Unpresidented

Whatever Donald Trump is suffering from that makes him a scumbag, it appears to be contagious. His entire staff appears to be corrupt and criminal, even those who were once respected generals. We have never seen such a massive scandal. This goes way beyond the charges that are currently being brought against a few individuals. When all is said and done and Robert Mueller's many cases are wrapped up and closed, the political landscape will look very different. One of the two dominant parties in the US will be in shambles, having bet their house on a senile, criminal, sexist, racist, stupid lying Russian puppet who failed utterly even at playing the President on TV. The Republican Party has painted themselves into a very dark corner.

Using one of his misspellings against him for a cheap laugh, Donald Trump is being "unpresidented". And it's about time. Nothing about his presidency was ever right to begin with.

Clutching At Straws

Donald Trump's presidency is effectively over. He has no credibility left, not even with his own base of uneducated white men. He is still hanging on by a thread, trying desperately to distract from the incriminating revelations, but it won't work for long. Chances are he will go down without having a single major accomplishment to show for his time in office. He will truly be remembered as the president who wasn't - the fake president.

The Not-So-Great Pretender

A "pretender" to a title of power is a person laying a potentially valid claim to the title. The United States currently has a different kind of "pretender" as their president, in the sense that Donald Trump is merely faking it, in every possible way. He never had the capability to be the President for real, and with his rapidly progressing case of brain rot, he isn't even keeping up appearances.

It should now be obvious even to the gullible fools who were tricked into voting for him that the United States' highest office is occupied by a senile criminal narcissist without any governing skills whatsoever. Donald Trump is a pathetic joke of a person, elected illegitimately by Russian meddling, and he is not even trying to do the job.

Etymology

Names of people sometimes take on a meaning of its own because of what their bearers did. In politics, Gerrymander was originally the name of the person who first came up with the nefarious idea of redrawing the map of electoral districts in order to achieve a desired election result, but now it's a verb: "gerrymandering". In Scandinavia, a "quisling" was synonymous with a traitor long after Vidkun Quisling's despicable actions during the second world war.

The problem with the name "Trump" in this respect is that it already has a literal meaning: to "trump" something means to make something better which was already good. Donald J Trump, illegitimate and unbelievably incompetent 45th President of the United States, has done the exact opposite: he took a country that mostly worked sort of OK and broke it.

To "trump" something is not obviously going to become a neologism meaning "to make a complete mess of something out of incompetence". On the other hand, Donald Trump is doing some truly appalling things, so we might see a word shift in meaning from positive to negative because of what he is doing.

In any case, the name Trump will forever be tainted, for good reason.

Reset

As the Russia scandal is unraveling, it's turning out to be much bigger and more serious than most people imagined. The election was stolen by a scheme that involved not only Donald Trump and his closest circle of confidants, but lots of high ranking Republicans as well. Even more people have become complicit by joining the attempts at covering up the acts of treason with lies. The Republican Party has dug a hole for itself so deep that it's hard to imagine them ever getting out if it.

When all is said and done, the Republicans should either call for an early 2018 election for the next president, or simply concede the election to the rightful winners, and then go and try to rebuild their party to regain at least some trust and dignity.

Fortunately, He's a Quitter

As Donald Trump's presidency is coming apart, he has taken to figuratively torching the country out of spite, and even his closest allies are beginning to fear that his deranged mind will decide to do something really bad, like starting a nuclear war for made-up reasons.

Fortunately, history shows that Donald Trump is a quitter. When he realises that his shenanigans no longer work to distract from reality, he has a habit of declaring victory and walking away. He has declared bankruptcy six times, each time falsely claiming that his failed business was actually a success and blaming everyone but himself for the bankruptcy.

It has taken him unusually long to see where this is going, but now it appears to have finally sunk in. We can expect him to resign soon.

Of course, this time he won't be shielded by a bankruptcy. He will still face charges for his crimes and go to prison for the rest of his life. There isn't much life left in him, and he might actually become totally senile before any verdict is reached, but he will at least face the charges.

Falling Apart

Donald Trump is finally falling apart. His mind is gone, his voter support is dwindling, he is running out of friends in the Republican party and in his friendly media channels, and now even his own appointees in the White House are losing their patience with his erratic behavior, his irritable mood and his general stupidity. We can only hope he is removed from office before he can start a war.

This Is How Democracy Dies

Today, Donald Trump showed that he would rather be dictator than have to deal with all the inconveniences of a democracy, like a free press and the limits to his executive power. He flouted the idea of revoking the network license for NBC, as if that was something he could do, or something he should even consider doing in a million years.

Donald Trump may be so far gone mentally that he lives in an alternate reality, truly believing that the media is conspiring against him when they are in fact only doing their job, but even if that is the case, the president of  a democracy should not even discuss censorship or attempts at controlling the press. Fake or not, and CNN and NBC are definitely not fake, a free and independent press is fundamental to a democracy.

The President suggesting that NBC should be taken off the air simply because he doesn't like what they are reporting is a very serious matter. It is, quite frankly, reason enough in itself to have him impeached. The destruction of the free press is a first and serious step towards dictatorship and oppression.

Mid-Stage Dementia

Looking at Donald Trump's recent public appearances, and seeing the reports on his behavior in more private settings, it's striking how closely his symptoms match those of a person suffering from dementia and approaching stage 5 of 7, the "middle stage" where the patient suffers from a more severe loss of cognitive functions and exhibits disorientation, delusions and denial.

Leaving the US in the hands of an invalid doesn't exactly strike me as a wise choice. Donald Trump needs to be examined for dementia right away.