Adults And Children

We’re at the stage of the Mueller investigation when shoes are dropping pretty regularly. In fact, it’s hard to keep up with the plea agreements, the guilty pleas, the additional indictments–not to mention the speculation about where this is all leading that is on offer from this former prosecutor or that former Judge on a daily basis.

You would think his base would begin to catch on (and evidently a few of them are beginning to)…but my Facebook page still shows periodic comments from members of the cult that continues to defend him; most are of the “what about Hillary” and “Obama did stuff I didn’t like” variety. And of course, reminders that no public servant is perfect. That’s certainly true; there has never been a candidate or a President I agreed with 100% of the time.

What the Trump defenders are unwilling to admit is the magnitude of the difference.

“I disagree with the policy positions of the adult who holds this office” is dramatically different from deploring the (ungrammatical) tantrums of a wholly unfit-for-office (or polite society, for that matter) child. But then, as post-election research has pretty conclusively determined, most of the people who hated Obama really couldn’t identify a policy position if they fell over it; what they resented was having a black family in the White House. What they voted for was an undisciplined child willing to say out loud what adults had been socialized to suppress.

I’m surprised Trump hasn’t called someone a poopy-head; given his diction, vocabulary and emotional “maturity,” it would seem entirely in character.

Most sentient Americans have figured out that the people who applaud Trump because “He tells it like it is” are defining bigotry as forthrightness, and racism as honesty. And evidently, having a President express and validate those sentiments is more important to them than having even minimally competent government.

Trump’s jealousy of his predecessor is not only obvious, it explains what passes for his agenda. If Obama promoted it, Trump wants to destroy it. The merits or demerits of the Obama administration’s policies are totally irrelevant to the three-year-old brat who–inconceivable as it still seems to me– occupies the Oval Office.

Obama made mincemeat of Trump at a Correspondent’s dinner, and like the child he is, he thinks undoing Obama’s very real achievements will “show him.” The collateral damage to the country is beyond his childish capacity to understand, and because he is a child, he wouldn’t care if he did understand.

Speaking of Obama–he has been incredibly restrained as Trump has eviscerated important policies he put in place, but as the indictments and the guilty pleas have mounted, he recently took a swipe:

“Not only did I not get indicted, nobody in my administration got indicted,” the former president said at an event in Houston on Tuesday, “which by the way was the only administration in modern history that that can be said about. In fact, nobody came close to being indicted, partly because the people who joined us were there for the right reasons. We were there to serve.”

Adults serve. Children are incapable of understanding the concept of service. Children misbehave–and when they are disciplined, they whine and call other people names.

More shoes please, Mr. Mueller. And ASAP.

28 Comments

  1. In my estimation two clodhoppers, not shoes, have been dropped these past few days. Cohen’s jail sentence, his speaking out admitting his guilt and weakness and the Return of Pecker and Trump’s involvement in the sex payoffs for cover ups still locked in the National Enquirer safe.. Whatever was in Trump’s mind – IF anything was – the payoffs during a presidential election were illegal. We all know IF Robert Mueller can legally get Trump to respond to his request to be questioned in person; what will result will be more of his lies and distortions. It is vital that those lies and distortions from his own mouth be on the record to confront with federal laws. I am impatient but remind myself this investigation needs to be done totally within the Rule of Law and needs to be fully investigated – any and all who are complicit in what has become an international election situation involving more millions of dollars that we can even imagine and more people than we thought possible.

    “Adults serve. Children are incapable of understanding the concept of service. Children misbehave–and when they are disciplined, they whine and call other people names.”

    When our children behaved in the manner Sheila described, they were sent to their room; but that room was not the Oval Office in our White House.

    Now a Texas federal judge has agreed with a coalition of 20 states that a tax law passed last year invalidates parts of the ACA. Another bit of ammunition to add to Trump’s government shutdown ransom demand for billions to build his wall of the southern border? Will that one dead 7 year old child in custody of our Border Patrol matter when the 20 dead children at Sandy Hook and other mass school shooting victims have been meaningless? This coming week before the holidays; this is a time of many religious holidays, will be a frightening time for this country.

    HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

  2. IMHO 45’s greatest fault is that he is the most incurious man ever to hold public office. Meanwhile he is systematically destroying all of the advances of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

  3. JoAnn,
    Our own law breaking Curtis Hill used our tax dollars to join the ACA lawsuit that was ruled on in Tx. He used our tax dollars to lift himself up for higher positions within the repub party. No doubt, he will be taking more orders from their leaders and wealthy/powerful donors to use our money to rule against IN’s citizens.

