The Trump Presidency: Calling a Spade a Spade

The Trump Presidency: Calling a Spade a SpadeA frequent commenter wrote a long and eloquent response, refuting one of my posts on the Trump presidency.  I respond:

It’s funny;  I have a friend on Facebook, my old friend Steve Vachss, who, like you, is a smart guy with a fabulous command of the language, but for some reason sees the need to get into all this pedantic goo. Come on; it’s not rocket science.  

Trump was elected by a relatively small number of rich people who love the idea of tax cuts and deregulation, and a very large number of angry and poorly educated people who were conned, but who were rightfully even more outraged when Hillary Clinton made the single worst political move in the last 2500 years, referring to them as “deplorables.”

None of the things that would immediately disqualify any other presidential candidate: boasting about habitual sexual abuse, proven fraud, a constant barrage of easily proven lies, etc., deterred either of these two groups from casting their votes in his direction.

His demagoguery, obvious lack of any qualification for the office, and proclivity to alienate American allies has, in a little over a month into his term, made our country the laughing stock of the world.

His policies, if implemented, will set environmentalism back a half century, at the precise time when progress is most needed.

Anyone with the sense of a mule sees that it’s, while not proven, extremely probable that he has enormous conflicts of interest in countries all over the globe that he’s passionately trying to hide.

Yes, this is also unproven as of the date of this post, but it’s becoming more apparent every day that there were illicit ties between Trump and the Russians vis-a-vis influencing the election in his favor.

Accordingly, at this point, it looks extremely unlikely that he’ll serve out his term in office. When/if the last of these points is proven, which could be any day now, he’ll be gone in a New York minute.

My viewpoint as I’ve expressed it often, FWIW, is that Trump’s presidency is a nightmare for our Republic, and for the rest of the world as well. The sooner it’s over, the better for all 7.4 billion of us.  Removing him from office will not be a piece of cake, but it’s something that must happen–and it will; it’s only a question of when.

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11 comments on “The Trump Presidency: Calling a Spade a Spade
  1. marcopolo says:

    Craig,

    That’s a well written, well expressed, insight into your opinions and emotions.

    It’s neither factual nor based any anything more than your political and ideological commitments. It’s neither, fair, nor objective, but then it doesn’t have to be, because it’s just an unsubstantiated opinion.

    Don’t get me wrong, you are completely entitled to vent your spleen and express your dislike of the President and all he stands for. That’s both your constitution right and duty as a citizen-voter.

    What you are not entitled to do, what no one should ever do, is confuse your emotional wish list with claiming actual evidence exists of wrongdoing, where no such evidence exists.

    By your own admission, you have nothing more than vague innuendo to support your delusions, and observations such as;

    ” illicit ties between Trump and the Russians vis-a-vis influencing the election in his favor.”

    Fall into the ‘crazy conspiracy. category, since you can’t explain who, how, or even which “Russians” would actually carry out such an objective.

    The closest you get is some unspecified “Russians” obtained accurate information about Democrat wrongdoing. they then revealed this information to help Trump. If that’s true, then you would seem to have shot yourself in the foot, and verified the President’s counter-claims!

    Hard to see how misbehavior by Democrats would bring down a Populist President ! ( even if the methods of obtaining the information were unethical).

    It just doesn’t all add up to anymore than the woeful attempt to prove President Obama wasn’t born in America added up.

    The difference is that Donald Trump doesn’t care about that type of moral reputation, but for his critics to employ such methods, it will prove disastrous.

    Even to non-Trump supporters, these vague accusations are beginning to appear like a silly, malicious witch-hunt by a morally bankrupt and desperate opposition.

    There’s an old saying in politics, “oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose ’em” !

    Trump isn’t vulnerable on any of the issues you raise, because the voters just don’t care. They will only start to care if his administration starts to fail with the economy.

    That’s when the the administration is vulnerable, once it’s economic policies fail, all the issues that don’t matter today will suddenly become important as the rats jump ship.

