Trump Is Mentally Unbalanced-- Where Are His Doctors When He And The Country Desperately Need Them?

 

Before moving to L.A., I had lived in New York, Amsterdam and San Francisco. In L.A. I discovered something unique to this city. People ask you to invest in their films. It's insane because "invest" is the wrong word. It means you give them money for the film and then you write it off as a tax loss. I avoided that ugly world for the whole time I lived here. Then I got cancer. The doctor takes care of fighting the cancer. The patient takes care of fighting the side-effects. One of the side effects, it turns out, is that you become extremely impaired in every day, including mentally. Some unscrupulous hustler/movie producer figured out I was suffering from the side effects and tricked me-- easy in my state of mind-- into investing a very large sum of money in his absurd film, Cold Moon. I'm listed as a producer. Needless to say, I lost all the money. Lesson: Don't make important decisions when you're on strong drugs.

Guess who's on very, very strong drugs after his treatment in the hospital for COVID? Hint: Donald Jr, Thinks Sr. is acting insane. Gabe Sherman on Monday: "Trump's erratic and reckless behavior in the last 24 hours has opened a rift in the Trump family over how to rein in the out-of-control president, according to two Republicans briefed on the family conversations. Sources said Donald Trump Jr. is deeply upset by his father’s decision to drive around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last night with members of the Secret Service while he was infected with COVID-19. 'Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy,' one of the sources told me. The stunt outraged medical experts, including an attending physician at Walter Reed. According to sources, Don Jr. has told friends that he tried lobbying Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner to convince the president that he needs to stop acting unstable. 'Don Jr. has said he wants to stage an intervention, but Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,' a source said. Don Jr. is said to be reluctant to confront his father alone. 'Don said, I’m not going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy,' the source added. One area where the family seems united is over the president’s manic tweeting early Monday morning. After Trump sent out more than a dozen all-caps tweets, the Trump children told people they want Trump to stop. 'They’re all worried. They’ve tried to get him to stop tweeting,' a source close to the family told me. The Trump family’s private concern about Trump’s behavior could raise questions about his fitness for office. Trump has been prescribed drugs that medical experts say can seriously impair his cognitive function. Last night the New York Times reported that steroids, which Trump is reportedly taking, specifically dexamethasone, are known to 'affect mood, causing euphoria or a general happiness.'"

Uh... yeah... to put it mildly. The state Trump is in now is what the 25th Amendment was passed for. And the insane tweeting has only accelerated. Yesterday Michelle Goldberg tweeted that Señor Trumpanzee's "Twitter feed is always nuts but right now it really seems like he’s suffering some sort of psychological implosion." Well, yes, he clearly is. Earlier, Wisconsin Republican icon Charlie Sykes tweeted "Trump’s Twitter feed is extra-deranged tonight." That super-derangement spilled over into the next day, when the whole country-- world-- could watch Trump falling apart mentally and emotionally. He should be aware from electronics and in the care of physicians-- and I have nothing against osteopaths at all.

What if he decides to order the U.S. military to attack someone? Who's going to stand up to him? Certainly not Republicans! When he ordered them to break off negotiations with Democrats on the desperate needed pandemic relief package that he has held up, McConnell and McCarthy both said, "Yes, Your Highness," screwing over the country-- and their own constituents. "Trump pulled the plug on ongoing bipartisan coronavirus relief talks in an abrupt move that jolted Wall Street and surprised lawmakers of both parties," reported the Wall Street Journal but hours later called on Congress to approve a bill providing another direct check to many Americans." Hours later he was tweeting that Congress must pass the package IMMEDIATELY. The Washington Post: "First, he says he won’t pursue a package until after election. Then he demands Congress immediately pass bills." No one knows what to make of his erratic behavior-- other than scholars of King George III and fans of Hamilton.

And... Judd Legum who's Wednesday morning newsletter was devoted to a close look into Trump's Drugs. He wasn't treated by a quack he's been pushing, Stella Emmanuel, and he didn't take hydroxychloroquine, Legum wrote about what he did take:

• Regeneron's antibody cocktail, a promising experimental drug that has been made available to fewer than ten people outside of clinical trials.
• Remdesivir, a drug administered by IV that was found to shorten hospital stays for patients with serious cases of COVID-19.
• Dexamethasone, a steroid that was found to increase survival for patients with severe cases of COVID-19 and require supplemental oxygen.

Legum pointed out that "hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for COVID-19 [and that] Trump foisted an unproven and potentially dangerous treatment on the American public for months. But when his own health was on the line, Trump unwilling to follow his own advice." (No one know if he drank any bleach or shoved a UV light up his ass, though.)

Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence, hydroxychloroquine boosters are disappointed that Trump has abandoned the drug. Dr. Emmanuel, the conspiracy theorist that Trump promoted in May, said whoever convinced Trump to stop taking hydroxychloroquine should be "punched in the face."

She offered to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to White House staffers.

Steve Jalsevac, a hydroxychloroquine fan who co-founded the far-right website LifeSite News, urged readers to "contact the White House to ask why the president and Melania are not immediately being given this well-proven-in-practice medication protocol for COVID infection.”

Others, like former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka, were in denial. "I’m sure he’s taking his hydroxy this morning just like I did this morning," Gorka said. 

Most people who have heard of Mona Charen, I suspect, know her as an outspoken, partisan and very conservative Republican. She's written 3 books and you can figure out from the titles, who she is: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First (2003), Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us) (2005) and Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense (2018). She worked as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House and for Jack Kemp. I gather she's not supporting the fascist candidate next month but the institutional conservative: Joe Biden. About a month ago she wrote The Coming Biden Landslide for the #NeverTrump site, The Bulwark. In her mind, Biden is the Republican saint, Ronald Reagan, and Trump is 2020's Jimmy Carter, detested by Republicans to this day.

Yesterday another Bulwarker, #NeverTrump Republican Tim Miller, wrote that when he looks at Trump’s "Twitter-centric negotiation over the possibility of a second COVID-19 stimulus package in the past 24 hours, I just gotta say, I think he might be fouling this up. He is the Great Negotiator. He 'wrote' a whole book on the subject, you may have heard of it. And here I am, a liberal arts major. A person who did not not go to Wharton Business School while pretending that I did... But speaking as a novice, this stimulus negotiation looks like an epic self-own on par with bankrupting a casino or selling steaks in a home electronics store. For those who aren’t juiced up on steroids or slamming dexamethasone, it might be hard to keep up...

