I'm hoping Bill Maher or John Oliver will buy 5000 subscriptions to both the New York Times and the Washington Post and have them sent to the White House. Heck, if they set up a fund to do that, I'll donate. The money will go to a great cause and the WH will be inundated!
78
Very nice :)
9
Newspapers are dying everywhere and the NYT will not survive without Trump. This industry may soon kill the golden goose. I relish the idea of reading about Schiff and Hillary, 24/7...NOT.
8
If you want the president back as a reader, you will have to make the print larger and simplify the vocabulary to a third grade level. Perhaps a special edition just for him..
72
Cancelling the NYT and Washington Post -- someone in the WH is reading them and making a summary so he probably will read a summary, all he could manage anyway, and what he has been reading to date anyway -- if that.
19
What I think would be just great is if the NY Times and the Washington Post just stopped mentioning Trump for one week. Just one week, he's probably have another meltdown and it would incredibly entertaining to watch.
70
Trump's attitude towards the printed word could be explained by the grade he received when he took the NYS English Regents.
19
I hope folks involved with tech, organized religion, or politics will do some soul searching over the fact that Facebook, the Catholic Church, and the White House (under two presidencies) can plausibly be described in a widely read column in a major newspaper nowadays as an unholy trinity of sorts. Institutions matter, and the character and competence of an institution matters.
And I hope we can all find ways to be appropriately skeptical without becoming stuck in cynicism or despair.
5
I watched and listened to the eulogies delivered by two former presidents for the wonderful Elijah, terrified that the current occupier of the Oval would make an appearance, insincerely reading from a TelePrompter about a man and his city that he ridiculed. Thankfully, he never showed. I doubt he’d been invited.
I find it impossible to see him delivered either a eulogy or any address with genuine human emotion.
36
In the mid-1980's, after reading The Times for more than ten years, daily, I spotted a column and was so swept away by its accuracy, truth, and documented evidence that I was compelled to write a "fan letter" to the author whom I had not read before. The columnist answered, thanking me, and confirmed some of the time- consuming details on digging up the facts. Thank you, New York Times, and Maureen Dowd.
36
If Trump reads the way he writes, most likely he is a poor reader and probably doesn't bother to wade through full articles.
You omitted a major detail. More than headlines praising him, I suspect that Trump is an avid searcher of photographs of himself. During the 2016 presidential debates often he looked straight into the camera affecting certain facial expressions that he probably tried many times in front of a mirror.
28
What I have discovered is that ALL of my Republican friends and family do not read NYT if they read at all anything substantial in regards to facts. My rural friends and family cannot even get the times delivered unless it is mailed to them. I think NYT would help our country get more truth centered if they would have a free drop to heavy GOP rural areas once in awhile as so many do not even experience the Times. You may argue they can get it on 5heir devices but they don’t subscribe. Maybe that could be one of the costs the DNC could undertake. We need these people to at least be exposed to quality journalism. Giving free copies to high school English classes would also help future voters get exposed.
34
Contrast the NYT with the Fox News web pages - you'd think the reporting is for two different planets. Trump supporters have very little exposure to the reporting of actual events, data, facts, and in many cases, the truth. It largely explains their initial and continued support of his words and actions.
I know more than a few people I'd consider to be intelligent, rational people who are sadly, very good at regurgitating the GOP/Fox News version of the news. When I explain the "rest of the story," they react like it's the first time they've heard it.
42
It had once been said "If it hadn't been for Martha Mitchell, there'd have been no Watergate." Thanks for the memory Maureen
24
I’m so glad you now have a kids section on certain weekends. Those will be your future subscribers.
13
Maybe he would respond to mass demonstrations trying to prevent his golf outings . . .
Stephanie Grisham, BTW, is a robot. Spread the word.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was too human in showing her upset; Sean Spicer was replaced in the public's eye by Melissa McCarthy and the rolling podium. Trump needed a Stepford Wife spokesperson ...
This Prez won't relent on "saving big bucks" by foregoing news: HE doesn't read. The ones who need information will read on their own, as most people have done. Of course, they bear the fear that he will instigate investigations into who is reading the NY Times AT HOME, thus proving disloyalty.
JFK could eventually laugh about his moment of ire, I'd guess. Trump , never in his life.
9
Thank you for mentioning the true heroine of Watergate...Martha Mitchell who after a few cocktails would spill the beans better than any Washington whistleblower.
18
Rockin Robin, Tweet, Tweet... that’s all trump does aside from goofing oops golfing (at HUGE TAXPAYER’S expense) and watching Fox faux “news”. The emperor has a tasty wardrobe of new clothes and stupid long red ties (hmm are they a tribute to his Vladdy?) to go with his “very, very great” comb over and oranga-Tan. Wow, what a “stable genius”. I’d like to recommend Randy Rainbow’s song parodies for those like me who require something to laugh at and about these days... Go on check out his “Stable Genius” for starters. Fore!
15
In other words, DJT is an addict. His drug of choice is whatever feeds his ego, that endless, boundless universe he imagines inside his head.
And why not. All his life he has had his ego stoked and fed, by the social pages of tabloids and legitimate press alike, by adoring women - excited by his wealth and fame, imagined or not - and by wealth and fame of others he so wants so badly to be aligned with. Or vice versa.
What makes good journalism great is taking broad and sweeping truths into short, understandable sentences. Well, done, Ms. Dowd.
16
Look at the Washington Post obituary on the Isis leader’s demise. Enough said.
Maureen’s column and that treacherous obit headline prove one thing: The Times and the Post no longer print all the news objectively at all.
The citizenry is subjected to manic, thoughtless attacks on a Republican President seeking solely to discredit everything he does and obviously provoking and prodding in hopes of impulsive responses grounded in anger and frustration.
6
The most dangerous reality trying to undermine our democracy is the parasitic symbiosis of Trump requiring fantasy and praise to stoke his narcissism while encouraging his devoted base to stay uninformed, hostile to truth, and conducive only to the media platforms that spew alternative facts and conspiracies.
20
He can't sneak back; to begin with the fact that he doesn't read and to end with the fact that maybe he can't.
17
Excluding truth and facts from the the Trump Orwellian universe is precisely what his fans also do to sustain their allegiance to a the chronic liar Donald Trump. Trump has done far worse than shoot some one on 5th Ave,, and his Republican base continues to bow down before their self-proclaimed genius and saint.
15
Urgent update from WH comm office:
The president-after careful and thoughtful review, have decided to expand the knowledge of WH staff and other federal agency, mandating through executive order the following publications are a must read and he will be randomly calling the staff to quiz them.
The National Enquirer
NY Post ( page 6 is a must read)
Globe
The Sun
The Village Voice
WWD ( Ivanka & Melania favorite)
4
"The nasty Narcissus" - what a great description. Maureen, you always have a wonderful way with words.
12
"Besides, taxpayers would probably be happy to spend the money on newspapers if the president would stop staring at his name and educate himself on the globe.'"
Nah, Maureen, not a chance. But your column was priceless because if its truth. I'm not sure how Trump can "banish" these papers from the agencies, since as far as I know, it's still legal to buy your own digital subscription.
Will Trump walk the halls of the Foggy Bottom, DOJ, and Capitol Hill checking screens for fake news filth on open screens? I guess, if you almost raised by McCarthy lawyer Roy Cohn, rooting out bad new would come naturally.
Of course, most of the news is bad these days, because You Know Who keeps it that way. Maybe if he stopped doing bad things, his coverage would be kindler and gentler.
Of course, if I drank from the Fountain of Youth, I might be younger too. But I suspect my chances, along with Trump's are pretty dim.
3
Maureen has nailed this one. Wish she had been so inciteful in 2016.
18
Maureen, welcome back to the Jedi. We missed you.
8
"I know, because I prowl through at least eight newspapers a day"
Ms. Dowd, I would be interested in knowing which newspapers you "prowl through", although I realize that you will not answer here.
"I’ve always noticed a huge difference in leaders who read the news carefully, like Barack Obama, an avid New York Times reader, and those, like Donald Trump, who fail to feed their brains properly."
If you could just ignore the anti-Trump animus for a brief moment and expand on that point beyond Mr. Obama, it would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps a different column.
3
The President has decided he can no longer tolerate the reporting and performance assessments of his administration supplied by the Times. That also means he'll inadvertently cut himself off from another valuable part of the paper, the science section. We all know what a science nerd he is. How will he make important decisions regarding technology, the climate and the general health of the planet? I guess he'll have to pull it out of the same place Rudy stores his phone.
8
Trump is unreal. How can our country be run by a undemocratic guy like Trump? Who is not even good at what he does, running his family business! The SDNY is compiling all the financial irregularities the trump family indulged in, over the past decades, and got away just because they had lawyers and accountants inflating his wealth when it was convenient and deflating it when it came to paying taxes. How can someone like that run our country? Those who support trump are totally blind and fooled easily. The media has played its role in exposing trump’s misdeeds but ultimately it is those people who run the government day to day, will come forward and say enough!!
6
when will he start banning books ?
9
@geraniums in pots Wait until the Anonymous book comes out
3
That is exactly right Ms. Dowd, exactly right.
1
Donald Trump behave?!?!
Both funny and sad
Perhaps back to military school as his parents tried?
3
Matt Gaetz personifies the entitled frat boy born on third. Thanks Dad!
7
My suggestion is that the NYT and WaPo do as in other emergencies and drop their paywall for 90 days, just so WH staffers can keep their bosses quietly up to date on what is happening in the real world, on the other side of the moat that protects the White House from unflattering news.
There will be many more new subscribers in the end.
5
I suspect he's just tired of reading about all the winning...
4
There's little evidence that anyone in the Administration actually read anything anyways. Their ignorance is appalling.
5
Illiteracy is the inability to read with understanding. Aliteracy is the ability to read but the absence of interest in reading. Trump falls somewhere between the two.
3
The prez might want the NY Times and the WaPo off "his" lawn and, as the prez would say, "that's alright," so long as we're talking about Mar-a-Lago or some other failing golf resort operating under the faux-gilded Trump banner.
But the White House lawn is MY lawn. I pay for it and I want these despised news outlets delivered there because "fake" in Trumpese is a synonym for "authentic, incisive, curious and investigative" in real English, a foreign language to the prez,
I want the people's house to be swamped with competing perspectives of our times, free of fear or favor, and free of the endless stream of prevarication that flows unstanched from the White House on which I hold a tiny part of the mortgage.
So, as co-proprietor, I demand of the prez: Restore the subscriptions!
10
Thanks , Maureen
Best chuckle I have had about Trump since Kevin McCarthy's appearance on 60 Minutes
6
The problem is that no matter how often and how completely pundits like Dowd reveal that our king is indeed naked and utterly repugnant to behold, his loyalists will continue to not just pretend the man is well dressed, but will actually see him luxuriously robed.
The GOP politicians may be pretending, but tens of millions of voting Americans are literally delusional.
Populist democracy perverted by moneyed interests appears a very dangerous cocktail at the moment.
3
On the other hand, the White House will keep a subscription to the National Enquirer and its sister publication the National Review.
9
We can dance around this fact, and have over and over for 1000+ days, but I know I speak for tens of millions when I simply state that I hate everything about Donald J Trump. I pray daily for him to be gone, out of our hearts and heads and his creepy collection of minions and family members that live corrupt and useless scheming lives can disappear with him.
Not one legal or moral accomplishment has come from him. He eats at the soul and life of America.
17
Yes, Maureen Dowd, it is breathtaking to what degree Trump is willfully ignorant and self obsessed. And how 95% of the members of the Republican Party, according to polls, continue to support a behavior they would otherwise sanctimoniously condemn in a Democrat. Ostriches all, they have their heads so deeply stuck in the sand they risk striking oil. Their Bible, Fox News, is nothing more than the National Enquirer on TV. And history will note the likes of Graham, Rubio, McConnell, McCarthy and Nunes as the most accomplished sycophants ever to hold office in Congress.
12
Ms. Dowd,
I've always thought of you as a gifted writer. This column proves it.
But, did I somehow miss your apology for spinning the fiction of Trump as a viable candidate in the first place?
If so, I accept it, especially if you continue to write a reality-based column.
8
It's Sunday. The beginning of another week or the end of the past week. However you look at it. That being said, Trump is still and will always be a horrible person.
4
I thought I'd never see it, a media opinionist who admits, "God knows, we're not perfect". There is progress.
Thanks Maureen; this was a good one! It's hard to get a good laugh with trump. He's just too nauseating.
4
Sorry Ms. Dowd, no standing ovation for you. It’s not that I disagree with you but I can’t give out credit for something so easy. Everything that is happening with the President should have been anticipated based on his forty year track record. Bigger than the enormous stupidity of his behavior is the inexcusable election of this man. Trump is damaging the country every day and at this point I take no comfort in reading about how bad he is. And I’ll take less comfort in seeing his next opponent get torn down by our responsible media.
5
I laughed out loud reading this. Can Congressional Republicans honestly not see how ludicrous they look defending and pretending to believe Donald Trump’s Ukrainian mendacity? When facts are proven by paper trails, witnesses, transcripts, and nationally televised admissions, you don’t want to be viewed by voters as the sap who kept lying for a corrupt president.
4
The surest sign that a person or organization (or country) is sinking is that they try to control the flow of information. As soon as news, facts, ideas and controversy are deemed to be subversive, it's a straight road to oblivion.
Trump and his know-nothing supporters haver been on that road since his campaign began. Trump's self-obsession is only matched by his dishonesty and his ignorance. He has proclaimed that any news or information or facts that contradict his verbal diarrhea is simply false. HIs ignorant, clueless supporters and craven enablers simply parrot his lines.
The judgment of the House will soon be upon him. Squirm, squeal, lie and carry on as he will, it has become unavoidable.
He will always have a following, among those whose defining traits are greed, stupidity, bigotry and corruption. (Even Nixon has about 32% approval rating when he resigned.)
But, sooner or later, it's likely that he'll be unable to maintain his stranglehold on Republicans in Congress and will be left to stew in his own broth.
4
The classic case of someone who “can dish it out but can’t take it”.
While searching for that phrase, found this article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201110/the-narcissists-dilemma-they-can-dish-it-out
No wonder Trump is fearful of facts.
4
Since he is no longer reading the NY Times, maybe the NY Times should give him less coverage. Cover Pence and what a good interim president he would be. Cover other politicians who are leaders in the US as there is no leadership in the White House. Cover world leaders who have taken up the leadership vacuum in the US absence.
Then you will know if he is reading it anymore.
3
I grew up in a family of avid newspaper readers and therefore, I follow the same family tradition everyday. I have been reading the NYTIMES from a very young age. My wife was a big fan of A.M. Rosenthal and I really enjoyed Russell Baker’s ruminations about life. We miss them both dearly - we also can’t imagine life without reading the NYTIMES. I try to adhere to what my mother taught me long time ago: “Newspapers are windows to the world”.
Even though Trump claims to be a “stable genius with a large brain” - he is essentially a solipsistic narcissist and a bloviating blowhard. He only wants to read about himself. It’s well known that as a businessman, he only read newspaper clippings (collected by his staff members) about himself. It’s also widely rumored that he posed as his own publicist to plant stories about himself in the media. Not sure if this rumor is true or not but it doesn’t astound me because Trump is an uber exhibitionistic egotist.
Based on Trump’s lifelong obsession about himself, I’m not surprised that he cancelled the newspaper subscriptions to the White House. Trump lives in his own “Alternative Universe” surrounded by his fawning sycophants and watches his favorite TV channel that praises him unconditionally because Trump thinks everything else is “Fake News”. If anything makes him mad - he sends out syntactically challenged and malapropism ridden angry Tweets.
Trump’s presidency is analogous to a surrealistic TV Reality Show.
Oy Vey !
5
So true! Maureen Dowd's piece is right on! Once again, the living hypocrisy of the Vietnam War draft dodger and the emasculated Republican Party is front and center. The patent absence of a decision to immediately cancel the New York Times and the Washington Post on Day One of this illegitimate presidency speaks volumes. Hedging their bets, they were forced, albeit reluctantly, to maintain the subscriptions to the two finest newspapers in America because they dare not rely solely upon news papers from Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis, Montgomery, Jackson, Raleigh, Charleston, Richmond, and Frankfort. They the superior, competent news coverage is from the very publications they vilify, hate, malign, demean, and denigrate as the enemy of the people. So be it. New flash: the light at the end of the tunnel is the impeachment train, and the course is directed at the Vietnam War draft dodger. Pure and simple. Just accept the fact and get over it. You'll always have Paris!
