We haven't been Trump Dumping lately because, frankly, I've grown way too accustomed to waking up to him doing something that would have had Republicans howling for impeachment had it been done by Obama or Clinton.
One of the arguably-good things Trump and the current partisanship overload has accomplished is to make me totally cynical about Republican Outrage. I used to be at about 75% on that. I used to think there was some non-partisan component to Evangelicals and G.O.P. leaders who were offended by things like Obama not wearing his jacket in the Oval Office. Reagan, they liked to remind us, never took his off in there.
I'm not sure there's anything Trump could do in there — or anywhere — that would get more than token criticism from G.O.P. reps running for re-election in blue states. Maybe if he did something that was fair to immigrants.
I also become more cynical about Democratic Outrage. It's not quite at 100% yet but it's getting there. The main difference between the Republican kind and the Democratic kind is that Democrats just aren't very good at outrage. Imagine what Republicans could do with even the rumor of a Democratic president paying hush money to cover up an extra-marital, condom-free affair with a porn star. Once when Barack Obama ordered a hamburger with dijon mustard, Sean Hannity made it sound more unAmerican than what the entire Democratic Party has been able to do with evidence that Trump may have conspired with Russia to rig our elections.
Oh, well. Here are some links that I think might be worth reading…
- Matt Taibbi calls Trump's musings about using nuclear weapons "insane and ignorant." It sounds like "incoherent" oughta be in there also.
- Ezra Klein explains why the Trump administration is in chaos. Key excerpt: "During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to 'hire the best people.' But the best people want to work for the best bosses, in the best organizations, supported by the best cultures. Trump hasn't created anything of the kind. The Trump administration is a leaky, chaotic, dangerous place, where staffers operate under constant threat from Trump and each other…"
- Fred Kaplan, who might just be the only person in the country who actually reads military budgets, tells us what Trump would do to ours. It's the old belief that spending more money on defense makes you safer no matter what you spend it on. We've spent billions on planes that didn't fly but that didn't matter to a lot of people. The important thing for them was that we cared enough to spend the money.
- Jonathan Blitzer on how Trump's immigration policies are tearing families apart and creating misery. This is a lot of what the next election will be about. And the one after that and the one after that…
- John Cassidy on the White House's budget proposal. Time to haul out all the old quotes about fiscal responsibility that are no longer applicable.
- And lastly for now: Trump's answer to hunger in America? Get rid of food stamps and we'll assemble some crates of canned food and pass them out to poor people. He'll probably toss them into the crowds like rolls of paper towels. Eric Levitz has more.
As much as I love Stephen Colbert, I don't think I'll be a regular viewer of his new series, Our Cartoon President. It's well done but I'm starting to O.D. on Trump parodies. I need to limit them to two hours a day. That includes the Trump parodies being done on a daily basis by Trump.