Coming up to a year of enduring the tangerine tyrant aka Orange Blotus, I think it’s time I write about him (also as this blog is meant to have some political stuff in it). Though, I’m not sure what I can say that hasn’t been said already.

In brief, he’s an ultra narcissistic, racist, childish, dimwitted demagogue, snake oil salesman.

I always had a sinking suspicion that he’d win the election. Michael Moore wrote a very good piece outlining five reasons why Trump would win. Trump undermined democracy prior to the election, saying that the election was rigged, and he was right. It was rigged to let him win. The abomination of the electoral college trumped the popular vote. How would supporters of Trump feel, if it went the other way? Hillary was unfortunately a weak candidate, the ongoing email scandal didn’t help, calling potential voters deplorables didn’t either. A major factor was turnout. Bernie Sanders fanatics voted in an absolute fashion. If it’s not Bernie we won’t vote for them. Bernie or Bust. Well, look what you’ve done now. You’ve got someone who’s a million times worse than Hillary would have ever been. I’ve seen figures that it came down to 70,000 votes in three or four states and it would have gone the other way.

Character

Trump lies. A reductive argument would be so does every other politician. But do they lie to the extent and as often that Trump does? Probably not. And it’s obvious when he’s lying. Whether he’s lying about the size of his penis   inauguration crowd or knowing that Flynn lied to the FBI, berating a war widow, whenever he opens his mouth he’ll spit out lies.  How can you take anything he says at face value? He lies even on the most pettiest things, it’s ridiculous. He has accused several people and organisations of spreading fake news, except himself. How ironic.

People often paint Trump as not only a business genius, but an outright one. They say he’s playing “four dimensional chess” – i.e. complicated mind games with the media. Well, I put it to you, he’s doing no such thing and this simulacrum is because the media doesn’t know how to react, to his utter stupidity and barrages of daily denigration. “Trump must have done this for a reason!” They think, trying to keep sane and a shred of dignity. Being belittled by a genius doing it for a higher purpose, is more bearable than having it done by a stupid buffoon. Trump has incriminated/compromised himself multiple times and then lied to get out of it. Stop believing a serial liar. He’s making it up as he goes a long. Take a look at this American embassy moving to Jerusalem debacle. Trump believed he was merely fulfilling his campaign promise to be pro-Israel. He did not understand the ramifications and potential war that he has unleashed. Now Washington is trying desperately to reduce the fallout and wondering why Mahmoud Abbas won’t meet Mike Pence. Improvising worked well for him during the campaign, but it’s not working as well during his presidency.

It is wrong to say that Trump inherited most of his money.  His current self worth, is roughly ~$4bn but he inherited only $200m (that’s according to Marco Rubio, the true figure is not known. Trump says it was a $1m loan others say at least $40m), so he should be commended right? Wrong. Trump would have been richer if he invested in index funds. He has done worse than the stock market, which tends to raise in value over time. He has done worse than other billionaires from the same era. Take a look at Bill Gate’s returns. How did Trump make his fortune? By squeezing his suppliers, underpaying his workers and being a deadbeat. So much so, that the American banks wouldn’t lend to him and he had to go to Europe. Does this sound like the business acumen of a shrewd businessman? No. It’s the behaviour of a loan shark or gangster.

Trump is a very stupid person, with the attention span and behaviour of an unruly toddler. So much so, that he doesn’t do any fact checking and believes without prejudice any old horseshit shoved in front of his fat, wrinkly, orange face. Take a look where he retweeted videos from Britain First, a far right neo Nazi group from the UK, which were later debunked. He can be swayed easily from one view point to another, he likes to flip flop a lot. He can’t be bothered to sit through daily security briefings and so has them summarised and delivered weekly instead. Recently, it was announced that he banned the CDC from using a bunch of words like “Science-based” or “Evidence-based” probably because they’re antithetical to his agenda built on heresay, conjecture, prejudice namely believing things without basis. An attack on free speech nonetheless.