For the last few months, Democrats and Republicans have been-- slowly, distractedly-- fighting over the details of a supplemental COVID stimulus package that would address the severe economic hardships brought upon many families and businesses by the pandemic. On Tuesday, the president, who had been largely absent from these discussions previously, crashed through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man in an attempt to demonstrate his mediation prowess.

First, around 2:30 p.m., he executed one of his patented gambits straight out of Art of the Deal:

The “economic populist” timed this power move on the heels of a conversation with Austerity-for-Thee Cocaine Mitch, blindsiding his own advisers (element of surprise!) in a series of tweets announcing that he will end negotiations on the stimulus package until after the election. As part of the tweetstorm, he also kindly ensured that people are aware that Nancy Pelosi wanted to pass a munificent $2.4 trillion in aid for people still struggling through a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Here-- within half an hour after his tweeting began-- is how the stock market responded to his announcement:

So, as an opening bid, it left a little bit to be desired, I would say. Jonathan Chait, another non-businessman mind you, called it “the worst political blunder in history.” A tad dramatic maybe, but not a great sign.

Regardless, it seemed like the dire reaction in the markets left Trump in a bad negotiating position vis-à-vis Speaker Pelosi-- and she agreed, firing off a single tweet about how the president’s ploy exposed his heartlessness.

This sense was confirmed five hours later when the president took a new/old tack, recanting his earlier contention that Pelosi’s offer was overly generous and adding a dollop of his trademark schoolyard misogyny:

With balance restored to the negotiating table, you might think he would wait to see how Pelosi would respond.

Not this president.

No he needed to further demonstrate his position as the alpha.

So in between IVs, presumably during commercial breaks from the shows, possibly wearing his preferred nightgown, he began to unleash a torrent of tweets negotiating against himself like a person suffering from a bout of psychosis due to a corticosteroid therapy.

First he did a complete 180 on his earlier position that Congress should pass no stimulus legislation, retweeting a news story about the Federal Reserve chair that implied Congress should spend even more!

Then he retweeted the esteemed Paul Sperry of Investor’s Business Daily-- not once, not twice, but twenty-two separate times-- on matters ranging from #Obamagate to the “disgraceful” moderator of the debate that Trump totally won to a not-all-that-veiled attack on Joe Biden for being concerned about health care when his wife and child died in a tragic car accident.

Trump followed that up with eight retweets of Fox News analyst Gregg Jarrett, calling for the jailing of his former opponent Hillary Clinton and disparaging Speaker Pelosi’s looks.

He then tweeted a meme depicting the late Chris Farley—in character as the thrice-divorced homeless motivational speaker Matt Foley from the classic SNL sketch-- berating Attorney General Bill Barr for not arresting enough political opponents.

It’s unclear to me if any of these missives were part of the gamesmanship of the ongoing negotiations but I wanted to make sure that everyone had a clear picture of the state of play.

Around 10 p.m., on day five (we think) of the experimental drug regimen he is taking for combating the coronavirus, the president then launched back into the stimulus negotiations that at this stage are taking place only between himself and his earlier tweets.

No longer wanting to walk away completely, the president demanded that Congress pass two pieces of standalone legislation, the first bailing out the airline industry, the second sending a round of $1,200 stimulus checks out to our “great people.”
In the final tweet at the time of writing, he tagged Nancy Pelosi-- whose visage he had insulted hours earlier and who has been silent as he dickered for hours-- presumably in an attempt to reopen the line of communication with his counterparty.

Whew.

Given that I have never been “in a boardroom” for a high-stakes parley like this and that I cannot take the full measure of Donald Trump since he spent the day hiding from the cameras as the novel coronavirus infection consumed him, I can only turn to a celebrity negotiator for his expert analysis on what transpired:

"The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead."
—Donald J. Trump.

Hard to argue with that.

Many Republican Candidates Are Paralyzed With Fear-- Fear Of Normal Voters On The One Hand And Fear Of Trump And His Element On The Other

 

Trump isn't dead yet and hasn't used his COVID diagnosis as an excuse for backing out of the race. He insists otherwise, but he was hurt badly by Tuesday's debate. This is very typical post-debate polling coverage: "Trump hurt himself more than his rival with Tuesday night's theatrics in what's been called the worst U.S. presidential debate in history."

Now, try to imagine the "Fake News" tantrum the criminally, clinically insane Donald must have thrown Wednesday night when he saw Gabe Sherman's Vanity Fair report, "The Family Is Worried Brad Will Start Talking": TrumpWorld Panics Over Debate Fiasco As Campaign Turmoil Mounts. It sounds pretty dire: "Over three days, the New York Times dropped a tax bombshell, Florida cops cuffed Brad Parscale, and the president just couldn’t help himself onstage. 'Trump didn’t win over any voters,' said a prominent Republican, 'and he pissed off a lot of people.'"

Sherman asserts that while the campaign is still assessing the political damage from the debate, particularly Trump's "refusal to condemn white supremacists," the Orange blot "didn't win over any voters, and he pissed off a lot of people."

Worse yet, "Republicans are resigned to the fact that Trump is unlikely-- or unwilling-- to course-correct. 'Trump thinks he won. He didn’t,' said another Republican with ties to the campaign. 'But does anyone have the balls to tell him that? No. They’d be fired.'"

Trump doesn’t accept the consensus that the debate was a disaster because, sources said, he was unabashedly himself. “The thing about the debate is people got to see why no one that has any integrity can work for Trump. This is what Trump is like in the Oval Office every day. It’s why [John] Kelly left. It’s why [Jim] Mattis quit,” said the prominent Republican. “Trump doesn’t let anyone else speak. He really doesn’t care what you have to say. He demeans people. He talks over them. And everyone around him thinks it’s getting worse.”

Inside Trumpworld there’s a view that the past week is an inflection point in the campaign. It started on Sunday night with the bombshell New York Times report that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. “For Trump the Times story was worse than losing reelection,” said the second Republican. “If you had told Donald back in 2015 that his tax returns would be exposed and he’d have all these investigations, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have run.”

As the Times story lit up cable news and Twitter, news broke that Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale had been taken into custody outside his Ft. Lauderdale home and hospitalized after threatening to commit suicide and allegedly beating his wife days prior. Police body camera footage showing an officer brutally tackling a shirtless, 6’8” Parscale to the pavement instantly became a visual metaphor for the chaos engulfing the Trump campaign. One campaign adviser I spoke with was shocked by the amount of force the police used to subdue and cuff Parscale. “If Brad had been Black, there would be riots all over the country,” the source said. (In fact, police have killed unarmed Black men in far less hostile situations.)

