Donald Trump is all bent out of shape by the refusal of many of our allies to jump in and help us in the war with Iran. Only an idiot child would be upset by these positions, but Trump is the most idiotic of children. What did he expect? He has insulted these nations, made fun of their leaders, driven them crazy with his insane tariffs, and screwed up everyone’s ability to do any constructive planning because of his inability to act logically, and now he’s upset because they won’t join, what’s at best, an iffy war.
It’s only because he is protected by a logically impaired coterie of maniacal MAGAs that he hasn’t been institutionalized already. After all, his behavior is certainly tantamount to that of a raving dumpster diver.
I think that since we are in this mess, it behooves us to finish it militarily, or we will be back in it in a couple of years. But it is obvious that we need someone else to drive the bus, or we will end up sorting through the ruins of another bombed-out children’s hospital, located among several grade schools and a maternity hospital.
*****
Mamdani, the mad mayor of NYC, has decided that uncontrolled vehicles are the thing for NYC. One of the few functional things that Adams did for this abused city was to make dangerous traffic violations by bikes and other personal means of transportation into criminal offenses. This actually worked, reducing non-auto violations significantly. There’s nothing surprising about it. Bike riders have already shown that they have no regard for traffic laws or the safety of others. It is practically impossible to walk from Riverside Drive to Columbus Avenue without being accosted by a bike or some kind of delivery vehicle, going the wrong way on a one-way street.
••••••
“Robert Muller is dead. Good, I’m glad.”
That’s a hell of a statement for anyone to make, let alone a president of the United States, about a decorated war hero. But that’s exactly what Donald Trump said this week. This is a clown who’s never tried to do the right thing and never succeeded in even coming close. For those who were waiting for him to make the acceptable move in a situation that called for someone who knew the difference between right and wrong, good luck.
But attacking Muller wasn’t the end of Trump’s stupidity. He went on to speak proudly of ICE and try to sell the idea that they would do a great job of opening up the lines at the airports. I suppose he expects them to do that by shooting a few of those waiting on the lines so as to reduce the numbers. We have all seen how functionally ICE has performed their other jobs so far and can now look forward to our airports becoming the new killing fields that are the usual results of having injected ICE into any situation that threatens to leave the public endangered.
*****
Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina, is leaving the Senate at the end of this term. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because it gives the Democrats a good shot at his seat and it’s bad because Tillis was always strong enough to understand what his job as a senator was and how to do it. I disagreed with Tillis most of the time, because he followed too closely along the GOP thought lines, but he did so because he understood that it was his job to lead and he never abdicated his job. That is why he’s leaving, because he can’t stomach the incompetence and stupidity of the noise that is coming out of the White House.
It’s guys like Tillis, Chris Christie, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul who give us hope that somehow the GOP will take back the Party from the MAGA slime before Trump manages to destroy our country.
*****
So, Trump has decided that ICE will be able to do two jobs at our airports. They can stand in for TSA people who aren’t getting paid and they can grab illegals. This would be fine if they had shown any ability to do even one of those jobs right.
And they won’t be the only ones with guns at the airports. It should be one hell of a mess.
****
In the depths of a Trumpian reign at the White House, I have taken to watching reruns of The West Wing. Yeah, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had been raised believing certain things about what the American president and our government stand for, and I just couldn’t stand what Trump and his idiot sycophants were doing to all the imagery that I was carrying around in my head.
Aaron Sorkin created a model of what the American presidency should be, and in fact has been for a good chunk of the history of our country. Sorkin’s president is basically a good man who has some quirks but knows how to act in public so as to not to embarrass the help. Sorkin’s president would wait until Iran gives him an excuse before he attacks their nuclear sites. He does this because he’s intelligent enough to understand that given even the slightest opportunity they will provide him with the excuse he needs. Trump’s president just isn’t bright enough or patient enough to let Iran start things, so he gives everyone an excuse to shit on his plans.
Sorkin’s White House staff argues with the president, tells him when he’s made a mistake, and guides him down functional paths, while Trump’s staff kisses his ass and tells him what a genius he is no matter how nonfunctional his ideas are.
At least, during his first administration, Trump had a couple of cabinet members and a few White House staffers who weren’t appointed just because they liked the taste of his ass. They, at least, provided some sense of balance that managed to create some guidelines for controlling Trump’s worst urges. Those days are long gone.