;)
The Commentariat -- December 8, 2017
The Madness of King Donald, Ctd.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Trump White House is apparently where self-awareness goes to die.... The White House says that merely raising questions about Trump's health isn't okay even though Trump's campaign offered specific diagnoses and insinuations about similar episodes for Clinton.... 'I know that there were a lot of questions on [Trump's slurred speech],' [Sarah Sanders said], 'frankly, ridiculous questions.'... White House reporters have been asking for months about when Trump might get a physical, and they haven't gotten answers. Thankfully, Sanders disclosed Thursday that Trump will have a full physical early next year and that the results will be made public. So if reporters got nothing else from asking about the slurring, at least they got an answer to that question." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll believe the public will see the full results of Trump's check-up when I see it. JFK, remember, did his best to keep secret the serious illnesses with which he struggled. (Here's an article on John Kennedy's health troubles, written by presidential historian Robert Dallek & published in the Atlantic in 2002.) ...
... Joe Scarborough in a Washington Post op-ed: "Donald Trump spent much of 2016 questioning his opponent's stamina to be president of the United States. But it is now Trump's own fitness that is being scrutinized by friends and foes alike. After Trump spent recent weeks creating a level of chaos unseen around the White House since Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974, Capitol Hill politicians and media outlets are quietly questioning whether Trump is fit for the highest office in the land. That the commander in chief slurred his way through the end of a speech on Jerusalem Wednesday was just the latest in a string of unsettling incidents. Many who move through his orbit believe Trump is not well. That is a verdict that was reached long ago by many of the president’s own staff. More than a few politicians and reporters across Washington have shared similar fears." ...
... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) former presidential campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said early Thursday that President Trump was 'clearly slurring his words' during an announcement that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, adding that 'the impairment is chilling.' 'I don't know the cause of it, but when you combine it with [Sen.] Bob Corker's critique that the president of the United States is unstable, that he's dangerous, when you look at the private comments that are made by members of Congress around his stability, you look at his actions in recent weeks,' said Schmidt.... 'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough has questioned Trump's mental fitness on several occasions in the past, with the former GOP congressman most recently stating on Nov. 30 that 'people close to him during the campaign' told him 'he had early stages of dementia.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "The president is coming to America's poorest, blackest state to open a civil rights museum on Saturday, and people in the neighborhoods surrounding that gleaming tribute to the past would rather have Donald Trump visit their present.... 'What do you have to lose?' Trump asked [during the campaign], making a quixotic and ultimately failed bid for black votes to a nearly all-white crowd. 'We're losing a lot,' [Pete] McElroy[, who has a small business in the Jackson, Mississippi, neighborhood,] said here this week. 'Losing Obamacare. Where are people going to go? Losing money. He's making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Mostly, we're losing respect. No way you can evade that. The way he speaks, the racists feel like they can say anything they want to us.'... On Thursday, Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat who is one of the last surviving leaders of the civil rights movement, canceled his commitment to give the keynote address at the opening. Lewis, who had refused to attend Trump's inauguration because he considered him an illegitimate president, joined with Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in announcing that they will not attend because Trump is coming."
Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "... outdoor retailer Patagonia ... filed a complaint on Wednesday accusing Donald Trump of exceeding the powers of his office earlier this week when he ordered that Bears Ears national monument be reduced in size by 85%. The president framed the action as a correction of earlier federal overreach. Barack Obama established the monument at 1.3m acres one year ago, in a move Republicans in Utah's legislature compared at the time to 'the unilateral tyranny exercised by the King of England against the American colonies two and a half centuries ago'. But Patagonia's lawsuit asserts that Trump is the one playing king, by enacting the largest removal of protection from federal lands in history. The complaint, which was joined by a coalition of conservation groups, was filed in parallel with a separate lawsuit joined by five Native American tribes who say the president's move endangers sacred sites.... The government has 60 days to respond to Patagonia's complaint."
Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address for hacked WikiLeaks documents, according to an email provided to congressional investigators. The September 4 email was sent during the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race -- two months after the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee were made public and one month before WikiLeaks began leaking the contents of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's hacked emails. The email came less than three weeks before WikiLeaks itself messaged Trump Jr. and began an exchange of direct messages on Twitter. Trump Jr. told investigators he had no recollection of the September email." ...
... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "An executive at a leading Russian social media company made several overtures to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 -- including days before the November election -- urging the candidate to create a page on the website to appeal to Russian Americans and Russians. The executive at Vkontakte, or VK, Russia's equivalent to Facebook, emailed Donald Trump Jr. and social media director Dan Scavino in January and again in November of last year, offering to help promote Trump's campaign to its nearly 100 million users, according to people familiar with the messages.... While Scavino expressed interest in learning more at one point, it is unclear whether the campaign pursued the idea. An attorney for Trump Jr. said his client forwarded a pitch about the concept to Scavino early in the year and could not recall any further discussion about it.... The overture with VK was brokered by Rob Goldstone, a British music promoter who asked Trump Jr. last year to meet with a Russian lawyer who he said had compromising information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton." ...
... Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort acknowledged Thursday that he edited an opinion piece for a Ukraine newspaper but did not publicly address allegations by special counsel prosecutors that he drafted it with a former colleague with ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort's defense argued in a court filing to a federal judge in Washington that Manafort's work on the op-ed piece for an English-language newspaper in Kiev defending himself did not violate a court gag order because it would not likely bias potential jurors in any U.S. trial." ...
... Rhonda Schwartz & Matthew Mosk of ABC News: "The Italian fiancee of George Papadopoulos..., Simona Mangiante..., said Papadopoulos 'set up meetings with leaders all over the world' for senior campaign officials. He was 'constantly in touch with high-level officials in the campaign,' she added. That included direct communication with now-former senior Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, Mangiante said, adding that she had seen correspondence supporting the assertion.... 'He never took any initiative, as far as I know, [that was] unauthorized. All the initiatives had [the] blessing of the campaign,' she said." Also, he doesn't make coffee. ...
... Well, of Course They Did. Sarah Wire of the Los Angeles Times: "The House Ethics Committee on Thursday cleared Rep. Devin Nunes of allegations that he disclosed classified information related to the House investigation of Russian meddling in last year's election. The committee said in a statement that experts it interviewed determined that the information the House Select Intelligence Committee chairman divulged was not classified. When the complaint was filed in April, the Tulare Republican said he would step away from leading the intelligence committee's Russia investigation. But Nunes did not recuse himself and many Democrats have complained he has been too involved in the investigation. In a statement thanking the committee for clearing him, Nunes did not address whether he would formally retake control of the investigation." Mrs. McC: So endeth the Tale of the Midnight Run of Devin Nunes. ...
... Rachel Maddow is dedicating her show tonight to the Steele dossier. Could be interesting. Airs at 9:00 pm ET on MSNBC.
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "North Korea is open to direct talks with the US over their nuclear standoff, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said he passed that message to his counterpart, Rex Tillerson, when the two diplomats met in Vienna on Thursday. There was no immediate response from Tillerson but the official position of the state department is that North Korea would have to show itself to be serious about giving up its nuclear arsenal as part of a comprehensive agreement before a dialogue could begin." The linked ABC page has video.
Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed a claim that there's widespread fear of police among poor minority communities and taunted a woman who said guns were more fatal than marijuana, calling her 'Dr. Whatever Your Name Is.' The attorney general's comments came in a 25-minute session with Justice Department interns on June 22, according to ABC News, which first reported Sessions' remarks and obtained internal DOJ video of the event through a Freedom of Information Act request.... [A UC Berkeley law student said] he 'grew up in the projects to a single mother, and the people who we are afraid of are not necessarily our neighbors but the police.' 'Well, that may be the view in Berkeley,' Sessions shot back, 'but it's not the view in most places in the country.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Translation: "... in most places" = "where we nice white people live." I wonder if JeffBo is going along with Trump to the opening of the civil rights museum. He could get together some of his friends like Steve Scalise & they could do a Klan tableau.
Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: Some of Trump's richy-rich New York friends are complaining to him about repeal the local-tax deduction in the Tax Heist bills. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: They're right, of course, but it's ironic that Trump may be listening only to the rich about a drastic change to the tax code that has a negative impact on every person who itemizes deductions & pays state &/or local taxes. As the reporters write, "The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has estimated that there could be tax increases for as many as 700,000 residents if the legislation is approved." I'm not sure why they haven't noticed, but the limitation of the property tax deduction to $10,000 is going to hurt some of these rich guys almost as much. Most of them own more than one expensive home, & their property taxes are likely far higher than $10,000. ...
