Trump 40: Donald Trump and the Chamber of Incompetence

[apple1]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

One thing I've noticed recently is Trumpy's consistency over certain issues.  Years ago he said X, and he's still perseverating over X.  Years ago he hated Y and he's still perseverating over Y.  More recently it's the Wall; it's an obsession. Immigration is an obsession.  The weird thing about wind generators causing cancer is thought to go back to Trump trying to stop a wind farm in the vicinity of his Scottish golf course. He lost a legal battle and had to pay court costs.  He forgets a lot of stuff, but he never forgets a slight and will seek revenge forever. 

Can this also manifest in dementia?  Some of it is Stephen Miller pulling levers behind the curtain, but certainly not all. 

Well - I don't know. But my Mom used to say that whatever a person is when they are younger and more "with it" - if they develop dementia, they develop into a more extreme version. If they were nice before, they are very nice; if they were hateful before, they develop into be extremely hateful.

I don't know if scientific evidence supports this, but it seems to make sense.

[onekidanddone]

10 minutes ago, apple1 said:

Well - I don't know. But my Mom used to say that whatever a person is when they are younger and more "with it" - if they develop dementia, they develop into a more extreme version. If they were nice before, they are very nice; if they were hateful before, they develop into be extremely hateful.

I don't know if scientific evidence supports this, but it seems to make sense.

My grandmother was one of the kindest sweetest person I've even known. As her dementia progressed she just became more kind, never angry. So maybe there is something to the theory.

[apple1]

26 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

My grandmother was one of the kindest sweetest person I've even known. As her dementia progressed she just became more kind, never angry. So maybe there is something to the theory.

Well - it makes sense to me. :-)

[Howl]

When Trumpy had his first "physical" with Dr. Ronnie, I was pretty sure Trump was being pumped up with uppers and various other drugs that enhance mental performance and I'm sure that's still the case.  It can certainly be Adderall, pharmaceutical grade meth, nootropics, anything. 

Some of the crazy could be the side effects of whatever is being pumped into his body at a given moment. 

I'm not a doctor and don't play one on TV, but surely, at minimum, he has high cholesterol, some level of heart disease and high blood pressure.  Otherwise, why lie about the results of his physicals?  I do seriously worry about him being incapacitated by a stroke. 

A malignant narcissist with dementia/cognitive impairment on uppers. What could possibly go wrong?

Edited April 6, 2019 by Howl

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

It depends on the type of dementia. Some dementias don't change the personality that much but some kinds of brain damage can transform you into a very difficult person even if you were all right before

[Howl]

A couple of things before I go and get on with my day. 

First, not sure if this has been reported: the House Oversight and Reform Committee has requested 10 years of Trumpy tax returns from Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA.   They said they are happy to do so when they receive a "friendly" subpoena.  It's a thing. 

From Politico, Cummings: Tax firm asks for subpoena before providing Trump docs

Quote

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told reporters that Mazars USA, a tax and accounting firm, has asked the committee for a so-called “friendly” subpoena so that it can formalize the process of complying with the panel’s request.

 

And two, Jeff McFadden's amazing twitter thread enumerating specific impeachable offenses committed by Trump.  Full thread unroll here:  Briefly, more on Impeachment.

<snip>

Quote

2. I am tired of waiting to find out about new, or unproven, or accused, crimes committed by Trumpov or his henchmen.
I refuse to believe that "Not convicted for crimes" is a satisfactory standard for our President, and I don't believe that our founders thought so either. 

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[Alisamer]

7 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

It depends on the type of dementia. Some dementias don't change the personality that much but some kinds of brain damage can transform you into a very difficult person even if you were all right before

I agree. The grandma with Alzheimer's was nervous and that got worse, but other than that she just progressed backward, losing memories of people from most recent to oldest. The grandma with the silent stroke - no physical symptoms but very sudden cognitive decline - had been super kind and wonderful (mostly) but she got mean. I think a lot of it was living in a state of confusion, that has to be scary. One night she woke up and didn't know who that man was living in her house (my grandpa, they'd been married ages) and then later that day three women showed up saying "mom, I think you need to go to the hospital" and she had no idea who they were either. At some point the confusion turns to frustration, too. 

