Trump Sucks at Being President

TRUMP CAVES IN

The longest government shutdown in history has ended.

It lasted this long because...

Trump sucks at negotiating.

Trump announced his 'short-term' end to the shutdown - but gets no wall-funding. He gets NOTHING! So 800,000 federal workers had to be financially harmed and our nation's safety jeopardized...for Trump's NOTHING!
Remember how well he negotiated with Russia? Neither do I. But Russia has notes on every meeting Putin has had with Trump. Putin can say whatever he wants about what is in them and what Trump agreed to.
Remember what a detailed and thorough deal Trump signed with Kim Jong Un? Me either. Trump claimed he had ended the North Korean nuclear threat, then last week the Defense Dept. released new information that the Kim regime has opened at least 20 new nuclear missile launch sites since June 2018. Satellite photos confirm their existence.

Trump sucks at press briefings.

That’s why he now does them within a few yards of running helicopter engines, shouts answers to questions he hasn’t been asked, repeats himself, and walks away every time he’s asked for his source material or details about something.

Trump sucks at military matters, too.

The loss of General Jim Mattis and Gen. H. R. McMaster. The disgust of reputable retired military people like General McChrystal and Admiral McRaven.

Six days into his presidency, with little thought about the mission and what was to be accomplished, Trump ordered the SEAL team attack on Yemen in Jan. 2017 that killed CPO Owens, wounded at least three others, a $75 million dollar aircraft was destroyed and the mission yielded absolutely nothing according to the Defense Dept.

Four Green Berets are killed in Niger Oct. 4, 2017. Chadian troops fighting ISIS sympathizers pulled out of Niger after Trump arbitrarily included Chad in his Muslim travel ban. ISIS floods back into Niger, where lightly armed US troops are sent along with Niger soldiers into an ambush. No directive is issued on what the mission is to accomplish, there is no backup, no air support, and no extraction plan. And Trump couldn't bother telling the public for 12 days then he lied about contacting the families of those KIA when he hadn’t done any such thing.

Trump ordering the pull-out of US troops in Syria without consulting the Pentagon, the Dept. of Defense, or any of the generals. 
And remember, on Veterans Day, Trump sat in the White House and did absolutely nothing, no visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, no laying a wreath, no visit to Arlington, no visit to Veterans hospitals or even a VFW hall. But to be fair, I guess those bone spurs can act up and prevented him from doing stuff at the most inopportune times.

Trump sucks at choosing “the best people”.

Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Scott Pruitt, Tom Price, Ryan Zinke, Jeff Sessions, David Shulkin, Rob Porter, John Kelly, Roy Moore, Scaramucci, and all the “fine people” on the side of the Nazis and the KKK in Charlottesville, Va. Can Trump pick them or what?

Trump sucks at running the government

To date, over 3,000 positions within the government have still not been filled because Trump has not submitted or approved any names.

He ‘works’ barely 3 hours a day…if that. His own time schedule shows he arrives in the Oval Office at the earliest around 11:00, and is out of there by 4…with an hour for lunch and another hour or two of ‘executive' (meaning TV) time included.
He's never read the Constitution all the way through, so it's no wonder he doesn't understand the office of the presidency.

When he couldn’t get Mexico to honor his campaign pledge to pay for the wall, he decided American taxpayers should cough up the money. When the answer was no, he threw a fit and shut down the government. Let's face it...

Trump sucks at being president.

Honoring the Great War Dead on Armistice Day 2018

         It was called the Great War because it dwarfed every previous war to that date. So many nations, so many troops, so much cost, so much destroyed, and so much death. It was a war that could have been avoided since three of the monarchs involved; King George V, Czar Nicholas II, and Kaiser Wilhelm II were related to each other through Queen Victoria. None of them wanted to see the destruction of the others. None of them thought it was the only way to resolve international issues. But nationalistic tendencies, petty grudges, interlocking treaties, and a presumption that any war would be quickly concluded led to general support for the war from almost all of the combatant nations in July and August 1914.

 Four blood-soaked years passed that claimed nearly 10 million lives, not including civilian casualties, and it was officially declared at an end 100 years ago today. It became known as Armistice Day and in the U.S. it eventually evolved into Veterans Day. The world is still grappling with the war’s fallout because no one had ever witnessed such destruction. It still deserves our attention, our deep study, our reverence, and our commitment to finding a better, nobler, and more lasting peace with those whom we share space on this small planet.

