Trump’s House of Cards Begins to Crumble

Trump believes his own delusions of grandeur. In response to the felony convictions of his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and plea deal of former “fixer” lawyer Michael Cohen, this profoundly mentally ill, corrupt, treasonous, and illegitimate lunatic demagogue once again confirms his authoritarianism and demonstrates his delusion that he is above the law. We the People begin the end of this madness in the fast approaching midterms this November.

Trump's Own Tweets and Public Statements Betray Him

Trump says longstanding legal practice of flipping 'almost ought to be illegal' – https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/trump-flipping-outlawed/index.html

“(CNN) President Donald Trump continued working to fortify himself against accusations of legal misdeeds on Thursday, defending himself on Twitter in the dark morning hours and telling an interviewer he'd done nothing wrong.

But as the swirl of legal questions continues to mount, neither the President nor his aides have been able to quell the fallout.

Trump's latest attempt came in a friendly taped interview with Fox News, which was conducted on Wednesday but aired a day later. Trump sought to put distance between himself and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who admitted to campaign finance crimes in federal court on Tuesday and implicated the President by saying he'd directed the action.

And he sharply decried those who testify against former confidants to ease legal troubles, bemoaning the longstanding practice.

‘It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal,’ Trump said in the interview, adding he's witnessed similar scenarios over his decades in public life. ‘I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go.’

Suspects cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence is a central feature of the criminal justice system, but Trump has long valued loyalty over legal precedent or practice.”

Dean responds to Trump calling him a 'rat' – https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/20/john-dean-trump-rat-tweet-response-lead-vpx.cnn

In Trump’s alternate reality, the villain in Watergate was not President Richard Nixon and his Administration, but Howard Dean, the “rat” who brought the house of cards down.

Trump: Impeach me and the market crashes – https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45285585

The $30 trillion reason Republicans won’t turn on Trump – https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/23/17769206/bull-stock-market-michael-cohen-trump-manafort-gop-donors

“As far as Wall Street is concerned, it makes no difference whether a jury found Trump’s former campaign chair guilty of eight federal crimes or that Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer pleaded guilty to eight counts himself.

Trump’s policies have been a boon to them — from the GOP tax cuts passed last year that slashed corporate rates, to the administration’s successful rollback of pieces of Dodd-Frank. Now they see a possibility for even more tax cuts. (Trump’s trade tactics have made investors nervous, but by and large, Wall Street has thus far shrugged them off.)…

The dynamic answers a question that dogs Trump critics: Why won’t Republicans turn on him? Big investors are key constituents and donors in Republican politics — and they’re happy. Donors have showered millions of dollars on Republicans as a thank you, including billionaire energy mogul Charles Koch, who cut House Speaker Paul Ryan a $500,000 check days after the House tax cuts bill passed.”

South Africa rejects Donald Trump's tweet on farmer killings – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-45282088

Not just content with dividing America to the brink of a second Civil War, in a hopeless attempt to cling to power, this racist lunatic now wants to start a race war in South Africa with his White Nationalist delusions and false claims.

Recent Polling Data Shows His Hold on Power is Tenuous Beyond His Lunatic Base

CNN's new poll has very little good news for Donald Trump on Russia – https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-poll/index.html

Beyond Republicans—especially his lunatic Trump Cult core base—Trump’s repeated attacks on the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” are falling on deaf ears.

“(CNN) The BIG headline out of CNN's new national poll probing how Americans feel about President Donald Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller and the ongoing Russia investigation is that a large majority want Mueller to wrap things up before this November's midterm elections.

Make no mistake: It is a big deal that two-thirds of the country -- including majorities of Republicans, independents and Democrats -- all hope that the special counsel probe is over before November 6. And despite the fact that each of those groups almost certainly has their own reasons for wanting the probe to end, you can be sure Trump and his allies will seize on the 66% of Americans who say they want the investigation into Russian interference to end before the election as proof positive that public opinion has turned against Mueller and toward the President.

And that is where they would be making a major mistake. Because if you look at any question in the CNN poll -- other than the one about when people want the probe to end -- and you see piece after piece of evidence that Trump is losing the public relations war on Russia.

Consider:

• 55% disapprove of how Trump is handling the "investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election." Just 34% approve.

• 47% approve of how Mueller is handling the probe as opposed to 39% who disapprove, an improvement from the 41% approve/29% disapprove in CNN's last poll in June.