4
He'll be tweeting about Times and Post stories in no time flat.
5
Trump's cancellation of his subscriptions to The Times and The Washington post, aside from being dumb and puerile, signifies his failure to deal with reality. It is a way of saying, make the world go away...
5
Sorry Maureen, I remember all your negative comments about Hillary when she was running against trump. I still don't forgive you.
13
Like other commenters here, I subscribed to the New York Times after Trump was elected. Its very expensive for my retired person's budget (I pay $15 per month) but I have enjoyed having access to reasonable reporting instead of hype. I also subscribed to the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Mother Jones because of Donald Trump. And we started donating to PBS to support their News Hour. Good job boosting support for the media, sir!
5
I've been a digital subscriber for many years, and a reader all my life. I love this op-ed, which points out essentially that the NY Times cannot be ignored.
Still, I'm troubled by the fact that the NY Times depends on advertising to survive, more than subscribers, as it has always been during my lifetime. Advertising would seem to be a capricious support line even more than it ever was, while companies like Facebook take all the revenue.
What is the future? How will the NY Times become truly independent of anything other than those seeking facts?
Seems to me that NPR and PBS are in the lead on this, and I am hopeful that the NY Times can get to the same point.
2
He doesn't need to read either of them since he already knows they will attack everything he does or says. Boring!
3
Your paean to newspapers is nice, but otherwise, it's the same old same old: Trump is a fool, his minions are hooked on power, make it stop. Pretty easy to write, especially given all the practice you've had. Do some digging and see if there's a spark of humanity in the dude. (I didn't say it would be easy.)
Thank you Ms Dowd. I can’t wait for the headline “Trump Impeached!” I’ll frame it,send copies to McConnell and celebrate by marching in the streets.
5
Oh come now. It’s much simpler than this. He’s canceling the subscriptions because the articles are too long and complex for him to understand, and they use too many long words whose meaning he doesn’t know.
3
Awesome Maureen! You not only caught the biggest snow flake of them all, but also happily did not forget all the smaller ones: Graham, Grisham, McCarthy, Scalise, even Conway! Why did you ignore another biggie:McConnell?
4
What a great read and so very important that you mention the Catholic Church which maybe in the next hundred years will disappear, rightly so...
2
The guy is afraid of everything.
2
One of the most dynamic and svelte pieces from Maureen Dowd I have ever read. She reflects our collective Zeitgeist in ways that many of us are just not so lucidly able to say. She. Is. Fierce.
3
Obama wasn’t criticized for golfing. It was for golfing while an American was getting beheaded on world TV by ISIS. Even Henry Kissinger weighed in on that one.
Otherwise, yes, the two presidents have very different styles. Celebrity president vs the Don.
Wow, some network should promote a fundraising golf match between them! Produce something good from their rivalry. Ratings and charity through the roof!
2
Obama’s golf problem mentioned here was that he played the day after an America was beheaded by ISIS, and even Henry Kissinger criticized his decision. Hey look, if we’re going to read and report we should appreciate the nuance.
1
Welcome home, Ms Dowd. Whenever your column is missing for a week or two, I miss you and know that something essential is missing. My muesli and fruit and nuts just don't taste the same. This one is worth the wait.
1
Thank you for the column, Ms Dowd. Excellent as usual. It is true that we have a president who doesn't read...very much. I want him to read the New York Times but you need to get after your team to make it easier for him to do so. First, tell the copy editors to push for more monosyllabic articles. Second, hire more photographers. We know he loves pictures. Ditto for more illustrators too.
And can we please get maps to accompany each article? Making it easy for him to understand we don't need a wall in Colorado will help with his rally speeches, especially when he goes to Colorado.
More color will help. Larger typeface too. And don't forget what catches his eye. Maybe some photos of attractive women near stories we want him to read might help him better understand the issues like Russia isn't our friend. And last but not least, always include money in any headline. That will generate instant interest for him.
2
Trump has more in mind than just cancelling subscriptions. How would you feel if you woke up one morning and there was no more NY Times, WA. Post or, in my neck of the woods, L.A. Times?
Fantastic.
1
He won't sneak back Maureen because he never left. He just wanted everybody else to stop looking at the truth about his miserable White House existence. As well as the nonstop mendacity of Team Trump.
4
Good column! I beg the NYT to please not use the word “ snowflake” as a put down as the sub heading reads on my I-Phone. Snowflakes are part of Nature —they add enormous beauty to our winter landscape. The Right Wing started using this word as an epithet. Can you imagine the mind of a person who would use a glorious snowflake as a put down? Makes me sad.
1
Devastating commentary, Ms. Dowd. Always a pleasure to read you.
2
Maureen,
There is a new book out "All the President's Women" by former executive editor of the National Enquirer, who used to have a "safe" containing all Trumps secret files. It details Trump escapades from 40 years ago until Stormy Daniels exposé in 2017.
I wonder if Trump will sub NYT and WP with this new tome as a must read for White House staff?
1
I keep trying to follow Michelle Obama and “go high” when the Trump White House sinks so low. But, God forgive me, I loved (and needed) this scorching takedown.
4
Trump can't read or speak words greater than four-letters, so it was either get rid of the heresy rags or you'll be in fetters--our "President," not a man of letters.
1
Maureen Dowd, bravo to you for every word start to finish. Spot on!
3
This is Ms. Dowd's most astute column ever, hands down. And a delight to read.
2
His depravity trickles down, as the County Commissioners of Citrus County, Florida, now want to defund digital access to the NYT in the county library system. Or should I say that Trump's depravity is simply a mirror of the depravity already existing, a "trickling up"? The commissioners are on record saying that they don't want to fund "fake news" and "radical" ideas.
Yeah, but......
Digital media changes how 'news' is perceived and presented. Things ain't like they used to be and words no longer have the veracity they held even thirty years ago. Literacy, yes - newspapers?.....eh.
Is our figurehead prez more ignorant because he doesn't read? Absolutely. But the fact that he can get even a wedge of doubt in the wall of 'facts' and claims of, 'fake news' proves there is more doubt in peoples minds about just who uses words truthfully and whom can be trusted.
It’s okay: I’ve ordered a gift subscription for Donald.
1
He definitely would come back to both IF they had comic sections!
1
Something tells me that the president is more of a television watcher than newspaper reader any way.
1
Glad you mentioned KAC’s triangle, because if you look at her prior comments when she ran the Ted Cruz campaign,it’s obvious she is amoral, only in it for the money. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit to hear her say, “ I love you big time fella. You’re my only one. Honest.”
1
You’re probably correct in thinking that Donnie cancelled TNYT, WaPost, etc., in a fit of infantile pique. After all, Ockham’s Razor teaches us that the simplest explanation is the one most likely to be correct. But there’s another possibility: Donnie’s afraid that OTHER administration sycophants may read the coverage of leaks, testimony, “disloyalty”, etc., and start to get funny ideas. Now we both know that these folks can read this stuff on line any time they want, but I’m not sure that Donnie realizes it.
1
Excellent column. Trump is thinking that if he will close his eyes then sun will perhaps not shine. He never grew up and still believe if these childish fantasies. Let the sun shine on his high crimes and misdemeanors.
1
I Sincerely wonder if Trump can’t even read? Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
2
Let’s just admit it: He is functionally illiterate. A beleaguered staffer collates all the News, Intelligence Briefs and pressing matters into a very condensed version, with words of one or two syllables. This Staffer then reads aloud to Him, during
“Executive Time “. This is done in private, in a very posh room right off the Oval Office. Complete with running water and a porcelain throne.
Worst Job, EVER.
3
The NYT and the Post can get in Trump's good books if they print more pictures. Preferably of him. The president on the golf course. The president sitting at his desk solemnly signing some piece of paper. And emphasize his strong attention to family by showing him tossing a football with his youngest on the WH lawn. OK, that last one might be difficult, but try.
2
As an addictive reader since early childhood, I always had a book, comic or a matchbook cover up to my face. Anything with the printed word on it. But when I started reading Mom’s Miami Herald in high school, a bolt of lightning informed me that like had changed: I was now fully connected to the real, whole, current world. How does anyone not read, who is able to do so? The whole world is at your fingertips, you learn something new every day until your last day on earth. What else can do that for you?
Trump doesn’t read thempapers, the govt workers will just bring in their own from home or read online. It’s just silly kindergarten level symbolism. So who is he punishing?
Slightly off topic, I’d bet Bezos is not crying in his no beer that he didn’t get the billion dollar cloud fed contract.. He seems comfortable ‘just’ being the richest man on the plant. Hopefully he’ll join Gates in retirement and do good with his wallet and skills.
Back to topic, what is he sniffing? He only does it when he’s making a ‘serious’ comment and he appears
Sort sort of buzzed at the sametim.I don’t know what medicin has the side effects is definitely on something or he needs to try to appear to be serious and off his normal topics of gossip and hate mongering my kids have suggested edits AdderallCan someone do a little investigation into that? I’m sure it’s related to the fact that he does not readI’m tired of the three years of
I’m sure his sniffing
3
"They’re always huffing away from our paper only to sneak back a few days later."
No, not "always," madam. Most of us only suffer a bout of "cancelitis" once. That is because the "sneak[ing] back" is just too humiliating to subject ourselves to it more than once.
1
I had a friend who, as I child, put a paper bag with eyeholes in it over her head whenever she left her house because she didn’t want to be seen.
1
I recently subscribed to both the Times and the Post specifically for following the implosion of this mental patient in the White House. It's $4 a month for each, cheaper than Netflix and much much better way to spend my time.
The nonstop of it all is exhausting.
Yesterdays awarding of a ten billion dollar contract to Microsoft over Amazon. You think that might have something to do with his hatred and jealousy of Bezos,(the owner of the fake news Washington Post?)
Like,maybe, just maybe, he leaned on someone at the Pentagon to make sure Bezos didnt get the contract?
Likely be investigations into THAT soon, too.
I dont think he will make it to the end of the YEAR, let alone 2020.
He comes more unglued every single day.
25th amendment by xmas is my bet.
2
As I see that hideous visage on TV this morning claiming "victory" for his multiple defeats, once again, I have a new name for the monster in chief:
blasphemous T
Regards to the remaining humans on this planet, who care about each other and want to work towards making life better.
4
Who's he trying to kid, he doesn't read.
2
Doesn’t really matter, as Trump does not read. We think he knows how, but it requires too much attention and concentration.
You need a NY Times TV show! (Or a classic comic edition of NY Times).
2
" ... He managed to bollix up America’s Middle East policy even more ... "
In Trump's defense, I will note that no matter what we do in the Middle East will be the wrong thing. But he does seem to land on the wrongliest side of just about every other issue.
2
Thank you for a dose of sanity in a world swiftly being torn to shreds!
1
Of course Trump is a snowflake. He blames others for his every failing. He is a frank racist. And his willful ignorance, his failure to take responsibility, his racism was obvious when he ran for office.
So how does he have virtually the same support he had when he was elected? Because his voters want a "president" who shirks all of his responsibilities and blames others. They want a "president" as racist as they are. They want a "president" who gets what he wants by breaking the law - this is what they aspire to.
Underlying all of his behavior is a quality that Trump displays - and a quality that his base shares - and that is failing to take responsibility for one's own actions. Instead, he gives them the excuse that others - you know, those brown skinned people? - are to blame for their problems in life, their own own lapses of judgment, their own failures. They want to blame others for their own shortcomings.
And this is what they love about Trump. He absolves them of all their failures, their willful ignorance and their racism. He knows that his voters see themselves in him. And as long as he doesn't apologize for his law breaking, his obvious unfitness for office, his bigotry, but instead revels in it, his voters will never leave him.
Snowflakes? Trump voters are the ultimate snowflakes. They expect to parade their bigotry with no pushback. So when they can't face the description of who they truly are, I'll give them the phrase they love - "Get over it."
6
Adios Trump. The Republican Senators will dump you as it increasingly sinks in that they're better off with Pence. The 2020 race will be Pence/Gillum v. Warren/Gillum as the Democrats go suicidal. And yes, the Donald will read the NYTimes. You nailed it: 'the girl he obsesses over, but cannot have. By the way MD, when you interviewed him, was he flirtatious?
Trump's cancellation of the New York Times and Washington Post probably resulted in a surge of new subscriptions for both newspapers from people who had been considering subscribing but now know that they really want to subscribe.
Possible ad:
"Read the paper that launched a thousand tweets! Subscribe to the Washington Post / New York Times!
1
Thanksgiving is a few weeks away but may I start a bit early by thanking:
The free press of our democracy, led by the New York Times and the Washington Post, which day in and day out exposes the menace to our freedoms that this sorry excuse for a President is.
The majorities of people in enough Congressional districts to empower the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives one year ago.
If these two 'institutions' weren't acting as a bulwark for good and decent government, and illuminating and confronting the corruption and venality of this administration, we would likely already be extremely close to becoming a fascist dictatorship.
And thank you as a part of the NY Times Ms. Dowd for your razor-sharp attacks on this pompous ignorant man who doesn't care the real damage he is doing to people in our country and the world. Keep fighting the good fight with your insights.
Maureen Dowd you rock. I couldn't have said what you said about our feckless leader better myself. I'm an avid reader of your column and of the NY Times. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
1
This is by far—by a long shot, in fact—the best of Mo’s work, ever. I am almost ready to forgive her for Hil. Who knows? Maybe someday soon.
4
What makes you think President Trump can read? All indications are he can't or if he does, he has no reading comprehension.
2
Trump is a third-rate crook going after the fourth estate while he pleads the fifth!
4
Agree completely. Would just change to Newsprint Narcissus. Better mythaphor?
This is why I have a NYT online subscription and why I read it daily. I hope all of you cheating the paywall by reading the articles in incognito mode feel good about yourselves.
From an article I just read in the NY Times:
" “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president,” the press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement."
What else needs to be said?
5
The White House only uses the Times and Post as whipping boys to rile up Trump’s base—most of whom, like Trump, don’t read either of those papers.
Wait—I forgot that Stephanie Grisham does the Times crossword everyday. She doesn’t actually fill in the boxes; she writes “Trump the great genius” over the puzzle in lipstick.
2
A really good column. Thanks.
1
Once an egotist always an egotist. Once you love your own image as the papers see it, then you are off to the races.
Donald has been courting the newspaper business so long he'd lost without that scope.
If I were POTUS, I'd be reading so many papers I'd have to get a downloadable clone, several in fact...
Thank you Maureen. What a nice little treat for a rainy Sunday in Cleveland.
1
I encourage everyone to send the president links to articles from the New York Times and Washington Post via Twitter. Let’s keep him informed on real news about his impeachment. Help the guy out.
2
Trump doesn't want news he wants affirmation.
I was horrified when I read (somewhere) that Trump was advocating for AONN and Epoch Times simply because they flatter him and feed into his conspiracies.
These two outlets (won't use the term news as a description) are worst than Fox News. At least Fox will 'occasionally' publish something news worthy.
Heck, the comment sections for NYT and WP are better informed than AONN, Epoch Times, and Fox News
This is our president.
2
Fine Ms. Dowd, you’ve changed your tune. Now I want an apology for your derogatory references to “Barry” (President Obama to you) and relentlessly attacking Hillary Clinton while tRump smirked on. It’s one thing to criticize leaderships’ governing and policies, but you took it to another level.
Your karmic dharma is to help bring down tRump now.
4
“Matt Gaetz compared his stunt to the Spartans.” That is surprising since Gaetz did not serve in the military. Military service in Sparta was mandatory between the ages of 20 and 30, after which a soldier served in the reserve until he was 60. Sparta is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity, and some scholars claim that it was also the first to formalize pederasty. This is indeed a funny choice for Gaetz, since most older politicians are reluctant to claim an relationship with Sparta because of the Spartans social practices .
2
Trump compared to JFK? An avid reader, JFK could read approximately 2,500 words per minute, nearly 10 times the average. In fact, he would reportedly read six newspapers every morning at breakfast cover to cover.-- Trump watches FOX News
3
Good one today!
I think Trump writes Stephanie Grisham’s tweets!
1
Is it true that trump also canceled his subscription to Highlights magazine?
1
Maureen Dowd at her best ........ keeping our spirits up with her wit.
1
I agree with all of Trump's critics who have described him as narcissistic, dishonest, sociopathic, misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, paranoid, but to depict Trump as a non-reader, well, I'm sorry, but that goes beyond the pale!
