Don't worry, we Trump supporters will impeach the next Democrat president.
11
@CJT You guys tried that already with Clinton.
85
@CJT If they commit similar crimes, then it would be appropriate. We should all join together in solidarity over the simple point that nobody is above the law.
Though Trump's impeachment was voted along party lines, his criminality is objectively true. He broke the law and admitted to it. Again, if any democrat were to do the same, I would be wholeheartedly in support of an impeachment effort. Country over party every time.
292
@CJT yep, they will when a Democrat does something remotely impeachable. There are examples of Dem politicians in jail - 4 of the past 5 Illinois governors come to mind. The difference is that Dems will hold their own accountable. Republicans, not so much.
215
Actually, impeachment has driven, and will continue to drive, the Progressive and the Dems batty. A political party is a terrible thing to waste.
25
Uh...which side is screaming, yelling and lying again?
I mean, Pam Bondi’s on NPR right now. And literally, the patient guy who’s doing the interview has had to stop her, turn down her mike, and point out that her machine-gunned talking points simply aren’t even close to true.
Three times, already, and she just kept chanting that Republicans were barred from hearings and couldn’t ask questions in the hearings they were barred from.
This is of course nonsense; what do YOU call people who can’t stop repeating stuff that’s just not true?
245
I think you call that a fanatic. To paraphrase, I believe, Winston Churchill: The definition of a fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. I'm only 50 but I miss the days of higher ideals and genuinely public service.
114
@Ulysses
Devoid of any substantial facts, your comment uses the same exact, blame the messengers, tactic that Republicans use to defend Trump.
Accusing the Democrats of being mad is the best defense of Trump that you can muster?
113
It's certainly driving the Democrats batty. Maybe they don't realize the message they're giving to the American people. They're showing us how obsessive, how narrowly focused, how impervious to plain commonsense, what overly sensitive bores they can become even in response to something as transitory as an election defeat. They should have been using the last three years to figure out how they got so out of touch with the voters--they haven't. They've spent the time trying to divert public attention to how much they don't like their opponent and how important their election disappointment should be to you. In truth, the Democrat leaders feel the fault is with the voters, they let the Dems down in 2016! And, as to their obvious response that it's the Electoral College, well, they know how it works same as anybody else, or did they forget? Or maybe, as with so much else, they thought the rules didn't apply to them. A recent headline in the 'Times of London' on another topic may apply here: "Leftist Self-Righteousness is Repellent".
41
@Ronald B. Duke The Dems won by 6 million votes! If it weren't for the E College Hillary would be president and we would be led by a person with demonstrable competence.
223
@Ronald B. Duke
Democrats didn't
a. ask for election interference b a foreign country
b. cover it up by firing the FBI director
c. stonewall the special counsel's attempts to investigate a) and b)
d. try to do all the above AGAIN the very day after the special counsel's report came out
Democrats in the House have passed over 275 bills that have ended up in the black hole that is Mitch McConnell's office.
I'm sorry, that isn't all dislike of Trump or election results.
462
@Ronald B. Duke You sure know a lot about Democrats, even their inner feelings. Now do Trump.
223
Ms. Collins, you succeeded in identifying the worry so many of us (a majority, in the necessary states, I hope) have about Trump continuing to be president: what else can he do before his term ends. Now that he is a Florida resident, there are many, many challenges to "incredibly stupid" actions. Too bad Trump didn't pick a different state for his new home.
36
Will the impeachment drive Trump batty (more so than he is already)? YES. While it is unlikely the impeachment will have a real outcome because the Republicans will stand by Trump in the Senate, the fact that Trump is so irritated by it, makes it strangely satisfying to watch. It also further illustrates Trump’s natural authoritarian tendencies. He can’t stand any opposition or criticism, or recognise any boundaries to his power at all. He feels personally affronted by people who disagree with him, regardless of how justified it might be. He just can’t let sleeping dogs lie, even if he’s essentially ‘won’ - which is how he got into this Ukraine pickle in the first place, after the Muller report was unable to his demonstrate collusion with Russia. The smart thing would have been to let it go. It’s Trump’s reaction to the impeachment, rather than the impeachment itself that is likely to be his undoing. It’s worth it just to put Trump under pressure and let him self destruct.
45
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty(er)?" (Fixed)
24
If batty is being trapped in your own terrible movie he's already there. He told the Battle Creek crowd that the Democrats would receive a 'backlash at the box office'.
44
Well, Ms. Collins--there's always those fabled TAX returns.
It is possible--it is JUST possible--
--that a Supreme Court all but dominated by right wing persons (and hey! two of these guys were appointed by Mr. Trump himself)--
--that nevertheless the Supreme Court WILL rule that--
--"Sorry, Mr. President--those tax returns are of vital interest and relevance to these United States.
"So fork 'em over if you please, sir."
It is possible--it is JUST possible--that the dynamite kegs now nestled in those returns--
--might blow up big time. Might blow Mr. Trump and his administration (sakes! what a parcel of crooks) into smithereens. Might blow the GOP out of the water. Permanently.
Oh Lord, please! Please! I'm begging You!
Sorry. That was unworthy a Christian. And an American.
But this is the man who declared he'd "nothing to forgive."
My goodness, wish i could say that.
And have it be true.
But I can't
Neither can he.
So how'll all this play out?
The Lord knows I don't.
Neither does anyone else.
Including Mr. Donald J. Trump.
20
Can you do your readers a favour and let us know when Trump moves from bonkers to batty.
20
I thought he was already batty.
20
Dear NYT:
Sounds like Trump is nesting in Gail Collins' own belfry.
Looking back over the past few years, Ms. Collins has written many many columns attacking Trump and calling for his impeachment, as have all your other regulars, so it must feel good to know that you helped lead the Democrats to an impeachment.
But please try to understand that impeachment along strictly partisan lines, relying on contested and/or indirect evidence, based on Articles that are not found in our Constitution, is not good for the nation.
I hope Collins and The Times can step back to see a more pluralistic, objective view.
7
He's already batty. How can he get more so?
8
The President is already quite batty.
10
It must be very reassuring and comforting for Vladimir Putin to sit back and watch the most powerful man in the world devolve into a whiny sniveling victim.
"Whoa is me, the evil Democrats have had it in for me from the very first day!
"So what if I had control over both houses for the first 2 years, I still couldn't get anything done because the Democrats kept calling me nasty names.
"And now look. They have impeached me, the biggest and stablest genius ever to live in this dump of a White House.
"Those do nothing Democrats keep blabbing on about this Constitution thing. So what. It's only a stupid old piece of paper. And it's not even gold!
"What do they know. Just look at how great Russia, and Turkey and North Korea are doing. I bet they would know how to deal with Nancy and Chuck."
Yeah, I don't think that impeachment will rattle him too much once he sees the money rolling in from all of the suckers who have bought into his poor little old me act.
Putin could not have received a better Christmas present.
25
The distance from where Trump is now to full blown batty is the Planck length.
https://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae281.cfm
10
I suppose there are degrees of insanity. Trump, however, was certifiable before he was impeached. The author talks about Trump being crazier post-impeachment; he is not crazier, he is just angrier and more dangerous.
The evidence of Trump’s insanity before his impeachment was the fact Trump was convinced by Putin that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election and Russia was a perfect world citizen and stayed completely out of the election process. Trump held this delusional belief on Election Day.
The delusion was fueled by Putin appealing to Trump’s vanity.
Our President has been a puppet of Russia since the day he entered the White House.
26
Trump has neither the intellectual nor emotional ability to coherently deal with this existential threat. He has demonstrated this clearly and frequently since before he announced his candidacy. That he is rambling and slurring his speech has gone on for some time now. He depends on ranting and projection, not realizing that his every word just accuses him more clearly. Impeachment won't drive him batty. He is already a proven lunatic.
21
"...drive (him) even crazier..."
Excuse me, but did no one notice that he was completely insane long before he decided to run for president?
And, still there are those who either can't see it, or are so corrupt themselves that they are happy to collude with him.
It's well past time for all of us to wake up. There is an election coming. We the people will have a say; we need to speak our minds. If 45 and his Republican enablers are re-elected, we have only ourselves to blame.
14
He is already certifiable! Letting him hang as having been impeached but untried certainly won't help him get better. Then again, after listening to some of the Republicans equating him to Jesus, maybe they are hoping for a miracle. Certainly nothing Trump says ,or for that matter his supporters say, is fully in accordance with the Gospels!
12
The Whitewater investigation of Clinton was about his personal finances before he was president.
It cost $100 Million in today's dollars.
I'd go for that for Trump!
President Trump, show us your tax returns.
19
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
Wasn't he born that way?
10
Will it drive Mr. Trump crazy? It's not a long drive... just around the corner, into some cul de sac of his being. Question is: how many Republican sycophants will he take with him?
11
If Pelosi leaves the impeachment referral hanging, the Senate cannot vote. Leaving it hanging will Trump battier than he already is.
18
Trump makes Gaddafi and George III appear reasonable and measured.
17
Congratulations! You've started taking back your democracy.
It was fun watching Republicans scream, yell and rip up papers and make threaths. I never remember seeing them so desperate. Just for giving me that joy I could kiss all the people organizing the impeachment.
I'd express my sentiments on the impeachment but Maxine Waters already said it all it for me.
Hey, can't you disqualify those Senators somehow, who have talked in public, saying they are not going to pretend to be an impartial jury? A trial's supposed to be impartial, right?
I vaguely remember visiting a jury picking session once in the States and they disqualified those, who they thought gave an impression of being biased. Lots of black people got disqualified, as I recall. So, if their skin color was enough to disqualify them, why isn't a blatant declaration of bias?
23
Sending the six-page letter addressed to Nancy Pelosi together with the White House seasonal greetings card to all members of Congress... another waste of taxpayers' money.
15
if this incompetent lier is, god forbid, re-elected, he will seek revenge. nothing will ever change his greed, lying corruption and his complete unintelligence of how the government works. he will continue to think of the u.s. as being no more than an addition to his trump organization.
10
Impeachment can't drive him batty, he's already there! However, getting impeached twice might.
10
Don’t underestimate “boring” Mike Pence.
2
Vote people. Vote, from the top-of-the ticket to the bottom of the ticket. Vote. -C
5
Is that still a question? The only question is how crazy will he get? Are ant decent Republicans in the Congress who will understand that he is not a Republican or a Demcrat; he is a FakeDonald Trump for trump. When will decent Republicans will have guts to say to their supporters that Trumpo is not a Republican but d Demagogue who will wear anything to get what he wants - a prime example of a "rottn (beyond spoined) child".
2
The framers knew that a country is built on relationship. They rebelled against a King, and they knew better than to install one. We are undergoing a "global teach in on narcissism" and corrupt abuse of power is the worst outcome of a narcissist.
Get informed. Why are we locked into this situation? I think that so many of us are used to submitting to authority that when an authoritarian shows up, we'd more likely get "under his wing" than be vulnerable to his claw.
Narcissism: A Central Danger for the American Psyche
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/201911/narcissism-central-danger-the-american-psyche
6
Either Trump plays at Crazy to rev up his base and to follow the 'Nixon is Crazy' scheme Dick and Kissinger used in Vietnam, or ...
Trump really cannot control his impulses and puts us all at risk whenever his judgment is thus impaired. How to tell which? Tough question. Real or not, his Crazy can be quite convincing.
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory?wprov=sfla1)
5
How would we tell...
5
Drive him batty? Are you saying he's not already batty?
3
The only thing I believe we can be certain of is that the current president will get crazier each day.
5
Pius Trump will owe Mitch /I would think we could say big time / not that Mitch could ever collect
1
Does anybody remember when many of us thought that Trump would "grow" into the Presidency, and we half way assumed that his craziness was all campaign rhetoric? That seems like a decade ago.
6
In a discussion of god, prayer, and Jesus, call me crazy, but my impression is that Pelosi seems more sincere in her faith than the Donald. Try telling that to his evangelical base, right?
9
It's all about packing the courts with conservative judges that will shape the federal judiciary for decades.Even if Democrats win the presidency next year and take over the Senate,they won't be able to undo the court appointments specially if republicans get to appoint another Supreme Court judge before than
7
Now that he's condemned for future history, we still have about 25 per cent of Mr. Trump's term to go through. Even more immediate, doesn't he need to sign the budget bill so government doesn't shut down?
He. could take several several steps to influence public opinion: get a crew cut (no blow dry!), stop using the man-tan, be pictured studying papers, with sleeves rolled up and wearing reading glasses. Anything that would help him look more like an actual president than a guy who's playing the part.
But there's probably a greater chance of him naming Sec. Clinton as a replacement for Sec. Pompeo than giving up the hair dryer.
3
In the meeting with Guatemala's outgoing president, Trump says (about the 'witch hunt'), "It’s been going on now for almost three years. And it probably started before I even won the election, based on what we’re finding out with the insurance policy quotes and other things."
What in the world is he referring to with 'insurance policy quotes' before the 2016 election? Did someone call Geiko for extra democracy insurance?
9
It’s sad to think that I live in a state that went for trump in 2016 and might just so the same in 2020. This is a complete reversal of the progressive movement, which was born here early in the last century. I would also point out that trump did not lose the 2016 election by merely 3 million popular votes. There were also nearly 6 million votes for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson combined. Hence nearly 9 million citizens voted for someone other than trump last election. I wonder how he would like that bit of math.
11
@Mark Schrager
Don't forget what else was born here, and why. The Republican Party itself, as a way to transform a moral stand into political action. Its founders were Whigs disgusted by the Fugitive Slave Act and their party's refusal to condemn it.
Let's share a bitter laugh.
1
Gail, Trump is already batty. The question should be: Will impeachment make him more batty than he already is?
6
Bolton, under oath, would blow the blowhard down. The only way to get Bolton in to testify, however, is for book readers and listeners to promise not to buy his book.
Please click recommend if you believe in "No Bolton Book Buy."
36
Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty? No, what will drive him batty will be being ignored, having people stop reacting to every emission from his tweeter.
Trump is an entertainer, not a politician and, like most entertainers (especially talk radio), he does not care if you hate him as long as you pay attention. Trump and his ilk feed on your outrage. Starve the dude !
As Brad Paisley sings in "Celebrity":
I'll make the supermarket tabloids,
they'll write some awful stuff
But the more they run my name down
the more my price goes up.
'Cause when you're a celebrity
It's adios reality
You can act just like a fool
People think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV.
7
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
I believe he would have to be sane in order to be driven batty.
3
He seems to experience fear and anger, but also seems to have no higher-order brain functions, e.g., short-term recall, measure, boundary, context. I'm serious. Has a scan ever been done? It might be interesting, even more than his tax returns.
11
If it is a "witch hunt", then Dorothy (played magnificently by Speaker Nancy Pelosi) has just thrown a bucket of water on the witch.
And, Pompeo, not Dorothy, goes back to Kansas, but without the happy ending.
10
Putin has now defended Trump! The love affair continues. If you needed any further reason to want Trump removed from office Putin loving DJT is reason enough.
Trump is so ignorant that he thinks he did nothing wrong in seeking to force the new prez of Ukraine to help Trump win the 2020 election! Trump even asked China to help too by investigating the Bidens!
Of course Mueller found that Trump welcomed Russian assistance in 2016 even if there was no contractual conspiracy that could be proven.
Shows what happens when you elect a New York real estate con man to the highest office in America. Trump has contempt for Congress and any critic of his bombast and incompetence. We now know that ignorance is not bliss.
8
All of Trumps cruelty, anger, lashing out, tantrums, lies about things people would normally not care about and grandiose ego come from one thing...narcissism. He is a textbook narcissist people. Take 5 minutes and do a google search of classic narcissistic behavior/traits and you will find the explanation for his actions.
Add greed and pretty much always getting your way all of your life to this toxic mix and you have Trump.
You would think when he insultingly claimed to love the "highly uneducated" that it might cause some of his supporters to pull back from supporting him but it didn't. Just yesterday he acted so cruelly when insulting a member of congress by insinuating that her deceased husband was in hell. Why would he stoop so low? Because she didn't do what he wanted her to do, which was vote NO to impeach.
Trump won't get better. Trump won't act appropriately. If anything he will double, triple and quadruple down in his deplorable actions as the walls of impeachment or removal close in all around him.
Simply...it's what narcissists do and they can't stop themselves. Look it up folks. Look it up.
6
@Magan
Boris Johnson's landslide victory of working class voters followed on from his father's comments on morning television a week before (in reply to a question in regards to many in the country viewing him as a lying Pinocchio) whereby he stated that the bulk of the country was so uneducated that they would not even be able to spell the word unlike his son and himself who have written 25 books between them.
But what is an insult compared to keeping out the immigrants?
Do Trump supporters at the rallies feel supreme even in relation to co-supporters. Their husband or father was not referred to as being in hell. The person Trump exhorted the security last night to be a bit rougher with was not them. Divide and rule operates within the family system not just against all outsiders. What seems to be operating is identification with the aggressor.
Ego Boundaries and realities also get confused. Trump now announces to his Michigan rally that "we" have been impeached in our fight to protect the 2nd Amendment. That Constitutional nonsense was just a plot against us.
