EMPTY VESSEL. A President's Day Without a Real President - by Joy Reid
His blame-the-victim response to the Florida shooting combined with Mueller's indictments of Russians manipulating the U.S. elections confirms Trump lacks any moral authority.
JOY-ANN REID
02.17.18 10:11 AM ET
Monday is President’s Day. It will be the second consecutive such holiday without an American president. Sure, Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office, when he’s not golfing. He lives in the White House, at least in theory with his family. But he is not the president of the United States.
When Trump addressed the nation in the wake of the Parkland massacre, my team and I looked at the TV but the words coming from his mouth had no effect. They neither resonated nor moved a single person in the room. It truly didn’t matter what he said, particularly after he tweeted out blame for the carnage at the neighbors and classmates of the killer. Trump is as hollow a vessel as there has ever been in the White House. His rule lacks even a shred of moral authority.
Meanwhile, an indictment of 13 Russian nationals by the Robert Mueller grand jury on Friday reinforced what we already know, Vladimir Putin’s cronies launched a widespread, aggressive and ultimately successful influence operation aimed at the U.S. presidential election of 2016 with the goal of dragging down Hillary Clinton and electing Trump. The campaign included encouraging Bernie Sanders voters and minorities to stay home or vote for General Michael Flynn’s fellow American dinner guest of RT and Putin at that now-infamous paid dinner, Jill Stein, but its intent was clear: support Trump by every available means.
Trump is Russia’s creature, not ours. He serves their interests, genuflects before their president, and has remained steadfast in leaving the door wide open for them to interfere in our election on behalf of himself and his desiccated political party again.
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-presidents-day-without-a-real-president?ref=home
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