    Trump will serve out his term. How he manages the economy and how American’s feel about his record, will determine if he serves a second term. Right now his best asset is a desperate opposition concentrating on absurd flights of fancy.

    • craigshields says:

      Nobody knows what’s going to unfold here, least of all me. I only know what I read, I suspect that this is the case with you. Yes, now there is no solid proof of anything too damning. That was also true of Nixon/Watergate in 1973, but don’t forget what happened in 1974.

      As far as Trump’s invulnerability due to the indifference of his supporters to his lies, etc., you have a point, but everyone, regardless of his background and ideology, has his limit. Nixon’s approval rating when he chose resignation over prison wasn’t too impressive.

      As usual, you assert that Trump’s best asset is the zillions of journalists and private citizens who are trying to bring him down. I’ve never really understood how anyone could hold this belief.

    • craigshields says:

      Nobody knows what’s going to unfold here, least of all me. I only know what I read, I suspect that this is the case with you. Yes, now there is no solid proof of anything too damning. That was also true of Nixon/Watergate in 1973, but don’t forget what happened in 1974.

      As far as Trump’s invulnerability due to the indifference of his supporters to his lies, etc., you have a point, but everyone, regardless of his background and ideology, has his limit. Nixon’s approval rating when he chose resignation over prison wasn’t too impressive.

      As usual, you assert that Trump’s best asset is the zillions of journalists and private citizens who are trying to bring him down. I’ve never really understood how anyone could hold this belief.

  2. Breath on the Wind says:

    Marco your suggestion that voters “will not care unless the administration fumbles the economy” is refuted by the impeachment of Clinton. Perhaps you would have to say the liberal democrats will not care but the Republican base could be swayed in this way.

    • marcopolo says:

      Breath,

      The Clinton administration was in a different era and Clinton enjoyed a different image prior to his impeachment proceedings.

      The political atmosphere was different, and the President got caught in a desperately legalistic interpretation of lying. At the best he knowingly mislead the Congress and the American people.

      But he wasn’t removed from office.

      In both Nixon’s and Clinton,s cases the were accusers. Real victims, able to give evidence against real life perpetrators, for easily identified offences, with identifiable motives . (I’ll grant you Monica Lewinsky was a dubious “victim”),

      But where are the accuser’s, victims perpetrators or even motives, in Trump’s case ?

      None can be identified, let alone deposed. It’s all just a vague speculation based on wishfyl thinking and innuendo.

  3. Silent Running says:

    Craig you summed things up fairly well re the CON man Trumpster or the Trumpet as Frank says.

    Marco as usual takes some sort of Contrarian position and makes his usual articulate description of why some ones Progressive Vision is all wrong.

    That is why I tag Marco with a primary role – he is a White Wash specialist and he is going to need to improve his whitewash quality for new and improved full coverage quality….but in the case of the Trumpet there is no amount of Whitewash Paint that begin to cover over the serious flaws that compromise the trumpet.

    A clinical analysis of the personage of trumpet would state that he is no more than a 70 year old wearing thin mentally and emotionally unstable . Two radio shows – last week had a NY based neurologist say on the AIR that Trump exhibits all the signs of Advanced Tertiary Syphilis which in advanced stage leads to emotional and mental instability. So there it could be !!!1 perhaps those DEMs should be crying out for a syphilis test for the Trumpster That would be the Straw that Beaks or Kills the Camel s back!

    Friday he went off on Reince P and Bannon and made them get off his plane ( a vacation every weekend at over priced Margo largo or what ever so much for Populist Marco – that act and over cost will soon wear thin) He is a Pathological Liar – posing as some great commander in chief , the Great White Hope of sorts is so Beyond the Pale – all any Reasonable folks who are not contaminated with self interests like you said Craig don’t have too hear or see more to write him off as a Buffoon.

