Right Back At Ya

Donald Trump has no imagination when it comes to insults. Whenever he is criticizing others or calling people names, it seems like he ends up opening a window into his psyche to blurt out something that is actually a reflection of himself. During the campaign he used slurs like "crooked Hillary", "lying Ted", "low energy Jeb", "little Marco" and, tellingly, "crazy Bernie". All of these epithets can be rightfully attached to Trump: a criminal and habitual liar who often appears aloof and disinterested, who is fundamentally insecure despite his wealth and power, and who is increasingly mentally unstable. After taking office, he went after media calling them "fake news", but his own lies are obviously aimed at creating a false narrative where Trump is good, and everyone criticizing him is bad. When his ratings plummet, he says that CNN and NY Times are "failing" despite evidence that both are very successful and attract more viewers/readers than ever before. Trump, however, is losing support from his voters with every tweet.

A while ago, he called Chuck Tood at NBC "sleepy eyes Chuck" for no apparent reason, just when the taxing task of governing started to make Trump lose sleep and feel miserable about his job. Now, he accuses the hosts of Morning Joe on MSNBC, Joe Scarborouh and Mika Brzesinski, for the faults he should see in himself. He makes a full frontal attack through Twitter, calling them "psycho Joe" and "low IQ crazy Mika". Neither label sticks on them, but Trump is obviously not right in the head, and it might start to dawn on him that he is not nearly as smart as he would need to be to occupy the oval Office.

"low IQ crazy psycho Trump". Yep. Sounds right.

An American Hero

Brian Karen, journalist for the little known publication The Sentinel Newspaper, did something today that someone should have done long ago: he ripped into the lies of the White House, as told by complicit tool Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She repeated Trump's preposterous claim that the Russian meddling in the election is a hoax. When she went on a rant, called CNN a "disgrace to media" and claimed that mainstream media are constantly making up their own news at will, Brian Karen interrupted her and told her that her accusation was inflammatory to every reporter in the room, and that her job is to answer questions, not to wrongfully accuse honest, hard working reporters of spreading "fake news".

Sanders responded that she "totally disagreed" with what Brian Karen said, and moved on to taking a couple of softball questions from Fox News. She didn't admit to anything, but the ice has been broken, and we can perhaps hope for this to start a trend. The constant lies from the White House need to be called out for what they are instead of being ignored but accepted as normal, or as in the case of Fox News and other right wing outlets, swallowed and repeated to the world without shame.

Panic Mode

Donald Trump is in panic mode. He is trying to blame Obama for the Russian meddling in the election, accusing him of "collusion" and "obstruction" in a futile attempt to deflect and to diminish the seriousness of those terms, he is suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, fervently denying the existence of "tapes" proving his team's collusion with Russia and demanding an apology, and to top it all off, he threatened Syria over their alleged preparations for another chemical attack, catching his central command off guard and making them ask themselves what their commander in chief is doing.

Something is about to drop in the Russia scandal, and Trump seems to think it's bad and imminent. Let's hope he is right about that.

Why?

The latest Republican attempt at a health care bill has finally been released for scrutiny, after having been drafted in ridiculous secrecy. The text is everything people feared: it's not really about reforming health care, it's about dismantling "Obamacare" and removing access to affordable health care insurance for tens of millions of people. The money saved will be used to give large tax cuts to the very rich, mostly the top 0.1% of Americans.

What the Republicans are trying to do is a massively unpopular move, even among their own voter base. Taking health care away from people in great need will result in the death of thousands each year, and for what? Giving money to those who don't actually need it? This looks like political suicide from the Republican party. Their financers and their inner circle might think it's a great idea, but they still need voters to remain in power. Their strategy so far has been to first keep the legislation secret for as long as possible, and then to tell blatant lies about what it will mean to citizens. It's not working, and they are being called out for it. The bill is being characterized as "heartless", "evil", even "homicidal". And still, they try to ram it through.
 
This is not how to govern in a democracy. It's reminiscent of the plutocracy in countries like Russia, where a small group of extremely wealthy people are allowed to enrich themselves further by government-administered robbing of ordinary people.

