The Dangerous Playground

 

I just want you to do a thought experiment with me for a little bit. You are a park administrator. The town council has allocated certain funds to build a playground in the park you administrate. They want, specifically, a jungle gym, slide, and swing set--the sorts of things that would be attractive and fun for children. There is already a designated space and it has been partially paved. There is no compelling reason not to use the allocated funds to build the jungle gym, slide and swing set. 

However, you don't especially love the idea of the playground itself on general principles and are trying to save park administration money because you have as yet to be determined reasons and saving money looks great on your personal resume.

So you hire three, let's call them-- "Stooges". They say they are builders, and that's good enough for you, because they seem bright enough. And they use some pre-made kits to get the ball rolling and build something that looks like the promised picture--but there are lots of unused parts. They have no idea how those go together, and assume they are just extras and cart them off. 

They are, actually, reinforcing beams, retaining straps, cement screws--parts intended to ensure the whole apparatus doesn't cave in under the weight of child bodies, fall over in a stiff breeze, or send children flying. But these budget builder fly-by-nights had no idea how anything worked, and now, we have kids approaching a rickety playground of doom. 

Kiddie carnage awaits. 

TWGB: The Only Winning Move

 

The disqualification trial of Fulton County DA Fani Willis saw a decision that enabled the case to continue, as Willis stays on while her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, leaves the case--but we also learn that the judge in the Trial, Scott McAfee, faced threats and was concerned about getting security for his family. This is appalling, but not an unusual feature of TrumpWorld. McAfee, a conservative, will be treated by MAGA as having been somehow biased (I checked Twitter--they are GRUMBLING) when it is hard to objectively state what was uncovered in the trial more than a mere appearance of impropriety. 

He made as fair a decision as he could. He chided Willis for her conduct. It's not enough. 

From what I can tell, the lesson of TrumpWorld is similar to the lesson of playing "tic-tac-toe" in the 1983 movie WarGames--the only winning move is not to play. It means a little something different here though--it's the choice of game. You don't win at appeasing MAGA. You win only by doing your job. In other words--how about a nice came of chess?

Mike Pence knows this one. He just recently explained why he could not endorse Donald Trump, his old running mate, for president. Trump required him to do something illegal and unconstitutional to show his loyalty and he could not. In return, his life was threatened, and Trump to this day considers Pence "disloyal". It seems clear that to Trump's mind, you cannot serve two masters: the Constitution and Trump.  It also stands as a stark warning to other would-be GOP VP nominees--he will not be someone you serve with, just someone you serve. I can only ask what the conscience of a conservative has to say about that.

TWGB: Wondering About His Super Seedy Ass

 

This could strike some as reminiscent of when Manafort obtained $16M in loans approved by bank CEO Stephen Calk, who was seeking positions in the Trump administration. Calk was convicted for that by a jury in Manhattan. Press release by DOJ ⬇️ https://t.co/WAFC0JBLQY https://t.co/TmGwu2K1s9

— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) March 8, 2024

It says a lot about Trump that when he finally does post a supersedeas bond to forestall collections activity in anticipation of appeal of the defamation civil case, instantly people go to work trying to find out the sketchy part: Who is the surety company? What's the catch? Does he have a cosigner? Isn't someone from that company a crony? Does that company have ties to Russia? Aren't they mentioned in his fraud trial?

So, um, yeah, there's something possibly sketchy in there--it's TrumpWorld. He wanted to waive having to put up a bond for this case altogether on the grounds that he was good for it, and then turned around and had paper filed in his fraud civil case implying no, he is not good for hundreds of millions of dollars. (You know, the one where he was accused of inflating his wealth and claimed he WAS SO worth hundreds of millions, liquid.) 

"Hungary" for Turkey?

 

Trump: I was very honored, there’s a man, Viktor Orbán. He’s the leader of Turkey pic.twitter.com/h3vrIESVrF

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 23, 2023

Perhaps it's a little petty of me to note that Trump should know better and doesn't it seem just a little like he's...losing it? But--oh heck, This isn't the first time that I've pointed it out, and it won't be the last. He's not a stable genius. He's met both Erdogan and Orban. 

He also said in his recent rambles that he just realized that the "US" is also "us." Aw. He compared himself to Nelson Mandela and said he was never indicted? He's claimed Sidney Powell was never his lawyer.