Parscale’s public meltdown happened while he is reportedly under investigation for stealing from the Trump campaign and the RNC. According to the source close to the campaign, the Trump family is worried that Parscale could turn on them and cooperate with law enforcement about possible campaign finance violations. “The family is worried Brad will start talking,” the source said.

And the shit show is just getting started... for Republicans who have earned-- and continue to earn-- every bit of it. Writing for the Washington Post, Robert Costa and Matt Viser reported that the aftermath of the debate "triggered a reckoning among Republicans on Wednesday about the incumbent’s incendiary remarks on white supremacy and his baseless claims of electoral fraud, with GOP officials privately expressing alarm about the fallout with key voters." Republican elected officials, though, were muted, tepid and largely non-existent "reflecting how the GOP remains convinced that an alliance with Trump and his voters is crucial for its survival. But hewing too close to him is also seen as a mistake by some Republicans, particularly for those who wish to court moderates and independent voters."

Utterly out-of-touch, brow furrowed, Susan Collins, who is losing her reelection bid to an uninspiring moderate Democrat, made the probably-fatal error of telling reporters that "There was fault on both sides. The interrupting on both sides, the name-calling was very unbecoming for a presidential debate." When pressed, she admitted it was "a mistake" for Donald to not condemn the Proud Boys and his other white supremicist supporters.

Tim Scott (R-SC) is the only black Republican in the Senate. (He was appointed.) He say Trump "misspoke" and "should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak." That was about as close to a rebuke Donald got from a Republican senator-- and Scott isn't up for reelection in November. Donald's post-debate attempt at a "correction" was to lie to the media and claim he doesn't know who the Proud Boys are. "I mean, you’ll have to give me a definition, because I really don’t know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their work." Yeah, so I guess he didn't misspeak.

Trump’s comments did little to encourage Republicans about the political turbulence they face in the final stretch of the campaign as Trump seizes on matters of race and urban unrest and unfounded allegations of voter fraud.

“This election is drifting toward what feels like a blowout [victory for Biden], and there needs to be some type of event that changes that. The debate was a chance to change the direction, and while it might be too early to be seen, there is no real reason to believe it was a game-changer,” said Brendan Buck, a former top adviser to the past two Republican House speakers, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and John Boehner of Ohio.

Former senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a Trump critic who stays in touch with former colleagues, said the private alarm in Senate GOP circles “is palpable.”

“People are voting already, so they know it’s going to be tough to put forward a new narrative,” Flake said. “They’re more than a little worried because it feels like even if you go in a different direction, it’d be too little, too late. That’s devastating.”

Polling shows the GOP Senate majority at risk with strongholds in the Deep South, such as South Carolina and Georgia, highly competitive. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison tied as Graham seeks a fourth term in the Senate.

One veteran Republican Senate strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are working on a Senate campaign, said, “We’re all kind of prepared to be responsible for our own performances and our own words. You’re not going to see anybody say it was a bad performance, but they’ll consider it like Trump’s really crazy tweets. They’ll say, ‘That’s not my kind of campaign, didn’t really see it.’”

The strategist added that several campaigns are already deliberating on how to address Proud Boys questions at upcoming Senate debates and are trying to figure out how to deflect the issue and shift to more favorable topics.

At the Capitol on Wednesday, where Senate Republicans are working swiftly to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, reactions ranged from venting about the debate to sidestepping challenges to Trump.

“It was awful,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters, while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) offered a descriptive expletive.

“I was actually watching the Yankees,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD). When asked if he was disturbed by Trump’s response to the Proud Boys question, Rounds said, “He should have been very clear,” whether talking about “far-left” groups or “far-right” groups.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is in a difficult reelection race, said of Trump’s handling of the Proud Boys question: “I’ll leave it to the president. I know he’s not racist. I’m sure he doesn’t approve of their activities.”

Like Collins, Tillis is being challenged by an uninspiring moderate-to-conservative establishment Democrat and, like Collins, Tillis is losing his reelection bid. The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Cunningham ahead by a daunting 6 points. And the most recent poll, by YouGov for CBS News, sounds like a death knell for Tillis. Cunningham is beating him 48% to 38%-- ten points!

And right on cue, Sabato's Crystal Ball stepped a little closer to reality-- just a little-- in its predictions for November. Cory Gardner hasn't had a shot for reelection for over a year and Sabato's outfit seems to have almost figured it out, moving its rating from "leans Democratic" to "likely Democratic." On November 4th they will move it to "safe Democratic." They seem to be recognizing that Al Gross is going to beat Trumpist coward Dan Sullivan in Alaska, moving Sullivan's reelection bid from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican." And in House races they made 12 changes-- all but one in favor of Democratic candidates. And the one was just a reflection of Sabato's unwillingness to understand what the nature of a wave is when even shit candidates like worthless New Dem T.J. Cox, are swept across the finish line by voters who want to see the enemy-- this year Republicans-- vanquished.





Sabato shows 30 Republican-held seats on the verge of flipping-- and that includes career-ending defeats for 18 House Republican incumbents. Blue America House candidates most likely to win next month-- according to Sabato's predictions-- are Jon Hoadley (MI-06), Kara Eastman (NE-02), Dana Balter (NY-24) and Mike Siegel (TX-10). The only Democrats Sabato sees in actual jeopardy are half a dozen Blue Dogs and New Dems: T.J. Cox (CA), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL), Collin Peterson (MN), Anthony Brindisi (NY), Max Rose (NY) and Kendra Horn (OK), the last 4 of whom the Democratic Party would be much better off without. My suggestion to people who want their contributions to go to candidates on the verge of winning-- and just using Sabato's criteria-- but who need that extra little push: click on the Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer on the right and give $10 each to Kara Eastman, Mike Siegel and Jon Hoadley. BONUS: here's Mike Siegel speaking at an online Bernie congressional fundraiser Wednesday evening:

Donald J Trump-- Electoral Albatross

Cone of Shame by Nancy Ohanian

Since Trump took over the White, U.S. influence abroad has tanked-- and just a year into his presidency U.S. leadership approval had already hit an all-time low. It's taken a while, but most Americans have now caught on. Gallup reported an astounding new 38/57% approval/disapproval for Trump yesterday. And as Jonathan Bernstein explained for Bloomberg News, "there’s just no way that a president is going to be re-elected with a solid majority thinking he has failed in office... The big problem for Trump is that no elected president in the modern era has improved dramatically between this point and the election.

