How stupid is Trump?

The road apple falls not far from the steed.

That's stupid for several reasons

"Well what's the point of havin' all those neat toy if I can't play with them??"

Trump’s Former Aides and Advisers on the Peril He Poses

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/us/democracy-trump.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-30_impression_cut_3_filter_new_arm_5_1&alpha=0.05&block=more_in_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=875541267&impression_id=f9fe32b1-d2cc-11ec-bc3e-8b93dff49173&index=1&pgtype=Article&pool=more_in_pools%2Fus&region=footer&req_id=591739987&surface=eos-more-in&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-30_impression_cut_3_filter_new_arm_5_1

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper agreed with an interviewer that President Trump posed “a threat to democracy.” Other former administration officials have expressed similar concerns.



By Jennifer Schuessler
May 12, 2022

In his new book “A Sacred Oath,” released earlier this week, Mark T. Esper, the former defense secretary, revealed that President Donald J. Trump in 2020 had floated the idea of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and asked why the military could not “just shoot” racial justice protesters in Washington in the legs.

Mr. Esper also described his concerns that Mr. Trump might misuse the military during the 2020 election, for example by asking soldiers to seize ballot boxes.

On Monday, when a Fox News host asked if he thought President Trump “was a threat to democracy,” Mr. Esper was blunt.

“I think that given the events of Jan. 6, given how he has undermined the election results, he incited people to come to D.C., stirred them up that morning and failed to call them off, to me that threatens our democracy,” he said.

“So, yes?” asked the host, Bret Baier.

Mr. Esper replied: “What else can you conclude, Bret?”

That comment, from a man who has also served as secretary of the Army and chief of staff of the conservative Heritage Foundation, was seen by some as a startlingly direct condemnation. But Mr. Esper was not the first former Trump administration official to go beyond criticisms of President Trump’s temperament or specific policies to say he posed a threat to American democracy itself.

Here is a compilation of comments by Mr. Esper and other former officials, made during and after President Trump’s term in office.

“It was a very troubling event. The moment, it was an insurrection, an attempt to overturn a free and fair election and to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. And it [sic] was right to be impeached.”

— Interview with Judy Woodruff, “PBS NewsHour,” May 6, commenting on the Jan. 6 insurrection
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, White House press secretary and communications director (July 2019-April 2020)

“Everybody’s showing their fealty to them, he’s on his revenge tour to people who dared to vote for impeachment. I want to just warn people, once he takes office, if he were to win, he doesn’t have to worry about re-election anymore, he will be about revenge, he will probably have some pretty draconian policies.”

— Interview on “Good Morning America,” Oct. 4, 2021, in which she also said she would urge Mr. Trump “not to run” in 2024
Read more from our Democracy Challenged coverage.
MILES TAYLOR, chief of staff, Department of Homeland Security (February 2019-September 2019) and author of the anonymously published book “A Warning”

“I’m still astounded by the countless Trump officials who privately agreed with me that he was a threat to democracy yet *still* remain silent. Why?”

— Twitter, June 11, 2021
JOHN F. KELLY, secretary of homeland security (January 2017-July 2017) and White House chief of staff (July 2017-January 2019)

“What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds.”

— Interview with Jake Tapper, CNN, Jan. 7, 2021

Other former administration officials who have publicly expressed concern over dangers President Trump might pose to democracy include the former defense secretary James N. Mattis.
H.R. MCMASTER, former national security adviser (February 2017-April 2018)

“It’s a gift to our adversaries, who want to shake our confidence in who we are, shake our confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes.”

— Interview with Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” Sept. 27, 2020, commenting on President Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election
JOHN R. BOLTON, former national security adviser (April 2018-Sept. 2019)

“The concern I have, speaking as a conservative Republican, is that once the election is over, if the president wins, the political constraint is gone. And because he has no philosophical grounding, there’s no telling what will happen in a second term.”

