What fantasy was that of which he spoke?

Esquire reports: President* Trump’s first State of the Union laid bare a government in delusion.

It was the most elaborate of charades, the most sophisticated of masquerades, that played itself out in the chamber of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night. The amount of pretense required to keep all sensible people—which is to say, any person who was not a Republican—in their chairs must have been heroic.

 

All involved had to pretend that Donald Trump makes sense as a president, that his administration makes sense as a government, and that his first State of the Union address made sense as either a description of national policy, or as a rhetorical summons to national unity. All involved had to pretend that his thoughts were coherent, that his words made sense, and that the complete and universal collapse of civic responsibility that propelled him onto the podium was not the most singularly destructive event in the history of American democracy since the Civil War. Everyone had to pretend that a freak show was Shakespeare, and that a rumbling, stumbling geek was Lincoln, and that the whole tableau unfolding before the Congress was somehow made noble despite the obvious fact that the whole event was an endless procession of lies and half-truths, and that the only truly remarkable thing about the speech was that it was such a perfectly round and complete crock of shit.

 

Continue reading …
I Watched a Ghoulish Masquerade in Washington

 


 

What fantasy was that of which he spoke
concerning all the greatness he has wrought
in only one short year…a cruel joke
or machinations Machiavelli taught?
Because he read the teleprompter well
and mostly stuck to script his lackey writ,
that means he’s acting presidential? Hell
will freeze to solid ice before he’s fit
to lead a nation born of great ideals.
Someday let’s hope he knows how losing feels.

Susan Eckenrode, 1/31/18

 

Drain the Swamp

drain the swamp
The Atlantic reports: “The president has made a mockery of a promise at the core of his campaign.”

Forget the Russia investigation. Even if no wrongdoing is proved on that matter, the Trump Administration’s behavior would still be epically swampy. A list of examples is clarifying:

 

Corey Lewandowski, who worked as Trump’s campaign manager, moved to Washington, D.C., and started a Beltway lobbying firm, where he accepted lots of money from special interests that were trying to influence Trump. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported, “Established K Street firms were grabbing any Trump people they could find: Jim Murphy, Trump’s former political director, joined the lobbying giant BakerHostetler, while another firm, Fidelis Government Relations, struck up a partnership with Bill Smith, Mike Pence’s former chief of staff. All told, close to 20 ex-aides of Trump, friends, and hangers-on had made their way into Washington’s influence business.”

 

Read the article:
Trump Has Filled, Not Drained, the Swamp

 

 


 

Ah! At last we see
What once was hidden;
you’ve replaced the swamp
with a moral midden.

2017 William John McQuade

 

Forty-five wreaks his wrath on his aides

The president’s appetite for chaos, coupled with his disregard for the self-protective conventions of the presidency, has left his staff confused and squabbling. And his own mood, according to two advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has become sour and dark, and he has turned against most of his aides — even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — describing them in a fury as “incompetent,” according to one of those advisers.

 

[…]

 

The stress was taking its toll. Late Monday, reporters could hear senior aides shouting from behind closed doors as they discussed how to respond after Washington Post reporters informed them of an article they were writing that first reported the news about the president’s divulging of intelligence.

 

[…]

 

There is a growing sense that Mr. Trump seems unwilling or unable to do the things necessary to keep himself out of trouble and that the presidency has done little to tame a shoot-from-the-hip-into-his-own-foot style that characterized his campaign.

 

At a Besieged White House, Tempers Flare and Confusion Swirls
The New York Times

 


 

Forty-five wreaks his wrath on his aides,
unrelenting, he tears through tirades,
while creating chaos
just to show he’s the boss
as he plots enigmatic charades.

Susan Eckenrode, 5/17/17

 

Now McMaster is skewing the facts.

In one fell swoop, Trump revealed his abject unfitness and exposed McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell — all who personally attempted to knock down the story — as dishonest hacks.

 

It is not unreasonable to ask whether McMaster, a lieutenant general who was previously seen as one of the few credible voices in the administration, can now serve the country and protect it from an unfit president only by resigning.

 

McMaster and Tillerson are complicit in Trump’s dishonesty, so must they resign?
Jennifer Rubin, Opinion, The Washington Post

 


Now McMaster is skewing the facts.
His duplicitous hornswoggling smacks
of trumpian gall
and he’s caught in the thrall
as his stellar integrity cracks.