Undeniably Trump is a racist. During the campaign he initially refused to disavow an endorsement from the KKK. We saw how he wanted a Muslim ban, called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists. However, it all came to a head when in August of this year in Charlottesville, where there were clashes between neo Nazis and counter protestors. Trump put out a statement saying there was “violence on both sides”. So which one of the anti-fascist protestors committed vehicular homicide? Would he describe World War II as having “violence on both sides”? He also went on to say some of the neo Nazis were very nice people. Lets move on to the take a knee protests. Here we have some ethnic minority sportsmen protesting against police violence, exercising their constitutional rights. How dare they disrespect the flag?! You know that piece of cloth, people died to protect it no? No. They died for their country to protect rights, like having freedom of expression, you clown.  There’s something quite quaint about a bunch of old white racists watching a bunch of young black men prancing around a football field.

Trump never disavowed Roy Moore. A backwards homophobic, racist, child molester straight from the 16th century. In fact, he backed Moore after he beat Luther Strange in the primary. Then Trump later said he was right to back Strange in the first place. Trump can’t ever be seen to lose. Moreover Trump lies to cover up his insecurity.

People with college degrees were less likely to vote for Trump, because he’s a stupid person’s idea of a smart person. How many professors do you know who go around declaring their intelligence? It’s only someone who is insecure about their intellect who would do so. The American electorate believed his lies. He was going to defeat ISIS in 30 days, he was going to bring peace to the middle east. The con-artist strikes again. In fact, as alluded to above, he’s made the middle east conflict worse (3 days of rage) – his actions have drawn universal global condemnation. He also challenged Rex Tillerson to an IQ test which never materialized either.

Climate change

It’s one of the greatest threats facing mankind but not according to Trump, who said it was a hoax made up by the Chinese. Of course, Trump doesn’t look at the science. He wants to pander to his base and save those precious coal mining jobs. He doesn’t realise that, although climate change represents a big impending crisis it also represents an opportunity to create jobs. Of course, he’s too dumb to think that. Luckily, some of the American states are voluntarily following the Paris accord. In all honesty, even the Paris accord doesn’t seem to be going far enough and it isn’t even enforceable yet. Countries are polluting at levels that would be forbidden, after the agreement comes into effect.

Spite of Obama

We all laughed when Obongo  Obama roasted Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump sat there quietly being mocked, plotting revenge it would seem. It feels like Trump or the Republicans in general, are reversing Obama era policies, regardless of merit, to spite him and the democrats. Take a look at the Affordable Care Act, yes it may have its problems but more citizens have healthcare now than ever before. So the GOP wants to repeal and replace it. They’ve had about 6 years to think of a good alternative but they have none. All they want is to repeal it and worry about the implications later. Too bad John McCain voted with his conscience this time huh? Other examples include lifting pollution restrictions, ending DACA and shrinking monuments in Utah so that a uranium company can mine there.

Russia

It’s unfortunate that Trump will saddle up with anyone who flatters his ego. This is essentially what happened when Putin said Trump was “colourful” during the campaign. Trump saw an ally across the Atlantic and colluded with embraced him fully, regardless of morals or him being the head of state, of a foreign adversary. Trump is adamant that there was no collusion with Russia. My understanding is, he asked Flynn to meet with Russian officials prior to inauguration and during the campaign. Trump invited Russia’s foreign minister into the oval office without any advisors and only let the Russian press take a photo. He also had an hour long meeting with Putin without any aides or advisors, which is quite worrying. Though given the calibre of his advisors, this may be a good thing…

A thread by Seth Abramson sets out the collusion with Russia in black and white here. More on Seth below.

The video below is also a useful summary:

Incrimination

He’s incriminated himself numerous times. Like when he fired Comey over the “Russia thing” then blamed it on Hillary’s emails. I hear Mike Pence is now using a private email server, why aren’t his bunch of retards ardent supporters shouting “Lock him up!” at Pence? As does Jared Kushner. The hypocrisy is palpable. He recently tweeted that he knew Flynn lied to the FBI then when it was pointed out to him, that it looked incriminating, he asked his lawyer to take the rap. Trump literally faced the camera during the campaign and asked the Russians to hack Hillary. How more obvious can you get than that of evidence of collusion?

Trump the dictator

He’s becoming more like a dictator each day. He wants to be worshipped like a king with a personality cult around him. He wants to reduce free speech by taking away licences from broadcasters who are critical of him. He has filled government posts with family and friends with few if any qualifications that make them suitable for the roles they have taken on. In fact, many roles are still unfilled. What qualifies Jared Kushner to brokering peace in Israeli–Palestinian conflict, making deals with foreign countries, improving governmental efforts with regard to Veterans Affairs, information-technology contracting, and the opioid crisis, other than being related to Trump? It’s a wonder how this man has time to sleep he must be so busy.

