The more desperate he gets, the more likely he is to do something spectacularly awful, or at least more spectacularly awful than what he's done already. That worries me.

by the military, thus ending his presidency almost immediately through impeachment and removal. I don't think any such order would be carried out on grounds of being illegal. Our military can refuse illegal orders.

meeting with Pelosi and the congressional delegation. All of them were studying their fingernails and looking down, frowning through Trump's diatribe and temper tantrum.

Now, I do not know for certain, but I suspect there are plans in place for a sudden irrational order from Trump of that kind. Trump has no idea of those plans, which were created in closed door meeting by the Chiefs of Staff of the military branches. Secretary Esper(anto) might not even be aware of them.

I don't know what the plans might be, but I am almost certain there are such plans.

about military contingency plans. It really is astonishing that the Orange Buffoon actually thought that handing the Kurds to Turkey after a phone call with its president would be a popular move. He is irrational, impulsive, and incompetent. I remember Watergate and the feeling in the country then. We are reaching that same place. He is fast approaching his point of no return. It could not be soon enough. Every day he is in the WH he remains a potential danger to our country and the world.

in our politics. Once you start with that our democracy is finished and we really are a banana republic.

Saw that quite clearly.

I think he is itching to start a nuclear war. He is too stupid to realize what this means.

Sure hope you are right.

I would feel better if the Defense Secretary wasn't a glorified lobbyist and probable Trump stooge. In a crisis I would hope any effort of his to cater to Trump would be bypassed.

They're conflicted between loyalty and knowledge of the truth. That conflict is a very serious one for career military leaders.

In the military, outbursts of the kind in which trumpie engaged, are usually cause for removal. High-level military people are, by nature, calm and reserved, sometimes to the point of entropy, but usually because the stakes are so high that being grounded is a necessity. I could tell from their posture that they were just disgusted with him. And not for the first time. Sadly, also, not the last time, either.

Still, people who rise to the highest levels in the military tend to be beyond politics. I hope

Should push come to shove. A man like McRaven doesn't write something like that lightly, or without real purpose.

I wish we had a President who could speak English.

I think there's a good chance the military is braced for such an order--and their response.

for such things.

Best guess is,Trump as well as Pence will be removed from Office one way or another.

What Trump does not want to admit is,the Speaker of the House is the most powerful Person in D.C.. All Spending for everything or anything has to pass her desk. And the Speaker early on said,we will give him a chance to learn his job. The other day she said,it is obvious he refuses to learn.

Nancy Pelosi is not just more experienced than Trump. She is vastly smarter than Trump. Trump hasn't a chance of disarming her.

Senator Fienstein and then Minority Leader Pelosi something too,we will have to watch and see if this President will learn how his Office should function. This was shortly after the Elections in 2016. The Facial expressions were that of doubt. And now that doubt has come home to roost.

Best guess is,the hastily organized trip to Jordan by a bipartisan delegation is a attempt to prevent the Mid East from exploding. Looking at the list of Travelers. No Gyn Jordon,or Mark Meadows,or other Tea Billy Members.

would just be dead weight on this trip. They are not very intelligent, so why let them tag along? Besides, as soon as the plane landed in DC, they would contact tRump to report what happened in the meetings.

Trump and Pence are going to be gone.

I have serious concerns about the delegation. It is the duty of the president to set foreign policy. Remember when a delegation of Tea Baggers and wing nuts went to the Middle East (perhaps Israel?) contrary to the wishes of President Obama. It seems to me that they also invited Crazy Yahoo to address the Congress.
Truly conflicted here.
Yes, SOMEONE needs to try to do the right thing - right now that's Speaker Pelosi and her delegation. God bless them.
Perhaps having a nut job in the White House can negate any protocol that should be in place.
And then again, it is time for SOMEONE to take a responsible leadership position for the best interests of our country - and Lord knows IQ45 ain't gonna' do it!
Why can't he be like Fred Sanford, have "the BIG ONE" - and save us all from the stress and strain of dealing with an obviously ill person running our country.

since noon. Understand he is on a holy terror on the Twit attacking every Dem and saying zip about those Rethugs on that trip.

He is so done,now Willard the Rat Romney is hinting in a Interview,that his White Horse Prophecy is now in play.

Well I doubt that Trump realizes that he's in a downward slide. In his delusional mind, he may still think that he's "winning".