... ** "The Republican War on Children." Paul Krugman: "Republicans are showing that they consider it more important to give extra millions to one already wealthy heir than to provide health care to a thousand children.... While there is zero evidence that tax cuts pay for themselves, there's considerable evidence that aiding lower-income children actually saves money in the long run.... And despite everything we've seen in U.S. politics, it's still hard to believe that a whole political party would balk at doing the decent thing for millions of kids while rushing to further enrich a few thousand wealthy heirs. That is, however, exactly what's happening. And it's as bad, in its own way, as that same party's embrace of a child molester because they expect him to vote for tax cuts." ...
... The GOP Tax Heist Also Aims to Wreck the Environment. Brad Plumer & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Republican tax bills moving through Congress could significantly hobble the United States' renewable energy industry because of a series of provisions that scale back incentives for wind and solar power while bolstering older energy sources like oil and gas production. The possibility highlights the degree to which the nation's recent surge in renewable electricity generation is still sustained by favorable tax treatment, which has lowered the cost of solar and wind production while provoking the ire of fossil-fuel competitors seeking to weaken those tax preferences. Whether lawmakers choose to protect or jettison various renewable tax breaks in the final bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill could have major ramifications for the United States energy landscape, including the prices consumers pay for electricity.... The tax bill joins a host of federal policy changes proposed by the Trump administration that could crimp the growth in clean energy."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Congress passed a short-term spending deal Thursday, sending to President Trump a bill to avert a partial government shutdown and setting up a heated budget fight later this month. Trump has indicated that he will sign the deal, preventing a government stoppage that had been set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.... The short-term measure passed the Senate 81 to 14 and passed the House 235 to 193.... The deal does not resolve numerous debates over domestic spending, immigration and funding for the military that brought the government to the brink of partial closure, leaving party leaders with a new Dec. 22 deadline to keep the government open."
Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, in an emotional speech on the Senate floor, announced on Thursday that he would resign from Congress, the most prominent figure in a growing list of lawmakers felled by charges of sexual harassment or indiscretions.... As his Democratic colleagues looked on, he took a parting shot at President Trump and Roy S. Moore; both have also been accused of sexual misconduct." ...
... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "The force of the #MeToo moment leaves no room for due process, or, indeed, for Franken's own constituents to consider their choice. Still, the force works selectively.... Trump and Moore are immune because the blunt irresistible force works only on the other half of the country.... The Trump era is one of deep and open immorality in politics.... These are men who proclaim their allegiance to the Christian faith while acting in openly hateful, duplicitous, and plainly murderous ways." Read on. Mrs. McCrabbie: I have a fundamental disagreement with Gessen in that I think the matters she attributes to sex are better attributed to power struggles. In an ideal world, sex is about love. In the real world, sex is often about power. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nanny Ruth Marcus has a pretty good take on the way Senate Democrats dealt with Al Franken. AND when she compares the Senate's reactions to Franken & Bob Menendez, she helps make Gessen's point. ...
... Michelle Goldberg: "... the Republican Party is not the party of people who are fundamentally opposed to sexual harassment.... While the current frenzy to expose sexual harassers is, in large part, a reaction to the trauma of Trump's election, it has not yet touched Trump himself.... The incendiary rage unleashed by Trump's election needs to be directed back at him. Otherwise, only those who already advocate women's equality will be forced to grant it." ...
... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Representative Trent Franks of Arizona, one of the House's most ardent social conservatives, said Thursday night that he would resign after the House Ethics Committee began an investigation into complaints that he had asked two female staff members to be a surrogate to bear his child.... Mr. Franks denied that he had ever 'physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact with any member of my congressional staff.' His statement said only that he deeply regretted discussing the topic of surrogacy, but a Republican familiar with the accusation said that Mr. Frank had specifically asked those aides to be surrogates.... Mr. Franks, whose strident social conservatism and adamant opposition to abortion in all forms have defined his tenure, said he would step aside at the end of January rather than wait for the outcome of the investigation." ...