He could stop himself, but that would require choice and emotional insight. But this would also undermine his conscious stategies for manipulation, control and being in the seat of the most powerful person in the world. Maybe the acceleration of his internal narcisstic rage will not be able to be contained by the facade that this is a political fight and finally the full mask will drop.
3
no one seems to make note--the President and all his little minions are trying to turn back the 2018 elections.
12
Trump claims that his impeachment will help him be reelected president. If so, if his impeachment by the House is really beneficial to Trump, maybe his conviction and removal from office by the Senate would be even more beneficial to Trump?
9
a senate simple majority , with some republican support, to convict may be a good outcome .
4
Don't you think the consequences of this impeachment are overrated?
With all the things Trump has already done, his impeachment is barely worth a footnote. What really does it do to him he has not already done to himself?
From my perspective, the impeachment was a formality that had to be done, but ultimately a useless one.
Actually, useless would be good, but I fear that it will have helped Trump and that it will help him to win again next year.
Shudder.
1
It's a short trip. Like backing out of the driveway.
So, can he be impeached again for the next crime he commits? This won’t be the last crime.
6
Will impeachment drive trump batty?
That ship has sailed.
6
Trump has lost it, long ago. Vote him and his enablers out!
2
I’m in New Zealand, where I found out this week that the most popular breed of sheep is called the Romney. Made me think of a certain U.S. senator who, hopefully, won’t be a sheep.
527
@MDA That Romney protested Trump as a candidate but then went to dinner with him hoping to grovel enough for a position in Trumps administration. I would not hold my breath hoping he leads on principle.
64
@MDA
He absolutely will, but it will sound good.
19
@MDA
Don't count on it.
Susan Collins just announced she will run again. Let's see what her vote is.
33
Let's not ignore the possibility that Trump could be impeached twice. A new record! Trump loves new records.
728
@Jim Dennis
Andrew Johnson was twice impeached. Trump could match that level of corruption.
29
@Jim Dennis
Yeah, count those chickens before they hatch. What do you have to do First to be able to do That. You have to First lose the Presidency to Mr. Trump, that one you have a lock on, then you have to KEEP the House. That one you have Already Lost. Hope you had fun in the two years you held it. Remember how Obama came to Office on his first Term. Filibuster Proof Majority in the Senate and a solid House Majority. That is what Mr. Trump will have in 2020. Donald Trump.. Unfettereded and on Steroids.
3
@GregP
You're presuming he won't do something else incredibly stupid in the next 11 months?
I wouldn't touch that bet, even in a Trump casino.
70
Will impeachment drive Trump batty?
How will we be able to tell?
18
Many government officials have been impeached over the years, including 3 presidents. So far none of them have subsequent to their impeachment been nominated or elected president of the USA. Nor has any wife of an impeached president been elected president. Not rocket science why this has been true. Previous impeachment fro. a public office is not generally considered a very strong reason to vote for a person to be president of the USA. So Trump has his work cut out for him if he is to be reelected in 2020, although he says impeachment will help him with the voters. If really believes that to be true, why did he so strongly oppose his own impeachment?
7
Back in the 60s and 70s I was married for almost two decades to a poor man’s Donald Trump and can tell you there is little to no daylight between his behavior then and Trump’ s behavior today: down was up/up was down, black was white/white was black, wrong was right/right was wrong. After giving the marriage my best effort, I had to leave before I went stark raving mad, and in a certain sense, I feel like I’m reliving that relationship with the Trump presidency. Back in the day, many, including myself, considered Trump a ne’er-do-well, albeit a rich one. I lost sleep the night he was elected and knew his presidency was going to be bad. But even I am surprised and saddened by how awful it has been, how awful he is.
446
@DK With any luck, one way or another (conviction in the Senate or election of a Democrat in November), we will be rid of this imposter.
33
@DK - Maybe Melania agrees.
20
@DK Having had a mother with a narcissist personality disorder and experienced the type of relationship you describe, I understand very well. The internal world is disjointed world of fiction and the other person can be driven mad as it is imposed as if it is the truth. One's own sanity is constantly under siege. The sky is purple.
There is also an element of Trump, whereby, not suffering from a multiple identify, he has the world classified into those who feed his narcissism and those who do not, he has developed a level of emotional imtimacy with his followers which at present is seemingly unbreakable. He tells semi self deprecating jokes, he jokes about toilets (manically, under the circumstances right now) he tells them those world leaders don't like him as if a beloved uncle back from his trip to see the 'foreigners', he tells the over and over that they are his family and he loves them. What is insidious is that this is emotionally real to him and he is gaining and giving emotional power while at the same time he is consciously manipulating with the dominant part of his ego.
Narcissistic rage is currently being unleashed against the external enemies and this is a potent force. It is the most dangerous part of 'his battiness' and we have yet to see the depth of it.
30
The man is beaten, he has no more alternative than to abdicate and admit that he has seen in Pelosi a true leader.
4
"The only problem with impeachment is that it might drive Donald Trump even crazier than usual", says Gail.
I think she is right, especially if the Speaker does not send the impeachment decree immediately. If the Senate holds a speedy (fake) trial and acquits him then he can declare his innocence and continue to play the victim. But without that acquittal, he is just impeached. It will drive him nuts until he can claim that the Senate found him innocent.
11
It seems that no one on the Republican side thinks in terms of "classy" behavior--apparently they hope to impress what they think is the average "deplorable" American with yelling, lies, and lack of self control. However, such behavior has led to many a divorce, and is deeply insulting and tiresome. All this led to losing the House, yet they still hope to destroy our democracy, and maybe they will. It has happened in other countries, notably Germany 1933.
7
"Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote."
He already has:
He owns the souls of the Republicans.
Because they made the Faustian deal with him.
That means the Senate belongs to Trump and like him, his people won't think twice about breaking their oath to us, the People, in favor the the bargain they made with him.
That means, the most powerful branch of government (they are not co-equal, the legislature was designed to always has more power since only they can authorize changes to the Constitution) is now Trump's stubby fingered fist.
Now's the time to shudder. It's already as bad as it could be.
5
"Will Impeachment Drive trump Batty?" Well, it is not that he has that FAR to go to get to batty....A very short trip for the unhinged trump.
5
If that speech he gave last night is any indication....
Pelosi should never give this to the Senate for a sham trial.
There are NO moral victories now. Only what happens during the next election.
7
It's worth remembering every now and then than our boy would be completely unheard of, having no innate talents or intelligence of his own, had he not been born to wealth. Without that lofty springboard he would be selling used cars and making crude jokes at far smaller gatherings. He would be the family's least favorite lecherous uncle, and while they could not impeach him exactly, they could at least attempt to ignore him and keep the girl children away from him.
His Bavarian draft dodger granddad initiated the family fortune by running brothels during the Alaskan gold rush, folded that money into real estate in New Jersey and passed that on to his no less cunning son, Fred, who carried on with acquiring property, grew the treasure and married a poor Scottish girl named Maryanne. She is said to have doted on Donnie whose entitled attitude, bullying demands and cruelty could barely be tolerated by his peers.
So there it is. Spoiled rich kid gets his way and has come to a fabled place of tragic fame. His narcissism blinds him to his real circumstance and the loving hysteria of his crowds is like mother's embrace.
Yes, he is bonkers and will see no reason to curtail his bonkerness in the future. He expects to turn the sober stain on impeachment into a stand up routine.
15
@Nadia I believe the correct word is “bonkitude”. Or perhaps “bonkitidinousness”. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
1
Gail, I wouldnt put it past him to pull off something even more egregious before he’s done.
5
Re“Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?”
Only if Nancy pockets the articles of impeachment until such time as pubs agree to a fair trial, including bringing forth witnesses in open defiance of subpoenas already issued to them.
7
I doubt that anything can make Trump battier than he already is. He seems to believe all his own lies and lives in a fantasy world where he is king or dictator. He is surely the only one who believes in his own "perfection." Meanwhile the GOP has become solely the party of Trump, apparently willing to follow him down the path to the depths of perfidy.
Other politicians have been foolish, but never have I seen or read about a person in office who was so insecure and such a bully.
7
Will impeachment drive Trump batty? No need to drive him—he's been there a long time.
But let's leave it up in the air, where most US citizens have been ever since Trump took office. Yep! I like that idea. Trump was impeached, but . . . . May he always wonder where he stands.
The unsettling thing about Trump's presidency is that we never know where Trump stands on any issue. He has a very short memory and a great capacity to hyperbolize, and I doubt that his issues of concern have never been the same as mine:
He talked about the need for a better healthcare plan than Obamacare—how's Trumpcare working for everyone?
He continues to deny that humans have any impact on climate change while the world's glaciers are melting at much faster rate than predicted—I guess that makes him right about the scientists being wrong—even if only in their predictions of how fast it's happening.
How about the economy—doesn’t the national debt have an impact on our nation's economy? America's economic situation has worsened, even though that of the nation's wealthiest individuals has improved. Let's use some of our excess in fixing the nation's infrastructure that was so abhorrent to him during the campaign. Let the multi-kazillionaires donate to improving the highways, energy needs, and waterworks while the minions eat cake.
Trump's battiness in not in question. His presidency should be, though. Let's leave him wondering what we're going to do for a change. Him and his Republican Senate.
8
Trump has every right to be outraged. He has the prerogative to hurl insults at the people who he feels threaten him.
He can do business with whomever he wants, make money in any way that serves him, and keep his taxes and business deals private.
He can do all of that as a private citizen living in a democratic society. He comes from a wealthy family, has powerful connections across the globe, and lots of money to pay lawyers to defend his rights when those opposed to his actions stand in his way.
As a private citizen he can repeatedly break the law and no one needs to find out.
Here’s the issue. Trump chose to run for a public office and now he is the president of the United States. He is NOT a private citizen.
When you have a job in public office, not to mention the highest one, you are no longer tweeting shade and devising get rich schemes behind the gilded doors of the family mansion. Instead, your behavior is monitored and accountable to the public that elected you.
Those fortunate enough to be elected to public office are held to high standards. In exchange for the power to influence our domestic and international policies, they take an oath to obey the hard won laws that govern the land. Breaking the law? Not an option.
If Trump and the Republicans who back him don’t want accountability, if they want to pursue business interests or behave in ways that are inconsistent with the oath they took, public office is not for them. And that’s okay.
It’s that simple.
14
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?" I just want to say that it will be a very short drive.
10
Can you call Trump's actions crazy though? We learn rules of behavior based on the bounds imposed on us by society. No one is imposing any limitations on Trump... Republicans will let him do whatever he wants, his supporters love him when he says blatantly false or offensive things. Even in his business career, he rarely faced consequences for his misbehavior and failures.
7
From the column: “It will follow him around for the rest of his life,” predicted California Democrat Ted Lieu during the debate.
So the calculation is that 30+ freshman Dems must be sacrificed so that Rep. Lieu (a completely safe leftist overseeing the destruction of the former crown jewel state in our union) can have his Pyrrhic victory. I get it now.
(Somewhere George Pickett is laughing.)
2
As long as Trump can look at his money, he will avoid psychosis.
3
This opinion piece is the only thing that I am going to read about Trump today because it is hilarious, correct, and sane. Thank you for writing it because it is surely needed and appreciated.
11
Will impeachment drive him batty?
That is not a drive; is it is a very short putt.
16
The fruit bats have been loosed, Gail. nd they are the size of German shephards! There is no turning back now. I hate to use quotes from the late, great American philospher, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, but here goes. "When the going gets wierd, the weird get going."
6
I hope it doesn't drive him too crazy to where he'll start a war out of spite. These are dangerous times. Meanwhile, China is sweeping the world into its orbit.
5
A GOP Congressman, from Georgia, stated that the Democratic charges against the demagogue Trump, are worse than when Pontius Pilates interrogated Jesus; which, according to Hebrew and Roman historical records, never happened.
The only sources of “Pilate” interrogating Jesus, are various Christian bibles, including the only authentic American Bible - theThomas Jefferson Bible, in which Jefferson “LXVII” noted: (verse 14) Pilate “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scouraged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
It’s noteworthy, that Jefferson got all of his history of Jesus, from the same sources that King James did, the plethora of bibles written during the European Inquisitions. And, as noted before, no biblical source has ever been authenticated.
5
Your article was nothing but a bashing of President Trump. You added nothing to the conversation.
2
I heard Chuck Shummer and a couple of house democrats use the same line.
I would take this much more seriously if NYT were not just printing DNC talking points. Less opinion writers, more journalists
2
@Tom
Sir
This is in the Opinion Section of the New York Times.
Your opinion is welcomed but a protest of an Opinion in the Opinion Section of the New York Times is perhaps Ummm redundant and moot?
Just an old white man's opinion.
12
He’s already batty.
8
Ah, well. Batty is a short drive for Mr. Trump on a good day. More like a walk to the end of the driveway, where he spends much of his time already, pacing back and forth, waiting for the day's twaddle-mail. His lack of sanity isn't our fault, though we do need to get rid of him before he goes further off the deep end.
7
When it does drive him batty, it will be the shortest trip in the history of travel.
6
No law requires Pelosi to forward the impeachment to McConnell's Senate.
Perhaps Pelosi will refrain from forwarding the impeachment to the Senate for consideration until after McConnell permits the Senate to take up for consideration Obama's proposed appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
Trump will then be the only President in history to have been impeached and never declared "not guilty."
24
@ANNE IN MAINE
Brilliant!
7
Trump is already nuttier than the nuttiest fruitcake that ever appeared on the planet.
The six page letter he sent to Pelosi exposes in writing how totally unhinged he is - it's even more rambling, incoherent and lie-filled than his audible spew.
I think the thing that will definitely end it for him is the revelation of his taxes. The day those documents are revealed is the day that the jig is up for the entire Trump clan.
13
Drive Trump batty? That's a short ride in a fast car.
6
These Republican Congressmen live a pretty good life, yet seem universally, angry, loud and white. Am I on to something with that? Get rid of Trump, and the 40% of the country that think he is just fine get even angrier. I'm not laughing, no one should be - the Republicans have become not so much an opponent, but rather a pox on the country that needs to be purged. History tells us that is an ugly process.
12
McConnell should be next on the impeachment list. He plays the game well. Trump cries out for lowering drug prices, but McConnell puts his foot on the breaks, allowing trump to not take the heat for Republican hypocrisy.
9
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
Sorry he and the republican congress are already there! We have seen Republican congressmen and women compare the impeachment of trump to the Joe McCarthy era, indicating that the Democrats who supported impeachment were no different than that repulsive senator and his very real witch hunt that ruined countless people's lives with his unfounded accusations of those he deemed his enemies to be siding with Russia! Now we have republican congress members who are allying themselves with Russia over the USA government they have sworn to protect. We have another congressman who blasphemed Jesus Christ and his suffering on the cross by stating that donald trump's persecution was far worse!!! How can any Christian not be absolutely repulsed and appalled by this outrageous and sick profanity?
We have a deranged individual in the White House now making life or death decisions for Americans and foreign countries as well and his sycophants in our complicit congress defend him unequivocally .
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
How will we be able to tell? And are his republican supplicants in congress and the senate any different? The inmates have control of the asylum. This will not end well.
12
This totally corrupt president was already batty and a clear and present danger to our Democracy.
7
HIS legacy is what concerns him NOT this country or the constitution. He keeps pushing for peace in the Korean Peninsula because he needs a Nobel Peace prize, cause Obama got one. All he cares about is trumping (pun intended) Obama. Course its hard to believe a Nobel would be awarded to someone who separated and lost immigrant children, but the man-child doesn't understand that. We all need prayers.
4
@Barbara
I agree we all need prayers.
A Noble Prize? That's a stretch but could easily be true.
All of this scares the Mess out of me, there are way too many folk who purchase Snake Oil.
Just an old white man's opinion.
3
Drive Trump batty? He's already batty!
But thank goodness he's standing up for American dishwashers.
Now, if he would only stand up to his Russian brainwashers.
6
@Quoth The Raven
Dishwashers? The machine or human?
1
How could we tell if goes crazier than he already is?
9
I could not stomach watching Republican lawmakers defend the indefensible. What the heck happened to the party ? In a word MONEY.
When politicians sell out their country for $$$ it is all over. Now is the time that Mr. Putin has been waiting for. Like a snake watching a mouse.
10
The headline should read " will impeachment drive Trump battier ?"
6
It's just like getting Al Capone for tax evasion.
If the only thing we had on Trump was the messy Ukraine affair, impeachment probably would not happen.
BUT ... we have the emoluments issue, the secrets in the tax returns, the hush money to hookers, the nepotism. These lack clear and obvious evidence, but we know somehow that bad things are going on.
So, just as with Mr. Capone, we'll use whatever we can to get Trump out of the way.
7
Pelosi SHOULD hold back the impeachment, prevent it from going to the Senate AND continue investigating these, and other criminal actions of this corrupt and unrepentant criminal.
6
We all have our coping mechanisms. Turns out Trump's a stress eater. Put down the burgers and pick up some humble pie. Yum.
4
Huh. And here I’d always thought that shrieking, running around in tight circles, and stepping on your own repeatededly were all good signs that you WEREN’T coping well at all.
Thanks for clearing that up.