Seriously, what are they thinking? Why are they doing this? How do they think they are going to survive politically if the bill passes?

The President Who Wasn't

President Donald Trump is going down. Everything he has done as President, which isn't a lot, and anything he does before he is ousted, which probably won't be a whole lot more, is going to be tainted by the knowledge that he was deeply corrupt and a criminal. He has failed to do anything right on the job so far, and it's not likely he will suddenly learn now. What use is it to keep denying his crimes? What can he possibly hope to gain from clinging to an empty title and sullying it even more with his disgraceful behavior? His legacy will be "the president who wasn't", not some bill he signed that was repealed soon thereafter.

Resign, Donald Trump.

Losing It

President* Trump is losing everything. He is losing every fight with the courts on his travel ban. He is losing his support among voters and Republican members of Congress. He is losing members of his administration. He is losing control over the news, as he is trying in vain to suppress the flow of information from a White House in disarray. He is losing his wife, seeing how she publicly keeps her distance, sometimes even treating him with scournful disdain. Donald Trump is even losing his mind. Whether his increasing cognitive problems are due to dementia, mental illness, exhaustion, age or plain stupidity, or some combination of those, he is no longer making any sense. He never did, really, but now it's more obvious than ever that there is no deep thought behind anything he says. From the look of it, he is losing his grip on reality, and pretty soon he will be losing his job.

Trump is a dragonfly president, putting all focus on getting through the day and assuming he will be gone tomorrow. And at every single turn, he is losing.

Dunning, Kruger and Trump

In psychology, there is a term called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which says that a person with a very low level of skill for something also lacks the ability to recognize higher skill in others, or even fails to acknowledge that skill is required to perform the task well.

The United States has an extremely unskilled president. He might not even understand why people think he is bad at his job. No wonder he throws tantrums and obsesses over conspiracy theories.

Of course, this is not an excuse. It only makes Trump even less suited for his job.

Reality Check

Ten people, perhaps more, in Donald Trump's administration have now hired expensive defense lawyers specializing in corruption and financial crime. They are expecting a lawsuit, and they are expecting to need high powered representation in the upcoming legal fight.

It's very likely that the United States is currently governed by a bunch of criminals. Let that sink in for a while. Criminals. How did we even get to this point? And how much longer is it going to take to set things straight?

A Tale Of Ties And Tape

Taped ties:

1. Red ties worn by Trump, knotted too long for some inexplicable reason, with a piece of Scotch tape on the back to stop the short end from peeking out. Pathetic, but not very interesting.

2. Russian ties being set up or discussed by Trump or his associates in a situation where the conversation is recorded, i.e. "caught on tape". Quite interesting indeed.

There are rumors aplenty of recordings where hapless Trump associates are caught in the act of committing crimes, or discussing crimes they either committed or are planning to commit. The most recent rumor of that kind is that there are recordings of Newt Gingrich arranging shady deals with the Russians, but he is not the first to be mentioned, nor will he be the last. Donald Trump's mantra "there is no evidence" is most definitely not true. Over the past few months, evidence has been piling up as it is collected, and soon it will be released in a big, fat batch of lawsuits that will be both fascinating and depressing to watch.

Old Man Yells At Cloud

The peculiar construct that is President Donald Trump is coming apart at the seams. No wonder, because it was old and worn and not very well built. Reports tell stories of a man obsessing over the "cloud" of the Russia scandal, yelling at his TV and talking crazy conspiracy theories. Whatever attempts he made to do his job and run the country are no longer on the agenda. His focus is now entirely on the investigations about him and his staff, and the White House is in disarray, paralyzed by the lack of leadership.

The attempts at pretending that everything is fine are failing as well. As the intelligence leaks gradually reveal the depth and extent of the scandal surrounding the President, and as the suspects lawyer up, it becomes abundantly clear that Donald Trump is finished, not only as president, but as a businessman, as a brand, and as a person. He will not be missed by many.