Gabe Sherman, writing for Vanity Fair really knows how to get under Trump's orange-hued skin and he noted yesterday that with Señor Trumpanzee's "approval sinking to Jimmy Carter levels and coronavirus cases spiking across the country, Trump is reluctantly waking up to the grim reality that, if the current situation holds, his reelection is gone. Republicans that have spoken with Trump in recent days describe him as depressed and 'down in the dumps.' 'People around him think his heart’s not in it,' a Republican close to the White House said. Torn between the imperative to win suburban voters and his instincts to play to his base, Trump has complained to people that he’s in a political box with no obvious way out. According to the Republican, Trump called Tucker Carlson late last week and said, 'what do I do? What do I do?'"

To console himself, Trump still has moments of magical thinking. “He says the polls are all fake,” a Republican in touch with Trump told me. But the bad news keeps coming. This week, Jacksonville, Florida-- where Trump moved the Republican National Convention so he could hold a 15,000-person rally next month-- mandated that people wear masks indoors to slow the explosion of COVID-19 cases. According to a Republican working on the convention, the campaign is now preparing to cancel the event so that Trump doesn’t suffer another Tulsa–like humiliation. “They probably won’t have it,” the source said. “It’s not going to be the soft landing Trump wanted.”

...Trump remains furious at his son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom he blames for the campaign’s dismal poll numbers. Axios reported this week that Trump complained privately that Kushner’s advice on criminal-justice reform damaged Trump politically. But because Kushner is family, sources say it’s unlikely that Trump will formally strip him of authority.

Kushner’s vast sway over West Wing decisions has become a flashpoint between him and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, sources say. The two have been engaged in a cold war over control of the campaign. Meadows pushed Trump to replace campaign manager Brad Parscale, a Kushner ally, the Republican close to the White House said. Kushner wasn’t happy that Meadows is close with Kushner’s adversaries Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. “Meadows is in real shit. He went to war with Jared and tried to get Brad out,” the Republican, briefed on the internal debate, told me. A couple weeks ago, Meadows unloaded about Kushner over dinner with his predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, at Sette Osteria near the White House. “All Mark did was complain how much operational control Jared has and how it leaves very little space for the chief of staff,” said a Republican briefed on the conversation. “Mark whined to Mick, ‘why didn’t you warn me before I accepted the job? There’s nothing for me to do.’”

Nervous Republicans worried about losing the Senate are now debating when to break from Trump. Trump campaign internal polls show Trump’s level of “strong support” dropping from 21 to 17 points since last week, a person briefed on the numbers said. A source close to Iowa Republican Joni Ernst’s campaign said Ernst advisers are upset that a solid seat is now in play. “Joni’s campaign is pissed. They should not be in a competitive race,” the source said. ("This is completely false," an Ernst campaign spokesperson said in a statement. "Folks are energized about re-electing Joni Ernst, President Trump and the rest of Republican ballot in Iowa this November.") A Republican strategist close to Mitch McConnell told me that Republicans have Labor Day penciled in as the deadline for Trump to have turned things around. After that, he’s on his own.

Ernst is in a tight race and she can't afford to lose any Trump voters by offending him. Nor can she afford to lose independent voters by appearing to be a Trump lackey-- which is what she is. She's in trouble. She isn't the only Republican in that bind. 8 incumbent senators and dozens of Republican House members are in exactly the same situation.

Probably too far gone to turn things around:

• Martha McSally (AZ)
• Steve Daines (MT)
• Cory Gardner (CO)
• Susan Collins (ME)

And teetering on the brink of political oblivion:

• Joni Ernst (IA)
• Thom Tillis (NC)
• David Perdue (GA)
• Dan Sullivan (AK)

Hardball by Nancy Ohanian

Some districts are so blue or so red that it just doesn't matter what independents think. Take Texas, for example. Mac Thornberry represents TX-13 (the Panhandle) and is leaving office. A good opportunity for Democrats? Not at all. The PVI is R+33. Trump beat Hillary in that district 79.9% to 16.9%. There are more Republicans in the district than Democrats and independents combined. Or look at TX-09 (south Houston). Al Green represents the district, which has a PVI of D+29. Hillary beat Trump there 79.3% to 18.0%. Green is a corporate Democrat with an "F" rating from ProgressivePunch-- but safe as can be in a district with such an overwhelmingly Democratic population. In between TX-09 and TX-13, though are districts that have been gerrymandered to create thinner Republican majorities. Last year two of them flipped from red to blue. This year, more should-- perhaps 4 or 5!-- where Democratic candidates are working hard and smart to take advantage of demographic changes and political changes (read: Trump and Abbott) that are making for more open-minded and fluid electorates.

Wendy Davis is likely to flip TX-21. Gina Ortiz Jones is likely to flip TX-23. Mike Siegel is likely to flip TX-10. Julie Oliver is likely to flip TX-25. In those 4 districts, there are no longer enough Republicans so that someone who looks like a knee-jerk Trump stooge can win but just parroting the White House daily talking points. Having already overwhelmingly won her primary, I asked Oliver how that dynamic is playing out in her central Texas district in terms of the November general election. "People are tired of labels," she told me last night. "And Texans have woken up and seen that with a career politician like Roger Williams, you have someone who is just willing to tie himself to Trump's overt racism and corruption, and put the president and his career before Texas and the district's needs every time."

A Completely Morally Odious Individual You Would Not Want In Your Organization Or Anywhere Around You

"Guess what," said Chris Hayes Wednesday night in a brilliant commentary (above) on the Bolton-Trump revelations, "Donald Trump is exactly as terrible as we thought he was and John Bolton is exactly who we thought he was as well. That afternoon, we had all read how Trump begged President Xi Jinping of China to help him win reelection. Today in an interview Trump did with the Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender, he struck out at Xi. "He said that the country was nearing the end of the coronavirus pandemic," wrote Bender, and that he believed China may have encouraged the international spread of coronavirus as a way to destabilize competing economies. 'There’s a chance it was intentional,' Mr. Trump said... Trump said China may have had economic motives for letting coronavirus spread beyond its own border. Asked if that was to extend economic consequences, Mr. Trump said: 'Correct. They’re saying, man, we’re in a mess. The United States is killing us. Don’t forget, my economy during the last year and a half was blowing them away. And the reason is the tariffs.'"

Trump admitted he may be wrong and admitted he has no intelligence to support the claim, only an internal sense, which may be wrong. "But it has had an impact,” he told Bender.