3
A sane person/sensible politician would not face impeachment.
To drive someone batty who has already gone round the bend might be a correction of sorts.
2
“It could be worse — in the House, one Georgia Republican compared the president to Jesus and the Democrats to a lesser version of Pontius Pilate.”
As disgusting as the president is in every possible way, even more disgusting (and frightening) is the blasphemous framing of Trump as Jesus during His Passion. They have no shame.
12
He is already unhinged , just look at his bratty tantrums, no conscience of what he has done wrong. His son kills endangered species and thinks he is great hunter. this lack of conscience and ethics runs in his whole family. Instead of tweeting John Dingell is looking up, he needs to think whether he will be the one looking up.
8
Pelosi's nod to delay the articles of impeachment going to the Senate may provide Dems some leverage over Senate process rules, but the better bet is that Trump will meanwhile symbolically shoot someone on fifth avenue.
7
It's not a drive to batty, a short walk at most.
I'd argue he's been there for a long time.
14
Trump is a hero to tens of millions of Americans. The US many not survive as a viable democratic republic.
13
To a malignant narcissist--which Trump definitely is, as every psychiatrist recognizes except for Dr. Allen Francis (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/opinion/an-eminent-psychiatrist-demurs-on-trumps-mental-state.html)--this type of reaction is actually welcomed and expected. Impeachment is the ultimate attention getter: it gives him the attention he craves, and provides a pulpit upon which to further promote himself and demean others, as news coverage is endless. It will not drive him crazy--meaning with shame, remorse, or guilt--because he's not capable of these emotions. Rather, it will drive him to do more of whatever pops into his incoherent, clever mind that keeps him at the center of attention. Want to drive him crazy? Ignore him.
14
"Battier"; shouldn't your headline read, "Impeachment May Drive Trump Battier"? I mean, his actions throughout the past 3 years, his defensive posturing, his cruel taunts, his dishonest and illogical outbursts are already signaling his incapacity to function at the level of leadership required to manage our democracy.
8
The more urgent question is will the country recover from the incessant, insidious attempt to drive all of us crazy.
Up is down. Lies are truth. Those defending the Constitution are, to hear the GOP tell it, criminals, while they provide cover for a criminal president, itself a crime. Civil servants are the enemies while those selling the country out from under us are heroes. A ground floor conference room --where innumerable hearings and meetings are routinely held-- is likened with all seriousness to room 101 in 1984. Asking questions is "The horror! The horror!" But telling lies is just fine and dandy.
Formality and dignity now come in pizza boxes, pumped fists and shirt sleeves. Those with nothing of substance to say mistake shouting at the top of their lungs and shaking their fists at us for persuasion. Draining the swamp involves pumping toxic waste, lies, threats, bullying, crimes and thugs into it 24/7.
And the man required to be MORE dignified, kind and fair-minded than the average American whips crowds into foaming at the mouth hatred, often for dead heroes like Dingell and McCain.
It --every minute, every act, every actor involved--is indefensible. Insane? Maybe, but criminal, inexcusable and indefensible without question.
How does anyone make sense of this? How do we restore normalcy? How do we repair the damage, if we even can?
15
Trump actually thinks of himself as one of the best American Presidents ever - right next to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He is afraid Impeachment will taint his reputation.
9
Speaking as someone from where people were put to death after being accused to be witches and put through a trial with no chance to defend themselves; if The Donald feels compelled to live by that metaphor, then please let us complete it.
We'd be quite pleased to see him swing from Gallows Ledge in Salem, or perhaps crushed under the weight of stones. Unless he repented his sins, of course.
Trump has actually gone through no trial at all, just a finding of fact in which he refused to take part, to provide documentation or allow his administration to testify in under oath. The sort of thing a powerful guilty person would do.
8
As Dad, the golfer, would say, "That's not a drive, that's a putt."
5
Batty? To say that’s an understatement is an understatement.
Don the Con is terrified of humiliation. A narcissist will go to any lengths to prevent feeling shamed. The country has yet to witness the full force of his rage. Every revenge fantasy Trump has ever had will be acted out. The Democrats better stay away from Fifth Avenue. Just sayin.’
6
Best thing Republicans cab do is run someone electable, even Pence, against Trump. It might save the Party... then again NOT!
1
Trump, at his core, is just an awful person. No shame, no empathy, no respect for others or the rule of law. There are many like him here and around the globe, but none of them occupy the American Presidency. The American President is one whom the world has counted on since the days of FDR to lead on the world stage, seeking peace and democracy for those who lack it. Ukraine would be one of those countries.
While it is unlikely he will be removed by the GOP controlled Senate, he is not immune from removal by the voter. HIs conduct for the remainder of his term will not improve. Trump is what he is, a liar, a cheat and a fraud. Let that be his epitaph.
9
A narcissist derives pleasure by vainly admiring an inaccurate view of themselves. Narcissists are prone to self-flattery, perfectionism, entitlement & arrogance. Trump’s constant boasting about his tawdry properties & thin achievements, calling the Ukrainian phone call ‘perfect”, his sexual harassment & corrupt business practices, & seeking foreign help in elections match the disorder.
Narcissists express self-confidence as a charade to conceal vulnerability. Deep down, they know they are not as good as they want to be, or should be. As a result, they are susceptible to narcissistic injury, which is an excessive reaction to any hint of error, embarrassment, or setback that causes them to seem fallible or lose status.
The risk of narcissistic injury makes them defensive, intolerant of criticism, & rationalizing. Trump’s many lawsuits, hush money to mistresses, contention that solicitation of Russian & Ukrainian election interference were not improper because there was no “collusion” or “quid pro quo”, & assertion he has done “absolutely nothing wrong” all fit.
Injury to the inflated self-image can produce narcissistic rage, ranging from aloofness to irritability to violent temper tantrums. Trump’s refusal to respond to House subpoenas, calling Congressional inquiries a “hoax”, referring to “crazy” Nancy Pelosi & “shifty” Alan Schiff & his red-faced rants in MI illustrate such rage.
Trump is now wounded, exceptionally dangerous & there are no more grown-ups in the room.
6
I yearn for the days of yore when we could pray for Seamus on the roof of the family car and not the president or the nation itself. Corruption from over 60 years ago brought down the White House Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams, over a gift of a vicuna coat. In today's White House, this would not be a scandal at all. It would be called Tuesday.
Yesterday's impeachment, while necessary, was not a time for clinking glasses in celebration. I would hope it could usher in a time for sober reflection on the part of all of our representatives, especially Republican senators that they might remember their oaths of office were to the Constitution and neither to the GOP nor its current tribal cult leader.
4
I was wondering if Donald Trump were to become anymore "Batty" would we, or even his staff, be able detect it.
4
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"..........
Drive Trump batty?.............How can that be when he's already reached that destination, he's there..........
2
Egos the size of US Presidents get over it. Look at Clinton.
1
Trump has brought out the "ugly American' in its most vivid form. There was a large segment of our society waiting impatiently for such a bottom feeder to lead them. Trump displays all the human traits those people hold in such high regard. He is their enabler and their icon.
2
I have every confidence that Donald will do something so egregious that even careworn Republicans will be embarrassed.
If he continues, he could be impeached again. Remember, he brought this on himself.
1
I wouldn’t describe Pence as boring/not nutty. One word: “Mother.”
5
Essentially, the GOP argument (and it really is a party argument now) is that Trump didn't do anything obviously wrong. Now, the transcript is clear that he asked for a favor from the Zelensky, but the GOP chooses to deny it. I do not understand why it is worth selling your soul in order to please your uneducated electorate.
2
It is certain that toddler-Trump will turn his crazy-cruelty toward revenge -- he has never in his life experienced accountability, and will not be able to handle it.Poor Melania and Baron will have to assuage his perverse sense of victimhood; but he will certainly doublezdown on narcissistic self-pity and take it out on whomever happens to be in his path...or whatever Democrat he can manage to injure.
2
I think he's already arrived at Batty.
1
Worst job in the world:
#1 - Cleaning radioactive waste.
#2 - Writing Trump's letter to Nancy Pelosi.
8
“Trump isn’t likely to reform since he thinks everything he’s done is “‘perfect’.”
Thanks for the good editorial, but...here’s how to stop normalizing this malignantly abnormal person.
Stop with the normalizing words and phrases, “not likely” and “reform” and “he thinks.”
Drumpf is an absolutist—his use of “perfect” here should be a tip-off for you. Do you really mean to say that this malignant narcissist is “not likely to reform”?! (At least the MSM has finally stopped with the “learn and grow in office” idiocy.)
And PLEASE stop using “think” when editorializing about him. He’s not stupid: if he “thought” about what he’s done he would know it’s wholly IMPERFECT. Malignant narcissists don’t think, they flail around till they latch onto some label or excuse for what they do, then...it simply becomes REAL to them: they INVENT reality.
Drumpf doesn’t “think” he’s perfect, he KNOWS he is.
2
Too late, Gail. If you saw any of Trump's rally in Michigan last night, he's already out on the ledge. I know he doesn't drink alcohol, but he was acting like a drunken sailor--drunk on power, hate and self-pity.
An astonishing portrait of a man who has no business being the most powerful man in the world. Or maybe that honor now goes to Vladimir Putin.
4
President Trump is protected by the American disability act.
2
That is a surprise that Republicans, sober guardians by nature, would not have impeached to get Pence. Instead they’re doubling down on the unpredictable and impulsive Lunatic-in-Chief. More evidence as if we needed any that Republicans will not protect us or our country from harm.
3
I don't know, Gail, it looks like just garden variety Trump craziness to me so far.
2
Knowing Donald Trump’s fragile ego, it delights me to think that the first line of his eventual obit will begin with “Impeached”.
2
Madness indeed worthy of Shakespeare s Scottish play!Gallows humor about the impeachment? Black comedy? Antonin Artaud s "theater of the plague"? New theatrical forms born of the destruction. Artists & lightworkers, scholars & philosophers must delve into the zeitgeist 's pathology. The acceptance of on going deviant & unacceptable & undignified behavior....the Republicans now supporting the mendacious, virulent, vitriolic machinations.. This has poisoned traditionalism or even the avant garde. New ways of expression must evolve to capture & encapsulate the edgy, agitated rationalizations of mayhem & obsession ..Artistic autopsies are being developed via the Playwrights Sanctuary. Professor of 40 years , Dramatist Dr. Larry Myers has conjured his impeachment play -- "Intersex & Ambidexterity" .formulating apt imagery for the secrecy, confusion & ultimate antidotes to the troubling phenomena of our times. Nightmares can force artists to be adventurous. A time of insult & inspiration is upon us as the incidents are a schrapnel.
1
I fear we ain't seen nothin yet. Perhaps you could author a quiz about what he might do next. There is plenty of material to work with. Will he:
1. Bow out gracefully.
2. Buy a dog (presumably to kick around)
3. Move to Moscow
4. Establish a Presidential library in St. Petersburg funded by
Burisma?
2
"It's not a drive, it's a putt."
2
Then he threw a rally. Demanded his money back from his former Congressman (another example of expected return as in quid pro quo?) Attacked another congresswoman and her deceased husband. Repeated his usual lies and went off about shower pressure and dishwashers again.
He is bonkers. I loathe Pence and what he stands for (religious crazy) but how much damage could he do in 11 months or less? Other than starting Armageddon in the middle east...
6
Were Trump a sane man, he would not be in this predicament. In fact, were he a sane man, he would have realized his lack of qualifications and temperament for the job and never entertained the foolish notion of running for office and subjecting our country--and indeed the world--the danger his megalomania presents.
5
Follow the money: from Putin and Russia to the NRA to the Republican party. This is as plain as day. Why do we not hear more about this? Gail, time to have some fun at the NRA's expense?
5
I am so tired of commentary about the evil man in the White House that gleefully refers to him as "crazy." Many people living with mental illness will find that careless and derogatory use of the word and worst of all, association with the crimes committed by the President, deeply offensive. No one with a shred of morality would decide to use a slur referring to intelligence for example, to deride another person. While some people still mock those with disabilities, in general it's more frowned upon. But those living with mental illness, largely invisible, are ridiculed, even in papers like The New York Times.
2
Thank you Gail--we needed your column more than ever today. Bess Levin recently stated that Trump entered the White House with a toddler's understanding of being president, and worse yet, that his first instinct is to choose corruption as "the only course of action in his mind." That says it all. Trump will get crazier, you can guarantee it. This is only the beginning of a major storm of Trump's mind in action: two parts crazy, and one part dumb.
2
Hi Gail. I have new name for Trump - Dirty Don. Yes, Donald has been a "dirty" boy all is life. He cheated on his wives. He cheats on his taxes just like his father and of course he could prove otherwise by releasing them but he didn't. He cheated students at Trump U. He cheated too many to count in the construction trades in NY and NJ. He cheated those who gave to his foundation. He cheated as a political candidate. He tried to cheat as President in the upcoming election. Maybe he still will try and cheat again because he is nothing but persistent in terms of greed and ego after all. He even cheats at golf. In fact he has no respect even for golf because no one would even think of driving their cart onto the green except "Dirty Don". Or should it be "Dirty Cheating Don". I guess that would be more accurate, what do you think? Nah, "Dirty Don" will suffice. Everywhere we should all start showing placards with Don't vote for "Dirty Don" or "Dirty Cheating Don", or maybe just "Cheating Don" if space and ink are not in abundance. Let us not forget his cheating and let us not let him forget it either. Why that would be cheating ourselves if we didn't. And I for one will not do that.
3
Release the transcript.
4
There used to be an old advertising warning to the creative team: "All bold is no bold". It meant that when you shouted in print all the time the impact was lost.
We have reached the same point with the dumpster, to our despair. His continuing total disregard for the rule of law, his lies, rages, insults and slanders of decent and honorable people have now spread to most of the repub party ---they have thrown themselves into the melee with abandon. And we have no response. So now, when they liken the dumpster to Jesus, we just shrug and roll our eyes. When McConnell openly and proudly proclaims his intention to do what the dumpster tells him, it barely rates a headline.
We are teetering of the edge of national disaster and those who are horrified by the thought of it continuing into 2024 need to find a way to make our point without the all bold approach.
Where are the Democratic strategists and creative thinkers? We can't ignore him and we mustn't join him in the gutter.
It's time for Plan B folks.
3
The ridiculous thing is that Trump thinks that impeachment is the thing that is going to follow him into history rather than the thousands of lies he has told, the scurrilous manner in which he has talked about anyone who doesn’t support him to the hilt, his clear and unrepentant corruption of government for personal gain and fame, his clear contempt for women, his ridiculing of people not in a position to defend themselves, his penchant for crooks and thieves, his incessant whining, sniveling, and snarling, his use of the office to intimidate and frighten, and his rabid willingness to exacerbate environmental degradation of the planet for profit. When the world is dealing with the consequences of his presidency in future decades and centuries (assuming it survives at all), impeachment will be a tiny blip that will be of no interest to anyone.
3
Nah, won't drive him batty at all. He's in Battle Creek now, after being impeached, rambling on about light bulbs, dishwashers and toilet flushing. A perfectly natural response. Not even close to batty. In fact, well beyond.
3
Mueller mulled about a Maniac, maniacally manipulating the masses of members of my masterfully minded nation I mentor to be mindful, not maniacal like Trump. Mueller's failure is the nation's failure, figuratively and hopefully not literally.
1
I would like to make an editorial correction. The headline should read "Will impeachment drive Trump even more batty?"
2
I assume you mean battier?
1
Tucker Carlson is grim. Hannity is angry. Putin is mocking. When all three find themselves on the same side it is perhaps a teachable moment. Fox News is not only Trump's propaganda organ, it is now a Pravda-style Russian asset -- as are many of Trump's Republican toadies. Maybe they should follow the NRA's example and get on the FSB payroll? As for Stephen Miller, if he helped Trump write his six-page rant to Pelosi, he is as ready as his boss for the men in white coats.
3
"Drive"?
More like a short putt.
2
I think that from this day forward any mention of the donald has to include “the impeached “.
2
Pelosi could just hold the impeachment articles indefinitely like McConnell did with Merrick Garland and never hand them to McConnell to act on. That would drive them all nuts including Trump.
4
Thankfully , Hillary will never be president. The country could not withstand another impeachment hearing!
1
“Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote. Shudder.”
I think that there is good cause for worry about that Trump might do now that he has been impeached. The Senate Leader and all the aRepublicans in a Congress have shown that they refuse to do any oversight of Trump no matter what Trump does.
2
We should all shudder.Trump will say that Mueller found “no collusion” and after he is acquitted in the Senate he will declare that he was totally exonerated and that his behavior was “perfect”.He will continue his campaign with dirt which Giuliani has literally dug up in the Ukraine-after all that travel he will come up something no matter how weird it is.Trump will continue to bully and belittle whatever candidate he has to face in the election.Just remember that during his charade of searching Obama’s birth certificate in Hawaii he said you would not believe what he found-it turned out to be nothing.He will to try this again with misinformation from Ukraine about the Biden’s.You will not believe what they will pretend to have “ found”.Shudder.
2
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
Nah.
Battier. Or battiest. Yeah, that sounds better. The most perfect battiest in history.
