A new book by an anonymous author described only as “a senior official in the Trump administration” describes Donald Trump as being even worse than we supposed. There was always a question as to whether Trump was actually what he seemed to be, petulant, narcissistic, vindictive, irrational, ignorant, misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, and corrupt, or whether at least part of that was a deliberate persona adopted by him because it plays well to his base. This book says that he really is as bad as he seems, so much so that there were plans for a large number of cabinet members to resign en masse in order to show to the world how bad things were.
In the book, the author describes Trump’s approach to the presidency as “like a 12-year-old in an air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport”.
The author also describes how Trump’s impulsive Twitter antics often left senior officials “waking up in the morning ‘in a full-blown panic’”.
“It’s like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him,” the author writes, according to the Post. “You’re stunned, amused, and embarrassed all at the same time. Only your uncle probably wouldn’t do it every single day, his words aren’t broadcast to the public, and he doesn’t have to lead the US government once he puts his pants on.”
…The book includes passages describing Trump allegedly making misogynistic and racist comments behind the scenes, commenting on people’s weight or appearance, and at one point describes the president as trying to affect a Hispanic accent during an Oval Office meeting to complain about migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
In one alleged incident, Trump said: “We get these women coming in with like seven children. They are saying, ‘Oh, please help! My husband left me!’ They are useless. They don’t do anything for our country. At least if they came in with a husband we could put him in the fields to pick corn or something.”
Are these claims true? Who knows? What is disturbing is that Trump’s behavior is so bad that they are so plausible that I have no trouble at all thinking that they might be true.
A lot of hand wringing.. so how do we deal with this? Yes, cross our arms and discuss,, best of luck, and there is no such thing
I don’t understand why people are surprised, or even confused about this.
Our orange idiot president has a long, and well documented history of doing and saying racist, sexist, bigoted, and stupid shit. None of this is new.
I’m joining lochaber on this one. I arrived at that opinion of him long ago. I was genuinely shocked to learn just a few days ago that a coworker believe that he is waging some kind of deep strategy behind the scenes, I just can’t fathom the thought process that leads to that sort of conclusion.
Why would he need a deep strategy? So far, good old Big Apple grandiosity and chutzpah, married with racism, sexism, etc., have been wildly successful, especially in NYC. NYCers don’t demand competence or decency, they demand a good show, and Trump provides that. Evidently a lot of people in the rest of the USA feel the same way.
That’s also why I think the “Trump is mentally ill” and “Trump is senile” theories are hogwash. When you’ve got a winning formula, it would be “mentally ill” (to use the popular but ableist slur) to change it.
We need to stop studying, analyzing and looking for the hidden meanings hidden in the words of the guy having a heated debate with a lamp post.
Trump never had a plan for his presidency. He wasn’t planning to win. He was planning to put on a memorable show, get lots of press, and ride the wave of vindictiveness, accusation, and resentment to ever higher levels of fame and profit.
IMHO Trump was always scum and the falseness was always the illusion that he was anything but a narcissistic sociopath and in it entirely for himself. He is not a good man acting bad. He is simply a sociopath who puts of airs of civility, empathy, and reason.
I really don’t care if his behavior fails to qualify clinically as narcissistic sociopathy according to the DSM. I have a hunch that if he was honest about his thinking and his behaviors were more fully documented he would easily qualify.
My God, the man can’t even offer condolences in a human and empathetic manner to the families of dead soldiers or disaster victims without making it into a pep rally for his always needy ego and bashing those who have displeased him.
He is a monster and we need to stop studying his words as if they are going to start making sense if we just have the right decoder ring.
From Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge, discussing the general election results:
The assertion hair furor “[has] have been wildly successful, especially in NYC” is blatant nonsense, worthy of the best Russian trolls.
@lorn
Oh, he’s a narcissist, all right. But he’ll never get a diagnosis, because it isn’t — in his mind — interfering with his ability to function normally*. Narcs are notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat, due to the nature of their disorder, and their own perception that nothing is wrong with what they’re doing.
*because a 70-something adult behaving like a spoiled child is “normal” to him.
Well said.