Trump Administration Playing It by Ear

[MineralMan]

Donald Trump has no idea what a President does on a day-to-day basis. Neither does anyone on his staff. So, when a terrible storm hits several states, he doesn't know that he's supposed to comment on that right away and do something about getting FEMA there to assess the situation. He finally makes a mild statement about the destruction and dead people, but doesn't know what he should do next.

Worse, nobody in his White House staff does, either. He has chosen people to surround him who have no knowledge of how DC politics work, nor what is expected of the President on a daily basis. Trump doesn't like briefings, and he doesn't read, so he won't even know many of the things that are happening that need some attention from him.

There are 600-some appointed posts he has to fill. He doesn't know what they are, nor does anyone on his staff. So, he's named just a couple dozen of those people for the obvious posts. In the meantime, he wanted resignations from Obama's appointments. The result is that the senior civil service people will be running things. They do that anyhow, of course, but Trump can't just fire them, and doesn't know that he needs to direct all of those operations or have his appointees do it.

Trump thinks that Presidents give a speech now and then, meet with important people, and play golf the rest of the time. And his staff doesn't know much more. So far, he has invited Netanyahu to Washington next month. Did he consult with the State Department on the protocol for such invitations? Of course not. He doesn't know he is supposed to do that.

Trump knows almost nothing about being President. He doesn't understand what powers he has and what powers he doesn't have. So, Trump and his merry band of billionaires are going to make mistakes aplenty. Some of those mistakes may have affects that are enormous in scope.

But Donald Trump is like the honey badger. Donald Trump don't care!

[bdamomma]

1. He is putting a lot of us in jeopardy.

Please call your Senators office.

Local offices would be better.

I have already called my Senators.

[MineralMan]

5. Excellent advice. I hope everyone does just that.

They can see what a dolt is now in the White House. Let them know that we can see that, too, and expect them to do something about it.

[LakeVermilion]

41. Face it: the country elected a 12 year old to run the country

with his middle school friends.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

47. More like a pre-schooler who still

has bathroom accidents. He and his friends bully the littler kids on the playground. When they look at the bigger kids, all they can think of is how they can hardly wait to get bigger so they can bully even more kids.

Now they think they are bigger, and their only goals are to continue that bullying.

[Scarsdale]

57. Ratings

This is a TV show for him, where he THINKS he got higher ratings than Hillary. Imagine the difference if we had her in charge? tRump has a lot of growing up to do, and past the age where he can actually do it. The Groping Old Pervert party got their guy in, now they have to try to repair all the damage that is about to happen.

[MrScorpio]

2. He's incompetent

His supporters think that being incompetent about the function of government is a good thing.

[MineralMan]

3. He is incompetent in Spades.

Worse, he doesn't really care about the function of government. What he doesn't know about being President completely dwarfs what he does know or thinks he knows. Someone told him "Regulations are bad," so he's going to kill regulations without even knowing why they exist. That is how his tiny little mind works.

Trump is not about nuance. He is about broad strokes in all directions.

Trump Don't Know! Trump Don't Care!

[smirkymonkey]

11. I saw him briefly on CNN at work today speaking about trade and he sounded like a blithering

idiot. I couldn't believe people were sitting there listening to him with a straight face when it was so apparent that he was just bullshitting his way through the press conference. It was like "The Emporer's New Clothes". Completely bizarre.

[MineralMan]

22. Trump fancies himself as an astute businessman.

Business does not equal Trade, though. International Trade is a very, very complex thing. Trump knows little about it really. His experience is limited to real estate development and the creation of large buildings. That's what he knows, but that has little to do with the broad spectrum of interactions that is international trade.

[Scarsdale]

59. Governing

He will be as successful as president as he was in his business dealings, and we all know how THOSE go. Bankruptcy, lawsuits for on payment. He has to be impeached before the tRumps start painting the WH with that tacky gold paint.

[Turbineguy]

4. I'm qualified to do

cardiac surgery on Trump voters.

[mopinko]

6. and by who has his ear.

these nominations, and his eo the other day to kill the mortgage premium for subsidized mortgages. who does that? ans.-someone who is getting his pet peeve slain. might be his, but i wouldnt expect him to know what a middle class borrower goes through.
so i assume some crony who wants to keep people in rentals has his ear, so he dispensed like a little gift from the campaign.

it's like a big paintball fight.

[MineralMan]

9. Well, since he knows very little,

he will rubber stamp what those people put before him. He's incapable of understanding it or the effect it will have, but he'll sign anything that someone he trusts puts on the desk for his signature.

And, when you look at who he trusts, it's abundantly clear that he doesn't understand who they are and what motivates them, either.

It's a very dangerous situation, all around. We have an incompetent person as President and evil, self-serving people surrounding him. It's a recipe for disaster.

[mopinko]

10. gonna get a whole lot darker before the next dawn.

[Cracklin Charlie]

7. Danger is like a cloud swirling around him.

It's only a matter of time.