1
I for one can’t wait for the day when I no longer have to read about Trump, our democracy would be safe, and I can finally return to other concerns and have a lower blood pressure from not being outraged on a daily basis.
This idiot has wasted way too much of our collective resources of time, energy and money, as he (with the GOP and his supporters, let’s not forget) tries to push our country into the Dark Ages. Unfortunately some of the damage is already done, but let’s hope we can stem it before it’s too late.
1
Trump is no "snowflake"; he is a merciless, vengeful tsunami pounding away and wrecking our government and country every day he is in office.
The question we need to know is for whom is Trump really working besides his narcissistic, greedy self--Putin, the Kochs, perhaps both?
But our problem is less that Trump is a willfully ignorant, criminally-minded individual, who seeks no information, makes cruel & stupidly destructive decisions, and refuses to take responsibility and hold himself accountable than it is:
(1) the spineless, morally bankrupt extremist right-wing Republican Party that has abandoned law-and-order, basic human decency, democracy, and the Constitution;
(2) media outlets that call themselves "news organizations" but openly lie, propagandize, and spread smears and false rumors to the public; and
(3) Trump's cult-like base that cheers him on, no matter how much damage he does
By the way, according to a Pew survey, only 5% of Americans say the major way they get their news is by reading newspapers and news magazines.
What we are witnessing is what happens in a country when truth no longer matters, and the leaders of the country call the free press the "enemy of the people." Plus, the judicial system is under heavy assault from the right-wing GOP & Trump, and anyone who openly disagrees or criticizes Trump is purged. What's next? Book burning?
4
Thank you Maureen, I feel better just reading this well deserved smack down!
3
So yes Trump doesn't read unless it's about him, but what about all of our fellow citizens who also don't read and allow themselves to fed propaganda.
They all can't have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. What is going on when 40% of the country that hates the other 60% so much they will cheer a mad man as long as he wallows with them in their hate.
Yes Trump is awful and needs to go but his democracy hating base is going nowhere.
Who is the next racist demagogue that will capture their fancy and thus supported by Republican congressmen?
Trump is scary, his base his way scarier.
2
If ignorance is bliss, Trump is the happiest person alive.
3
He wanted to replace the Times and Post with one of his favorites, "My Weekly Reader", but settled on "Highlights".
2
I started reading The NY Times in second grade when I began following the Vietnam War. Back in the day, the second page of the first section had stories and pictures of the war that I gobbled up every day. I remember my aunt asking my mother why she let us read the paper and my mother told her she knew no way to stop us. We read newspapers every day in our house at breakfast, interrupting the grown ups during paper reading was forbidden (unless there was blood). A tradition I have passed down to my own children. The Times can be infuriating, shallow but it is enormously important to all of us, especially today.
6
Grisham's threat to strong-arm government to cancel subscriptions to The Washington Post and New York Times speaks to her ignorance: The Washington Post allows full, free access to government employees and members of the military. The Times Digest, a free 9-page daily summary, is sent to all ships at sea and military bases.
You'd think a press secretary would look something like that up first.
6
@Bohemian Sarah I personally like the idea that Trump’s word will prevent anyone in the government from access to WaPo and NYT. But that the reality is so very different and no one will tell him.
The people still surrounding Trump are there because they have learned to cater to his extreme narcissism. Those who do not stroke his massive ego are doomed to be pushed out. These sycophants may be filling the needs of Trump but they are abandoning decency and honesty to do so at the expense of the American tax payer. Shame on them all.
4
“I’ve always noticed a huge difference between those leaders who read the news carefully, like Barack Obama, an avid New York Times reader, and those, like Donald Trump, who fail to feed their brains properly.”
In the same way Trump feeds his body a diet of unhealthy “fast food” -cheeseburgers, KFC, Diet Coke etc., he feeds his brain a constant diet of “fast” pre-digested propaganda prepared by the “chefs” at Fox - Hannity, Carlson, Pirro etc.
And reading not only “feeds” the brain, as Maureen points out, but also “exercises” it, and we all know how Donald Trump feels about exercise.
3
Good column. I'd only ad that it's ironic that most arrogant among us are also the dumbest and it never occurs to them that every last one of their problems is one that they themselves created.
2
Trump doesn't read. I think it's very unlikely that Trump even read any of the newspapers that get delivered to the White House. At most, maybe he gets a summary written by some intern presumably because he's "busy" to read the paper. If anything, just like his daily national security reports, he only reads the title and NEVER the full content of anything put before him. He is not an intelligent or world curious man like Obama and every president before him. Trump is the cliffsnotes "president" and HE believes he's the smarter for it.
No doubt he'll continue getting his "news" from some wacko online conspiracy rag or one sided newspaper like the "Christian Science Monitor" or whatever newspaper Hannity has a stake in.
1
This was a great article! I am waiting to read if the Federal agencies actually do cancel their subscriptions to the Times and the Wash. Post after Mussolini (oops, typo, meant Trump) demanded they do so. I hope they defy him on this assault against the 1st Amendment. The one headline I want to see on the NYT masthead is "Trump is Impeached!" I'm guessing it's too much to wish for that he'd also be removed from office?
1
“But we’re definitely better arbiters of objective reality than Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise.” I doubt it, and I believe IG Horowitz, AG Barr, and U.S. Attorney Durham are all going to prove very soon that you’re not and have not been. Then it will be your turn to not read the news or to not report fully and fairly on their findings.
1
Our various intelligence agencies all confirmed Russia interference. Nothing any of these dogs chasing their tails come up with will change any of that, nor what this paper has reported on the matter.
1
"Given the perverted values we’ve seen in other institutions, such as Facebook, the Catholic Church, the Bush-Cheney White House and the Trump White House, it feels good to be part of an institution that aims to illuminate rather than obscure."
Maureen, you probably shouldn't have included the Bush-Cheney White House because, sadly, -two words - Judith Miller.
@HFA Who was working for cheney - what's your point
It is gratifying to see you after a hiatus to speak truth to power.
1
Trump is grotesquely using the Presidency to try to harm the businesses of people he doesn’t like. Amazon, New York Times, Washington Post have all been the targets of this unfit President.
Why won’t Moscow Mitch do any oversight? And what has gotten into Lindsey Graham? Is Lindsey being blackmailed.
Thanks for doing your part to help him win lady. That’s all
1
A quote from Brokeback Mountain..
"I wish I could quit you".. but does he really?
Me thinks not!
Another good one Maureen. Keep them coming.
1
With every thing he does, and never more so than with banishing the Times and WaPo, Trump climbs to the top of the highest tower and proudly proclaims to a watching world,
“I am the most unbelievably childish and ignorant man on earth!”
1
Ms. Dowd, I really didn't see the need for the subject of this column. This president cannot read. Intellectually, he cannot connect the dots.
He never could.
4
I grew up in a newspaper family. Dad was a reporter, editorial writer and finally a VP and the Op-Ed page editor. (He purchased Maureen for syndication.) My first job at age 15 was as an AP copyboy in 1972.
The newspaper business is in collapse.
Sadly, the NYT is no longer the NYT. Again, I say, the NYT is no longer the NYT. I mourn. Never thought this day would come. Another tough, life lesson.
1
The folks at Fordham and Penn must be so proud.
Stephanie Grisham and the rest of his pack of mystics and soothsayers can cancel every subscription and start burning books, .. it won't change this Presidency's expiration date.
Well obviously we have another "hater" whose "totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president". Mayhaps Ms. Dowd can touch base with Ms. Grisham and receive the Rosetta Stone that will then enlighten those of us that are still laboring under the concern that Trump appears to be nuttier than a peach orchard squirrel.
1
Does West Wing Donald have a manic room where he sits with earplugs and moans continuously?
If it’s not on Fox, or Breitbart, it just doesn’t exist. The Emperor does not read.
Maureen, that was as satisfying as a Thanksgiving meal at Grandma's. Pass the pumpkin pie, please.
Well, I, for one, appreciate someone finally just flat out staying the truth: Trump is demonstrably "enormously stupid" and if we'd had the courage to read him accurately 3 years ago, we might not be where we are now.
Malignant narcissists hate everyone who doesn't praise them, which is just about everyone since they are secretly despised by their most sycophantic enablers. One wonders what Lou Dobbs really thinks of the "greatest president of all time" that he gushed over for "making weekends possible" and "spreading sunshine" whereever he goes.
Who hasn’t on the birth of a child, gazed upon them in wonder and pride — dreaming that perhaps they could become President, or a Supreme Court Justice, someday?
In America, we believe anything is possible.
That is why it is so disheartening that this paragon of excellence in our society — the Presidency, the Supreme Court — has been desecrated by the evil behaviors of this soulless man.
Everything is greed, ego, pride, lying, cheating, abuse of power, stealing, treason.
Getting “dirt” on an opponent may be “politics as usual.”
But conspiring with foreign governments to fabricate fake dirt is criminal.
And extorting a foreign government to stage a phony “investigation” to smear the opponent goes over the line of mere criminality, to an impeachable offense.
And when the means of extortion is to withhold Congress-approved funds for military aid to protect US strategic interests, the criminal impeachable offense deserves conviction by the Senate and removal from office.
But when that same military aid was withheld, not merely to extort the frail US ally for the fake investigation, but also, in a conspiracy with Russia, makes Russia, our adversary, stronger in the region and upsets the balance of power throughout Europe and the Middle East, the crime becomes Treason on a Benedict Arnold scale.
Only impeachment, removal, and indictment and conviction of Trump for Treason can restore the integrity and sanctity of the office of the Presidency
The banishment of the NYT and WAPO by POTUS is the moral equivalent of receiving a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Such an honor should be cherished forever. Matter of fact, it's even better than never being in The National Enquirer.
Keep up the good work!
I rather expect that many of those in government he thinks he is depriving of the insights from NYT and WaPo, probably read it on line, like me.
“The enormity of his stupidity”..
Best line I’ve read this cycle. This President only likes positive pictures or graphics, with little if any reading at his supposedly presidential daily briefings, which tells of how much he’s been winging it from day one of his presidency. We will be waiting for the next tell all book detailing the idiocy happenings occurring during these briefings of matters of state. Perhaps “Anonymous” can include this in his soon to be released book.
Witnessing past president’s and the other eloquent speakers, eulogizing Rep Elijah Eugene Cummings at the his funeral service’s, was rather refreshing and made one miss for any coherent thoughts coming out of this dysfunctional White House. It is certain that if Donald J. Trump would have been asked to speak, he would have attempted to turn it into another boring campaign rally bragging only about himself.
What a shallow and pathetic man we have as our President!
Obama would have found plenty of positive coverage in the NYT.
Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot read.
1
Wait, Trump reads? He basically cancelled the Times and Post because the people that read them to him have to edit out all the negative comments which basically leaves him with "Today, President Trump...the end."
Brilliant! Every now and then, Maureen, you really hit one out of the park. Today, you've done it again.
Has anybody considered that Trump might not like to read these newspapers because his native language is Russian?
Bracing column! I marvel at the way Ms. Dowd opens the floodgates and refuses to step around the truth.
As for Ms. Grisham, she not only refuses to see the Emperor's bloated nakedness, but she works even harder than Ms. Conway to call out details of the "finery" she imagines he wears. Don't think I have seen a more blatant example of propaganda than the genius comment, which would be riotously funny if it weren't so chilling.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
It was amusing to think of former President Obama being an "avid New York Times reader", preening over the fawning coverage he received.
It is hard to imagine that a person with President Obama's level of self-esteem would have continued to read the New York Times if he had received even 10% of the virulently negative coverage that the New York Times has given to President Trump.
Ms. Dowd would have been more credible in her analysis if she had expressed amazement at the resiliency of the current President in maintaining his optimism in the face of the nasty treatment that he has received. Nasty.
It would also have been more courageous if she had echoed the sentiments of the former Public Editor Liz Spayd who had called the newspaper to account for its one-sided coverage. Ms. Spayd's position was terminated shortly afterward. No columnist rushed forward to criticize this termination. Still waiting for Ms. Dowd to step up and do so.
1
if thank you were enough ma’am. Two of Oklahoma’s illustrious red men of Congress were Pizza Party Participants and I yearn for them to understand the level of their ignorance displayed. i can only hope that their children can read publications such as the New York Times that expose doublespeak for what it is; lying!
Consider the possibility that Kellyanne Conway's call to Caitlin Yilek, the reporter at the Washington Examiner was a stunt. Could Kellyanne be "Anonymous" trying to cover her tracks?
Actually this could be a good thing for all of us. Since trump won’t be reading the NYT or the Washington Post, we won’t be subject to his daily whining about ‘The Fake News’. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.
Yes, I sometimes scream at the New York Times for some of their misguided focus and selective bias. But I find a good portion of their reporting to be straight-forward and factual. If they make mistakes, they generally acknowledge those errors.
They are not without major faults. Withholding the information on George Bush's domestic spying and secret information gathering in 2005 was wrong. So were the opinions of Judith Miller who fed the public a mountain of propaganda straight from the White House in support of invading Iraq in 2003. (She now works for Fox News--big surprise.) And Maureen Dowd carried so much bitterness toward Hillary Clinton and too much chumminess with Trump that we ended up with Trump as a White House occupant.
Those are just some of the modern day failures. Legions of books have been written on the New York Times. Its history is colorful and shocking reading; it took a long time before the Times managed to raise their journalistic standards
But I always start with the times. What's the alternative? Fox News? No thanks.
Trump is just following the masses in dropping the NYT subscriptions. Its printed weekday circulation has dropped by more than 50% to fewer than 540,000 copies since 2005. The numbers don't lie. How many staff have been fired at the NYT since Trump became president? Are those layoffs Trump's fault as well?
1
@Ben Anders,
You need the right numbers: have you thought about why print subscriptions have dropped off while digital subscriptions have increased dramatically? Many of us prefer to be environmentally responsible and save trees while still staying informed!
There is also the fact that a growing segment of the population prefers to be "informed" by tabloid journalism and reality tv rather than reading the truth.
1
Even Maureen Dowd is having trouble finding language sufficient to excoriate and deride the dismal creature who is occupying the White House. How can I loathe you? Let me count the ways. Sickeningly, his impeachment will not be the end of him and his disciples. I still can't believe that 63 million people voted for him and probably most of them would do it again.
2
Thank you for the Sunday morning chuckle. I finally subscribed because I hear the Times is failing. Ha! We will all make it through this administration and will be much stronger for it.
1
Ms. Dowd,
Over the years, I have had many differences of opinion with you, including the annoying columns from your brother.
This column is my all time favorite and I thank you very much.
1
Dear Maureen,
Can you post the White House address for sending poor Donald a gift subscription? I would LOVE to see 1,000 or more of us each sending a gift subscription to the daily print version of the NYTimes and have all 1,000 land at the front gates every day.
1
If Donald Trump "calmed down, behaved properly and acted like a decent human being," as Ms. Dowd hypothesizes, he wouldn't be Donald Trump.
We've had four solid decades of being subjected to his malignant megalomania in its various mutations, and if we've learned anything, it's that behaving like a mature adult is, as Hannibal Lecter would say, not his nature.
Besides, he wears ignorance like a badge of honor -- just look at his vocabulary and grammar -- so it's no surprise that he would double down by canceling subscriptions to the two most respected newspapers in America. (One can only wonder if he were less ignorant, how much of his base he would lose.)
The simplest explanation of why this horrid president acts the way he does was most succinctly summarized six days before the 2016 election by Mick Mulvaney, now the acting White House chief of staff, who described his now-boss as "a terrible human being." A rare political statement that requires no fact-checking.
So chalk up the cancellation of The Times and The Washington Post to yet another episode in a mind-blowing onslaught of toddler tantrums. But at least toddlers who aren't 73 years old have some sort of excuse.
The Constitution says a person can't become president before age 35. Nothing is said, though, about emotional intelligence. Or even intelligence in general. Obviously.
2
Great writing! One of your best, Maureen. Now, who is going to volunteer to make copies and tape them up on all the bathroom stall doors in the White House?
2
Speaking of liberals on the internet having cancelitis, someone once replied to a comment of mine where I used the word “lame” by saying that word was offensive to people who are physically disabled. I thought that was a bit much. But then again, I’m not disabled, so who am I to say?