But today’s commemoration has one giant flaw.

          I object to the United States being represented by Donald Trump at the anniversary ceremonies being held in Paris, France. What a disgrace to have this bone-spur-addled criminal traitor standing in for the American troops and their sacrifice for such a somber event as the end of the Great War. It became known as World War I after an even bigger and bloodier war 21 years later that was the direct result of the Great War. But Trump doesn’t even know THAT! 

Trump travelled to Paris to join other world leaders for the memorial events. What reverence did he show? Did he have the slightest interest in honoring the grave sites of U.S. servicemen killed in that war? No. A light shower on Saturday kept him from a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, the final resting place of many of the 1,800 Americans killed in the battle of Belleau Wood. His no-show prompted a chorus of scorn and derision. Those men died on a horrific battleground, surrounded by unimaginable noise, constant terror, exploding shells, and bullets stinging the air around them. But a light sprinkle of rain was all it took to keep Trump huddled far away from this sacred ground. Maybe it was good that Trump made up a bone spur in his foot because his cowardice on a Vietnamese battlefield might have cost an even greater number of U.S. dead there.

 The White House issued a lie, that is, a statement citing “scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather” for Trump’s decision to ignore American war dead from the fighting at Belleau Wood. It was unclear how the weather impeded Trump’s plans. Maybe he didn’t want to figure out the open and close mechanism of an umbrella again. 

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the trip by car. British Parliament member Nicholas Soames ― a grandson of Winston Churchill ― reacted to Trump’s absence by calling the U.S. president “pathetic.” Did Trump offer any thoughts on the sacrifice of our allies prior to our official entry on April 6, 1917, a sobering speech about how the U.S. became involved, how many Americans were already serving in the French Foreign Legion, the Ambulance Corp, the Lafayette Escadrille, and the Royal Flying Corp? Of course not. Trump couldn’t even tell you where Belleau Wood is. 

Trump doesn’t care how the avoidance makes him look. He isn’t interested in respecting the American dead. He isn’t making any money off of it so why should he bother going? The closest Trump came to acknowledging anything about the Great War was the North Korean-like parade he demanded down Pennsylvania Avenue, originally slated for today that fortunately got cancelled because the Pentagon revealed what it would cost. It wasn’t to pay tribute to the end of the war, to U.S. losses in the war, or as a way to honor our veterans or our armed forces. It was a way to stroke Trump’s massive ego. The parade was meant to be about HIM! 

Compounding his ignorance, he tweeted a debunked story about General John Pershing in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. 

Trump has no idea what the Great War was about. He doesn’t know when it started, who it involved, nor how many Americans died. He has no concept of serving his country. When he could have in the 1960s and early 1970s, he dodged the draft by making up a fake ailment in his foot to avoid the military. Now he thinks he should stand in for Americans who DID serve? It would have made more sense for General Joseph Dunford or General Jim Mattis to represent us. 

Having Trump represent the United States, especially on the anniversary of the end of the Great War, makes as much sense as having Olive Garden represent Italy.   

Trump Supporters Still Want Their P*ssies Grabbed

At a recent Trump rally, women (and one guy) wait to have their genitals fondled.

Trump in 2005:  “…when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

In Trump’s mind, being a star means being above the law. So pussy grabbing by Trump is not illegal. 
Trump even admitted, "I was aware at the time that I was being recorded by a TV program".

However, this was just “locker room” talk, remember? He meant every word of it, he just didn’t mean for you to find out. It’s his way of puffing up his street cred with other serial sexual predators – by exchanging ideas for violating women safely behind locker room doors. You weren’t supposed to catch him admitting what he really did to his victims. But he thinks what he did was okay. He told the world he “could get away with anything.” Getting caught voicing his preferred method was his only miscalculation. And the people who voted for him approve that message!

Does he care if you disapprove? Does Trump care about anything other than making money off of gullible people? Trump has a simple five-word response that sums up his attitude. Verified by numerous named sources in Bob Woodward’s book Fear: Trump in the White House, one of Trump’s most frequent responses to a variety of issues is “I don’t give a fuck”, "I don't give a shit", or “I don’t give a damn.”

Case in point: Money trumps the law.

