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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| It's Time to Get Rid of Donald Trump |
| 2017-05-27 |
| Geez. Tell the Krauts to pony up a few miserable marks, and they go off on the guy. [Spiegel] Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States. He does not possess the requisite intellect and does not understand the significance of the office he holds nor the tasks associated with it. He doesn't read. He doesn't bother to peruse important files and intelligence reports and knows little about the issues that he has identified as his priorities. His decisions are capricious and they are delivered in the form of tyrannical decrees. He is a man free of morals. As has been demonstrated hundreds of times, he is a liar, a racist and a cheat. I feel ashamed to use these words, as sharp and loud as they are. But if they apply to anyone, they apply to Trump. And one of the media's tasks is to continue telling things as they are: Trump has to be removed from the White House. Quickly. He is a danger to the world. Trump is a miserable politician. He fired the FBI director simply because he could. James Comey had gotten under his skin with his investigation into Trump's confidants. Comey had also refused to swear loyalty and fealty to Trump and to abandon the investigation. He had to go. And then there's the downside... Witnessing an American Tragedy Trump is also a miserable boss. His people invent excuses for him and lie on his behalf because they have to, but then Trump wakes up and posts tweets that contradict what they have said. He doesn't care that his spokesman, his secretary of state and his national security adviser had just denied that the president had handed Russia (of all countries) sensitive intelligence gleaned from Israel (of all countries). Trump tweeted: Yes, yes, I did, because I can. I'm president after all. Nothing is as it should be in this White House. Everyone working there has been compromised multiple times and now they all despise each other - and everyone except for Trump despises Trump. Because of all that, after just 120 days of the Trump administration, we are witness to an American tragedy for which there are five theoretical solutions. The first is Trump's resignation, which won't happen. The second is that Republicans in the House and Senate support impeachment, which would be justified by the president's proven obstruction of justice, but won't happen because of the Republicans' thirst for power, which they won't willingly give up. The third possible solution is the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which would require the cabinet to declare Trump unfit to discharge the powers of the presidency. That isn't particularly likely either. Fourth: The Democrats get ready to fight and win back majorities in the House and Senate in midterm elections, which are 18 months away, before they then pursue option two, impeachment. Fifth: the international community wakes up and finds a way to circumvent the White House and free itself of its dependence on the U.S. Unlike the preceding four options, the fifth doesn't directly solve the Trump problem, but it is nevertheless necessary - and possible. No Goals and No Strategy Not quite two weeks ago, a number of experts and politicians focused on foreign policy met in Washington at the invitation of the Munich Security Conference. It wasn't difficult to sense the atmosphere of chaos and agony that has descended upon the city. The U.S. elected a laughing stock to the presidency and has now made itself dependent on a joke of a man. The country is, as David Brooks wrote recently in the New York Times, dependent on a child. The Trump administration has no foreign policy because Trump has consistently promised American withdrawal while invoking America's strength. He has promised both no wars and more wars. He makes decisions according to his mood, with no strategic coherence or tactical logic. Moscow and Beijing are laughing at America. Elsewhere, people are worried. In the Pacific, warships - American and Chinese - circle each other in close proximity. The conflict with North Korea is escalating. Who can be certain that Donald Trump won't risk nuclear war simply to save his own skin? Efforts to stop climate change are in trouble and many expect the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because Trump is wary of legally binding measures. Crises, including those in Syria and Libya, are escalating, but no longer being discussed. And who should they be discussed with? Phone calls and emails to the U.S. State Department go unanswered. Nothing is regulated, nothing is stable and the trans-Atlantic relationship hardly exists anymore. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Norbert Röttgen fly back and forth, but Germany and the U.S. no longer understand each other. Hardly any real communication takes place, there are no joint foreign policy goals and there is no strategy. In "Game of Thrones," the Mad King was murdered (and the child that later took his place was no better). In real life, an immature boy sits on the throne of the most important country in the world. He could, at any time, issue a catastrophic order that would immediately be carried out. That is why the parents cannot afford to take their eyes off him even for a second. They cannot succumb to exhaustion because he is so taxing. They ultimately have to send him to his room - and return power to the grownups. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #17 I don't know that Obama has anything to bring to their table, but IIRC the German Lutherans get their budget from the state--a religion tax (similarly for the Catholics, etc). You'd expect the result to be churches that care more about the fashions of the state than the faith of their flock, and I gather you'd be correct. The concept of domesticated churches may appeal to him. Our pesky first amendment gets in the way, but we've already heard the opening salvos of "Why the first is a bad thing." |
| Posted by: james 2017-05-27 21:20 |
| #16 A Ynet article not worth posting, but germane to this discussion: Opposites Day: Merkel laughs with Obama hours before meeting Trump Former US president Obama was in Berlin for panel discussion as Trump reached NATO summit in Brussels; German Chancellor Merkel was all smiles as she joined Obama on panel, 2 hours before she was obliged to deal with Trump, as he demanded Europeans pay off debts. It should be noted that the panel discussion was part of is the Kirchentag, the biennial congress of the Lutheran Church in Germany, a subject Mr. Obama is remarkably incompetant to discuss. This year 140,000 of them are celebrating the 500th anniversay of the Reformation. Mr. Obama was scheduled for the panel a year ago. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-27 21:01 |
| #15 Henceforth, these will be labeled the U.S. political cartel. |
| Posted by: Nero White 3083 2017-05-27 20:06 |
| #14 The DC mob knows its either them or him. |
| Posted by: Nero White 3083 2017-05-27 20:01 |
| #13 Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States Bugger off, Fritz; you don't get a vote. |
| Posted by: Glirt Elmeregum1291 2017-05-27 19:39 |
| #12 Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States And the Euros have shown they're unfit to preserve Western Civilization. When the wall came down, we should have returned home and let them to their own wretched fate. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-05-27 18:25 |
| #11 He is our duly elected President. I suggest that Der Spiegel go do unnatural things to themselves. You know nothing about Trump, you are just mouthing leftist bilge. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2017-05-27 16:54 |
| #10 I openly mock people who even mention "climate change". I'm glad to see somebody in leadership who really doesn't give a crap about it either. |
| Posted by: Crusader 2017-05-27 15:22 |
| #9 Merkin. |
| Posted by: Angeter Whereck7089 2017-05-27 13:49 |
| #8 Well, I can understand the EUropeans' chagrin: after 8 years of Obama, and with Hillary as a certain win (yes, these people always drink their own ink), EUropenization of USA seemed to be within their grasp. And then, boorish Yankees elected this, this, this... |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-05-27 13:33 |
| #7 His decisions are capricious and they are delivered in the form of tyrannical decrees. Just a few months ago, I'd bet he would refer to them as 'executive orders'. Funny how that works when a Republican's in office. |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-05-27 12:35 |
| #6 I love how he keeps going after the free loaders demanding they pay up. Maybe after 8 years our kids and grand kids will be off the deficit hook? |
| Posted by: Speretle Bluetooth8144 2017-05-27 10:52 |
| #5 'Does not possess the requisite intellect...', where's your billion dollars and world class model wife, Klaus? Oh, and stunning way to prove up your foreign policy creds, you know quoting from Game of Thrones plots. Anyway, thanks for self identifying as an utter schmo. |
| Posted by: Cesare 2017-05-27 10:46 |
| #4 They were "losers" long before they were bitter. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. I thought it would rain yesterday, it didn't. I'm frequently wrong about the weather. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-05-27 10:46 |
| #3 They all wanted to talk Climate Change. He wanted to talk NATO, responsibilities and $, Islamic threats. Guess what they discussed. Yeah, they're bitter. Losers |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-05-27 09:55 |
| #2 Behold the latest version of "The American president is a cowboy," from those powerless to do anything about it and constrained to cope with the results. You'll note they fervently believe everything they read in the leading American news media. Betcha the heads of state and their staffs were polite to him during the recent confab, though. Hopefully they were reassessing their preconceptions... and the poisonous "information" fed to their people by CIA and State Department staffers. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-27 09:30 |
| #1 Considering the source, it sounds like the Donald is becoming extremely effective for the US. Time to double down then! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-05-27 09:16 |