harding Presidency look stable and sane, competent and intelligence, honest and honorable.
3
The republican Congress what is it going to take for you to act on the behalf of our country? The lunatic who presently sits in the White House is tweeting the future of my children away. Please act.
Impeachment has never been
more appropriate.
5
This is like something out of a bad movie...only it's not. To witness the American president holed up in the White House on Christmas Eve having a one sided twitter tantrum that includes ranting, lying, and berating is at best embarrassing, and at worst, very frightening. A normal person might send out wishes for peace on earth, and then sign off to the spend time with his family. Trump is clearly mentally unstable and he needs to be stopped...
19
An awful man alone in a big house on Christmas Eve, wealthy but unloved, miserable in body, mind, and spirit. Donald Trump is Ebenezer Scrooge. Tomorrow could be a new day in America if Donald gets a visit tonight from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Somehow, I think they will instead be going to a party, leaving us with even more miserable Donald on Christmas Day. I sure hope there isn’t a nuclear football anywhere nearby.
6
Since Trump has professed a great love for coal, I hope that he gets many lumps of it in his Christmas stocking.
24
We are living through the darkest farce one could imagine.
Except this farce has real, damaging and difficult- to-reverse consequences.
Rufus T. Firefly and Mrs. Teasdale were exponentially more competent and sure-footed.
5
Trump has gone off the deep end. Totally divorced from reality. The chaos and corruption of this administration is weakening and destroying what was once a great nation, and he seems to have no clue. He has no idea that he is the problem. The buck stops with him.
9
@Dr E Well, yeah, but the president is clearly not alone. Where are the seasoned, reasonable (and, yes, conservative) Republican members of the House and Senate?
2
America is not respected. It is laughed at by both its enemies and friends.
8
He's cracking up. Unfortunately, he's bringing the country down with him...
7
As the barrage of insults directed at governmental officials - past and present, who were appointed by or kept in place by the Tweeter-in-Chief - continues, let us remember this maxim: “The fish stinks from the head down.”
2
And how is Fox News reporting this? Maybe Sean Hannity can get the President to get a grip on himself and at least stop the stupid tweeting.
4
Stand back;look at this from a distance; if Trump was your father; you would put him in a home. Dems must put him in a home in Jan. Ray Sipe
7
@Ray Sipe I probably wouldn't put my dad in home, but I sure would take his darn cell phone away, and make sure he is supervised more.
3
yes he's all alone in the WH.
too bad his GOP are afraid to tell him what that means.
what a flat out jerk.
vanity wall and al.
3
"In one, he declared that Saudi Arabia would “spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the United States.” It was not immediately clear how or when that would happen..."
As Trump as control over US policy via tweet, (which Congress needs to stop!) he now thinks he can do the same to others...and they will comply.
SA will truly rebuild Syria when they start adopting pigs as pets...
Who are the two people in the fake photo of Trump receiving a briefing on North Korea?
1
Donald Trump the antithesis of all that is Christmas.
Enuf said.
Do you think they have candlaria at Mar-a-Lago for
Border Infant Welfare?
1
" . . . (poor me) . . .". Looking forward to "POOR ME" from his cell at a Federal Penitentiary.
6
My only question is, who are the approximately 87,000 dolts who liked this tweet?
9
Weed from Humboldt Co. didn't even get me nearly as delusional as this individual is portraying!
3
I don’t understand how a multiple draft dodger who fires a 4 star general by a tweet is thinking that is earning respect around the world.
24
@Debbie Thank you for putting this firing in perspective. He changed a resignation into "you're fired!"retort. Trump fires a man with tons of education and military experiences ...yet, he wants his WH doctor to lead the VA, he push his personal pilot to lead the FAA, etc.
1
America Respected Again????
It's actually America that is laughed at by friend and foe alike. Over the past 2 years, Mr. Trump has repeatedly demonstrated how shallow and naive he is on the international and domestic scene.
Mr. Trump is the fool who cannot see that our adversaries, China and Russia, relish every stupid move he makes and know how to check mate every move Mr. Trump orchestrates for America.
To embellish Mr. Trump's tweets: How Extremely "Sad" and Pathetic!!
3
GET RID OF THIS MADMAN BEFORE HE RUINS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!!!
13
This guy and his supporters are living in an entirely different universe than most of us!