[MineralMan]

8. Idiocy prevents him from seeing the danger, though.

He's not capable of thinking outside of the tiny little box he's trapped in, and that's going to affect us all, I'm afraid, and not in a good way.

Facts don't matter.
Truth doesn't matter.
Planning doesn't matter.
Only Donald Trump matters to Donald Trump.

[Nitram]

26. That's why the breakup will be so explosive when he finally realizes he doesn't have...

a clue and he has already made dozens off mistakes. It'll keep adding up until he reaches the breaking point. We can only hope he is ruled unfit for office before he does something really crazy.

[MineralMan]

31. We can only hope. I doubt that he'll realize

that he's incompetent at this job. I expect him to do something truly disastrous in his first year.

[Jacob Boehme]

33. If this were a book being written...

the author would insert the 'deus ex machina' at this point. No such luck for us.

[MineralMan]

38. Well, it's early days yet.

We'll all be watching as the plot unfolds, I guess.

[bdamomma]

12. read this article.

Ex-Bush ethics lawyer: Donald Trump ‘will conform with the Constitution or we will remove him’


I just posted this thread: It makes me hopeful:

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/ex-bush-ethics-lawyer-donald-trump-will-conform-with-the-constitution-or-we-will-remove-him/

[MineralMan]

13. Thanks. I'll read it.

[JHB]

65. The key point there is "who's the 'we' he speaks of?"

The congressional Republicans? How much slack will they cut him for the opportunity to push through their wish lists?

How long will it take to remove someone who was in violation of the Constitution the moment he was sworn in? Too long.

[JHan]

14. " and he doesn't read" - sigh.

Did you catch this article MineralMan?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/books/transcript-president-obama-on-what-books-mean-to-him.html?_r=0

Hillary is also a voracious reader.

It's Trump's lack of intellectual curiosity that worries me the most - if he were less a shameless ignoramus, his character may have been very different.

[MineralMan]

15. Every person in power I truly respect is an avid reader.

They are also good at expressing themselves in writing. Reading is how one exposes oneself to excellent thinkers. It is how one gains information and insight. There is no substitute, frankly.

A true breadth of knowledge is the foundation for wisdom, I believe. Reading widely and doing so all of one's life is the key to having the knowledge required to make good decisions. Great thinkers tend to put their thinking into words on paper. Finding those words and reading them is the mark of a person with an excellent education. Degrees don't really matter. Learning is what matters.

Donald Trump is an unlearned man. He has no foundation for his decisions, so he makes poor ones, again and again.

[JHan]

16. Agreed+++

[DinahMoeHum]

66. +1000s

[keithbvadu2]

24. Thinking of Palin who could not name a single newspaper in her state

[SticksnStones]

17. But this is what the other side wanted....people with no government experience

As though the lack of experience is the be all, end all, cures all tonic.

Never stopping to think that knowing the mechanics of governing is actually useful knowledge.

SMH

[MineralMan]

19. Sure. Simple people like simplicity.

The mechanics of governing a nation as large and diverse as this one are far from simple. Simplicity doesn't work in day-to-day governance. It never has.

It is so complex that it takes decades of experience to truly understand it. That's why Presidents are career politicians. It's sort of a prerequisite at that level.

[SticksnStones]

32. Exactly! I emphatically agree! And layered onto that

The general notion that a completed, higher education is somehow elitist and therefore disqualifying.

The other side banks on the notion they feed their base that they should be proud of their lack of depth of knowledge.

Equating educated with elitist - It's one of the damages done by conservatism through the years that really cuts to the quick. And its effects are greater amplified as world politics become a more complex, nuanced endeavor, as you too wrote.

Most folks in my extended family circle feel well informed enough, thank you by reading just the headlines ~

[ginnyinWI]

55. lol

They wanted people with no government experience to somehow come into government and be able to run one! Truly funny!

[Nay]

68. No, they want a person w/no experience to BREAK the existing government. Not run

it. At least, that's what they think they want. Already were seeing moronic Trump voters who want to keep their ACA.

[SHRED]

18. Flying by the seats of their pants

[MineralMan]

20. Yup, but the pants are brand new and aren't shiny

in the seat from constant work. Experience is needed to be President, frankly. Long experience with continual growth of knowledge. Trump doesn't qualify.

[SHRED]

21. There is no "institutional memory"

A very important component.

[MineralMan]

25. Exactly. And that is only learned through experience.

I suspect that Trump's knowledge of Federal Government systems is tissue-thin. He has no idea of how it works. He knows even less about relationships between nations. He's like a newly-graduated intern in politics.

[SHRED]

28. Thanks for the great top post my friend

[Jacob Boehme]

23. You're doing a heck of a job Donnie! (Snark)

[MineralMan]

27. Yup. But he's the President, not a department head.

He's in way, way over his head this time.

[Blue Owl]

29. And it's outta tune and outta rhythm

Way out...

[MineralMan]

34. And tone-deaf. Trump will always be singing off-key

and out of rhythm with everyone else.