Lalala, I'm Not Listening

Imagine Donald Trump putting his hands over his ears, closing his eyes firmly and shouting "Lalala, I'm not listening!". That is more or less what he is doing right now. He used to grip for a straw that is no longer there: "I'm not under investigation". His favorite comforting mantra now seems to be "Nobody has found any evidence". That, however, is most likely wrong.

Donald Trump does not seem to understand how a criminal investigation works. When proof or circumstantial evidence is found, you don't announce it to the world and to the suspects. You keep it under cover and dig for more until your case is solid enough to press charges. It's very likely that several people in the White House are facing serious charges over various crimes, but the hammer won't fall just yet. We can rest assured, though, that the various investigators have found a lot more than rumors, or else the probes would have ended long ago.

Amateur Hour

Donald Trump has made almost nothing but dubious personnel choices for his administration, but today's announcement went beyond ludicrous and straight into crazy territory. To run the New York federal housing programme, overseeing the distribution of billions of dollars in grants and subsidies, he picked Lynne Patton, Eric Trump's wedding planner and the organiser of some golf tournaments for the Trump family business. She appears to have no relevant experience whatsoever in property administration or construction planning. She previously had a job at the equally incompetent Ben Carson's HUD department.

Picking someone so ridiculously unqualified for this job is either crazy, a sign of unprecedented nepotism, or a desperate choice because nobody else wants to work for Donald Trump. Either way, the choice is deeply unsettling.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Is it possible that Donald Trump was unaware of the financial and political ties between people in his administration and Russian interests? Yes. He might be a bystander to all this. It's unlikely, but possible. It would certainly explain his bitternness towards journalists if he truly doesn't know that Russia interfered with the election in several ways.

Would that be an excuse? No. He is obsessing over the story instead of letting the investigations run their course, he is grossly incompetent and refuses to understand even the most basic facts of democratic government, and his erratic behavior is a sign of a person who is not well in the head. His fan base is leaving him, both in Congress and in public, and he has no business being the President of the United States of America. His own lack of restraint has made matters much worse for him lately, and his unhinged crazy tweets have made him look a like a guilty liar rather than a hapless, innocent bystander. He might be going down because of his own tweets and careless public statements, but he is going down nonetheless.

Draco Dormiens Nihil Titillandum

Trump and his allies are mounting desperate counterattacks to the revelations that more and more of them are being sucked up into the criminal investigations by the FBI, Congress and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Because they have run out of other options, their strategy is to attack the messenger. However, with Mueller it backfired spectacularly. He has a solid reputation for being fair and impartial, and those who try to discredit him now are making enemies of the entire intelligence community. As a result, there has been an increased stream of leaks from within the intelligence agencies, hinting at a much bigger and more serious scandal than expected, and also mentioning the existence of audio recordings that prove both collusion with Russian interests and financial corruption by several top people in Trump's campaign, his transition team and his administration.

For Donald Trump and several of his associates, it's time to stop talking and prepare for legal action against them. This is big, it's ugly, and it's not going to go away no matter what they say or do. Their day of reckoning is approaching.

Great Comedy

Malcolm Turnbull, prime minister of Australia, was caught on tape performing a monologue mocking Donald Trump. The performance was supposed to have been off the record, but frankly, it would have been a shame. Turnbull happens to be great at comedy. His timing and delivery is spot on, the clip is hilarious, and it went viral. Great material, masterfully delivered, with feeling, to a captive audience. I won't link to it, because the audio is likely to be taken down and move around, but it will probably remain on the Internet indefinitely. Google it. It's short, sweet and burning.

We should probably expect Donald Trump to declare trade war with Australia or something like that in return. He clearly has no humor when it comes to himself. In any case, Turnbull will probably not be invited to the White House again for as long as Trump is the President. In other words, not for at least several weeks.

Sinking And Stinking

Republicans are finally starting to distance themselves from the disaster that is Trump's presidency. It's shameful that they kept supporting him for this long, and they should be held accountable for being complicit in making America dysfunctional, but at long last, they are seeing that the stench from his corruption, collusion and confusion is too strong to ignore and impossible to hide. Donald Trump is stinking, and sinking, and Republicans are no longer betting on his survival as president.

