Back in April, President Trump did an interview with Reuters in which he said that he was already missing the lifestyle he enjoyed prior to assuming the office: “I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,” he said. “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”
It wasn’t a surprise to his longtime friend, radio shock jock Howard Stern. On the February 1st airing of his program, Stern told his audience that he had warned Trump off of running for president:
“I really was sincere, I said, ‘Why would you want to be the president of the United States? You’re not going to be beloved, it’s going to be a f*cking nightmare in your life,” Stern recalled telling Trump in audio first flagged by CNN’s KFile.
“He stepped into a situation that’s really not a win for him,” he added. “He’s a 70 year-old guy, he’s got a great life, gorgeous wife, great kids, he’s got helicopters, airplanes, all the accoutrements of the great life… so now to step into this f*cking mess, and for what? There are people who are better suited for this kind of thing.
“He didn’t need this in his life.”
More importantly, Stern predicted that the presidency wouldn’t be a “healthy experience for Trump.”
“I know something about Donald Trump, he really does want to be loved,” Stern said. “He does want people to really love him. That drives him a lot. I think that he has a very sensitive ego and when you’re president of the United States, people are going to be very very critical.”
I thought about Stern’s comments as soon as I read the following report from Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair:
In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”
According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!”
I don’t think Trump ever thought he’d win a primary, let alone the nomination or the presidency. He wanted attention and he wanted to build his brand. Maybe he wanted to do the Russians a favor and torch Jeb Bush’s neoconservative presidential aspirations.
Before long, he might grow as pissed at the people who voted for him as the rest of the world is already feeling. “What kind of maniacs thought I’d be good at this job?” I can envision him saying.
I’ve been saying all along that the best path with Trump is to pressure him to resign rather than impeach him, although threat of impeachment is one of the best ways to do that. He’s used to walking away from failure; look at all his bankruptcies. Las Vegas just showed us what one guy with a lot of guns can do, and there are a lot of guys who will gun for Trump. Get Trump himself to convince them to accept the outcome if possible.
Does he really walk away or is he extracted? Any reporting on this? It would be really valuable to know and help wargame the end of this story (one can hope).
I could see Mueller offering a deal, with the good of the country in mind: resign now, agree to issue no pardons to the rest of your fellow crooks I’m about to roll up, and we’ll let bygones be bygones.
No, there’s no way. That’s a political solution. That’s not Mueller’s job.
That’s right. I’m not sure the GOP Congress will let that deal occur even if Mueller volunteers in secret to take a dive. Their political viability is now so linked to Trump that they will not act like the Watergate Republicans.
The scenario here is a threat to imprison Trump’s family, not impeachment. The GOP Congress doesn’t necessarily have a say.
Oops, sorry I was thinking of the other subthread.
A prosecutor offering a perp to resign in lieu of prosecution is not political, that is a legal solution. Happens all the time.
If Mueller needs to let the crooks go let them go. Justice is not what matters here. Getting Trump out without the country erupting into chaos is. The important thing is to get Trump himself to confirm and prove the changes and talk down his lunatics.
It sounds bad, but I think a good way is to go after his family. They don’t need to be impeached. And do it with state charges to moot the pardon issue. And it’s still justice, since you’re not going to be ale to get them on anything they’re not guilty of. It’s a kind of plea bargain.
Palin resigned, but she claimed she was forced to by partisan “witch hunts.” Trump would do the same, which would enrage his cultists rather than convincing them t accept his resignation peacefully.
That’s why part of the deal would have to be a Trump confession and presentation of evidence. Some will still not accept it, but capitulating to it will make Trump look a loser anyway.
Obvious comparisons include Hitler and Goebbels, both of whom left the world utterly unrepentant, convinced (in Hitler’s case at least) that they would go down in history in the pantheon of Germany’s greatest heroes, and disappointed that the German people had, through their own weakness and inadequacy, let Hitler down — failed to reach his goals for them.
And, probably bowdlerized, there’s Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, blaming an advisor for a critical failure of his — the adviser protests, “I told you not to do it, sire!” to which Amin responds, “Yes, but you did not persuade me.” (Meaning it’s still the advisers fault.)
Great minds think alike. It takes a certain very special type of person to become a demagogue. By definition you have to be a failed sack of shit with near-psychotic neediness and identity problems.
Yes, wonderfully done, with the correct comparison to Der Trumper’s (somewhat more successful) antecedent. However, the implication is a bit darker than you convey, as Hitler ultimately sought actively to have the German people destroyed as a result of their weakness in failing him and his colossal egomania. Trumper’s potential line of operation here entails the destruction of North (and of necessity) South Korea. Whether China elects to destroy us (and themselves) as part of the project falls into the sort of miscalculations the Clowns of August 1914 engaged in.