[liberal N proud]

30. Just as we all warned, Total Incompetence

Should have never been allowed near the office.

[MineralMan]

35. Yup. And yet, there he is in the White House.

An ugly picture.

[no_hypocrisy]

36. Trump likely has a low qualification requirement for the 600-odd posts to fill.

All they have to do is to sign Non-Disclosure Statements and they're in.

[MineralMan]

39. Yes. He's going to appoint people to those positions

who are recommended to him by others on his staff. Most will be incompetent to hold the various jobs. And, as usual, the career folks in each department will continue running things. Bureaucracy has its own inertia. Changing directions of bureaucracies is very, very difficult. Sometimes that's a bad thing. In a Trump administration, it will be a good thing, I believe.

[Peacetrain]

37. MM once again you have addressed the very core of the problem

Ignorance.. willful ignorance.. and the rest of us will pay the price..

[MineralMan]

40. Yes, there's going to be a price to pay,

and those without power or means will be the ones paying the price, as usual.

[luvMIdog]

42. so true

That's why when I hear that 'he's just like us the every day man' comment from his supporters I say " Only in that he has no idea what to do as the leader of a nation either"

[greatauntoftriplets]

43. Who's minding the store at FEMA?

Does Herr Drumpf even know what FEMA is?

[MineralMan]

45. Nobody yet.

I don't think he's even named anyone as his choice.

[greatauntoftriplets]

48. I haven't heard any names suggested either.

[MineralMan]

49. Well, those folks in Mississippi and Alabama

would probably like FEMA to show up about now, I think. Time's a'wasting.

[greatauntoftriplets]

56. I certainly would be if I lived down there.

[MountCleaners]

64. It's too expensive to send FEMA

And we're all about saving the taxpayers money now.

[Ligyron]

44. We're going to be constanly in court with these idiots to try and correct

their screw ups and prevent others.

Donate to ACLU and/or other worthy organizations if you can. This is going to be an expensive problem.

[MineralMan]

46. Absolutely. Donating to the ACLU is a great idea.

[LeftInTX]

51. I just donated to the ACLU for the first time in my life.

Never thought I would, but I'm scared for our country. I'm scared for our press. This isn't Nixon trying to suppress the Pentagon Papers. This is a nutjob trying to suppress any negative press. Pretty soon he'll try to ban SNL

[ElkeH]

50. Trump likes the title of President

He does not like the responsibility. I have always thought that if he were to win, he would likely leave many decisions to Pence and other senior members of his administration.

That really has me worried. Trump himself is horrible but many of these people are even more extreme and are calculating. An unpredictable idiot can be dangerous but a calculating extremist even more so. Mattis, Pence, Sessions..

[MineralMan]

52. But he doesn't even know what the President does.

Still, he doesn't know. He's kicking many cans down the road, even now. All of that should have been taken care of before he took the oath. He has hundreds of appointments to make, just to start. Mississippi and Alabama need FEMA now, but he hasn't named anyone to be in charge of FEMA yet.

He's an abject moron, I'm pretty sure.

[spanone]

53. K&R...

[Paladin]

54. Playing it by ear, with his head up his ass. Hope it hurts.

The sooner this train wreck is over, the better.

[randr]

58. The man has never had a real job in his life

One where he has to wake up and be responsible for anyone outside of himself.
The shit gets deeper.

[MineralMan]

60. That is true, pretty much.

Now, the entire nation depends on his decisions. A big cause for worry, and everyone should be paying close attention to what he does and what he proposes.

[lark]

61. He cares about one thing a lot -

himself and only himself. He is really looking forward to removing the Russian sanctions so he can sell overpriced mansions to Russian oligarchs like he did before. He's looking forward to reducing his personal taxes to nothing and he wants to see that wall. Can he make Mexico pay for it, no, that's one of his millions of lies. Not sure if he's looking forward to deporting Mexicans and starting a Muslim registry. I know he has no plan for the terrorists, other than keep doing what you are doing, and no plan for healthcare and will break all of his campaign promises not to touch Medicare or Social Security.

I'm just waiting for all the lawsuits to roll in, CREW is in the process of filing over the hotel in DC, the most obvious conflict due to the legal language permitting any payments to anyone in government or anyone who is related to anyone in government. That seems rather cut and dried but of course everything depends on the judge involved.

[MineralMan]

62. Well, it's very early days, yet.

Nothing much has happened so far. We'll see what he actually does on his first business day of work.

[bucolic_frolic]

63. It's good news actually

it could mean that things get mucked up on an operational level very quickly

and that will become more evident to more Americans faster than if we wait
for policy execution to foul everything up

[JI7]

67. Mike Pence knows what should be done

Is he just shut out unless trump asks or tells him what to do ?

While i do believe he is waiting for trump to be removed he is being irresponsible Himself just allowing this crap to go on.

[Eyeball_Kid]

69. Nice piece of writing.

[pansypoo53219]

70. tin ear.

[jimlup]

71. Yes

which means that we are in a very dangerous situation. I won't comment further other than to say we all remember ...