... In case you're feeling all sorry for poor Trent Franks, Jeff Singer of Daily Kos has a reminder of who Franks is: "... Franks has been a mouthpiece for some of the worst ideas of the far-right. Franks said in 2010 that '[f]ar more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery,' declared the next year that same-sex marriage was 'a threat to the nation's survival,' and mused in 2013 that the instances of rape causing pregnancy are 'very low.' Franks also was very unbothered by the Russian government's meddling in the 2016 elections, saying, 'The bottom line is if they succeeded, if Russia succeeded in giving the American people information that was accurate, then they merely did what the media should have done,' before claiming his comments were misconstrued."
... A Reckoning for Pajama Boy? Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it has established a subcommittee to investigate allegations of misconduct by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), expanding its work in light of new information that surfaced in recent weeks about a 2015 settlement agreement he reached with his former aide.... His former communications director, Lauren Greene, in 2014 accused Farenthold of making sexually charged comments designed to gauge whether she was interested in a sexual relationship."
Senate Races -- The GOP Has the Best Candidates
Roy Moore's Family Values. Roy Moore longs for the days when "families were strong, our country had a direction..., even though we had slavery." Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: The institution of slavery was built on tearing apart families. Parents were separated from their children. Husbands were separated from their wives. Plantation owners, such as the third president of the United States, routinely raped their enslaved workers. Excepting the centuries-long genocide of American Indians (or 'reds,' in the parlance of the Republican nominee for US Senate), slavery was the greatest attack on American families the country has ever seen.... Only a broken view of society that excludes people of color from the calculus entirely and makes accommodations for mass rape could possibly consider the society of slavery a time when families were 'strong.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll concede Moore's flaming racial bigotry is the worst part of his nostalgia. But also, what makes Moore, or anyone, think that "families were strong" in antebellum days? I suppose he means that a patriarchal society is highly preferable to one where a white man's aspirations might be upended by revelations about his sexual assaults on underaged girls. He means that families were strong, I guess, because the old man ruled the roost, women were chattel & the kids pulled their own weight or got the belt. Please bear in mind, Alabamians, that Moore is perverted in many more ways than one. ...
... Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "President Trump is headed to Florida on Friday for a rally that appears aimed at boosting Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore's chances in a special election next week. The trip to Pensacola, Fla. -- just 20 miles away from the Alabama border -- may have initially been scheduled to give Trump a way to rally the Republican base in Alabama while keeping some distance from Moore, who is accused of molesting teenagers. But Trump explicitly endorsed Moore this week, calling the candidate directly to offer his support." ...
AND This. Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has no interest in running for Rep. Trent Franks' (R-AZ) soon-to-be vacated seat, he said on Thursday. Instead..., [Arpaio,] who was recently pardoned by ... Donald Trump..., [said], 'I am seriously, seriously, seriously considering running for the U.S. Senate,' Arpaio told The Daily Beast, 'not the congressman's seat.' Whatever he decides, Arpaio's next political step will have profound implications in the Grand Canyon State. He is a darling of anti-immigration hardliners, but reviled by Democrats and even some mainstream Republicans for his reputation of breaking the law to enforce it."
Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "Progressive radio and television personality Sam Seder will be offered his MSNBC contributor job back and plans to accept, according to multiple MSNBC sources. Seder and MSNBC were set to part ways when his contributor contract expired next year, with reports indicating the departure had to do with a 2009 tweet from Seder surfaced by the far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich. After initially caving in to right-wing internet outrage over the tweet, MSNBC reversed its decision to not renew Seder's contract.... Cernovich is a ... conspiracy theorist who works in hand-in-glove with white supremacists. Cernovich dug up a 2009 tweet from Seder and claimed it endorsed rape. The tweet was meant as a satirical criticism of accused rapist Roman Polanski's liberal defenders, but MSNBC took Cernovich's bad-faith reading at face value and fired Seder." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Teevee executives are not very bright people & even obvious satire is way over their heads. When there's a possibility that one of these guys is in your audience, be sure to end your remark with "Only kidding!" Sure, it ruins the punchline, but it will save you from being the brunt of ridiculous rumors.