He thinks the United States could also use an "Iron Dome". (This isn't a new one for him. He's obsessed with "the nuclear" and I think wants something like Reagan's "Star Wars" program. I firmly believe Trump knows more about STI's than SDI. Also, I want to speculate again that it's possible that somehow, some way, secrets about penetrating Israel's Iron Dome got around...hm? Trump is always projecting and telegraphing. He's the Edison of inventing his own reality.)

Oh, that's right, and he also wants to pull out of NATO. I know, it isn't entirely new, but it feels like he's trying to get Daddy Putin's attention again. 

The man ran for office unprepared and ignorant of what was expected of him, served for four years, and LOST GROUND in understanding what the job entails. Isn't it time that the media focuses on that? Sure, he's criminally deceitful. But damn.

Sometimes I think he's also just dumb.

TWGB: It's Really Very Damning

 

Um, the thing with the nuclear secrets and the boxes of stuff just being out where anyone would see them is real. The pictures are like some freaky episode of  Hoarders. Mar-a-Lago staff was calling these boxes "Beautiful Mind Paper" because TFG was obsessed with them. Did I spend the last half-dozen years going around saying "It looks bad because it is bad?" Because shit, look upon the goddamn works of your trunkless idol and despair!

The indictment: Trump had documents about U.S. defense and weapons capabilities and U.S. nuclear programs. pic.twitter.com/vHLwdgWSk0

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 9, 2023

Yes. Nuclear program stuff.   Kept in places as insecure as a bathroom and a ballroom, in a country club where randos, including foreign nationals, just wander in and out all the time.  This was revealed after the absolutely damningest transcript of all time, save one:

The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump is showing the document he’s discussing to those in the room. Several sources have told CNN the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document.

“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. “This was done by the military and given to me.”

This here is classified--please, non-eligible person to receive this data, look. 

A US President Speaks From Poland

 

"One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv... Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall, and most importantly it stands free"

US President Joe Biden makes a speech from Poland following his visit to Ukrainehttps://t.co/p8IyttSPuL pic.twitter.com/ENI188uyBS

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 21, 2023

Just as with President Biden's speech yesterday in Kyiv, he again spoke meaningfully to the world on behalf of the fight for democracy and liberty against the oppression and malignance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the inhumanity of their tactics, and the unity of the western world against Putin's imperialism. 

This is well-understood in Poland, who know that the words of Putin's pet attack-Chechen, Kadyrov, is telegraphing a possible future front in a sick man's bucket-list war. It is understood in Moldova that the threat of Russia is real--and part of their attack is very indirect. Putin, as in his boring and long and wrong speech earlier today, can pretend to misunderstand history, but the people he threatens know well what he is and why NATO has expanded while he has been in charge of Russia. 

Giving Trump a Good Thinking Over--

 

I don't think it's even rare that Americans of no small patriotism and no short memory have some episode of shudder or start at some random interval of their day and think to themselves--"Donald Trump had access to the nuclear codes!" and it seems like a bad dream, the kind of paralytic nightmare where a weight as thick as a body lays across you as you struggle to awaken, but it is broad daylight, the night terror has been out of office for well over a year, and some part of you wants to believe that Freddy's son is politically dead. He was impeached twice. He was a one-term wonder. The scary clown won't come back and eat you. 

And then some dumb muppet in Ohio auto-Darwinates by picking a fight with the FBI for the honor of defending a pussy-grabbing silver spoon narcissist who used his charisma and talent for spectacular lying to drive a crowbar in the center of our national fault-line. All because the FBI executed a warrant on Trump, and that was supposedly not "OK".  

The idea that Trump can actually do wrong may be foreign to some people (not me, hell no!) but given that supposedly responsible and sober-minded elected GOP officials are also giving the twice-impeached and one-termed Trump some cover seems really ill-advised. Because what if all outwards signs are actually true, and he ultimately does turn out to be, as he as time and time again proved himself, a no-account dead albatross affixed to an anchor? 

I mean, this is just a thought experiment here, but what if, after suspected Russia/Wikileaks collusion, and the Trump Tower meeting with Gospozha Veselnitskaya, and the whole deal with Mike Flynn, and the Comey firing and the Oval Office Meeting with Lavrov with only Russian press in attendance and Helsinki and all this--it turned out that Trump never actually had any intention of putting America first, but only himself? After two impeachments. Both related to the attempt to secure a second term by filthy tactics. 