Trump spent a significant portion of the interview criticizing John Bolton, his former national security adviser, for writing a scathing book about the president’s handling of foreign policy. In the book, Mr. Bolton says Mr. Trump’s decision making prioritized his re-election over the national interest and said the president had a penchant for “giving personal favors to dictators he liked.”

“The only thing I liked about Bolton was that everybody thought he was crazy,” Mr. Trump said. “When you walk into the room with him, you’re in a good negotiating position, because they figure you’re going to war if John Bolton was there.”

CNN's Nicole Gaouette summarized what we've learned so far from The Room Where It Happened, Bolton's still unpublished book-- which Trump is fighting to keep from ever being published.. or at least not before the first Tuesday of November. (The book is supposed to come out Tuesday, as voters in New York, Kentucky and Virginia head to the polls.)

• Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help in getting reelected

Bolton described a conversation between the two world leaders at the June 2019 G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, where Trump told Xi that Midwestern farmers were key to his reelection in November 2020. Trump urged Xi to buoy his political fortunes by buying American agricultural products, linking a promise to waive some tariffs on China in exchange. Trump "stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome," Bolton wrote.

Bolton also says that it's hard for him to think of a single decision Trump made during his stint at the White House "that wasn't driven by reelection calculations."

• Trump had no problem with China's concentration camps

Bolton describes several instances where Trump waffles on China-related issues after conversations with Xi, notably on the mass concentration camps Beijing was using to imprison and "re-educate" Uyghur Muslims. Bolton writes that according to the US interpreter in the room during a conversation between Xi and Trump at the G-20 meeting in June 2019, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was "exactly the right thing to do."

Bolton adds that Trump didn't want to sanction China for their crackdown on the Muslim minority because of ongoing trade negotiations. "Religious repression in China was also not on Trump's agenda; whether it was the Catholic Church or Falun Gong, it didn't register," Bolton writes.

• Pompeo, famously loyal to the President, may have trash-talked him

Bolton describes a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un in which the North Korean despot blamed troubled relations between his country and the US on the actions of prior administrations. Emphasizing the meetings he and Trump had held, Kim told the President that they could dispel mistrust and work quickly toward a nuclear agreement. After Trump told Kim that he would seek Senate ratification of any agreement with North Korea, Bolton writes that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo passed him a notepad. On it was scribbled the message, "he is so full of shit."

"I agreed," Bolton writes, going on to note that Kim promised no further nuclear tests. The State Department has not responded to CNN's request for comment about Pompeo's alleged note.

• Trump offered to help Turkey's leader avoid a Justice Department probe

Bolton writes that in December 2018, Trump offered to help Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a Justice Department investigation into a Turkish bank with ties to Erdogan that was suspected of violating US Iran sanctions. When the Turkish leader presented Trump with a memo from the law firm representing Halkbank, Trump flipped through it and then declared he believed the bank was totally innocent of violating US sanctions related to Iran.

Trump told Erdogan he would "take care of things," and explained that the Southern District prosecutors "were not his people, but were Obama people," and the problem would be fixed when they were replaced by his people.

Bolton notes that "this was all nonsense" because the Justice Department prosecutors were career employees who would have taken the same path with the Halkbank probe regardless of who was president.

• The Israeli prime minister didn't understand why Kushner led on Middle East peace

Before joining Trump's White House, Bolton says he had a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who questioned Jared Kushner's role in developing a Middle East peace plan.

Netanyahu "was dubious about assigning the task of bringing an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict to Kushner, whose family Netanyahu had known for many years. He was enough of a politician not to oppose the idea publicly, but like much of the world, he wondered why Kushner thought he would succeed where the likes of Kissinger had failed."

• The White House decision-making process was like a 'food fight'

Bolton says the weekly meetings to discuss issues, chaired by Trump in the Roosevelt Room or the Oval Office, more closely resembled college food fights than careful decision-making, with no lower-level effort or involvement by the relevant agencies to sort out the issues and the options. "After these sessions, had I believed in yoga, I probably could have used some," Bolton wrote.

It's a theme Bolton returns to more than once, describing a mercurial President who has little interest in learning how the federal government worked. Instead, he describes Trump as very focused on how decisions will play in the media.

• Trump didn't like sanctions on Russia

Bolton claims that Trump privately complained about sanctions and other punitive measures imposed on Russia with "extended grumbling and complaining," even as he touted them in public.

After the US announced a first round of sanctions on Russia for poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK, Bolton said Trump wanted to rescind the penalties and thought they were being too tough on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Trump told Pompeo to call Lavrov and say 'some bureaucrat' had published the sanctions-- a call that may or may not have ever taken place," Bolton wrote.

Bolton also claimed Trump stopped the issue of a statement criticizing Russia on the tenth anniversary of its invasion of Georgia. The former national security adviser writes that these actions were a reflection of Trump's "difficulty in separating personal from official relations."

• Trump's revealing questions: Is Finland a part of Russia?

Before the summit with Putin in Helsinki, Trump asked his advisers if Finland was a part of Russia, or whether it was a "kind of satellite of Russia."

On his way to the Helsinki meeting, Trump stopped to see then-British Prime Minister Theresa May in the UK. During that meeting, May's national security adviser, speaking about the Skripal poisoning, referred to the attack as one on a nuclear power. "Trump asked, 'oh, are you a nuclear power?,' which I knew was not intended as a joke," Bolton wrote.

And on multiple occasions, Bolton said Trump repeatedly mixed up Afghan President Ashraf Ghani with former President Hamid Karzai.

• Trump told people that Venezuela is 'really part of the US' and wanted to invade

Bolton writes that in discussions about toppling the regime of Nicolas Maduro, Trump "insisted on military options for Venezuela," telling advisers that the country "is really part of the United States." During a March 2019 meeting at the Pentagon, Trump grilled military leaders about why the US was in Afghanistan and Iraq, but not in Venezuela.

Trump's repeated insistence that military options be considered to oust Maduro often shocked aides, lawmakers and advisers, Bolton writes. In a meeting with Florida Republicans, "Trump still wanted a military option," leaving Sen. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron Desantis "plainly stunned," while Sen. Marco Rubio, who had heard Trump on the subject before "knew how to deflect it politely."

