Quote:When your strongest statement of support for a president is that “there are no charges against him,” you’ve described a presidency under siege. So it is for the reign of President Donald Trump, who came into office a whirling, undisciplined outsider and is now paying the price for his unseemly behavior.

Trump “did nothing wrong,” spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday. She was in full damage control after an incendiary accusation by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, that Trump was involved in hush payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump.

The legal risk to Trump is the timing and purpose of 2016 payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. If the money was spent to protect Trump’s campaign from embarrassment, these were de facto campaign contributions and should have been treated as such. Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two violations of campaign finance laws; in doing so he implicated Trump by claiming Trump directed Cohen to make the payments. The president denies the accusation, saying he learned of the deals “later on.”

There’s a lot more to uncover about what transpired between Trump and Cohen, so no point in rendering final judgment here. The same is true about the question of Russian interference in the election. Special counsel Robert Mueller will conclude his independent investigation and determine, among other things, whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey. Trump’s presidency may survive these travails. Let’s see what happens.

There is something we can say now: Trump’s tenure in the White House is a disappointment and a disgrace. Presidents are elected to lead and achieve — to work tirelessly toward a vision of a better America. What we have with Trump is a distracted, ill-mannered figure who spends more time bashing perceived enemies on Twitter than uniting a nation that faces serious challenges at home and abroad.

The connection between Trump’s nasty streak and his potential legal jeopardy is his impetuous nature. Trump is a brash bully who sees himself as a political street fighter, a great counter-puncher, as he puts it. His pride in being a tough guy displays a recklessness that has no place in the Oval Office. The president who invited court fights by ordering an ill-considered immigration ban and insisted there were “some very fine people on both sides” of a violent white supremacy rally is now caught up in legal battles over his behavior that imperils his presidency.

Defending himself in a Fox News interview, Trump sounded like a nervous hoodlum as he attacked Cohen for “flipping,” that is, telling prosecutors what they want to hear in exchange for a lenient sentence. “I’ve had many friends involved in this stuff,” Trump said. “It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.”

No surprise, really. Trump, who had never been accountable to the voting public, showed his colors on the campaign trail. Voters were attracted to his populist message and embraced, or looked past, his rough persona. In our view — expressed early on — he was unqualified for the presidency. He ceded moral authority last year when he failed to call out neo-Nazis. We judge his performance as president based on policy work, but Trump’s behavior continually undermines his ability to get things done.

Did Trump conspire to violate campaign finance laws? Did he obstruct justice by firing Comey? We’ll see.

Just as we’ll see whether he retains or loses control of his presidency.

(09-27-2018, 08:35 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: Trump is a dotard, but for some reason the MSM call him "childish" :/ This is an insult to children. Children are typically naively idealistic, but what they want is good. Trump is a heartless cynic, who wants only money, power and sex. This makes him a sort of living dead:

He is also a disgusting, palaeolithic embodiment of toxic masculinity. He sees himself as a warrior, but the only sword he can use is the pork sword.

Finally, Trump is an American version of Stalin - a brutal strongman who pretends to represent the working class. It's no coincidence that both make heavy use of the national identity concept.

(09-27-2018, 03:40 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(09-27-2018, 08:35 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: Trump is a dotard, but for some reason the MSM call him "childish" :/ This is an insult to children. Children are typically naively idealistic, but what they want is good. Trump is a heartless cynic, who wants only money, power and sex. This makes him a sort of living dead:

He is also a disgusting, palaeolithic embodiment of toxic masculinity. He sees himself as a warrior, but the only sword he can use is the pork sword.

Finally, Trump is an American version of Stalin - a brutal strongman who pretends to represent the working class. It's no coincidence that both make heavy use of the national identity concept.

The one side note that needs to be added: Trump sounded like this in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and ever since.  He's more like Bubble Boy -- never in the real word, only the one of his own creation.

(09-28-2018, 07:56 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Intellectually hollow as our President is, he seems to act as if the only mind that matters is his own. That's not quite the complete story, as other minds might simply be irrelevant to him.

Quote:It may be that he thinks that minds other than his are irrelevant, which gives him an impoverished view of the richness possible in those who recognize that there are far greater and more productive minds than their own. A truly great man can recognize that he is not Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer, or Bach. I encounter pretensions to superiority based upon class, power, or wealth and am unimpressed. I encounter intellectual greatness manifesting itself in delightful achievements, and I am humbled.

(09-28-2018, 11:17 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(09-28-2018, 07:56 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Intellectually hollow as our President is, he seems to act as if the only mind that matters is his own. That's not quite the complete story, as other minds might simply be irrelevant to him.

There is also a word for that: psychopathy (or narcissism at least).

In this respect, Trump is an embodiment of Thomistic Western civilization, which also behaved as if other cultures (e.g. the Chinese culture) didn't matter, even if these cultures were in some ways more sophisticated than the West.

Quote:It may be that he thinks that minds other than his are irrelevant, which gives him an impoverished view of the richness possible in those who recognize that there are far greater and more productive minds than their own. A truly great man can recognize that he is not Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer, or Bach. I encounter pretensions to superiority based upon class, power, or wealth and am unimpressed. I encounter intellectual greatness manifesting itself in delightful achievements, and I am humbled.

I don't think disliking Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer and Bach means that there is something wrong with the person. Many people, like me, prefer rock music.

(09-28-2018, 11:17 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(09-28-2018, 07:56 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Intellectually hollow as our President is, he seems to act as if the only mind that matters is his own. That's not quite the complete story, as other minds might simply be irrelevant to him.

There is also a word for that: psychopathy (or narcissism at least).

In this respect, Trump is an embodiment of Thomistic Western civilization, which also behaved as if other cultures (e.g. the Chinese culture) didn't matter, even if these cultures were in some ways more sophisticated than the West.

Quote:It may be that he thinks that minds other than his are irrelevant, which gives him an impoverished view of the richness possible in those who recognize that there are far greater and more productive minds than their own. A truly great man can recognize that he is not Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer, or Bach. I encounter pretensions to superiority based upon class, power, or wealth and am unimpressed. I encounter intellectual greatness manifesting itself in delightful achievements, and I am humbled.

I don't think disliking Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Vermeer and Bach means that there is something wrong with the person. Many people, like me, prefer rock music.