1
The old joke is that it won't drive him nuts, because that's just a short putt ... or in his case a gimme.
2
Drive Trump Batty?
At least it’s a short trip. He won’t need a GPS, he’s already around the bend.
1
The therapy job should be tendered to the public.
1
Battier.
2
"He sent a loopy six-page letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attacking her for saying “I pray for the president.” (“It is a terrible thing you are doing but you will have to live with it, not I!”)
He forwarded the letter to members of Congress — in the same package as the White House Christmas card. "
Now that was a nice touch....
3
C'mon everybody, can't you all see what is happening here...
Trump is an undercover Democrat who's goal is to destroy the Republican Party forever.
Trump's already batty. And a descriptive photo with this article, a shamed POTUS passing the Christmas tree inside White House.
2
Hopefully the Trump name will be removed from more and more buildings and golf resorts as people realize they don't want to be associated with a guilty, corrupt, narcistic and IMPEACHED President. Welcome to an exclusive club Donald.
4
Battier
1
Remember, He who yelleth louder raises more cash.
44
@db2 Just make sure your teeth don't fall out of your mouth!
2
What would really drive Trump batty is being forced to release his tax returns, and if Republicans really wanted to replace him, they could ask him - in the nicest possible way of course - to show the public his tax returns, because, after all, what does he have to hide?
When I think back to the unending demand for the Clintons to cough up decades old financial documents, and the accusations that they were trying to hide something if the documents weren't produced fast enough for their accusers...
They don't want to replace him and Trump knows it - because if they did, they would be demanding he release tax returns, so we could see how much money he's received from Russian oligarchs and how much he might owe them.
4
"This should never happen to another President again."
And that's the problem right there with Mr. Trump's position. On the contrary, any president who attempts to corrupt or subvert the Constitution _should_ be impeached.
5
If you knew the history of men in great positions they sometimes have difficulties dealing the strain. Not a scientific fact but an old friend who was a limo driver said the richer his clients were the less balanced they were
But why would anyone losing it make some one else happy? I don't care how much you hate them. I worked with some one that had what seemed to be a serious break at the office. He was yelling and being irrational. The guy was loved by everyone in the office but within minutes he was feared as a potential mass murder. After he was sent home people couldn't stop joking about him. He didn't have problems with his belfry. He was undergoing renal failure and would die a month later. They were still laughing at his funeral. Nice people otherwise.
Does anyone see the contradiction in a party that just impeached the President being constantly referred to as "do nothing"?
2
Sadly the left has tormented Trump since the day he was elected through crescendo of lies most especially the Russia hoax.
Trump just won the 2020 election. I dont think he will lose too much sleep. On the other hand, Gail and the left will be tormented by 5 more years of Trump. Write an article about that.
And wasn't it the Republican convention where Senator Ted Cruz got up and said vote your conscience.
3
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
How could you tell?
3
" Will impeachment drive Trump batty?"
Gail, that ship has sailed!
2
You can't drive someone to a place they've never left.
2
Funny column, but it’s no laughing matter. Trump is an incredibly vindictive man with no conscience. I wouldn’t put it past him to launch nuclear missiles on France or California in a fit of spite. And there are no Generals anymore to stop him. He’s a bafoon, but he’s very dangerous.
2
Ms collins' column has hit the nail on the head. Trump is mentally unbalanced. I hope someone somewhere is looking into the 25th amendment. I believe his mental status is dangerous for the country. really
2
I have to disagree with one statement in the otherwise wonderfully written column; i.e., Pence is boring, not nutty. Anyone who refers to his wife as Mother, refuses to have a meal with a woman if his wife is not present, insists that gays can be "fixed", seems pretty nutty to me. I shudder to,think what will happen to this country should Pence ascend to the Oval Office.
2
Waste of time (and money) ... move on to the election.
“Impeachment doesn’t do anything without Senate conviction...” Ms Collins, may I refer you to Article Two, Section Two of The Constitution? Having been impeached, Donald John Trump can never now be pardoned. He need not be convicted in the Senate. He has been impeached.
Sooner or later...that will drive a criminal batty.
4
"But Trump is perfectly aware of — O.K., tormented by — the fact that a vote to impeach, all by itself, puts a big asterisk next to his name."
Nah! -You want to get to him -here's the way:
"Oh look its Peachy!" - "Trump says things are just Peachy" - " Ok Peachy what do you think of?"
The democratic candidates need to soak him in "Peach" references.
"Peach Man' will have a stroke!
1
The real question is—will Trump’s re-election drive Collins battier? Hey Gale, you should devote a series of columns on the freshman Dems who gave their political lives to this Woke scam.
2
Did you see where Ford is hiring thousands of jobs for plants in Michigan? Sinclair just announced that it is paying a minimum wage of $15.00 which will result in pay increases for 9500 people nationwide. Did you miss the jobs report? Did you read that the unemployment rate is at its lowest in decades? Impeachment is against the will of the majority of the American people and strictly along party lines. That is not democratic. Eleven months from now voters will remember. Trump will wear impeachment like a badge of honor during his 2nd term.
1
And Boeing will be doing layoffs soon, so what’s your point?
As for the impeachment thing being “Unconstitutional,” you need to go shout at the Constitution about that one.
4
Delaying until after the first of the year to negotiate with the Senate about their plans gives time for politicians and the American public to consider the last couple of weeks. Come the new year, the public will have had more time to consider the historical significance of recent events. Polls seem to refer to the public as about evenly divided on impeachment. However, the "against" group presumably includes those who want to wait for 2020 to elect someone else. GOP Senators are going to have to start seriously considering the likelihood that Trump is only going to be their boss for 12 months, after which he will be of no importance. How malleable will be their Oaths of Office a few months from now?
5
Trump finally accomplished something Obama didn't.
10
It is a short drive...
2
I’m glad you brought up the NYT’s fact check of the Trump letter because it’s a perfect example of why fact checking almost always loses its way. One statement found an “exaggeration” is when Trump says 7 million jobs were created during his administration; according to the NYT the real number is 6.6 (apparently the NYT is unfamiliar with standard rounding practices taught in elementary school). Another statement found “false” (not misleading) is that the country has had a “colossal” reduction in illegal immigration under his watch. The NYT notes that for the entirety of fiscal 2019 illegal crossings are up relative to fiscal 2016 (because that’s the only way to look at the numbers). Of course the NYT ignores that since May of 2019 monthly crossings consistently dropped from about 140k to about 43k last month right after Trump forced Mexico to stop letting people pour through their southern border en route to ours (which people didn’t think would work and it seems it did). Clearly there’s nuance to the above in that there was a surge in early 2019 probably caused by perception of more border control, but the statement made by Trump is clearly true interpreted reasonably to refer to the last seven months. In any case, the above just shows the typical technique of the weaponized fact checker. Interpret a statement that could have multiple meanings in a disingenuous manner such that it becomes false. Nice try. I rate the fact checkers to be nothing more than op/ed writers.
2
the better article is the obstruction count. No one - not even the President - has the right to tell a private citizen to shut up
5
The “do nothing Democrat’s”? I keep wondering what the heck the President is doing?tweeting? Rallying? Playing golf? Watching (or calling into ) Fox & friends? Complaining to reporters? If he cared so much about the country he’d stop Squabblingand do his job! All the guy does is bemoan how wrongful he’s being treated. Honestly can not believe people find him to be a “strong” man. His actions are anything but. I’d impeach him on just this. Pathetic.
7
Being a resident of Salem MA, I am very tired of the “Witch Hunt” and comparison to the trials. I think my Mayor can speak to it and she did:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/salem-witch-trials-mayor-trump-letter/index.html
4
Batty? Or battier?
5
Trump's 2016 campaign
"Russia, if you're listening, I need your campaign assistance"
Trump's 2020 campaign
"Ukraine, please do me a favor, I need your campaign assistance"
Shouldn't Republican Party members who support this treasonous character turn in their foreign passports and remove those fake little American flags from their suit lapels ?
The entire Republican Party is acting like a foreign agent.
November 3 2020
12
-er. Batty-er. He's already batty.
1
Too late. Trump has always been a a mess and a crooked spoiled baby. How the heck did he ever get to the White House? Of, wait - Russia helped him. Why? Because Russia knew that Trump would do grate damage to our country.
2
Mr. Trump will be just fine. He seems able to construct fantasies to coccoon within in which he is “perfect,” powerful, a genius: a superior form of human being. The invention is accompanied by a skewing of reality to fit. The letter he signed to Speaker Pelosi shows the narrative coalescing in his mind, although still an unedited work-in-progress. He senses impeachment is a negative thing, hence the aggrievment, but eventually it will emerge as absolute proof of the truth of his construct, and will be jet fuel for — shudder — a retaliatory response.
What I worry about is how far the Republican Party will follow him down the rabbit hole, although I already know the answer: 100 percent. Mitch McConnell’s declaration he would not be impartial in a Senate trial, a pre-smearing of the solemn oath he will take, goes far beyond any possibly “strategic” thinking. Like Lindsey Graham, he’s all in, and oaths be damned.
Where do we go from here? I can’t begin to speculate. I’m a Democrat, so I see Democrats as the good guys, the guard rails standing up for truth, justice and the American way of life. Bravo on impeachment, although truly, and not to repeat a talking point, it makes me sad, and I wish we didn’t have to go there. But we live to fight another day, in a battle worth fighting, and I’m there, 100 percent.
3
Trump's armor, his shield, is his lying. His "nutty" behavior is the truth, bent and twisted, radiating through that armor outwardly to us from the corruption of his inner self.
Yes, we should expect worse, much worse!
4
When Trump calls Nancy Pelosi ‘crazy’ and ‘unhinged,’ that’s just Hector Projector speaking...
7
"I, Donald Trump, do solemnly swear and curse that I will faithfully violate, disgrace and trash the Oval Office of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, destroy, shred and offend the Constitution of the United States and the republic for which it stands"
Welcome to the 45th Presidency of the United States, a corrupt cartoon brought to you by the Grand Old Phony Baloney party.
November 3 2020
Register and VOTE in record numbers.
17
A putt not a drive.
3
"If your enemy is prone to anger, provoke him". Ancient Chinese General Sun Tzu.
Make no mistake, Donald Trump is an enemy of our democracy. Absolutely, he is being provoked!
Will Donald Trump burn down our democracy in anger or will he continue to erode our democracy by his narcissistic approach to leadership?
We can only hope to rebuild after the Trump presidency.
8
Drive him batty? Sorry he sped by batty a long time ago.
6
As students of The Scarlet Letter know, the scarlet “A” that Hester Prynne wears on her breast stands for many things—Adultress, Able, and Angel among them. Ultimately, though, she resumes wearing it after she returns to her humble cottage by the sea in Salem because it stands for Arthur, the name of the man she loves above all else.
Similarly, trump’s scarlet “I” has many meanings—impeached, incompetent, idiotic. But ultimately it can be reduced to the personal pronoun “I,” whom trump loves above all else—himself.
7
Add imbecilic, incoherent, inflexible, irredeemable, incompetent, among others.
4
@Victoria
Agreed!
1
Trump is a narcissist, and this is seriously bothering him. He will now be obsessed with having everyone believe that the impeachment never happened or it was illegal, just as he has been obsessed with trying to prove the debunked theory that it was the Ukraine that meddled in the 2016 elections not the Russians.
3
Gail, the only way this guy can get any battier than he already is, would be if he worked in the Louisville Slugger factory.
3
What? Trump is ALREADY batty!
4
I am hopeful that Bat-Boy, alias, Bat-Child will permanently and finally lose the ability to sheds his wings every three tweets and regenerates a new pair.
4
It’s plain and simple: Trump was, is , and continue to be a conman grifter. And worst of all he’s losing his marbles. Whats scary is he believes his lies. Yet he knows as long as the GOP provides cover because of leverage with his base and a protracted legal process, he can run out the clock.........he’s “moron smart”.
10
shouldn't the headline say "battier"?
7
trump is putin's puppet.
the republicans who support him are puppets, as well.
all of them are traitors.
this not going to go well.
get ready. buckle up.
13
Short trip.
4
The trump branded Yule Log of lies burns brightly in the House Speakers hearth. Naturally wieners and s'mores with hot toddies keeps the season bright.
Don't mess with me branded ornaments and stocking stuffers grace the office. It just another day, its just another day.....
2
How can he rationalize that he's the Thief in Chief.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/nyregion/trump-foundation-lawsuit-attorney-general.html
2
You mean, more batty, Gail?
3
It's a very short drivel...
1
If u were the judge and all the jurors said before the trial they would vote to acquit you wouldn’t have a trial would you.all Republican senators who have voiced this opinion should be dismissed from this trump trial. Our own Supreme Court said as much(Ginsburg). I would proceed until senators like graham and others are dismissed from the case. I hope Nancy stands firm on this matter. Other wise this whole thing becomes a sham just like
This whole trump ‘presidency’.
3
Given Trump's disgusting display in Michigan on the day of his impeachment there is no doubt that Trump's ability to think, act and speak rationally will become more diminished. A two week Senate Trial could be truly damaging to Trump's fragile psyche.
I do hope the Republicans are prepared for such eventualities.
7
Always on point and -- FUNNY.
Thank you, Gail.
7
Trump just had a HUGE rally in Michigan. Those crazed zealots are his beating heart. They will allow him anything. Trump will soldier on in the distorted belief that he is completely blameless for all the havoc and division he has created.
At one time I thought Pat Buchanan's torch and pitchfork crowd was dead. They have resurrected with a vengeance.
7
I don't feel relief. That will only happen when the currently impeached president is physically out of the White House and is no longer Commander in Chief.
10
For all his lies, his mugging to crowds, his vulgarity and name-calling, his erratic and incoherent patterns of speech, his narcissism and outright battiness, Trump is less disturbing than the GOP politicians willing to deny the truth of his malfeasance and his evident moral unfitness in order to preserve their own political futures, and, of course, most disturbing of all are Trump's supporters whipped up at his rallies into a frenzy of fear and hate for immigrants, liberals, minorities, feminists, the Others who are trying to take America away from them.
13
The “others “ have been trying to save our country ever since it was obvious Trump was incapable, and it has just gotten worse ever since , as his sycophant minions embolden him by supporting his delusional lies , his nasty rhetoric his total disregard for law, for the constitution for common decency. It’s truly mind boggling how far from reality this has all gotten.
1
Trump must think of himself as a bizarro Che" Guevara, although I doubt if he even knew who Guevara was. Claims of helping the poor and disenfranchised, draining the swamp, and throwing out the government are all false packaging. Trump merely wants his swamp to be populated with his minions under his control.
With eleven months of multiple lawsuits and ongoing investigations in to him and his cronies before the next election, what delightful and illuminating facts are yet to unfold? How much deceit and hypocrisy does it take to turn the heads of his misled chumps? At some point, the GOP will be past the point of no return, still riding Trump’s coattails.
2
Trump will never get this, but most rational adults know when you cheat, lie and buy your way to what you desire, no one is going to revere you, or for that matter, like you.
He will never be happy or satisfied with his life, because deep down, he knows no one truly respects or likes him. He is a laughingstock. Unfortunately, a dangerous one.
13
He’s been doing a Capt. Queeg impersonation almost from the day he was inaugurated. How will we know when he completely flips out?
3
@Jeffrey Herrmann I didn't think so much of Captain Queeg for Trump, because Queeg, before he went off the deep end, served honourably in WW II. As the prosecutor says at the end of the play, Queeg and his cohort saved his Jewish grandmother from being made into soap.
Trump reminds me more of Anthony, the terrifying six-year-old of Jerome Bixby's short story 'It's a Good Life', played in the classic Twilight Zone episode by Bill Mumy -- a willful child with no judgement or impulse control, in command of terrifying power, wreaking havoc on the community, with all the adults captive to his whims and servile with terror of what he might do if they anger or annoy him, or insufficiently love him, or if he just takes it into his head. That story didn't end well ....
1
The House has a duty to hold the Articles. This isn't a criminal trial where the defendant is bonded or in jail, lessening his abilty to commit more crimes: DJT crime spree will enter hyper drive if he is acquited, but he my be kept to heel with this hanging over his head.
6
Well, Trump can elevate his stature in history by being the first and only president to be impeached twice.
5
We do need to worry if Trump can handle this. His rhetoric at rallies is now darker, more violent. The Senate needs to get on with this and finish it. Senate failure to remove Tump will take pressure off him and give him something to really brag about. If that's what it takes to prevent an apocalypse, then we should be okay with it.
2
Donald Trump fails, again, -- and all of the GOP's horses and all of the GOP's men cannot put Madman Donald back together, again. The two Articles of Impeachment are just the tip of the iceberg. And, Trump will cry like a baby all the way out of office into the court system after 2020, and the Russians will not be there to help him to win.
1
"...Individual-1 *..." - History books
Couldn't happen to anyone more deserving.
3
You know what’s really crazy? Trump and his supporters soothed themselves with a tacky Christmas-themed rally. And, of course, Trump used his self-indulgent lines, whining that he did nothing wrong (despite all the evidence) and heralding himself as a great president (despite any such evidence).
And the audience soaked it all up, along with their featured speaker. Trump has created his own world of unreality, but more disturbingly, he doesn’t live there alone.