  4. Who exactly did Obama’s administration serve? It sure as hell wasn’t the people because all his progressive promises went nowhere once elected and Citibank chose his administration for him.

    There should have been jail terms of banksters and financial consultants. Nothing. His Fed appointments took $14 trillion from the Treasury to clean up the toxic investments on their balance sheets. All while Obama toured the world giving great speeches about American Exceptionalism. The problem is all the facts and evidence point to quite the opposite.

    Obama didn’t end any wars and he exacerbated the Middle East turmoil. He got his butt handed to him by Vladimir Putin in Syria and his efforts in Ukraine to topple another government cause Crimea to call Russia for help.

    And what about his Guantanamo pledge?

    Sadly, Obama and his administration served his Wall Street masters well. His policies weren’t much different than George W Bush and all they did was make the rich richer and poor poorer.

    But he was likable. Trump is not.

    And the media played along and now they don’t.

    If the media was remotely holding the government accountable or serving the people as intended, we’d never have Obama or Donald in the White House. The fraud and schemes occurring between Wall Street and D.C. would have long ago been toppled. The SCOTUS wouldn’t be a joke about justice, etc., etc.

    We discussed ignorance yesterday and my thesis is ignorance belongs on a linear spectrum showing variable degrees of ignorance. Ignorance isn’t displayed in black and white. 😉

    There are many shades of gray…

  5. When you pay no price for your wrongdoings and never have, being shielded by money and structural brain underdevelopment steeped in terminal narcissism, it’s hard to understand that there are other people living on this planet, too, and that they have hopes and plans and aspirations for their respective futures.

    But there are, and we have devised a process of law to set out certain standards by which all must adhere. Trump has ignored that process, somehow feeling that he is above the law – and acting accordingly. He is on the cusp of being educated to the contrary, and I think (unlike many) that his greatest barriers to authoritarianism are not Mueller but the State of New York and the SDNY. And why? Because Mueller’s jurisdiction is narrowly prescribed to Russian/election matters whereas that of the State of New York and the SDNY, for instance, has much broader powers (bank fraud, state tax evasion, his charity fraud etc.).

    Mr. Trump will be whining and pointing fingers throughout the coming process, and it isn’t going to work. The SDNY, the New York State Attorney General and Mueller are (and I think shortly) going to put the child back in his playpen.

  6. I am hoping that Mueller will not leave pence untouched. How could he? Pence was in charge of the transition team. He should not be allowed to claim everything was going on behind his back without his knowledge. Why has his CoS Nick Ayres chosen to walk away from him too? Is it because he has knowledge that pence will soon be in deep trouble? Does he want to walk away from the mess before it takes him down with his boss? Smells kind of fishy. Pence made no public statement about Ayres leaving him after serving for two years.

  7. Respectfully, Todd, give the Obama bashing a break. None of us should ever agree 100% with our elected officials, and I certainly did not agree with anything Obama did in regard to education. But I am grown up enough to understand that he did a pretty darn good job of being president considering the shit sandwich he was served up every day of his last 6 years of his terms. The current Prez creates problems just so he can think he is a hero for fixing the problem he made, all while pissing down the backs of our fellow midwesterners that voted for him. As Sheila said, more shoes Mueller, and soon!

  8. Nancy – I think your suspicions are well grounded and that Pence, who sits next to Trump on loan from the wax museum, is deserving of intense investigation, his claims to ignorance to the contrary notwithstanding. He is selective in telling us that he knows about everything deemed good but nothing about the bad stuff. My response ? If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it’s a duck!gg

  9. Dear readers, after you’ve endured Todd’s diatribe, search “Obama’s Accomplishments” at Snopes.com. McConnell achieved his goal of preventing even small progressive steps. Which GOP administrations in the last 100 years measure up to your standard, Todd? You blame the media for Obama and Trump. Where does blame lie for Hoover, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II? Allen Francis, MD, “one of the world’s most prominent psychiatrists (The Atlantic)” published “Twilight Of American Society” in 2017: “calling Trump crazy allows us to avoid confronting the craziness in our society–if we want to get sane we must first gain insight about ourselves. Simply put: Trump isn’t crazy, but our society is.”

  10. Nothing Mueller can report will significantly erode Trump’s support or remove him from office. Not everyone who voted for him is a bigot and/or idiot. And if his childishness or incompetency were disqualifying, Hillary would be President.

    We need to focus on structural change that includes rural America.

  11. Gerald and Wayne,

    Thanks for your accuracy and analysis today. Todd tends to not approve of anyone and blames everything on the gullibility of the masses and their adherence to the media…of which he is part, ironically.