He was totally unprepared for tripping over his own tie in public.

Trump is feeling something so totally new and alien to him that he’s just utterly confused. He doesn’t get it.

Sad...

something to happen and it would happen, and he's completely unused to any serious pushback.



Sucks to be you, Spanky.

I appreciate your post....but even in numbering this it implies any sense of order or direction. Nothing is connected. There is no plan. This is flippancy to an nth degree. His staff (which is at best at the C-League level at this point) can't know what he is doing because HE doesn't know what he's doing next. He takes wild conspiracies meant for keeping the already capture, buried minds dig in deeper and uses the only frame he knows - what does this mean to ME? How does it exult me? How does it beg for my involvement, decision, and VICTORY?

He's unstable. In the private world, he thinks he's still in, the Board would have called a vote years ago. The Cabinet is the Board in this situation but .... there is soooo much Russian money infused and entangling I can't see that they do anything.

There's no rhyme or reason to anything these scumbags do. The original goal was to cause chaos, and that's all they got. They're like the Joker in the Dark Knight. They're agents of chaos.

They:
a. Serve/owe/fear Putin
b. Are such a Clustertrump it makes a cyclone seem ruly
c. Both.

Thanks

but his survival instincts may make him agree to take on another chief of staff to rescue him. A competent one. If that's the case, his slide may be slowed short of the brink, temporarily until The Real The Donald cuts loose again.

But first, from WaPo: "Mick Mulvaney, there may soon be a spot for you under the bus"

It's a shame the backtracking on G7/Doral came so fast. It's so simply and blatantly corrupt -- and announced in the middle of the tragedy of unleashing ISIS and endorsing "cleaning up" of the Kurdish peoples! -- that only the mentally disordered could fail to understand. Like this.



Meanwhile, never to turn our back on the highly dangerous Republican leadership, of the 240 Republicans in congress when Trump was inaugurated, almost 40% are gone or going. That includes 2 of the 13 women who aren't already gone from the Republican house caucus. In TX it's being called the Texodus. WaPo: "No wonder Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says Texas is “ground zero” for Democrats’ attempts to strengthen their hold on the House."

This will have repercussions for generations.

The others? I read an article that characterized children by 3 levels of native resilience, "orchids" being fragile and vulnerable to permanent traumatic damage, I think dandelions (?) for children who can take a lot and bounce back, and roses those in the middle.

The little bones that were broken when his mother threw herself on him to protect him don't seem to have been bothering him too much when he was brought back to the hospital for Trump's photo op. This picture belongs in his psychiatric file.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know Iraq was in the Middle East, of course.

Don't gloat or even second guess. He has more lives than a litter of cats.

and Giuliani's involvement with Lev, Igor, and Dimitri Firtash.
Oh, and don't forget trying to get a visa for the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor, Victor Shokin.
Not to mention conspiring to get the Ukrainian ambassador recalled.
All of this as Trump's personal lawyer.

Gosh, I want to hope.

I just don’t dare.

But, I can do nothing else.

DU really hasn’t been an upbeat place lately lol.

I keep trying, though. I can't do anything else.

In my mind only Barr, Wray, and Pompeo stand any chance of being effective in their jobs, and we know Barr and Pompeo are Trump water buffalo. You can't run the federal executive bureaucracy the way you ran real estate developments and casinos with nit-picking lawyers and informants. It's just not possible.

So yes, agree with Mineral Man, it's a downhill toboggan with too much weight to even slow the descent. Grease the skids for the slolam crescendo!

is good. At some point chaos and destruction are inevitable, I think.

Maybe a nice new "Hillary's email" investigation? Anyone?

#5 will be as stupid and very likely more horrific than #1-#4. He just loves doubling down on the last blunder as a way of claiming it was actually "Smart".

It's almost like a version of Moore's Law for stupid policy moves. Every news cycle will be twice as dumb and appalling as the previous.

when things don't go his way. Regaining composure is just an act . Retaking or taking control is revenge motivation . If you wonder when Trump will hit bottom ,forget it, he punched a hole through the bottom a long time ago . Down hill calamity is endless fall. It will end as suddenly and unexpectedly as it began.

