The greatest mystery in Washington: Why is anyone still loyal to Trump?

[babylonsister]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/01/05/the-greatest-mystery-washington-why-anyone-still-loyal-trump/mio4tjmKVifqkfs2xlKpcI/story.html?event=event25

The greatest mystery in Washington: Why is anyone still loyal to Trump?

By Michael A. Cohen Globe Columnist January 05, 2018

snip//

But how does one explain an administration full of individuals who believe that the president they serve is an idiot and unfit for the job, and yet still wake up every morning, go to work, and not only defend him but strive to further his political agenda? It’s not as if multimillionaires like Tillerson or Mnuchin need the work. There’s always a place on cable news for a talking head like Kellyanne Conway.

Surely some rationalize what they do by telling themselves they’re protecting the country from Trump. But of course that’s a lie. They’re enabling Trump and allowing him to stay in a job for which he is manifestly unsuited.

This is a president who takes to Twitter to threaten North Korea with a nuclear attack; who has barely lifted a finger as half of Puerto Rico lacks power; who has regularly and flagrantly undermined the rule of law, and almost certainly obstructed justice. From what, exactly, is America being protected?

There’s no doubt that working in White House is a cool gig and the pinnacle of a political career, but to what end? Surely, no job, no matter the perks, can be worth enabling and normalizing a president — with all of the awesome responsibilities that come with the office — who you think is a danger not just to the country, but also to the world.

They could quit. They could speak out. They could implore the vice president and other Cabinet secretaries to invoke the 25th Amendment. They could stop lying on Trump’s behalf and stop assisting his effort to shred political norms and undermine the nation’s democratic institutions. They could do something, anything, to warn the country. Instead, most of them will get up Monday morning and do what they’ve been doing for the past year: enable a president who they believe is an idiot. Why they choose to do it is perhaps the greatest mystery in Washington today.

[dhol82]

1. Why did Hitler have acolytes?

[Fred Sanders]

3. Acolyts are what cult leaders always have. Also they have fear and self-presevation and Foxxx.

Hitler and Trump are using identical tactics.

[demosincebirth]

27. Hitler was no moron nor was he stupid.

[thbobby]

2. Great question!

When will an organized crime syndicate quit their idiot boss? Not if he is willing to bring the syndicate down because he is going to jail. Mob snitches can hold a great deal of persuasion over those as criminal as he is.

[dewsgirl]

4. I'm thinking a whole lotta blackmail and Stockholm Syndrome.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Graham for sure.

[dewsgirl]

7. 1000%

[ToxMarz]

19. Dead girl?

Or live boy?

[dchill]

20. Don't know, but it could be the megarubles.

[Mr.Bill]

21. Dead boy

if it's Graham.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Not "still loyal" but suddenly loyal

is more like it. Gtassely and Graham supported the Mueller Investigation and the ongoing investigations in the House and Senate and now they flipped and are trying to derail and discredit all of the investigations.

This is a big change and we all know now that there is going to be an uphill battle to get any justice from the investigations from this point forward.

This is why the Dems have introduced bills in an effort to get an Independent Investigation like that of 9/11. The GOP has blocked it for partisan reasons. The Americans believed that the investigations would be supported in a non partisan way back in July. People believed the Mueller would never be able to be derailed even if the investigations in both chambers did become partisan. Well, guess what? The GOP who supported the investigations have FLIPPED since then (Grassely, Graham, etc). Now what? They are derailing the investigations in Congress and Mueller's too. Gee, what a surprise!

Now what do we do? What can we do? Do NOT put all of your eggs in one basket! Be prepared for the GOP to rig/steal the midterms and they go to 2020 unfettered. I won't say "I TOLD YOU SO" like I did when I said the Moron would win the moment I saw him descend down the golden escalator. Fux Ruse will take care of all of it!

[dhol82]

9. +1

[smirkymonkey]

8. That is the big question!

They don't need him anymore. He is obviously a danger to the world and to the party. Why do they hang on? He can only make things worse for them.

[Cha]

10. 'cause they're weasley

little chickenshits like they've always been.

[Irish_Dem]

11. Sociopaths can con others into blind loyalty, or they use fear.

It is a classic syndrome.

[demosincebirth]

28. Sociopaths are not ignorant or stupid...trump is.

[Irish_Dem]

29. Some sociopaths are not smart, they are the ones in jail.

Trump has something that glues people to him.
Toxic glue.