Beyond the Beltway
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Michael T. Slager, the white police officer whose video-recorded killing of an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, S.C., starkly illustrated the turmoil over racial bias in American policing, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, after the judge in the case ruled that the shooting had been a murder. The sentence was pronounced in Federal District Court in Charleston about seven months after Mr. Slager pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Walter L. Scott when he shot and killed him in April 2015. It concluded one of the few cases in which a police officer has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Washington Post: "British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced Friday that they had reached an agreement for Britain to exit the bloc, a milestone that means Britain will likely move on to trade talks early next year, pending confirmation by the rest of the 27 E.U. leaders next week." This is a breaking story at 2:20 am ET. ...
... The Guardian is liveblogging updates.
News Ledes
New York Times: "The economy's vital signs are stronger than they have been in years. Companies are posting jobs faster than they can find workers to fill them. Incomes are rising. The stock market sets records seemingly every month. The latest evidence of the revival came Friday, when the Labor Department reported that American employers added 228,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent, the lowest since 2000. Job growth has slowed since its peak in 2014 but remains remarkably steady: For the first time on record, employers have added jobs every month for more than seven years -- 86 months, to be precise."
Los Angeles Times: "Gusty Santa Ana winds and bone-dry conditions continued to stoke major wildfires in Southern California on Thursday as Ventura County fire officials said the battle there could last well over a week. By Thursday evening, the Thomas fire had consumed 115,000 acres, destroyed 427 structures in Ventura and damaged at least 85 more.... An additional 12 structures were destroyed in unincorporated areas of Ventura County. As the blaze intruded on Santa Barbara County, residents living in Carpinteria, Summerland and other coastal communities nearby were told to prepare to evacuate...."
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Reader Comments (27)
We'll see the results of that physical in the same press release with Trumps tax returns.
Jared Kushner's family foundation decided that it couldn't hold off from sending money to support illegal Israeli settlements, even though Jared is supposedly the honest broker looking for peace in the region. His foundation has previously given money to the settler fringes, but this is the first documented time with Jared in the White House. His family couldn't even wait a few years to avoid the optics of having wanna-be settlers in the White House while Trump lights fuses across the region. For some reason I'm astonished again.
https://www.propublica.org/article/jared-kushner-kushner-companies-donating-west-bank-settlement
Hi-hum. Just sitting here waiting for the next astounding lies, the next outrage portrayed as maverick roguishness, the next demand to support a sexual predator (only Confederates, mind you), the next slurred declarations, the next incontrovertible evidence of collusion, of self-enrichment, of treason.
It will all happen. Any day now, perhaps within hours.
What I’m not waiting for, for it will not come to pass, is for Confederate “leaders” to do something about it. They have decided they’re in it til the bitter end. Criminals, all. Even if Mueller proves the little king and his court a warren of traitors, nothing will happen.
The Democrats should have plenty to work with in the 2018 elections. But will they?
Ho-hum.
It could get exciting, Akhilleus.
Remember: every single day the tau proteins are deteriorating in the Orange One's brain. We could be in for an outrage none of us can even imagine now. Way past entertaining to the OMG level.
Watched some of the hearing on FBI director Wray and the way our "friends from the other side" questioned him was laughable: It was all about Hillary––"lock her up" is something they think should have happened and didn't because that FBI guy Struck changed the wording to describe how she handled the emails– they are beating a dead horse they are certain can be brought back to life. Wray couldn't, of course, give them what they wanted and you could see their frustration was palpable.
There is such a division in the Republican Party––when you see Bill Crystal, David Frum, Max Boot, Charlie Sykes , Steve Schmitt, George Will, Michael Gerson, et al. on liberal networks furiously criticizing Trump and his administration we gots a great big turn around. They see Trump as "a sinister mountebank who is destroying true conservative principles from within the GOP and who, incidentally, threatens to exile them to the political wilderness." It appears as if it is a battle of conservatism between anti=Trump conservatives and pro-Trump conservatives associated with the Claremont Institute, a right wing think tank based in California. By the by––Sam Alito was the featured speaker there not too long ago.
Meanwhile California continues to burn.
