Tag: Trump fragile ego

The short arc of a Sharpie captures the long arc of Trump

The Trumpification of a deadly hurricane turned a forgettable flub into an unforgettable presidential feud.

The tone of the entire Trump presidency was captured this week with the simple swipe of a black Sharpie.

An ill-timed, inaccurate but well-intentioned Twitter warning from President Donald Trump at the start of the week extended into a five-day presidential feud by Thursday, transforming a forgettable fact check of his words into an epic storm of attacks as the president repeatedly doubled down and dug in.

Trump’s latest move of promulgating false information, blaming the media for the coverage of it and then subsequently turning that controversy into a seemingly pointless multiday story reminded current and former White House aides, advisers and Trump allies of all the times in business and government he has leaned on the same playbook of never, ever backing down: whether it was the value of his real estate business or the crowd size at his inauguration or his statements about Chinese tariffs.

View the complete September 5 article by Nancy Cook on the Politico website here.

Trump shows fake hurricane map in apparent bid to validate incorrect tweet

Trump points to map with black loop extending hurricane’s path

President made baseless claim that Alabama would be affected

To the annals of American political scandal, we must now add Sharpiegate.

View the complete September article by David Smith on The Guardian website here.

Reporter reveals the White House’s ‘extraordinary lengths’ to protect Trump’s thin skin by shielding him from protests

AlterNet logoDiscussing Donald Trump’s visits to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday, Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire detailed how the White House tries to protect the president from criticism.

“Donald Trump has never had an easy time seeing protesters lining the streets near the motorcade,” he said. “And the White House, particularly in recent months, have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep those images from him.”

He continued: “I’m remembering last year in Parkland, when he was there after that school shooting, he went nowhere near the school itself or where the protests were and just paid a quiet visit to a hospital. But most strikingly, this past year in London, where he was there and there were huge protests greeting him in the British capital. And instead of just driving two or three miles where he’d have to see them, they took helicopters to avoid them, to fly well above the protests.”

View the complete August 8 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Top Democrat says Trump’s aides blocked a crucial briefing out of fear it would ‘bruise his ego’

AlterNet logoSpeaking on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia urged the country to pay more attention to the issue of election security in light of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony.

“Where we’ve been focused is the point that Bob Mueller made repeatedly yesterday, not only did Russia attack us in 2016, but they will be back in 2020,” Warner said. “I’ve got no interest in re-litigating 2016, I am interested in making sure that we have appropriate protections in 2020.”

But as I argued on Wednesday, we can’t really separate present election security issues from what happened in 2016 and President Donald Trump’s subsequent efforts to cover it up. As it stands, Trump is the primary force in American politics preventing the country from fortifying its election systems against foreign influence and corruption.

View the complete July 26 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

I‘It Could Have Been Any of Us’: Disdain for Trump Runs Among Ambassadors

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Ask members of the Washington diplomatic corps about the cables that Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador who resigned Wednesday, wrote to London describing the dysfunction and chaos of the Trump administration, and their response is uniform: We wrote the same stuff.

“Yes, yes, everyone does,” Gérard Araud, who retired this spring as the French ambassador, said on Wednesday morning of his own missives from Washington. “But fortunately I knew that nothing would remain secret, so I sent them in a most confidential manner.”

So did Mr. Darroch, who, alone and with Mr. Araud, tried to navigate the minefield of serving as the chief representative of a longtime American ally to a president who does not think much of the value of alliances.

View the complete July 10 article by David E. Sanger on The New York Times website here.

British ambassador who called Trump ‘inept’ in leaked cables resigns

The Hill logoThe British ambassador to the U.S. resigned on Wednesday, days after leaked cables that criticized President Trump escalated tensions between the two close allies.

Kim Darroch’s resignation came one day after Trump bashed him as a “very stupid guy” and “pompous fool” and his tenure became a flashpoint in the race to replace outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“Since the leak of official documents from this Embassy there has been a great deal of speculation surrounding my position and the duration of my remaining term as ambassador. I want to put an end to that speculation. The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like,” Darroch wrote in his resignation letter, released by the U.K. Foreign Office.

View the complete July 10 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Trump says he will ‘no longer deal with’ UK’s ambassador to US

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday said he would “no longer deal with” the U.K.’s ambassador to the U.S. after leaked cables revealed the diplomat’s blunt assessment of the Trump administration.

In a pair of tweets, Trump bristled at Ambassador Kim Darroch’s description of him as “inept” and suggested a new British government could make changes.

“I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him. The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister,” Trump wrote.

View the complete July 8 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Navy confirms request was made to ‘minimize the visibility’ of USS John S. McCain during Trump’s visit to Japan

The U.S. Navy on Saturday confirmed that it received a request to “minimize the visibility” of the USS John S. McCain warship while President Trump was visiting Japan last month — an episode that has raised concerns about whether the commander in chief’s political grievances might be infecting military culture.

Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, the Navy’s chief of information, said in a statement that a “request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President’s visit.”

He added that there were “no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain,” and that the Navy was “fully cooperating” with a review of the situation ordered by acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan.

View the complete June 1 article by Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

Emails Confirm Pentagon Effort To Keep USS John McCain ‘Out Of Sight’

Earlier this week, Republican activist Meghan McCain reacted angrily after learning about the Wall Street Journal’s report that some people in the White House wanted to keep the USS John McCain out of sight during President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan, where he met with Prime Minster Shinzo Abe. And CNBC’s Amanda Macias is reporting that two sources have confirmed that a government e-mail shows coordinated White House efforts to keep the warship out of view.

In the e-mail, posted by Macias on Twitter, one of the directives is that the “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.”

There was considerable animosity between Trump and Sen. McCain, who was 81 when he died of brain cancer on August 25, 2018. Trump deeply resented the Vietnam veteran and former POW for helping to derail the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare — and he in turn lambasted Trump vehemently after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland in July 2018.

View the complete May 31 article by Alex Henderson on the National Memo website here.

Trump ramps up attacks on media ahead of White House correspondents’ dinner

President Trump has reignited his attacks on the news media in the days leading up to the White House correspondents’ dinner, underscoring the White House’s use of the press as an effective foil.

Trump will skip the dinner for a third straight year, opting to hold a rally in Wisconsin instead on Saturday night. He also has directed other administration officials not to attend.

“The correspondents’ dinner is too negative. I like positive things,” Trump said earlier this month in explaining his decision.

View the complete April 27 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.