Thursday, January 11, 2018

Too Much To Bear


Some are speculating that Michael Wolff's book, The Fire And The Fury, will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and lead to Donald Trump's demise. Frank Rich writes that kind of speculation is all wish and no substance:

The only way Trump leaves office absent a Democratic sweep in the 2018 midterms is if he does so of his own volition: poisoning himself with his binges of Big Macs and Diet Coke; making a deal to head off pending indictments of himself, his son, or son-in-law; or breaking down mentally to the point where he is so unhappy, angry, and unmoored that he’d rather declare victory and take his marbles home to Mar-a-Lago.

Wolff's book has been the catalyst for the demise of Steve Bannon. Trump's ouster will be much harder to accomplish. Nonetheless,

Fire and Fury has moved the latter process along. That Trump would feel compelled to declare himself a “very stable genius” and turn this book into an epic best seller by (impotently) threatening legal action to suppress it suggests that Wolff has quite successfully gaslighted him. Though it’s Ivanka Trump whom Steve Bannon described as “dumb as a brick,” her father’s self-immolating actions from the moment New York posted its Fire and Fury excerpt is proof positive that the apple didn’t fall far from the orange tree.

It's remarkable when you review the number of clips when Trump claims -- again and again -- that he's very smart. Wolff's book documents the number of Trumpian supporters who have called him an "idiot."

At some point, the cognitive dissonance between Trump's claims and the conclusions of those who know him will be too much to bear.

Image: wonkette.com

10 comments:

Steve said...

Who you gonna believe the facts or your own lying eyes. A teacher told me that intelligence can be divided into 3 parts. IQ, or processing power, software or education, and the third intangible native cunning. Trump may be deficient in two zones, but in the most important one he is a genius.

Owen Gray said...

Trump's cunning, Steve, is a figment of his own imagination.

Steve said...

Owen the man is President of the United States. This is not a figment of imagination.

Toby said...

There has to be cognitive dissonance between Trump's claims and his own mind. His rant looks like the early stage of senile dementia, full of defensiveness and denial. I've seen this before.

Owen Gray said...

Absolutely, Steve. But there is nothing that guarantees that the ppresident of the United States has to be smart. All he has to do is get elected -- with the help of the Electoral College.

Owen Gray said...

A number of people claim that there has been a marked decline -- over the last few years -- in Trump's mental acuity, Toby.

Steve said...

Trumph made fools of the political elite on both sides. He spend no money. He had no ground game. He took on the Bush and Clinton complex and laid them out. Hillary did put up a fight
and a Bernie Sanders would have beat him. No matter you have to give credit where it is due.
Trump won the toughest apprentice contest the world has ever devised.

Owen Gray said...

It was a con job, Steve. That says more about the people who voted for him than it does about the man himself. Clinton still garnered three million more votes than he did. That's more of a fluke than a triumph.

Steve said...

https://www.blacklistednews.com/As_No_One_Watched%2C_Trump_Pardoned_5_Megabanks_For_Corruption_Charges%E2%80%94Who_He_Owes_Millions/62877/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Owen Gray said...

As long as Trump is in office, the banks will do very well, Steve. They are furthering their mutual self interest.