P.S. forgot to mention Eric Swalwell (D-Calif), one of my favorite congress critters, described the atmosphere in the Trump era as "The Land of Misfit Toys"–––just in time for Christmas.
So Trump is getting a physical. Everyone has had physicals. Did your doctor evaluate your brain? Did he test signs of dementia and mental illness? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Or to but it another way, the Trump physical is meaningless to the issues.
@Marvin Schwalb: If Trump gets a check-up at Walter Reed, I expect he would have to take at least some cursory tests for mental acuity. I've had to take them in my last several physicals -- and I don't believe I'd taken them when I was younger -- so I think they must be standard for old people. The tests were pretty easy, but I'd be surprised if Trump could pass them. If he flunks the simple ones, I would think the doctors would do further tests.
@Marie: Could you describe those mental acuity tests? do they just consist of questions or do you have to recite Lincoln's Gettysburg address? I've never had any, but I'm sure I might down the pike soon enough.
MENTAL ACUITY TEST:
DR: Hanna, can you tell me who the president is?
H: The president of what, pray tell.
DR: Of the United States
H: Don't you know?
DR: Yes, I know, but I am asking you if YOU know.
H: Well, of course, I know, why would you think I wouldn't know that?
DR: This is a test, Hanna, to ascertain your mental ability.
H: My mental ability, for your information is fine and dandy, thank you very much. Not only will I tell you who that buffoon is that pretends to be president, but I will tell the name of the vice plus the names of that nutcase's cabinet. Ready?
Dr: That's not really necessary, I...
H: thought so. (gets up to leave) you have a good day, hear?
PD: In your mini-play about old Hanna at the doc's, you failed to note that the doc will be speaking to her adult child who accompanied her, and acting as if the adult patient is a child.
As my mom used to tell the doc in such situations, "I'm right here, you know."
The neural tests at Walter Reed will be physiological, not oral questioning or "IQ tests." The docs can learn a lot from eyesight, reflex, balance and lab.
But I wonder -- if they find that DiJiT has physical signs of deterioration, how can they present such to the public? Even a demented clown has a right to privacy. At what point is that overridden by the potential for national disaster? Bea recalls JFK's ability to have Walter Reed conceal his ailments, but those were not mental. I have never heard of a President's physician's obligation to go public with debilities that impair mental functions. It's not as if the president is taking a flight physical and the doc can ground him if he flunks the balance test.
It is in any event hypothetical. DiJiT will never show up at Bethesda to be checked. He won't submit his body and mind to an institution (Walter Reed) that he can't absolutely control.
The covfefe remains strong in this one.
Bea: That would be great. But my guess is that his 'doctor' from NYC will do the job and in any case, he can hide anything since it is against the law for the doctor to tell anything without permission.
P.S. You reminded me that I haven't had a true 'physical' in 5 years. I get checked as part of my new hobby- surgery.
@Patrick: Remember Thomas Eagleton had to drop out as McGovern's vice because of having had electric shock treatments. I think you are correct to predict that our man of the hour will not succumb to any fishing around in his pia mater ( the delicate innermost membrane enveloping the brain and spinal cord) and if the docs try he might just pull a Hanna on them, although I doubt he could be as deft.
@Marvin: what do you mean, your new hobby is surgery?
PD Pepe: It's sarcasm. I had three procedures in the last four years (and another likely soon). As I am sure you know they do a 'classic' physical before each one. And let me note, this is not a complaint. It is truly amazing how you can fix up your aging issues these days. My favorite is I have 17 cuts on my body and only two required stitches.
An unintended, but very significant, consequences of this whole #metoo moment is also going to be the expansion of the Confederates base of a younger generation of white males who will bitch and whine and fume about the weakening of their "privileges" that they won't publicly admit to having.
I see a direct link between women empowerment and white male fragility, especially in a weakening economy where male "bread winners" are as endangered as the polar bear and more women churn out of the higher education systems than their male counterparts. Old white men will dominate the strategic sectors of society for generations, but the men farther down the food chain will become more and more radical in their seeming impotence against a system designed for their flailing and inevitable defeat.