Trump in November 2016, to Chris Christie (when he and Steve Bannon explained to Trump that legally the money raised for the Trump transition team could only be used for actual presidential transition team tasks as it prepared to take over the government): “Fuck the law,” Trump shouted. “I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.”

THIS IS THE REPUBLICAN’S LEADER - AND THE BIBLE-WIELDING EVANGELICAL’S CHOSEN MORAL REPRESENTATIVE.

Congratulations GOP and Christians, this is the man seen as the embodiment of your values around the world. This is the man you believe God picked to lead the U.S.

Does he care about presidential optics he has created? Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, shoving aside Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic so Trump could be in front at the NATO members photo op in May 2017, being laughed at when falsely bragging about his accomplishments in front of the UN General Assembly. 3000 Puerto Ricans are confirmed dead from Hurricane Maria and its after-effects, which were criminally mismanaged by the Trump administration, yet Trump gives himself an A+ and told reporters "I think we did a fantastic job in Puerto Rico."  Trump proudly says he’s a nationalist…even though he admits he shouldn’t say it. He doesn't care that nationalism has strong negative connotations and is closely associated with white nationalism and in particular National Socialism…you know, Nazis.

Did Trump really hire “the best people” to work for him? Recent Trump administration departures include Nikki Haley, Don McGahn, Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, Tom Price, David Shulkin, Rob Porter, Dina Powell, Scott Pruitt…many left under a cloud of corruption…and those names are just the most high-profile ones. These are Trump’s hand-selected “best people” and they have been either forced out or found they cannot work with him. Why would they no longer want to help Trump make America great again?

What about that massive parade that was supposed to showcase our great military (and by extension, it’s Commander-in-Chief), right down Pennsylvania Avenue…uh, soon, how 'bout July 4^th, no, no, Veteran’s Day on November 11^th, no wait…? Never mind, it’s been cancelled. As usual, Trump didn't give a damn about the cost until the Pentagon released figures showing the parade that Trump wanted would cost nearly $90 million. Then, to save face, Trump claimed he cancelled it due to budgetary concerns after Democratic politicians falsely inflated the price. That’s how Trump honors our military…with a false show of force designed to stroke his ego that would have wasted millions of dollars, it would have added nothing to military might or readiness, and that money would have been far better spent on our military families and veterans.

Does Trump actually care about helping our military? Trump has gone golfing at least 70 times since taking office yet hasn’t once visited troops in an active zone he sent them to. So far, all "General Bone Spurs" has done is use our soldiers, sailors, marines, and air force crews for photo opportunities or to send them off secretively - like they're a bunch of pawns or playthings - while he flexes his muscle and uses his military school background to play-act as the new sheriff in town. He told everyone on live TV he was smarter than our generals.
We lost four Green Berets in Niger October 4, 2017, because Trump added Chad to the list of seven banned countries - all because they didn’t use the right kind of paper for their passports. Chad troops then pulled out of Niger and the vacuum was filled by ISIS-supporting militants. With no advance intelligence, Trump ordered the US African Command to send lightly-armed US troops into the area with no plan, no support, no backup, and no extraction force available. Then when four Americans were killed (along with several Niger troops) Trump did nothing. Absolutely nothing. He even ignored the Defense Department's statement for him to read to the public about the ambush. Nor did Trump call any of the families of those killed until he was exposed at a press conference on October 16^th lying that he was the first president ever to call all the families of those who died in service to the US on his watch. He further sullied the whole affair by insulting the widow of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, on her way to claim her husband’s body at the airport, and his off-the-cuff callousness was confirmed by the widow’s mother and her congresswoman who were riding in the car with her. Trump claims they are the ones who are lying about the incident, even though Chief of Staff John Kelly corroborated that Trump had said to the widow about her husband’s death “well, he knew what he signed up for…” 
How and why did we lose a SEAL in Somalia? Why was Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens killed in that botched raid in Yemen just a week into the Trump presidency? Why are we still losing military personnel in Syria when Trump can, and does, launch Tomahawk cruise missiles from the comfort of his golf resorts as his way of resolving issues in that country? Trump even salutes generals of countries we are technically still at war with.

