Nearly a year and a half
ago, a bit over half way through the now three year long nightmare
this nation has been forced to endure, The New York Times
published a piece by a White
House insider warning of the danger our Caesar Disgustus presents to
the republic. Writing under the moniker Anonymous,(1) for
obvious reasons, he or she assured us that there were adults in the
room, that a cadre of albeit tRUMPists were on deck doing their level
best to protect the nation and tRUMP from tRUMP. We can rest easy,
we were assured, because there are adults in the room.
Anonymous has
now published a book. A book entitled, alarmingly, “A
Warning”.(2) In it life
inside the people's house, the White House, is described accordingly:
“The day to day
management of the executive branch was falling apart before our eyes.
Trump was all over the place. He was like a twelve year old in an
air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government
indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the
runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport.”
(3)
“'Among us friends,
let's be honest,' a prominent presidential advisor once remarked,
after the pro-chaos crowd left a White House meeting. The
slimmed-down group was comprised of White House officials and cabinet
secretaries. 'About a third of the things the president wants us to
do are flat-out stupid. Another third would be impossible to
implement and wouldn't even solve the problem. And a third of them
would be flat-out illegal.' Heads nodded.” (4)
The
presidential advisor Anonymous is citing could very well have been
former Secretary of State Tillerson, who is has publicly said much
the same thing. It could very well have been General Mattis. It
could very well have been everyone in the room. Indeed, the process
of briefing the president*(I) has become embarrassingly, and
appropriately, juvenile, as befits the twelve-year-old in the control
tower. Here's how Anonymous describes it:
“Take, for instance,
the process of briefing the president of the United States, which is
an experience that no description can fully capture. In any
administration, advisors would rightfully want to be prepared for
such a moment. This is the most powerful person on earth we are
talking about. But before a conversation with him, you want to make
sure you've got your main points lined up and a crisp agenda ready to
present. You are about to discuss weighty matters, sometimes
life-and-death matters, with the leader of the free world. A moment
of utmost sobriety and purpose. The process does not unfold that way
in the Trump administration. Briefings with Donald Trump are of an
entirely different nature. Early on, briefers were told not to send
lengthy documents. Trump wouldn't read them. Nor should they bring
summaries to the Oval Office. If they must bring paper, then
PowerPoint was preferred because he is a visual learner. Okay,
that's fine, many thought to themselves, leaders like to absorb
information in different ways.
“Then officials were
told that PowerPoint decks needed to be slimmed down. The president
couldn't digest too many slides. He needed more images to keep his
interest—few words. Then they were told to cut back the overall
message (on complicated issues such as military readiness or the
federal budget) to just three points. Eh, that was still too much.
Soon, West Wing aides were exchanging 'best practices' for success in
the Oval Office. The most salient advice? Forget the three points.
Come in with one main point and repeat it—over and over again, even
if the president goes off on tangents—until he gets it. ONE point.
Just that one point. Because you cannot focus the commander in
chief's attention on more than one goddamned thing over the course
of a meeting, okay?
….”I saw a number
of appointees as they dismissed the advice of the wisened hands and
went in to see President Trump, prepared for robust policy discussion
on momentous national topics, and a peppery give-and take. They
invariably paid the price.
“'What the fuck is
this?' the president would shout, looking at a document one of them
had handed him. 'These are just words. A bunch of words. It doesn't
mean anything.' Sometimes he would throw the papers back on the
table. He definitely wouldn't read them.” (5)
At no
time, Anonymous assures us, does terror strike greater fear than when
a twit goes out or word comes down that “he's about to do
something”. The bat-signal goes up, meetings are canceled, a pig's
breakfast is made of schedules and the fire brigade descends upon the
Oval Office in last-ditch efforts to save Disgustus from himself.
This
is the Day-Care center, that former Senator Bob Corker spoke of in
the early days of this maladministration. This is the White House
described by other insiders as a Nursing Home where one reports to
work every morning to find your dad running naked on the lawn and
pursued by the attendants. Everyone who works with Disgustus finds
him disgusting. Two things are certain, Disgustus—ever the
adolescent-- is out of control and requires constant adult
supervision.
A
year and a half ago, Anonymous assured us that things were in hand.
“It may be cold comfort in this
chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the
room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we're trying to do
what's right even when Donald Trump won't.”
But he
didn't and he won't. In any case, Anonymous has now issued his
Warning that efforts
to protect the republic have failed. The plan, loosely concocted by
the “stable state”, to advance his policies when appropriate and
oppose his capricious madness, have failed. Gone now are the
Tillersons, the Maddis' the Kelly's. Gone too are Nikki Barber, Rick
Perry, and others. Gone too is Jeff Sessions who now, in the
rear-view mirror, looks like Judge Learned Hand by comparison. It's
at moments like these that we find ourselves pining for Richard
Shithouse Nixon.
“Donald Trump is like
a monster from the laboratory of a jackass mad scientist,” writes
former Republican campaign consultant Rick Wilson, “built
to represent the perfect antithesis of Washington's example. In
almost every respect of his demeanor, speech, and affect, Trump is a
clownish figure, a deserved magnet for mockery. From his absurd hair
construct to his ludicrous ego to his pathetic, whiny need to have
his alpha-male status affirmed at every moment, Trum is the least
dignified president since William Howard Taft held a Jell-O-wrestling
contest on the south lawn.
...”Why does dignity
matter in the president? Because at some point in every
administration, history comes knocking. Tragedy strikes. The nation
looks to the man they elected to lead them and whispers 'Now what?'
Large and small, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, crises require
a president to be a moral leader, to guide, to heal, to comfort, to
direct the painful energies of a hurt nation into positive direction.
Trump can't stop looking in the mirror, a self-obsessed Narcissus in
a fright wig”. (6)
If one
doubts that assessment, look at his conduct in the wake of the
shootings in Dayton and elsewhere. Descending on the scene, he
speaks not of the pain and suffering, but of his crowd attendance.
Imagine, if you will, an international crises. As Thomas Friedman
has noted, when it comes Disgustus will find himself unable to
marshal international support, unable to forge alliances. One's
word matters. One's honor matters. Disgustus has gone back on our
word, torn up our agreements and daily disgraces our honor.
Credibility matters and when the time comes, Disgustus will be both
unwilling and unable to respond. America First means America alone.
An' Br'er Putin, he jus
laugh and laugh
Convict
and Imprison.
_________________
- see: September 8, 2018: Our Scarlet Pimpernel, Off The Rails, Cold Cold Comfort
- Anonymous A Senior Trump Administration Official. “A Warning” Twelve HachetteBook Group. New York.
- Ibid. Page 34
- Ibid. Page 38
- Ibid. Pages 29-30
- Wilson, Rick. “Everything Trump Touches Dies”. 2018 Free Press. New York. Page 86
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