Once I became "woke" as to white privilege in society, I've been conscious and concerned about the WASP backlash to the demographic data showing the stastical "browning" of America. I've always been convinced that this effect will throw whites into the arms of Republicans who welcome them into their ethnic tent with open arms. But I hadn't properly analysed, nor foreseen, the similar effect that a rising up of women against patriarchy would also provoke.
Now we've got a growing tsunami of both phenomena occurring simultaneously, social advances and inevitabilities that will ironically fuel an even more destructive backlash as white males claim they're being "attacked" on all fronts and accept more and more extreme measures to stem the tide.
The #metoo moment is clear social progress, but cruel reality also means that it burdens women in other ways too. By unleashing these forces, women are going to need to take their civic responsibilities even more seriously and make sure they vote en masse for those who will advance their momentum because unfortunately, as Obama recently noted, men are not up to par these days, and can't be counted on to vote in the best interest of the common good.
I recently watched a restored version of Dr. Strangelove, the film in which, to quote Peter Sellers' character, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, an air force general, Jack D. Ripper (played hilariously by Sterling Hayden), goes as "mad as a bloody march hare" and sends his entire bomber wing to nuke the Soviet Union.
In case it's been a while since you've seen it, here's a clip of General Ripper describing both his odd obsession with sex and his own "precious bodily fluids". He's also taken by conspiracy theories ("Mandrake, have you ever heard of 'fluoridation'?") but is sure that he is the only sane person, the "only one" who can "fix everything".
Sound like anyone you know?
The fact is that there isn't a character in this movie crazier than little donnie. First, they're fictional. Second, well, he's not. He likes playing god and loves being able to bomb shit and rattle his little saber (we'll be sure to see more wag the dog maneuvers shortly as that noose around his neck begins to tighten).
I doubt we'll hear any truth about a mental acuity test given to Trumpy. Liarby Sanders will stand up and declare him the healthiest man since Adam and damn anyone to hell who asks a follow up question. Her next job, after Trump is gone, should be as a mouthpiece for the mob.
Even if he is mad a bloody march hare, he won't step down and no one will make him. But when you hear military personnel around him stating that they would not obey a direct order from this idiot should he try to nuke someone, you have to know that there's a sizable number of people who are very, very scared of this guy.
As we all should be.
But Confederates? They couldn't possibly care less. As long as they get their money and their guns and their Bibles, they're good.
@ Safari.
Trenchant and insightful. Thanks.
It is all about white male privilege enlisted in the service of the monied class.
Safari,
Some excellent points. History teaches us that emancipation of black Americans after the Civil War brought generations of Jim Crow laws designed to keep 'em in their place. In fact, we have a senate candidate from Alabama longing for the good old days that predate even Jim Crow.
I was about to write that I doubt that Confederates could or would try to enact any blatantly anti-woman laws similar to Jim Crow legislation, but on second thought, they're already doing that. Attacks on Planned Parenthood, on the right of a woman to choose, on fair pay, on equal opportunity (that Alabama guy says women shouldn't even be able to run for office. He can't be the only one who believes that...), and on insurers' coverage of contraception, as well as the right of employers to control women's lives.
Jane Crow is alive and well and will be visiting you soon.
Mid-term elections will be a referendum on not just Trump, but the entire Confederate agenda, of which the War on Women is a huge part. I think you're right about aggrieved winger males feeling even more outraged and victimized as their "right" to abuse women is diluted. But these people are still the minority. If Democrats can't raise an army of voters to storm the polls in 2018, they'll never be able to do it.
One thought about the Al Franken problem.
I've heard many distraught Democrats lately--quite a few of them women--complaining that Democrats leaning on Franken to resign are making a huge mistake. They don't seem to be suggesting that the allegations are false, although some are saying they have yet to be proved. They're taking issue with the fact that Franken has been an effective foil to Confederate perfidy and that we need him now, more than ever, that we could lose that seat to the other side which would be a disaster.
I agree it would be terrible to lose the seat and I also agree that it has been a pleasure to watch Franken grilling conniving bullshitters like Sessions and Gorsuch. But saying that we don't really care what he's done because we need him is not very far off from what Alabama Confederates are saying about Roy (Child Molester) Moore. "We don't care if he's a baby raper. We can't have a Demycrap in there!"
I've gone back and forth on this one, but I hear my dad's voice in my head:
Standing up for something is easy when there's not much on the line. Standing up when you could lose a lot, that's character.