Trump is enriching himself at the expense of the state. He hosts important meetings with heads of state at his Mar-a-Lago resort to lure other people over there. He also complained about Obama golfing too much and it wouldn’t surprise me, if Trump has now in his first year golfed more than Obama has in his entire presidency. In fact, he’s golfed more in his first hundred days, than some professional golfers have in  a year.

Fox news appears to have become state run media, affirming Trump’s own views and only showing him things that he would want to hear. Fox news should change their slogan to “Trumpvision” from “Most Watched, Most Trusted“. Fair and balanced my ass. They wouldn’t even show Flake’s speech decrying Trump.

Trump has extremely thin skin and no criticism is allowed no matter how legitimate. Characteristically he’ll go on the attack, to deflect whatever stupid thing he’s said or done. This is perhaps one of his biggest weakness, that anyone who wants to work with him (no matter how repugnant) only needs to flatter his ego and they’ll make an ally.

There is a theory that the Trump from the past, was sensitive, empathetic and intelligent. Sadly he became radicalised in his senile years by Fox News. Take a look at this humorous but telling video below:

Whether or not I believe this theory is another matter.

Where do we go from here?

To a certain extent, you get used to the outrage. Oh Trump said another bat-shit crazy stupid thing again. But we shouldn’t let our guard down and let him get away with it.

Now, this post probably makes you feel quite despondent. There is some optimism for the future. Take a look at the elections in Virginia earlier this year. There were big victories for democrats, including a transgender person which is quite surprising given Virginia’s supposed conservative nature. Trump’s approval rating is hovering around 37%. If the democrats make a big gains in the 2018 mid-terms then it would send a strong message to the GOP to dump this guy. Publicly, only two senators have spoken out against him (Flake, Corker). Privately, I’d wager that number is much higher.

The Republican party seems to be in a symbiotic relationship with the parasitic Trump. Trump needs the GOP to support him otherwise he’ll be without a job. The GOP need him to push their agenda, as long as he’s not failing too much they’ll let him cling their anus like the stubborn shit globule he is. There is realistic prospect of impeachment, whether or not it is successful is another matter. The Dems would have to take the Senate for a chance. Perhaps the mere launching of the proceedings would be enough to reduce his approval ratings, so that the GOP would ditch him. Who knows, time will tell.

Another beacon of hope is Omarosa Manigault Newman was fired earlier this month. She has been described as the most despised woman in the Trump administration as she is the one who riles him up in the mornings. Relaying fake and misleading information to Trump in the mornings. Why is someone who has been fired from The Apprentice three times, valuable enough to employ at the west wing? The fact that Roy Moore failed to win the Alabama special election was also good news. Though the margin of victory was also worrying (1.5%). In sum, nearly half of the electorate voted for an alleged child molester, the evidence is quite convincing. I hope action is still brought against him.

Then there’s the Mueller Russia probe, which could ultimately lead to impeachment. Fair warning, don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Impeachment is a long and winding road. There’s doubts that Mueller will even be allowed to finish the probe and Trump is itching to fire him, incriminating himself once again. This may go as well for him as it did for Nixon.

It is a race against time, for the world to be rid of Trump before he does lasting irreversible harm to the world. I hope it is not longer than 3 years, an optimistic legal expert Seth Abramson puts it at 1 year from now until impeachment. Only time will tell. In the end, it will come down to democrat turnout and the number of votes, whether we’re talking about the 2018 midterms or the general election.

I would provide sources to everything written here but if you’re the kind of person who supports Trump outright, there’s no convincing you right? Sources to specific claims available on request.

ADDENDUM: I was naive enough to take Seth Abramson at face value. He has misrepresented himself as a law professor, when in fact he’s no longer a member of the BAR but an English academic. He whips up these conspiracy theories on twitter in the hope that you buy merch off his website to give him some extra income. He’s like the left wing Louise Mensch or like Alex Jones, but less bat-shit crazy and on the other end of the political spectrum. It’s funny because it was December last year that he claimed with certainty, that Mueller was going to be fired and to prepare mass protests. It was then I knew he was full of shit.