Just Like A Real President

June 14, 2017: The Senate Judiciary Committee finally opened an investigation into Donald Trump's attempts at derailing, suppressing or outright ending the investigations into the suspicious activities of his associates. Shortly thereafter, Special Counsel Robert Mueller made it known that he is doing the same, and met with the Senate investigators to make sure the two investigations don't end up interfering with each other.

With this, Donald Trump is now finally on the path to do something that a real President has done before: have his ass handed to him by Congress for obstruction of justice. True, the president he takes after is Nixon, who might not exactly be the best role model, but still.

Irony Is dead

This tweet from Donald Trump takes some sort of prize:

Fake News is at an all time high. Where is their apology to me for all of the incorrect stories???

Mr. Trump, what are you trying to do? Play the pity card? It's way too late for that. Your lies are no longer working, your crimes are catching up to you, you have no control whatsoever over the news flow about you, and you are going to be exposed for the fraud you are. You need to apologize to the people of the United States and to the world for what you have done, but we are not going to whine and ask for that from you. We just want you gone.

Spatial Unawareness

There is something seriously wrong with Donald Trump. His presence of mind and his awareness of his surroundings seem to be severely limited, and his facial recognition skills appear strangely degraded. In his first full cabinet meeting, he said "Let's start with the Vice President. Where's the Vice President?" and swiveled his head. Mike Pence was seated right in front of Trump, on the other side of the table, in the designated seat of the Vice President. Trump had just made a small but laughably untrue speech about his own greatness, giving him plenty of time to take in the room, but he was unaware of who was seated next to him, and it visibly required some effort on his behalf to recognize Pence.

A person with dementia will gradually lose the abilities that Donald Trump appears to be losing: awareness, focus, face recognition, logic reasoning. It's not just his shrinking vocabulary that has people worried. His entire appearance is now screaming of a senile old man.

Asking For Trouble

President* Donald Trump is stupid, dishonest and absolutely terrible at what he does, but now he is also very obviously miserable on the job. His cabinet tried to lift his spirits by putting on a bizarre show which could have been taken from Kim Jong-Uns North Korea: his cabinet secretaries took turns to heap grossly exaggerated and undeserved praise on him while the media covered the meeting. By the look of it, it didn't help.

Once again, Trump is contemplating the worst possible move in the current situation: he is reportedly considering firing independent counsel Robert Mueller, the person responsible for investigating the Russia scandal.

Firing Robert Mueller would be the direct equivalent of what made Congress finally turn on Richard Nixon. Not even Trump, with his loose grip on reality, can be unaware of that. Is he actively trying to get himself impeached? Quitting is not his thing, but he might finally realize that his attempts at staying on the job are futile and looking for an exit where he can claim unfair treatment and go down fighting, at least in his own mind to stroke his huge but brittle ego.

We may actually be looking at Donald Trump trying to get fired.

Or, we are looking at a person so detached from reality that he simply doesn't understand that the world wants him gone. Given his track record, both options sound plausible.

Good At Being Stupid

There is no doubt that Donald Trump is dim-witted, although it's unclear whether it's by birth or by dementia, and many of the people around him appear to be stupid as well. What's more, their stupidity appears to be bad enough for them not to realize that they are indeed stupid. Some of them, like Trump himself, even sem to think they are smarter than everyone else. Psychologists describe the Dunning-Kruger effect: people of some talent recognize better skill in others, but people without talent fail to see the difference between good and bad work.

Most people in the Trump administration seem blissfully unaware of their own lack of skill and talent for what they do. They actually think they are doing a good job. Sadly, this makes it very unlikely that they will ever improve. They are good at being stupid, and they will keep it up until they are removed from office.

Mind Over Matter

As the matter of the Russia investigation has closed in on the President and his close associates, the question arises: what is really on Donald Trump's mind? Does he honestly believe that he is innocent? Does he consider himself invincible, untouchable and above the law? Is he just trying to stay on the job for one more day at a a time, or does he have a long term plan? Is he really the hapless fool he appears to be? Or, is he an evil, calculating criminal who should be removed from power immediately, before he can do any more damage?