Susan E. Eckenrode, 5/16/17

 

In the face of each ludicrous lie told


Morning Joe dropped a very revealing nugget on Monday’s show, with both Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski accusing White House Counsellor Kellyanne Conway of being a fraud.

 

Now, obviously, Conway’s regular use of “alternative facts” is nothing new, but Mika and Joe went even further, alleging that she secretly hates Trump and made it known to them after appearances on their show during the campaign.

 

Per Brzezinski:

 

“This is a woman, by the way, who came on our show during the campaign and would shill for Trump in extensive fashion and then she would get off the air, the camera would be turned off, the microphone would be taken off and she would say ‘bleeech I need to take a shower’ because she disliked her candidate so much.”

 

Scarborough backed it up 100%.

 

Kellyanne Conway Secretly Hates Donald Trump
Mediaite

 


 

In the face of each ludicrous lie told
when Kellyanne opens her pie hole,
those verbal contortions
of epic proportions
are worthy of Anderson’s eye roll.

Mary Boren, 5/16/17

 

Cover-up Stench

On May 9, Donald Trump became the second United States president to fire the director of the FBI. Naturally, Americans wanted to know: Why?

 

The exact answer remained elusive over the course of three days following the announcement. Trump and his White House gave numerous, contradictory explanations for James B. Comey’s firing.

 

As a public service, we compiled a timeline of the shifting rhetoric by Trump and his staff. We will update this list as necessary.

 

All of the White House’s conflicting explanations for Comey’s firing: A timeline
The Washington Post

 


Yes the firing of Comey’s a cinch
to elicit a cover-up stench,
while the POTUS and crew
twist the facts all askew
and deny they gave Putin an inch.

Susan E. Eckenrode, 5/11/17

Fervor

“It was a small illustration of how casually the president throws out questionable information that sounds good, even when he could easily — and truthfully — have made the same point about his crowd without hyperbole. (And as he accused the media of dishonesty).”

 

I tweeted a photo of the Trump rally crowd — and then things got crazy

 

At revival-like rallies he feeds
his insatiable ravenous needs
to suckle on praise
while he blathers and brays
to a base still consuming his screeds

Lily Beth Baker, 4/30/17

Trumped

His words left thoughts not unforeseen
Like muddy prints through mezzanine.
And who would clean the mess he made
Or who’d define that masquerade
As yin and yang caught inbetween?

Who would deny it’s not obscene
To leave behind what seems unclean
And yet we sense a renegade!
His words left thoughts.

He paved his way with a smokescreen
By acting like a Philistine —
He’d then profess to serenade
His followers with truths ‘he made’
That left the rest of us dismayed!
His words left thoughts.


© Joy A. Burki-Watson, 2015

Photo Credit

 

Green Cheese and Other Fantasies (3-link limerick chain)

“However, despite what Levin says, no source alleges Obama personally ordered phone wiretaps or any other form of surveillance. The closest some get is alluding to possible FBI requests for a warrant to monitor Trump associates amid their investigation into improper Russia-related activity.”

Did Donald Trump invent claim that Barack Obama tapped his phone?
Politifact


 

From the mouth of our nation’s buffoon,
who “reads about things” and real soon
he can show us for sure
(as he sifts through manure)
that Obama surveilled from the moon.

© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode

Yeah, Obama surveilled from the moon
while he munched on a cheese macaroon,
’twas that same shade of green
that is frequently seen
from trump’s perch on the penthouse in June.

© 2017 Lily Beth Baker

From his perch on the penthouse in June,
where those twitstorms are carelessly strewn,
may he cower in dread
as The Truth rears her head
and erupts in a raging typhoon.

© 2017 Mary Boren


 

Is their ending about to begin

“Trump has consistently denied business or political ties with Russia but has also been conspicuously reluctant to criticise Putin and raised the prospect of reviewing sanctions against the country. Opponents argue there is circumstantial evidence that Trump colluded with Moscow to help his campaign but definitive proof has remained elusive.”

Will Russia connection become the Trump administration’s Watergate?
The Guardian

 


Is their ending about to begin
with a hugely cacophonous din?
When it’s all said and done
will they just cut and run
or will truth trump their lies for a win?

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017