    IN SPITE of Republican resistance during those last six years of Obama’s term, MUCH was accomplished that did some things well. Trump is the antithesis of valid performances in an executive position at any level. He, like most Republicans, lies, cheats and steals to get his way, what ever it is. He is a criminal and heads a criminal enterprise, child or not. Michael Cohen finally saw the error of his ways and will wear orange for his sins and parts played in the crime family of Trump.

    Yes, those who voted for Trump’s “forthrightness” harbored racism, sexism and backwardness such that they ignored the obvious signs of a criminal demagogue. The media that Todd so often rails against displayed that horrible person during the campaign – and are still doing it – for all to see. Sixty-two million voters ignored the truth in view and ninety-two million voters stayed home. Did any of us learn our lessons, or are there still more lessons to be learned about crime families given absolute power?

  12. John Neal,
    Not every Trump voter is a bigot or an idiot…. they just didn’t have a problem with electing a president who is a bigot AND an idiot.

  13. Todd @ 8:34 am good points.

    From the Guardian:
    Donald Trump’s embattled interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, is stepping down, following a series of scandals in which he is accused of using his position for personal gain.

    Under Zinke’s leadership, the interior department has sought to advance oil and gas drilling and mining on or near public land, rolled back protections for threatened species and shrank national monuments.

    “Zinke’s days of plundering our lands and enriching himself and his friends are over,” said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth.

    As a Side Bar our Miss USA would seem to be the perfect President Agent Orange contestant in the Miss Universe Contest: The woman who holds the Miss USA 2018 title has apologized after she was captured on video mocking two of her fellow competitors for their English-speaking skills.
    ======================================
    Ivanka’s Involvement in Trump’s Inauguration May Be Her Undoing.
    When it came out this year that President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised and spent unprecedented amounts, people wondered where all that money went.

    It turns out one beneficiary was Trump himself.

    The inauguration paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals and event space at the company’s Washington hotel, according to interviews as well as internal emails and receipts reviewed by WNYC and ProPublica.
    “The fact that the inaugural committee did business with the Trump Organization raises huge ethical questions about the potential for undue enrichment,” said Marcus Owens, the former head of the division of the Internal Revenue Service that oversees nonprofits.
    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ivankas-involvement-in-trumps-inauguration-may-be-her-undoing/

    ================================================================
    President Agent Orange and Pastor Pence have assembled the most blatantly avaricious, self serving group of people to ever serve (Loot) in government.

  14. Obama was a fraud. The DNC is as well. That is why the party is dying and deserves to die. Anyone with any sense is aware the party is a farce.

  15. Teresa Kendall is correct,Todd needs to step back in line and STFU. We need total obedience to the party! There is absolutely no room for dissenting opinions when discussing our DNC overlords.

  16. No long, wordy, blabby comments could match Sheila’s spot-on work here today!

    Thanks, Sheila! Poopy-head is fitting for the petulant child in the White House.

  17. Mr. Truth, it is the Republican Party that is about ready to return to Whigdom, not the Democratic Party which, on the contrary, is about ready to return to perhaps twenty years of post-FDR majorities. Ours is a Big Tent composed of social democrats in the east and west and moderates in such jurisdictions as Montana. We are buffered from such internal dissents because we are of liberal bent. I am dismissing your claim of our party’s coming doom for want of corroborating fact – and vision.

  18. TRUTH is very angry in his isolation. If Obama was a fraud, what would one say about today’s (p)resident? Someone with that kind of rage against things not understood has no business telling somebody else to STFU. WOW!

  19. as the shoes drop,im finding conversation with trumpers,becoming few,and far between, as trumps mob,becomes in prisoned. those who want to believe,still will,because they have no feelings for America,as we see it. they still feel they are above,and doing gods will…i dont make an argument,but convey the working class is left out of politics,except when being groomed by parties,they dont inderstand,and fall for it hook line and sinker..recent articles in many independant journals, are coming together with some counter arguments,finally. some of the procupines in congress are rolling over,since trumps mob is being questioned,and convicted. i watched a few of these cons come out of muellers day with them,and they all, had thier tails between thier legs…recent epi.com, on inequality,and a study of why,and how pay scales and workers ability to gain better wages,have made a stand. the workers are 40 years behind in wage growth,as the powers bought thru congress,have won,and keep winning. greed again is the power,we need a yellow vest movement..i applaud the french for thier stand,nothing since vietnam has happen here in America,nothing. were pacified,contradicted by policy and kicked to,the curb,as trash.(and we dont even see it) few if any,who i speak with have a single clue,why,and how.many are born after 1980. the ones who never seen a pay raise or congress having a policy,but to help,itself. the reread of epi.com ,,what labor market changes have generated inequality and wage supression. eye opening,and as i see and live it,on target. we only need a simpler way to tell the working class,and a voice to say it.. as the case lays it out, 40 years of stagnat wages,have given way to a workforce that daesnt have a clue,and a main street starving for survival. as many on main street rail on being taxed,they actully are part of the problem,because the blame the wrong issues. if we all had a voice,and one that can relate this issue,many of the trump,issues,wouldnt even have happen. many of todays workers would have seen the scammers coming,and many would have supported a party,that supports them,and makes policy against wall streets greed..a graph on the epi study shows wage and growth,in a percentage that atests to the organized labor movement post ww2 til 1970, then the change is massive. best wishes, and seasons best to all…