• Trump wanted Attorney General Bill Barr to make CNN reporters 'serve time in jail'

When news leaked about a hush-hush meeting on Afghanistan at Trump's Bedminster resort, Trump complained that CNN had reported the summit was taking place, Bolton writes. The President told White House counsel Pat Cipollone to call Attorney General Bill Barr about his desire to "arrest the reporters, force them to serve time in jail, and then demand they disclose their sources."

Now you don't have to buy it and put money in Bolton's pocket. Oh, one more thing. Late yesterday, Gabe Sherman, writing for Vanity Fair, revealed that exact words that Trump used when he begged Xi for help with his re-election bid:

According to an unredacted passage shown to Vanity Fair by a source, Trump’s ask is even more crudely shocking when you read Trump’s specific language. "Make sure I win," Trump allegedly told Xi during a dinner at the G20 conference in Osaka, Japan last summer. "I will probably win anyway, so don’t hurt my farms... Buy a lot of soybeans and wheat and make sure we win." ...Another passage shows Trump’s racist views on immigration. Bolton describes how Trump derailed a White House meeting about Iran strategy by bringing up a right wing conspiracy that Black South Africans were killing white South African farmers and stealing their land. According to Bolton, Trump blurted out that he wanted to grant the white South Africans "asylum and citizenship."

Fauci vs Kushner-in-Law

People who let what Trump says guide their behavior are all going to get sick. Some will die unnecessarily. My favorite line from the talking orangutan yesterday was "Our country wasn’t built to be shut down." I wonder if he came up with it all on his own or if the world's most celebrated epidemiologist, Jared Kushner-- whose father bought him an acceptance to Harvard-- helped him with it. Kushner is certainly helping him counter all that scientific stuff hates so much that he is being force-fed by medical professionals invading his tiny mind. "Trump," reported Jonathan Lemire for the Associated Press yesterday, "has never been known for his patience or long attention span. Now, as the coronavirus crisis threatens his presidency, and upends his campaign for reelection, Trump is rapidly losing patience with the medical professionals who have made the case day after day that the only way to prevent a catastrophic loss of life is to essentially shut down the country-- to minimize transmission and 'flatten the curve' so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed with critical patients. The president also has been furious that his efforts to halt the harrowing drop in the stock market have so far proven ineffective. He has been calling friends and economists at all hours and berated aides and reporters who try to persuade him to recognize the severity of the outbreak."

Vanity Fair reporter Gabe Sherman wrote that "Trump is grasping for a strategy before the crisis destroys his presidency... [and] appears ready to disregard the advice of his medical advisers like Dr. Anthony Fauci by reopening the economy far sooner than Fauci has said is safe."

According to sources, Trump is increasingly frustrated with Fauci and governors who advocated for shutting down large swathes of the economy to stop COVID-19’s out-of-control spread. According to four Republicans briefed on internal West Wing conversations, Trump is fuming privately that Fauci advised him that the only way to blunt the pandemic was to bring the economy to a halt. “Trump is furious,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s been calling business leaders asking if he should just reopen the economy,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. “He’s hearing that you have to get the economy going,” another former West Wing official said.

The pivot away from the strict social-distancing strategy is gaining traction in the business community. On Sunday, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein-- who endorsed Hillary Clinton-- tweeted: “[C]rushing the economy, jobs and morale is also a health issue-and beyond. Within a very few weeks let those with a lower risk to the disease return to work.” Tom Bossert, Trump's former Homeland Security adviser, told me the pivot is reflective of Americans' skepticism of government. "This has to do with peoples' relationship to government authority prior to this event."

Sources say that Trump is leaning toward telling at least some Americans to return to work after the 15-day social-distancing period ends on March 31. This puts Trump on a potential collision course with Fauci that many fear will end with Fauci being fired or quitting. “Fauci is the best medical expert we have. We can’t lose him,” a former White House official said. Signs of tension between Trump and Fauci have been emerging. Over the weekend, Fauci gave a series of candid interviews. “I’ve been telling the president things he doesn’t want to hear,” Fauci told Maureen Dowd. “I have publicly had to say something different with what he states. It’s a risky business.” Fauci told Science magazine: “When you’re dealing with the White House, sometimes you have to say things one, two, three, four times, and then it happens. So, I’m going to keep pushing.”

Trump’s view that he can ignore Fauci’s opinion may be influenced by advice he’s getting from Jared Kushner, whose outside-the-box efforts have often rankled those in charge of managing the crisis. According to two sources, Kushner has told Trump about experimental treatments he’s heard about from executives in Silicon Valley. “Jared is bringing conspiracy theories to Trump about potential treatments,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. Another former West Wing official told me: “Trump is like an 11-year-old boy waiting for the fairy godmother to bring him a magic pill.”

Throughout the crisis, Kushner has counseled Trump that the crisis isn’t as bad as the media is portraying. Two sources said Vice President Mike Pence has complained to Trump about Kushner’s meddling in the work of the coronavirus task force. (Another former West Wing official disputed this, saying Pence wouldn’t openly challenge the Trump family. “Pence is politically smart,” the former official said.)

According to sources, Trump has been jealous that Cuomo’s press briefings have gotten such positive reviews. “He’s said Cuomo looks good,” a Republican briefed on internal conversations said. Trump’s solution has been to put on his own show. “Trump wants to play press secretary,” a former West Wing official said. The live briefings have essentially replaced his rallies and given him a platform to air grievances and attack the media. On Friday, he lit into NBC News reporter Peter Alexander when Alexander asked what Trump would say to Americans who are scared about the crisis. The confrontation energized Trump, according to a Republican who spoke to him afterward. “He was in the Oval Office feeling positive,” the source said. On Sunday, Trump was cavalier with a reporter who said Mitt Romney had gone into self-quarantine after spending time with Senator Rand Paul, who’d tested positive. “Romney’s in isolation? Gee, that’s too bad,” Trump said.

As Trump sends mixed messages, the stock market slide has only deepened. On Friday, he said he had invoked the Defense Production Act, but under pressure from his base not to nationalize the economy, he said Sunday that he wouldn’t compel companies to produce critical medical equipment. He’s now experimenting with a new approach to the crisis, but it’s unclear what legal authority he would have to supersede local shelter-in-place restrictions. Behind the bluster, he’s hamstrung. “He can’t make any big decisions,” a former West Wing official said. “He knows once you do, you can’t go back.”

In a tweet last night, Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, voiced his urgent concern that if Trump goes ahead with the Kushner plan to loosen social distancing instead of tightening it, the U.S. is going to wind up far worse off than anyone imagines. "Anyone advising the end of social distancing now, needs to fully understand what the country will look like if we do that. Covid would spread widely, rapidly, terribly, could kill potentially millions in the year ahead with huge social and economic impact across the country."