4
That’s not a “drive”, it’s a very short put. He’s already incoherent.
4
Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty? No, what will drive him batty will be being ignored, having people stop reacting to every emission from his tweeter.
Trump is an entertainer, not a politician and, like most entertainers (especially talk radio), he does not care if you hate him as long as you pay attention. Trump and his ilk feed on your outrage. Starve him !
As Brad Paisley sings in his song, "Celebrity":
I'll make the supermarket tabloids,
they'll write some awful stuff
But the more they run my name down
the more my price goes up.
'Cause when you're a celebrity
It's adios reality
You can act just like a fool
People think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV.
4
Your president should be taken away in a straitjacket. He's a deeply troubled man, an egotistic maniac for whom in other circumstances you might feel empathy and hope for he'd be treated by a capable shrink. The real villains therefore are the GOP and his (future) voters who just don't seem to care about morals and fundamental values and allow him to keep spreading his undermining venom. I feel deeply sorry for you and your country.
6
He’s already batty. Check out his actual ability for coherent expression and willingness to actually learn something new that’s based on facts.
5
To summarize, the facts are out there but not to worry. With Mitch in the saddle, the 'fix' is in.
4
Will impeachment drive Trump batty? Oh, honey, that ship has sailed.
5
Will it drive him batty? Too late he's already there!
3
Trump may be driven to using atomic bombs. Human existence on earth may have only months left...
1
Too bad we have to wait for this loser to be out of office before the truth comes out. I'd bet money Bolton isn't the only one saving his testimony for his book. History will provide ALL the facts.
4
What a shame that Republicans are more upset about the impeachment process than they were when Kurds ended up getting slaughtered in Syria while Russian troops took over the same rooms where our own soldiers had been stationed.
I hope these Trump toadies get run out on a rail.
Once Pat Toomey gets run out of office, he can go join a circus.
4
Methinks the Republicans doth protest too much.
4
I’m generally pretty tough but today I actually cried to see where our Country has descended: into a maelstrom of hate; a place where truth, integrity, loyalty to Country & Constitution and justice have been replaced by either blind ambition & willful ignorance or wonton disregard for all that America stands for in her greatest sense.
I am not so naive as to believe that the mostly white men in the GOP side of the House went there to do good & represent all their constituents, but I would have hoped they would have at least feared their God enough to take take an oath of office seriously.
Like Speaker Pelosi I was raised Catholic and unlike her I haven’t been praying for Trump, I didn’t believe in the power of prayer, but now out of sheer terror & fear of what could happen to our Country if he isn’t stopped, I am praying.
I pray the GOP puts truth, integrity & the Constitution before their ambitions, egos and selfish interests.
Senators can still redeem themselves. McConnell & Graham can salvage their reputations & legacies.
I pray that tomorrow I’ll awaken to an enlightened GOP who takes their duty & oaths seriously and they turn their backs on the anti-savior they have been blindly or even wontedly following. Amen
10
I had a vision of trump in a strait jacket. I was happy.
5
"...in the House, one Georgia Republican compared the president to Jesus and the Democrats to a lesser version of Pontius Pilate."
Nailed it!
4
A country torn apart, a decent amount of the population listening only to "state run" Fox news, a major political party being swallowed whole by Fascism, major religions abandoning Christ's teaching for Federal judges, Republicans of every stripe reversing years of dogma for tax cuts and, formerly, sane people embracing Russian talking points, alternate realities and a cult of personality. Trump doesn't need an impeachment for history to give him a big asterisk, he's been a big asterisk all along.
2
Have some decency and resign. Even Nixon had the integrity to put the country first.
But this is new territory, isn't it?
Now the Dems need laser-focus on beating this disgraced slob in 2020.
5
Even battier.
2
Why is the "president's" personal lawyer involved in foreign policy? Does Giuliani even have a security clearance? Who's paying for all his foreign trips to dig up "dirt" on the Bidens--taxpayers?
7
Do not let Mitch McConnell get his mitts on the impeachment articles!
End it right here. Game over.
3
He will be acquitted in the Senate and spin that to his base as total exoneration....he’ll likely be re elected with the help of Russia, Ukraine and China, and with the help of his personal AG, his personal SCOTUS and his personal Senate, change the laws to allow him to serve 3 or maybe 4 terms.
Hey America - you broke it you bought it....
2
Best, most witty opinion piece i have read in a while!
1
The whole world is watching you Trump! When the senate acquits you, you might feel emboldened.
BUT, we are all watching you and will make sure you don’t get away with anything in the last 11 months you are the president.
Well, he's already batty and impervious. So, "no'"
2
“five of its claims were false, seven misleading and five exaggerated.”
Gosh, by Trump standards, that’s a good day in the confessional.
3
Can you imagine Trump locking up his critics far away like Stalin did with perceived opponents?
1
“ Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty ? “ How could you tell ?
Seriously.
5
Gail, “ perfect “ in Trumpspeak is this : “Perfect” is anything in any situation, that does NOT cost Trump any Money, personally. In other words, FREE. That’s his entire “Business” philosophy, agenda and operating principle. Stifling Contractors, filing extreme amounts of frivolous Lawsuits to deny payment, just being a world class Moocher. And thanks to his rich Father, a lifetime of unearned and shady Tax Avoidance, i.e. legalized cheating, at the expense of the little people. He’s a low class Carnival Barker, one step ahead of the Sheriff, and leaving Town in the middle of the night with unpaid Debts and a mountain of trash. And WE get to clean it up. Thanks, GOP/NRA Party.
NOVEMBER.
4
Let's send an article of impeachment for Senator Mitch McConnell. He admitted he was not impartial in this upcoming trial.
3
we used to tell the kids to be careful with their comparatives and superlatives. should this headline be "Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batttier" or "Will impeachment Drive Trump Battiest?" we already knew he was batty...
1
Dull might be delightful these days, but not when the dullard manages to scale the heights of sanctimony and hypocrisy, not when the sanctimonious and hypocritical dullard is Mike Pence, and especially not if that dullard were the President of the United States of America.
Too late. He already got there on his own. IT'll male him even worse.
1
He's already batty. We see the evidence of it every time he opens his mouth or posts a tweet.
2
Meeting with the President of Guatemala? Hmmmm...I don't recall hearing him hold up any aid to THAT country.
2
Too late. Long gone.
1
My Congresswoman, Martha Roby (AL-2), is retiring and had nothing to fear by voting "aye." Instead she hid behind her son and voted "no."
2
Certainly Trump's behaviour warranted impeachment but Americans seem to have very short memories. Remember the supposed hurricane in Alabama? How about the betrayal of the Kurds? Or go back right to the largest crowds ever for an inauguration? I could go on and on. My regretful prediction is that Americans will forget all about this by February and be on to some new craziness.
1
Projection being what it is, I guess we now know that on top of everything else—fraud, lying, criminality, hysteria, reckless texts, abuse of power, covering up, false accusation, conspiracy theorizing, Putin’s puppet—Trump’s dentures are also falling out.
1
No.
Dear Gail,
You say that for Trump we ought to "check the belfry" and that impeachment might "drive Trump batty." Oh, come on Gail, since Trump descended that escalator in June 2015 muttering that Mexicans were "rapists," millions of us Americans already knew that Trump lacked a "belfry" and was "batty." That in the past 3 years Trump has said 13,000+ lies, and he has been unkind to separate immigrant Mexican babies and toddlers from their parents, a bit fascist to say that you journalists and newspapers were "enemies of the people," and a little too complimentary in saying that KKK and neo-Nazi protestors were "good people" -- all that, plus a thousand more unhinged tweets, actions, and bullying, has confirmed that Trump's "belfry" is and remains "batty."
1
To repeat an old joke involving golf.....That’s not a drive it’s a short putt. And please stop using the noble bat to describe this President. Bats are a major player in the control of insect pests.
2
I am willing to bet Trump had very little to do with writing that nut-job letter, other than telling someone else to do it. Why? He's vocabulary is not that large...and neither is his literacy.
2
If Trump himself, with his limited intelligence & imagination, is unable to think of an act so ungodly that even his impeachment is overshadowed, rest assured one of his ungodly advisors, say Bannon or Miller or Putin, will be able to steer him in the most horrendous direction possible. But We The People still need to impeach him. The thing is, even if We The People had not turned the House blue in Nov 18 and therefore no one had the guts to do the right thing & impeach Trump, he would still be liable to commit acts so ungodly that even Impeachment would seem negligible. Trump’s impeachment is the legal, moral & Constitutionally correct course of action for our country and truly we have nothing to lose by standing up for ourselves & doing the right thing. Impeachment or no, Trump most likely will commit an act that is so destructive, so ungodly, so pig-headedly stupid & maniacal, that just about every crime he has yet committed will seem negligible. Maybe the best we can hope for is that We The People have enough courage & enough love for our children to go down fighting for the rule of law and for our democracy. Even if Trump kills us all. Which he might very well do.
Trump is clearly "batty." His behavior is bizarre, his speech and tweets are deranged, he embarrasses us in front of the world. He was so jealous of a teenager getting on the cover of Time that he almost blew a gasket. Trump isn't rational. He isn't logical. He isn't mature. He isn't sane.
You'd think the Senate would be thrilled to have an opportunity to boot him from the Oval Office before he embarrasses the US further.
3
drive him batty????? short trip
Meh, bananas.
In her title Gail assumes that DT is not insane. Highly debatable. There is no question that our POTUS has a serious personality disorder. A Psychiatrist friend of mine su
suggested "malignant narcissism with socio-pathic overlay."
In briefly watching DT's rally last night two images came to mind:1) A temper tantrum in a 3 year old and 2) a Nazi rally circa 1939.
We do not know if DT is having hallucinations. We do know that his has lost touch with conventional reality and the norms of human behavior. Ergo, even if the term "insane" may not't exactly fit, does it matter? There is clear mental malfunction at work.
2
You mean more batty.
1
It has been Trump mains appeal to its base to be "non politically correct". Somehow they confond with "saying it has it is" rather than a pathological liar persuasion tactic. Be loud and obnoxious to project unshakable certainty of being right always.
It would be funny if a democrat candidate for POTUS was going and TV to say: "Ukraine if you have the tape of the "perfect call" please we would like the audio file". I am sure he would scream that's unfair and such a violation of democratic values.... A total hypocrite.
3
Everybody knows that Trump is mentally challenged.
Lindsey Graham knows it. Mitch McConnell knows it. Ted Cruz knows it. Fox News knows it. Every Fundamentalist-preacher- supporter of his in the country knows it.
All G-d’s children know it.
There are two kinds of people in this country.
One kind worries about their children because Trump is privy to the nuclear codes.
The other believes that he’s G-d’s gift to humanity.
When there are only a few seconds left in the game and your team is down by 50 points, your quarterback throws a Hail Mary pass into the end zone just for the heck of it.
That is what Mrs. Pelosi has just done.
On to 2020.
3
to quote FoxNews '“repulsive, dangerous political stunt...revolting charade.” - close enuf
1
A good sign that we're on the right track here is that Putin is publicly coming to trump's aid and regurgitating a lot of trump's and his gob enablers' talking points. Don't our brave, patriotic, God-fearing, law-abiding, morally upright, republican congressmen, congresswomen, and senators see the ghastly irony here? Mitch? Kevin? You guys paying attention to anything except your own pathetic self-interest??
3
Battier!
3
What doesn't kill him makes him stronger.
God help us.
“It will follow him around for the rest of his life,”
Like a scarlet "I".
5
There is no rest for the weary. At this very moment Rudy is in Jerusalem rooting out corruption of Pontius Pilate.
4
Mogan David could relabel some of their fortified wines and license the Trump name. Just imagine, they could call it Trump Whine, aka “MadDog 2020”
2
Drive him batty? Why drive when you could walk?
2
Republican defense: Anything but the facts ma'am...
5
Don't despair, Gail! If Naughty Don isn't convicted this time around, there is enough evidence of his wrong-doings that he can always be impeached a second time, and a third, and a fourth, and ... Then he can have two, or three, or four, or ... asterisks next to his name!
4
It's the shudder we should all fear. The man is completely unhinged -- a fact not a single Republican member of Congress would admit to -- on top of being a lawless criminal yet to be brought to heel.
No one has ever disciplined him in his life. While he lets his rabid followers lick his wounds tonight in Michigan, who knows what evil misdeeds he's conjuring up, now that an Italian grandmother has scored the equivalent of the Battle of Agincourt against him.
3
Drive him batty? It will be a short trip.
4
Speaking of batty, let's review what some of Trump's 2016 GOP opponents said about him during the 2016 campaign:
Lindsey Graham: "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot...I don't think he has a clue about anything."
Ted Cruz: "This man is a pathological liar...a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen...The man is utterly amoral."
Marco Rubio: "A con artist is about to take over the Republican Party and the conservative movement."
Bobby Jindal: "He has no understanding of policy. He’s full of bluster, but has no substance. He lacks the intellectual curiosity to even learn.”
Rick Perry: “Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.”
You would think that these former opponents would be thrilled by the impeachment vote. Well, maybe not Perry. He now believes Trump was "chosen by God to lead our nation." Go figure.
8
Oh that last line is scary
2
Trump the victim. Always.
3
I think there's a typo in the title of this column. It should read "Will Impeachment Drive Trump Even Battier?"
2
Referring to the title only, my comment:
You can’t go where you already are.
2
How would one know
2
2019 GOP: "Please, please don't impeach Donnie! Wait for the elections so the people can speak!"
2020 GOP: "Please, please don't hold the election now! Let Donnie continue to work as hard as he has been doing!"
2021 GOP: "Please, please don't put all these poor, poor Trump's in jail!"
2022 Americans: "Remember that party called the 'GOP'? Ah, hahahahaha!"
3
Too late.
2
Donald will be glad to get to Mar-a-Lago where he can spend the holidays hate-Tweeting at teenage girls and ruminating about toilets that need to be flushed dozens of times. Nope, nothing batty to see here...
3
Trump is truly worthy of being impeached. His ignorance, arrogance, avarice, and amorality are the cornerstones of his Faustian presidency.
3
The drive to battiness is very short.
In fact, he arrived there some time ago.
3
I missed all the speechifying in the House yesterday. I have only one question. Did Jim Jordan put on a coat?
96
@Mary Nope!....Surprised? :)
10
@DGZ Nope, not really! :)
4
@Mary ... I heard one of the news people say he did because it's a House rule that coats must be worn on the floor...
27
Bravo, as usual!
Trump is "batty" already if you caught his dissertation on showers and water flow at a Michigan Rally last night.
Trump scoots from outrage to insensibility talking about how dishwashers are underperforming among other water based appliances.
There are times when his speech is in intelligible which indicates cognitive issues beyond claiming publically his father was "German".
Trump considers himself the greatest President in history as he adheres to Putin and other dictators in our world.
"Impeachment Lite?" That sounds batty to me.
5
@Stephen F. Desmond -
Actuality this is very serious problem.
Voltaire said: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/20527-those-who-can-make-you-believe-absurdities-can-make-you
2
Hasn't anyone been paying attention for the past 4 years? This guy doesn't care about the Constitution or the norms of politics and how things should work. He's shameless and will spin this to look like a good thing. This isn't going to stop him. Impeachment might have an impact on a normal person, but when someone has blown past normal a long time ago, this isn't going to slow him down. If anything, I expect him to keep going lower and lower. The past four years is just the tip of the iceberg from this guy. He will get worse and it's not going to be pretty for anyone standing in his way.
4
Impeachment won't drive Trump batty, he is already there. Now attacking poor dishwashers, as if he himself ever used one.
"Trump Says Women Complain to Him About Ineffective Dishwashers" according to the Daily Beast.
5
The Republican senators must know that Trump is supremely unfit to be president, but probably hope he cannot do too much damage to the country. How much will it take to prove them wrong, and will it be too late?
2
@Cassandra -
I think it is more along the line that the Republican Senators are being paid not to care what Trump is doing.
Driving Trump batty isn’t appropriate or accurate. Listen to Trump’s rally performances or his press conferences proves he is already there. Trump is undoubtedly preparing his enemies lists, as Nixon did. One of Trump’s “qualities” is his clear memory of all those who have wronged him and his certainty of handing out revenge. Obama, California, immigrants, The Central Park Five, reporters, networks can all attest to his vengeance. Regardless of the length of Trump’s time in office, he will exact his pound of flesh from his enemies. In office, out of office, this man has no limits to his cruelty.
5
Thanks for noticing the Hamilton mania! One GOP Rep claimed Dems only know Alex from the $10 bill. Talk about 2 Americas! Also, the excerpt from Fed 65 they keep repeating is the last sentence of the 2nd paragraph. It means something very different in context. If you read the preceding lines, it's a very different point (for one thing, it's specifically about Senate trials, not House impeachment votes).
1
Assuming Trump is acquitted, continues to the election, and is defeated in an overwhelming vote, the period between Nov 3 2020 and Jan. 20 2021 will be a period of terrible peril for the country as Trump stews about his rejection and goes absolutely bonkers.
