Greg Sargent: Trump "has zero sense of any obligation to the public, of any kind."

[highplainsdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/08/14/why-is-trump-reluctant-to-condemn-white-terrorism-its-his-racism-and-his-megalomania/

I’d like to suggest an additional reason for Trump’s reticence that is intertwined with this one: Trump does not recognize that his service as president confers on him any obligations to the public of any kind. This does not supplant Trump’s racism as an explanation. It throws its potential effects going forward into even sharper, more alarming relief.

On Saturday, Trump condemned what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” but did not explicitly blame white supremacy or continuing racism toward African Americans for it. This sparked a ferocious backlash, including from some Republicans, and the White House and Vice President Pence have since put out statements calling out white supremacy. Trump has yet to take this simple step.

Trump’s resistance appears rooted in part in an instinctual sense that so doing would constitute some form of capitulation. In his remarks, Trump repeated the phrase “on many sides” in a pointed tone, as if to signal that he will not be bullied by any objection to his false equivalence or any pressure to single out anti-black racism.

-snip-

As Jeffrey Goldberg points out, moments such as this outbreak of “radical white terrorism” are precisely when we need our elected officials to speak out, forthrightly and with no equivocation. But the rub here is that Trump clearly recognizes no obligation to the broader public of any kind as a function of the office entrusted to him. This isn’t just racism. It’s also his megalomaniacal inability to envision that his role might require duties above and beyond his desire to deepen his bond with certain supporters (which of course is all about him) or the fact that he doesn’t want to be seen surrendering in some vague sense.

-snip-

In this sense, there is a direct line that leads from this abdication to Trump’s serial degradation of the presidency and our institutions on many other fronts: the continuing refusal to release his tax returns and use of the presidency to enrich his family; the nonstop lies about illegal voting in 2016, which undermine faith in our democratic system solely to aggrandize him; the blithe admission that he fired his FBI director because of the Russia probe; the rage at his attorney general for failing to protect him from that investigation; and the constant claims that the Russia story is a hoax, even though it’s about actual sabotage of our democracy, in addition to his role in it. Even if Trump does say the right thing today, it will only come after intense pressure to do so — and will be born of an instinct toward self-preservation — because he has zero sense of any obligation to the public, of any kind.

[smirkymonkey]

1. "Its also his megalomaniacal inability to envision that his role might require duties

above and beyond his desire to deepen his bond with certain supporters (which of course is all about him) or the fact that he doesn’t want to be seen surrendering in some vague sense."

Excellent article that goes right to core of Trump's dysfunction and underscores his unfitness for the office that he occupies. The man is absolutely incapable of thinking or caring about anything but himself. Such a person has no business being in public service.

[leftstreet]

2. DURec

A good read

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. The entire Republican Congress MUST.....

as a body publicly repudiate Donald Trump and state that he is NOT FIT to be POTUS. That also means calling for the firing of Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Steven Miller, known White Supremacists.

Congress has the power to curtail the powers of the President. They tried against Pres. Obama. They can surely do that to Trump, who I refuse to use the title of President before his name. If more Republicans do not step up to the plate, the people will before their offices.