I Guess Bloomberg Could Become Emperor Of Samoa Now-- Like Marlon Brando In Apocalypse Now

Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race this morning, after spending half a billion dollars to... win a couple of delegates from American Samoa. Obviously, he endorsed Status Quo Joe, loving his unofficial campaign slogan, "Nothing will fundamentally change." Want to throw up? "I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden." Yesterday, Gabriel Sherman reported that even Bloomberg's gigantically overpaid top staffers were telling him to get out of the race once it came from on-high that beet red South Carolina-- which is incredibly not representative of the Democratic Party-- had decided that poor senile Status Quo Joe is the establishment pick to try to stop Bernie.

They wanted Bloomberg, who has already spent at least a half billion dollars on his ridiculous ego trip, to drop out of the race and join all the rest of the anti-working class candidates and politicians in endorsing Biden before Super Tuesday.

Some of Sherman's sources said that "campaign manager Kevin Sheekey and other top campaign officials argued to Bloomberg that the best chance of beating Donald Trump in November would be for Bloomberg to exit the race to bolster Biden’s candidacy as Biden battles with Bernie Sanders for the nomination. Campaign officials are privately frustrated that Bloomberg rejected their advice to drop out and pour their resources into helping Biden, sources said. 'The dynamic of the race clearly changed,' a Bloomberg adviser told me. Bloomberg disagreed that Biden’s resurgence in South Carolina fundamentally nullified Bloomberg’s candidacy. 'Mike is a data guy, and he’s looking at the numbers thinking, I’ll be damned if I walk away before a single vote is cast for me,' one source said, explaining Bloomberg’s thinking."

Sherman reports that "people close to Bloomberg fear that Bloomberg is playing the spoiler role tonight in delegate-rich states like California by siphoning votes from Biden. 'It’s clearer than ever after the weekend that it’s over and thus he will risk making Ross Perot and Ralph Nader look good if he stays in this,' a person close to the campaign told me. A Bloomberg adviser told me that Bloomberg would consider dropping out after Super Tuesday if there continues to be no path. 'He’s not going to stay in and say, Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

Let's keep this in mind now that Bloomberg has dropped out and endorsed Status Quo Joe:

Is Republican Oligarch Michael Bloomberg Different From A Hot Pile Of Dog Crap? You Tell Me

Last week, Vanessa Williamson of the Brookings Institute wrote about the political force of Bloomberg's tactical charity. Bloomberg gives far more than Trump, but with much the same self-serving motives. "In his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination," wrote Williamson, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, more than that of the major Democratic candidates combined. But, ironically, focusing on his immense campaign budget underrates the impact of Bloomberg’s money on his chances. Just as important is the political force of his charitable giving."

[P]olitics in America is increasingly organized around institutions reliant on big-donor philanthropy. Candidates, local and state parties, advocacy organizations, think tanks, and many foundations are in a constant scramble for money. Few leaders of these organizations will want to offend a man whose personal wealth makes their entire operating budgets look like a negligible rounding error.

And in case Bloomberg’s potential support had escaped the attention of any would-be grantees, he ramped up his giving in advance of his presidential bid. Bloomberg outspent every other billionaire philanthropist last year, giving away $3.3 billion dollars, nearly five times more than he did in 2017. This spending has had little impact on his overall wealth; the 77-year-old Bloomberg remains the eighth-richest man in the world, with more than $50 billion dollars.

His tactical philanthropy gives Bloomberg the unique capacity to influence the decision-making of the institutions that are traditional power brokers and opinion makers in Democratic politics. As Bloomberg knows well from his stint as mayor, big-money “charity” is an imposition of the giver’s political will. While he is best known for his work on the crucial issue of gun control, Bloomberg has also deployed his wealth to bully and sideline potential opponents. “When church groups or community organizations threatened to get noisy in opposition to him or his programs, he wrote checks that tended to quiet them down,” writes Edward-Isaac Dovere in his analysis of Bloomberg’s mayoralty. Bloomberg can run pork-barrel politics out of his own pocket. And, of course, the political effects of Bloomberg’s philanthropy are not limited to New York.

Charity tends to get a free pass when it comes to its political effects. Liberal concern about “money in politics” is usually limited to direct electoral engagement. Charitable endeavors are seen as sacrosanct; witness the opposition President Barack Obama faced upon attempting to limit the charitable deduction. (The tax implications of Bloomberg’s run are interesting in themselves-- assuming the billionaire gets a tax write-off for his charity, and that those contributions meaningfully contribute to his presidential chances, he is the only major candidate whose campaign is publicly subsidized.)

Big-dollar philanthropy deserves vastly more criticism than it receives; when wealth is highly concentrated, charity comes at enormous cost to the public good. The Democratic presidential primary has already seen multiple experienced public servants drop from contention for lack of funds, including, not coincidentally, every single non-white person who was a serious contender for the nomination. If Bloomberg can buy his way out of the public scrutiny that a campaign is supposed to afford-- if he can purchase, rather than persuade, the party faithful-- it represents yet another fissure in our decaying political process.

In essence, Bloomberg is engaging in a very old form of politics that has long been recognized as at odds with the function of representative institutions. As political theorist Emma Saunders-Hastings explains, philanthropy in ancient Rome was “not only comparable to campaign finance”-- it was campaign finance. To assure their political base, those wishing to accrue power gave generously to the poor. Machiavelli, whose analyses made his name synonymous with the pursuit of power, recognized that philanthropy was a form of political domination. “Many times works that appear merciful,” he wrote, “are very dangerous for a republic.”

Machiavelli would easily have recognized the implications of Bloomberg’s philanthropy for his position in the Democratic primary. No matter his intentions, the Bloomberg campaign’s reliance on his personal wealth threatens America’s democratic institutions at a time when those institutions are already profoundly weakened. His charitable contributions exacerbate the risks posed by his self-funded campaign. Money is power, even when it is donated.

Vanity Fair star reporter, Gabe Sherman, took an entirely different tact last week in his Bloomberg coverage-- the cynical phoniness of his concerted effort to pretend that Obama endorsed him as his political heir. Millions of dollars that Bloomberg has spent on propagating two TV ads and a radio spot makes it look like he and Obama are close allies. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Obamaworld, with its long memory, was not happy. “I was triggered by the ad,” a former Obama official said. “The ubiquity of the ads is what bothers me,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s former communications director told me. “Bloomberg didn’t endorse Obama in 2008, and in 2012 he offered a tepid endorsement that included parts that read like an RNC attack ad.”