Trump is still the same monster he has always been. Totally devoid of reason and logic. Completely ignorant of humanity and the meaning of empathy. The man is a monster. Always has been and always will be. I contend that there is no "Acceleration"...

feels backed into a corner with no way out. Find himself a bunker and swallow something lethal. But I doubt that very much. It's just not his style.

If his "gut instinct" tells him that he's losing control over his ability to maintain power, I believe he will accelerate his president for life dream. He will declare martial law and call upon his armed militias to enforce it. And they will. Nationally they will target leaders. Locally they will target people they know are anti Trump. Some military and police might stand with the militias. Others will not.

No foreign help for us. They will view it as an internal problem but some might unofficially support one side or the other.

I know how dire and crazy this sounds and I hope I am wrong and give you all a chance to needle me about it when he is finally gone.

But he has already said more than once thst he wants to be president for life and that his term should be extended. He has already called the impeachment inquiry a coup and accused Pelosi and Schiff of treason and high crimes. In his mind that is justification for martial law if he can get enough backing to follow through. His gang might be disorganized but they have access to foreign help.

So is it all blustering talk or will he act on it as he feels control slipping away from him?

Not criticizing. I have found I need a 4-6 day break about once a month.

There is no mechanism to declare martial law in America because of our federal system. And there is no federal law enforcement arm to enforce it.

Even in my pretty red county in Florida if some Trump nuts decided to try a rampage the sheriff’s department would shoot or arrest them pronto.

There will be an election next year. Chances look good a Democrat will win it. But that is hardly certain. If he loses, Trump will rave and threaten. And it will be ignored by just about everyone.

Could there be some localized violence? Of course, this is America. But it will not change the outcome.

There is no mechanism to declare martial law in America because of our federal system. And there is no federal law enforcement arm to enforce it.

Without being president, he is broke and owes a lot of money to a lot of very evil people. He will also be under indictment on a number of federal and state charges, the latter of which Pence can't pardon him from.

I think suicide is more likely. It will eventually be his only option, other than prison.

that Trump's declaration for the withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Syria was was to deflect attention away
from all the news of the House Impeachment Inquiry, sacrificing the thousands of lives, men, women, and children.
The most shocking and heinous of al his callous acts as POTUS.

He'll actually shoot someone on 5th Avenue!

One sentence in your analysis is spot on. You said "he is very likely to execute some other venture shortly."

He very badly needs to change the current narratives criticizing his overnight decision to pull our troops out of Syria immediately and thereby giving a green light to Turkey to slaughter thousands of our ally, the Kurds.

China's defense minister, Wei Fenghe, said on Monday says resolving 'Taiwan question' is national priority ... by force if needed, a message President Xi Jinping reiterated at the start of this year. ... “No one and no force can ever stop China's full reunification.

I can visualize Trump sitting behind his desk (or maybe just using Twitter) and saying that he "had asked China to help us eliminate corruption, one of my priorities President Xi has done a magnificent job and furnished us with much valuable information. To return the favor I have told him that the US will not interfere in whatever steps he needs to take to reunify his country. I know that is one of his priorities.

Taiwan is currently occupied and ruled by a bunch of Losers who lost the civil war on the China mainland over the issue of communism in 1949. They all fled to the island of Taiwan to hide.

Communism was a bad word in the West for a long time but China under a communist rule has grown into the second strongest Power in the World with the second strongest economy (second to US). After President Xi reunifies it with China Taiwan will be able to enjoy the economic benefits that China now enjoys. By staying neutral and not defending Taiwan we will actually be helping Taiwan. They will thank us for that in the future."

** If he did that or something similar "impeachment" and "pulling our of Syria" would not be front page stories any longer.

I think the real "decline" is in the GOP which will provide him with all the cover he needs until the next election. Then we'll see.

It's a grave mistake to assume that this debacle of a presidency will end soon or well. And the sideways drift of our politics is hardly limited to Trump.

The level of work in front of us boggles the mind.

That doesn't move which indicates he's not losing any supporters.

I know a bunch here in midstate NY, 68 percent voted for him in my district. Just yesterday at the hardware store a group of magas were saying bring on the Ukraine investigation, it will expose Hillary these guys are in their own little world real events are not part of it.
I can not get over how many women still support him here in NY.

That's our challenge. Will we be up to it?

Of course it is. To get people previously uninvolved, I am not bothering with his base they are invested to a point of cult following.