In sideways, an ugly, nasty-looking sonofabitch on the war path of cruel chaos — a face snapped by photographer Bill Moon of a moon-faced monster:
?@realDonaldTrump? returns to the White House from Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by William Moon at the South Lawn of the White House on February 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/n1a1Z93LrJ
— White House Photos (@photowhitehouse) February 7, 2020
And you would know, the T-Rump can’t let anything go:
More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean! https://t.co/t8ptYMCYHf
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2020
Here this Saturday, a lot of news stories, op/eds and blog posts on the worrisome, tragic week of the T-Rump’s rampage across our entire perspective, creating a sense of a dark, dangerous animal a loose in our midst. In every corner there’s a pile of shit. A lot of people, I think, are coming to terms with having a cruel, asshole in charge. Some are responding, even as a character which could have been spawned by Niccolò Machiavelli, the infamous political philosopher and writer of the 14th century.
In the right now of the nowadays, T-Rump is an obvious threat to humanity.
Lucian K. Truscott IV has a depressing, but way-realistic look this morning at Salon on the near-future with the T-Rump, and after a recap of recent ugly history, the last graph cobbles together a nefarious plot-scenario — it sucks:
Donald Trump is like a kid who gets on an elevator full of people and pushes the button for every floor.
He does stuff because it pisses off the Democrats.
He does stuff because it “owns the libs” and delights his base.
He does stuff because it makes his pathetic, pinched little life a tiny bit bigger.
I would say that he does stuff because it makes him happy, but I don’t think he’s capable of even a scintilla of joy.
Mostly he does stuff because he can, and the big question we face, now that we’ve had an impeachment but failed to remove him from office, is whether he’s going to break the great American elevator and bring this country crashing down with him.
I hope not, but every day he’s been in office he’s gotten worse, and it’s working for him.
This is another advisement to go and definitely read-the-whole-piece. In the same vein, a good, well-constructed look at our situation is by Adam Gopnik at The New Yorker this afternoon, and is way-also worth a full read — kind of depressing, too, but does contain some hints of optimism.
And a call/plea for contribution from a lot of people for a lot of optimistic hard work. The trip between now and November is going to be shitty, and shifty.
Meanwhile, Max Boot at the Washington Post this afternoon attempts to get real on the T-Rump. Boot was a George W, Iraqi war fanboy, but even he can see the coming dark:
But Trump has sought retribution rather than reconciliation, culminating in a “Friday night massacre” of the witnesses who testified against him.
Trump is a sore winner.
If he has a smidgen of charity or magnanimity, he keeps it firmly hidden — perhaps in the same top-secret system where a whistleblower says transcripts of his most damning conversations with foreign leaders are stored.
…
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), bless her heart, claimed Trump had learned a lesson from impeachment.
She later admitted that such talk was “aspirational” — delusional is more like it — because the only lesson Trump has learned is that the Fifth Avenue Republicans will let him get away with anything.
Trump is unchastened, unchained and unhinged.
I fear for the future of our democracy with such a vindictive bully wielding the awesome powers of the presidency with less and less restraint.
He is making an example of all those who have exposed his misconduct in the past to ensure that he can get away with even greater wrongdoing in the future.
Max, Max, too late the excuses, your party sucks…
(Illustration: ‘Basic Shapes,‘ by caricaturist/illustrator Chong Jit Leong found here).