Is it wise to allow him to remain on the job while being investigated for serious crimes? I really don't think so.

Caught Up In Audio Tape

Just like in the Watergate scandal, the circus around Donald Trump and his alleged crimes has come down to a dispute over an audio recording. James Comey claims that Donald Trump asked him to drop an ongoing investigation of Mike Flynn, and to pledge his loyalty to Trump personally in order to keep his job. Trump says he never said what Comey claims he said, and that he might have tapes to prove it.

Trump might actually have recordings. It wouldn't be a big surprise if conversations in and near the Oval Office were recorded. Several other presidents have routinely done it. The one-on-one conversations with Comey were a breach of protocol, but Trump doesn't seem to care or know about such things. However, it is also probable that any such recordings support Comey's story rather than Trump's, and that Trump had no intention of releasing them. He just wanted to intimidate Comey, but it backfired. Comey seems fine with any such recordings being released, and the Trump administration has now been ordered to release them if they exist.

Trump drags his feet in response, apparently to stall for time. Questions of the day are: Do the tapes exist? If so, will they be released? And will Trump try to alter the recordings to make them less incriminating for him? Technology has come a long way since Nixon, and we will not get anything as obvious as the 16 seconds silence where Nixon had deleted his direct admission of guilt. However, there are still methods to detect if a recording has been altered, even if Trump enlists the help of his Russian hacker friends to doctor the surveillance recordings before he releases them.

Those 16 seconds of silence on the Watergate tape was what ultimately brought Nixon down. Donald Trump had better think carefully before making alterations to any tapes he might have.

Disgraceful Exit?

Now that we can see the end of President Trump, one question is whether he will ever admit to any wrongdoings. He never does that, ever, but his gullible base of die-hard Trump supporters need to hear him say something to make them understand that he conned them into voting for a crook. If he goes down claiming his innocence and sticking to the pathetic story that this is all a witch hunt directed by the deep state, there will be a large amount of people in the United States who genuinely believe that they had "their" president taken away from them. They are already disregarding the fact that he obviously favors only already wealthy people, that he doesn't care one bit about his voter base, and that he actually tries to pass legislation that would make lives harder for most ordinary citizens. It's not hard to imagine that they can ignore more facts. They will believe Trump if he keeps claiming that he is innocent, no matter how much evidence is presented or how many case are brought against him.

It is important that Donald Trump confesses and apologizes at the end of this crazy episode in US politics or, if he is too embarrassed or too stubborn to face the nation, that someone close to him makes the apology on his behalf. If his voter base is left wondering whether he was innocent, USA is facing domestic trouble with a risk of violent riots against whomever succeedsTrump as president.

Let's hope that Donald Trump, despite his deeply deluded mind, can find a way to come clean in public after the bitter end. It would be a better way to go than to deny everything.

Sarah Through The Looking Glass

In the press conference following James Comeys testimony, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, quote:

"I can definitely say the President is not a liar."

You could hear people struggling to hold back laughter. This is beyond silly. We are entering a Bizarro world where the only defense Trump can muster is a denial of reality.

Ooh. Burn.

James Comey on why he thinks he was fired:
"I take the President at his word that I was fired because of the Russia investigation."
Burn.
Then, he added:
"Although the President may not be telling the truth."
Double burn.
He started his testimony by saying that the initial reasons given for his firing were defamatory lies, plain and simple.  If the hearing continues like this, there won't be much left of Donald Trump's presidency when Comey is done speaking.

Defending the Indefensible

At what point will the Republicans in Congress stop closing their ranks behind President Trump, stop supporting him and start asking for his head? Wity every new piece of information coming out concerning Trump's complete lack of talent for the job, his strange economy and shady dealings with Russians, his backers in the House and the Senate are making themselves look like active accomplices by not crying foul and asking him to resign.

The Republican Party is tethering itself to a sinking ship in hope of keeping it afloat for just a little bit longer, when the right thing to do would be to cut loose and leave the ship to sink. The chances of getting anything done under this president are slim to none. Wouldn't it be better to simply face reality, get out while they can still save face, rebuild the party while there is still something left to save, and try to win an election for real next time?

