[Items of correspondence are not attributed; they remain anonymous. They have been chosen for their inherent interest as journalism, story, or provocative opinion, which may or may not be shared by the editor or other members of the staff of Moristotle & Co.]
Once again, Donald Trump embarrassed himself and the country on Thursday in a New York Times interview. One of the best reactions was tweeted out by filmmaker, actor, producer, husband, and father Rob Reiner. “Rob Reiner pretty much nails what the majority of Americans think about Trump's NYT interview” [Leslie Salzillo, Daily Kos, December 29]. Excerpt:
“Just read NYT interview with DT. We have a sick ignoramus running this country. The fact that intelligent citizens have to live with this moronic pathologically lying behavior is completely unacceptable. We must do all we can do to protect Democracy and rid the US of this fool.” [read more]
Have you heard the news? The person who sits in the Oval Office wants the world to know, sixteen times over, he did not collude with Russia to get there and that, even if he did, “collusion is not a crime.” “Trump airs his many grievances, declares his singular grandeur, terrifies world in new interview” [Joan McCarter, Daily Kos, December 29] [Read McCarter’s article].“Excerpts From Trump’s Interview With The [NY] Times” [December 28]:
MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT: You’re O.K. with me recording, right?
TRUMP: Yeah. Virtually every Democrat has said there is no collusion. There is no collusion. And even these committees that have been set up. If you look at what’s going on — and in fact, what it’s done is, it’s really angered the base and made the base stronger. My base is stronger than it’s ever been. Great congressmen, in particular, some of the congressmen have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole thing is. So, I think it’s been proven that there is no collusion.
And by the way, I didn’t deal with Russia. I won because I was a better candidate by a lot. I won because I campaigned properly and she didn’t. She campaigned for the popular vote. I campaigned for the Electoral College. And you know, it is a totally different thing, Mike. You know the Electoral College, it’s like a track star. If you’re going to run the 100-yard dash, you work out differently than if you’re going to run the 1,000 meters or the mile….
TRUMP: Three and a half months. [Inaudible] So, that’s that. Let’s just say — I think that Bob Mueller will be fair, and everybody knows that there was no collusion. I saw Dianne Feinstein the other day on television saying there is no collusion. She’s the head of the committee. The Republicans, in terms of the House committees, they come out, they’re so angry because there is no collusion. So, I actually think that it’s turning out — I actually think it’s turning to the Democrats because there was collusion on behalf of the Democrats. There was collusion with the Russians and the Democrats. A lot of collusion.
SCHMIDT: Dossier?
TRUMP: Starting with the dossier. But going into so many other elements. And Podesta’s firm…. [read more]
Steve Bannon suggested President Donald Trump was aware of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian operatives at Trump Tower in June 2016 ― because he met with them that day, too, according to an explosive new book by acclaimed journalist Michael Wolff.
The former White House strategist was quoted by Wolff as saying there was “zero” chance Trump Jr. didn’t walk the Russian meeting attendees “up to his father’s office on the 26th floor.” [read more]
| Grateful for correspondence, Moristotle |
The story “Trump Defends His Mental Capacity, Calling Himself a ‘Genius’” from the NY Times evidences Trump’s mental incapacity. Excerpt:
ReplyDeleteThe long-simmering argument about the president’s state of mind has roiled the political and psychiatric worlds and thrust the country into uncharted territory. Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to force the president to submit to psychological evaluation. Mental health professionals have signed a petition calling for his removal from office.
What it comes down to is an effort to understand and explain a president who acts so differently from every other person to have held his office. Mr. Trump’s self-absorption, impulsiveness, lack of empathy, obsessive focus on slights, tenuous grasp of facts and penchant for sometimes far-fetched conspiracy theories have invited armchair diagnoses and generated endless commentary.
“The level of concern by the public is now enormous,” said Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine and the editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” a book released last fall. “They’re telling us to speak more loudly and clearly and not to stop until something is done because they are terrified.”
Another: “Everyone in Trumpworld Knows He’s an Idiot.” Excerpt:
ReplyDeleteBut most of all, the book confirms what is already widely understood — not just that Trump is entirely unfit for the presidency, but that everyone around him knows it. One thread running through “Fire and Fury” is the way relatives, opportunists and officials try to manipulate and manage the president, and how they often fail. As Wolff wrote in a Hollywood Reporter essay based on the book, over the past year, the people around Trump, “all — 100 percent — came to believe he was incapable of functioning in his job.”