Friday, June 5, 2020

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol. 265

He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, "overruling" governors who don't allow places of worship to reopen "right away," designating anti-fascism activists as terrorists, and punishing Twitter for fact-checking him.
And he lies incessantly.
In reality, Donald Trump does not run the government of the United States. He doesn't manage anything. He doesn't organize anyone. He doesn't administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn't read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. 
His advisors aren't truth-tellers. They're toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.
Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn't shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.
But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.
Trump's nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.
He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better.

Robert Reich: Trump’s presidency is over

Trump's response to Floyd's murder has debased the presidency and squandered whatever moral authority remained

No comments: