With the exceptions of MSNBC and CNN, I don’t watch traditional “network” television, but even I’m passingly aware of a television show on CNBC, with a bunch of passably photogenic, moderately coherent venture capitalists giving sad sacks who come with their hands out a ration of shit. It’s called “The Shark Tank.” If CNBC ever makes a show like that about being an aide or staffer in the Trump White House, they would call it “The Snake Pit.” It’s a natural.
Working in the Trump White House is not a job for the faint of heart, or for those with a healthy sense of self esteem either. When you have no appreciable skills for the job, your best way to survive is to make everybody else in the joint look worse than you are. This is a Beethoven sonata to a man who has spent his entire life cultivating mistrust and double dealing in his staff to keep them from getting together and becoming strong enough to threaten him.
It has long been a running joke that not only does Trump have an attention span about as long as his manhood, he refuses to read. Cartoons and jokes abound about Trump’s daily briefing materials being a series of pop-up books, and it was reported early in Trump’s presidency that there were a couple of staffers whose only job was scouring newspapers and magazines to create a fat folder every day, stuffed full of positive, glowing, ego fulfilling articles about His Lowness. Funny stuff.
Well, guess what? The joke is over. It has been common knowledge that as Trump degenerates, and his poll numbers drop, aides are casting about desperately for any third world, unprofessional, unscientific poll that shows him still on top of the world. That’s just fine and ducky with me. Hell, let him stay delusional right up until poll closings on election night. He thought he was surprised when he won?!?
But it’s worse than that. Because, even in the monkey house that is the Trump administration, there are still a few people left who are tethered enough to reality to see storm clouds on the horizon, and closing quickly. Even the Clueless Wonder is starting to sweat the economy, and those below him with an unobstructed view of reality are freaking out, not only at the signs of a weakening economy, but at the terrible reality that there isn’t a man-jackin’-one of them in the administration that has any kind of a plan for dealing with a recession — but they don’t even have anybody capable of forming a plan to deal with one.
So, what is the clear, steely eyed plan to deal with this approaching disaster in a professional, presidential manner? The same old shit. They’re running around like media went on lunch break, scouring every newsstand and third rate website for any cribbed up, mathematically questionable figures that can make it seem like the economy is still as strong as steel, and Trump is still the world’s leading economic savant. Cuz if there’s one thing that Da Boss hates, it’s bad news.
So, how do you like dem little green apples? These are your tax dollars at work folks. The number one, overriding responsibility of any presidential administration is supposed to do the best job it can in protecting the interests of the American people to the best of its abilities. Forget all of the other stuff Trump throws out on a daily basis like the first pitch at a company picnic softball game. It is the job of the president to surround himself with capable people to give him the best advice possible in making decisions. And it is those peoples’ jobs to be honest brokers, to “speak truth to power” so to speak, to make sure that whether the chief executive likes it or not, he has the best information to go on while making decisions. Instead, what we’ve got is the winter home for the clown cadre of a third rate traveling circus.
Indications are that Trump is actually worrying quite a bit about the possible downturn in the economy, and it’s possible effect on his reelection chances. For quite possibly the only time in his entire sad, misbegotten life, Trump is aching for some accurate information and advice that will help him to pull his chestnuts out of this open fire. And what is he getting? Totally bogus, specious, made up bullshit figures and pie charts thrown together by his staff to keep him mentally and emotionally sedated, so that he doesn’t throw the Tevo remote control across the room at them. What a way to run a railroad.
Isn’t it just ducky that we have a 7 year old, entitled, dumb as a bag of wet hair, shit stained, little orange monster throwing a hissy fit, in charge of our once great country. To stupid to know that he’s stupid. But as long as he can abuse the help he gets to go to sleep happy every night. Good times…..
Yeah…These idjits keep redefining “inmates running the asylum,” don’t they???
What the Bible actually says is “pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Which…if one is inclined to believe the wisdom of the Bible…is probably even more disconcerting, because then we are going to predict a destructive fall for Trump, which isn’t the most desirable thing for that position.
Yeah, but dat shit would have made the title too long…lol
I’ve been committed lately to remaining open to see whether he does a few good moves over the summer. Looking into buying Greenland was not a bad thing IMO.
IF Trump said: “We’re facing economic uncertainty, and I am forming a panel of 7 experts to help guide White House polity into the next year” and IF he stacked it with real experts, not pols, I would be impressed. Geez, no one can know everything, what’s wrong with “bringing in special help” for a special problem?
How is buying Greenland not a bad thing? Assuming it wasn’t a giant waste of time…you have to assume he wanted to slap his name on it as the biggest phallic compensation move of the century, and was likely planning on opening it up to resource exploration.
No, the option of bases both air and naval close to the Baltic ssea alone would make it an intelligent tactical decision for national security purposes…Kind of like Caribou Barbie being able to see Russia from her porch…
I realize at first glance it sounds insanely stupid, and in Trump’s case the reason he’s interested almost certainly IS insanely stupid. However, the fact is the U.S. has seriously explored this in the past for strategic reasons. As the Cold War was getting ramped up the “Greenland Iceland United Kingdom” (known in DOD circles as GIUK) was of vital importance in our maintaining control of the Atlantic. Btw our base rights there have also been important in keeping the Arctic neutral in the face of a USSR/Russia which wants to claim it as their own. Keeping the Soviet fleet bottled up (or significantly so) and preventing them from basing bombers on Greenland & Iceland that could attack shipping lanes to Europe in the event of war was crucial. Treaties for bases are all well and good but with Greenland in particular and so little of it’s land mass being inhabited it was a big chunk of real estate that would be nice to completely control. There’s also the aspect of natural resources that might be under all that ice so there was also the consideration of technology being developed that would allow exploration and extraction on a cost efficient basis or the bad option – which would be Russia gaining control and doing such exploration in a devastating way not to mention a significant military buildup on their part which would have (as I’ve noted) created an untenable threat. IOW the idea was for us to get out hands on the place so potent adversaries (and even China was a concern) would not.
So again while Trump probably just sees a giant hunk of land where he can build stuff with his name on it on coastlines and make a bundle with oil/mineral extraction (of course it’s not like the world is going to need giant new sources of oil as this century progresses but again we are talking about Trump) Greenland does have some strategic value. Given what Trump is doing to our international relationships and turning allies into if not enemies then countries that are seriously doubting whether they can rely on us in the future I’d imagine more than a few folks at DOD and even career folks left at State are worried that Greenland might decide to terminate it’s relationship with us or more likely refuse our use of it for strategic purposes – and blow a big hole in our ability to control the Atlantic basin and fight to keep the (melting) Arctic neutral.
No, I get why buying Greenland wouldn’t be a bad thing…I meant that *this* president trying to buy it is a bad thing, like flying a 747 to Hawaii isn’t a bad thing, but this president trying to fly a 747 would be bad.
I just meant he’d create a mess because he wants his name on a big piece of land.
beside that it’s part of Denmark, and not at all available as real estate?
He’s had professional help , but he’s too stupid to listen to them. And, you can’t buy a damn country, idiot !
It’s obvious that he needs more professional help, but of a more ‘medical’ type.
What makes it bad was that it turns out that somebody said it to him as a joke, and the fucking moron RAN with it…