— Interview with Martha Raddatz, ABC News, June 21, 2020, in which he also said President Trump posed a “danger for the republic”
JAMES N. MATTIS, secretary of defense (January 2017-January 2019)

“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander in chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”

“We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”

— Statement published by The Atlantic, June 3, 2020, following the clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C.
REX W. TILLERSON, former secretary of state (February 2017-March 2018)

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom.”

“If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders in both the public and private sector — and regrettably at times even the nonprofit sector — then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years.”

— Commencement speech at Virginia Military Institute, May 16, 2018

Jennifer Schuessler is a culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas. She is based in New York. @jennyschuessler

Fiona Hill says Putin got 'frustrated many times' with Trump because the Russian leader 'had to keep explaining things' to him

John Haltiwanger

https://news.yahoo.com/fiona-hill-says-putin-got-202020727.html

Wed, May 18, 2022, 3:20 PM·2 min read
I

Putin often became frustrated with Trump over his lack of knowledge on big issues, Fiona Hill said.

"He had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn't like to do that," Hill said.

Hill said this factored into Putin's decision to invade Ukraine during the Biden administration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin often became frustrated with President Donald Trump over his lack of knowledge on geopolitical issues, Fiona Hill said, adding that this played into Moscow's decision on the timing of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

One of the reasons Putin invaded Ukraine with President Joe Biden in the White House was that he expected the US to "sue for peace" and thought it would be better to deal with Biden than trying to negotiate with someone like Trump, whom the Russian leader had "to explain everything to all the time," Hill, who served as the top Russia advisor on the National Security Council under Trump, said Tuesday at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event.

"He thought that somebody like Biden — who's a transatlanticist, who knows all about NATO, who actually knows where Ukraine is, and actually knows something about the history, and is very steeped in international affairs — would be the right person to engage with," Hill said.

"You could see that he got frustrated many times with President Trump because he had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn't like to do that," Hill said, adding: "Even though he loves to be able to spin his own version of events, he wants to have predictability in the person that he's engaging with."

A number of Trump's former advisors have said the ex-president had a poor grasp of global affairs. The former national security advisor John Bolton, for example, said Trump once asked whether Finland was part of Russia.

Similarly, Trump's former White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly also once said Trump "doesn't know any history at all, even some of the basics on the US," says Hill's new book, "There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century," which was published last year.

In the book, Hill writes that Trump's meager comprehension of international affairs was a "major liability" for US national security.

"Whenever he got to meetings and the conversation started, it seemed like the first time he was hearing things from world leaders," she writes.

Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Must be even more tricky with creepy Joe.
He doesn't even know what day of the week it is.

Unfounded bullshit. How was your suspension? Doesn't seemed to have hurt your ability speak from your fundus. Too bad.

Perhaps, you'd prefer that Biden step down and let Kamala Harris be the president. No? The next in line would be Nancy Pelosi. Or is that unacceptable too? Maybe you just want to eliminate all the Democrats so you can have a one-party system.

Wellllll ... not to put too fine of a point on it.

Judge dismisses Mike Lindell counter-suits against Smartmatic and Dominion
and sanctions Lindell, asking him to pay Smartmatic attorney fees
(insider)

Like other autocrats, lies form such an integral part of Trump's character that they barely qualify as lies anymore. They're just flatulent noises leaking out of his face.

Guy is a rich-kid.

We elected him because nobody wants the white-witch Narnia in office. She had her time back in 1990's.

If it was Bernie point blank win,

We have a new champion.

Flat Earth, losing a battle with the English Language and worshipping David Icke.

It's like some demented trinity.

@bobsal u1553115,
Must be even more tricky with creepy Joe.
He doesn't even know what day of the week it is.

Oh, really?


friedman

Gotta chuckle @ "fledgling democracy"

Corporate kleptocracy is what's coming.

Trump now points to supposed fraud in an election his candidate lost more than 3-to-1.

Trump’s voter fraud claims are growing more outlandish

Sore loser. Sour grapes.