Will Trumpism end with the demise of Trump (as Hitlerism did) or extend beyond the life of its namesake? Much will depend, of course, upon how quickly Trump ushers in an American Gotterdammerung, as Hitler obviously did for Deutschland. But in any event, 2016 made clear that there is no political future for FailedNation, Inc., what with 40% (45%?) of the populace now hopelessly beyond reason and rational thought. A house divided cannot stand, or something like that.
And can a nation without a political future have some sort of economic future? This is the last “hope”, and the plutocrats and CEOs running our corpocracy obviously think so, but I have my doubts…
Yet he retains a death grip on the GOP base, which makes it impossible to unseat him. I wonder what would happen if the Cabinet voted to depose him, and then the entire GOP and their base, rallied around Trump when Trump refused to leave office, which of course, he would. There is NO way anybody is forcing him out, except in hand-cuffs.
He might not love his job, but he is already talking about a second term. Personally, I wouldn’t bet 1cent on it, but probably the only way he doesn’t face crippling lawsuits and attacks on his various criminal business enterprises is if he retains his grip on power.
That, after all, is why most dictators remain in office despite mounting pressure and massive hatred from the populace, long after it can be anything but a nightmare for them. There is simply no safe way to resign and it’s totally humiliating to leave under pressure.
We need think no further than Shakespeare’s King Lear for classic examples of what can go wrong when a tyrant tries to retire. Now rebellion and execution are not considerations for Trump, but certainly if he left power, he would become vulnerable to all kinds of inquiries into his financial misconduct. He’s almost certainly committed all kinds of tax fraud for instance, probably under-reporting income, using questionable deductions, etc. If he were some ordinary citizen he’d already be fighting an IRS criminal prosecution. Who knows what kind of skeletons will ultimately be revealed? He’s not terribly bright, and his arrogance makes him assume he can just flout every law and get away with it. He has so far, right?
But, he’s already made the fatal mistake of trying to fire Comey in order to squelch an embarrassing inquiry into subjects he never thought anybody would force him to face. Now the only thing holding off an impeachment inquiry from the House on Obstruction of Justice Charges is GOP control which is probably fatally endangered by their failure to pass any legislation at all. If the GOP loses the House or Senate in 2018, it’s lights out for Trump.
Meanwhile the base still expects things they are not going to get: a border wall, evicting 11 million “illegals”, some kind of jobs initiative perhaps, some “fix” for Obamacare, middle-class tax cuts. Fox News will cover up as much as possible and blame Democrats for every thing. But, already the cast and crew of this leaky boat are looking around for others to blame for the inevitable failures.
This already has the feel of a Greek tragedy where the outcome is pre-ordained. The only question is how much damage he will do on the way out. Hopefully not more than a lot.
Illiterate King Lear with the nuclear football.
But he told us he had the highest IQ!
In other news, I don’t think it’s taxes that will do him in, but the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Especially his China deals.
Mueller is investigating possible foreign interference with the election. Russia? Better check China too just to be sure (it’s all within his mandate). He’s hired a 4-star bribery specialist. We will see what we will see.
He’s hired a 4-star bribery specialist. We will see what we will see.
John Roberts and the other 4 Supremes have told us there is no such thing as bribery, unless it is a super-explicit quid pro quo.
Everything is within Mueller’s mandate. A Federal Prosecutor has almost total discretion to investigate any federal crime, and quite a few state ones. And if you sign your tax return and it wilfully conceals assets and there’s a pattern of such conduct, that’s Tax Fraud. Lying under oath is perjury. Nobody who knows anything about Trump believes he isn’t guilty as sin of a multitude of serious felonious financial dealings. The only question up till now is “who’s going to prove it?” He was shielded by his fame and money. It’s not an accident nobody prosecutes billionaires.
But, now? Now the investigation is honing like a heat-seeking missile on Trump himself. I remember a friend of mine in high school wore an “Impeach Nixon” straw boater hat. Students and teachers in that conservative town were outraged. It was 1973 and nobody could believe that Nixon would or could be impeached. The very suggestion could only have been intended as a provocation in their eyes. And yet it was 1 year later that the axe fell.
A lot can happen in a year, and Trump has 3 years left to go. At the very least, the impeachment scandal is going to devour the Trump Presidency as it did the second Clinton Administration.
He retains a death grip on the GOP commentariat and its shock troops.