Republicans ought to be ashamed. In fact, they should be beyond shame and bring out the pitchforks. But I guess they don't think anything like me.

Going Down Like Al Capone

Al Capone, famous for his violent and ruthless booze smuggling syndicate during the prohibition, did not actually go to jail for his main crimes, because he made sure to keep his distance and let his minions do the dirty work. Instead, his demise was a massive case of tax evasion, which earned him a long sentence. It was of course a disappointment to the prosecutors who had hoped to nail him for his main crimes, which were heinous and brutal, but the end result was the same: he ended up in jail and never regained control of his organization.

Donald Trump may have committed treason by his conspiration with Russia, but he also appears to have had enough shady dealings in money laundering to die in jail. Whatever gets him incarcerated and out of the Oval Office is fine with me. I'm not picky.

His Own Worst Enemy

Donald Trump has been instructed by his lawyers not to tweet without thinking, but he obviously can't think. Today he decided "screw it" and tweeted some more about what he yesterday referred to as his "Muslim ban" that he must not call a Muslim ban, but instead called it a "travel ban" after his lawyers have spent months trying to argue that it isn't a ban at all. He then went on to claim that what he really wants is the original, unconstitutional version, and then some.

His lawyers must have all made facepalms when they saw this. Donald Trump went straight against their advice and sabotaged any chances he might have had in getting the not-a-ban approved in court. He is truly a moron. But we knew that already.

Scared, Stupid And Stubborn

Following the terrorist attack on London Bridge, world leaders responded through the proper official channels with a unified message: we grieve with Britain, and we stand united against terror. Donald Trump, however, started off with a premature tweet before the story was confirmed, long before the London Police had announced that they were treating the heinous act as a terrorist attack, and what he chose to put into that tweet was basically "OMG WE NEED TO BAN ALL MUSLIMS *NOW* FROM ENTERING THE U.S!".

Trying to immediately use the attack for his own political gain. Ugly.

He followed up the next morning with a tweet based on a stupid misunderstanding of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Trump is not a good listener, and his brain is obviously not working right. Khan had told people not to be alarmed by the increased presence of police in the streets, but the bigot Trump who seems genuinely disturbed by the fact that Khan is a muslim, tweeted (paraphrased): "OMG PEOPLE ARE DEAD AND HE SAYS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM!"

Attacking the Mayor of London over a stupid misunderstanding the day after a terrorist attack struck his city. A new low, even for Trump.

Then something extraordinary happened. The Mayor of London was asked to comment, and he said "I have more important things to do than respond to a tweet from Donald Trump." Using his name and not his title sent a clear message: Donald Trump is not a proper President, but a twittering fool.

The President of the United States is being ignored and openly dismissed as a nuisance. Over the course of just a few months, Donald Trump has transformed the United States from the de facto leader of the free world to an annoying disturbance. He is an embarrassment and a disgrace, and he needs to go. Now.

Update: the following day, Khan made a comment on Trump's tweet, pointing out that the quote was taken out of context and misrepresented. Trump, refusing to admit that he just misread, made an even bigger fool of himself by calling that a "pathetic excuse". That's right. Donald Trump, President of the United States, took to insulting the Mayor of London in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack, which he and the London Police handled admirably. Is Donald Trump so filled with hatred of Islam that he simply cannot see that Khan, who happens to be Muslim, is a far better leader than him?

Donald Trump is actually claiming, with angry fervour, that the rest of the world read Khan's message wrong, and that only he, Donald Trump, read it right. For a person who can barely read, that is a pretty bold claim.

Trump is not just uneducated and unintelligent. His angry tweets are starting to look like the ravings of a madman. As if it weren't enough that he is ignorant, stupid and mean, he is also crazy, in the literal sense: irrational, erratic, paranoid.

The President is crazy. We really, really can't have that.

