TWGB: The Failing Man

 

Trump's having a weird week--yesterday, he gave an answer to the question of how to make childcare more affordable that made JD Vance sound like Mr. Policy King by giving us nothing and landing on we're a "failing country". He was applauded when he finished his rambling response which did not go into policy details (sorry to Chris Sununu) and didn't even contain a complete sentence (sorry to Bobo Kennedy) but because he finished talking, which was all anyone wanted him to do at that point. 

Then, earlier today, he decided that the best way to handle his appeal of the first civil case judgment of defamation for his sexual assault victim would be to give a press conference where he defamed her(again!) and mentioned other (alleged) sexual assault victims of his. And he referred one of the women as not "the chosen one" as if to indicate sometimes he does pick out potential assault victims, but in his long career of doing this, she does not meet his exacting standards. 

He followed this up with another rally thing where he forgot he wasn't running against Joe Biden and also made a weird non-joke about Nancy Pelosi's house having walls that did not stop the man who attacked her husband and gravely injured him. (Which says something about walls not working. An odd thing to note about a crucial gimmick of his political career.) 

This is why Joe Biden nailed Trump today, calling him "a failing man." 

Biden: My predecessor believes America is a failing nation. He is a failing president and a failing man pic.twitter.com/ZTnez17ImR

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 6, 2024

And that sums it up--Trump projects: nothing is his fault, his blame, his fuckup.  But the more he casts his insulting, perverse, negative view of the world, the more you can understand the sickness in him. 

I was no big fan of Ronald Reagan, but you can easily contrast "Morning in America" with "American Carnage" and appreciate that Trump has no sense of what has ever made America good or great. Trump brays unrelentingly about WWIII and another Great Depression, but we are never supposed to know why a protectionist, isolationist bigot who seems to be broadcasting from the 1920s is supposed to be the one to fix the things we know his "solutions" have always made worse. He cannot comprehend that immigration has grown our economy. 

Nixon is modern, realist, and less corrupt compared to this man. And Trump will not learn and cannot get better, because it's true--he's a failing man. He has thugs and shills aplenty, but they can't cover for his deficits forever. He is oppositionally defiant like a toddler and his arguments are also those of a toddler:

Everything is UNFAIR! And he lashes out, like a little child that never yet learned that biting is wrong. 

I've had my problems with Dick and Liz Cheney also, especially regarding the War on Terror and the cavalier attitude to backdooring torture as a part of humint (which is obscene and medieval and does not work--it does not provide reliable intelligence but confirms biases and fucks up the pursuit of justice). The revolting "unitary executive" arguments of Yoo/Bybee fall apart when faced with a president who is stupid, unstable or corrupt, and Trump is all of the above. Their repudiation of Trump this week is learning. And possibly also a realization that sometimes the national security threat truly is coming from inside the house. 

Trump this week looks to be mentally and physically failing, and his campaign is in trouble. His fundraising is weak compared to Harris and his debts--legal debts, are significant.(NO wonder the RNC cochair thinks she needs to sing for her supper) The groypers understand that he knows he lost and sent "patriots" to riot at the Capitol for nothing but his ego. Meanwhile, new registrations for Democrats since Harris took over as the nominee has given me reason to think the polls re: likely voters are off. 

Even Judge Merchan's decision to delay Trump's sentencing from my birthday (!) to after the election suggests taking the stinger out of the hornet's tail--he won't raise Cain before the election over it. His ass could very well go to jail after. Because a lot depends on his losing and it is totally possible. And then he gets what any citizen who lived his way should. 

I am living in 2016 trauma and in hope at one and the same time. It is not too late to make a better world. She is taking form. We can even hear her breathing. 

Republicans need to consider their after-Trump plans. And I don't think the future is JD Vance while we are at it. He, like Trump is, as Liz Cheney put it, a misogynist pig.