Dowd and the Times speak rightly of his obsession with his own name. But they can help avoid feeding it by simply calling him "the current occupant of the White House" and no more. It would be entirely factual (he's NOT our President, let alone mine), and would deny him the lastname hit he so desperately seeks every minute.
Calling him "the loser" would be even better, but I won't expect that from a paper that for some bizarre reason still begs for follows on loser-friendly bigoted Twitter, nor from a Dowd who for some even more bizarre reason hung out and conversed with the loser prior to Election Day to the point I wondered whether there was an affair.
Bernie Sanders, a major candidate opposing Trump, is a self described Socialist and a big admirer of the head of the Socialist Party in the late 1930s, Norman Thomas. Characteristically, Norman Thomas and the Socialists were pacifists, major factors in the appeasement of Adolph Hitler at a very crucial time when WWII and the Holocaust could have been prevented by standing up to Hitler. Profoundly and tragically the Socialists were on the wrong side of history in the 1930s, Hitler was "appeased" until he invaded Poland and later declared war on the United States, WWII and the Holocaust arguably stemmed from this idealistic but tragic appeasement of Hitler by the Socialists.
Never forget Maureen Dowd helped gift us with the Trump presidency with her vitriolic vendetta against anything Clinton.
She bears responsibility for this debacle.
2
Bravo Maureen! You nailed this one—as per usual. Thank you.
Anyone who has been in a meeting with “the president” and his legal team knows two things: (1) he doesn’t read anything and (2) he doesn’t listen to anyone. He relies on his own perceptions and they are generally uninformed. He is the most self-confident halfwit in the room. So cancelling newspapers to try and control the flow of information and ensure only views that align with his can hardly be a surprise. He won’t read all about it? He never did. He heard third hand, at best.
1
Support “freedom of press” in light of corrupt Trump travesty to cancel all government subscriptions with the illustrious “New York Times” & “Washington Post”.
New York Times & Washington Post should offer ALL government employees in all layers of governance “STUDENT” rates to combat Trump’s corrupt, despotic & illegal machinations to limit FREEDOM of the PRESS, a central safeguard and vital law of America’s democracy.
Hmmm. No mention of the Clintons.
Meanwhile, Daughter It and current hubby have their anniversary party at Camp David. How much did that save taxpayers?
Once again the nonsense machine keeps going on. Last week he was the victim of lynching and being white he had the superiority of his whiteness to tell minorities that they weren't the only victims of lynching. Poor old white man is a victim to.
We know no one in the White House have a grasp of reality so reading will lead to the cherry picking they want Trump to think about which will lead to him once again insulting any one who can think.
The press conference this morning held by the stable genius was needed for this press cycle, calling Graham up to give his statement was the usual old pathetic white men trying to make something from a killing.
Despite this success the facts are the facts and Trump is a criminal and a traitor to democracy
1
"The only way you could cut the clicks is if you calmed down, behaved properly and acted like a decent human being, so that there weren’t always 20 breaking news stories every day about your conspiring and grifting and lying and lunacy."
This single sentence is worth the price of my subscription.
1
My all-time favorite column by Ms. Dowd.
My elderly neighbor's caregiver, an elderly woman from Okinawa, detested the New York Times as much as she detested Hillary Clinton. I'd never seen such vitriolic contempt in my 75 years before and haven't seen it since.
1
Maureen - he won't sneak back because he reads nothing except his own name. But he can't help asking the question, "What is the Times saying about me?"
DJT just took credit for blowing-up the leader of ISIS!
We'll never hear the end of it, so what do we do now?
Wow, don’t you just love it when Maureen has her fastball going ? Not only is Nancy Pelosi kicking his butt, Maureen just chewed him up and spit him out (and she didn’t even have to break a sweat). This is going to be a much bigger spectacle than Nixon.
I can’t see why anybody’d be surprised to find that a lifelong infant still pulls the kivvers up over his head to keep the scary monsters away.
Maureen, don't compare your paper according to Trumpian ideals. Compare it with what it once was. Let's start with a high point of NYT coverage: the Pentagon Papers. Fast forward to WMD in Iraq. Take a hop and a skip, and let's see how the NYT has reviewed in depth the change of regime that took place in Ukraine in late 2013-early 2014. Or the in-depth story of the formation of the Atlantic Council, which is largely paid for by a company called Busrisma. Is it amusing or unprofessional that so many Obama administration decisions about Ukraine have received little or no attention -- no Research attention? As the "news hole" at the NYT shrinks relative to greatly expanded statements and headlines devoted to opinion, does the value of a subscription increase or decrease? Tell us what you Really Think.
1
Maureen and readers, don't you guys understand? DJT doesn't need the NYT or WP or even the WSJ. After all, as his so-called Press person said yesterday..."he's a genius of a president." So I guess he knows everything and doesn't need to be further informed.
I have been reading NYTimes for many months. This period has given me a lot of insight into Trump's way of working, thinking and his hunger for raw power. It is a mystery for me, how come in a country like USA which is supposed to be a beacon of light to world, a person like Trump became president. Trump is more suited to become a 'tinpot' dictator of some third world country. God forbid, if he wins another term. His actions, like unilaterally, cancelling Iran deal, withdrawing from Syria, are going to cause miseries around the world. In retrospect, Obama was way ahead of Trump in being very brilliant, perceptive and humanist.
4
If someone like the president treats others unfairly most of his adult life, isn't it only a natural outgrowth of such a long history that he would claim to be treated unfairly.
It has been my experience over 80 plus years that if your treat others - regardless of whether you agree with their premises or not - with kindness, dignity and respect that you wind up getting treated the same way. It isn't rocket science. It is the simplest of all human endeavors.
4
Could we have a cone of silence and just not mention his name for one day?
14
Viewing Trump's cancellation of the New York Times and Washington Post as an infantile outburst is perhaps slightly more comfortable than viewing it as a dangerous attempt to stigmatize important media outlets that are necessary for safeguarding the functioning of our democratic processes. I hope for the sake of our nation that it is the former perspective that is most appropriate in this case rather than the latter.
1
I am reminded of Sarah Palin’s inability to identify papers she might have read with any regularity.
I’ve been away from NYC for many years now but reading that POTUS’s first pick each day is the Post? Shoot (or - shoot me!) - why pick that? A host of other questionable media come to mind as alternatives, but at least some of them have broader scope.
As if they might help...
3
Recently the Dallas Morning News dropped the comic strip "Non-Sequitur" because its author, Wiley Miller, inserted an "Easter egg" aimed at President Bonespurs in the Sunday edition and forgot (Miller's word) to edit it out of the final publication draft. Wiley published an apology to readers and to the papers that carry his work, but I understand others who also dropped his strip. I had seen the comic but missed the offending morsel (and had already sent the issue to the already picked up recycle bin, so I don't know exactly what the forbidden phrase was but I assume it involved you know which word.
So, I called the subscription department and told them to cancel my paper, immediately, and that I expected a refund for the balance of my prepaid month's worth of papers. No such luck. The paper carrier dutifully left each day's copy in the delivery tube until my money ran out.
Then the calls started, telling me what a great customer I had been and what could they do to get me to reconsider? Put Non-Sequitur back in the comics section, I say, and I'll re-subscribe. Nope, they say. Nope, I say.
The DMN, as is the case with nearly every other newspaper still producing a paper edition, is a fading shadow of its former self. And that is a pity, a terrible shame. It was at one time the "conservative" paper in Dallas, until the Times Herald caved. Today, it's one of the most liberal in Texas. Go figure.
I'm still waiting for Non Sequitur.
1
Newspaper is like oxygen. You don't know you need it until it's gone. Even Trump who wallows in self pity and ignorance will realize it. Nothing gets delivered to houses where I live but I subscribe to "local" paper (shout out to Sacramento Bee!!) because every citizen must support journalism. Reading free articles on FB doesn't count. We should all honor the work journalists do. They are our eyes and ears.
6
Dear Ms. Dowd,
I have been reading your column for more years than I can remember, and I have written comments both critical and laudatory, but I have to say that this column is just like Trump says his phone call with Zelensky was:
PERFECT!
5
I thank my parents for having subscribed to the NY Times from when I was born in 1960. I started reading it from grade school. I discovered around 1980 that my college library had microfiche and I could read any NY Times issue from all time. I spent more time in the library because of that than any course I ever took. Then I just read it almost every day I could until the world wide web came along. Then I noticed that I could read it for free! That was cool! For well over a decade I cleared my browser history so I could read way more than 10 articles in any given month. Thank you NY Times for that. Then along came 2016. I was familiar with the phrase "Enemy of the people" from all my prior reading of the news mixed in with a little bit of education and basic life experience. Was that the president of the United States who said that? Something weird was happening. Since I read it every day, he must also talking about me too. That's when I stepped up and took sides by subscribing to the electronic version of the NY Times, which was inexpensive at first, but now is a budgeted item in my household. I was able to give a free electronic subscription to a friend who I know uses it avidly. Also, my access to the Times Machine allows access to every article ever written in the NY Times since 1851. I use that plenty! Then the cherry on top is articles like this one that compel me to use all 1500 allowable keystrokes to joyfully proclaim " Long Live All The News That's Fit To Print!!"
4
Even Ms. Dodd seems to suggest at the end of her peice that the headline should be, "Prez Beats Press."
I'd be glad to sign up Trump for a GIFT subscription to the NY Times as well a to the Post. In fact, why don't we all do it & flood 1600 Pa. Ave. with real news!
2
If only canceling a presidency was as easy as stopping a subscription.
10
If only Trump could read, he might be a better President....and a better person.
7
For all the plaudits that are accruing to this column, I must remind readers that the columns of Ms. Dowd before the 2016 election are quite probably a contributing factor to having President Snowflake in office, what with the demeaning and snide remarks about Hilary and Barak. She, among several others who were well aware of Don the Con's reputation could have spent more time informing those who, through lack of curiosity or other unknown reasons, were taken in by the cons of the current occupant.
5
I think the answer is that I can't be a Christian.
That's scary. Why Can't I?
"But we’re definitely better arbiters of objective reality than Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise."
Talk about a straw argument. You are the newspaper of record for this country and we expect you to be better than what you did reporting on Hillary in 2016 or the Iraq War in 2002.
5
"...the First Amendment ... gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people."
Judge Hugo L. Black (NYT vs US, 1971)
2
Trump is trying to either punish or censor the news from everyone else in government who reads the NYT or WaPo. What a small man.
2
I've been reading the NY Times since I was a kid, and I don't consider my day officially underway until I've at least scanned the headlines. The Times, and the Washington Post, are, in my humble opinion, the most informative and truest sources of news in the country - and on the planet. Their best reporters seek the hidden truth and expose the lies and spin, and when mistakes are made, they own up to them and make them right.
Which is probably why Trump hates, and maybe even fears, the power of the free press. As criminals and cockroaches hate the light, Trump despises being found out, and having the bright light of the press shine on his misdeeds makes him angry and vulnerable. His cancelation of the Times and the Post proves his weak attempt to discredit the truth, just as his constant attacks on "the fake media" have been.
Trump lives by the ad hominem attack, subscribing to the motto, "If you can't attack the message, attack the messenger."
391
@Chris Wildman -- Me too. Ever since our 6th grade PUBLIC SCHOOL required us to have a subscription. He would have us use it for current events. We also had to pick a company and track it's stock history.
18
@Chris Wildman I grew up in a blue collar house in Connecticut where my parents always read the local paper and the Times. It hurts me to think how my family, especially my WWII Marine vet-factory-worker-union member father ((who thought the Viet Nam war was a huge mistake) would now be lumped in with the Fox crowd. We never would be that dumb and I’m sure there are still a lot of us out there.
35
You have to keep reminding yourself this piece is about the President of the United States. That a third of the nation still strongly supports him completes the sad story.
7
Trump has never had the experience of an extended read; an absorbing book, or the NYTimes on Sundays. in the 1960s, starting at 9am, it could take all day . But after all, there were two book review sections then. Arriving in NY for the first time, and asking for THE sunday paper and being given an armful of print, I said, " oh, I only want one ". This beguiling use of the day of rest was an exercise helping to keep up to date, broadly informed and critical of mind, qualities our leader has never displayed or recognized. Maureen Dowd should rest assured that while her reflections will be like water off the donald duck's back, her readers appreciate her humorous insights into the id of it.
7
We who consider ourselves educated and who others call the elite read the Times, the Post, and watch MSNBC, religiously. The people in the South and the Middle and Upper Midwest watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh, religiously. Fox and Rush are winning. The rest of us should be lying awake at night trying to decide how to beat Trump, keep the House, and take the Senate, not worrying about Trump's subscriptions.
6
Maureen, this column is one big reason why I've read the Times almost my entire life. Truth to power! Excellent perspective, as always.
6
I am reminded of my days, many yearsago, as a Foreign Service Officer, what I was required to,send 'confidential' memos to the Secretary of State and others to underscore what seemed accurate and inaccurate in the NYT and WP. I heard that the same was being done at the White House and the Pentagon. THe Secretary of State read daily newspapers when he came to work in his limo.
Since The Donald apparently doesn't read, and his Press Office wouldn't dare send him unflattering news, his ignorance would continue unabated. Nonetheless, official Washington, without daily access to the NYT and WP, would be virtually blind to real world happenings.
THESE NEWSPAPERS WILL CONTINUE TO BE DELIVERED, PERHAPS IN A BROWN WRAPPER.
5
As a former high school English teacher, when I first heard of this ridiculous threat to cancel two great American newspapers, what immediately came to mind was Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451! Burn the world’s knowledge in an attempt to control the masses. This president is so dangerous, and I’m so grateful for the brave and intelligent work of our free press. Way to go Maureen...you nailed it...and him!
12
Ask Donald Trump if his personality is more ignorance or apathy. He would say I don't know and I don't care.
2
I grew up in Falls Church, Va. in the late 50's and all of the 60's. Reading was a given and came easy thanks to teachers and parents who found joy solving crossword. I wanted my own spending money at 12, so took an afternoon route with the then tabloid style Washington News. When a Post route came available, there I was, three years straight, seven days a week, up at five for a dark hour plus of bicycling newspapers. Pride and purpose then, in that early teen work, with personal dreams while pedaling over suburbia's hills, streets, driveways, and yes, sometimes, your precious lawns.
I read the NYT's and WaPo online and would feel dis-oriented without them in the morning. Sometimes I just imagine that smell of ink, the rustling in my hand, the glance at column headlines to see where I will go first. Thanks to Ms. Dowd, today I will go around wondering what it would be like to wrap and toss one over the gate at the White House.
2
There was a reason that our Founding Fathers thought to protect our freedom of the press.
It is well documented that cultures who wanted to control the people attacked and outlawed knowledge, science, and ideas.
Anti-intellectualism is strong among oppressive governments.
Beware of censorship too, think of the banning and burning of books.
It is easy to control those that lack knowledge.
5
Excellent column Ms. Dowd, thank you.
And thank you NYT.
Trump can not wall himself up from reality forever, as much as he may try to control, morph and spin it.
Eventually it will catch up with him, hopefully in real time, and the outcome might be just stunning, and deeply satisfying for those of us who read the news.
6
Well I remember when the president and his misadventures did not obliterate all other news and terrify the population.
The world is full of protests and turmoil from Hong Kong to Chile and yet, those stories don't even make the weekly news quiz.
The work of government should not be all consuming. When do we return to the simple bureaucracy of administrators stamping forms and getting the job done... so we can ignore them again?
5
Federal money should not be wasted on items simply to please someone that doesn't wish to spend their own money on the same item.
1
My first job, in Jerry Brown's press office long before computers and phone alerts, was reading all the newspapers that came in searching for not just his name and coverage but any news worthy of his attention for the Daily News Brief. As a newly minted college graduate I became literate in the ways of the world. To this day while I subscribe to the NYT digitally for environmental and cost reasons I still have my hometown paper delivered, it starts my morning with coffee. I've been known to pull a newspaper from the trash at an airport, why waste it? I do love that it no longer inks fingers.
I love newspapers and news and reading about people and things. Curiosity is satisfied and learning things you never knew you wanted to know. A constitutional amendment that a president should read at least four newspapers a day would not be a bad thing. So good thing Maureen you are aiming to get him up to speed but truth be told, it won't sink in and so he will sink.
Knowledge is power. Those who refuse to hear that simple truth will never know what they've missed. Nancy Pelosi reads newspapers, Donald Trump does not. She will win, he will not. A simple truth.
