The Trumpian Chronicles — week 7— where Trump outdoes himself as a conspiracy theorist unfit for office
A pessimist-realist’s take on our changing world
Week 7 started with the now infamous Trumpian twitter tirade, borne out of a Breitbart article, itself referencing Louise Mensch’s work. As is now normal modus operandi in this White House, the President “talks to the people” on Saturdays to either 1- vent 2- deflect 3- create chaos 4- all of the above. Come Monday morning, his staff works overtime to “mop up” after him and Sean Spicer is looking increasingly like a hostage, he even wore his US flag upside down on Friday.
The 3 main events of the week:
1- the aftermath of Trump accusing Obama of “tapping his wires”
2- the roll-out of Trumpcare (except we can’t call it that)
3- the positive jobs report
Let’s look at each in detail:
1- the aftermath of Trump accusing Obama of “tapping his wires”
Josh Marshall very aptly summed up this ridiculous accusation: “My best guess is that is a typically Trumpian development in that it involves both abject lying and a big splat of ignorance, laziness and ridiculousness of simply having no idea of how the different branches connect with each other. He hasn’t realized that demanding a congressional investigation is different when you’re President rather than some old guy getting angry watching Fox News in the living room. The President is in essence demanding Congress investigate him. Yes, he thinks it’s Obama. But he inherited Obama’s house. Whatever Obama did, Trump owns it.”
my take: I “violently” agree with Josh Marshall’s POV here. It’s been 7 weeks and Trump still does not understand what it means to be President and apparently, NO ONE is telling him. His sycophantic staff, led by the mostly absent and inept Priebus has ridiculed itself since the inauguration with self-made mini-disasters which, as Laurence Tribe pointed out, show that when a REAL crisis will erupt (and there will be one), this White House is ill prepared to handle it.
2- the roll-out of Trumpcare (except we can’t call it that)
Paul Ryan was in full Powerpoint mode this week, when he let go of his suit jacket and demonstrated that he clearly doesn’t understand basic insurance and actuarial concepts. He was promptly ridiculed online. As Olga Khazan wrote in The Atlantic: “The idea of Obamacare is … that the people who are healthy pay for the people who are sick,” Ryan said. “It’s not working, and that’s why it’s in a death spiral. [..]That’s the problem with insurance: At some point, we all end up paying for someone sicker than ourselves. Until, that is, one day we get sick.”
Ryan also sparked the following from Investor’s Business Daily: “one of the most curious aspects of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s new American Health Care Act is that it limits “eligible health insurance” to plans that provide ObamaCare’s list of essential benefits. It is even more curious because, as Washington and Lee School of Law Professor Timothy Jost notes in his Health Affairs write-up, the original leaked version of the House plan eliminated federal benefit requirements. Here’s the puzzle: If House GOP leaders are trying to keep conservatives on board with their ObamaCare repeal plan, why would Ryan add back this provision that would only appeal to Democrats?”
my take: as a longtime US resident and suffering from a chronic ilness let’s say I have an intimate knowledge of the US healthcare system, its imperfections and also its tireless nurses and doctors. Paul Ryan’s presentation this week was meant to show his command of the details and it supremely backfired with the DC and national media #echochamber. I question whether voters who backed Trump and heard him say loud and clear that he was going to make it all better understood that Ryan destroyed his credibility with the press. One of the most forward-thinking physicians in the US, Jay Parkinson, summed it up in a tweet conversation we had:
With its ill-prepared bill the GOP shows its divisions and demonstrates it has mutated into a know nothing party, uninterested in governing and preferring posturing. It’s almost as if elections are for most a gateway to door #1 the Conservative Media Bubble Complex, where Murdoch’s FoxNews can bestow riches to them as “analysts”, or door#2 K Street where even Corey Lewandoski is collecting lobbying fees.
My live tweet analysis of the Ryan presentation:
3- the positive jobs report
The Feb jobs report in a new term can mostly be linked to the previous administration’s record. The healthy jobs creation recorded by the same agency that Trump thrashed during the campaign is now worthy of trust somehow.
my take: this blatant hypocrisy is pure Trumpism — the media and respected other public figures need to push back HARD. How can the same man repeat ad nauseam that the unemployment rate could be “42%” and now be satisfied that it is in fact 4.7% ! I question how data-obsessed investors and business leaders can feel comfortable with a political leader who is contemptuous of hard facts. Here’s a montage of Trump on the campaign trail mocking data, via Justin Hendrix:
I will cover the US attorneys firings in next week’s edition.
LINKS TO GO BEYOND THE HEADLINES:
Voices to listen to/follow:
