Getting to tooth of Trump’s reign
MARGARET Thatcher famously survived on just four hours of sleep a night. Indefatigability became part of her mystique.
She would keep her officials up working on a speech until two or three in the morning and be up by five in time to listen to Farming Today.
By her standards, Donald Trump waking up at 5.30am is a lie-in.
But whereas the former Prime Minister would set to work as soon as she rose, the US President, fuelled each day by 12 cans of Diet Coke, instead tunes into the television in the White House’s master bedroom.
He then switches between his hated CNN for news, over to his much loved Fox & Friends for comfort and messaging ideas before tuning in to Morning Joe to fire him up for the day ahead.
At this point, Trump already has reached for his iphone.
According to insiders, often as he is still propped up on his pillow, he then tweets what is more often than not a barrage of abuse at detractors.
His attacks, which have among others helped place America on a footing to war with North Korea and supported the far right, have opened him up to the frequent accusation they are the ramblings of a madman.
It is just one of the reasons many, including leading psychiatrists, have questioned Trump’s mental health.
But last week, after sparking violence across the Middle East Mirrorman Chris with Thomas Markle following his declaration America now views Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, concerns for his ability to preside have strengthened further.
While delivering his justification for upending almost seven decades of US foreign policy and potentially destroying all efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, he was heard slurring his words.
His rambling and constant whistling ended with him saying “God bless the United Shhtahhes”.
It was if he had a mouthful of marbles. That, or a set of dentures was coming loose.
So great was the concern among viewers, it led White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to announce Trump will submit to a full physical exam early next year and release the results.
If, and this is a big if, the announcement is more than a rhetorical manoeuvre to end the questioning it will be a welcome turn toward transparency for a man who has disrespected Americans’ interest in disclosure since he entered politics.
It is something everyone has a right to ask of their leader but has so far been unashamedly ignored by Trump. Openness is not something the President does which matters more now than before.
For, as Congress is on the verge of passing the most significant tax bill in a generation – adding $1trillion or more to the national debt – it increasingly looks to mostly benefit the rich.
Trump has been unusually involved in determining the details of the plan.
Yet the public can only guess at how he and his family will benefit from the bill because he has broken with decades of bipartisan practice – and has ignored a direct campaign promise – by refusing to release any of his tax returns, past or present.
Left to speculate about his possible conflicts of interest, experts have identified provision after provision seemingly tailor-made to help the Trumps. orporate tax breaks would disappear for many industries but not for real estate in which they made their billions. Trump’s children would also no doubt benefit from an eliminated or significantly curtailed estate tax.
So as we get ever closer to the end of Trump’s first year in charge it is clear he is redefining what it means to be president and who has he been elected for – the working classes he claimed to want to represent or himself and his cronies.
Loose dentures? More like loose screws. Either that or his brain has been affected from inhaling too much hairspray. Trump
C