A subdued Donald at the UN

[karma4u]

still full of lies and deflections.   


                                                                    

[gregfordyce]

Breaking it down from the Bulwark (The Bulwark)

"Our economy is the strongest in the world. We’re the largest economy in the world. Had my opponent won, we would be second right now because China was catching us so rapidly, we would’ve been second by this time. And unless somebody does a very poor job as President, we’re going to be first for a long way, because we’ve picked up trillions and trillions of dollars in value and worth of our country, and China has lost trillions and trillions of dollars, and millions of jobs, and their supply chain. And they want to make a deal."


Some of this is true: America does in fact have the largest economy in the world. Some of it is not. China's economy has not lost "trillions and trillions" of dollars. It has continued to grow and its pace of growth since 2017 has been more rapid than America's.



Here he is talking about meeting with Boris Johnson:



"I met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at length, of the United Kingdom, continuing our discussions on a magnificent, new bilateral trade deal. So we’ll see what happens with respect to Brexit, but I suspect we’ll have a fantastic deal with the UK. It should be much bigger than it has been over the last number of years. Over the last 20 years, frankly. It should be a much bigger deal."


Notice how the word "Brexit" just pops into the middle of his stream of consciousness—as if his synapses know that if he's saying "Boris Johnson" he should also say "Brexit," no matter what the context. And then he just gropes for words to describe some "deal" he's making. But instead of describing what the deal is about—dishwashers? soybeans? English dress shoes?—he just spits out a series of random adjectives: "magnificent," "new," "fantastic," "bigger."

Here he is veering from relations with Mexico to "loopholes":



"And Mexico — I have to say, President Lopez Obrador has been outstanding — an outstanding partner. And he’s doing a great job in Mexico. The cartels are way down, and the numbers — our Secretary is here now — the numbers are way down. Way, way down. And we’re doing that without the help of Congress, meaning the Democrats in Congress who won’t give us a single vote to take care of loopholes.

We have loopholes that are so horrible, and it would be so easy to fix. And they know they should be fixed but they don’t want to do because they don’t want to give Trump any credit because it’s all about the election. That’s all they care about. They don’t care about our country; they care about the election."


Look at the repetition on the cartel "numbers" being "down" "way down" "way, way down." And then abruptly he shifts to closing "loopholes" without the help of Democrats in Congress. Tax loopholes? Trade loopholes? "Cartel" loopholes? Immigration loopholes? Unclear.



Moving on to impeachment:



"So that was all planned, like everything else. It was all planned. And the witch hunt continues, but they’re getting hit hard in this witch hunt, because when they look at the information, it’s a joke. Impeachment? For that? When you have a wonderful meeting, or you have a wonderful phone conversation?

I think you should ask. We actually — you know, that was the second conversation. I think you should ask for the first conversation also. I can’t believe they haven’t, although I heard there’s a — there’s a rumor out they want the first conversation. It was beautiful. It was just a perfect conversation."



What is happening here? Who is the "they" getting "hit hard in this witch hunt"?

When Trump says "you should ask" for the "first conversation," why should the nebulous "you" (does he mean journalists or the American people watching him?) ask for this conversation? Where is he hearing "rumors" about "they" wanting this "first conversation"? Why didn't the president of the United States—who has total authority over the release of that transcript—simply release the transcript, too, if he believes it is exculpatory?

And then there's his relitigation of the 2016 election:



"And after that person — namely, me — won, and convincingly won at 306 to 223 in the Electoral College — which, by the way, when you run a race, if you’re running electoral — you know, if you go by the College, Electoral College, that’s a much different race than running popular vote. And it’s like the hundred-yard dash or the mile. You train differently.

And I can’t help it that my opponent didn’t go to Wisconsin and should have gone much more to Michigan and Pennsylvania and other places. But that’s the way it is. We won election, convincingly. Convincingly. And then you had the text message on, “Well, if she doesn’t win, we’ve got an insurance policy.” How bad was that? You know the insurance policy? That’s sort of what has been taking place over the last number of years — the insurance policy."


Look at the weird syntax: "running electoral" and "much different race than running popular vote." Look at the repetition of "convincingly." And then the sudden swerve to "the text message."

And maybe you could look past all of that except that Trump also misstates the vote total in the Electoral College. He says he won "306 to 223." The actual vote was 304 to 227.

Taken individually, any one of these pieces could easily be explained away as a slip of the tongue or a jumbling of a memory. You could say that he was just speaking extemporaneously or that his style is different from all past presidents.

But when you put all of it together—the half thoughts, the repeated words, the references to vague entities, the unfinished sentences, the misleading claims, and the outright factual mistakes—it is difficult to read this as anything other than a man who is not in full control of his faculties.


________________________________
Notice how the orange ignoramus constantly uses words like "Big," "Beautiful," "perfect," etc. He has to fill every sentence with outsized adjectives because he has the vocabulary of a 3rd grader, and since he is a pathological narcissist it is instinctual that it must - MUST - be about himself all the time, 24/7/365. Every sentence, every thought, everything. Period. No exceptions. 

This is the very first time in the last 3 years that I have actually managed to see a tiny, itsby-bitsy bit of light at the end of this long and dark fascist, authoritarian tunnel. The orange motherfucker seems to be losing it in a way we haven't seen before, without any backup and without any semblance of a plan to deal with all of the damage his royal impeachable fuck-up with regards to the Ukraine quid-pro-quo crime is causing. Since he has eliminated all of the "adults" in the administration that might have 1) stopped him from committing impeachable crimes in the first place and 2) been savvy enough to mitigate some of the damage from said crimes after they occurred, he is left with only a huge crowd of sycophantic asshole-suckers who know nothing about the law, the Constitution, or even basic governance. I.e, typical Republican toadies. And this is causing the Ukraine situation to run out of any of his or the right-wing control at all. 

I will try to not get my hopes up, but I must admit I am enjoying the brief bit of sunshine that seems to have penetrated the dark, vile depths of the fascist cave our country has become.