         Taking care of our military starts with our veterans. Yet what has Trump done for them? According to the publication Stars & Stripes, Trump’s approach to the whole Veterans Administration issue was to appoint a trio of wealthy Mar-a-Lago members (those are people who pay him personally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year) who have no military experience to run the VA in secret. And although Trump has repeatedly promised his total commitment to “take care of every veteran”, now, almost two years into his administration, he has yet to detail how he would do that, or when he might start. Meanwhile, wait times at almost every VA facility have increased because Trump froze federal hiring and spending which blocked any additional staff or doctors being added, or upgrading with needed equipment, thereby degrading veteran’s health care even more.

Why hasn’t anyone handed Trump an AR-15 and asked him to show us how he would have confronted the gunman at Margery Stoneman Douglas High School during his killing rampage on Valentine’s Day 2018? Trump said that’s what he would have done, run into the building and confront the shooter. Lead by example, Trump.

Does Trump care that everyone around him considers him an idiot, or more generously, a child? – The transcript of the July 20, 2017 meeting at the Pentagon reveals Trump left a room full of staff members, Cabinet officials, and military leaders stunned after showing he couldn’t grasp simple concepts on diplomacy, and reasons not to launch a war - Rex Tillerson blurted out ‘fucking moron’ as Trump left the room; the West Wing resembles a dumpster fire as seen through the eyes of Michael Wolff in his book Fire and Fury, the September 2018 New York Times op-ed letter that claims others are actually running the government as "the adults in the room" instead of Trump, the entire White House is understaffed and feels they have to be the guardians at the gate to keep Trump from acting on his wildest impulses as chronicled in Michael Lewis' The Fifth Risk, reporter/author Bob Woodward, who has an impeccable record for honest and accurate reporting, writes in his latest book Fear: Trump in the White House that many are concerned that the president acts like a petulant five-year-old, or describe him as having the attention span of a 5th or 6th grader, incompetent, completely self-centred, lacking a moral compass. And don't forget, after claiming as a candidate in 2016 that "the world was laughing at us" Trump is the one who actually got laughed at - by the entire UN General Assembly on September 24, 2018.

Does he care about the deficit?

In September 2018, Trump's top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, gave a talk at the Economic Club of New York in which he said that tax cuts aren't to blame for deficits. It’s entirely too much spending, mainly on social programs. Just how could Kudlow make such a preposterous claim? Because the GOP - who rammed through that Tax Cut Bill that transfers the tax savings wealth to the top 2% of people in this country, authorized with Trump's signature - tells him to say that. They don't want to answer for what they did to the other 98% of Americans. But it is Trump's $1.5 trillion tax cuts - and only Trump’s tax cuts - that are fueling the increase in deficits. It is now 17% higher than at this time last year according to his own Treasury Department. And even though Republicans control the Executive, Judicial and Legislative arms of the government, there's been absolutely no spending discipline at all by them. However, Republicans blame what they call “obstructionist Democrats” as causing the spending increases that are ballooning the deficit...and claiming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the culprits that really need radical reductions.

Does Trump care that a legal U.S. resident was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey? Jamal Khashoggi was no threat to Saudi Arabia. He was simply disliked by the Saudi prince over an article he wrote. And the official story, from the Saudi government, and even Trump himself, has changed five times? Is it okay for someone to murder a legal resident, then as president, a shrug of the shoulders is the only requirement in order to maintain a highly profitable financial arrangement (not just for US defence contractors but Trump personally)? Is it okay to kill journalists or representatives of the press? Is it okay to at least body slam them to the ground like Montana Senator Greg Gianforte did last year since Trump told a recent rally crowd that someone who could do that was his “kind of man”?

The presidency is supposed to be the beacon of moral leadership to the world. Instead, we have a president who has thoroughly disgraced, dishonoured, debased and degraded the office.

You in his administration…you in the GOP who cover for him...you evangelicals who CONTINUE to support him…you who voted for this vastly unfit-for-office man…you are all complicit. You are all enablers. You all figuratively lift your skirts every day and encourage Trump to grab your pussy because he's a star. And because he's a star, you support his getting away with ANYTHING by letting Trump just be Trump. As his hands grab your genitals it gives him the courage to imprison babies of migrant parents at the border, let economically-friendly countries kill American residents with no consequence, side with Putin against all of the US Intelligence agencies, sign a tax bill that promptly gave him a $2 billion windfall because tax breaks in the bill were specifically designed to go to real estate developers and people who own golf courses. How did that happen? That is going to make America great again? For who? Trump has not hidden who and what he is from anyone. By voting him into office, you have made this nation the laughing stock of the world. 

Just ask the UN.