Tag: Trump rage

Overwhelmed and losing, Trump is melting down in a narcissistic rage

AlterNet logoReports of Trump flying into a rage behind closed doors–shouting at aides, turning on former allies and at one point threatening to sue his campaign manager for failing to deliver good polling numbers–have been ubiquitous over the last three years. But this past week feels qualitatively and quantitatively different, as has fired a series of inspector generals, lashed out at the reliably sycophantic Sen. Lindsey Graham, pushed a number of snake-oil cures for Covid-19 and threatened to cut off federal funding to several states for the “crime” of sending voters applications for absentee ballots, which he insists against all evidence are rife with fraud. He’s lurched between falsely bragging about the number of people we’re testing for Covid-19 and saying that we’re testing too many; between claiming that we’ll have a vaccine by November and insisting that the pandemic will just disappear without a vaccine.

Never a stable genius at the best of times, he’s really melting down before our eyes.

Part of the story is that when the Mueller report didn’t sink his presidency and Senate Republicans acquitted him for a brazenly corrupt and well-documented abuse of power, it gave him a sense of impunity. Impunity always breeds more lawlessness. Continue reading.

In one incident, a series of realities about Trump’s presidency seem to be confirmed

Washington Post logoWhat happened last week seems to be straightforward.

An intelligence official briefed the House Intelligence Committee on assessments establishing that Russia would work to aid President Trump’s reelection in November. That briefing was relayed to Trump by his loyal ally, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), leading Trump to reportedly believe that only committee chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) had received the information. In a meeting the next day, Trump blew up at then-acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire about the briefing. Maguire was removed from his position Thursday.

Why was Trump angry? According to sources who spoke with The Washington Post, it was at least in part because Trump thought that the information being provided to the committee could be used against him and, further, was a continuation of what Trump has constantly argued is a false narrative about Russia’s efforts to boost his candidacy in 2016. Republicans on the committee pushed back during the hearing in a way that Trump would appreciate: Why would Russia want to aid Trump’s reelection when his administration had levied sanctions against the country? Continue reading.

Trump raged at White House staff over wall funding before announcing emergency: WSJ

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal posted a behind-the-scenes deep dive into President Trump’s signature issue, a wall along the United States’ southern border. In the story, written by Michael Bender, Trump emerges as an angry and unprepared figure, often yelling at staffers who failed, in the President’s estimation.

“Who the f— put that in my request?” Mr. Trump shouted in one testy 2017 exchange related to funding for the wall, according to Bender’s story.

The angry comment was directed at Marc Short, then Trump’s legislative affairs director, while John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, was silent in the room, per Bender. The long read further pointed out that the various failures in getting the wall started the past few years may be the fault of Trump himself, who failed to appoint a dedicated point person on the wall, despite the barrier being as his signature policy initiative.

View the complete February 16 article from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump’s latest rage-tweets about Mueller and border wall reveal GOP weakness

The following commentary by Greg Sargent was posted on the Washington Post  website July 30, 2018:

Michael Cohen flipping? Opinion writer Jennifer Rubin says the Mueller investigation is looking more and more like a mafia case. (Gillian Brockell, Kate Woodsome/The Washington Post)

THE MORNING PLUM:

Over the weekend, President Trump escalated his rage-tweets about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, threatened a government shutdown to get his great wall on the southern border, and blasted the news media for selling out the country, while basically shrugging at the idea that egging on his supporters’ hatred of the press might be placing independent journalists in greater danger. It’s a reminder that Trump’s authoritarianism and bigotry will be front and center in this fall’s midterm elections.

An important new analysis of the House map by Nate Cohn of the New York Times may help explain Trump’s escalations on all those fronts — or if not, it certainly provides crucial context for understanding how those escalations might shape the battle for control of the lower chamber.

Cohn’s central finding is that the House map is turning out to be a lot broader than we expected. The districts that are in play aren’t merely suburban ones in which Hillary Clinton did well in 2016; they also include many working-class and rural districts that voted for Trump. Cohn analyzed the 60 GOP-held House seats that are rated competitively (Lean Republican, Toss Up, and Lean/Likely Democratic) by the Cook Political Report. Here are the key conclusions about the aggregate electorate in those districts:

View the complete commentary here.