614
I love Nancy, first off. She should be president though I certainly understand why she would not want the job even if she were 10 years younger. But I also recall the exchange between Adlai Stevenson and a supporter. “Why,” she began, “every thinking person is for you. You’ve got to win.” Stevenson’s reply was to the effect that if that’s what he had to rely on he’s finished.
122
I believe his response was, "Yes, but I need a majority."
59
@G Martin re: Adlai Stevenson. My aunt and foster mother arrived in this country in 1932 from Norway. She married a White Russian engineer who sent her back to school. She completed high school, BA and MA in Psychiatric Social Work. In 1948 her first job was with the Jewish resettlement Agency in San Francisco. She brought me up to believe "Madly for Adlai" which I have followed ever since - a rusted-on supporter of the Dems even though I now live in OZ.
30
In high school U.S. history class (I'm 71), our teacher assigned us to read and summarize in writing a front page national article from the local Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune each week. That homework gave my adolescent mind the realization that more was going on in the world than in the Tribune's sports pages.
As I read your article, Ms. Dowd, that high school experience came back to me. That 16-year old kid in Massachusetts could never have imagined he would experience the type of U.S. president we are all now saddled with, someone who continues to disparage the news media.
I thank God for my junior year high school history teacher, Mr. Mahoney.
612
@Tony Thanks Tony. Now 78, but we had weekly publications at school covering world and national events. We were quizzed on them. Our male teachers were mostly returned WW2 Vets. Civics and history were stressed greatly. Probably more so than today. Our women teachers also included Civics in their teaching -- they lived through the war, some served, all were highly motivated. We owe our thanks and respect to that generation.
80
@Tony I was such a history /social studies teacher. The assignment you described was pretty common in the l960's when I started teaching. My first high school students would be 75 year old today...your generation. The standard assignment in that Connecticut Fairfield County public school (so close to NYC) at that time was for all students to read Section 4 of the NYTimes which had the world news in review. On Monday, there was a quiz to check if the students in fact has done their homework. Current events discussions thereafter were based on this background reading. Apparently, Trump who is also of your generation was never one of our students.
50
@Tony Thank YOU for thanking a teacher.
20
The issue may not be whether Trump reads the paper but rather whether he understands what he reads. His ability to be impartial for the sake of un-vested decision-making is highly questionable, based on our experience with him in his obsession with himself as primary concern, ie, what’s in it for me?
388
@wak we only know he can read due to the teleprompters. I’m not sure he comprehends what he is saying while reading that but he appears to be able to at least read it
15
@wak I believe IQ45's lack of understanding goes deeper. I believe his ability to read borders on 3rd grade level. If his father hadn't handed the idiot the keys to the family fortune he would be trying and failing at selling used cars. This "person" demonstrates all of the abilities of a developmentally challenged toddler that was not given proper care for his disabilities at a young age. What a waste.
33
I have been reading newspapers for well on 60 years and I've found intellectual growth in the news and intellectual challenge in the Op/Ed and Letters sections. It is here where I test what I have gleaned from the news, where my beliefs and what I know are challenged.
What a marvelous column, thank you!
9
There is no "Deep State". The so-called Deep State is a figment of Trump's imagination. The Deep State did not "get him". Trump is doing exactly as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi predicted--self-impeaching. Civil servants with ethics and patriotism have testified to the truth. That has "gotten him".
17
I genuinely believe that Trump thinks that
he's been treated more unfairly than any other President.
This is because he has never studied American history
and has probably never read an America history book.
14
@lucretius
No, it is his narcissistic personality disorder. Every criticism is automatically perceived as a threat. His disordered brain then automatically flashes "unfair" into consciousness. It's a conditioned loop; sometimes called false self. It's a protection device for a damaged/weak self esteem. We cannot know how this happens without professional therapy . . . but it is obvious something is amiss. Usually originates in childhood. Sad that he was not treated long ago.
1
@lucretius
Actually, it's because he is less emotionally mature than the average three-year-old.
….and yet, he is still in power. Whatever the press lays bare about him, whatever abominable things he does—he is still in power.
8
And he is about to be re-elected too.
The D. C. Public Library is near the White House. Odds are good that it, like most major public libraries, subscribes to the Times and the Washington Post. I understand that trump is forcing members of his administration to pay for a subscription to each paper themselves, but if they don’t want to do so, they can go to the library and read the news there. Novel idea, right?
3
Favorite bumper sticker these days:
ANY RESPONSIBLE ADULT - 2020.
18
….and yet,Donald is still in power. Whatever the press lays bare about him, whatever abominable things he does—he is still in power.
I started reading the NYT when I was in the seventh grade. I started with sports and worked my way back, over time, to page one. Now I read four newspapers a day. I love newspapers.
7
@Oliver
Don’t know about any more, but the Times once had one of the best Sports sections anywhere.
I Googled Martha Mitchell to refresh my memory and wouldn’t you know it, Stephen B. King, the man who kept Mitchell captive in a California hotel room and who had pulled the telephone cord out of the wall when she was trying to tell UPI reporter Helen Thomas about her own husband’s dirty tricks, is ambassador to the Czech Republic. He was approved on a voice vote by the GOP Senate in 2017. To those who think Trump is an aberration, the ghosts of past Republican criminality still lurk in government today.
20
Trump is mad at every publication that isn’t all about him. Remember when he was going to start his own network or media outlet, maybe even competing with or taking over Fox News?
I really was disappointed when he won in 2016 because think of what we missed by a Donald Trump network. Not that we need another reason to vote him out of office, but if we do he’ll have more time to start his own network.
Hopefully he’ll get a chance to do this if he does lose the election or get impeached. If he gets impeached he could talk about how awful that action was AND brag about how he’s the only President this happened to - I can just hear him say ‘Clinton came close, but I succeeded at being impeached.”
If he loses he could report on the person who defeated him and his crazy rallies. Yes, those rallies are going to continue if he loses the election or is finally impeached.
4
After November 2016, I became a subscriber to the NY Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and Pro Publica. All in addition to my local paper and memberships to my public radio and television stations. I've always read the news, but the inane state of affairs from this administration and too many in the GOP led me to support journalism like never before.
10
It would have been remarkable if anything close to this scrutiny of trump pervaded reporting and analysis in 2015/16.
We might well have a different president.
Instead, the drumbeat on Hillary’s emails for equivalency with trump’s spreadsheet of gross flaws, that drove media bank accounts, and few could keep track of, led to the false perception of corrupt Hillary
and to Pres Donald J Trump....
8
It’s very obvious Trump doesn’t read and that he couldn’t have graduated from Penn without someone writing his papers.
9
Why on earth does Ms. Dowd even jokingly refer to "the Deep State"? This is a far right-wing conspiracy that fuels their rage. If, as I hope, the Constitution works, and this complete incompetent and thief is removed from power, the 35% of the nation that think Trump is the anointed of God may be a little bit angry, maybe even angry enough to start shooting. Why feed into that narrative?
7
Perfect assessment, except that I don't think he will sneak back. He knows well that NYT and the Post will not cater to his ego and is likely happy to avoid them forever. Unless one of his aides sees a story dressing down one of his perceived enemies and shares it with him.
Say no more.
No more needs to be said.
The end.
1
He can't afford not knowing what he will be charged with next.
The public loves trump, who cares about the biased news sources! Looking forward to another 4 years of greatness!
@David Seriously? If you ARE serious (and I can't rule that out), then I offer your comment in support of my contention that people should not engage in sarcasm in the comments section. It's impossible to tell crazy (i.e. a typical Trump supporter) from sarcastic nonense written in jest.
1
It’s all so much bigger than this Maureen. Seeing President Obama this week fed the souls of so many of us. America has sunk to the lowest levels right now. We are a laughingstock. Many people around the world are sickened by Trump and his followers. They are shocked at how the USA has been changed in a matter of three short years. It will never be the same again.
4
He can't come back to what he never did in the first place.
Trump doesn't read. Not the Times, the Post, not his briefings.
7
You missed just one thing. The newspapers are and always have been just for show. Trump is illiterate. He reads at a 1st or 2nd grade level, so yes, he does probably scan papers looking for his name but he can't actually read them
7
So Matt Gaetz compared his stunt to the Spartans at Thermopylae. Well, the difference is that all the Spartans died, none of the Republicans died. and the Spartans did not have pizzas either.
7
Bravo!!! Well done Ms. Dowd. (Insert standing ovation and whistles here.)
4
Mr. Trump has it all switched around. A dictator is the enemy of the people not the free press which is the guardian of democracy. When a figure in absolute power calls any press that doesn’t suit him “fake news,” it is he who should be relentlessly investigated for the truth, not the press. Thank you New York Times for continually keeping the dictator in the White House in check while we watch in real time his assault on our free press and our democratic system of checks and balances.
4
"So, Mr. President......I feel an obligation to fill you in on what you're missing: You're about to be impeached."
Brilliant!
3
Ignorance is Mr. Trump's calling card to voters. His disdain for truth, or reality, or facts is his method. Instead of challenging us to achieve and fight for the public good, Mr. Trump urges us to hide, duck, and cover. He is a fearful man on a fearful mission. As he runs away from his sordid past; hire legions of attorneys and employs our highest office to protect his wealth and fame, America suffers. He needs to be removed from office. His failure is obvious.
6
No where in the world will you find anyone that says America has a respected president. Nobody aspires to the standards he sets.
7
That is what is so hard to wake up to every morning---enormous stupidity ---and it is enormous--coming at us from his rally's, his party, and yes, my neighbors. I was a teacher, but, am at a complete loss how to address the breadth and depth of the ignorance that lands on my computer each day. And to listen to former aides the President---Mattis, Kelly---Trump makes Dr. Strangelove look like Lincoln. I just pray that the deep state can hold on long enough for 2020 and the democrats, in the words of Bill Maher, nominate a candidate less crazy than Trump.
1
Just why would you think the Trump-et would feed his mind any better than his body? (Have you looked at it lately?)
4
I'd be happy to contribute to pay to support a couple of NYT subscriptions for the White House or other administrative branches to relieve the tax payer of that onerous burden...just doing my civic duty.
2
The phrase “ALL LEADERS ARE READERS,” comes to mind and would absolutely apply here.
4
Does anyone how much she fawned over Trump in the election year?
4
My view is that at this point what is keeping the USA a democratic country are a few newspapers. Just about every story on television about our corrupt President has been culled either from the NY Times, Washington Post, or WSJ. When I heard about Trump cancelling his subscription to the Washington Post and the NY Times I immediately signed up for the WP, the one I already didn't have a subscription to. Amazing, it only cost a little to keep our democracy alive.
6
The president's gesture is disproportionate. The Times ought to have had chapter and verse on Trump's life, marriages, businesses, taxes, and scams waiting at the bottom of the escalator the day he declared his candidacy. Instead the paper of record gets it right on this dangerous man and his nihilistic White House late or not at all, and still mistakes snark for gravitas. Why should Trump worry about that?
5
"Reality distortion field"......what a perfect description of Trump and his Administration. I might just have to print this column out, have it blown up to poster size, frame it and hang it on the wall till this nightmare is finished.
2
Ms. Dowd, bitingly funny and sadly truthful, as usual. But I have to thank you in particular for the link to the Tomi Lahren tweet-out of a print-out, complete with DJT Sharpie embellishment. I laugh-cried for about five minutes reading through everyone's tweet-reactions to the pathetic absurdity of it.
As a former “ink stained wretch” I took calls from subscribers canceling their subscriptions for one infraction or another that I as editor or one of my reporters had committed.. Interestingly, when I’d bump into them around town (after their cancelation), they could quote what page a story was on, mention a photograph that was on the inside of the paper, (something they couldn’t have seen without buying a copy). Oh, there was the rub. They were buying a copy out of the news rack, and not subscribing. That was fine by me. They were paying more that way...
I imagine more than several “federal employees” already subscribe to the NYT or the WaPo (or the WSJ) with their own money and aren’t subject to the vagaries of what Trump or the Grisham woman thinks they need to do to “save money”. And, a smart advertising team will make the most of this: “read what Trump is afraid to”.
5
In the 2016 Election 59 newspapers endorsed Hillary Clinton. Just 2 endorsed Trump. They were the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville —Read on America!
5
Great column, Ms Dowd. The emperor has no clothes and you're making sure he knows it. Now let's help his GOP enablers (read: sycophantic, amoral puppets) put on some big boy and big girl pants and tell their constituents it is more important to save our democracy than to follow the true "enemy of the people". It's long past time to stand up and be counted!
4
The New York Times must be doing something right when both sides find something to dislike. To them "real" news must always validate their beliefs, otherwise it's all bias, conspiracy and fakery.
As a centrist, I find some of the opinion pieces a wee tendentious, but the news reporting has never disappointed me. Truth is the truth is the truth.
3
Thank you, Maureen. I only wish you were referring to anyone else but our actual President. Then I could enjoy a good laugh rather than google tall buildings to jump off of. Do we really believe he has or ever will read anything?
2
Ironically the Post and the Times are the only source for negative news stories about things democrats have (actually) done, like the one about Biden not having the “bandwidth” to deal with Hunter when concerns were raised. Trump loves to quote those stories but now he will have to get them from aggregate sites like Drudge now that right wing journalism has become an oxymoron.
1
President Obama himself remarked that despite all the unfavorable treatment he got from Fox News, he never once called them ‘the enemy of the people.’
8
Like the Santa Ana fires, Trump is carelessly and single mindedly destructive, scorching all that comes in front of him. Unlike the Santa Ana fires, the burnt out forests will renew life in abundance. Trump is destroying the constitution, political institutions and the global balance of power. Smart money says that he hasn’t stopped reading the NYT/ WaPo.
1
Trump cancelled the subscriptions because he doesn’t read. And he already knows everything.
5
What I wouldn’t give to watch djt being read your column. Cataplexy would be my bet. Wonderful.
Maureen,
You've forgotten something. No one in the WH says something unless it's what Trump wants them to say (except Mulvaney--but then--who knows?). When someone says Trump's no longer reading the NYT or WPO, I don't believe it. He's kidding just like he was about the Colorado wall. John
2
I'm old enough to remember when there were at least six daily newspapers in New York City, with the venerable New York World Telegram - conservative in its editorial leaning - right up there with the New York Times as a newspaper of quality reporting and writing. One could walk down the aisle of a commuter train car and see the "men in the grey flannel suits" reading both. The decline of newspapers for financial reasons notwithstanding, I see a void in print media that won't be filled as long as "Republicanism" has marginalized true conservative philosophy. That Fox News has been elevated as the voice of the right is a loss to us all. Yes, in the old days a New York Times reader would also read the New York World Telegram, and vice versa.
12
Yes. The integrity, objectivity and depth of media has been lost. But ya’ll can’t just keep pointing the finger at Fox. CNN can’t admit it, but it’s no longer balanced, and MSNBC IS Fox on the other side. NYT and WSJ provide a good balance, and NPR takes time, at least, to dig into an issue. But it ain’t where it used to be and the public just grabs onto the narrative that makes them feel good. People have turned their brains off. They don’t even try to get another view or side, or probe beneath the advertised positions. So, we got Trump!
I started reading the New York Times in high school in the mid 60s. When I went to college in 1968 my brother’s gift to me was my very own subscription to the Times, delivered right to my college dorm. 51 years later I am STILL a subscriber, along with a subscription to the Washington Post. (I hold my nose and try and find real reporting on the FoxNews website.) Thank you NYT for your rational, factual, and at times, downright terrifying coverage of world events.
11
Good one, Maureen. Speechless. But I am fascinated by the comments on what our elders would’ve thought.
3
Thank you for this wonderful celebration of what's great about newspapers. I've been reading them since I was about five years old, and the knowledge I have gained from reading them has enriched me enormously. Indeed there's a huge difference between people who know what's going on in the world and those who don't. We not only learn so many bits of interesting information, we also get very good as discerning fact from fiction, plausible from unlikely, sensible from foolish. And that's why I know when you used the word "stupidity" in describing Trump, that's exactly what this tragic election result indeed gave us. And unfortunately that's also why those who don't read think he's the cat's meow.
327
@Dan Yes, all this talk about "critical thinking" takes place while people refuse to even study, to read, to compare and contrast.
It's why liberty and equality are now the calling cries of tyrants who want to prohibit and compel based on their uninformed tastes without regard to human nature or how wonderful a world we have when we practice non-tryanntical liberty and equal protection.
11
I approve turning the phrase 'deep state' around from a GOP pejorative into a virtue.
