The Trump Presidency: Part 17

[TragicMonkey]

Hope we don't have to use the same methods to get rid of Kind Donald the First we had to use to get rid of King George The Third.

I've already noted some parallels with Louis XVI. That method of monarch removal is much less expensive.

 

[Minoosh]

CNN was focused more on profiting off of Trump's outrageousness than just about any other concerns, really, since before he was President. That didn't really change, by the look of it? Multiple owners of the so called liberal media, including CNN's, I thought, outright declared that Trump, while he might be bad for the country, was great for their ratings, and thus, their profits.

To be fair I think they also hated his guts. Slightly more honorable, maybe. I think he's earned the personal animosity of many individual reporters by lying to their faces. And such stupid lies, too.

I was one of those people compulsively going to CNN's website in the early days to check on the latest outrage. I think they could have adopted a more neutral tone and still gotten those clicks/viewership. But they did know for sure that Trump headlines generated page views.

After a while I stopped clicking. I saw the same column being written over and over. Literally every week was the most damaging week of his presidency. Which might have been true, but it never seemed to budge his poll numbers down in a meaningful way. After a while it was like "the boy who cried wolf." Trump knew it too. He plays the news media very well.

 

[Minoosh]

From something John Dean said when discussing why people in Nixon's inner circle broke the law for him: People close to the POTUS are star-struck. It explains so many of Trump's upper echelon followers like Lindsay Graham. Barr fits the mold.

Yep. Thanks for linking the CNN piece. So I wonder: How much did Trump know about the attempted coverup? I wonder if they'd tell him, or just try to contain it through underlings.

Trump has his political base but I don't know how much personal loyalty he commands in the WH. I would imagine, not much (and falling). But I'd be guessing.

 

[Aridas]

To be fair I think they also hated his guts. Slightly more honorable, maybe. I think he's earned the personal animosity of many individual reporters by lying to their faces. And such stupid lies, too.

It's likely well worth pointing out again that, well... While reporters do tend to lean distinctly towards the left, relatively speaking, the owners/people actually calling the shots and setting the overall tone of what gets shown tend to be much more on the right and cynically profit-focused. While the reporters certainly do matter, in short, they aren't even remotely in charge. Thus, it's more appropriate to be focusing on those who actually are in charge and their motivations.

I was one of those people compulsively going to CNN's website in the early days to check on the latest outrage. I think they could have adopted a more neutral tone and still gotten those clicks/viewership. But they did know for sure that Trump headlines generated page views.

After a while I stopped clicking. I saw the same column being written over and over. Literally every week was the most damaging week of his presidency. Which might have been true, but it never seemed to budge his poll numbers down in a meaningful way. After a while it was like "the boy who cried wolf." Trump knew it too. He plays the news media very well.

Mmm. I haven't stopped taking a peek several times a week, but... I've always tended to ignore the "worst week yet" type of editorializing. But then, Trump suffering doesn't make me happy at all. Similarly, Republican lawmakers showing that they're power-hungry and unprincipled traitors that are happy to burn down the world for chump change, provided that chump change is in their hands, doesn't make me happy, regardless of whether they get punished or not for their utter irresponsibility.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Yep. Thanks for linking the CNN piece. So I wonder: How much did Trump know about the attempted coverup? I wonder if they'd tell him, or just try to contain it through underlings.

Trump has his political base but I don't know how much personal loyalty he commands in the WH. I would imagine, not much (and falling). But I'd be guessing.

Are you kidding? Do you recall the Trump worship roundtable Trump put on display back in year one?

As for covering something up without telling Trump, I doubt it. People around him probably warn him daily. But Trump also ignores the warnings. Take for example the failed attempts to stop his Tweeting.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

From something John Dean said when discussing why people in Nixon's inner circle broke the law for him: People close to the POTUS are star-struck. It explains so many of Trump's upper echelon followers like Lindsay Graham. Barr fits the mold.

A little of that and a little of an exchange from HBO's Chernobyl that sticks with me:

"You know why I believed them?"

"Because they put you in charge."

(Setting aside the other half of the narrative device that it was also a character note to show Scherbina had "grown" from haughty bureaucrat to charmingly self deprecating statesman).

 

[acbytesla]

Mmm. I haven't stopped taking a peek several times a week, but... I've always tended to ignore the "worst week yet" type of editorializing. But then, Trump suffering doesn't make me happy at all. Similarly, Republican lawmakers showing that they're power-hungry and unprincipled traitors that are happy to burn down the world for chump change, provided that chump change is in their hands, doesn't make me happy, regardless of whether they get punished or not for their utter irresponsibility.

I'm not a big fan of CNN either. Occasionally, they nail it. But there's too much hyperbole for my tastes.

 

[acbytesla]

Are you kidding? Do you recall the Trump worship roundtable Trump put on display back in year one?

As for covering something up without telling Trump, I doubt it. People around him probably warn him daily. But Trump also ignores the warnings. Take for example the failed attempts to stop his Tweeting.

