If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, his Main Story was about the Department of Justice under Trump. The story dealt with abuses and incompetence, and most of it is information that has long been reported. However, it's wonderful to see it all together in one piece, since one of the "features" of the Trump administration is daily outrages that pile on one another so that even something from two weeks ago might get buried and forgotten, let alone a year ago or more. And as angering as the abuses are, the incompetence is a minefield for scathing humor.
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Aug 10
On Friday, in an interview with Punchbowl News, Trump was asked about his participation helping candidates in the upcoming the Mid-Term Election. Not surprisingly, his response got a lot of attention, as he answered, “I said to somebody, ‘Wait a minute. You don’t understand. I won. I’m not campaigning.’” After which, he added his thoughts about the trouble his party's candidates are facing with their own MAGA base, “They’re angry at Republicans. But they’re not angry at me. They’re not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.”
The reaction was notable. Starting with this is close to the definition of delusion. When your approval has dropped to 32%, you have to figure someone is angry at you. And it didn't plummet because people who didn't approve of you in the first place still say that don't approve of you.
Though that's typical Trump malignant narcissism, thinking everything you do is great, and everybody loves you -- except terrible people -- and you're everyone's favorite president, there is a cost to such self-deception. Because if you don't acknowledge there's a problem, you can't fix it. And not fixing the problem when the Mid-Term Election is just 86 days away risks leaving all your party's candidates hanging by their thumbs. But it's his first comment that leaped out most to me, that he wouldn't be campaigning. For starters, because we know Trump loves to campaign. Loves to get before his adoring, acolyte base who'll cheer his every word. Yet he says he won't be campaigning. There was a lot of analysis of this in the news. And it was all smart and on the mark, talking about how "I've got mine" egotistical it was and how much more difficult it made things for MAGOP candidates not having their party leader out campaigning for them. And also how this signifies a certain recognition by Trump (either knowingly or subconsciously) that many candidates don't want Trump to campaign with them, since he's so unpopular is so many areas. But I also thought there was something else at play. Two related things, in fact.
First, I think that among all the reasons Trump said he's not going to campaign, at the top of the list is because he knows his party is going to get beat badly in the Mid-Terms and Trump hates losers, hates being around them. After all, he did say later that “They’re angry at Republicans" and repeated it. So, he knows. And this is an admission of that.
And second, related to that, is that if Trump campaigns with his party's candidates and they get beat (as he seems to expect), then he will get blamed for the losses. But if he doesn't campaign, then he can point his finger at the candidates themselves, blame them, say how bad they were, and how angry people are at them.
Trump may campaign a little. But I suspect he'll go to very safe Red districts where he's loved, and the candidates there are sure to win. So, he'll be able to say that where he went, the MAGOP candidate won, but where his party's candidates lost, it's because he didn't campaign for them.
But the end result is the same: Trump is saying in his way that he knows the MAGOP is going to lose the Mid-Terms badly, and he doesn't want to be blamed for it.
When, of course, in reality, he is absolutely to blame for how bad it will be. That's how 32% approvals work. When you're the leader of your party.
And so, too, to blame are the MAGOP candidates who lose, because they have slavishly supported his policies completely and enabled him in virtually everything he's done. Not realizing that that when their party leader says he's not going to campaign with them, he doesn't actually care about them. And never has. Something they've never seemed to grasp. That's who he is.
The irony for Trump is that while he is acting this way totally for his monumental ego and to protect himself, sitting alone in the White House, apart from his enablers, if he doesn't do every possible thing he can to help others in his party, he risks finding himself in a far worse personal hell, with Democrats controlling the House -- and maybe even the Senate. Any of which will be his nightmare.
But he can't do it. Helping "others" is a concept alien to Trump. That's not who he is. Or ever was. And will be. Whatever happens. Trump doesn't plaster his name, "TRUMP," on everything as a whim. "TRUMP." It's a need.
Aug 9
On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest contestant is Brandi Carlisle, winner of 11 Grammys and 2 Emmys. Her conversation with host Peter Sagal is very entertaining, especially when talking about her life-long obsession with Elton John and later collaborating with him. As well as some funny stories about growing up in rural Washington state.
This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 20:45 mark.
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Author
Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting.
Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, has two sort-of best-selling novels, and was a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and Huffington Post. Among his other writing, he's had a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel. As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.
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