[demosincebirth]

35. I'll rephrase that...some sociopaths. The glue is money and bullshit, that's a toxic combination

[Irish_Dem]

36. Yes I would agree, a toxic glue of money and BS.

[pnwmom]

12. They're complicit. n/t

[Roland99]

13. Because they've taken PAC money funded by rubles

[fescuerescue]

14. No mystery at all. This as as common as can be

In every power dynamic, whether private industry, government or even social clubs, there is commonly a leader.

That leader, regardless of whether he is there by merit, inheritance, tradition or blind luck is surrounded by supplicants. The REASON they surround that leader is because they are looking benefit themselves, to catch the table scraps that fall from the table of the leader.

Take the most heinous, murderous, evil leader from history you want....why did he live so long? and allowed to cause so much misery? These men (and almost always men) are human and just as fragile as anyone else. A quick cut to the throat, or shot to the head could have saved thousands or millions and these men were always surrounded by people who were very well armed constantly. Any one of Hitlers guards could have ended his reign in a flash.

It almost never happened though. Why? Because those who surround, support and defend a leader, find it in their personal best interest to be a supplicant.

[Jarqui]

15. In some cases or many, kompromat

[mainer]

22. Intelligence community patriots should dig up that kompromat

And release it to the public.

[MFM008]

16. CONSPIRACY

...........................

[C_U_L8R]

17. Profit$$$$$

[doc03]

18. All the Republicons want is someone to sign stuff nt

[Mr.Bill]

25. Without even reading it. n/t

[zentrum]

23. That's easy. Power.

Policy changes. The great oligarchical rip-off. This is their chance. They're mad for the tax cut and they got it. They'll throw the destruction of DACA as a bone to his base while, while back stage they deregulate banks, finance, oil, the FDA and replace every aspect of our Democracy with privatization and ways for making profit.

That's why they don't leave. They are changing us and want to make sure it's permanent and un-doable.

[dchill]

24. Cui bono? Follow the rubles.

[Kablooie]

26. The dossier must implicate many of them.

They are desperate to keep out of prison so are trying to quash the investigation.
That's the only thing that makes sense to me

[Awsi Dooger]

30. Easiest answer of all time

Incumbents tend to be re-elected

[moondust]

31. Cult behavior.

Republican lock-step conformity.

Don't ever cross the Führer!

No committee assignments/end of political career.

Republican "base" chose Drumpf over ~16 other GOP candidates. Where do you go when you dump Drumpf? Are previous "quitters and fired losers" doing well or struggling?

Take your pick.


The Jonestown cult drank the Kool-Aid on Jim Jones' command.

[bdamomma]

32. Blackmail, money

bullying all involved. POS all of them.

[dalton99a]

33. There are opportunists - like Nikki Haley:

From "Fire and Fury"

By October, however, many on the president’s staff took particular notice of one of the few remaining Trump opportunists: Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador. Haley—“as ambitious as Lucifer,” in the characterization of one member of the senior staff—had concluded that Trump’s tenure would last, at best, a single term, and that she, with requisite submission, could be his heir apparent. Haley had courted and befriended Ivanka, and Ivanka had brought her into the family circle, where she had become a particular focus of Trump’s attention, and he of hers. Haley, as had become increasingly evident to the wider foreign policy and national security team, was the family’s pick for secretary of state after Rex Tillerson’s inevitable resignation. (Likewise, in this shuffle, Dina Powell would replace Haley at the UN.)

The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future. Haley, who was much more of a traditional Republican, one with a pronounced moderate streak—a type increasingly known as a Jarvanka Republican—was, evident to many, being mentored in Trumpian ways. The danger here, offered one senior Trumper, “is that she is so much smarter than him.”

[Juliusseizure]

34. Why assume GOP would do the right thing?

Look at their base and funders.

The current GOP are corrupt sociopathic corporate oligarchists, with a white racist idiotic base of supporters filled with fear and hate.

Trump is still very popular with his base - he's delivering on hatred of minority groups and opposition groups (democrats). He doesn't care about democratic norms. Neither does his base.

In fact, they likely want him to do more. Be more aggressively fascist. Jail political opponents. Kill minorities outright. If they're still happy with him, I don't know where their bottom is - but its a very dark place. I don't recognize "loyalists" as Americans.

The ONLY time his base got upset was his meeting with Schuman/Pelosi and "agreement" on DACA and the wall. Meanwhile, they'll vehemently attack any GOP who betrays Trump.

What other conclusion can be drawn after a year of this shit?