Blowback Isn't Always Immediate

 

Breaking News: The Justice Dept. charged a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday for plotting to kill John Bolton, a Trump-era national security adviser. Prosecutors said the man had offered $300,000 to hire someone to kill Bolton. https://t.co/oHbuJ5ocXG

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 10, 2022

Amidst Trump's Mar-a-Lago search warrant drama and the recent serving of several PA legislators over the false electors' scheme, the story of an assassination plot against John Bolton as a late retaliation over the slaying of General Suleimani surfaces for me as an example of something that US foreign/military policy sometimes fails at: theory of mind. The idea that our allies and enemies alike have the agency and will to respond in proportion and according to their own schedule is something that the "deciders" sometimes miss--almost as if they believe they are playing a game where the "other side" consists of NPC's.

That there would be blowback of some kind should have been obvious. That former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also a possible target of Iran's Revolutionary Guard would not shock me. And naturally, none of this helps the attempt to renew the JCPOA that the Trump Administration fecklessly scuttled. 

The decision to escalate tensions with Iran was a Trump Administration fuckup we will be dealing with for some time. It wasn't necessary--it was ideological, and yes, Bolton and Pompeo were obvious anti-Iran antagonists and I nonetheless do not endorse their mortal peril because of the decision that ultimately came down to a green and under-prepared CinC who may have thought the exercise was about dick-measuring and clout.

It is simply as natural as night following the day--actions do have consequences. It's not that the IRG's assassination plot is acceptable--no! But it isn't unexpected when you appreciate the other side has a side.  

Russia Has No Moral Defense

 

There are worse pictures one could see today than the one I have chosen, of brave Ukrainian women who were released as a POW exchange, their heads deliberately shaven as if to humiliate and unsex them. They are crowned with courage which is far better than hair. They dealt with hardship and sacrifice--their heads are those of warriors. I chose to look on these faces, determined and hopeful, to remind us that people endure and persist despite unfathomable fuckery, because the other images we have today are so dire.

In the re-taken towns of Bucha and Irpin, is has become clear that Russian forces committed mass murder of fighting-aged Ukrainian men. They have clearly been targeting civilians previously, but it is clear the goal is total war. And while the tales of poor Russian military members looting goods they had no access to previously, and trying to capitalize on their war crimes is an almost ironic indictment of the poverty of Russia's kleptocracy trickling down, some of these same "poor rural Russians" are committing atrocities beyond picking clean the houses of corpses and even their bodies. 

This Would Be Appeasement

 

Former Trump Advisor Douglas MacGregor says we need to stop demonizing Putin, lift all sanctions, stop providing weapons and aid, that it’s “hopeless,” and just let Putin take whatever part of Ukraine that he wants. pic.twitter.com/HBnLWVdVgD

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 28, 2022

From a purely defensive point of view, I realize that the loss of lives could be temporarily paused by something like this--if you wanted to gamble with the freedom of actual human beings, if you wanted to count on Putin not going further. If you thought this action would not lead to Putin executing Ukraine's leadership and destroying whatever industry or organizations that made Ukraine a functioning independent state. If you thought a little bit of totalitarianism was okay. If you were without ideals about what we in the US actually are supposed to stand for. If you didn't also know our other allies would be imperiled. If you just swore an oath to the constitution and incidentally never cared what our democracy means or what our ideals mean, to the world.

I don't know what American exceptionalism means if it means catering to bullies and telling other nations to bow their heads and kneel to totalitarianism. It can't be that. Not ever that. 
 

Putin isn't being demonized but accurately described based on the words coming out of his word-hole and his long history of death and destruction.  I understand to some extent the rationale of people who want to see strongmen like Putin as a father figure--but these people need to get psychoanalysis, not an opportunity to advise countries about foreign policy. 

Republicans Aren't Patriots Anymore, They Admit

 

New: Nearly 200 House Republicans have written to President Biden warning any nuclear deal made with Iran without Congress' approval "will meet the same fate" as the 2015 agreement by President Obama later abandoned by President Trump. w @zacharybasu https://t.co/OEzlmxdg40

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 17, 2022

Look, this isn't new. Obviously, this is the same fuckery as we saw in 2015 when freshman Senator Tom Cotton decided to get very fresh and formulate a movement against the one thing a reasonable democratic government could do: multilaterally negotiate in good faith and encourage inspections backed with relief of sanctions--to encourage Iran to step into a better 21st century agreement with us. And the GOP House contingent backing this is not accomplishing anything, actually, except for stating their willingness to fuck things up.

