“What if there’s no there there?”

Much of the dialogue around him, the journalism and analysis, even the statements of his own surrogates, amounts to a desperate attempt to construct a Theory of Trump, to explain what he does and says through some story about his long-term goals and beliefs.

 

We badly want to understand Trump, to grasp him. It might give us some sense of control, or at least an ability to predict what he will do next.

 

But what if there’s nothing to understand? What if there’s no there there? What if our attempts to explain Trump have failed not because we haven’t hit on the right one, but because we are, theory-of-mind-wise, overinterpreting the text?

 

In short, what if Trump is exactly as he appears: a hopeless narcissist with the attention span of a fruit fly, unable to maintain consistent beliefs or commitments from moment to moment, acting on base instinct, entirely situationally, to bolster his terrifyingly fragile ego.

 

We’re not really prepared to deal with that.

 

We overanalyze Trump. He is what he appears to be.
David Roberts, Vox

 

We’ve seen results when one’s predictable
behavior stems from hardened arsonism,
but patterns yields to inexplicable
with diagnosed malignant narcissism.

Mary Boren, 5/13/17

 

Are there any Republicans working

Even conservatives are calling for the GOP to step up to the plate:

“On it went all week—one Trumpian argument after another falling apart. And yet Republican officeholders mostly stuck by their president. Some of them praised Trump. Others avoided comment. Still others focused exclusively — reflexively, predictably — on the (very real) inconsistency of Democrats.”

 

[…]

 

“We understand these arguments. We’ve made some of them. But there are times, when the stakes are high, that self-respecting officeholders need to lead, even if it’s politically risky, rather than circle the wagons.”

 

Where Are the Statesmen in the GOP?
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
quoting William Kristol

 


 

Are there any Republicans working
to curb the catastrophe lurking?
Is their own moral compass
subsumed in that trump ass
who’s bilking the country and smirking?

Mary Boren, 5/13/17

“Enormously Disappointing”

“Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates fired back Monday when Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) attempted to corner her over her opposition to President Trump’s immigration executive order. At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Cornyn informed Yates that he found it ‘enormously disappointing’ that she ‘somehow vetoed the decision of the Office of Legal Counsel with regard to the lawfulness of the president’s order’ just because she happened ‘to disagree with it as a policy matter.’

 

Yates refused to let Cornyn reduce the debate to just a ‘policy matter.'”

 

This GOP senator tried to shame Sally Yates for opposing Trump’s travel ban. She demolished him.
The Week

 


 

Defying the law he was sworn in
to serve, POTUS flipped off her warnin’.
Now bullying Sally
serves only to rally
contempt for the arrogant Cornyn.

Mary Boren, 5/8/17

 

The frat boys are throwing a party

“Never confuse motion for action, Republicans. And your “famous” victory may be Pyrrhic. Fortunately, this horrible health care legislation has a long way to go through the Senate before Donald Trump gets the chance to affix his EKG-like signature. As South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted yesterday, ‘A bill — finalized yesterday, has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and 3 hours final debate — should be viewed with caution.'”

 

America’s Health Is in the Hands of GOP Frat Boys

 


 

The frat boys are throwing a party
today in their cocky upstarty
afterglow of the game,
but in time’s Hall of Shame
they’ll go down as the height of foolhardy.

Mary Boren, 5/4/2017

 

Wake up, America!

“Covering the Trump administration is difficult because it requires disentangling three strands of its behavior: the normal, the incompetent, and the dangerous.
[…]
“How seriously you take these behaviors depends on how you assess the motivations behind them, generating a game that some have taken to calling ‘Stupid or nefarious?’ or ‘Veep or House of Cards?'”

 

Present at the Destruction?
Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs

 


 

Is looming deconstruction
à la Veep or House of Cards?
It matters not when ruction
shatters peace and scatters shards.

“Stupid or nefarious?”
Regardless how it’s tagged,
this liar’s game could bury us
before the body’s bagged.

Mary Boren, 4/29/17

 

The GOP plots without cease

“Democrats quickly jumped on the development, arguing that Republicans are willing to take away protections for the general public, but not themselves. ‘The best evidence yet that the new GOP repeal plan is a disaster for people’s health care is that the GOP exempted Members of Congress from living under it,’ said Leslie Dach, director of the Protect Our Care Campaign, one of the main groups fighting repeal.”

 

House GOP health bill changes exempt members of Congress
The Hill

 


 

The GOP plots without cease
to gut ACA piece by piece,
but provisions it shelves
won’t apply to themselves.
No, it’s only the public they’ll fleece.

© 2017 Mary Boren

Parody Clarity


Enjoy this stunning example of parody extraordinaire, and for more hilarity in the face of catastrophe, follow Bald Piano Guy on YouTube.

 

The Trump Administration Song
(video)

 


 

To the Bald Piano Guy

You’re a metrical musical maven
with a radiant noggin smooth-shaven.
Please don’t run out of rhyme
’cause there’s never a time
when the president Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Mary Boren, 4/23/17

 


 

Marching for Science

“‘Today we have a great many lawmakers — not just here but around the world — deliberately ignoring and actively suppressing science,’ one of the event’s speakers, TV host and scientist Bill Nye, told a rain-soaked crowd from a stage.

 

‘Their inclination is misguided and in no one’s best interest. Our lives are in every way improved by having clean water, reliable electricity and access to electronic global information.'”

 

March for Science: Protesters gather worldwide to support ‘evidence’
CNN

 


In a massive display of defiance,
defenders of atoms and ions
sent a message that’s clear
for the BLOTUS’s ear:
“We reject your rejection of science!”

© 2017 Mary Boren


 

The Dog Whistle Blows

“White supremacists, emboldened by the 2016 elections and the current political climate, are currently engaged in an unprecedented outreach effort to attract and recruit students on American college campuses. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has cataloged 104 incidents of white supremacist fliering on college campuses since the school year began in September 2016, with surge of activity since January 2017, when 63 of the total incidents (61 percent) occurred.”

 

White Supremacists Making Unprecedented Effort on U.S. College Campuses to Spread Their Message, Recruit
ADL

 


“Make America great, make her proud!
Join the openly bigoted crowd
in its sordid tradition.
Without inhibition,
step forward and hate right out loud.”

© 2017 Mary Boren

Dismissive of Holocaust Victims

“Answering a question about Russia’s potential complicity in the Syrian chemical attack last week, Spicer stretched for a Nazi Germany comparison.

 

‘You had someone who was as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,’ he said. ‘So you have to, if you are Russia, ask yourself is this a country that you and a regime that you want to align yourself with.’

 

Er, what? Hitler, of course, used lots and lots of chemical weapons — in the sense that he ordered the executions of millions of Jews in gas chambers during World War II.

 

Given that history, Spicer was asked later in the briefing to clarify his comments. In trying to do so, he made it worse.

 

[…]

 

Spicer’s Hitler comments virtually ensure another news cycle lost to an unforced error.”

 

Sean Spicer just forgot the 1st rule of politics: Never compare anything to Hitler
CNN


 

Dismissive of Holocaust victims,
the lapdog delivered his dictum
with one fatal flaw:
He forgot Godwin’s Law.
(Hey Trump, arncha sorry you picked him?)

© 2017 Mary Boren