Trump Camp Desperate To Convince Us His Gaffes Are All According to Plan
December 5, 2016

 
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One thing I learned long ago is that you can’t use logic to convince an ideologue they are wrong. You can’t use reason to convince a religious person there is no God. You can’t use reason to convince a racist that the people they hate aren’t subhuman. And you can’t use facts to convince a Republican they are being conned. But now those whom have been conned are desperate to convince the rest of us that Trump’s parade of embarrassments, missteps and flip-flops are all “deliberate” and part of some “secret plan” the wily president-elect has up his sleeve. You buying it? No? Well, you’re not alone.

Case in point: Trump’s gaffe last week agreeing not only to accept a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan, but publicly referring to caller Tsai Ing-wen as “The President of Taiwan”. Diplomatically, this was a major feux-pas in that China does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation but instead as a “rogue state” belonging to China. The U.S. has had no independent diplomatic contact with Taiwan since 1979. I highly doubt Mr. Trump was aware that accepting a call from someone claiming to be “the president of Taiwan” was a no-no. I certainly didn’t. And I doubt most Americans do either. But being president means knowing more than “most Americans”. More disturbing though is that no one on his staff apparently knew either. Just who is advising the president-elect, and is this the kind of guidance he can expect from his team in the years to come? Clearly those “best people” he selected to run his “so amazing you won’t believe it” staff dropped the ball by not warning him in advance about accepting calls from Pakistan or Taiwan. Instead, Trump & Pence, et al are denying that accepting the call was a mistake, instead simply choosing to downplay its significance. Pence himself on “Meet the Press” yesterday said it was simply Trump “being courteous” to “The President of Taiwan”… a title that China takes umbrage to as well since there is no such position as far as they are concerned. Rather than admit his mistake, Trump’s supporters want us to believe this was a “brilliant and deliberate tactical strategy” by Trump. To what end, that’s not clear. But whatever his reason for doing what he did, “it definitely wasn’t because he doesn’t have a clue about what he’s doing.” I ask them, “Why on Earth would he want to tick off the Chinese before he even enters office?” “Oh, it’s because China is our enemy!” So why did he praise Putin, asking voters “wouldn’t it be great if we got along with Russia?” I thought that was all about making friends of our enemies? I’ve never gotten an answer back on that one.

Like ALL Republicans, they are physically incapably of admitting a mistake or that they may not know something. Be it Dubya being so paranoid about possibly admitting he could be “fooled” that… with genuine confusion his face… had to alter the famous “fool me twice” saying; to Sarah Palin claiming to read “all the papers” after being asked to name a single one of the “newspaper” she JUST claimed to read in response to charges she was ill-informed. So when Trump makes a political blunder like he did with Taiwan, his devoted fans say it wasn’t the dumb mistake of a political novice, it was “shrewd political maneuvering” by the brilliant businessman for some future bargaining position against China over Taiwanese Independence. I mean, “it MUST be! How could it possibly be anything else? He’s not stupid! It must be part of some greater plan!” Which leads me to ask: Is Trump REALLY already planning a future confrontation with China over Taiwan? Like we don’t have enough on our foreign-policy plate already? Are you sure you want the job of cleaning up Trump’s foreign policy blunders, Mitt?

Speaking of which, Mitt Romney… who gave an extremely high-profile speech criticizing Trump and calling him “a phony and a con-man“… is now kissing Trump’s butt in Macy’s window as he angles for the job of Secretary of State… the most high-profile position in the any president’s cabinet. Even Trump’s own inner circle is divided on whether or not to “reward” such a treasonous critic with such a prestigious post within the Trump Administration. Many Trump supporters… most notably his former campaign manager Kellyann Conway… are “outraged” that Trump would even consider him for Secretary of State, with some even claiming Trump “isn’t really” considering Romney, he’s just “toying with him” in some childish ritual to “humiliate” Mitt before stomping on his dream. (Personally, I’m confident Romney WILL be appointed Secretary of State, just as Bush chose Collin Powell. Mitt will give the Administration an aire of “legitimacy” & “dignity” it is sorely lacking, but will shut him out of meetings and disregard most/all of his advice as they enjoy making him kowtow to the man he called “unfit” to be president. And with Mitt’s appointment, Trump supporters will praise the president-elect for “setting personal differences aside for the good of the country”.)

So if Romney doesn’t get the nod, who does? Also in contention for “Secretary of State”, Trump is considering disgraced former general turned FBI Director David Petraeus. You might remember that during the campaign, Trump threatened to “appoint a Special Prosecutor” to investigate Hillary Clinton for “endangering National Security” and “lock her up” over her emails. So it would seem odd (to anyone NOT a Trump supporter) that he would then consider Petraeus… a man convicted for willfully leaking classified information to his biographer/mistress… for Clinton’s old job. When Pence was asked about this obvious hypocrisy during ABC’s ThisWeek yesterday, Pence simply stated that Petraeus is “a hero.” Only a Trump loyalist could dismiss the obvious hypocrisy and call to appoint someone to “Secretary of State” that would either need to call his parole officer or receive a presidential pardon before he could leave the country to do his job.