It's sort of weird that this is a theocratic thing: people wanting to do what certain Israel right-wingers prefer because of end-time reasons that you could look up if you felt like being really depressed about humankind. But in the real world, it would be actually great if we did actually useful things to discourage people thinking nukes are a solution because nuclear war is bad.  

Nearly 200 House Republicans don't think diplomacy regarding a nuclear Iran is worth admitting that diplomacy is a thing or Democratic government is legitimate. They are goddamn near revealing themselves to be lower than Iran hardliners on this score. They want to positively state that the very nature of democratic government is not to be trusted. They will never put US interests first if there is a specific political need for their party. They will always fuck over Democrats if they can. 

Even if it makes things demonstrably worse.  

I really can not stand these fuckers. They have no moral core, and don't know a good thing from a bad thing. They only know signifying for an audience that is dumb as hell. They can't even show the leadership needed to explain why their dumbass people are wrong, they would rather be popular than right. And this is wrong on so many levels. 

UPDATE: I'm the least professional person writing about this, because I'm literally putting out statements like "I hate these fuckers" (but I do, because acting like when the US government switched from a Democrat to a Republican in the WH means we are a whole new entity, as if we aren't one of the longest running democracies, is entire ass)  but there's kind of a FU clause in the new dealings:  

The Middle Eastern diplomat and an Iranian official indicated, however, that Tehran was prepared to accept a lesser measure - that in the event of a U.S. violation of the pact, Iran would be allowed to enrich to up to 60% purity again.

And frankly, I'm cool with that, because the US is the party that withdrew from the multilateral deal and the party whose participation undergirds whether Iran stays on target, so yeah, put in writing that reneging has a consequence because the soft skulled crabs who want no part of it don't seem to understand what the whole deal is about. 

The Script that Flipped

Just so that this does not get lost amidst the impeachment-related stories, Chairman Kim just issued a statement regarding the possibility of future talks with the US:

In a blunt put-down Monday, North Korea rejected what a senior adviser to Kim called another “fruitless” one-on-one with Trump. It was the latest reminder that Trump’s open-door policy for bargaining with authoritarians means those leaders can slam the door in his face.

“We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us,” said Kim Kye Gwan, a veteran diplomat and Foreign Ministry adviser. “As we have got nothing in return, we will no longer gift the U.S. president with something he can brag about.”

But what about all those love letters? What about the historic DMZ visit?

Trump legitimized Kim and Kim wanted nothing more than that, and nukes. He can have both, and Trump gets nothing, precisely because Trump wanted to accomplish something with North Korea (or to appear to be accomplishing something) so much. In the meanwhile, our relationship with South Korea appears to be impaired.

A future administration will be at pains to sort through the damage this administration has caused diplomatically--just to see what can be salvaged.

UPDATE: South Korea has signed a defense agreement with China.

"The Hospitality Business" Huh?

US promised to build beach resort in North Korea during nuclear talks https://t.co/s1gCVlFn5Y pic.twitter.com/mO2zzQvbSc

— New York Post (@nypost) October 19, 2019


The funny thing about what Mick Mulvaney said yesterday about Trump still considering himself to be in the hospitality business is it's probably true. Being president basically seems to be a side hustle he picked up to burnish his brand and create opportunities in exciting new countries.

I wonder if Trump is going to have to broaden his real estate operations in Turkey....

 

UPDATE: He's still going on about that Doral thing, tho':

 

It's about the hospitality!

Wagging, Like a Dog!

It is still a little amazing to me that Saudi Arabia, whose defense spending is pretty enormous, managed to have half their petroleum capacity imperiled by a drone strike (which was temporary damage) from either the Houthis or Iran (or on behalf of the Houthis by Iran, or the Houthis with Iran's help--whatever)--because shouldn't they have more hardened defenses around an obvious target like that, given the length of time they have been engaging on war with Yemen? (Or was reporting on this incident a little magnified?)

I don't know. I have a hard time understanding why Saudi Arabia is waging genocide in Yemen and why the US has continued being complicit with that, I only know that Trump used a veto to keep sending weapons to Saudi Arabia-- and the reaction of Donald Trump, on a day when the talk was all about whether he tried to extort a foreign leader into investigating a potential political rival, was to announce that the US was now going to send US military personnel.

Because the oil was hurt, you guys. Thoughts and prayers for the oil.