A similar process occurred by turning the GOP's incessantly derogatory use of the term 'Obamacare' from a negative into a positive.
Messaging matters!
9
Great column!
I am sorry my mom isn't alive to read this today. She was born and lived her entire life in Washington, D.C. Before she was married, she worked in the FDR Administration; she adored FDR.
The whole time we were growing up, Mom's holy book was her beloved Washington Post, which she got up early to read every morning. She would call The Post to complain if the paper weren't there by 6:10 a.m. She sat in her wing chair, reading The Post, consuming heaven knows how many tea cups of tar-black strong coffee.
When we got up, Mom played short-order cook for breakfast. As she dished out the food to the family, she provided a running commentary on the day's news, which she had read in the Post. Sometimes my father, a conservative Republican who subscribed to the Washington Star, would question her news account. She would snap, "I read it in the Post!" Case closed! We didn't have CNN then, we had Mom!
For decades she declared that she was determined to live long enough to see Reagan get his comeuppance; she died at age 89 with her wish unfilled. But if she detested Reagan, I can't imagine how she would be reacting to President Trump--and in a rare political moment, I think my Republican father would agree with her.
Surprisingly, they enjoyed arguing politics together, and I must say we children certainly heard both sides of the partisan story. But they also liked to turn on the record player and dance the Fox Trot around the living room. Very different times.
1314
@PB
I add that when my father died, Mom sold the house and moved to a retirement community in Maryland to be near one of her sisters. We would visit several times a year from New York. Mom had macular degeneration and became legally blind.
When we went to visit her one time, she had this big contraption in her little living room. It was a sizable round table with a large swinging magnifying glass overhead and a light underneath. I asked Mom what is that thing for?
She said, "Oh, I got that from the Lighthouse for the Blind; it is so I can read the Washington Post every day--although sometimes it takes me all day to read it."
414
@PB
Terrific stories - thank you!
140
@PB I love this! My parents were life-long Republicans
and
I worked for a Republican President. Fast forward to 2013
and mother was dying. Out of the blue she says :”I believe Hillary Clinton would make a fabulous President”. I must say this did not surprise me: she believed in woman’s reproductive rights, sensible foreign policy, and environmental policy that actually protected the environment.
How the party has changed. How sad this is.
I am now a Democrat and will do everything in my power to make sure Trump is soundly defeated!!
252
Beg to differ. To believers like me the Catholic Church does indeed illuminate the way to a much higher and enduring reality, which we all sooner or later will have to face, notwithstanding the human frailties of some.
12
@Tagus...the cc "illuminates" nothing. To the extent that you are "illuminated" is contingent on not what is conjured up to believe (a useless word and endeavor), but what you'll never know. Embrace that, and you'll NATURALLY live a good life in service to others. You, unfortunately, hijack "illumination" by your egoic observation involving the "frailties of some."
1
Overturning the various forms of voter suppression should be high priority in 2020.
House Republicans can talk tough and make scenes only because they "won" elections in heavily gerrymandered districts. Their only fear is being challenged from the right.
If they actually had to run for office in proportionally fair election districts, there would be no macho grandstanding and a lot more compromsing.
418
@Taz Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings, but the SCOTUS just supported gerrymandering.
13
Republicans are going way further than gerrymandering to suppress the vote.
22
@Taz have you tried suing under your state constitution for fairer districts? It wored in Pennsylvania.
4
Maureen, as you fictionally write:
“Get those damn papers off my lawn!”, and then report:
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s press secretary, imperiously announced that the White House would also strong-arm federal agencies to end their subscriptions to the papers, noting that this would be “a significant cost saving” to taxpayers.
The key term is “imperiously” — done by an Emperor, in this case the un-reported EMPEROR TRUMP, and done for the singular benefit of an EMPIRE, in this case the equally un-reported Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire, which is only nominally HQed in, and merely ‘posing’ as our formerly “promising” and sometimes progressive democracy (PKA) America.
The essential need to not only accurately diagnose, ‘expose’, and non-violently confront this un-Godly and un-democratic Empire is now obvious, and yet substantially un-reported by the principled press.
However, a rising wave of public intellectuals, academics, and authors is bravely and hopefully only temporarily filling-in for the few leading print-media papers of record.
The revolutionary confrontation between “the disease of Republics”, which is Empire — along with democratic Republics, and any possible political/economic & social democracy hangs in the balance, now 244 years later, as it did in 1776 — and it is “Common Sense” that a robust media is required to prevail over Empire.
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/politics-and-the-media/articles/journalism-looking-backward-going-forward
3
Wonderful column. I'm clapping all the way to Seattle.
3
Three of us sitting at a bar reading this article - I have to add I read the NYT for the investigative reporting and would miss it a great deal. Obviously, it’s a liberal paper, all papers have a bias, but if you understand that, you can appreciate the good points.
6
I agree entirely with Maureen Dowd, the problem in the U.S. is that it seems too many people not only don't feed their brains appropriately but if they try to do it's with toxic information, against climate science comes immediately to mind. What is feeding your own brain appropriately? In my experience, it's about reading from many sources and ideally from different backgrounds. This is what I applied to myself reading fluently from English language, the NY Times or The Guardian, including all kind of other international news sources, from French, mostly Le Monde and other sources and Spanish El País (Spain). What happens is that more variate are your sources, more you're able to apprehend what's real around you and outside around the world. When you have more information it becomes shocking to realize how the President of U.S. could be so awkwardly out of reality. Not only himself alone but also his supporters, the G.O.P. and likely their voters.
29
What a loss. Our Apprentice not only cannot govern, he can't read, so who cares? My suggestion is that if the NYT's wants to win back our petulant king, launch a comic section entitled Where's the Apprentice. It would be a take off on Where's Waldo. Talk about being thin skinned.
23
The giant ostrich.
11
Hello Maureen
Good article, your next one should be a comparison of Trump with a contemporary war criminal Radovan Karadzic, Trump’s war crimes against the Kurds giving the green light to his fellow dictator ( the USA has no popular vote for the presidency) Erdogan to commit ethnic cleansing and slaughter of innocents.
The International Criminal Court must indict Trump that would be better than impeachment he would never be able to travel to the free states that are parties to the 120 nations that are members. The USA along with China, Iraq an Israel are not members, how telling.
8
You said the pizza party was "lame." Uh oh.
2
A masterpiece, the clown in the White House is now turning and twisting with anger. He is loosing it and cannot do anything, Ms Dowd has only illuminated the state of his realty.
9
Gentle Jesus, Lord Divine
Who turned the water into wine:
Please forgive this foolish man
Who seeks to turn it back again.
- adapted from David Frost
7
Brilliant as always, Ms. Dowd!
I bet the White House never actually cancelled, they just lied about it. But you're correct that this tantrum will help, rather than hurt, the Times.
15
I just want to say your writing is so brilliant and I lol at every clever, carefully selected word choice.
6
Trump and sneak go well together.
4
Every day I am in horror at the example he sets for our children. Lie as much as you can every day including Sundays and Holidays, bully everyone in your way, distort and scoff at the rule of law, revile the press, and cut off anyone you disagree to now include the venerable NY Times and WAPO! How do we recover from this malignancy posing as a presidential administration?
16
Yippee, Maureen, thank you. You might have added, to your list of notes to poor little persecuted prez, something I think you wrote about not all that long ago: Donald J Trump is exactly what he has always feared he is: a LOSER. At least he's very good at it. It's kind of you not to rub it in too much this time around. Hmmm...what DOES he see when he stares into that mirror every morning, noon and night?
10
3 years of hostile totalitarian corruption of American government and values by an narcissistic madman ... thanks for speaking truth to power.
19
I had no idea he had a subscription to the 'failing'...ahem, NY Times. After all his years of griping, threatening and whining about the Times, I assumed he would never stoop to having a subscription, and got it second hand. He cheats at everything else, why would he pay for a paper that doesn't worship at the orange alter? Anyway, Trump doesn't read the papers, he pays people to look for stories that praise him.
10
It would be a lot better if the NYT quit Donald Trump. He’s become nothing more than recycled same old same old. I know you love him because he sells, but that makes you appear to have sold yourself to the devil. I hope you’re happy.
13
I suspect Trump will cancel the print editions of the NYT and WaPo and subscribe to the online editions.
2
Fun read Maureen, but you didn't mention the Colorado border fence. Don't you read the news papers?
4
Ah, Ms. Dowd, You have hit another grand slam off of the little leaguer. There he is standing on the pitcher’s mound pouting and puffing and now taking personal credit, having done it, all by himself....eliminating Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi. He will claim it was “better the Barack” ! Just wait.
6
@John Taylor We are grateful for the elimination of a terrorist leader in the Middle East. However,
9/11 stands on its own as a horrific attack on American soil. President Obama was never properly credited with the elimination of Ben Laden. Even implying today's win is on a par with that is an attempt to diminish Obama.
Trump's golf caddy, Lindsey Graham, just tried to insinuate as much as a stand in for his president. Alas, his chip (cheap) shot landed in a sand trap.
1
The President is justified. NYT and WaPo have abandoned news coverage for shrill, partisan attacks. I would do the same thing in his place.
3
@Michael Livingston’s Aren't you paying attention? He is creating allll that is written about him. All of these events, behaviors, scenes play out due to his bad behavior. I could understand being mad if NYT or WaPo made it up but that isn't the case. Thank God we live in a country that protects freedom of the press, otherwise we would only know what Cheetolini wants to tell us and not the truth. I will agree with you that coverage is "shrill" but what other way to sound the alarm?
3
Trump doesn’t read.
NYT and WP have far too many big words.
Let alone intellectual content.
14
Thanks Maureen. Enough said.
6
Ha ha!
So much truth distilled in so few words.
Thanks for putting some plain talk on Destructor-in-Chief
5
The genius of George W Bush was he knew he wasn't smart and he didn't try to appeal to smart people. He got elected twice. People like Lawrence Summers, Paul Krugman et al including Ms Dowd are smart but have difficulty getting on a level with the people who elected Bush. Now the genius of Trump is he hits people where they hate. His voters hate Mexicans, Muslims, and Barack Obama. He scares his voters with caravans, liberal judges, and Socialists. If the NYT, the WaPo, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC keep giving him daily campaign coverage, 2020 will be deja vu all over again.
11
Maureen, the only sentence that Trump — this president who professes to not like reading — will bother letting his shifty eyes peruse begins with a dollar sign or the pronoun “I”...
God forgive me I love "Snowflake."
I mean think of it Ms. Dowd, did you ever, ever think you would be writing in the New York Time,s a world wide paper, calling our President, the President of the United States.....Snowflake.
Not to disparage the other snowflake, Lindsey Graham you hit the nail on the head, once again.
Bless you!
7
Your belief that Donald trump could actually read the New York Times is astounding. This is a guy who never read a book in his life. The only university that this guy was ever qualified to graduate from was ...trump university. Sad!
4
I wonder when or if Ms. Dowd will ever acknowledge her contributions to Trump having become President.
16
But New York Times is biased. They have more heart for Israel than Palestinians, more heart against Trump than for it.
This bias is suffocating at times. It’s like the man cannot do anything right, when he clearly has. China for example, or making NATO pay its due share.
As for Post, the hand of Bezos may not be such an invisible hand.
2
Ms Dowd,
Your entire premise is wrong.
Trump doesn't know how to read. He needs pictures. Assuming that he could read a newspaper (and the Times doesn't have comics), is ludicrous.
Barron can probably read better than Donald.
4
Trump is proud of not reading, proud of not listening to advisers, proud of the fact that he doesn't have to discuss major international military changes with allies.
Trump, as a non-reading gut reactionary, is the epitome of at least 70% of Americans. This is a Twitter society, where I suspect that the last few lines of long Tweets don't get read as boredom sets in. Just find a Tweeted talking point that you agree with and re-Tweet them.
Never mind that the science behind Climate change can't be explained in a Tweet, nor all the information in the Mueller report (one key line from Vol I has yet to be reported in the press), nor even all of the Whistleblower Letter.
We just wait until someone we "trust" -- means believe in, like a religion -- summarizes it for us in a Tweet and we're happy.
4
Correct. The narcissist-in-Chief needs his ego fix, even if articles aren’t flattering. He needs to be the biggest, the most, the hugest whatever.
2
The "significant cost" to the taxpayers is not from the newspapers, this entire administration is bleeding the public dry. He is an uninformed, foolish, dangerously ignorant person. Cancel the subscriptions? I would prefer the voting public cancel his presidency.
8
Maureen - an excellent column.
Trump is incapable of changing. Not only wouldn't all eyes be on him - feeding his narcissism - but because he is a sick man. Trump is not just a liar - he's a pathological liar. Trump is not just a narcissist - he's a pathological narcissist. He is a sick, evil, destructive force whose behavior is getting worse - unfortunately still encouraged by his many enablers.
6
How can one half of the country think that everything Trump does is outrageous and stupid, while the other half believes everything he does is outrageous and brilliant?
I know understanding two opposite viewpoints is supposed to be a mark of high intelligence, but this just makes my head explode!
8
Even if he doesn't read newsprint, he loves to smell the ink for a trace of "Trump." What an obnoxious, scaly creature. Hideous to behold; yellow and putrid, inside and out.
5
Yes, the Snowflake in Chief is getting impeached.
Good riddance, except for the cagey, make-up the rules as they go along GOP Senate majority--can they 'refuse to read the news' too.
Even if the Senate impeaches, #45 has done more damage to this country than any adversary we have ever faced.
4
Print comments disagreeing with your writers and commenters. This space should not be a mutual admirations society. Should it? If it should, let me know so I can take my business elsewhere after 50 years.
4
Subscriptions should skyrocket on the news that Trump cancelled the Times and the Post. Like he read either one. At most they were spread across the Oval Office when Mike Pence would bring out his monkey and accordion, as both would dance for Trump's amusement.
1
I agree with everything here. Kudos! Having said that, I'm forced to ask, how are you feeling about your "big ole rascally he-man" these days, Ms. Dowd?
2
Perfect.
The Times will still be going strong long, long after the Trump comedy show is a distant, unpleasant nightmare.
1
I loved Mike Pence's railing against the NBA for "siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech." I guess he didn't get his boss's memo on canceling the NY Times and Washington Post. So much for advocating for free speech.
1
Very good but I searched for how Nancy is eating his lunch, piece by piece.
1
Hi Maureen,
Absolutely, he'll sneak back. I knew that was a given from the jump.
The only thing i have in common with the guy is newspaper addiction. He'll definitely be back, if he's not already.
"...Trump stopped spending tens of millions on golf outings after savaging his predecessor for excessively hitting the links. "
I believe that it was you who referred to "his predecessor" as "Barry." That was you, wasn't it? I think it was also you who used these terms for Hillary Clinton: “shifty”, a “dominatrix”, a “manly girl”, and much more. Nice work helping Trump get elected.
It's about time you started thinking that liberal Democrats aren't really the bad guys, isn't it?
8
Don't leave me hanging! What are the eight newspapers you prowl through?
I like how you now appreciate Obama.
6
PS -- somebody tell Gaetz that the '300' was slaughtered to a man for the 'stand' they took.
Good choice of metaphor for your frat stunt, Matt.
6
All I could do was laugh when I first heard this. How childish, how petty. How Trumpy. I guess that willbecome a descritpive word going forward.
"Oh yes, Dad no longer watches the (Local Team) because they switched their beer sponsor. How Trumpy."
Only to catch him streaming the game in the garage.
Trump will be back. He cant not look for himself in the pages,etc. Its a sickness for sure...but then again, its also all of ours...
1
So happy that I have subscriptions to both those great papers! The WH Fool can't read nor understand our journalists. Long live the Free Press!
2
Is that it? The New York Times and The Washington Post? What other newspapers/news magazines do you read?
Ms. Dowd needs a round of applause for nailing it.
2
I can see Trump sending some lap-dog lackey around the White House neighborhood to steal someone's NYT and WAPOs every morning just like happens in my apartment building. I see you Matt Gaetz!!
6
As you state Ms. Dowd, Nancy Pelosi is kicking trump's butt. In time that leadership will give both the Post and the Times to headline their front page with, "Trump Impeached".
1
I am confused,,,,, is this the real Maureen Dowd?