And that retains a death grip on the GOP Congressional Caucus, minus a few–most recently Corker.
As long as we are talking about Trump’s death grip on the GOP Congressional caucus, I saw today that Paul Ryan once again confirmed mine and my husband’s belief that the Speaker is the most gutless congress critter extant today. When asked about Corker’s remarks, Ryan said that Trump and Corker “needed to have a meeting and talk through their differences”. Tonight Chris Matthews called the remarks a cover-up? We called it another classic Ryan weasel.
What would you expect him to do? Profiles in Courage? He would be instantly destroyed if he turned against President Turnip. Since he is a Republican Congressman, and therefore has no soul, he can only preserve his own skin, which he will continue to do by spouting the most insane nonsense whenever he has to. Long ago he went from being the Golden Boy on the cover of Time Magazine, the future “GOP intellectual” who was destined to lead the party and even be the Next Great Gipper. He probably even began to believe it himself. But, the party didn’t want him. He was out-monstered by Trump, and now he’s just another Water Boy swallowing his pride and begging for scraps from Trump’s table. They all are.
They bear their humiliation in secret because they must. Trump, like Stalin will never leave them with an ounce of pride, because the prideful are dangerous. They might turn and bite you. But, those whose spirits you have crushed will never dare raise their heads.
Until the hour when any of them can bite their master’s hand arrives. . . . which it very probably will during the Impeachment Inquiry. At a certain point the party is going to abandon Trump to save themselves. And he has not one friend. He has rewarded the most loyal with the most withering scorn and abject humiliation – like Jeff Sessions, who also is a monster, who was also out-monstered by President Turnip.
Lest we forget:
https:/www.rawstory.com/2016/12/russia-withheld-hacked-rnc-emails-to-help-trumps-campaign-report
But none dare call it treason.
Well, no one with any power to do anything about it….
Extra points for profound historical irony. Seeing a lot of this these days.
What’s the over/under on Trump going full Bond villain and shooting people at a Cabinet meeting for failing him?
And if Trump starts shooting, would the Secret Service be obliged to also target his victims, or to try and disarm him?
Just leaving this here; fair warning it’s difficult to unwatch:
You mean full Saddam Hussein? I reckon he probably couldn’t handle a gun.
But yeah.
“”What kind of maniacs thought I’d be good at this job?””
There is no way in heck he would EVER say that. Ever. He is convinced he is good at everything. Every single thing.
He didn’t walk away from failures…he probably benefited financially from all his failed (I used the term guardedly because we perceive them as failures; I doubt he does) businesses and bankruptcies. Even agreeing to pay $25 million in that Trump University settlement wasn’t perceived as something he did wrong. Or that he was bad at. That $25M was a nuisance fee for him to clean the slate.
Nope. Not enough experience with real people with NPD perhaps. He would and will never say this. I do appreciate the satirical tone of this though 🙂
The good side of narcissism is it drives the narc to really try to do better, to get that praise they crave.
The bad side – when it’s out of control, or the job is really beyond reach – well, it gets really ugly. Anybody and anything that crosses him is going to get a beating. That’s obviously what the problem is.
I would like to know more about what happened to him during his spectacular flops 15-25 years ago. We’ll get a version of that, minus whatever sense he had which has since been lost to dementia.
Holy shit – I never thought I’d agree with Trump on anything!
Sounds like a statement that comes from fear. Will the donald have another cabinet meeting where they go around the table declaring how great the donald is to work for?
Resign in a huff?
Could happen…
Let us pray.
AG
“If you can’t get a taxi you can leave in a huff. If that’s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.” – Groucho
Damn. Beat me to it.
I do believe that Trump hates this job and hates everyone around him in the White House, in Congress, on his Cabinet, in the Pentagon, in BigSpy, etc. Why wouldn’t he? Trump is used to being the KING of his companies, calling all the shots, hiring and firing at will, and generally always getting his way.
I can only assume from some of the nonsense he spouted during the Primary that he actually believed that he could “run” the country and Presidency exactly as he ran his various companies, as the King. His fanatical fans certainly have been brainwashed into believing that he should be able to run the country this way: as King/Dictator.
But he cannot. In theory, he needs to collaborate with others to accomplish at least short range (I believe medium and long range goals are out the question for Trump) goals, but he simply cannot do that. Collaboration? That’s for wusses, not for Dictators.
I rarely look at his photo, but I’ve made a point to look at some recently. I think he looks really bad (not being mean). During the campaign, I have to say that he looked energized and alert and happy. Now? He looks awful – beaten down, unhappy, miserable and, frankly, sickly.