I'm just saying that the timing is interesting, is all. I'm not suggesting that this president would try to transform the news cycle from a scandal about some violation of campaign finance and abuse of power and the high crime of bribery (which would not be new, in this presidency, am I right?) by trying on the gravitas of being a "war president", because that isn't what Trump is doing, exactly.  I will suggest that Trump is pulled by his need to appeal to his base, which means appearing strong, even if that means strong and wrong, just as much as it means changing the subject. And then there is his unique take on US military power as a protection racket.  Trump has long seen it a waste of US resources that the American military is world cop--and would prefer to see it be more profitably used as "hired muscle"--by preferred customers willing to pay cash.

I think this Iran/Saudi Arabia thing was in play whether or not the whistleblower story became news or not, but the timing of the deployment isn't lost on me. This also scuttles the possibility of Iran nuclear talks, verifying as certain the knowledge that we'd be better off if Trump just stayed with the damn Obama deal. And Trump has demonstrated he can't help but plunge us deeper into every level of the suck--whether in Afghanistan, or anywhere else.

I don't like it. Trump is a man of few tricks (misdirection and frauds--like birtherism and his voter fraud claims), but the press sometimes gives him belly rubs for them. Like a dog! So weird for a man who uses "Like a dog!" in the way he does.

(No insult intended to actual dogs, who deserve better.)

Trump Has a Favorite Dictator and Other Tales of the Decline

In what will doubtless be a shock to the other dictators, Trump recently (a couple weeks back) voiced the opinion that he did,  in fact, have a favorite dictator (sorry Kim, Putin, etc.!):

Donald Trump once referred to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as his "favourite dictator" as he awaited a meeting with the world leader, according to a new report.

The comment, detailed in a new Wall Street Journal report, was met with stunned silence from American and Egyptian officials, who had gathered inside the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, France for this year's G7 summit.

"Where's my favourite dictator?" Mr Trump is reported to have said in a loud voice, several people who were in the room told the Journal.

Those witnesses said that they believed his comment was made in jest, but was nonetheless met with muted response. It is not clear if Mr Sisi was in the room, or if he heard the comment.

That's certainly sounding like a case of "the quiet bits out loud" but wow! This isn't really on the order of "things Trump usually says which are merely stupid" and vaults into the level of "things Trump says (like wanting to purchase Greenland, remember that?) which are both weird and can screw up international relations."

He is, though. The international relationships--he's messing them up. Things like firing (if he did) John Bolton, who I once characterized as a "bloodthirsty loon", would seem great if Trump was not likely to put someone in his stead who was as bad, if not worse.

But to be fair, he's messing up national security all around, including domestically. Instead of a wall that Mexico is building, it looks like we have a wall (not yet!) that the US military will build, and instead of a brilliant deal with North Korea for them to stop their nuclear program, we've got a North Korea nuclear program that, well, we're building, inadvertently, because Trump doesn't understand why we need to build up our cyber defense.

But he also doesn't understand our intelligence apparatus at all, either, which is definitely worrisome. He doesn't believe our links with foreign intelligence offices (like the Israeli contact he blew to Lavrov and Kislyak back in 2017), but is weirdly prone to dismissing the possibility of foreign countries trying to scope in on us. (Which you'd think he'd be aware is a real interest, all things considered. I guess it's my distrust of Netanyahu that makes me see "security companies" like Psy Group as possible cut-outs, but I could be wrong.)

He also seems to have abandoned steering our good friend Russia away from weird nuclear ideas. But what the hell? One of Trump's big ideas was pulling us out of the Iran nuclear deal with his Fox News-inspired fantasies about pallets of cash to Iran, and his genius negotiating tool to get Iran back to the table (that we had them at, already, and got a deal with, already!) is--pallets-worth of credit--$15 Billion worth.

So, a similar plan, with less trust, that costs the US more? Wow! Mr. Art of the Deal! That is really....

Something. It's not good. None of this is good. We can't expect good from Trump, I'm just saying.

He called Sisi his "favorite dictator." He thinks the way he talks on Twitter is how he can communicate in life, and it doesn't even work that great on Twitter.  MAGA-hats--this is your king?  He's actually pretty stupid. Shouldn't that bother you more?

Should We Talk About the Weather?

