You Are There

Yesterday, I wrote about Trump's monumentally idiotic suggestion that North Korea had such valuable real estate (no doubt to build a Trump Tower there...) because people had to drive through it to get to South Korea.  Ignoring the reality of airplanes.  And that only Russians, the Chinese and North Koreans are allowed to drive in North Korea.

I thought it was so bizarre that I chose to put off all the incredibly stupid things he did on Monday, one piling up on top of the next.  In a normal world, any one of them would have been the headline -- but all four of them together on the same day was borderline head-exploding.  And yet, it was just another day in Trump World.  What kind of a day was it?  A day like any other -- except the only difference is...You Are There.

So, let's revisit them from just two days ago.  All on the same day.  Monday.  

We'll start with him during a press conference when, for reasons known only to him, hie decided to go off and slam former President Barack Obama (while on foreign soil, to be clear).  Trump's supposed complaint was about when Russia moved into the Ukraine and annexed Crimea, against international law which is the reason why President Obama proposed that Russia be kicked out of the G7.  Which they were, although Trump wants them let back in.  So, what did Trump say about it?  Whether nothing that made sense or was particularly accurate, though what stood out was --

“They took Crimea during his term. That was not a good thing. It could have been stopped with the right whatever."  

Yes, that's right.  All it needed, according to that ace foreign policy expert Trump was the right "whatever."  It's as if Trump was a 14-year-old girl, dismissing her parents criticizing her.  The biggest shame is that no one in the Obama Administration was able to pull off the right whatever, it should have been so easy.  Imagine though if a student answered this way on an essay test.  How did America handle the Russia-Ukraine crisis?  "They should have done the right whatever."  That is your basic F-minus.

Also on Monday Trump said that his wife has met Kim Jong Un and thinks highly of him.   ("Him," of course, being a despotic, murderous dictator.)  "Kim Jong Un — who I’ve gotten to know extremely well; the first lady has gotten to know Kim Jong Un, and I think she’d agree with me — he is a man with a country that has tremendous potential."  

The problem though is that Melania Trump has never met Kim Jong Un.  And apparently wasn't pleased to be quoted by her husband as praising a despotic, murderous dictator.  So, the White House had to later release a statement that in many ways made things worse because it was so incredibly stupid on its own.  They said --

“President Trump confides in his wife on many issues including the detailed elements of his strong relationship with Chairman Kim — and while the First Lady hasn’t met him, the President feels like she’s gotten to know him too." 

This, in a word, is nuts.  In additional words it's pathetic how stupid it suggests they think the American public is.  Now, sure, some of the American public might be stupid enough to think that explanation makes sense, but mot most of the public.  More to the point, though, is the larger point -- not just that Trump lied about something, but that he lied about something that there was absolutely NO reason to even bring up, let alone lie about.  So, what does it say about a person who lies when he doesn't have to?  It says what he have long known -- that Trump lies because he is a pathological liar and seems to lies because he has to.

And continuing the "lying" theme, Trump also said on Monday that he had received calls from China about ending the tariff war.  The problem is that the Chinese Foreign Minister said it didn't happen. There were no phone calls.  Trump just lied about it -- as his foreign diplomacy tactic.  Lied about something that could be easily refuted by the other party -- which they did.

And bringing the Monday Lying Trilogy to a conclusion, Trump skipped the G7 Climate meeting, which is bad enough under any condition, but horrific when the Amazon is on fire!!!  In response, Trump later lied at a press conference, describing himself as an "environmentalist."  What's impressive is that his nose didn't start growing right then and there.  This is the man who not only withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Accord, but made the United Sates the Only Country in the Entire World to not be in Paris Accord.  This is the man who only weeks earlier signed an order to remove protections of endangered species!  And he called himself an "environmentalist."  But the "funniest" lie is when the White House put out an explanation for him missing the Climate conference -- they noted that he had a meeting the prime ministers of Germany and India.  The problem is that this was yet another of those Things That are Easily Refutable by the Other Parties.  And they were -- photos were released of the prime ministers of Germany and India sitting next to each other at the G7 Climate conference!!!!!

And finally, on top of all of this came Trump adman pitch to make his Doral Country Club the site of the next G7 Summit -- with many buildings that we call bungalows which each can hold 50 people, and is near the airport, and has wonderful restaurants and many ballrooms and blah blah blah blah.  The only thing missing was him saying, "And if you call now within the next 15 minutes, you can get a voucher for a free breakfast."  Never mind that this is likely hugely illegal, going against the emoluments clause of the Constitution, not allowing a president to profit from foreign governments -- which he and his company would blatantly do, since all the foreign governments have to pay their costs and staying there.  But at heart, it's just plain stupid and cheesy.  

And what it also did is confirm what so many experts have suggested for the past three years, that Trump isn't anywhere nearly as rich as he claims and desperately wants people to believe, because when is the last time you saw a billionaire hawking his real estate property to get visitors to stay there with its lovely bungalows and wonderful restaurants and ballrooms...??

And ALL of this was on Monday.  All of it.  And it was pretty much just a typical day for Trump.  Though what it wasn't was...normal.  This is not normal.  This can not ever been seen as normal.  And it all came the day after he explained how valuable North Korean real estate was because you had to drive through it to get to South Korea.  And just days after he quoted a stranger calling him the "King of Israel" and the "Second Coming of God" and referred to himself as "The Chosen One."  And days after he cancelled a meeting with the Prime Minister of Denmark because his absurd interesting in buying Greenland had been called "absurd."  And it just goes on and on and on.

But all of this was entirely on Monday.  It's like Scrooge being impressed with Jacob Marley at the end of A Christmas Carol for gathering all the three ghosts together and "doing it all in one day."

But that's Trump.  Forgetting everything else, all of this was in one day.

And the thing is -- none of this is actually about Trump.  Because we know who he is.  This is about the elected members of the Republican Party, because they enable him, are silent about ALL of this, and are complicit.

​Whatever.