9
With the stock market collapsing and the White House imploding, this would be an ideal time for Putin to shut down our electrical grid and freezing out assets. Trump could blame Obama!
3
This is collective insanity. We’re all forced to live in this crazed bubble of stress and normalization of this clear lunatic-in-charge. As citizens of this country we must speak out with one voice. The man is ill. He must be removed from office. I mean, come on.. this is nuts.
11
Anyone who is delusional, including President Poor Me, needs to be protected from harming himself or others. Soon after he took office, several well placed psychiatrists and other mental health professionals recognized an obligation to speak out on the dangerous personna Trump publicly forced on us.
Now, two years in office and facing an avalanche of legal, political problems, Trump seems not even functioning at his previous level.
Because he's increasingly disabled, it is the Republican Congress that should be held responsible for their enabling an unstable President in his continued abuse of power.
I look forward to January 3 and am especially encouraged by Adam Schiff's very comprehensive and deeply thought out goals as reported in the current issue of the New Yorker. It's one day to Christmas and 10 days to January 3. Someone could have made a fortune manufacturing advent calendars for the turn over. The very last window would climax with "Adam Schiff subpoenas Trump's tax returns."
And so I comfort myself with things that might be.
7
The General in His Labyrinth sounds like a catchy title.
1
I miss the graciousness of past presidents. I miss the beautifully expressed sentiments wishing American well during the holiday season. I miss civil behavior.
124
@Deedee yes I agree with you 100%.
7
The "FOOL" in the Whitehouse is a danger to our country. When will the Republicans stand up for our country rather than the "Fool"
12
He is beyond ignorant. It's time to end this disaster. Now. But why won't McConnell do anything? Ask yourself: what is he covering up?
18
So much whining. Yes, I am sick of it.
8
If you had a relative who acted like this ; you would have them Baker Acted (authorities would take the person into protective custody for their own safety). Dems need to Baker Act this small; petty; weak unstable person in the White House. Ray Sipe
10
We have never had a loony toons in the Oval Office before; it's interesting to watch his meltdown.
7
Just because Trump says it — or tweets it — doesn’t make it true. America has never been less respected; he’s turned the U.S. into a hideous joke, a tragic shell of a once-great nation. It’s hard to fathom a less-qualified leader. It’s soul-crushing that we have two more years of this insanity. I hope the world realizes how most Americans are counting the days — hours — until this fraud either leaves or is removed from office.
16
"Poor me." He is clearly unfit to discharge the duties of his office and should be removed.
14
What a sociopathic, sick...the Times won’t permit me to use the string of four-letter epithets I sorely want to, just characterize this worthless man! “Poor me”? I don’t think so. How about poor little 4-year-old Guatemalan kid forcibly separated from his mother at the Mexican border because she had the temerity to beg for asylum instead?
What a monster.
74
" America is Respected Again ! ". So, HE resigned ???
Merry Christmas.
16
@Phyliss Dalmatian Probably not, but that was at the top of my list to Santa. If this wish was granted, I would never ask for anything again.
2
I promised Santa that I would NEVER make another wish, if this ONE comes true. Seriously.
1
May the ghosts of Christmas past and future pay him visits in that lonely house tonight!
10
@NYC
Colbert mentioned this the other night.Trump would like such visits...as it would all about him. "Oh look, a gravestone with my name on it, sweet...its about me!"
I think even ghosts would balk at having to visit Trump. "No, no...he's too scary,even for us...!"
3
1-America is respected again.
2-I am a stable genius.
3-No collusion.
Okay. Let’s play a game called pattern recognition.
10
All alone? Bellevue Hospital has a room waiting for him. He won't be alone there.
14
And if Bellevue refuses to take him, there’s a Federal supermax prison in Colorado that will.
7
Ok Senate Republicans, it's long past time to get aboard the Impeachment train. It's going to be leaving the station in a few months and some of you will want to be on the right side of history. Ask yourselves, do any of Trump's recent tweets have an objective basis in reality? The market? No. Mattis? No. McGurk? No. And that's on top of the withdrawal from Syria and in one week. Come on already. We're getting desperate.
13
It is so nice to know that the NYTimes can regurgitate Trump tweets. Was there anyone else tweeting today? Did anyone issue a response?
Did anyone @ him in their tweets?
Twitter tends to have other voices, often important voices that help with context.
But then the Times is too lazy for analysis and context.
But then that would take NYT reporters actually clicking beyond the President.