6
The thing to remember about the Salem witch trials is that undoubtedly there really were at least some people in Salem practicing witchcraft. (That isn't to say their spells worked, but that they carried out the rituals and believed they would work.) Joe McCarthy likewise led a 'witch hunt' for Communist spies in public positions, and one can despise the premise, but in fact Alger Hiss was guilty, as were the Rosenbergs, and there really were some Communists.
As for this, as soon as the impeachment cry went up -- which was even before Trump was sworn in -- I rolled my eyes. It is eventuating as I feared: The impeachment, however amply justified, is foredoomed. The Democrats in the House vote to impeach. The Republicans in the Senate will not vote to remove. Trump emerges wounded but still in power, his base newly enerrgised, and hence doubly dangerous. And even if he were removed, we would get President Pence, which might even be worse, as he is experienced in working the levers of government power, and whereas Trump is a narcissist, Pence is a grimly committed ideologue. 'My father chastised you with whips; but I will chastise you with scorpions'.
1
Things will definitely get worse. If he is convicted (unlikely) he won’t leave. If he loses the election (unlikely) he also won’t leave. If he wins the election...ugh.
3
Another great column..but really, this one should go into a time capsule..it’s that great!
2
I’m sticking by my bad joke that believing you can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it is one thing, but our current sitch is that Trump’s apparently moved on to believing he can shoot HIMSELF on Broadway and walk away from it.
3
Dear Speaker of the US House of Representatives:
You and your colleagues are more loved than you might imagine. And the gratitude flowing in our national "veins" is palpable.
Please keep playing hardball against those who are endangering our very precious American democracy.
As others have noted here, would it not be wonderful to have this president impeached but never acquitted?
6
The gops that voted against impeachment, and those in the Senate that don't vote to remove this so-called president from office, will rue the day. Once he's acquitted, you can count on him to do far worse than what he's done thus far. He will look at this as a green light to abuse his office more openly, and those that support him will be called upon to defend every single illegal and immoral act.
Just wait for it.
3
@GKSanDiego: 'those that support him will be called upon to defend every single illegal and immoral act.'
And they will do it, and not blink an eye nor lose a wink of sleep over it. The Republican party is now interested in only one thing, and it is not governance nor the welfare of the nation as a whole. It is power -- how to get it by any means, how to keep it likewise. We have heard McConnell openly gloating about how he has gamed the system. We have seen all but a few formerly principled men and women, once public servants, fall in line and bend the knee to Trump. We have watched all but helpless as a sizeable faction of the population cheer while they tear the Constitution and the rule of law to tatters. They went to the edge of the precipice, and saw all they could have if they would but bow down and worship.
2
I apologise for focusing on one bit but am asking again, what is the meaning of the picture of Trump pointing his finger (similar to Fifth Avenue shoot our gesture) stating "They are not after me. They are after you." posted on Trump's Twitter feed.
I had to check back a few times to check it was not a joke. It seems to be a retweeted post.
Does it mean I am innocent and incidental because we all know I am perfect and they just do not like you who you are and what policies you want implemented?
Does it mean 'they', whoever, 'they' are are really targeting you an enemy and really are afterr you and - see my fingers - thank me for protecting your right to bear arms against them?
What is it supposed to mean? Does anyone care?
You kind of wonder what would happen to the country without Nancy Pelosi.
Sometimes the fate of a nation rests on the integrity and determination of one person alone.
2
Aside from the enormous pride I feel for the Democrats, but especially the women who were willing to vote principle over political grain, I take great pleasure in knowing that no matter what, Donald Trump cannot escape the fact that many of his fellow citizens found him to have failed and fallen short in carrying out his high office. There is absolutely nothing he can do to remove that burr under his saddle and oh how that will forever itch!
1
Question: if impeachment drives a crazy person crazier, how will we know the difference?
1
Ms. Collins writes: "as Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler pointed out, if Trump actually did get tossed out of office, 'the new president will be Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton.' What no one in Trump’s party admitted was that many of them would secretly love, love to replace him with a Republican who’s not nutty."
Where did Ms. Collins get the idea that Mike Pence--who embodies all the worst aspects of what passes for "conservatism" in Indiana (I used to live there), and who practices a version of Christianity which is rigid, judgmental, and sexually uptight--is not "nutty"?
3
OK. I'm getting a bit annoyed by the folks who are saying, "Uh, Gail, don't you know that Trump was batty BEFORE impeachment." To those commenters I would like to inform you that Ms. Collins most likely did not write the headline. But she did write the first line of her column, in which she said that impeachment "might drive Donald Trump even crazier than usual."
1
Trump stirs a pot and what is in it is nothing similar to your grandmother's superb chicken soup. He has been stirring this pot all his life. And every day he adds more toxic, dangerous ingredients and the odor gets more noxious. But you must understand that he loves what he is cooking and to him the odor is wonderful and he breathes it in deeply. It inspires him to look for new ingredients even more disgusting. When he was "elected" POTUS it gave him the opportunity and power to perfect his recipe as 63 mil people apparently lost their sense of smell simultaneously. And the archaric Electorial College and his hero Putin working his dark magic were all he needed to seal the deal. So Madam Speaker please sit on those Impeacment papers because he is going to add more and more lethal ingredients with Rudy's help until he won't be able to stir fast enough to keep the soup under control and at some point, maybe before the election, the pot will not just boil over, it will explode and all those "awesome" ingredients he has collected over the decades will rain down on him and he can bathe in their toxicity with perverted happiness. Whether or not his base and Republican Senators will notice what he is wearing and how he smells is still to be determined of course.
2
You can't drive someone to a place they are already at.
1
Trump is insane, has been for decades, but now the GOP shares his insanity (rhymes with Hannity). It’s something in the food they eat, obviously.
Or there’s something stupendous they know and aren’t telling us, like Trump and McConnell are space aliens in human suits who’ve threatened to instantly destroy the planet if they don’t get full GOP compliance.
In this insane situation, that almost makes more sense than any other possible explanation.
Putin is clearly in on this secret. Which makes it even scarier.
I mean, seriously, what else could explain such complete complicity with an unwillingness to acknowledge truths that are as blindly obvious as the presence of the sun in the daytime sky?
We need further investigations into this conspiracy, before our space alien overlords succeed in taking over the planet. Because it’s clear, either way they have it in for us. We must go out fighting, not succumbing to their insanity.
2
How will we be able to tell?
1
Trump is already batty. Impeachment will send him over the cliff. And to rub salt in the wound, Pelosi would be wise to not turn it over to a senate rigged by McConnell to exonerate Trump before it begins. Pelosi should dangle impeachment over Trump's head the way he dangled military aid to a vulnerable Zelensky of Ukraine. It's time Trump, who loves to go on offense with his vitriolic attacks against anyone who dares to challenge him, goes on defense, and given his self-absorption, impeachment will drive him crazier than he already is.
2
What do we call an extremely egocentric person who lacks morals, shows no ability to love, and has no remorse? We call that person a psychopath.
The real problem we are facing: What do we call all of the people who support him?
2
Can you just imagine if all of those screaming and yelling Republican men were women? They would receive relentless criticism for being too emotional and out of control.
2
That ship has sailed!
1
Not to denegrate people who suffer the burdens of mental illness such as narcissistic personality disorder, but Donald Trump's mental illnesses crossed the innocuous "batty" definition long ago.
4
That’s no drive; it’s a short putt.
1
Short reply to the question: No, he has been certified batty for a long time.
1
Trump has been "batty" since he was a twinkle in his father's eye.
1
"With you all roads lead to Putin." As the flesh surrounding the Republican fantasy construct of a normal President is flayed piece by piece from Trump's bones, what remains will go down in history as an individual as corrupt - if not more so - than any Roman emperor. How this person managed to pull the wool over the eyes of so many Americans, let alone cowed the Republican party in to submission, will be the source of speculation for thousands of books to come. Character does count, and it is horrifying that an individual who lacks any was ever elected president of the United States.
4
From what I have read, heard and observed trumplethinskin has lied, cheated, stolen, and bullied to get his way his entire life, enabled by his family’s wealth. It’s sad to see a once honorable Republican Party sink to that level. Reps Collins, Jordan, McCarthy and all the rest were so untruthful in their arguments, they know full well impeachment is like a grand jury indictment and their turn to defend is at trial not before.
Madam Speaker Pelosi should hold onto that indictment and make trumplethinskin twist in the wind until maybe the day he is renominated. Wouldn’t that step on his news cycle.
3
"What no one in Trump’s party admitted was that many of them would secretly love, love to replace him with a Republican who’s not nutty. Boring, sure, but there are times when dull is delightful."
If you are referring to the chuckle-heads that wrote an op-ed 3 days ago, you are correct. However, dull does not sell. Jeb is not President. And, half a dozen Democrats have quit the race this year, leaving no trace, nor memory of their brief presence.
As for the "going batty"? I'd say that show is getting ready to start. Everyone that has TDS and has been hyper ventilating since November 9th, are set to go ballistic.
In their minds, there is no reason not to get this started now, to get Trump out by Christmas. Now, Pelosi is delaying, for no good reason. So what if the Republicans illegally ignore the evidence presented by the House. Those Senators will all be voted out in November. There must be action NOW.
Constitutional ignorance and lack of American civics education, may explain irrational statements, but do not justify violence and illegal acts.
Dear citizens, treating your fellow Americans rudely or violently is wrong. Your quarrel is not with them.
First off, could you guys pick a speed? Mueller went too slow, the House went too fast, now we’re back to too slow again.
Second off, this article’s ABOUT TDS...Trump’s, and that of Trumpists. Political disagreement, okay, sure, fine by me; deep philosophical disagreement, no prob, happens all the time. All you have to do is state your case and try to provide support for it.
But these endless replays of the same talking points, the inability to admit that there’s even a little something off about a certain phone call let alone that completely-loopy six page letter, your closing lecture about good manners and non-violence on behalf of the side that’s given us screaming at the parents of dead vets, literal Nazis strutting down the street with torches yelling at Jews, and guys killing people in churches and synagogues and mosques and health clinics....
Well, that’s just nuts. I sort of hope, for your sake, that it’s just a sad case of political cynicism that’s leading you to emit such guff, because if it’s not, well, your reality-testing has pretty much collapsed.
@Robert I think there will be a lot of people demonstrating "against" Pelosi's strategy. I get it. She is in a real no-win situation. It will be interesting how much of the Democrat Party takes her side.
I suspect she only acquiesced to impeachment to keep the squad quiet. And, we haven't seen or heard much from them. That will change.
Trump is used to conflict and controversy. The negativity from the laggards in Congress mean nothing to him. He should consider it a compliment that he is finally disrupting their little cuddle puddle of weakness and stupidity. Trump will achieve Martyr status after this. He will be remembered as the strongest President the country has ever seen. He has my utmost admiration.
1
@rich williams I'm not sure what there is about this comment that gives reason for a NYT pick.
1
@rich williams Really?
1
@rich williams
I applaud your willingness to put yourself out there for this man as I'm sensing there will be a lot of negative responses. What I hope is that someday, someway, you will see him for what he really is. He's not strong. He's a bully. Always has been and always will be. He can't tell the truth as he doesn't know it. I don't know how old you are but if you have the privilege of living long enough to see some historical remembrances of this man, they won't be kind.
3
I guess it takes a guy to understand. (sexism alert) Trump lives for the fight. That's why he went into real estate. That's why he enjoyed announcing "You"re Fired." And as President, that's why his favorite issue is the wall. When it's going to be a brawl, fighters don't show their best stuff in the first round. They jab and jab until they've measured their opponent, readying themselves for the serious stuff.
Trump is posturing. He's feeling out his accusers. And when the time comes, he'll come on like a battering ram. Hopefully, Democrats know this and counter punch him into oblivion.
I'm guessing Ms. Collins thought Rocky was about the stuff that happened outside the ring. Most guys (sexism alert) thought it was all about Rocky and Apollo Creed and everything else was beside the point.
56
@michjas
Trump may live for the fight.
But he'll always want someone else to fight it for him: 'where's my Roy Cohn?'
An alpha male, he ain't.
80
@michjas Remind me the last time Democrats laid a glove on Trump. And, I don't mean, "He's a bad man." "Russian collusion." "Abuse of power."
I mean, when was the last time a Democrat has knocked him down? Knocked him back on his heels? Landed a substantial blow?
No hurry. You've got at least 5 years.
2
@Mike
"Landed a substantial blow?"
They just did last night. A BIG one. School kids 50 years from now will be reading about the first potus to get impeached for actual constitutional reasons. Boo Rah........
63
Batty, perhaps. But only if he had a dog on the roof of his belfry.
1
It bugs me to no end that Trump keeps talking about the Salem Witch Trials. My god. Read a book, man! Your being impeached is NOTHING like 20 people (and 2 dogs!) being executed. And hundreds others imprisoned. For nothing.
He knows nothing of history, nothing about anything, and this one stupid refrain is driving me over the edge!
6
"Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote. Shudder."
And we all suspect what 'that' will be.
We all need to remember this;
Not only is he a poor loser, he's a worse winner.
3
Re the suggestion that impeachment may drive the president crazy
My golfing father used to say, in reference to the crazies, that it was no drive, but a short putt
This president should never have been allowed on the course
2
Battier ...
Trump hates Pelosi praying for him, because her invoking God to intervene has the same effect on Trump as light on a vampire.
9
Don't worry, Gail. A respected psychiatrist, Dr. Sheldon Roth of Hollywood CA, is publishing a book about Donald Trump called Psychologically Sound.
Liars lie. Cheaters cheat. Whiners whine. Trump is the 3 for 1 combo.
His idea of himself is so fragile and so ridiculously inflated that it takes a couple packs of lies a day to keep it afloat. His true perception was correctly sussing out that so many mostly men in high political and religious circles were for sale. And for rummage sale, last-day sale cheap.
He did intuit correctly that he could straight up get previous GOP congressional skeptics to get on their hind legs and spin elaborate philosophies and theologies never seen before to defend and protect their belief in the virginal innocence of Donald Trump - even while he was paying a 2 million dollar fine for cheating an array of charities that included a Holocaust museum, veteran assistance, and a kid's fund - one rep from GA compared his skin-crawling dishonesty to the suffering of Jesus Christ. What religion is that??
Always a proponent of "Let's you and him fight", Trump got to sit back in Tweeterville yesterday with a scorecard of who bowed the lowest. At the pity party rally in Michigan he did his best Whatever Happened to Baby Jane routine, twirling for the crowd, telling grown people bedtime stories and insulting the memory of the recently dead for a little extra punch for John Dingell's widow.
Probably need more air in the baby blimp at that moment.
3
"Nasty" Nancy is at it again! Tormenting the Chosen One by maybe holding up actually sending the articles to the Senate so she can do a little "Mitch shaming" I'll bet. She is probably doing this to flush him out.
Mitch could have real problems if the polls show that American's actually want a real trial with witnesses who can fill out the Ukraine conspiracy in detail. Mulvaney, Pompeo, America's mayor (LOL) and the whole lot.
This is only just starting and should be fun to watch the Speaker maneuver. I'll put my money on her.
9
@Mike Pelosi is going full Vegas on the President. But, is she using her chips? She may well lose the House. Democrats are not going to carry the Senate. And, if there isn't some big improvement in the "A Team", they won't come close to the White House.
There are at least 2 Justices ready for their next big "life" event. Go ahead. Give her your chips.
Battier
Salem Witch trials Donnie? That is so 1690’s!
2
Trump has a severe psychological disorder ; pathological
and sociopathic narcissism according to ret. Harvard
Professor of Psychiatry Lance M. Dodes M.D;
Dr Dodes' Letter to the NY Times Editorial Dept. dated 2/17/19
which was signed by 33 of his colleagues who are also members of The American Psychiatric Association explains this diagnosis.
This letter has to warn us all through the NYT Editors about
Trump's danger to our society..
It is relevant to your warning ''Trump going 'batty' '
Not so funny is it Gail Collins...yes Trump needs to be dismissed from office: US Constitution provides this using
Amendment 25: Section 4 dismissal from office due to mental or psychical impairment....so re print Dr. Dodes letter
and make the case...this is no time to be cute this is time to
be very very serious Gail Collins so please do so.
3
Gail treats this as a psychological issue or disorder: things could get crazier.
Gail, while a competent OpEder, is clearly unsettled with this matter, because she likes to make fun of people's foibles, like Mitt Romney tying his dog to the roof of their car or Republican sexual hypocricies.
But what is important on this day of reckoning is to take stock of what he has done and what his impeachment means for the country's political processes. For some reason, Gail cannot rise to this occasion.
The Times has gone Republican, a sort of journal of manners, processes are too serious.
The Times has failed in this crucial time. Very sad to see after some 50 odd years of reading the paper.
1
Drive Trump batty????!!! Like my mother would say "He's nuttier than a fruitcake."
1
Well Trump sure has driven the Democrats Batty. This article is supposedly about Trump being driven crazy but the author simply lists out all her grievances against Trumps and all the things he does to drive HER batty.
