What's so extremely, uniquely wrong about Trump's presidency

[DonViejo]

By Ruth Marcus Deputy editorial page editor January 19 at 8:01 PM

Even for those of us who had braced for catastrophe, the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency was worse than expected — more divisive, mean-spirited, erratic, unhinged, incompetent and egomaniacal than could have been imagined. Any glimmer of hope for a better Trump after the election, any speck of it once he took his oath of office, all that is now extinguished.

Sure, there are glimpses of the seemingly reasonable guy beloved by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who one day says he’ll “take all the heat” on immigration, who wants to sign a “bill of love.” Do not be fooled. He is a chimera. Two days later he will have vanished, leaving you feeling slimed and gaslighted. Graham was right the first time: Trump is a “kook” who is “unfit for office.”

Even after all that came before, this presidency does not lose its power to horrify. Nothing — not even the Trump campaign and Trump transition — truly prepared us for a president who behaves as Trump has. The biggest lie ever told by a candidate to the American people came from Trump, repeatedly, during the campaign: “At the right time, I will be so presidential, you will be so bored.” Now we know: He is characterologically incapable of fulfilling this vow. But it is important, as we steel ourselves for Year Two, to identify what is so extremely, so uniquely wrong with Trump’s presidency.

It is not ideology. Whatever his political convictions, if any, Trump has governed, mostly, as a conservative. And so many true conservatives reconcile themselves to swallowing Trump’s outrages by pointing to what they consider his achievements: The confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and a record number of conservative appellate judges. The move to dismantle or loosen rules across the regulatory landscape. The passage of a major tax cut. The withdrawal from the Paris climate accord. The repeal of the individual mandate to purchase health care. The crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whats-so-extremely-uniquely-wrong-about-trumps-presidency/2018/01/19/431c55ae-fd56-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html

[dalton99a]

1. "Trump does not believe in American ideals and institutions"

That's why Putin chose him for the arson job

[unblock]

2. somehow i did not expect to ever see ruth marcus quoting bruce springsteen,

but it fits perfectly.

much of bruce's imagery is about looking around at the raw deal you're getting and somehow, all evidence and reason to the contrary, clinging to the hope that there's a better america out there we can somehow get to.

[JohnnyLib2]

3. "....that we will look back on his presidency as a blot on our national honor..."

At age 75, I truly hope to live to see that happen.