I think Trump has dementia, I think it's getting worse, and I think there's no way that will improve his terribleness. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 7:50 PM, apple1 said:

I don't know if scientific evidence supports this, but it seems to make sense.

my mom and sister, both were geriatric nurses, said the same.  just more anecdata.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

Will the man who publicly says "esssoggyn, that's the kiddaofguyheeedev" really be allowed to speak at rallies for his re-election campaign? His ability to speak sensibly is worsening by the day. It doesn't take much to imagine how bad it's going to be in a couple of months time.

 

 

[Dandruff]

25 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Will the man who publicly says "esssoggyn, that's the kiddaofguyheeedev" really be allowed to speak at rallies for his re-election campaign? His ability to speak sensibly is worsening by the day. It doesn't take much to imagine how bad it's going to be in a couple of months time.

The worse, the better, in a sense.  I'm sure others will somehow be blamed for this, but - if it continues and accelerates - some rethinking may occur.

I wonder if Pence is fervently praying for his recovery.

[fraurosena]

Just now, Dandruff said:

I wonder if Pence is fervently praying for his recovery.

Or not...

[Destiny]

33 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

"esssoggyn, that's the kiddaofguyheeedev"

I literally have no idea what the heck that's supposed to be in English. What was he attempting to say?

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Destiny

[Dandruff]

3 minutes ago, Destiny said:

I literally have no idea what the heck that's supposed to be in English. What was he attempting to say?

"kiddaofguyheeedev" may be "kind of a guy he is".  I wouldn't even venture a guess about "esssoggyn".

Perhaps someone could use some decongestant...or might that be a bad mix with other substances?

 

[formergothardite]

Just now, Destiny said:

I literally have no idea what the heck that's supposed to be in English. What was he attempting to say?

 

I've been trying to figure out what it means too. Can anyone translate?

[GreyhoundFan]

43 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Will the man who publicly says "esssoggyn, that's the kiddaofguyheeedev" really be allowed to speak at rallies for his re-election campaign? His ability to speak sensibly is worsening by the day. It doesn't take much to imagine how bad it's going to be in a couple of months time.

The BTs will just claim he's speaking in tongues and it's a sign of his godliness.

[Howl]

Trumpy's becoming more himself over time and no longer editing in any way his naked bigotry, which I think is the malignant aspect of malignant narcissism. 

Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago replenish his narcissistic supplies from his buddies and to rallies for the public adulation from cheering crowds (again, more topping off his narcissistic supplies).  Trump will default to the usual lines at his rallies that get the most response from the base.  Not much intellect, if any, required there. 

I have to admit, though, that I still can't grok the extent to which Republicans continue to grovel at the feet of this scumbag. 

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

I have to admit, though, that I still can't grok the extent to which Republicans continue to grovel at the feet of this scumbag.

I think he's seen as the proxy for their own hate and stupidity.  They, by and large, need to STFU for their own sakes but he openly lets it fly.  He flaunts his power.  Opens the dam.  The crowds roar and the marginalized cringe.  Seems pretty 1930's-ish to me.

[AmazonGrace]

I thought essoggyn was probably supposed to be "decision" (?!?)

He's saying the quiet part out loud and I think some people who up until now have said the quiet part out quiet are pretty happy that being horrible is getting more presidential.

Trying to cover for your bigotry is so tiring, it's easier just to let it hang.

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘It could have been worse’ is the foundation of Trump’s presidency"

Spoiler

Every time President Trump threatens to do something ghastly and then retreats, his enablers and apologists quietly murmur, “You see? It could have been worse.”

Trump’s about-face last week on closing the U.S.-Mexico border is the latest case.

Yes, Republicans in Congress will say privately, he is short-circuiting the Constitution by declaring an emergency to spend money we haven’t appropriated for a wall we didn’t approve.