I can read Trump’s Tweets, on Twitter, for free.
Just what is worth paying for here?
The Trump meltdown would be a great Christmas present if it weren't for the fact that he's taking the rest of the country down with him. The last time he had a big tantrum, the Trump casinos went bankrupt and he sent a lot of (unpaid) small businesses into bankruptcy along with the casinos.
Of course, Trump himself came out of it unscathed because he lied about everything, including the results, and got away with it because apparently the one thing he's really, really good at, is lying. Lucky us.
5
Anyone who respects Trump has as shriveled a mind and soul as he does. But of course Trump has no evidence that anyone does respect him -- his assertion is just one more of his hallucinations. His only foreign policy concern is preventing, in his mind, American money from being spent on what he considers deadbeats -- i.e., everyone but himself and his friends, including U.S. allies. Even if he weren't a thoroughly worthless person, why would anyone respect someone who clearly disrespects them?
10
There is no reason our current president cannot go to his Mar-a-Lago retreat for Christmas. The senate will not come back until Thursday. Nothing can happen about his shutdown until then. He should go and party. Play golf. Any time he is out of the White House playing golf, the country can breathe easier. It gets him away from the TV. He's less likely to tweet.
2
@Jeff I think they might have been worried about the "optics" of him playing golf while the govt was shutdown. They really should be worried about the "optics" of having a deranged man in the WH.
11
@acm
Yes, I'm sure they are worried about the "optics." But my point is that our nation is better off when the current president is out on the golf course. Away from Fox News. Too busy with putting that he doesn't think to tweet. Keep him preoccupied. Give him candy. Give him squeaky toys. Anything to entertain his little mind.
It is the missing strawberries. I demanded discipline. They fought me at every turn.
7
He does things for a few reasons. He does things for money, for Putin, to impress his base, and to feed his ego. He has always been alone, and the fact that it is at Christmas is meaningless. Every person is a thing to him. Any time or event that is not about him is just a thing that takes away from him. I don't follow his tweets, but I'll guess if you read his tweets at this time what you should see are tweets and topics that show a complete lack of humanity. There is no human in the person. Here at this time in this season with the world as it is, it will be about him and what he wants from things.
8
He’s like Scrooge, but with no chance of a happy ending for any of us.
5
Mistrusted and Respected are not synonyms.
Can a man be such a fool as to not recognize that he is the cause of the instability?
BTW Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson: Your portfolios are being affected too.
Unless of course, all your money is in secret, untaxed, off-shore accounts.
9
Ask Michael Cohen where client #3's money is.
1
The only thing wrong with our economy is TRUMP. The only thing wrong with America is Trump!!
12
the ramblings of a mad man, pure and simple.
80
America will truly be respected again when you and your ilk are removed from office. The crimes that you and your entire administration have foisted on the American people deserve a lengthy stay behind bars. Because of your colusion with the Russians your entire administration is illegitimate and should suffer the same ignominy and removal.
11
Trump is obsessed with the mythological "war on Christmas" and yet he's using Christmas Eve to tweet insults, tweet lies, and sit on his bed alone watching TV. He's also responsible for several hundred thousand federal employees not getting a paycheck during the season we're buying Christmas dinner and Christmas presents.
If anybody is causing a war on Christmas, it's Donald Trump.
19
If ever a man were in desperate need of visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, it is he.
What a miracle that would be.
11
@Diva Trump would tweet out that they were losers and have them escorted out of the White House.
89% approval rating among republicans according to Gallup for the week 12/17-12/23/18. Either a lot of people think he is doing a great job or there is plenty of delusion to go around. Poor us!
6
They didn’t even count the Trumpers on QVC.
1
“AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!” It's clear this delusional president (I could say worse) doesn't know the difference between being respected and being feared. In his mind, being feared leads to feeling powerful which is then confused with being respected.
1
@BarryS. As long as this moron is President America will never be respected
1
No, Mr. President, the world does not respect us. People fear us and are laughing at us, and they are especially laughing at you because you are such a buffoon. Our former allies, who have successfully worked with us since 1945 to avoid WW3, can no longer count on us. The only one who can count on you now is your handler, Vladimir Putin. You only need look in the mirror and at your terrorist Republican enablers in Congress to see who is to blame for the emerging disaster that could mean the end of civilization.