Spacing Out

"White House detaching from reality in 3... 2... 1... Mark."
"Disconnection confirmed. WH, you are now in moral and ethical free fall. No arguments will reach you, and your narrative will be unhampered by facts."
"Commencing tests. Donald Trump, our great leader, today received congratulations from everyone for his bold decision to unilaterally pull out of the Paris Climate Accord and join the proud nations of Nicaragua and Syria in forging its own path ahead."
"It seems to be working. You said that with a straight face."
"What? Sorry, I can't hear you. But I really don't want to. The White House wishes everyone to know that President Donald Trump, our glorious and benevolent leader who makes America great again with his every breath, is currently handling international politics by playing golf. He hit five hole-in-ones already on the first round and solved several of the world's long standing problems by sending out carefully worded, perfectly balanced and absolutely correctly spelled tweets. Other world leaders are bowing down to him in awe."
"Hello? I think you may have broken something there. We see some very strange readings on our end. This seems to be backfiring."
"Everything is fine. The President is doing a great job and everybody loves him. There is no Russia story. The future looks bright, and we are so very, very."
"So very what? WH, you're off the scale. That was way too much for the system. You had better come back and do a reality check."
"Lalala, I'm not listening."
"Ground Control to WH, do you read me?"
"Ooh, look, a butterfly! President Trump invented those, you know. Few people know that, but it's true."
"That's it. You're gone. You will crash and burn, and there is nothing we can do. Ground Control signing off."

Big Mouth, Small Brain

Next week, James Comey, the former director of the FBI who was fired by Donald Trump, is going to testify in a public hearing before a Senate committee. His testimony is public by his own request, and it is expected to be incriminating for Trump. Comey will probably  verify under oath what he has already said: that he was inappropriately pressured by Trump to pledge his personal loyalty to him, and asked to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn's dealings with the Russians. By his own admission, firing Comey was meant to take the pressure off of Trump. Needless to say, it didn't work, and Trump is now in deeper trouble than ever.

There was one way Trump could have dodged this bullet: he could have invoked the so-called executive privilege, which gives the President the right to confidentiality in discussions with senior staff. However, Donald Trump does not know anything about the law, or about anything else for that matter, so he has already burned that bridge by running his mouth in public about how great his meetings were with Comey, and how he was assured no less than three times that he was not under investigation himself.

Because Trump has already given a public account of his memory of those meetings, he cannot claim they are secret, and he can't stop Comey from presenting his version of what was said. Comey's recollection is likely to be very different from Trump's, because Comey kept notes, he has a good memory and a fully functioning brain, and he is an honest person.

By lying in public about something that boosted his ego but really didn't matter, like he always does, Donald Trump could actually have become the ultimate leaker, the one to finally expose his own lies.

Trump-to-English

After months of listening to Donald Trump (a true ordeal), I am finally able to present a partial translation guide. It might seem very simple, but he has been using these phrases consistently with the meaning below.

"Fake news": an inconvenient truth
"Everybody knows": I claim this without any evidence
"People are saying": some paid shill tweeted
"Nobody knew": everybody knew but me
"Few people know": most people know but I just found out, although I completely misunderstood it
"When people hear this, they are surprised": I just made this shit up
"I swear": I'm kidding
"I promise you": I really don't give a crap
"Believe me": I am lying to you
"It's true": it's not

Use this parlor to better understand President* Trump!

Everybody Except USA

With the announcement that he intends to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal that was created largely through US leadership and US initiatives, Donald Trump has once again shown that he is isolating the United States from the rest of the world. He has previously distanced himself from the EU, the UN and NATO, as well as his neighbours Mexico and Canada, just to name a few. His isolationist policy is not rational. Its roots are to be found in his obsolete and misinformed view of the world, and it will leave the United States behind when the rest of the world moves forward.

Donald Trump is a sad, lonely person, spending his evenings alone in the White House, obsessing over some imaginary conspiracy or "unfair" treatment, shouting at his TV instead of doing his job. He is a bully and nobody wants to play with him. If his decisions to withdraw from international collaborations continue, it won't be long before the United States is also a sad nation alone against the world, for no good reason.

The President is currently burning bridges and destroying the international reputation of the United States, doing damage that will be hard to undo when he is removed from office either for his financial crimes or his treasonous acts to steal the election. It would be wise to speed up his removal by any legal means that are available.