Pierce: Donald Trump Is Not the President* of the United States in Any Way That Matters

[babylonsister]

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23942089/donald-trump-anti-president-greg-gianforte-reporter-jamal-khashoggi/

Donald Trump Is Not the President* of the United States in Any Way That Matters
He has transformed the office into just another adjunct of the multigenerational criminal enterprise to which he was heir.
By Charles P. Pierce
Oct 19, 2018

snip//

The president* has transformed the office into just another adjunct of the multigenerational criminal enterprise to which he was heir. He thrives on the support of brainless masses in this country, and of more competent authoritarians overseas. Vladimir Putin decided to troll this country on the topic on Friday. From ABC:

The Russian president, speaking at the Valdai forum in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, criticized the U.S. for implementing sanctions against Russia and other nations, arguing that doing so undermined trust in the dollar as the world's universal currency. "It's a typical mistake of an empire," Putin said. "An empire always thinks that it can allow itself to make some little mistakes, take some extra costs, because its power is such that they don't mean anything. But the quantity of those costs, those mistakes inevitably grows. And the moment comes when it can't handle them, neither in the security sphere or the economic sphere."

Putin is a international criminal who presides over a country with an economy that you could feed to a goat. It's the Ducky of Grand Fenwick with nukes and oil revenues. But he's emboldened to shoot off his mouth because his sublet in the White House won't do anything about it, not when there is mindless adoration to be mined in some banquet hall or local arena in the hinterlands.

This is not a president. This is, to borrow a useful phrase from the church of my birth, an anti-president. He doesn't have the national interest in mind. He couldn't find the national interest if you gave him two tracking hounds and the ghost of James Madison to show him the way. He is most comfortable among thugs, whether they are in government or out of it. They make him feel oh, so very strong.

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Charles Pierce, bravo, keep reporting facts

[spanone]

2. K&R...

[Docreed2003]

3. K&R

[Kajun Gal]

4. Well, he definitely is not MY president. He is a PINO! President In Name Only!

[fierywoman]

13. Hmmm ... "tiny PINO" ... the names just keep rolling out! (I like PINO a lot.)

[diva77]

5. same goes for every rethug and the "office" each one "holds"

[Blue_Tires]

6. And he NEVER has been... And he NEVER planned on being so...

America wanted an autocratic king instead of a democratically elected leader, and that's exactly what it got

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Charles Pierce: Stay away from Saudis with bone cutters.

[Cha]

11. Exactly Peggy! I thought of

Pierce's well being when I was reading what he had to say about the Der Fraud.

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R

[pintobean]

9. Referring to Americans as

brainless masses is not a winning strategy. It's right up there with "basket of deplorables".

[skypilot]

19. He wasn't calling Americans brainless.

He was calling Trump supporters brainless. And anyone who still supports this asshole at this point is surely that. Brainless.
And an asshole. They might be Americans by virtue of being born in this country but if they are showing up at his narcissistic rallies and cheering him on then they are a brainless and deplorable bunch. And Hillary said that you could put HALF of Trump supporters in the basket of deplorables. The ones who see themselves as part of that HALF deserve and, apparently, embrace that assessment. There is no "winning" them over. They are happy where they are.

[Cha]

10. To Charles Pierce and his Dead On assessment

of Der Fraud

[FakeNoose]

12. He's an actor playing "The President" on the USA reality show

Kind of like Ronald Reagan, except that Reagan could at least follow a script. Cheeto's script is all in his head and he makes up a new one every day (or not.)

The sad fact is that the GOP is playing right along with the fantasy so they can raid the treasury and tear down the government. Somebody needs to say "Donald Trump, you're fired!"

[TeamPooka]

14. He couldn't find the national interest if you gave him two tracking hounds and the ghost of James Ma

He couldn't find the national interest if you gave him two tracking hounds and the ghost of James Madison to show him the way.

[oberliner]

15. Pierce trashed Hillary Clinton throughout 2015-2016

[Hekate]

21. Your point is? I've read a lot of good prose from Pierce in the past 2 years, none of it bashing HRC

nt

[oberliner]

22. I wish he (and others) had been more supportive of HRC

Could have helped prevent the Trump presidency from happening in the first place.

[Hekate]

23. I really have issues with a lot of the media that way. Andrea Mitchell could never disguise how much

...she despises Hillary Clinton. She just does. Even now, with Trump destroying the foundations of this country, when Mrs. Greenspan is forced to report on Secretary of State Senator Clinton, the fundamental detestation shows through. I want to reach through the screen and demand: "Happy now? Was it worth it? You live in NYC and you knew what Trump was like."

I don't get that vibe off Chaz Pierce -- but then, I didn't read him very often back then, and I enjoy what he says now.

[oberliner]

25. He was a Bernie supporter during the primaries

He did end up voting for HRC in the general, but was not enthusiastic about it (per his articles on the subject).

[Hermit-The-Prog]

16. multigenerational criminal enterprise

Charles Pierce is nobody's fool. GOP began its road to vileness before Ronald Reagan. It capitalized on exacerbating extremism and fomenting division. Stoking hatred and distrust is its main tool to keep its coalition of extremists together.

Meanwhile, the flying monkeys of the right, who will still be there long after this president* is gone, are hard at work making sure enough dust is thrown in history's eyes.

Getting TrumPutin out of office won't end our troubles. (It's a good start). We will still have the horde and the disinformation machine to deal with.

[oasis]

17. Not my president!

[roamer65]

18. Illegitimate occupant of the WH.

The fucker’s term should be annulled. Along with all of his appointments.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Really?

If he is not the president in any way that matters, why do we have two extremely right-wing supreme court justices? Why do we have federal benches across the country that have taken a sharp turn to the right? Why do we have children separated at the border from their parents? Why have I been going through agonizing week after agonizing week wondering if my daughter will have health insurance to cover her $200,000/year bills? Why do we have a tax bill that gives to the 1%, takes from the rest of us, and will grow the national debt at an unprecedented rate?

I wish he was not the president in any way that mattered, but unfortunately that is not the case. Even though he is a joke, he is a joke with the power to wreak havoc on the lives of americans & the world. We ignore that - and pretend he is just joke - at our peril.

[Jim Lane]

24. Precisely! The linked article makes valid criticisms but the headline is wishful thinking. (n/t)