  20. I’m trying to picture a President whom Todd would approve of. Nobody comes to mind.

    In the meantime the country that used to be the paragon of global leadership in so many ways continues to swirl the bowl.

    I have to be confident that while the American electorate with help from our sworn enemies, now that a majority of minds are informed by entertainment media, may occasionally get misled, Democracy still has enough supporters to right the listing ship and will.

  21. is mr truth part of a think tank,political org,or someone i have talked to in the past? sounds familiar.

  22. It almost looks like trump is being paid to destroy the US government from the inside out! Demo is his M.O! He’s harming all Goverment agency s with his appointments , placing op-positional leaders to work against its cause. Mueller seems to be honing in on trump’s family, and it might be timed with when the Dems. take over the House. Will Mueller be working through Grand jury to indict, or taking his report past DOJ to Congress. Anyway my guess is there is so much crime and anti-American activity there ,that will help change minds about him!

  23. Kathleen – It’s more than an appearance to destroy. Trump is following through on Bannon’s admittedly pro-Leninist “deconstruction of the administrative state.” Substitute the word democracy for administrative state and you have what Trump has in mind, assuming he has one, and watching him fawn over “strong men” like Putin and Kim betrays his plan to play Adolph.

  24. As per ML at 10:37AM, Mr. Zinke is finally leaving. The way I hear things, our Orange Blowhard mentioned to him 3 months ago that he didn’t need competition in the greed department, some is fine, just don’t overdo it. Now that OB was having trouble filling the CoS position, I also heard that OB was complaining about Melanoma giving him the silent treatment. Of course, we know that that’s not unusual from a spouse, and I find it difficult to believe, but “they say” it’s getting bad when even the mirrors won’t talk to OB! /s

  25. As per ML at 10:37AM, Mr. Zinke is finally leaving. The way I hear things, our Orange Blowhard mentioned to him 3 months ago that he didn’t need competition in the greed department, some is fine, just don’t overdo it. Now that OB was having trouble filling the CoS position, I also heard that OB was complaining about Melanoma giving him the silent treatment. Of course, we know that that’s not unusual from a spouse, and I find it difficult to believe, but with so many leaving, “they say” it’s getting bad when even the mirrors won’t respond to OB! /s

  26. Love a person posting as “truth” – the phrase quelle chutzpah comes to mind.
    Dem-bait, Obama-bait, even old Red-bait, it sounds like a troll to me. (sorry Billy Joel – song ringing in my head)

    Thank you for bringing up poopy-head, Sheila. Most appropriate.
    I have long suggested that an updated version of Bierce’s Devils Dictionary be published – one new entry, “Liberal” – A term for opponents meaning poopy-head.

    The irony of Obama and Obamacare – ponder this under accomplishments.
    Obama dismissed “progressives” as good-hearted, but foolish (a step up from Clinton’s dismissal as bad). He refused, as true progressives had asked, to use single-payer as a bargaining ploy to get a better compromise ACA. He chose a Heritage Society plan that enshrined profit and the notion of healthcare as a commodity. The result – a huge increase in the number of Americans who believe that healthcare should be considered a right.

    Obama is smart enough that this could have been his plan, but he was advised by Zeke Emmanuel, among others, and I have read what Zeke has proposed in the past – give everyone a fixed amount and let them purchase and ration their own healthcare. We know how that would end – as my family physician once asked, would you like the vaccine that is most effective, or the most heavily advertised one?

    Planned or not, the ACA has had that truly significant outcome.

    Returning to the topic – you left me with the image of Trump saying poopy-head. It will keep me chuckling the rest of the night. Thanks, Sheila.

  27. Nancy, 8:12 am; thanks for that information. I couldn’t find a list of the states involved but assumed Indiana would be on it. Pence keeping in the good graces of Trump!

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