NEW, exclusive: NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump: https://t.co/SbABVx8pec

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 8, 2019

Should we talk about the government? Because it looks like NOAA top brass had to tell their people, whose job is the weather, not to talk about it, because if they contradicted the Little Bronze God in the Oval Temple, what would he do? Maybe reduce their funding through some leger des main trop petit pour un gross homme, in much the same way he is raiding other programs for money to fund his border wall. You better believe people snap to when Trump makes demands if a Rear Admiral decides his job description is "one who covers Trump's entire orange peel rear." (That's the Coast Guard, and in addition to taking a hit from Trump's utterly stupid shut-down shenanigans from last year into this year over wall funding, they too are getting raided for wall money. Maybe the man threw himself on a reputation grenade for his department. I can't be too judgmental about that.) It kind of implies that Trump is running the government like some kind of mob boss.

There's a lot of other indicators, of course. Is the DOJ using a litmus test to decide what local and state governments get grants? Looks like it. That reflects back on Trumpism. Does it look like the same DOJ is being used as a cudgel against the auto industry for siding with California over Trump regarding air pollution? You tell me. Is politicization at the State Department a problem? Check the number of vacancies in that department. Government jobs might not pay the best, but they usually are great at providing a sense of security and focus and usefulness, and now? Not so much. Because everything Trump does undermines professionalism. Everything is corrupt.

The Trump folks are trying to undermine journalism, too, even if the message sometimes gets lost in their incompetence and mendacity. (Eric Trump probably just verified for us that most reporters don't ever assume he's worth asking for the inside dope because, um, well, they assume he's mostly an outside dope. For reasons.) But the games played with Jim Acosta and Brian Karem's press passes, as well as several other journalists', are intended to let them know--you say nice things about the boss, and it'll be all good. Don't make trouble.

The Stable Genius Knows Nuclear!

It may be a little disturbing to dwell on how much Trump fixates on nukes, but we shouldn't really worry too much, right? He has a very good brain because his uncle was a nuclear scientist, and that's why he knows things like windmills and lightbulbs can cause cancer, and your heart is really only supposed to beat so many times during your life, asbestos isn't really dangerous, and climate change is a Chinese hoax.

So rest assured, even if his politics might lead him to think that as the King of Israel (undeclared, but in the hearts of many, people are saying) he really has every right to at least make an offer on Greenland, it is totally not at all batshit that he has suggested that maybe to stop hurricanes, we should just fire a nuke into the eye of the thing, and that'll teach it!

I guess the best part of the story, for me, is that he didn't just suggest it one time, but brought it up more than once. Like, at first, people were taken aback a little (at his sheer brilliance, no doubt!) and tried to break it to him that they had their top men look into this, and it was not feasible. But then he brought it up again and again. As if, well maybe it wouldn't it work, but wouldn't it be cool to try it though?

The second best part of the story, of course, is some anonymous soul explaining to an inquiry, basically: "Yes, but stopping hurricanes would be good, so his heart was in the right place." Right. His heart is in the right place, but his brain happens to be made of tapioca pudding. Reassuring!

What is disturbing beyond the sheer incomprehension Trump has of even the most basic facts and apparent inability to absorb new information (absolutely essential qualities one might want in a world leader) is that he is surrounded by people willing to just....roll with that. They see this kind of thing every day, and there is not a full-on rush out the White House door to scream "holy shit the Emperor is nekkid!" at anyone who will listen. And don't tell me this is proof he isn't that dumb. It's proof that there are people surrounding Trump who are just that grotesquely toadying and ambitious, convinced he's their vehicle.

These people are bad. They should feel bad, but won't, and their lives should be bad, and won't nearly be half as bad as they ought to be.

He's Not Learning, Is He?

I don't know what is worse about the Tweet screen-capped above --that Trump seems to be talking about a technology we don't apparently (?) use, (he has Tweeted out classified info before) or is conflating something we do have with whatever the Russians blew up, or that his message could seem to be construed as cold-blooded when reports are several Russian scientists died in the accident. It's all pretty awful, really, but just think, it was only during the 2015 GOP primary debates we learned he had no idea what the nuclear triad was.

His answer back in 2015 regarding nukes was that they were powerful, so you shouldn't let madmen have a hold of them. Fair enough. He also is pretty cool right now with North Korea's recent handful of missile tests because Kim Jong-Un has written him very lovely letters, which is proof enough to Trump that Kim is not a madman.  It was also in a 2015 primary debate that Trump admitted one of his weaknesses as being that he trusted people too much. Although, we have also learned, Trump doesn't trust what he thinks of as the "Deep State".  That is to say, or so it seems, he doesn't trust people who know what they are doing.

