It's Not an Act

[babylonsister]

It's Not an Act

It’s no longer possible to pretend that President Trump is simply playing at bigotry, hypocrisy, and detachment from reality.
Susan Walsh / AP

David A. Graham 11:44 AM ET Politics


Over the past 24 hours, President Trump has delivered a concentrated dose of misinformation, self-sabotage, hypocrisy, and bigotry that stands out even by the standards of his short and eventful political career.

The president blew up negotiations to fund the government with a tweet attacking Democratic congressional leaders. He retweeted inflammatory and misleading anti-Islam videos from a bigoted far-right British politician. He joked about presenting a “Fake News Trophy” to media networks. He called attention to Matt Lauer, the NBC host fired on Wednesday for sexual misconduct, despite Trump’s own past admissions of sexual assault. He baselessly implied that NBC host Joe Scarborough, a one-time informal adviser, might have been involved in the death of an intern years ago in Florida. And several outlets reported that the president privately continues to claim preposterous things, including that it wasn’t him on the Access Hollywood tape and that Barack Obama really wasn’t born in the United States.

It’s unclear what precipitated the meltdown. Trump was having a decent stretch in office, including relatively smooth progress for the GOP tax bill. Taken individually, none of these examples is all that unusual for Trump. His bigotry toward Muslims has been on display for years. He has blown up budget negotiations before. He frequently passes along unverified and false information. His hypocrisy about sexual-harassment allegations is not new. He has a weakness for conspiracy theories.

Taken together, however, they offer yet another display of poor judgment and divisive leadership from the putative leader of the free world, and they again cast doubt on his fitness for his office. They are also further evidence that Trump’s hypocrisy, bigotry, and dishonesty are not an act. He means it all.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/its-not-an-act/547010/?utm_source=atlfb

[cilla4progress]

1. His speech today is

CRAY CRAY!!!!!

[bearsfootball516]

2. I actually do think its an act.

I don’t think Trump believes half the stuff he says. But right now, he knows tax cuts are on the verge of passing, so he’s purposely acting even more crazy and insane than he already is, to keep the spotlight on him and off Congress.

The media has no time to report how bad the tax plan is if they have to report Lauer, the anti muslim videos, the insane alligations against Joe S., Roy Moore, etc. The more insane, out of control stuff Trump can come up with right now, the better for him.

[uponit7771]

3. His racism isn't an act at all

[gratuitous]

6. Whether it's an act or not

Whether or not Trump believes what he's saying, he's the President of the United States, and that's supposed to mean something. His pronouncements are the official policy and position of the United States of America. He doesn't get backsies. He doesn't get to say something then turn around and say "Just kidding!" That's not how the presidency works.

It's long past time for his enablers (in government, the media, and among the citizenry) to quit covering for Lord Littlehands, and hold him accountable. One good place to start would be with his re-tweeting of the Britain First videos this morning. Twitter should suspend or ban his account for that, if it has any pretension at all to having standards.

[babylonsister]

16. He has cheapened this position so much.

And this country.

The enablers will probably start slithering away after this "tax reform" is a done deal and figure out how to blame it on the Dems.

[lunatica]

13. Who cares if he is or not. The damage done is what counts

Act or no act, the damage is real.

[underpants]

4. I literally was just thinking that - this isn't an act

[cwydro]

5. What?

“A decent stretch.”

Seriously?

[Paladin]

7. Frankly, I don't give a shit whether it's an act or not.

I just want him gone, at the earliest possible moment.

[Grammy23]

8. Agreed. Many of us have had a bellyful of his nonsense.

Whether it is an act, real or part of a plan is irrelevant to me. The damage to the country is the same. The damage to the people in this country is the same. The longer he is in the White House, the longer he is able to inflict his misdeeds on all of us. Even his supporters, whether they know it or not, are going to be hurt by him. Every.Single.One.Of.Us.

It is long past time for him to be removed in the fastest way possible. If that is by the 25th amendment so be it. Impeachment will take too long. The arguing would linger way into next year. Just oust him and be done with it. Then the legal experts can do their jobs to prosecute him.

Someone, anyone, make it happen. We are in deep, deep doo doo here.

[Paladin]

9. Very well put. (nt)

[Stuart G]

10. k and r. nt

[Wounded Bear]

11. I don't really care if it is "real" or not...

he is certainly using racism as a political tactic to stir the pot and fire up his base.

Racist or not personally, he is acting racist and spreading hatred and xenophobia.

[lunatica]

12. We'll know for sure when he starts talking about missing strawberries

[babylonsister]

15. Ha! Or

rolling marbles, my first thought. We are not far away.

[Progressive dog]

14. There are still about a third of Americans

who stand with Trump and this kind of wishy washy repudiation of him will change none of their minds.

"Trump was having a decent stretch in office, including relatively smooth progress for the GOP tax bill."

Trump was on vacation, that doesn't mean he's cured. He is still the same psychopath he has always been.