    Yo Marco over 2 million British citizens signed petitions asking for the PM to deny him a state visit. These are not Democrats crying over a lost election and missed opportunity. The last I heard only around 200,000 British Deplorables say come on over Con man come Charm us with your lies and fake positions, your racism and economic elitism etc etc .

    So put that into your White Wash processor and re order a new Batch of new and improved quality white wash. Your British comrades can see thru the FOG of 1984 quite nicely.

    The Bloom will fade soon for this faux populist for the people, he Coned those deplorables and HRC was right in calling them that but she was the wrong messenger to speak that Bold harsh truth.She had lost her credibility long ago out side of DINO circles. So yes it back fired on her and her circle of self serving Clintonistas!

    A real populist like Bernie Sanders or even B Obama could have pulled that line off as it is the Truth. Much of the American Electorate is so full of self imposed grievances that they can’t aim their anger correctly at the right source nor cause of their anger.

    The dumbing down of american society and culture has made lots of progress. It is more than under mining our Democracy let alone corrupting our politics.
    Most of these so called dis enfranchised voters don’t know who has hurt them. They are Pawns in the hands of the Oppressors and Trumpet being the Grand Master of Manipulation that he is saw this dynamic and saw in HRC a flawed and Arrogant candidate in HRC. He carved her up on the emotional issues and too many voters allow their false emotions to actually become confused and vote against themselves.

    I along with some of my Inner Circle predicted Trumpet’s Victory. Not that we wanted it we just have Good vision we live outside a self limiting Liberal Bias Bubble in contrast to many DEMS or Progressives and GOP gomer types. Our other DEM and Progressive friends got mad at us but over time and now afterwards they see what we all saw. Trump was the perfect candidate to contrast with and inflict serious character doubts about HRC , HRC and her Arrogance had done enough self inflicted wounds to compound the doubts. We could see that the phony claims of HRC that she is now a progressive and is now a Real Democrat who cares about the general public was another chapter in her long career of compromise and compromise the compromise. So I can understand why the Deploreable’s rejected her.

    Yeah she won the popular vote I claim that too, but once its filtered that is mostly Illinois, California and NY talking where she won. Yeeah got lots of votes but So she only won around 55 countries in the entire country. So significant mass of the people rejected her. 53 % of white Women voted for Trump. Shocking too!

    She was a unfit candidate – her long long baggage train is full of too much Establishment insider trading in Washington and her and her con man husband became millionaires while posing as Liberal change agents. DINO Supremo’s !!! Voter studies reveals that her fake ness was revolting to many women including married women. HRC ‘s sins and there are too many to enumerate here factor in her ARROgance and those of her inside the Washington Beltway advisors all elists to the max and their bad , bad tactical strategy led to her upset defeat.

    HRC lost the election more than Trumpster won it Marco.

    It is appalling on the surface that women would support him over her but there is a serious underlying message there. Women over looked all of Trumps serious flaws as Craig pointed out. proves my point about HRC , sorry if the Truth hurts those trapped in Liberal Bubble Bias.

    So we have a real Schism in our land. Serious one.

    Marco you said Trump would be served many Toxic Chalices well he is creating more at a rapid rate.

    This past weekend BS over false claims of Wiretapping is really bad. Conservatives are bailing out on him Marco.
    Sunday
    Comey ( bad cop) who helped Trump get in is now back to being the Good COp – he has clearly stated that Obama did not wire tap trump. He has told the Justice Dept to get this word out. Trump cant go along making these false claims and stirring up those dumb and yes Marco they are Deplorable supporters.

    Listening to conservative GOP Morning Joe show right now who are being very hard in their criticism of the trumper who they helped get elected.

    Joe Scarborough the former GOP congressman just said that 65 % of the American voters want a truly independent investigation of the Russian Trump affairs. Strong super Strong whitewash is needed Marco!