His Tweet claims "the United States is learning much". With Tweets like this, it is clear Trump is not.

Trump is a Groveling Shit

Russia says Trump initiated Friday's 1.5-hour call with Putin https://t.co/bMDqZzJhuP

— Bloomberg (@business) May 4, 2019

I really wanted to post something with a better title than "Trump is a groveling shit". The idea that Trump not only had to boast to Lavrov and Kislyak in the Oval office that FBI Director Comey got deep-sixed over the Russia investigation is one thing, and the Helsinki declaration that Trump believed Putin regarding his strenuous denials that there ever was any interference (over the intelligence provided by our own people) is another. And now this little phone call, initiated by Trump, to declare to his good buddy Putin that the Mueller investigation seems to have cleared him?

A 1.5 hour call that made Daddy Vladi smile. How fucking nice. Maybe they talked a little about Venezuela and maybe they talked about the price of cheese in Milwaukee--my impression is that Trump is a groveling little shit. He wants to tell us he thinks it is very good that he has a nice relationship with Russia and a nice relationship with China and it's all about trade and you know what?

They scare the shit out of him because he doesn't know what he's doing, and that's exactly what makes him a groveling little shit. This isn't strategy, unless the strategy is constant retreat. Appeasement much?

Take North Korea--please! We all know the Trump crew's pretending that these talks where Trump has so graciously let Kim Jong-Un voice his concerns are making all this progress, but the truth of the matter is:

Trump is getting owned. Let's face it, he's not getting anything more from the little pie-faced dictator that he would have if he just ignored him. The nuclear talks are stalled, it is revealed that the one diplomatic supposedly good thing, getting back the ravaged body of Otto Warmbier, came with a price, and the best line his spokespeople can come up with regarding it is that he never intended to pay? As if saying the word of the US government is good for this: we could pay for hostages, but also our word might be good for nothing.

Genius. Just genius. And when North Korea in a fit of not being talked about for a minute decides to launch projectiles--Trump will say he is with Kim Jong-Un. I'm sure South Korea and Japan are so glad to hear this.

And like I've been saying, Iran's government is appalling, totally, but Trump gives them the opportunity to look like they have the high road. And all the while, Trump's government is still okay with what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. And he vetoed the decision to end our support of KSA's genocide of Yemen, which, because the GOP is also full of groveling shits, the veto was not overcome.

Trump and the fetid, feckless, useless people who surround him are fucking up foreign policy so much. Bolton and Pompeo are worthless. If I could wish these ass-first sniveling hot messes into a cornfield to never deal with our reputation abroad ever again, you know I would.

A Terrible Lack of Trust

JUST IN: Mattis ignored orders from Trump, White House on North Korea, Iran: report https://t.co/bPah2j4ocH pic.twitter.com/kK2gBcuVka

— The Hill (@thehill) April 29, 2019

One is reminded of Trump's very recent claim that "nobody disobeys my orders" when it has become clear that several people have ignored his instructions, and also have, in fact felt really relieved and like we all dodged a bullet because they did decide to ignore the crazy old man who watches too much Fox News. General Mattis apparently felt the impulse to try to inhibit Trump's "talking out loud" fumbling regarding foreign policy because he distrusted Trump's ability to assess the information he was given and thought he might be swayed by whoever the last person he talked to was.

Here's what bothers me about this--a Commander in Chief and top executive should actually be able to give directions that can be obeyed because they are clear and make sense, are timely and neither violate the letter of the law nor "burn" personnel by hanging them out to dry because their chain of command refuses to take responsibility. Trump doesn't seem to take in daily briefings to the extent that people who know him feel comfortable with his assessment of what is going on. He also has to be trusted as a person who appreciated historical alliances and recognizes the value of previous negotiations without trying to tear everything up and start from scratch--he has shown he can not be trusted in this way, because tearing everything up is exactly his plan. Also he lacks good planning about how to achieve deals, but that's another thing.

One recent episode to look at is the recent information that North Korea requested $2 million for the hospital bills of Otto Warmbier.

Trump administration agreed to pay $2 million ransom to North Korea for release of Otto Warmbier, but did not actually pay, says Bolton. @Kate_OKeeffe https://t.co/o7EKcufYUh

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 29, 2019

An agreement was signed to pay this, and we received the all but deceased body of a once-vibrant young man. And the best that Trump officials can do now about what this implies is to blithely admit that there was no intention to pay, because Trump stiffs people all the time.