That cabinet meeting was the most sycophantic brown nosing display I have ever witnessed. I was embarrassed for them. I've never seen so many people in those kind of leadership positions fall over themselves to french kiss someone's ass.

 

[Minoosh]

Are you kidding? Do you recall the Trump worship roundtable Trump put on display back in year one?

I do recall, but I also think that if there were genuine loyalty he wouldn't be so obsessed about putting it on display. I can't explain why his Cabinet made such a spectacle of itself. He does hold them in some kind of thrall. But I also think that could evaporate pretty quickly.

As for covering something up without telling Trump, I doubt it. People around him probably warn him daily. But Trump also ignores the warnings. Take for example the failed attempts to stop his Tweeting.

They have apparently gotten some control of his Tweety machine. Most of the words have been spelled correctly lately. Not all of them, but probably more than Trump could manage on his own. I doubt if he could spell "apostrophe" if his life depended on it.

ETA: I'm thinking more of a "kitchen cabinet" - trusted advisers who have forged bonds through many years. Not the glassy-eyed slavering. But I'm just guessing.

 

[Venom]

Are you kidding? Do you recall the Trump worship roundtable Trump put on display back in year one?

As for covering something up without telling Trump, I doubt it. People around him probably warn him daily. But Trump also ignores the warnings. Take for example the failed attempts to stop his Tweeting.

That cabinet meeting was the most sycophantic brown nosing display I have ever witnessed. I was embarrassed for them. I've never seen so many people in those kind of leadership positions fall over themselves to french kiss someone's ass.

Or that long-winded Pence monologue gushing over Trump in the other meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/TheGuardiansOfDemocracy/videos/387521408328650/

 

[GlennB]

That cabinet meeting was the most sycophantic brown nosing display I have ever witnessed. I was embarrassed for them. I've never seen so many people in those kind of leadership positions fall over themselves to french kiss someone's ass.

Then everything went downhill

 

[Paul2]

If a President is impeached and removed from office (ETA: in the first term), on what basis does that prohibit him from running for the office of the Presidency? Is there a time limit after which a President is removed from office during which that person cannot run for that office again? But after which the person can?

I am deeply, deeply sorry for bringing this up, but I see nothing in the Constitution that directly addresses this.

 

[phiwum]

I'm trying to think of a contraction that doesn't end with the last letter of the phrase, as in "can't," "I'd," etc.

"Y'all" or "he'll".

I misspelled the former for years as "ya'll" and eventually discovered my error. I still prefer the look of "ya'll", but the missing sounds are from "you", not the a from "all".

 

[phiwum]

They have apparently gotten some control of his Tweety machine. Most of the words have been spelled correctly lately. Not all of them, but probably more than Trump could manage on his own. I doubt if he could spell "apostrophe" if his life depended on it.

I think he spelled it "h-y-p-h-e-n". Which looks like Trump's thumbs to me.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

I'm trying to think of a contraction that doesn't end with the last letter of the phrase, as in "can't," "I'd," etc.

Living in the south, I’m fixin’ to come up with some examples. I’ll try not to keep y’all waitin’ too long!

Edited to add: I see phiwum’s already started down this road’

 

[Resume]

Living in the south, I’m fixin’ to come up with some examples. I’ll try not to keep y’all waitin’ too long!

Wouldn't that be all y'all?

 

[a_unique_person]

From something John Dean said when discussing why people in Nixon's inner circle broke the law for him: People close to the POTUS are star-struck. It explains so many of Trump's upper echelon followers like Lindsay Graham. Barr fits the mold.

That's what Cohen said as well. I don't know how he does it but Trump's personality is very charismatic and hypnotic for "X" percent of people.

 

[Trebuchet]

Hope we don't have to use the same methods to get rid of Kind Donald the First we had to use to get rid of King George The Third.

Make his son regent until he dies?

I've already noted some parallels with Louis XVI. That method of monarch removal is much less expensive.

I was thinking Charles I, myself.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I do recall, but I also think that if there were genuine loyalty he wouldn't be so obsessed about putting it on display. I can't explain why his Cabinet made such a spectacle of itself. He does hold them in some kind of thrall. But I also think that could evaporate pretty quickly.

That's part of his narcissism pathology, he constantly seeks reassurance.

They have apparently gotten some control of his Tweety machine. Most of the words have been spelled correctly lately. Not all of them, but probably more than Trump could manage on his own. I doubt if he could spell "apostrophe" if his life depended on it.

Just because someone inserts Tweets for him doesn't mean anyone has control over his stupidity.

ETA: I'm thinking more of a "kitchen cabinet" - trusted advisers who have forged bonds through many years. Not the glassy-eyed slavering. But I'm just guessing.

Other than his family members and maybe Cohen, who would you be referring to here?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

If a President is impeached and removed from office (ETA: in the first term), on what basis does that prohibit him from running for the office of the Presidency? Is there a time limit after which a President is removed from office during which that person cannot run for that office again? But after which the person can?

I am deeply, deeply sorry for bringing this up, but I see nothing in the Constitution that directly addresses this.

He knows he wouldn't win, I doubt he'd risk it and almost certainly the RNC would not back him.