I can't always focus on Trump's daily tap dances for his base, convincing them to believe in an alternate reality where he turned around the dreadful Obama economy and having the Russians pick our leaders isn't that bad an idea so long as they pick Trump and Trump-like candidates. It's like an ongoing disaster right outside my window where, since I can't do anything about it, it's sometimes easier not to look.
On a personal level, it's sad (to use one of Trump's favorite words) to see people I know — including some I like and otherwise respect — giving him a pass on things that outraged them when done by Democrats. One friend of mine has never shut up about the time Obama once misspoke and said in a speech there were 57 states. That, my friend insisted, told us something about the man and his honesty or stupidity or something. Apparently, there was a good chance he could fool all of America into thinking there were 57 states.
But every day, Trump serves up a half-dozen of those. His poll numbers are higher than Lincoln's, you need an I.D. to buy groceries, America is more respected than ever in the world, etc. And it's dismaying to see people buy into it because, you know, staying in power is all that matters. If you haven't visited it lately, here's a link to the database of (currently) 4,229 lies and distortions of the Trump presidency as compiled by the Washington Post. The only response to it from the Trump fans seems to be, "Oh, that's the Washington Post. You can't believe anything they say including what day of the week it is."
That's the same defense mechanism Nixon used. You saw how well it worked there. Here are some other links that might be worth your time…
Kevin Drum points out that despite Trump's insistence that Obamacare is a disaster, defunct, long gone, dying any second now, a failure for 17 years (!) and anything else bad he can find to say about it, it's doing rather well.
Matthew Rozsa attacks the new G.O.P. line that collusion isn't a crime. Uh, doesn't it depend to a great extent on who colludes and for what purpose? There's nothing in the statutes about it being illegal to form a partnership but if you and I form a partnership to bust into houses and steal everything, we just might be breaking the law.
As Jonathan Chait notes, Trump has been bragging about making a deal with North Korea to stop with the missiles and to return the remains of American soldiers. And neither brag stands up to any scrutiny.
Ed Kilgore notes that the Trump Administration is trying hard to undo all the progress that's been made about auto fuel-efficiency standards, especially in California (i.e., the state that Trump hates most and vice-versa). If I had to single out one principle that today's Republican leadership values more than anything, it would not be abortion or guns or immigration. It would be the concept that government must never get in the way of a big company missing out on any opportunity to increase profits. And if that means fouling the environment, fine.
Trump will be real happy one of these days when one or more of his supporters beats the crap out of some reporter. And it won't matter which reporter or what they said or did. Just so long as his team feels like they dominate the press and have power to intimidate it.
And I assume you've heard how a Conservative think-tanker set out to prove that Single Payer would be a financial disaster for this county and wound up proving the opposite. It's changing no minds because in this country, studies are just things to put supposed facts behind our prejudices and we never look at those reports and think, "Hey, maybe I was wrong."
Lastly: Is it my imagination or is Trump now beginning to do an impression of Alec Baldwin's impression of him? I can remember when Nixon began acting like he'd learned how to "do" Nixon by studying David Frye. And whenever Bill Clinton was in trouble, he sounded just like Phil Hartman doing Bill Clinton in trouble. It may be significant that no one ever became noteworthy for doing an imitation of Barack Obama. Even Obama wasn't that good at it sometimes.