Several recent reports have acknowledged Bloomberg’s policy differences with Obama, but sources close to both men tell me the antagonism runs much deeper. In private, Obama thinks Bloomberg acted high-handed and arrogant, while Bloomberg has told friends that Obama is a lightweight, sources said. “Mike would have dinner parties and piss all over Obama when he was president. I know because I attended them,” a prominent Democratic donor told me.

The chasm between Bloomberg and Obama first opened when Obama ran in 2007. Bloomberg seriously toyed with the idea of running for president, a longtime dream of his chief political adviser Kevin Sheekey. When Bloomberg didn’t get into the race, he backed fellow Republican John McCain. At a dinner party during the 2008 election, a source remembers Bloomberg’s longtime girlfriend, Diana Taylor, getting into an argument with Sheekey’s wife, who was supporting Obama. “How can you be so stupid to be for someone like Obama?” Taylor asked, the person told me. “Diana was repeating what Mike would say about Obama, except it was louder,” the source recalled. (The Bloomberg campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

A confidant of both Bloomberg and Obama told me the tension between them was in part fueled by Bloomberg’s belief that he should be president. “Bloomberg would belittle Obama in private. It was like, That should have been me in the White House. There was jealousy there,” the source said.

Although Bloomberg is running to defeat Donald Trump, some people close to the campaign say Bloomberg’s embrace of Obama is, well, Trumpian. “It’s becoming an incredible turnoff. He’s flooding the airwaves with nonstop ads that are just not accurate,” a prominent Democrat who speaks frequently to the campaign told me. Another person with close ties to the campaign said Bloomberg’s strategy is, in effect, to say whatever he needs to say to win key states on Super Tuesday. According to the source, Bloomberg didn’t want to debate the other candidates. The campaign had hoped to saturate television with ads and avoid the press until Super Tuesday, but the DNC changed the requirements to put him onstage. “There are no rules on the campaign,” the source said.

Trump Wants Revenge

Oh, girl!

Unless Trump gives it the go ahead-- tantamount to chopping off a finger-- Joe Manchin's fatuous proposal to censure Trump instead of impeaching him tomorrow, is DOA. The only good thing is that he would just need 51 votes to pass it-- all 48 Democrats + 3 Republicans. But there aren't 3 Republicans with the guts to go up against Trump. On the Senate floor yesterday, Manchin he sees "no path to the 67 votes required to impeach" Trump but that said he believes "a bipartisan majority of this body would vote to censure President Trump for his action in this matter. Censure would allow this body to unite across party lines. Censure would allow a bipartisan statement condemning his unacceptable behavior in the strongest terms." (He later admitted that there aren't enough Republican votes to pass it.)

This is the resolution Manchin wrote and circulated:

RESOLUTION
Relating to the censure of Donald John Trump.

Whereas Donald John Trump used the Office of the President of the United States to attempt to compel a foreign nation to interfere with domestic political affairs for his own personal benefit;

Whereas Donald John Trump wrongfully enlisted his personal lawyer to investigate a domestic political rival by meddling in formal diplomatic relations in a manner that is inconsistent with our established National Security Strategy;

Whereas Donald John Trump hindered the thorough investigation of related documents and prohibited Congress and the American people from hearing testimony by firsthand witnesses with direct knowledge of his conduct;

Whereas Donald John Trump, through his conduct in this matter, abused the trust of the American people;

Whereas Donald John Trump fully deserves censure for engaging in such behavior;

Whereas Donald John Trump’s conduct in this matter is unacceptable for a President of the United States, does demean the Office of the President, and creates disrespect for laws of the land;

Whereas Donald John Trump’s conduct in the matter has brought dishonor to himself, the Nation, and the Office of the President;

Whereas future generations of Americans must know that--

(1) such behavior is not only dangerous to our national interest but does not align with American values and the principles of the Constitution of the United States; and

(2) such actions bear grave consequences, including loss of integrity, trust, and respect; and

Whereas no one, not even the President, is above the law:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That--

(1) the Senate does hereby censure Donald John Trump, President of the United States, and does condemn his wrongful conduct in the strongest terms;

(2) allowing this statement of censure and condemnation to remain intact for all time; and

(3) the Senate now move on to other matters of significance to our people, to reconcile differences between and within the branches of Government, and to work together-- across party lines-- for the benefit of the American people.

After tomorrow's acquittal vote, Trump will be looking for revenge. Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair: It's Payback Time and Trump, who has nothing better to do, is plotting revenge against his enemies. He wants the Department of Justice to investigate-- criminally-- Bolton, Romney, Nadler and Schiff. If only Roy Cohn were his Attorney General, or... someone... like... him. "Washington," wrote Sherman, "is bracing for what an unshackled Trump does next. Republicans briefed on Trump’s thinking believe that the president is out for revenge against his adversaries." A prominent Republican told him that Señor Trumpanzee "has an enemies list that is growing by the day... "Trump’s playbook is simple: go after people who crossed him during impeachment."

Several sources said Bolton is at the top of the list. Trump’s relationship with Bolton was badly damaged by the time Bolton left the White House in September. Trump has since blamed his former national security adviser for leaking details of his forthcoming memoir that nearly derailed the impeachment trial by pressuring Republicans to call witnesses. In the book Bolton reportedly alleges Trump told him directly that Ukraine aid was tied to Ukraine announcing investigations into the Bidens (Bolton has denied being a source of the leak).

Augustus Gloop Trump

The campaign against Bolton has already begun. On January 23, the White House sent a cease and desist letter to Bolton’s lawyer demanding that Bolton’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, not release the book in March without removal of certain information. Trump intends to ratchet up the pressure, and some Republicans close to the White House fear how far Trump will take things after he’s gotten off for a second time (Trump famously made his July 25 call to Volodymyr Zelensky the day after Robert Mueller testified before Congress.) “Trump has been calling people and telling them to go after Bolton,” a source briefed on the private conversations said. The source added that Trump wants Bolton to be criminally investigated. A person familiar with Trump’s thinking said Trump believes Bolton might have mishandled classified information. According to a former official, the White House is planning to leak White House emails from Bolton that purportedly allege Bolton abused his position at the National Security Council. The official said that West Wing officials have discussed releasing emails “showing [Bolton] was doing pay-to-play,” the official said. A person close to Bolton dismissed the story. “John plays things straight,” the person said.