Back when Jackie Mason was funny — yes, some of us can remember that long ago — he used to have a great line about when Richard Nixon was president. He said, "Every morning when I get up, I check and make sure my furniture is still there." In the Trump Administration, a lot of us get up each morning and check to see if the country is still there. I mean, you just know that the man would sell the whole United States and even toss in Puerto Rico if Putin offered the right price. And then would come the bragging about what a great deal he made.
It's also amazing that each morning, we can check and see the latest story that someone in the White House felt compelled to leak about some Trump quirk that makes him look like an inattentive, self-obsessed dictator; someone incapable of reading even one paragraph of a briefing if he doesn't spot his name somewhere in it.
At a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday, a couple of friends were making the point that anyone who works around Trump has to be terrified that they'll have to spend their life's savings lawyering up — as did so many who worked for Nixon, Clinton or others — as investigations proceed. There's something to keep in mind as we watch the steady trickle of leaks from those in or around the Oval Office. They're not leaking that kind of stuff because they think Trump will be good for the country…or them.
Here come the links…
- What's less popular these days than Donald J. Trump? Well, as Jonathan Chait reminds us, everything Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are trying to accomplish is less popular than Donald J. Trump. Not many other things are.
- Matt Yglesias offers up an interesting theory as to why Trump says so many things that aren't true…and which don't even advance any political goals. The idea, sez Matt, is to test the loyalty of those around him. Are they loyal enough to blindly repeat and defend bullshit?
- Trump is still waffling on whether or not to pay the cost-sharing subsidies of Obamacare. What is his dithering accomplishing? Well, it's getting at least one insurance company to raise its rates substantially. Which may be why he's doing it.
- Daniel Larison summarizes what Trump accomplished on his first foreign trip: Nothing particularly good.
Another thing someone said at the barbecue yesterday: "Every time Trump attacks someone as 'failing,' their popularity soars. I wish I could get him to describe me as 'failing.'"