Charles P. Pierce: Is Trump Actually in Charge? Or Is It Worse Than We Feared?

[babylonsister]

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54512/is-trump-in-charge/

Is Trump Actually in Charge? Or Is It Worse Than We Feared?

I haven't felt this shaky about the world in half a century.
By Charles P. Pierce
Apr 14, 2017


I have resisted the temptation to speculate on the mental state of our president* because I've always been leery of long-distance psychiatric diagnoses, and because I am not Charles Krauthammer, who regularly has used his professional credentials to define any politics to the left of a drillbit as some sort of cognitive deficiency. However, the events of the last week have required me to rethink this policy.

Years ago, Fletcher Knebel wrote a novel called Night At Camp David about a president who'd gone mad. The evidence for that was that the bughouse president was lost in grandiose delusions about his place in the world. Knebel, you may recall, also was the co-author of the rather more famous Seven Days in May, which concerned a military plot to take over the government. Lately, I've come to see these two books as being parts of the same whole, like the Lord of the Rings saga, or Dune. I have come to the conclusion that the president* has slipped his gears and that his control over the military—and over foreign policy—is as tenuous as his hold on rationality is. I have not felt this shaky about the state of the world since October of 1962.

snip//

Things got worse the other day, when the U.S. dropped the mightiest non-nuclear weapon it has on a bunch of rocks and caves in Afghanistan. The president* explained this event by stating categorically that the generals are in charge. From Military Times:

"What I do is I authorize my military," in response to a press question about the use of a massive bomb in an assault on Islamic State group positions in Afghanistan. "We have the greatest military in the world, and they've done the job, as usual. We have given them total authorization, and that's what they're doing. Frankly, that's why they've been so successful lately. If you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what has happened over the last eight years, you'll see there is a tremendous difference."

Those are not the words you want to hear from the guy on whom—theoretically, at least—the national command authority rests. Those are the words of a guy who's terrified of the awesome responsibilities of his job because he knows he's not up to them, and I think he's not up to them because he knows something's wrong with him. And, come to think of it, "my" military is pretty frightening, too.

There now are several crisis points in the world that are hanging by a thread. At the same time, the civilian control of the military also is hanging by a thread, because nobody's sure whether or not the commander-in-chief can keep himself together. (This column, in which the author assures us that the president* is being "saved" by the military minds around him, is meant to be reassuring, but damned well isn't.)

At the end of Fletcher Knebel's novels, the bughouse president resigns and the coup is foiled. In real life, who knows if it ends that way. I don't want a president* who knows he's not up to the job and I don't want a military establishment that thinks it knows what to do about it. That way, we all go crazy.

[still_one]

1. If that is the case, those who control Congress are 100% to blame

[babylonsister]

2. And where the hell are the Dems? Granted, I've been out all day,

but has anyone said anything about our current state of affairs, or is that recess too important?

[KittyWampus]

4. Front page on DU: Pelosi calls for 'immediate Congressional scrutiny' after 'saber-rattling on North

[babylonsister]

5. Thank you. I need to check that. nt

[orleans]

12. can you give a link to that? i can't find it

on front page (not even with scrutiny and pelosi word searching. thanks.

never mind. i found it in breaking news (not on front page tho)
here's the link

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141753358

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/328788-pelosi-calls-for-immediate-congressional-scrutiny-after-saber-rattling-on

[FakeNoose]

3. BabylonSister a lot of us share your fears

Actually a lot of us thought he was nuts even before the election, and it's only looking worse now.
However the Mother bomb was for show only - strictly to scare the shit out of somebody in North Korea.
The fact that it also killed 36 Isis guys was secondary, but hey we'll take it.

I'm not rooting for Trump, by any means. But I do believe he had a reason to send that bomb.
It's not pure craziness, in spite of how this looks.

I don't know about you, but I'm doing a lot of praying this Easter weekend.
Let's watch and pray and keep our hopes up.

Hopefully the FBI, CIA and other security guys are doing their jobs too.

[kimbutgar]

6. I like the * asterisk when he refers to dic ( don is crazy)

[babylonsister]

8. Now that you mention it, dimson/aka the blivet/aka *...

that is one powerful asterisk!

[riversedge]

7. Scary indeed.

[bdamomma]

9. well we know

this POS on this holy weekend won't be at church "turning his cheek" he will be out for revenge, and the more evidence that comes out about Russia, he doesn't use diplomacy he uses bombs. He is a sick mother he needs to be removed ASAP.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Damned if you do / damned if you don't

Do we want tRump & Jarvanka in total charge of everything? Nope.

Do we want the military in total charge of everything? Nope.

Do we want Mike "afraid of women" Pence in charge of everything? Nope.

[colsohlibgal]

11. Right With You Charlie

I posted today in another thread that this is the scariest most anxious time since October 1962. The difference back then is we had a more that competent President, one who, along with Khrushchev, fought off the rabid let's fire nukes of their military types.

We now have an immature narcissist who apparently can barely read in the WH. Put there by brain dead voters and the arcane Electoral College, which now gives too much influence to voters in no man's land.

If we survive this time there better be a sharp turn left......till the next time the collective memory fades out.

[Hekate]

13. The only reason I'm not as terrified as I was in Oct. '62 is the numbness of outrage-fatigue

I still have the sensation of us having been shoved off the highest building in the world, and we're still counting the stories as we fall. "So far, so good," right?

[babylonsister]

14. I'm more angry than terrified that this asshat is doing what he's doing.

And so far, has been allowed to get away with it.

[kentuck]

15. I have wondered the same.

Have we just gone thru a military coup?

[babylonsister]

16. Isn't a coup when the military goes against

their leader*? dt doesn't care; they're in charge.