MEET THE MESS

MEET THE MESS

Well, "Meet the Press" it wasn't.

More like "Meet the Mess".

Yesterday we witnessed an unhinged President at his first solo news conference since assuming the office.  Ordinarily this would be news. In the case of Donald John Trump, however, it is par for the course. Failure is always success.  Whatever he has done is always great. He is always the victim . . .

And someone else is always to blame.

Yesterday, it was the "dishonest media," "bad courts" and, of course, "Hillary."  No one cares anymore.  The 30-40% who are with him 'til the last dog dies just laugh at the so-called "urban" elite, mocking the supposed mockers who for years, it is claimed, have turned up their noses at all those Trump travelers in outside-the-beltway America . And as for the rest of us . . .

We've stopped being surprised . . .

Even as we gape in amazement at the sheer idiocy of it all.

By any objective measure, Trump's first month in office has been a disaster.  

The tweets and lies continue unabated.  

At yesterday's press conference, at least fifteen of his claims were either flatly false or so removed from reality as to amount to that. He repeated the claim that he had won the Presidency by the largest electoral college margin since Reagan (in fact, Obama (twice), Clinton (twice), and the first Bush all exceeded his count).  He took credit for the stock market being at record highs (after having decried as one big "bubble" all the gains during Obama's tenure).  He claimed the press has a lower approval rating than Congress (it doesn't; in fact, the two aren't close).

He asserted that Hillary as Secretary of State -- one of his go to pinatas -- had given away 20% of the nation's uranium (she didn't); that Wikileaks' information dump last year contained no leaks of any classified information (false; it leaked hundreds of thousands of classified State Department cables); that he as President had "inherited a mess at home and abroad" (nonsense when compared to what Obama "inherited" -- a 7% unemployment rate and two wars -- in 2009); that he has "nothing to do with Russia" (he and his campaign spoke to numerous Russian operatives during the election; he for years sought business in Russia, as do his sons to this day);    and that . . . 

The roll-out of the travel ban Executive Order two weeks ago was "smooth."

Cue the laughter.

And the subpoenas.

His Cabinet and White House appointees count among them a rag-tag bunch of the uninformed (DeVos at Education, who knows nothing at all about the subject, and Pruitt at EPA, who thinks climate change is a hoax), the uncaring (Price at HHS, who has no replacement for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that could leave 20 million without health insurance, and Mnuchin at Treasury, who made millions as a "foreclosure king" in the wake of the 2008 financial implosion), the unethical (Sessions at Justice, who along with former NSA chief Mike Flynn was part of the Trump campaign's "national security advisory council" but who is now pretending he does not have to recuse himself in any investigation of Flynn's -- or Trump's -- Russian connections, and who won't appoint a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of his boss's love affair with Vladimir Putin), the unconfirmed (Puzder at Labor, who withdrew amid allegations of long ago domestic violence), and the now uninvited (Flynn, the erstwhile National Security Adviser, who was fired after he lied to Mike Pence about what he, Flynn, told a Russian ambassador on the question of sanctions).

Meanwhile, his chief political adviser (Stephen Bannon) has told the media to "keep its mouth shut," his "senior" policy adviser (the guy is 31, looks like he's 17, and basks in ignorance) has claimed that "the powers of the President . . . will not be questioned," and Himself more or less equated the US to Russia when FOX's Bill O'Reilly pointed out that Putin was a killer.  

Said the Donald: "There are lots of killers.  You think our country's so innocent."

The courts have stopped his travel ban. Though he promised yesterday to come up with a new one next week that tracks the Ninth Circuit's decision staying enforcement, that too will be subject to litigation given the known-fact that its purpose (as with the initial order two weeks ago) is to turn the campaign's unconstitutional "Muslim ban" into a rule that can get through courts. There is no guarantee this approach won't work.  Presidents have a lot pf power when it comes to aliens at the border, even if --  pace Stephen Miller  -- that power can be questioned.  

Nevertheless, it is generally a bad idea to start with the notion that your goal is to stop Muslims from coming here.

Or that your Executive Order is merely designed to clothe that illegal object in legal dress.

The Muslim ban itself, along with "the Wall", Trump's grotesquely false view of immigrants as job stealing criminals, and the sad spectacle of mothers being deported as routine office visits turn into deportation ambushes, resulted in yesterday's nation wide "Day Without Immigrants".  

This was a sort of wildcat strike by the nation's bodega owners, gardeners, workers, DREAMERS and their parents. It showed us all where life in America would be without them.  Namely . . .

At a standstill.

Trump is imploding . . .

Claiming he isn't ranting and raving . . .

Even as he rants and raves.

His popularity is at historically low levels (he lies about that too).  His administration is under investigation by the FBI for its contacts with Russia during the election.  His employees are leaking like sieves, so much so that he is threatening the group of them with criminal prosecution.  

And he is getting nothing done.

No budget.  No tax bill.  No ACA replacement. No trade deals.

And no more jobs at middle class wages for all those old economy workers who put him in the Oval Office.

The Republicans in Congress will tolerate this for a long time.  Far longer than the Republicans in 1974, who finally took out Nixon.  The class of '74 was independent and contained some giants (Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater, and Hugh Scott come to mind).  Today's GOP, however, is too sycophantic and those with real courage (McCain, Graham, Sasse) need more company.

The press, however, will be relentless.  They will leave no stone un-turned as they attempt to unearth what's in Trump's tax returns, who said what to whom in Russia during the campaign, what the President knew and when he knew it on Russian hacking, or what portion of that MI6 dossier is true. Trump can squeal "fake news" all he wants. His base may buy it. The rest of us won't.  

And the free press doesn't care what Trump thinks about them . . . or how often he insults them. 

I grew up with journalists.  My father was one and my grandfather worked for a newspaper.    They're used to abuse.  It comes with the territory.

Yesterday Trump tried to control the day and the news cycle.

He didn't.

Mostly because . . .

He can't control himself . . . 

Or the facts.