4
Trump's aides like to show him things that flatter him, such as tweets, columns in Breitbart, Fox transcripts, and Repubican legislators' remarks. If they show him bad news, he gets mad in general, mad at the aides, and blames them for not influencing the media to cover him more favorably. The aides can occasionally push back by saying that the unfavorable news comes from Hillary supporters, Obama holdovers, minorities, globalists, environmentalists, never Trumpers, persons selling a book, grandstanders, scum, or enemies of the people. However, it is easier for the aides to avoid Trump's ire in the first place by showing him only favorable coverage even if that coverage was prompted by the aides themselves. The aides schedule helicopter trips rather than motorcades so he won't witness anti-Trump protests as in London, and have him go on Fox to talk with tame interviewers who throw him softball questions. They schedule rallies where only MAGA hat wearers are admitted, or limit the number of students to ten when speaking at a historically black college. The aides create a bubble for Trump. Unfortunately for Trump, the bubble will burst and he won't be able to escape that horrible word, impeachment.
323
Love reading Maureen Dowd, she one in a million. Wish The Time had more writers like her. She the best ever.
6
@thomas jordon A lot of my Republican friends used to profess the same admiration as she trashed Bill Clinton, but hated her later in her criticism of GW Bush. Most readers only care for her when she excoriates the other side.
In her perverted values paragraph 15, she omitted the Obama administration, but she mightily to criticized everything about it. To date, she's offered no mea culpa, just like the Catholic Church and other institutions she lambastes.
Poor, sad Donald Trump. He wants so, so desperately for The New York Times and The Washington Post -- especially The Times -- to like him.
Never going to happen, Donald.
You see, you're not fooling them. They know who you really are.
18
This column is totally outrageous! Totally! How dare Maureen Dowd and the NYT insult Donald Trump. He should sue the living daylights out of all of you. Trump was right, when he was running for the office of President he made a lot of really good promises. Like, he promised to toughen up the libel and slander laws in the United States. That would make America Great Again, by ridding our country of the falsehoods published by MSNBC, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, the CBO, Saturday Night Live, Mad Magazine, Playboy and the like. Donald Trump has the right to be angry at all the "Deep State" lies about him. After all, you don't realize it, but he is probably the smartest, most well educated, articulate President we have ever had. The most honorable by far!! With all his money, Donald Trump could start a better newspaper than the NYT. He could call it "The New Your Times". That would be the greatest paper ever!!
9
How interesting (and wittier) re JFK.
Thank you, Ms. Dowd.
1
Nobody says it like you do Maureen! You are just the best. Thank You!
4
I like Maureen... even more when she's fed up. Finally!
10
Hooray!
1
Maureen, you are clearly totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President. I pray that you, and the rest of us, remain so unequipped.
3
Ah yes, those industrious paper boys of yesteryear. Offer the White House staff a free digital subscription for a year. They won't be needing it after that and we won't be reading about President Snowflake until his obituary which, prosaically, will be covered in a tweet.
6
Trump doesn't need to read no New York Times, Sean Hannity will do it for him
10
No way Trump cancels his subscriptions. The Post and the Times should check to see if Trump alias David Dennison has a digital subscription.
5
I’m a retired high school teacher. When dealing with a struggling or problem student, a professional teacher must consider many possible reasons for the student’s poor academic performance.
Ms. Dowd, you began one paragraph in this interesting op-ed, “The enormity of his stupidity caused him to accomplish the impossible.”
That sentence speaks volumes.
After the teacher has eliminated poor parenting, hearing or vision problems, abuse, unusual learning style, low self esteem, laziness, deceit, blaming others... he or she finally tries the unspeakable option.
“Maybe the kid’s just plain stupid.”
We never say that out loud. Never use such language in a report, but a teacher can’t help but think it from time to time.
Donald Trump has declared himself to be a genius. He tells us how extraordinarily intelligent he is. He awarded himself a I.Q. of 156 in at least one speech.
However, Trump paid his former attorney to visit the schools he’s attended to arrange that his academic records and STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES will never be released to the press. Or to anyone!
I think you’ve got it, Maureen. Donald Trump is just plain stupid.
Why else would a man answering a single question from the press use the word “perfect” to describe a telephone call thirteen times?
Can’t he think of a synonym for “perfect?” Does he realize that “perfect telelphone call” has no obvious meaning? Did he explain his intention, or just keep repeating the same words?
Trump is stupid! It’s that simple.
27
I think this is sad because the New York Times is the best America has to offer, especially for international news. I would understand if you wanted a pro business paper, but it goes along with abandoned world leadership that you choose to not stay informed. At least we know his intelligence briefs would include smart people who read the Times!!! I bet a Trump hates intelligence briefs because he hates the world. Anybody know the Bible quotes about the world? Trump takes those literally!!!
This op-ed is right on target regarding Trump. It summarize the Trump White House Andy is staffs week of stupidity. Trump is a rich entitled whiny baby. His tweets should be prohibited since he uses inappropriate language not becoming to a US President. Trump has a very low I.Q, he must of had a stand in to attend his classes at U Penn. His knowledge of basic economics theory is nonexistent.
2
Obama, of African descent, won 69.5 million votes in 2008, the greatest number of votes of any presidential candidate in American history. An unbroken record. Obama and his wife are the most admired people in America and in the world. As a general stereotype, modern America is racist?
5
Can totally understand Pres. Trumps actions. The once great NYT has become totally biased.
4
Like, to totally.
@Sean
to tally totally in totality
President Snowfake Narcissus is reaching the end stage as the truth continues to mount of his criminality in engineering a massive conspiracy that is producing an epic meltdown. As a mental health professional who knows the near impossibility of ever curing a 73-year old man of his narcissism, one must be concerned about what very serious impulsive acts Trump will unleash before he is led out of The White House either in handcuffs or a straitjacket. It's clear from his increasingly erratic behavior that he will try to get others to do his dirty bidding. We see that already with the infantile attempt by Reps. Matt Gaetz and Steve Scalise to obstruct the truth by storming the room where it is coming out in endless incriminating testimony. We see it in chief sycophant, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is always trying to shore up his weak, repressed sexual identity by attaching to "strong men" like John McCain and now sadly, misguided Donald Trump. Will it extend to violence as Trump has said with a "civil war" by his well-armed, fanatic followers who have already massacred 11 Jews in their Pittsburgh synagogue and 22 Hispanics in an El Paso Walmart? And will Congressional Republicans continue to remain mute in the face of such a campaign of "domestic terrorism"? This is the very frightening news we don't want to be delivered in any newspaper.
8
You didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton as president. Now you are calling Mr. president Donald Trump a snowflake.
Would you call Hillary Clinton a snowflake? And Hillary read the Times. As you know Trump cancelled the subscription to the New York Times and the Washington post.
1
MoDo's right.
I started reading the NYT when I was 11, back in the day of Vietnam and the Chicago police riot.
I said I'd never read the NYT again after the WMD lies -
I said that again after 2016 sabotage on Bernie Sanders.
And here I am, 15 years later, a digital subscriber!
2
He’s not really missing very much
1
Right on Ms. Dowd! To have his hometown paper (and the NYT no less) criticize him, hurts donald to the core.
2
Trump is too laze to read anything but bullet points.
Excuse me. Trump is too lazy even to read bullet points.
But now he wants to make sure that no one in the WH knows anything either. Did he - uh - cancel digital subscriptions to all?
2
Of course, Trump will be back to the newspapers. He loves seeing himself in the news. Narcissism extremus.
There are only three people he cares about: Me, Myself and I.
4
Maureen, would you read the Paper if the entire front page is an attack, usually a personal attack, on you? That’s what the Times has become. It seems the editors are stretching to find any angle to attack Trump. Journalism is dead. Objective journalism is an oxymoron. 😳
3
What you apparently perceive as an attack IS objective journalism: any objective appraisal of Mr. Trump, any simple relation of the facts regarding his actions, can only be highly critical because his actions are in every way outrageous. Failure to see this is mind-boggling and can only be the result of what amounts to brainwashing on the part of the bogus, ultra-right propaganda machine or of one's own ignorance and deep-seated bigotry.
1
@Tim Dowd Many believe the talking heads on Fox "News" to be journalists.
No, they are entertainers. This publication does not fabricate news about Trump for the purposes of readership as Fox does for ratings.
If you believe objective journalism is dead, then, why are you here?
1
No one needs to stretch to find a reason to attack Trump. He delivers them up daily, shamelessly, on a silver platter.
1
You sure nailed this one Maureen! Thank you.
Poor, poor Donald. Our tiny, tiny, tiny, little man.
1
Gee, if I were president of the United States, I'd SURE want to know what Maureen Dowd had to say about me.
3
That's it, actually!
You nailed it, if you think about it...
"President Snowflake"
Perfect...
4
I have a free gift subscription to bestow. Should I offer it to the White House?
1
@Anne P
Maybe Stephanie Grisham?
Ouch!
I see Maureen and the times are working to correct the damage their Clinton bias helped create. A little late but we’ll take it. Welcome to the Resistance.
4
To Republicans, illiteracy is a virtue.
That’s why Putin loves this party so much.
2
This is the 2nd time this week the NYT is using the phrase "deep state" as if it's a real thing. This is extremely irresponsible. The deep state does not exist; don't speak about it as if it does. I expect far more from the Times.
13
Hear hear!
Why the whining about having a subscription canceled ?
Everyone in my family but me has canceled their NYT subscription, they don’t find the official publication of the Democratic National Committee accurate or informative.
I keep my subscription because the hypocrisy is entertaining.
Sounds like the Snowflakes are the whiners.
As usual Ms Dowd gives you unique insight into how to think about all the different strands that are frayed and blowing in the win...... She’s wicked smart and good-looking
There is no doubt in my mind that Trump and the WH will sneak back on the Subscription list for these two papers. He is just so desperate and stupid he won't do it until no one is looking.
2
Brilliant.
Nice article Maureen but it's playing into his hand. We all know He doesn't read anything.
1
You may be savaged for suggesting the Catholic Church has perverted values but it was probably worth it.
Maureen, your hubris is showing.
People like me “those liberals” come back because we want to hold your shamelessly center-rightist corporation-held positions and your tiresome establishment positions that is made for glossy print edition feet to the fire.
Thanks to the people you and your paper helps elect, real news doesn’t get enough coverage. People like me “those liberals” want to remind people like you—people who have no humanity left except when you to whine about the latest it issue at fancy parties—your feet to the fire.
But we also are here to read Jamelle Bowie and Charles Blow and Brent Staples. Not for you, Maureen. You have nothing useful for us, “those liberals.”
Amen Ms. Dowd.
Way to tell it, Ms. Dowd!
This is an amazing column: it's consistent in its focus on its subject and it's beautifully written in columnist's trademark style. But this columnist, really, who is she? She can't be the same one that was slurping the 2016 Republican Nominee in his tower office. She can't be the same one that ripped the 2016 Democratic Nominee going back to before she was First Lady. She can't be the same columnist who stooped to calling the last gentleman President, "Barry". No, I can't believe it's the same columnist.
I would respect her if she truly apologized for at least her part in "normalizing" this wretched man.
4
Spot on. Mr. Trump is a sad little boy who pushes mommy away then comes cringing to cry in her apron. He also is the president of the United States. For now. Guau.
Maureen's prose is unimpeachable.
2
I'm buying NYTimes stock Monday morning. Trump just increased NYT subscriptions once again. Look at that stock soar. The only question remaining is, What will the newspaper do after Trump leaves the White House? Buy ads on Amazon?
1
Trump is pathetic.
By the way, did you know that Lindsay Graham voted for the Green New Deal?
Finally, a full throated column featuring the awful45, undiluted with dog whistles to Republican family members, that yes, Dowd is a conservative team player.
The really pathetic part of this is the comment of Stephanie Grisham, who reputedly is the trump regime's spokesperson. To have any credibility with the news organizations who cover the White House, you have to have some degree of believability; you cannot be a total tool. For her to suggest that the rest of the federal government should cancel their subscriptions is just plain idiotic.
Remember, the taxpayers are funding her six figure salary.
1
Amazing! Maureen finally has one good thing to say about President Obama: He read New York times carefully!!!! Hey, Maureen, I'll give it to you if next week you say something good about Hillary too. Maureen need to see Trump elected to know that he is not a decent human being. I could have told you in 2015.
1
I love how deliciously rude this column is. It is about time. Everyone associated with the Trump clown car needs be ridiculed for their obsequious behavior and loathsome self-dealing.
1
Hilarious take on the proudly incurious dotard in the White House. Bonus: excellent use of “enormity” (defined as “extreme wickedness”): “The enormity of [Trump’s] stupidity...”
2
You forgot to add another Truth Maureen, you and your colleagues in the media cannot quit Trump either. Fact is, you guys have each made a few bucks off of us with your Trump reporting, he has made billions and is President thanks to your Trump reporting. You might be better than Lindsey Graham and the rest of the toadies when it comes to talking about reality, but you are not that much better. Sad.
3
Send him a complimentary subscription.
Ms. Down, you sound like an angry women. Trump won’t be impeached. Bet you $100. He will be re-elected by the 8 million Obama voters who switched and voted for Trump and made him President. C’est la vie.
1
Perfect Ms. Dowd. Just perfect!
You still need to sharpen your nails a bit more.
He no longer reads the times? Good!! Now we can really talk behind his back!! (: (:
2
The President secretly does the Mini puzzle and boasts that its the hugest crossword victory ever!
4
Surprised that it's taken the Occupant so long to suspend NYT and WaPo. Fully expect to ban all news outlet and to make Fox News our American Pravada.
36
@Gradwin
Too late - already done. In fact, Fox is on the ropes now since they dared contradict the Mango Mussolini.
"The New @FoxNews is letting millions of GREAT people down! We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn't working for us anymore!"
Have to say this is the most vitriolic Maureen Dowd column I've ever read. I think the toxic hyper-partisanship has finally gotten to her. Trump has fried her brain and made her a worse writer for it.
4
@John Roberts one of Maureen's very best.
1
@John Roberts check your pulse . . .
1
@John Roberts
John - what was soooo nasty in this piece? I'm guessing the listing of reality points DJT is not reading.
Blah, Blah, Blah! Nothing will ever make up for what you did to Mrs. Clinton in your columns. You helped elect Trump!
51
@DannyNYC -- This is true. Whatever fits the bill today.
1
@DannyNYC -- Oh get over it. Clinton got close to 3 million more votes than Trump, but he won because of the electoral college system and the nutcases that voted for him, not because of anything Dowd ever wrote.
1
Bravo! Ms. Dowd
4
Bravo!!
3
Booring... Tell us something we don't know.
3
@coloradok --I think you mean "boring." There's only one 'o.' You're welcome.
Sorry Maureen, you get no pass from me.
The patronizing references to "Barry " were completely uncalled for. You are one of the columnists who helped Trump get elected.
55
Do you really think the knuckleheads in those states that Trump won by itsy bitsy margins actually read ?
I will be contacting the Times’s Subscription Department shortly to arrange for delivery to the White House at my expense.
37
@Ted Johnson,
Fantastic! Brilliant! Awesome idea!
Would it be possible for the NYT to put out one newspaper without the name Trump appearing anywhere?
Please pretty please.
15
I love you Maureen Dowd:)
4
I suggest this: President Can't-and-Don't Read, Just Tweet Gibberish Misspelled has just done a favor to The New York Times and The Washington Post with even more of us who want him gone, gone, gone, signing up as new subscribers.
6
The NYT and WaPo should offer free online subscriptions to anyone with a .gov e-mail address.
16
@jack g.
They already do!
If the Dems don't 'straighten up and fly right' we may be in for 4 more unbearable years of this fool.
Maureen, you are the best!
5
Ms. Dowd, I confess I often find your columns trivial. This time you got down to it when you flat out said, "You’re about to be impeached."
Thank you.
This statement keeps you from being thrown in the cauldron with Coulter, Penn, Dershowitz, McCarthy, Simon, Hanson, Turley, Solomon and their assorted ilk. Brava!
6
Of course Trump will still be desperately watching what the NYT writes about him, he has long craved the paper's favourable opinion!
Probably going to set up an "anonymous" digital account. Make sure you get paid in full upfront, though.
13
Trump will accidentally read the paper instead.
4
Ms Dowd you said it what most of us feel and talk on daily basis. Now it’s upto Donny to gain some insight, improve his judgement and gain some sanity. Or... as usual he will get another temper tantrum and call you few names, brag about how great a president he is since Ab Lincoln and curse Obama.
All of the above will happen only if he reads NYT.
2
The NYT and the Post are a bargain!