    So Marco your claims and positions as usual are built on shifting Sands and not a good defensible position. Obama was playing CHESS and the trumper team was just playing out their fake and ugly false nationalism so Obama took the information from the British Secret Service along with the Dutch info and Obama circulated that into all the various government Security agencies in multiple copies along with 6 US Senators some Republicons. Even the CONS have the information and investigations are moving along. Obama did this because he knew that Trump is a criminal at his base and could not be trusted to investigate Russia objectively. so Obama laid out More Toxic chalices but Trumper created them.

    Too many people now have it so it cant be covered up. Brilliant move Obama Brilliant!

    Trump now knows that they have info on his sordid Russian entanglements that are significant and huge and dark. He is internally afraid that he just might be Exposed in the coming future and that explains much of his out rageous bad behavior and bad self inflicted Wounds. Trumpets own chalices Now !

    Before it is over his Racist Attorney General Sessions will be squirming like a pig and it will Stain the trumpet more.
    Its far Beyond Democrats being mad about losing Marco its the ugly reality that Trump is UNFIT for any office. It is no surprise to people who can discern that he is the Ultimate Deplorable!!!

    Maybe you should buy UNION made Whitewash Marco!

    Trumps votes are not that big a group to begin with when all the votes are given serious breaking down.

    Trumpster is a Day Trader on his moves per Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe a GOMER !!! he has no long game no game at all just a Fraudster a CON ~!

    Trumpster is digging himself into a deep hole and the time will come when the GOMERs establishment turns on him. Right now they need him as their useful pawn or Schill to get their austerity budget and destruction of the good things in social Safety Net cuts against the people done. Once they get what they want they will break free of him and it will be GOP that trys to impeach in the end. That is a future I see as a distinct possibility. He has no real strong base out side of the racist , nationalist deploreable groups.

    As Craig said yes there are mainstream greedy people who just want their tax cuts, no regulations candy and they are so full of self interest they too will over reach in the End.
    Serious Blowback in the Streets in America is going to be the end result of this Schism growing in America.

    The wine never tasted so good , inspires Deep Contemplative Reflections on this dark circus !

    Regret the length but the trumper topic is of huge proportions Seismic proportions etc. Off the Charts Too !

  4. Silent Running says:

    Craig like you said we don t know how this is going to end…..

    There is so much more to discover but a process has begun so we will have some Great Summer Time reading material.

    Our Mate Marco needs to re formulate his White wash product as the growing heaps of evidence and the growing number of Toxic chalices are growing by the week.

    The latest in the ongoing hrc email scandal is that FBI and Justice Dept have been re classifying several HRC emails that she claimed were all personal w Bill and Yoga etc.

    The lawyer for the press co that is seeking to obtain copies was not allowed into the court room as the Judge ruled in favor of the Goverments New position that some of these emails are classified information.

    This was in the term in parte ? something like that . It means the government met with the Judge alone the news Co could not attend.

    Legal observers say that is a tip off of something wrong or smoking gun version of Yoga perhaps in the emails. So while the Cameras and spot light is rightly focused on the Trumpet and his dubious antics and dark dealings – HRC email may get back into our news cycle again….

    another variable ….could perhaps this lead to exceptions for the Trumper as HRC makes new headlines.

    I trust and hope not but it is interesting. No wonder people regular people are dis trusting of the established Elites !

    Trumpers die hards may stay with him but the GOP main stream and many casual fans will jump ship. But stock in life preservor com-panies perhaps!

    good stuff Trumper is living up to his legacy of darkness and dubious claims this is fun watching the meltdown process begin…

  5. Frank R. Eggers says:

    Craig,

    Much of what you wrote seems obvious even though not all of it has been proven beyond doubt. Also, as you wrote, we cannot know exactly how this will end. However, it may be that getting him out of office will be a piece of cake.

    It may be that making his tax returns public would be sufficient to get him out of office; who knows? Nixon left office “voluntarily” when he realized that impeachment would be inevitable unless he left. The same could happen with Trumpet. Or, he could leave out of shear frustration, or he could have a disabling mental breakdown.

    When he is out of office, looking back it will seem that it was inevitable even though it might not have seemed so at the time.