• Almost six in 10 think Russia's attempted interference in the 2016 campaign is a "serious matter that should be fully investigated."

• 56% think Trump has attempted to interfere in the investigation.

• Almost 80% of Democrats say that the investigation into Russian interference will be either extremely or very important to their votes for Congress this fall…
• Just more than one in three (37%) of respondents say Trump's public statements about the Russia probe have been completely or mostly true. By contrast, 56% believe what Trump has said about the investigation is either mostly or completely false.

Fox News Poll 8/22 – http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/22/fox-news-poll-822.html

The most recent Fox News Poll has more detailed bad news. It isn’t just Democrats who have soured to Donald Trump, support the Mueller investigation, or think it will prove wrongdoing. 

Trump Job Approval:

Mueller Investigation Approval:

Likely the Mueller Investigation will find Trump involved in criminal/impeachable offense:

Trump: He Cray Cray

Trump and his sycophants, enablers, defenders, apologists, and propagandists like to say he’s a “counter puncher”. But over eighteen months in office confirm that he is not: he is an unfit mental and emotional cripple who lashes out at anyone or anything that challenges his mental illness fueled self-delusional alternate reality. Mental health professionals have warned this from the start and continue to do so.

Shrinks Battle Over Diagnosing Donald Trump: Chaos in the White House fuels discord amongst the experts – https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainstorm/201701/shrinks-battle-over-diagnosing-donald-trump

From shortly after Trump assumed office… Malignant Narcissist, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, too soon to say, not right to say.

“In the several days since psychologist John Gartner posted a petition on Facebook declaring that Donald Trump must be removed from office because he has ‘a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States,’ more than 18,000 psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals have signed their agreement.

Although the petition has no legal power and it may be the beneficiary of timing more than tactics… it has made public what many have been saying privately for some time. And by doing so, it is exposing a large and growing rift within the mental health community.

In contention are three significant and intertwined issues. Can Donald Trump or any public figure be deemed to have mental illness, even based on specific, well-publicized criteria reflecting observable behavior? Is it ethical or appropriate for mental health professionals to venture into public acts of diagnosis? Is psychology a suitable instrument for addressing issues of governance?

Gartner, a psychologist in private practice in Baltimore and New York, author of a psychobiography of Bill Clinton, and a former instructor in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, contends that Trump “manifestly” meets the DSM-published criteria for at least three personality disorders: narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder. They are a “toxic brew” that in his view not only make Trump “dangerous” but add up to “malignant narcissism,” not a diagnosis formalized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual but a label coined by the German-born psychologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm…”

The President Is Mentally Unwell — and Everyone Around Him Knows It – http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/trump-is-mentally-unwell-and-everyone-around-him-knows-it.html

After a year in office, any wishful hopes of a presidential “pivot” or Trump even reigning in the crazy have been dashed.

“Until recently, the debate over our president’s mental health has focused on questions of psychological pathology: Do Donald Trump’s flamboyant narcissism, hedonism, and self-delusions add up to a malignant personality — or a malignant personality disorder?

Scores of psychiatric professionals say the latter. Some of their peers — and a large number of laymen — have insisted that the matter can only be settled by a psychiatrist who has personally, privately evaluated the president. That argument has always struck me as nuts...

… whether we choose to label any given psychological profile a “disorder” is always, on some level, a value judgement about what it means to function healthily in our society. If an inability to concentrate on tests can qualify one for psychological dysfunction, then it’s hard to see why Trump’s manifest incapacity to subordinate his hunger for affirmation and attention to basic social norms would not. If a middle-school boy displayed Donald Trump’s level of impulse control in the classroom, there is little question that he would be considered psychologically unhealthy.”

The Bottom Line

Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton by a 2.9 million vote plurality in November 2016. A persistent majority continues to oppose him, eighteen months into his administration. Outside of this Republican True Believer/Trump Uber Alles/Trump Cult base, majorities of Americans are not buying any of the propaganda put forth by this lunatic demagogue and his Republican enablers and apologist.

We the People will begin the end of this madness in a Blue Wave in the midterms this November. Led by women, not just Democratic and Independent, but also suburban Republican women, minorities, Hispanics, and college educated men, Trump's angry White non-college educated men and the Filthy, Quite, and Just Rich top 10% Haves coalition, will not protect Trump from the rest of us, including many who were duped into voting for him in 2016.