The one thing I like about Trump is that he is a big middle finger to the establishment. Democrats and all their defenders believe that they are the righteous high browed people’s holding together the union with civility and honor. Even before Trump, our entire political system, Dems and Reps included, is totally broken and a complete farce. Yes Trump is an idiot and a fool, but he makes all of you act even more foolish and idiotic. The Great Irony is that you don’t realize that you are actually just as crazy. This article is the perfect example of it as it calls Trump crazy then the author goes crazy in writing a diatribe about Trumps craziness!!! The entire impeachment is just this craziness manifested for the entire country to see.
For that, Trump is a genius.
17
@Kev Gail Collins isn't the President of the United States. She hasn't sworn an oath to the country to respect that office and the Constitution.
97
@Kev Ms. Collins is a humorist, and a very clever one. She laughs at that idiot, and because of this she has been accused of taking the whole situation too lightly. She is the last person to call self-righteous.
92
@Lucas Lynch And Kev, Trump is much worse than the so called establishment that you rail against. Guess you like the mob.
87
If we stay confident on the justice being served today by balanced, matured Congresspersons, then we could accept the now: impeachment, as a Constitutional triumph & then we meditate/ pray as we hand off the process to the Senate to evaluate. We are in the present, impeached. Who wrote the best drama about how enablers of addicted personalities like Trump have an endgame, self-destruction of the addict & its enablers? Shakespeare?
After acquittal by the senate, I anticipate Trump to pull out all the stops for the 2020 election,. He will openly ask for support and interference from his global oligarch New Axis pals, Putin, MBS, Erdogan, Xi, and Kim Jong-un, to mess with our election. He will order the Department of Justice to investigate leading Democrats (no matter who they are) on trumped-up charges. He may even try to cancel or postpone the election if it looks like he'll lose.
For the sake of the nation, we must resist Trump and the New Axis to which he belongs. We must overwhelm them again at the polls, by even more than we did in 2018. The New Axis of oligarchs must be defeated for the sake of the world, not just the nation.
5
Trump's impeachment will, if anything, serve as an appropriate prelude to America's actual and final demise if he's elected again in 2020. The might of the Constitution has been invoked and the House has rebuked this president's grievous actions. Given Trump's multiple cultural, political and social trespasses to date, If he's elected again despite his impeachment I fear that America's compass will have been irreparably damaged and our country will have no one to blame except our collective selves when we find ourselves grounded on the shoals of arrogance and indifference.
5
No Gail, Not as much as your column does.
I laugh in his face
3
I just read your headline. First thought before I delve in—could he get any battier??
4
He all ready is but I know what you mean. More batty
2
Trump please resign. I PRAY that you DO!
2
Not sure if Trump could be made any crazier ... but darn sure he has driven many of the rest of us right round the bend.
4
The corruption and tyranny have to end, but the batty stuff won't . He is a lunatic. Always has and always will be. There is so much. To much to list on such a despicable human. I am so happy that the Dems impeached him. I only wish the GOP would do the right thing and stop lying for ths liar
7
Isn't it funny how yesterday, all the House Republican's lined up to throw themselves under the bus for Trump. Almost with being asked. Its bizarre. Do they not realize just how stupid they will look for ever in history.
3
Our totally batty president leads a batty nation. Nothing to write home about there.
4
Take an older person in a position of absolute power with decreasing awareness and many character flaws, symptoms of manic ills with diminished perception and a strong persecution complex, feeling trapped his future behavior could very well be much worse. At this time a divine intervention is urgently needed.
3
After watching these impeachment hearings in the House, I have renewed respect for the process of cross-examination in the judicial process.
I know this was a political process not a criminal process, but it basically got nowhere with one side stating its reasonable and important argument, and the other side stating ridiculous arguments and never actually defending what Trump did to lead to impeachment..
Listening to the Republicans get away with their irrelevant arguments and bogus claims was exasperating, and there were seemingly hundreds of them relying on such nonsensical claims. Two or three of these Republican claims cross-examined by a lawyer would have ended this circus of false equivalence.
No wonder no one's mind changes. If a politician is going to make an argument, he/she needs to be held responsible for the veracity of it on each point.
Could there be cross-examination in an impeachment hearing?
3
too late...he's been batty from the start
4
Impeached! The Al Capone of presidents has been Impeached.
Hallelujah!
5
Meanwhile, Putin takes another sip of champagne. With this and the unraveling of Great Britain, he may drink the whole bottle.
5
??? He's already batty!
5
Poor little dear was impeached. And he did no wrong. What a snowflake Trump can be.
8
To late.
1
Short drive.
2
When I saw Gail’s headline I thought, “oh please give me something to laugh about.” She did not let me down. She rarely does. Thank you for the laughter, Gail!!
2
Make America Sane Again
2
Will impeachment make Trump batty?
Oops! Too late. Trump is already batty.
Impeachment without conviction in the Senate will make Trump an even more aggressive, destructive, lawless, treasonous monster.
5
I was preparing my usual pithy comment when I became so overwhelmed by these events that I've decided to just go back to bed.
2
So will Trump be dropped into the Potomac to see if he floats, or crucified? Watching the Republican congresspeople comparing Trumps impeachment to outlandish victimhood reminds me of how we elect the stupidest people to govern us.
9
The Trump-Republican strategy: Shout and lie, yell and lie, scream and lie. Lie incessantly and shamelessly, try to shout down the truth, try to destroy the idea of truth. Also cheat. Cheat incessantly and shamelessly.
8
Pretty sure he's been batty all along.
6
I listened to as many of the mini-diatribes as I could stand yesterday. I'm so utterly sick of screaming, posturing, contorted faces of hatred. I saw few adults in the room. There were many false narratives- one that struck me a lot was "but it's so close to the next election". So what?? It could be a week before the election, and the president has just committed murder on the White House lawn in front of TV cameras. So we're supposed to wait for the election before he is brought to the precinct for arraignment? That is the most meaningless argument, second only to the one "overruling the will of the voters in 2016". No, the will of the voters was heard. This person was elected to office. (well if you can make that argument at all.) But since then, he has committed offenses which make it necessary to remove him. Period. The will was done. Now that person has shown himself to be unfit. So he should be removed. The election isn't being "overturned". What stupid logic.
10
Question: How can you tell a total batty president from our normal day to day batty president?
Answer: You can’t.
6
So appreciate the humor in this piece. Lets just all remember that no matter who gets the D nomination, we must turn out in record numbers to vote for him/her. If it can't be "your" candidate, the votes have to come for whoever wins the nomination........we cannot afford to have 4 more years of this lawless, insane, narcissistic....(you all know all the endless descriptions) man nor the party that now smells just like him.
5
When he tweeted that Pelosi`s teeth were falling out of her mouth , he is showing the World that he is not crazy like a fox but just plain crazy.
4
Breaking News*
*From now on, he'll have a Scarlet 'I' to complement
that gaudy red tie he's been wearing for far too long.
Pretty soon he'll think of it as a badge of honor and pretend he's a
One-Star General. Let's hope he won't want more.
1
What a stupid headline: he’s already a lunatic.
3
Of course he will be acquitted in the Senate, that's a given. How brilliant is Pelosi that she delays his acquittal!! Perhaps he will go so completely nuts that even his supporters start to realize how loose his screws really are! Go Nancy!!!!! We've got all spring, summer and fall to mull this over.
5
The Republican party is brain dead.
5
Now we need a strong man and restraining device in the White House. Unfortunately, nobody can close his mouth. Last night, he said something like Late Dingell i, the longest serving member of House in hell. Only devil can talk like that. Clown show will be louder, nastier and insane.
1
Drive him? He's there!
Even as this article was being written, the putative president of the United States was standing at a podium sneering at elected officials, mocking the proceedings, raging about Pelosi, calling Schiff names...to cat calls and jeers and cheers from the riled sycophants. Then, in the most stunning moment I can recall in a term packed with one low after another he opined that John Dingell, the longest-serving congressional member in American history, was watching the impeachment ...from hell.
Those of us calling for Article 25 were never wrong. Every day brings fresh evidence that this man is not mentally fit for office. Consider that his rant about Dingell included vitriol about Debbie calling to thank him (!!) for helping to plan Dingell's funeral. (?!!) A team of therapists could not unpack this.
Forget the more arcane issues (though they're not as hard to follow as some want to pretend). On THESE grounds he should be impeached. He's a man without honor, without decency, without morals, without any social or emotional barometer. He daily says things so unhinged that anyone else would be under observation for saying them.
It's what he's doing to those crowds that should most alarm us. The real crisis is that his own mentality unleashes something vile and dangerous in crowds who cheer for denigrating the dead.
I mourn for this country. Look at what we've become. He's destroying us. He's ruined our reputation and made a mockery of us. Remove him.
6
Make that battier.
But he'll always have Putin, who has been right in there with encouraging words for his favorite puppet, and the expected derision for everyone who thinks Russia should butt out of our elections.
2
Can it get worse? How far will the Republicans go with Trump?
If, before the 2020 election, his chances to win looking grim, The President will suspend the elections due to a national emergency- perhaps one he created just for such situation.
Will they go along with that?
Or, if the election occurs, and he loses, he will refuse to leave due to some alleged irregularities. Will they go along with that?
Prepare yourself for either of these eventualities if he is still President. There is no limit with this man.
3
Trump is already crazy and has been for most of his life. My main concern is all those Republicans who have apparently drunk the Trump tea, screaming "unfair." How in the world has this shrill, pathetic excuse of a man converted so many? And who, pray tell, would sit and listen to his rantings for two hours?? To say I'm worried is an understatement.
3
Too late. He’s already batty.
1
I thought he was already batty.
1
Battier?
1
"It’s true that Democrats would love to be living in a country where the woman who won the popular vote was in the White House. " --HRC??
Some Democrats, maybe.
Many others see them--B&H--as slimy stepping stones to DJT--debasing the Democratic Party as well as US government. Watch BC apologize for selling out the working class--and cringe. Imagine HRC speeches to G-S. Imagine BC lurking in the WH.
1
Did Pence have any involvement in the Ukraine affair?
2
You mean battier, right?
1
Can you impeach a President more than once?
1
Of course Trump can't "handle it like a sane person" — he isn't one. He has Narcissistic Personality Disorder in a bigly way and cannot ever admit to any flaws lest he implode psychologically. Placing his inadequacy and criminality on the record in this highly public way will definitely bring on his collapse. This is to be welcomed for America's sake, but he'll fight very hard and dirty, and lash out when he loses, so be ready for everything including violence.
3
Trump batty?
Wait til his second term.
1
"Taking the presidency away from Donald Trump now is like giving a monkey a machine gun and then trying to wrestle it back from him. At this point all we can do is pray that he can’t figure out how it works, gets bored and just puts it down and walks away.”
Michael Che.
4
Wait for publication of Bolton’s book before sending to the Senate.
1
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump wants to testify at the Senate trial because he has an overconfident and unrealistic belief in his ability to always win any challenge.
Stupid lawyers - get out of the way. Let Trump be Trump is what he must be thinking.
I really hope he tries it. If he does, is it wrong for me to want him to be asked, under oath, if he did pay off Stormy and Karen before the election? To have that happen is something I would pay to see. Oh, the irony.
2
Trump has disgusted me since he screeched about President Obama's birth certificate and my disgust has only grown. And what I find even more disgusting, if that's possible, is that our country is under attack by domestic terrorists i.e. the republican party. Who would've thought! Shame on them all, unfortunately, they have no shame, no decency, no nothing.
7
Nothing like a little war to make all this go away. Look out!
1
He must feel threatened as I just read a Russian warship is lurking off our SE coast doing "unsafe maneuvers." Maybe the Trump family is going to make a run for it...or maybe just Melania.
2
I think he is already unhinged.....
1
"Drive him batty?" He is already.
2
Russia if you're listening, get those tax documents. We can pay you in rubles.
1
Drive Trump batty?
That's not a drive, its a putt.
Golf joke. Keep calm...
2
Well, some people pray for the so called president every day.
I pray about him.
May he be gone sooner than later, and transported to a place where the climate has been hot for eternity.
3
Wait. He's not already batty?
2
"a Republican who’s not nutty"
Name one.
3
I think you mean battier. He's already batty.
2
Gail,
Have no doubt, he's been batty his whole life, but he's some kind of aberrant genius to hold half the nation in thrall with his lies and magic.
God help us!
I've missed you.
3
That sound you are hearing is the Republican party being flushed down the toilet and trump has hold of the handle. Flush ten or fifteen times please.
6
Importantly, is it true that by being impeached, Trump cannot be pardoned for his misdeeds? If so, then impeachment itself is both worth it and warranted. Even better if he were then removed.
4
It's even money that, outcome in the Senate predetermined or not, Trump will do something else later this year that will go beyond the scope of these two articles of impeachment. If that happens the GOP will have to look in the mirror and know they will absolutely lose the election. Another X factor here is the tax records being made public. Just wait for that reveal and watch more fault lines start to appear among the GOP voters.
4
He is retaliating through policy (cutting funds for firefighting in CA, criminalization of the homeless in large, Democratic cities). More to come, this alone makes him unfit to hold office and serve ALL the people, not just his low information base.
7
Dear Gail Collins,
How can you ask whether impeachment will drive Trump Batty? He was batty before being chosen by the Electoral College. He was batty while running for the Republican nomination in 2016. Yet 63 million people voted for him. Intelligence, mental stability, critical thinking ability, moral understanding and behavior are no longer requisites for becoming POTUS. Why else are we even discussing impeachment?
9
While we are checking Trump's empty belfry, let's get some laws in place. We need to specify that if you run for office, you turn your tax returns over.
The other is that candidates take the same test that immigrants applying for citizenship take. Three quarters of Americans do not know we have 3 branches of government that are to check each other's power - Trump is probably in that group.
No taxes= no name on the ballot.
8
Most of what Michelle says is on point, what is missing is the counter-narrative. This so-called President is not a politician and cannot be expected to behave as one in terms of tempo, coherence, politeness or substance. Democrats are doing what they think is the right thing but miss the point on two fronts. First, they overreach with the whole Russia/Ukraine narrative since it does not resonate with enough Americans since it is not a domestic issue, Mueller did not find credible collusion and linking gangster-like behavior to national security issues is too much of a stretch. Second, they chose to ignore the fact that the younger Biden had no business being on the Boards he was on and so nepotism and " influence peddling" by Democrats is a reality that does resonate with many Americans. The net effect is that both sides are seen as guilty. Impeachment is seen as "A biased prosecutor brings a case forward and an equally biased jury is likely to acquit".
@itstheculturestupid
If you are the POTUS, you are expected to know what American law is. Ignorance of law has never been acceptable. Try telling law enforcement you don't know the law so it doesn't apply to you sometime.
Russia interfered with the 2016 election in America.
There is no longer any doubt of that.
The Trump piece is that he does not want that fact to interfere with his conspiracy theories.
Are you aware that Trump's "children" are going to classes to learn how NOT to defraud charities?? They helped with Donald's outrageous cheat scheme targeting 8 charities.
The emoluments clause is meant to root these folks out.
4
Wrong on all counts, it that’s a true trumper for you
2
It is the law of entropy, or very much like it. Regardless of things are now, they can always get worse.
1
I guess that he will have been impeached--and have that asterisk--is now something for Dems and anti-Trump types more generally to hold on to. That's a pretty small prize. Oh yay.
In a country where almost no one knows anything about history, I can't imagine that Trump's legacy will ever really matter.
But at least we have that asterisk! As players always say after winning a championship, "no one can take that away from me."
2
After Watergate, it was predicted that the GOP was dying and near its end. After "W", some really poorly planned wars, massive increases in the deficit, and too many other big, unethical and damaging mistakes to list, and now this president's many unethical acts, it was and is again predicted that the GOP is dying and near its end. How long can it take for something to die?
In fact, the GOP is still going strong and will for a while. What it means is that a huge percentage of the US population support and share the unethical behavior, pseudo-religiousity, discrimination, and other evidence of poor character that the leaders of the GOP and especially this president show on a daily basis. Hopefully its the last gasp of something that does need to die for the rest of us to move forward, but I pray they don't take the rest of us down with them. When its time, let's vote these guys back to the stone-age.
9
“The gop is going strong and will for awhile”. Of course, considering repubs are a minority in the country, this is due solely to the heavy bias towards low population right wing states in the senate and the electoral college. Without that gross bias the repubs would have been out of power permanently decades ago and would have had to be moderates rather than ultra right wingers to get any votes at all.
3
A serious question Ms. Collins, what if it does drive him crazy? What are the criteria for determining insanity? Do you think that this cabinet would remove him in an Article 25 action? Or that congress would support such an action? Look at how his people wrapped Regan in cotton during is final years in office.
It has been obvious for some time that Trump does not inhabit the same world as the rest of us, but if he really does go around the bend, what do we do?
8
Throughout his life, Trump has gotten away with all kinds of bad behavior--some of it illegal, most of it surely unethical--and suffered precious few consequences.
As a child he threw rocks at a neighbor's baby who was outside in a playpen. He's quite simply a horrible, mentally disordered person, and has always been. Latest example? He has sent his unhinged six-page letter to Pelosi to the Democratic members of Congress--along with a Christmas card. Funny, he seems like more of a Festivus guy, what with the Airing of the Grievances. He makes Jerry Stiller look like a pussycat.
It was wholly predictable that he would abuse his power as president, just as it is a certainty that he will continue to engage in impeachable acts once the Senate gives him the green light to do so.
Everyone should anticipate major, major craziness. What is amazing is that the GOP has decided to climb completely out onto a very long, unstable limb in defense of Trump, who is loyal to no one but himself.
That sound you hear? It's a saw. Prepare for the crash.
11
Shudder alright, nothing else seems left to do, as Trump's bullying has only one way to go, up! Shudder, yes, but at the same time, speak up and expose Trump's malevolence, and cruelty 'gratis' over and over again....while he keeps at it in his hysteric diatribes to a misinformed, and likely prejudiced, base. A base oblivious to the truth, and the facts, looking forward to being entertainned by a dangerous jester in-chief.
3
We can certainly impeach him again if he violates the law or Constitution again.
6
The answer to that question is no. Trump is already crazy.
2
Gail, love your articles, but Mr. Trump does not have to be driven batty - he arrived a long time ago - although impeachment may well drive him over the edge.
4
Trump is so fond of referring to himself endlessly, let that asterisk and bold face “I” follow him around the rest of his life — It can't be scrubbed away, like the orange ring around his shirt collars or his heavily edited transcripts.
4
I think much of Trump's sociopathic crazy behavior and outlandish un-presidential statements intended to shock are simply his manipulative way of differentiating himself from establishment politicians and "branding" himself to the public.
Trump is novel, unpredictable, pretends to be a dictator, knows nothing about anything and doesn't care. He does all the wrong things like the class showoff and gets away with it--thanks to his GOP and right-wing media. About 30-40% of American voters adore him, like that rock star who used to eat live rodents on stage. No accounting for taste in America!
Trump is a high risk-taker and a gambler, and he communicates emotionally with his base. There is nothing cognitive or logical about Trump or his base. Problem: Presidents need to be informed, smart, cognitive, analytical, logical, and reasonable.
Yet, a lot of Trump's impeachment outrage is pure theater, and the clue was this tweet Gail mentioned:
“Before the upcoming vote, I want to post another HUGE fundraising number.”
Trump is dramatizing the impeachment as a farce to solidify his donors and base. Nothing like an external threat to unite the troops.
Trump isn't a human being; he is a brand and he gets really upset if he thinks the Trump brand is being tarnished, which could mean another "investment" gone bad.
Trump doesn't care about the the country, but if he sees his brand going down, he will get desperate, then look out.
"Batty" are the the Republicans who enable all this
7
Trump’s mental instability, psychological malaise, metaphysical confusion and intellectual impoverishment reflect those of the nation that chose him to be its president. The rest of the world looks on in horror.
12
@Robert Dole
And so do many of us who did not vote for him!
The media needs to remind Americans daily the United States presidential line of succession. It’s truly amazing how many Americans think the impeachment will result in a Democrat replacing Trump as President. Daily reminders on the masthead and television news.....Vice President Pence would replace Trump. Repeat.... Vice President Pence would replace Trump.
5
@Rick Malone
Possibly an even worse disaster.
1
And the MAGA folks, and the Evangelicals, just keep gushing with awe and amazement that their lord and savior perseveres through it all. This is the 43% of the USA electorate.
Our democracy is gone... at least how we once thought we knew it... it was a good idea and a worthwhile experiment, but the dark side of human nature seems to be the stronger essence of man.
If we don't self-correct in November 2020 or before, it won't really matter anyway, because climate change will cleanse the planet of the ugly human presence in the decades to follow...
Happy holidays! Ugh.
14
Batty or battier is the question.
2
The answer to the titular question is stated clearly in Mr. Trump's letter.
He's actually loving all the attention. After all, it's 24/7 Trump. He thrives on chaos and the bright white spotlight. To him, it doesn't get any better than this.
1
Trump’s in Battle Creek, Michigan. Where could he hold a rally except at the Wal-Mart parking lot off the highway. If it weren’t for Post’s Honey Bunches of Oats there wouldn’t be a Battle Creek.
Another town destroyed by a great America - again...
7
I’m not a superstitious person but I hope some of the GOP senators read this— to the soul-chilling end.
Yes, senators, it could get worse than your surreal, craven colleagues in the House whined: he could continue to be president.
3
"Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?"
Too late!
2
"Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote. Shudder."
He will. And will be impeached again. There is the nothing in the Constitution that says you can't. Trump will explode hopefully for good.
4
This column hit every note perfectly EXCEPT for:
'Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote.'
There is no 'unless', and his criminal acts will never be singular - they will attack the foundation of our democracy like crows on carrion.
5
I like Nadler's comment: 'the new President will be Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton.' But I would have loved it had he continued with: 'and to prove how impartial we are with all of this, Pence scares me more than Trump does.'
4
I have faith in Trump.
Given the chance he will become the first U.S. President to be impeached more than once.
5
According to the Democrats in the House, the national security of the US rests squarely on Ukraine. That is the base of the impeachment.
Unfortunately only 0.01% of the Americans can find Ukraine on a map.
Shouldn't we move our capital from DC to Kiev (if you are not part of the expert 0.01%, Kiev is the grandest city in Ukraine)
To prop up that national security, so that Americans become more aware of where their national security is located?
(“It is a terrible thing you are doing but you will have to live with it, not I!”)
Yep, a person would have to be pretty insensitive not to be wracked by guilt over impeaching Donald Trump. I'm sure Ms. Pelosi is going to have a lot of sleepless nights over the injustice of it all. How long before the Evangelicals start claiming that the last person to be treated this unfairly was Jesus?
2
@Ellis6
Already happened!!!
1
Gail Collins has to be one of the tamest and least effective Trump critics... with enemies like Collins, Trump doesn't need any friends.
"Unless Trump does something so ungodly", and now he that really has nothing to lose you can fully expect some horrid behavior by Donald Trump.
2
Glad to see the word "whining" used. For a supposed tough guy, Trump sure whines a lot. Better to point this out and undercut his act than to go on about being afraid for the constitution, country, and democracy, which just plays to his supposed machismo. Such a spoiled, fragile little man.
4
How lovely that it was the president of Guatemala sitting with him when Trump was asked about getting impeached. I guess Trump was focusing on the wrong caravans all along? Who's illegal now?
1
Love the Trump quote ending in the word I.
If he had any sense of grammar he still would have to end it with his favorite word. But alas, he remains the barbarian within the gates; I suppose we should give him credit for not spelling everything in caps.
3
Beneath that violent exterior is a little boy terrified of not being accepted. Trump will turn even more forcefully to those who do accept him and lash out at those who don't and with his power this could get ugly. Think a small insecure boy with the body of an 800 pound gorilla and you get the idea. Impeachment is only something that can be handled by an adult who can accept responsibility someone like Bill Clinton who with all his faults could act like an adult.
6
Not "maybe;" not "probably." The notion of President Trump's further descent into baleful psychological abnormality is a lead-pipe-cinch certainty.
Gonna happen. Buy the stock. Take the proceeds to the bank. Stash them away for coming storm. Replenish the larder. Crawl into your hurricane hatch.
If we fail to grasp this dark reality by now, then we have squandered all capacity for learning.
5
Donald Trump is among the top three greatest Presidents to have ever been impeached.
1
The answer to the question posed in the headline, "Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty" is BATTIER!
1
"During the debate, the Republicans were perhaps louder, and yelling generally works pretty well if you’re limited to two minutes. They castigated the House procedures, and the Democrats’ intentions. They ranted on about everything, Nadler noted, “except a defense of President Trump’s conduct — which is indefensible.”"
This should be the headline regarding this impeachment:
ZERO Republican representatives stood to defend trump's actions.
4
No, impeachment won't drive Trump batty. It gives him another theme for his pathetic soap opera. Look what it's done to his family, he laments. Armed with that "don't feel sorry for me, feel sorry for my family, look what they're being put through." He recycles all current events to benefit himself. On this occasion, his family comes in handy.
1
It won’t be a very long drive!
5
The problem is that the Trump supporters love the fact that he is mentally imbalanced. Just watch one of his rallies; his fans just eat up his outrageous claims and the insults that he throws at people that dare call him out. I only hope that the Democratic candidates can get over their obsession with trying to drag each other down. We need to get Trump out of office before he really goes over the edge. Just think about Trump in office for 4 more years with nothing to lose.
4
My training as a lawyer generally inclines me to be sympathetic to claims of procedural unfairness, but every Republican argument that impeachment has been procedurally defective is demonstrably bogus and easily rebutted. As to substance, Republican versions of the facts seem to border on the fantastic. And then there are the ad hominem assaults, as if the President's misconduct could be explained away by attacking the motives of those investigating it. Raising the decibel level doesn't make a claim or defense more or less true. It seems as if we live different epistemological universes, in one of which reason and logic are absent. How did our society come to this point? What conditions have created such deep division and rancor, where we cannot even agree on a common set of facts and forty percent of the population is unperturbed by 15,000 lies by a leader incapable of self-reflection and personal responsibility?
2355
@Mel
The answer is simple: it's time for more diversity in the leadership of our nation. Those who have been in power for so long fear that once they share the power, they will face consequences for their actions.
109
This mornings NPR, former Florida AG, who is a Trump advisor, continued the unfair process complaint. She boldly stated that not only did the House hold secret sessions, but prevented any Republican questioning of witnesses.
63
@Mel - there is a large group of Americans who appreciate external validation of their mindsets and life-styles - how this came to devolve on current potus is the real question
21
Rumor has it someone overhead something during their meeting about Democrats and 5th Ave. but the Guatemalan president told Trump that’s not a good idea.
1
Quite frankly, there should have been more articles of impeachment. His hotel in Scotland hosting military personnel for payment, his family on the payroll, profiting from his D.C. hotel by patronage from foreign guests and just plain lie after lie after lie. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying so why the double standard. In the end, Trump may take the whole GOP with him thereby removing a cancer from the American political process.
4
Well done Madam Speaker.
Thank you from a grateful nation.
10
It’s really sad that 30% of the country is more committed to their bigotry and sense of tribalism than they are about our Constitution, and right from wrong.
I always knew there were bad people im the world. I always knew they were also morally weak people who enabled evil.
I just didn’t realize how many of them were friends, r,entices and neighbors.
5
Trump will feel scorned now and equally he will feel his brand has been destroyed. What he cares about most is that the Trump brand is going to drop like a stone. Who is going to want to stay at Trump (the impeached president's) hotel/tower? Its always about the money. His ego is tied to making money. If he thought he could make more money with the impeachment he could tell himself he won. But he realizes this is no win. His brain must be scrambled. All the neurons must be bouncing off in the wrong directions. Everything he's done in his life now is all mixed up and he cannot fix it. Poor guy. But more so, poor us. If the above is true, he may become significantly more dangerous.
2
That sanity would even come up as a topic to associate with a president is scary. But trump has not shown the world that he has a close relationship with what most of us consider to be sanity. Yes, trump is unhinged, to use the vernacular, or just plain nuts, to be honest.
2
"What no one in Trump’s party admitted was that many of them would secretly love, love to replace him with a Republican who’s not nutty. Boring, sure, but there are times when dull is delightful." So why isn't Bill Weld a no-brainer? Republican platform, no slime or crime. I don't understand why the Republicans in Congress - pretty much all of whom acknowledged during the 2016 primaries that Mr. Trump is a lying, self-dealing nincompoop - haven't hoisted Mr. Weld up on their shoulders and double-timed it out of the gutter.
4
Q: Since Speaker Pelosi is the ONLY Dem who truly was able to beatdown and humiliate Dastard Trump, is it too late to ask her to be our nominee for prez?
There is no question she is today the strongest Dem in the country.
Well done, Madam Speaker.
5
Pelosi’s “teeth were falling out of her mouth.”
The President of the United States said this. Think about that for a moment.
7
I am angry that Dusty Johnson, SD Congressman voted with the Republicans - angry but not surprised. I did not vote for him and will not in the future. I hope the few Democrats in SD email, call, or write his office to let him know that his vote will not be forgotten.
384
@Kris We in Minnesota could send over Colin Peterson (his district is next to SD) since he claims he is a "Democrat". But his voting record is 50% or more WITH the Repubs, including in the impeachment votes. You are welcome to him.
33
@Kris
As a Minnesotan, I'm inclined to say something snarky about South Dakota, but, oh, never mind...
9
@Kris Maybe Mr. Johnson likes Presidents who attack dishwashers like he did at the campaign rally in Michigan last night.
21
trump has been getting more deranged every passing day. The Impeachment may edge him along even quicker, put it should be getting more obvious even to the lay person that trump has degenerative mental issues. Even at that, some of his rabid supporters will continue to deny the obvious when he finally gets hauled off in a straight jacket.
3
Every Trump meeting with a visiting foreign leader in the White House has become a forum for his electioneering and outrageous behavior. I don't think other presidents have misused these visits the way Trump has. The foreign guest always look embarrassed and bewildered.
Will Trump finally go off the rails? We have expected this for many months without success. It may be that his narcissism is so strong that nothing can ever shake his pretended confidence. He knows he is weak and uncontrolled but he also knows that his most loyal followers are equally weak and without any morals to speak of. A union of vice and ignorance, perhaps the key to success in today's America?
4
"Unless Trump does something so ungodly that being impeached will just look like a footnote."
Bet on it. And those who checked their brains and faith at the door and believe he's "God's own", will be right there to support and cheer on whatever "surprise" their martyr/hero has in store for us.
5
Gail, I am a lifelong NYC resident who has followed the President for decades - tabloids, anyone? - and who has lived nearby to him for over 3 decades - and could see one of his mistresses from our windows who was hidden away in one of his buildings.
I have come to the conclusion that he has so many chips missing in his make-up that he is just a hollow creature going through the motions. There is no shame; there are no principles; there are no ethics. The low bar just keeps getting lowered. Laws and acceptable codes of behavior do not apply to him.
It's all about money, being the center of attention, getting even and power. It's about blowing up the establishment as he sees it, which never accepted him.
He is The Great White Hope for his followers, most of whom could never abide Obama.
6
This is really funny! Watching the country destroyed from within, real funny.
Sometimes it seems like Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat is turned loose in the White House, screaming (tweeting) like a wild animal with no sensible boundaries, dismantling environmental laws, inviting his criminal buddies in to play, and creating havoc in general. Don't hope for improvement until November of 2020.
2
“Will Impeachment Drive Trump Batty?” Oh, my. That train has already left the station.
4
Gail, darling:
"The scariest thing about the whole process has been the president’s absolute, total inability to handle it like a sane person, let alone a sensible politician."
Really? I first met Donnie in 1984 via Roy Cohn.
I could have told you then my impression: "Donnie" (as Cohn called him) was a petulant child who only knew how to break things. Now, here we are 35 years later—and he's the President of the United States. Installed by Russia, because like a child, he cheats at games to win because "winning" means he's "good." He's never been sane or reasonable. in The Mueller Report, a profile of him from yon states that when a cadet did not adhere to Donnie's commands Trump tried to throw him out a second story window. Let's call Trump for what he is: a weapon; a threat against the US by Putin.
8
Democrat's speeches in support of impeachment = probity, profound sense of history, personal integrity. Republican's = big hair, shiny ties, bad faith.
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Donald Trump’s likely next step is to encourage violence by his supporters against anyone who opposes him. Watch for it. And given the type of people they are, his supporters will be only too happy to oblige. They’ve done it dozens of times already.
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@Cousin Greg
Sadly, you're right and many of his supporters are benefactors of the NRA and are well-armed.
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Can you impeach Trump only once?
Or can you do it again, like monthly, until the voice of the American people, represented by the duly elected House of Representatives, is heard?
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Re: will impeachment drive Trump batty?
Battier?
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The celebrity wrestler goes into the ring to grab the microphone, to mock each and every one of his opponents. His low-brow crowd never tires of the name-calling and the absurd accusations. It's an obscene American spectacle frozen in its petty sameness.
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Now we think we know why the White House "problem child" was sent to a Military School by his parents when he was a undisciplined young boy. It was there that he learned more than the generals.
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I am completely fearful that the day after he is presumably found not guilty by the Senate he will go all the way off the rails. I envision him tweeting out an offer to all foreign politicians and dignitaries, offering them $5 million taken directly from his campaign war chest in exchange for any dirt on his political rivals. Or perhaps $10M to help fund illicit activities on the most popular social media platforms. Or invite Putin to the White House to watch the election results..... I could go on.... What's to stop him?
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The best thing would be if the Speaker keeps the articles from the Senate so that McConnell and the lock-step republicans won't be able to acquit or absolve trump from his crimes.
He will be left a Joe Btfsplk, with a small, dark, rain cloud over his head. He's the world's worst jinx, bringing disaster to everyone around him. He hasn't done very well for himself, either. He looks absolutely miserable, and obviously indulging in much too much comfort food.
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The bats left the belfry quite a while ago.
According to Trump, impeachment is an "ugly" word. He's apparently flabbergasted that anything "ugly", even a word, should be attached to his persona.
It hasn't occurred (and never will) to the "stable genius" that ugly actions are the reasons for the "ugly" word that will forever besmirch his already dubious reputation.
By the way, I've always felt that "troglodyte" is an "ugly" word but descriptive.
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Drive Trump batty? That train has already left the station,
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