L’Etat c’est moi
Louis XIV
While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS
POTUS XLV
Dear Friends,
Yesterday morning while you were having coffee, POTUS XLV was at it again, tweeting away in a thrust-and-parry, rapier-like fury that lashed out at a range of mostly familiar targets, and in trademark disjointed phrasing:
- the Amazon Washington Post
- The Failing New York Times
- the A. G. and Special Council (sic)
- the many Hillary Clinton and Comey crimes
- Clinton ties to Russia
- the Podesta company
- Uranium deal
- Russian Reset
- big dollar speeches
- Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted (& acid washed) 33,000 e-mails
Despite his fondest conceit — ‘all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon’ — ‘all’ do not, and even he cannot will that assertion into existence. Courts stand in between America’s Sun King and his imperious ambitions, unlike his ami, Louis XIV.
It is at moments like this when we are unhappily reminded that the mad tweeter is the same person who occupies the Oval Office, travels about the globe on Air Force One, has the (ostensible) final say on the use of America’s nuclear weapons, and has altered the contours and conduct of the American presidency in less time than it takes to build a golf course.
Oh, how these Sun Kings govern. And, in turn, how they are governed by shiny objects, gold, opulence, excess, and the seductive allure of inauthentic adoration.
Friday’s press conference with Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump’s newly-named director of communications, was an opportunity to take Yogi’s wise counsel: “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
And watch we did.
“Mooch” lived up to the hype: smart, smooth, unctuous, quick, debonair, assertive, convincing. And if I’m any judge of character, I’d wager a princely sum that he is also what Sam Goldwyn had in mind when asked to reveal the secret to success in Hollywood — “Sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
Mooch is counterfeit, 24 karat. Hence the appeal to his boss and vice versa. And when this turns, as it surely will, it won’t be pretty. He has just boarded the Trump bus, possessed of the kind of confidence that allows otherwise smart, successful, self-assured people to tempt fate. It’s been going on since Icarus.
The problem at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue hasn’t got a thing to do with the communications director, press secretary, or even the chief of staff. And replacing the current occupants with the most seasoned, savvy, forceful, disciplined, and authoritative personalities won’t change a thing.
Expecting Scaramucci to make the difference in the public acceptance and approval of this doomed presidency is akin to recruiting a prepossessing, maître ‘d for an exquisitely designed restaurant where the chef is untrained, untrainable, and an unrepentant repeat offender. The problem isn’t the service, it’s the food.
Donald Trump is the problem. His psychopathology is the driver. And nothing will change that.
Donald Trump and American democracy are on a collision course. Like Nero, as he tweets, the government’s ability to function deteriorates. Together with his enablers in Congress and the cabinet, they are presiding over a decline in the institutions of governance that have made America the bulwark of global leadership.
The picture is clear. The price is steep. The worst is yet to come. And though he is incapable of understanding this, in the battle between the Hun and the republic, the Hun will lose.
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