12
Trump seems to believe that anything he tweets will come to pass, or at least that his uneducated base will believe his tweets and not bother to read the news. in Trump World, Isis is defeated, North Korea has no nuclear weapons and we can all sleep easy, and the world respects us because of Trumps strong steady leadership. it is inevitable that reality will come crashing down on this man, and I hope it happens sooner rather than later, with a minimum of collateral damage.
3
How can you be great if no one needs you or looks up to you?
If you are no longer relevant to the rest of the world, how can you be considered great?
3
Trump’s derogatory comments about Mattis and McGurk are not surprising, but they are infuriating. At the very time Trump was having sex with a porno star, right after the birth of his son mind you, General Mattis was crawling around foxholes in Afghanistan checking on the well being of his marines and McGurk was working diligently to put together a coalition to fight ISIS. Hey, people who form this grifter’s base- turn off Fox and wake up! Listen to the words of his now Chief of Staff- Trump “is a horrible human being”. Only in the Bizarro World could this clown remain President.
122
The buck stops with you, President Trump. You can't shift the blame elsewhere; so quit whining and get to work. Our country desperately needs you to take the presidency seriously ... before it's too late.
For starters, here are four suggestions: (1) Limit or end your Twitter postings. (2) Stop watching TV and, instead, read your daily briefings. (3) Assemble a Cabinet with competent advisors; then listen to them. (4) Stop using rhetoric to divide us. You were elected to be President of the UNITED States; so behave accordingly.
6
My perspective from across the pond is that America is not respected again. Quite the opposite. Trump is a dangerous buffoon who doesn't have a clue what he is doing. The destruction of a century of world political order will have terrible consequences, and what will there be to show for it? Many many innocent victims and much much suffering. That poor 7 year old at our border was just the beginning.
9
"I'm all alone (poor me)"
What? Did Melania leave him too?
Can't really blame her.
9
All alone! Poor baby.
5
Cry me a river, Individual #1 is all alone on Christmas Eve!
6
The Airing of the Grievances.
Every day is Festivus for Individual-1
5
I have never been so embarrassed about a U.S. president in my life, and I've been around close to 70 years.
109
Home Alone all over again but with a far less intelligent protagonist.
10
Well if Trump tweets it, it must be true. LOL. It is sad to imagine some Amercians swallow this nonsense.
12
I have to ask...what kind of family leaves their father/husband alone in Christmas? Trust me, I have no feelings of pity or sympathy for Trump but, given that he really can't leave the White House right now, wouldn't Melania offer to stay with him? Where are Ivanka and Jared? Trump Jr.? Eric? Tiffany?
If my spouse was house-bound for whatever reason on Christmas I'd shoot myself before I'd ever leave her alone. What is wrong with these Trumps?
10
@Hotblack Desiato
Trump had originally planned to spend 16 days in Florida. Melania and Barron had already left, while Trump stayed behind to deal with his latest self-inflicted crisis, namely, funding for hid border wall.
Mother and son are on their way back to DC.
perhaps there will no room at the inn.
2
There is no reason for Trump to stay at the White House during Christmas. Congress adjourned until Thursday. He can’t accomplish anything until Congress returns. It was Trump’s decision to stay at the White House to sulk and ruin his family’s Christmas vacation. If I were Melania I would have told that self centered child-man “Just because you decided to ruin your Christmas you are not going to ruin mine and Baron’s. We’re staying in Florida. You are welcome to get on a plane and join us.” Frankly, I wish the President would go on a non-working vacation and give the rest of us a break from the constant drama.
1
Putin's Puppet is delivering on his promises- to Putin.
Chaos, end of rule of law and economic ruin in the West. Not a shot fired. Great return on little investment and it continues.
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Don't want to be alone?
Go to a church of your choice.
Pray, read and most of all listen.
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Donald Trump is truly insane. What a dysfunctional megalomaniac. His hubris is beyond the pale.
We should all be very very concerned and just plain afraid of what this man is going to do next.
He needs to be taken out of the White House by men in white coats.
This madness has got to cease.
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"All in all your just another brick in the wall."
All I want for Christmas is a my big beautiful wall.
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he's practically on the roof of the White House howling at the moon and foaming at the mouth ... and the GOP stands by and tries to molify him with another $4B in funds for a wall instead of impeaching this clearly unhinged man
historians will have a field day at the failures of the US system from primaries through Electoral College through 2 years of an increasingly nutso administration
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