Will character make us feel better about ourselves if we lose that seat and the Senate stays in the hands of crooks and liars? I dunno. I'm pretty sure that keeping quiet in order to "win" won't make me feel a whole helluva lot better. (I know what Kant would say.)
Just a thought.
Victoria,
Regarding the Trump Brain (such as it is), shriveling like an orange in a hot sun, I don't have any doubts that as his processing power (never great to begin with) diminishes further, the little king will go downhill faster and faster. Right now he's lashing out and saying crazy stuff as a fix for his need for adulation and attention. As his need grows, it's very likely that the level of stupid will keep pace.
The idea of a president (even a president*) in a straight jacket, giving the SOTU from a padded room is no longer an entirely ridiculous scenario.
White House staff would do well to keep an eye on sharp objects.
The Murder Economy
Look for gun knobbers in congress and across the Confederate media spectrum to start ramping up the fear-mongering.
Why?
"'There was some fear-based buying that would take place from time to time. There is no fear-based buying right now,' James Debney, chief executive officer of American Outdoor, said in a conference call..."
Fear based buying, eh?
Hey! Blahs, Mooslims, blah Mooslims, Messicans, immygrants, they all want to rape your daughters and shoot you and your wife while you sit in bed reading the Bible! Quick! Buy MORE GUNS!
It seems, now that the Obama bogeyman is gone, Trump and his gun knobber buddies don't have a scare scenario to point to. The lack of fear based buying (can you imagine 'fear based buying' for Rice Krispies?) has depressed the gun market.
Big sads all around.
But if the knobbers aren't fearful enough now to race out and purchase even MORE deadly weapons, look for wingers to start screaming about "terr'ists" under the bed in order to help the gun lobby. There's money in murder.
Not to be monopolistic, but I couldn't let this one pass.
The little king holds a Hanukkah party. But only Confederate Jews are invited. No Democrats.
Even better, there are 30 Jewish members of congress. Only two are Republicans.
Small doesn't get much smaller.
The rationale? He doesn't want anyone who says bad things about him, so there! Hmmph. Wah-wah-wah.
I wonder, did they serve petty fours?
What a loser.
A short amendment to Marie's very accurate comment about the White House as the place where self-awareness goes to die:
I'd extend it to the entire Republican Party, with the exception of those who finance it, who do know all they need to know about themselves. In their case there's not all that much in them to know. They just want more money.
I seriously don't think DJT will get that physical exam and have made a five dollar bet with myself on it.
Ivanka: Dad, you know it might be good to check out those nice doctors, and it'll be free! They can fix your dentures so the fake news can't make fun of you!
DJT: Yeah, sure, whatever.
When my dad had dementia I was the one who took him to the Dr. and remember those acuity tests well. He could fake it through some of the questions, but one time the question was what year is it. There was a long pause, and his answer was "who the hell cares!"
Eventually, dementia progresses. Man, the "land of misfit toys" is too perfect.
Having just returned from a family visit, where I needed to help my mother who has advanced dementia, it got me to thinking about Trump’s family health history. My mother’s mother had Alzheimer’s disease, and her older brother has it as well. I checked Wikipedia and learned that Trump’s father had Alzheimer’s for 6 years before dying of pneumonia in 1999.
Although, my mother has dementia, she’s not so far gone yet and vehemently dispises Trump. I can’t write what she really says, apparently foul language is common among some who suffer from dementia.
@Ken Winkes: Thanks for the compliment, but those aren't my words -- they're Aaron Blake's. He's a fine young writer.
@ AK: Re: your comments about Franken: I go back and forth on this but given the atmosphere of the "we don't give a shit about Moore's morals, we jest want a republican in that senate seat," I was hoping Franken would not resign but insist on an inquiry by the newly formed harassment group. I keep remembering someone of heft–-maybe Kant–- who said, "sometimes one has to do something one hates to do to get that something worth while. Or this from Seneca:
"But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger, alike and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it."
Bea,
As my father used to say in circumstances I will not detail other than to say he was not at those memorably unpleasant occasions delivering a compliment, "If you didn't deserve it this time..."
For I do appreciate your caustic wit.