4
It's refereshing to see Ms. Dowd actually touting something for a change.
Did Matt Gaetz share his pizzas with the Democrats when
he crashed their SECURE meeting room heatings?
1
Great article Maureen.
2
One of your better columns, Maureen.
Maybe someone (anonymously?) will drop a copy of your column next to Trump’s tv remote. I can see the smoke coming out of the White House chimney after he reads
It. Not.
11/8/20. VOTE.
3
Retro MoDo is back.Hurrah!
3
I can't believe an adult wrote this. Why stoop down to his level?
Well Maureen, cuz of this article I will now, after decades of only reading ten articles a month, will now be subscribing to the NYT.
5
I'm actually feeling more positive about this disaster. In the early, Neo Nazi goose stepping your name's on our list days, the whole thing was scary. Were we about to become the Fourth Reich? Were the name takers going to start coming around and breaking kneecaps?
Now it's more like, will the senate grow a spine? WiIll this band of hypocrites grow up a little? Can the next sane administration PLEASE get these people a job doing SOMETHING?
Maybe I'm being overoptimistic, but I've come to view Baby Donald's followers more as a band of dangerous losers than anything else.
That said, Pax Americana is probably over. We've proven ourselves to be too easily fooled, too erratic to be trusted. I suggest we use this time wisely, maybe figure out what we want to be when we grow up.
8
Truth!
Face it; say it; shout it from the rooftops: Donald Trump is a crybaby.
4
Yes, Maureen, he will sneak back. He craves, relishes, devours every bit of attention.
1
Dear New York Times,
I would like permission to reprint Maureen Dowd's Sunday article and mail it to the White House.
Thank You,
Charles
3
He reads???!!
5
I'm sorry that you wrote this: "The Deep State is not only out to get you; it’s gotten you." With that sentence, you appear to join the GOP right-wingers in believing that a shadowy Deep State exists.
5
Brilliant Maureen !
It's funny, and yet sad, that this is news that fit to print.
2
You're definitely better arbiters of "objective reality" than Trump, Graham, McCarthy, and Scalise. Wow, that's not saying a whole lot Maureen. Maybe I should cancel my subscription too if that's the best plug you can give your own newspaper.
2
Back in college in the 70s I was getting my journalism degree at UF and learned that the NYT, the WP, the Wall St. Journal, the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star, the St. Pete Times, etc., were the best examples of journalism in the country. The reporters were the best in the business and you could rest assured that what they wrote was true.
I stopped reading the WSJ after Rupert Murdoch bought it. And the other papers, except the NYT and the WP, have all lost their once legendary status.
Our current President is an ignoramus. Sarah Palin and he are two peas in a pod when it comes to low IQ combined with gargantuan hubris/chutzpah. They are freaks of nature with damaged reptile brains, but a drive to be recognized like nobody’s business.
May this current idiot soon fade away.
14
Don’t feel too bad Maureen, Trump doesn’t read anything, not just your newspaper.
1
Exactly how much would the federal government save if every agency stop subscribing? Maybe $20000 or so. Less than a round of golf that I am sure he has his parasitic employees charge the government when he plays. This is one of his dumbest ideas yet. The man is a fool.
6
Matt Gaetz: Leonidas .... as Lindsey Graham: Alexander Hamilton
Donald Trump: NYTimes and Washington Post...
as Bernie Madoff: Honest Abe
>> So, Mr. President, given that you are shorn from The Times and The Post, I feel an obligation to fill you in on what you’re missing
Er, Ms Dowd, you might want to use a channel other than The Times itself to do the filling in or whatever.
1
Why is anyone surprised that the Trump White House dumped the NY Times and the Washington Post?
2
Trump cancelling his subscriptions to the Times and WaPo is no different from a little kid covering his eyes and yelling at Mommy, “You can’t see me!”
Mommy Pelosi: “Yes, we see you. And by the way, put your pants back on.”
4
Donald is like an infant who thinks the world disappears when he closes his eyes. He'll return to griping about the "failing New York Times" soon enough and pretend this never happened.
266
@Rick
Interesting. The syndrome you describe is called solipsism - a world where only the self exists. Trump World is a mad mad place where only narcissism and insecurity flourishes - a fun house at a carnival with mirrors reflecting back at him distorted caricatures of his face, in this case the media being the mirrors. He must see his image being shown everywhere - this is the only world Trump understands.
18
@Rick
He also seems to believe the whole world is enlightened along with him every time he stumbles upon some commonly understood fact. Like Puerto Rico is an island surrounded by water, lots of water.
12
@JTS
Yes, Tony Schwartz said that about him during the campaign. When he acts like he's learning something for the first time, it's because he is.
13
He can live without the NYT for the rest of his life, but the moment he's dumped by FOX, he's toast. That's his and his base's oxygen.
323
@Guido Malsh if Fox were to abandon the Trump ship it too would loose bigly. Make no mistake of that. Those MAGA hat wearers aren’t going to watch if the spin doesn’t suit their prejudices.
33
“They’re always huffing away from our paper only to sneak back a few days later.”
Your not all wrong on this Ms. Dowd. Several people I know have suffered and recovered from cancelitus.
Trump may yell at the kids stepping on his lawn but their parents might come over and give him a piece of their minds...at the polls of course. And he can try to cancel truth, but historically it bounces back, like a disgruntled NYT subscriber.
16
I am glad that someone as smart as Maureen kicked Betsy's butt. She richly deserves it. What has she done for our nation? Nothing; in fact she has made it worse, just like every single one of Trump's appointees. I suspect that was the strategy all along. Trump had a vision of destruction and ready access to the people who could accomplish his vision.
I am so glad that the word is out on Trump's malfeasance. I have followed his criminal career since the '80's when he was a cheap front man for the mob in Atlantic City. The sooner we get rid of this clown and all the crooks behind him, the better off our nation will be.
40
ROFL! Touche!
5
trump is a fool and cancelling newspaper subscriptions is just more proof. Everything trump does hurts us. trump survives only in darkness, The mainstream media must keep the light shining on his dark, worthless administration.
24
Your bias showed up in the third paragraph. Took that long.
1
I used began reading the NYT about 50 years ago; the business section rivaled the WSJ; sadly, the Old Gray Lady has descended into nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party; even the NYT's sports and weather section has a political angle.
8
How about this?
You know those appeals we get when reading the NYT online to donate a subscription to a needy reader?
Maybe we should start paying for NYT subscriptions for the White House.
16
No one knows how to fillet this president like Maureen Down.
Master class.
15
This grandson of German barber should nold not have been run for POTUS. What for? He should have been a barber like his ganddaddy.
6
Once again, Maureen Dowd has something to say, and she knows how to say it!
5
Donald, the "failing" New York Times existed long before you did, and will continue to be a paper of record long after you're gone.
21
Lock him up!
14
This little snowflake needs a safe space and trigger warnings. A manlier Republican there's never been.
8
Love Maureen when she’s on fire.
7
Well well. Good ole Mo Dowd back to writing stuff I like.
5
Dear Maureen,
You say "The enormity of his stupidity…." We think you mean "vastness" or something similar.
Don't worry, this is not enormous enough to cause me to cancel my subscription.
Your faithful reader, etc.
3
There is no evidence that DFT is able to read anything longer than a tweet. He has to have his briefings shrunk to a single page and third grade reading level, so how could he ever understand a real newspaper like the Times?
10
Dear Maureen,
When Obama was in office, every column you wrote was how terrible he was. Now you want to tag on to his greatness, Shame on you.
34
DJT has ignorantly accomplished what probably not any American can,,,become a prostitute for Vladimir Putin for the wages of narcissism.
10
Is this the first time that Dowd paid O'Bambi -- I mean, Obama -- a compliment?
4
Snowflake, indeed. What a soft, sniveling crybaby he is.
3
To make an informed decision, you need to be informed. Duh.
3
Oh Mo, How much evidence do you need ???
Isn't it so obvious ?
Keep your powder dry....
It can't read....
2
You have come a long way miss Dowd. Have never seen you as mad as now with Donald Trump. Looks like cancellation of subscription to your paper has done the trick. I even notice you calling Barak Obama by his name rather than calling him Barry. Never too late
Welcome back
9
Why doesn't Maureen Dowd write a column every day?
2
Millions of us should each buy him a subscription to both papers so that there would be mountains of papers inundating The White House. Mountains and mountains of them. Kellyanne would never surface to spew her ghastly lies again, she'd be buried in the truth.
There ya go, Mr. Big Time Cheater who can't win an election without cheating, without help from dictators. And your name is on every front page, isn't that grand? Just sit there and listen as Kellyanne reads them all to you.
Oh, by the way: you're going to be impeached. And perhaps, by the time this is done....convicted and tossed out on your derriere.
Impeach, convict, indict, convict, imprison. Lots of time to read newspapers in prison.
10
My subscriptions stand. I actually restarted a few key new subscriptions when this flaming moron was the GOP candidate. His assaults on the press reeked of Hitler then and still do, now.
Keep hope alive- read a variety of good news sources and stay informed. Don’t be afraid of diverse, but honest, reporting. Maybe, just maybe the Democrats will decide on a candidate who is more centrist and less crazy than the moronic Manchurian beast in the Oval Office.
Hope.
8
Every newspaper has political leanings and the NYT is no exception. The NYT is on the liberal side but does bite the hand that feeds it now and again. Our President doesn’t want newspapers per say — he wants boot lickers.
9
I am so glad that you described the president's "stupidity." Seems to me that the more we describe him in terms that he understands, the more unhinged he will get and maybe, just maybe, the electorate will see him for the moron that he is. Maybe we can all agree that we do not need a president who is stupid.
8
Yet another cruel assault on a fellow with severe dyslexia, and an unwillingness to bother listening to an audio pod cast of the NYT or Washington Post.
Mr. Trump is unfit to work as a bag boy at Piggly Wiggly!
3
It's 10:18pm Eastern on Saturday night. Think he has read this latest Maureen smackdown?
Obviously trump doesn't read the paper, I don't think he can. Someone must read it to him; Ms. Dowd is obviously on his must-read-it-to-me list. He craves the approval of the Times but he will never get it. Yet he keeps chasing it, is obsessed with it....why???????
4
Well, cancelling the subscriptions is just another huff and puff PR maneuver from Donald and another lie to add to the ever growing pile. Praise is like catnip for the old boy and he is no doubt planning to read The NY Times until the day he dies, hoping for some tiny morsels of approval to feed his starving ego.
194
@NJLatelifemom
Exactly. Remember when, invited to a sit-down with The Times' editors, he wheedled and whined for just one "nice" piece about himself from "my" newspaper? There would have been no point in his being told to "act nice," thereby getting a "nice" write-up. Even the tiniest kid knows that if you're good, Santa Claus brings you good stuff. But Donnie apparently never heard about that.
8
It's not like Trump actually reads anything (or has someone who does so for him)
65
At last he can devote his non-TV time to reading back issues of My Weekly Reader while acting out his Madame Defarge impulses on his Etch A Sketch.
53
Ordering subscriptions cancelled in no way means that Trump and staff will stop reading the two papers (either in print, or online).
It's just another stunt.. like all Trump stunts.. petty and all about him.
Now some poor intern in the white house is burdened with sneaking in copies of both papers every morning.... and probably has to pay for them out of the interns own pocket.
58
Trump has only a reactive mind which works on a totally stimulus-response basis. HIs mind is not under volitional control, and exerts force and the power of command over awareness, purposes, thoughts, body fluids and his actions can become very dangerous when frothing or foaming at the mouth. HIs aides and nurses must keep him in diapers at all times or he will experience seizures and overdose with rabies. The only cure is impeachment.
19
Old Riddler pun here: "how do you catch a 'unique rabbit?'"
Unique up on him!
Representative Jackie Spear also mentioned the scene as "17 pizza boxes" pizza party before the group that stormed the SCIF.
Maybe tRump bought them lunch as an incentive?
18
When I was 7, I used to put together the sections of the Sunday papers for my father's corner store. The comics wouldn't go into all the papers - just the Daily News, Mirror, Journal American. The Herald Tribune and the New York Times didn't have comics. But there were always special sections for Sunday, including the NY Times Magazine.
My introduction to information came early. How to use information came later. From a New York point of view, Trump is totally predictable, even boring. Just a smirk on page 6. His cognitive abilities are B or even C at best. He's the guy you deliberately try to avoid when he enters the room. He knows this and revels in being extreme. It's his only catharsis now that the rule of law is starting to make a comeback, the Supreme Court notwithstanding.
My father also got the original versions of comics - DC and beyond. Alas I did not think to save or store them. I was a kid in love with the Yankees. Who knew such things would be valuable. Lucky Strikes and Camels and Pall Mall were around twenty five cents a pack. Gasoline was about the same for a gallon.
Conspiring and grifting and lying and lunacy. Exactly and so well put. But it's all entertainment (a joke) to someone who always skated by and never really caught the wave. Because he has been able to buy his way out even when people already didn't believe him. He thought it would work again, but not this time. At this point it's like talking to a delusional, senile old man.
79
How many books do you think Trump has read? I would bet not many. His vocabulary is so bad. I’m actually kind of shocked that he has read enough of these newspapers to know their editorial slants. Maybe he gets summaries of them in large print with scratch and sniff stickers and stuff.
37
For Trump, news are better than no news, however bad, whenever they are relatable to his sick ego. This man-child, illiterate by choice, is as brutish as they come, given that even constructive criticism is viewed as motive for a temper tantrum of his. I bet that if an ongoing disaster (somewhere) is not in the news anymore, he'll be convinced it is fiction or worse (i.e. conspiracy theory). Now, you are asking this vulgar bully to calm down and 'act' like a decent human being, right? How could you do that, and not end being disappointed, by asking what he doesn't have, decency?
19
You had me at “Snowflake Trump wants us off his lawn.” I cackled and said aloud: “Way to go Maureen.” I do hope you are right and it’s game over for this pathetic creep, but I am chastened by the seeming devotion of his supporters. Do Republican members of the United States Senate recognize — actually get — the very unpleasant consequences of condoning criminality on the part of the nation’s elected chief magistrate? Do their constituents? If they do, we are going to spend the next 100 days making history as an electorate worthy of the American experiment. If they don’t, we will all bear eventually the costs of a pathetic ignorance.
49
trump doesn't care if what's written about him is true or false, good or bad, helpful or hurtful. He just needs the attention like the rest of us need oxygen. I truly think that if a day or two passed without his name being mentioned in print or on cable, he would shrivel up and die. I'd be okay with that.
33
This reader can't wait to see how Trump's greeted by a stadium full of voracious baby sharks at the Nationals game tomorrow, though, knowing him, he'll doubtless chicken out at the last moment with some lame excuse like needing to monitor the wildfires in California.
25
He cannot behave like a decent human being. He is not a decent human being. He is nasty and brutal and always was. He destroyed the life of students by defrauding them. He destroyed the life of contractors. To think otherwise is irresponsible.
57
My life-long habit of reading the New York Times began in fourth grade, in 1964. I can't begin to catalog the value it's added to my life, to say nothing of the sheer pleasure.
After the 2016 election, I added an electronic subscription to the Washington Post, wanting to support that equally august American institution, finding myself in total agreement with the Post's current masthead message: "Democracy Dies in Darkness."
Which is exactly why people who abhor democracy, Donald Trump included, hate and fear a free press.
62
So, Trump, the very embodiment of personal attacks cannot handle personal attacks. Whodathunk it?
40
Does the White House actually pay for The NY Times or Washington Post? Newspaper distribution was huge in the 70’s. I delivered the LA times and had friends who delivered many other publications that were actually flown in from their home towns. I am pretty sure they were all donated. DC is the news capital of the world, major newspapers all have bureau’s there. Most likely they are canceling something that is actually free.
7
Sorry, Ms. Dowd, but are you not prolonging this cycle of mutual need and revulsion by continuing to write about this guy? It's not as though you're telling us anything we didn't already know here. Anyway, it's more than likely the case that Trump's cancelling his subscriptions is based on the misunderstanding that if the papers don't come him to him they no longer exist. Same thing with Melania.
14
If he isn't going to find out his negative impact on the country from the NY Times and the Washington Post, I would suggest that someone can give him a hint and send him the dvd of the movie Idiocracy so he can see what kind of track he is on. On second thought maybe that wouldn't make an impression or change his mind, most of the worst ideas in that movie have already been suggested to him by Fox and Friends and the gatorade is already bubbling up from the White House lawn.
8