The verdict on six months of Donald Trump
None of us in our lifetimes has ever witnessed an American president commit political suicide in such a rapid, melodramatic and public fashion as Donald Trump is doing right now.
It’s been just six months since the president took this oath Jan. 20:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
These words have meaning. But every day, in every way since then, Trump has turned his back on them.
And every day, he seems to be trying to top himself in displaying his ignorance of, disregard for and in his total lack of understanding of the office that he occupies.
His interview with The New York Times Wednesday was beyond stunning.
He said he would not have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he had known that Sessions was going to recuse himself from the Russia investigation — that is, if he had known that Jeff Sessions was going to be loyal to the law and the Constitution instead of to him.
Saying that was tantamount to demanding that Jeff Sessions resign. If he does, who would want to take that job?
Who would agree to be the top law enforcement official in the United States sworn to defend the Constitution and at the same time, pledge his or her loyalty only to Trump no matter what?
In that same interview, he warned Special Counsel Robert Mueller not to stray from investigating the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump knows full well that Mueller is already investigating his finances, his son’s and sonin-law’s clandestine involvement with Russia agents and obstruction-of-justice charges stemming from Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey for investigating the very same things.
“Look, he said.
Speaking of Russia, we just learned that Trump himself had a lengthy private conversation at a G20 dinner with Vladimir Putin at which no other American interpreters or note takers or anyone was present, only Putin and his interpreter. That was unwise. We have no record of what was said or promised or revealed, but Putin does because his interpreters double as note takers.
Trump’s explanation of what was discussed is laughable.
He told the New York Times they talked about “adoptions,” which we have come to learn is code for the “sanctions” the United States imposed in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
(Putin halted American adoptions of Russian children in retaliation for the sanctions that were in retaliation for his invading Ukraine.)
Putin wants the sanctions lifted and, we have reason to believe, so does Trump and his coterie of billionaire cabinet members.
Aras Agalarov was Trump’s would-have-been business partner in a failed Moscow Trump Tower real estate deal that went south when the sanctions were imposed.
Agalarov was the same person whose own son helped Donald Trump Jr. set up a meeting with a suspected Russian government agent in June 2016 to dish dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to the emails that Trump Jr. released.
Trump Jr. at first claimed they too merely discussed “adoptions.” this is about Russia,” Also on Wednesday, Trump had lunch with the Senate Republicans to threaten and cajole them into voting on an Obamacare repeal bill, any Obamacare repeal bill.
Trump seems not to know or care what harm repealing the Affordable Care Act would do to millions of Americans, especially if there is no adequate plan to replace it.
All he wants is a piece of paper to sign so he can stick it to Obama.
Trump is not the president of all Americans. He is not even the president of his supporters.
He is just the president of himself and his family and some fantasy company he thinks he is running.
His mission statement seems to be, “Get everyone else – get Hillary, get Obama, get the Democrats, get the news media, get disloyal Republicans, get NATO, get Mexico, get the EU.”
All of this is not making him any friends with Senate Republicans who are not the lapdogs he seems to think they are and who, if Trump is ever impeached, will be voting on whether to convict him.
It seems to be dawning on them that clinging to this ignoramus in the hopes that he will sign whatever legislation they can shove under his losing proposition.
If he fires Mueller as he seems to really, really want to do, he is going to unleash a constitutional crisis that will make Watergate seem like a passing rain shower on a hot summer day.
And there’s Vice President Mike Pence, standing in the corner with his Mona Lisa smile. Just standing there, smiling and waiting. nose is a