    • craigshields says:

      I think you’re exactly right. When we look back on this, we’ll see how all this aligned, but for now, it really is speculation.

      I don’t know why it took so long for me to have this thought, but I just Googled “Las Vegas Line Trump Impeachment.” https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=las+vegas+line+trump+impeachment&*
      The odds against this taking place in the next six months are falling every day.

    • marcopolo says:

      Frank,

      I fear you are stuck in an era when such issues mattered.

      There’s no legal requirement for a President (or any citizen) to reveal his tax returns. Promising to do so, then changing his mind isn’t grounds for anything, certainly not impeachment !

      I’m also afraid you’ve bought into your own delusion.

      All his life Trump has proved himself to be very mentally strong and determined. He’s a survivor. It’s a mistake to write him off as a bombastic fool. He’s successful because he’s very cunning, calculating and deceptive.

      The election of Donald Trump proved how far the rules have changed.

  6. Silent Running says:

    @ Marco Polo –

    I choose to accept some of your comments on proving real evidence against trumpsta. Yes indeed he is a cunning and calculating fella he is damn good. He has run a CON business and grown into a global player over a 35 or 45 year plus time frame.

    Granted he has broken the rules but he is still in the game and people are paying him big bucks just for his name no matter how Tarnished and deceptive he has been. he does just enough to keep people Anticipating more Money by working with him.

    This Con pays off his Trump Univ accusers and victims with a $ 25 million dollar check and he becomes president go figure maybe all the rules and order are out the window or Gone beyond the Wind !!! as Marco says.

    No need to belabor the point with all his dubious transactions and maybe a rich but based on a pyramid schemes perhaps.

    The point is he used that cunning to take down a well known and accomplished professional politician with a resume of many things. Trumpsta did a tactic that i will call similar to the famous ZULU Nation tactics in so Africa. They charge you in the middle hard so you return the rush ( she got down and dirty with him and that was a pig wrestling match and she got stained and it stuck – it rolled off of him even in the women voters minds)
    The Zulus each time they charged hard in the middle they got the reaction from the opposing line. But each time they did this charge and feint pull back their lines extended on the flanks and before the enemy knew it the Zulu line was encircling them. And the disastrous outcomes fill the History books!

    Using that concept that is what the trumper did to the Anointed Arrogant Clinton. In the end she got hurt.

    Frank you know my positions on this trumpet he is a not good or up to the job but he may be playing a lot of people and it will take some definitive evidence to get him out. The Dems will be making a strategic blunder if they place all their Eggs in one basket. They need to be pushing back on many fronts.

    Don’t be distracted by Trumpers Circus shows part of it is a distraction strategy to lay smoke screens for his devious plans. That is going on.

    But I too think that there is some more info that will come out. He seems to be real angry and upset that perhaps the Obama man out flanked him and circulated the info. which Obama did Brilliantly good Blocker moves! . Till those hearings flush out things its better to remain in cruise control given the Innate ability of the trumpster to wiggle and maneuver out of deep bad financial holes and bad negative PR over the years.

    He should be long gone buried by now by conventional thinking etc.

    So as Marco says this fella is non conventional a most challenging Foe !
    There is some growing unhappiness with trumpet among some GOP so that needs to expand. if the leaks stop to me it is a sign that he has buttoned up everyone real tight and he is now in bunker mode.

    Todays Polls state 66 % of general public wants a serious investigation so the GOP is also going to have to decide which they play it as their constituents want investigation…Trumpers deplorables dont count they will fall on their swords for trumpet he is their Great White Hope LOL

    Time will tell. Comey has been flying lots of flags !

    Frank from the Moral High ground you are spot on.
    But we can’t be like Gen Percival of the Royal British Army in Singapore WW 2 His arrogance and Rabbit like moves undermined his numerical advantage against the Japs. He had 90,000 Imperial Troops and the Japs had a little over 30,000 – Arrogance lost that key battle. We must be Vigilant.