But will he give up voluntarily? Heck no.
If no other reason than that he and his family are busily hoovering up as much Ca$hola as possible. If he gets off this mega-grifter train, the opportunities may never come back. I think that, at least in part, Trump is also motived by continuing the yuuuuge grift that he and his family are engaged in.
Can we all say: CHA CHING!!??!!
Everyone who has ever reached the level of the Peter Principle has either suffered from impostor syndrome (until they succeed or drop out) or thought that everyone around them are idiots (until they crash and burn).
I agreed with you up until the last sentence.
My analysis of Trump is exclusively guided by the narcissistic personality disorder section of DSM-5:
– Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from others
– Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
– Self-perception of being unique, superior and associated with high-status people and institutions
– Needing constant admiration from others
– Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
– Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
– Unwilling to empathize with others’ feelings, wishes, or needs
– Intensely envious of others and the belief that others are equally envious of them
– Pompous and arrogant demeanor.”
It is exactly him; with no crumbs of hopefulness about self-awareness.
My prediction has always been that Trump’s presidency would not go a full term, and it won’t be because of impeachment. At 70 years old and not in the greatest physical or emotional health, what with the unhealthy eating habits and body weight, and all that unhinged ranting and raving, it would not surprise me if Trump is forced to resign for health reasons. He’ll pull a “Palin,” declare victory over his enemies and detractors and what’s left of him will run into the adoring arms of what lunatic fans remains.
As Stern says, he really loves the adoration, and I could see him starting some type of “movement” who’s sole purpose would be an excuse for him to continue holding those rallies with his torch carrying, goosestepping followers.
Sorry, there seems to me no plausible scenario in which Trump relinquishes power of his own free will. I’m inclined to doubt he would even leave without incident after losing an election or serving a mandatory two terms.
Better we might ask ourselves, “What are the odds of him winning re-election?” In the event of, say, a war?
I believe resignation is very plausible, for the reasons previously stated, but that’s just my opinion. And if I had to bet it won’t be legal or political pressure, but his physical/mental health will be the reason he won’t be able to complete the first term. I believe one reason Trump had that doctor sign off on a phony health check up is because he knows he’s not in the best of health. Given his age, weight, diet and emotional well being, or lack thereof, he’s a perfect candidate for a health disaster.
In the event I am wrong, I really don’t see impeachment happening, only because the GOP will not support it, which brings up the possibility of war. Its the GOP’s Trump card for ginning up popularity for their unpopular leaders — Bushes I and II come to mind. And Trump clearly doesn’t understand the impact of nuclear war, as he saber rattles against North Korea and a potentially nuclear armed Iran, if the Trump GOP has its way. Given who he is though, Trump wouldn’t give a damn as long as he believes he’ll be safe.
Looking at the big picture though, I don’t see Trump leaving office in any way as a solution for democrats or the sane world, because the real problem is the republican party has long since gone off the deep end, and as long as its in power, and the democrats remain unable to play the opposition party game very well, doesn’t matter much who the president is. Dems got to make Trump a symptom of what the GOP has become.
I agree with your conclusion. I’ve been saying for a long time that the GOP as currently constituted is a national security liability to America. There’s lots of dark money in the world and they seem unable to place integrity over prosperity. Perhaps we all have a vulnerability in that regard.
I’m reading a lot of early American history, which is illuminating, and our system seems to have been designed around the assumption that the culture of integrity abides among the American people.
It was also designed with the assumption that a certain level of fact-based knowledge and understanding of events was required. The point of the First Amendment was to make sure the press was free to essentially provide information so that citizens would be able to make informed decisions. Jefferson also said:
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
The concept of integrity is the exception now rather than the rule in our political system, thanks to money. And the GOP has been able to stay in power while putting money and wealth ahead of the needs of the nation by cultivating a culture of ignorance that essentially proves Jefferson correct.
Promoting prosperity over integrity has failed us, as you say. Time to strive for the ‘rule of law’ while the law remains just.
Trump is an unconstrained narcissist. Of course he thought he’d win the presidency. Of course he’d think it would be easy. He still thinks it makes him a king, outside the law. This is a man who bragged about receiving a billion dollar bribe from a foreign company days before his inauguration.
If he thought being rich and famous gave you the right to assault women, imagine what he thinks the priveleges are of being leader of the world.
As for his desire to be loved, he could have taken a different track than the unrestrained bigotry and racism that has been his one unwavering ideological philosophy. Trump’s core value is hatred, not love.