Sure, tearing thousands of children away from their mothers at the border, and then losing track of them, all while lying about it — that was not a good look.

And, true, threatening to slap new tariffs on auto imports from Mexico may not be the best way to win ratification of a trade treaty the two nations (along with Canada) have negotiated.

But, hey! He didn’t close the border! That would have totally upended the U.S. economy. It could have been worse.

This is a pattern, in domestic and foreign matters alike. True, Trump has insulted America’s closest allies and raised doubts about whether the United States would come to their defense, as promised in treaties. But it could have been worse: He hasn’t pulled out of NATO!

Yes, he has undermined the rule of law by trashing the Justice Department, asking the FBI to go easy on his national security adviser, defying legitimate congressional requests for information, trying to sic U.S. antitrust enforcers on a company he disliked, dangling the possibility of pardons to potential witnesses against himself, refusing to be interviewed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and much, much more. But he didn’t fire Mueller! It could have been worse.

He evicted a reporter who annoyed him from the White House and nearly abolished daily press briefings. But he hasn’t kicked out the entire press corps! He took Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word over that of his own intelligence agencies. But he hasn’t ended sanctions on Russia! He walked totally unprepared into a summit with Kim Jong Un and left with nothing to show for it. But he didn’t give away the store! He made 9,451 false or misleading statements during his first 801 days in office, as The Post’s Fact Checker has documented. But sometimes he tells the truth!

It could be worse.

This is, in fact, the foundation of his presidency. Trump was elected with the assistance of Russian spies and trolls, which he openly sought and celebrated. But he did not (or so we are told) secretly conspire with them.

And it’s true: That would have been worse.

But there are problems with taking comfort from the awfulness of what we have dodged.

First, it can cause us to lose sight of the awfulness we haven’t dodged. Take North Korea, for example. Yes, we should be grateful that Trump did not give Kim everything he wanted during their meeting in Hanoi for nothing in return. We should be even more thankful that Trump has not made good on his earlier threat to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” on North Korea.

Meanwhile, however, Kim continues to build up his nuclear arsenal in a manner that Republicans, were Hillary Clinton president, would surely consider a mortal and unacceptable threat. And Trump allows this threat to grow while embracing and legitimizing one of the world’s most odious abusers of human rights — the killer of Otto Warmbier, of Kim’s own relatives, of thousands of Kim’s innocent compatriots.

Similarly, as we celebrate the news that Trump and Putin did not actively conspire, we may forget how constructive Trump’s foreign policy has been — for Putin. Largely abandoning Syria to the Russians and their Iranian friends; encouraging the Brexit chaos that is undermining democratic Europe; cheering for pro-Russian, anti-liberal leaders in Hungary and elsewhere: Putin couldn’t have scripted it better himself.

As we breathe a sigh of relief that the border is not shut, we may forget the thousands of families separated or in danger of separation due to Trump’s anti-Muslim visa policies, his miserly refugee policy, his churlish decision to seek the deportation of hundreds of thousands of young, law-abiding “dreamers.”

And there is another problem: Every time Trump conjures something unimaginably bad, he makes it that much more imaginable. Threaten to ban all Muslim immigrants, and a blacklist of “only” a half-dozen Muslim-majority countries becomes acceptable.

Float the unthinkably unqualified Stephen Moore as a Federal Reserve Board member, and the unthinkably unqualified Herman Cain becomes more plausible.

Every blustery, ignorant threat erodes trust, at home and abroad. Closing the border would be terrible. But threatening to close the border is not cost-free.

Those who take comfort in the idea that it could be worse, in other words, help ensure that it will get worse.

 

[Botkinetti]

I think trump has always been a spoiled, indulged brat that never had to deal with any meaningful consequences from his behaviour. I also believe he is suffering from dementia now.

The man is a husband and father and it continuously strikes me that on a purely human level none of his family seems to care or be concerned. Perhaps it is payback for how they have been treated by him or it is worth propping him up to have the power and country they want. I don’t feel sorry for him . He needs to be removed from office.