Trump’s late night Twitter wars are becoming the stuff of legend (and a treasure trove of comic fodder). The notoriously thin-skinned orange Meanie has attacked “Saturday Night Live’s” portrayal of him on several occasions (including just this past weekend) as well as attacking the Broadway cast of “Hamilton” for “lecturing” his VP when he went to see the show a few weeks ago. But Trump getting into Twitter fights like some teenage girl or retweeting the questionable remarks from some truly disturbing people doesn’t “raise questions about his temperament” among his loyal followers, instead it’s the president-elect “personally reaching out” to his constituents as a “man of the people”. So much so that they question why the Trump White House even NEEDS a Press Secretary when he’s got Twitter, Breitbart and The Drudge Report? (which Trump loves because there are no reporters asking him questions, and he can easily ignore any issue he doesn’t like.)

During the campaign, Trump declared he wouldn’t “reward” corporations “like Carrier” threatening to move to Mexico, instead declaring he would simply tell them, “If you want to go, fine! But you’re going to pay a 35% tax on everything you reimport back into the United States”… a position very popular with workers but very UNpopular with Republican lawmakers looking out for the interests of Big Business. Trump made the claim repeatedly in the first few months of the year, but then said he had “no idea” he had ever made such a promise until he heard “Carrier A/C” employees on TV talking about how Trump had promised to save their jobs. Apparently, his promise to save those jobs wasn’t the only thing he forgot. He also clearly forgot his promise of just HOW he would convince those corporations not to do it. His “solution” in the end was to have his VP… the governor of the state “Carrier” resides in… promise them a $7million dollar tax break in exchange to keep some 800 jobs here in the U.S.. But about a 1,000 more jobs will STILL be leaving (as well as another 350 jobs at a neighboring plant one block up the road), and that tax break isn’t a permanent commitment. In a year or two, they may try to leave again. And Trump’s VP will no longer be the governor of Indiana to make the same sweetheart deal again. NAFTA prevents the president from imposing a tax on imports from Mexico, so those jobs are as good as gone already. All he did was buy himself some time… literally. But to Trump’s supporters, this was Trump “keeping his promise to American workers”. They’re hailing him as a hero this Christmas. We’ll see just how enamored they are of him a year from now. At a cost of over $8,200 dollars per job “saved”, the country won’t be able to afford a deal like that every time a corporation threatens to move to Mexico over the next four years. “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists”… unless it’s a major corporation threatening to move its factory to Mexico.

Another notorious gaffe was Trump dismissing his Conflicts of Interest regarding his corporate empire, claiming he could run “both” his businesses and the government simultaneously “just fine”. But as I pointed out last week, a string of examples of Trump’s business interests possibly dictating his foreign & domestic policy for his own personal financial gain led to Trump announcing last week that he would be “leaving” his business “to concentrate on running the country”. But this doesn’t resolve any “conflict of interest”, and I doubt he even understands that. He’ll simply be handing off the running of HIS business over to his kids. I think Trump believes “conflict of interests” simply means “divided attention” (and why not, he thinks “temperament” means “personality”), not concern over whether he might make decisions as president that benefit him personally. “We’d like to run our new pipeline straight through your competitor’s golf course!” “We’ll get you those permits to build your new casino President Trump, but first let’s talk about those nasty trade restrictions you want to impose on us.” “The workers in your hotel are demanding a raise in the Minimum Wage.” You can see how this could become a problem. You don’t? Then you must be a Trump supporter.

In the weeks before the election, everyone… including Trump himself… was so certain he was going to lose that he repeatedly called the race “Rigged”. Then once he “won” despite receiving over 2.5 million fewer votes, actually legitimized recount efforts his own team was protesting by claiming “millions voted illegally” to cost him the popular vote as well. Yet he opposes the recount that could prove it. Kellyann Conway actually said to those doing the recount during Fox “news” Sunday yesterday: “Give it up. It won’t change anything.” Well, if it “won’t change anything”, then why do they need to “give it up”? Your own boss is claiming massive voter fraud without an iota of proof. Wouldn’t you like that proof and give him the “popular vote” victory he already claims to have won to help legitimize his victory?

Another key “feature” of a Trump Administration was his promise to “drain the swamp” of “Washington insiders & Special Interests” running the White House, and instead appoint “the best people” to run his Administration. So who has he picked so far? “Special Interests”, “Lobbyists” and “Washington Insiders”. His pick to be “Secretary of Transportation?Elaine Chow, former “Secretary of Labor” under Bush-II when we saw the most anemic job growth since The Great Depression culminating in the most massive monthly job losses since “The Great Depression”… whom also happens to be the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. I’m not quite sure what skills Ms. Chow… the worst Labor Secretary of the last 50 years… might have picked up in the last eight years that makes her “the best person in the country” to be our Secretary of Transportation, but I’m willing to guess it wasn’t taking a job in the auto industry.

Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor? General Michael Flynn… a man who actually owns his own lobbying firm that was paid thousands of dollars by the Turkish government of Recep Erdogan (whom seized power in a military coup earlier this year.)

His pick to defend “Civil Rights” as Attorney General is Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama, who has questionable positions on the civil rights of blacks, gays and other minorities he holds in contempt. I’m not quite sure we can call this pick a “gaffe” though. Definitely not what I’d call “draining the swamp of Washington Insiders from within the White House”. “Drain the Swamp” indeed… to make room for bigger alligators.

We are to believe that all of this is part of a “greater plan” that we’re just too dumb to see. But not to worry, the brilliant Donald J Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.

…And that’s the thought that frightens me most of all.
 


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December 5, 2016 · Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: General, myth busting, National Security, Partisanship, Politics, rewriting history, Right-Wing Hypocrisy, Scandals, Seems Obvious to Me

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