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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump is Liberated to Act on His Impulses
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2018/3/9/165725/7665Trump is Liberated to Act on His Impulses
by BooMan
Fri Mar 9th, 2018 at 04:57:25 PM EST
I am still undecided about how much weight to give Gabriel Shermans reporting. He relies so much on unnamed sources that I find myself doubting that all his quotes are real. On the other hand, he does seem to have a gift for cultivating sources in right-wing circles. Im not sure how he does it or why they talk to him, but they do.
If his reporting today is accurate, we have plenty to worry about.
With the departures of Hope Hicks and Gary Cohn, the Trump presidency is entering a new phaseone in which Trump is feeling liberated to act on his impulses. Trump is in command. Hes been in the job more than a year now. He knows how the levers of power work. He doesnt give a fuck, the Republican said. Trumps decision to circumvent the policy process and impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum reflects his emboldened desire to follow his impulses and defy his advisers. It was like a fuck-you to Kelly, a Trump friend said. Trump is red-hot about Kelly trying to control him.
According to five Republicans close to the White House, Trump has diagnosed the problem as having the wrong team around him and is looking to replace his senior staff in the coming weeks.
According to five Republicans close to the White House, Trump has diagnosed the problem as having the wrong team around him and is looking to replace his senior staff in the coming weeks.
Theres plenty of palace gossip and intrigue in Gabriels piece, but the basic gist of it is that Trump has become convinced that he needs to stop listening to moderating and controlling voices and get back to the rhetoric and policies he was advocating on the campaign. He expects, allegedly, that Jared Kushner will soon return to New York with Ivanka to follow later. He wants to replace his chief of staff John Kelly and his national security adviser H.R. McMaster. He already went rogue enough on tariffs to force Gary Cohn out. In combination, these departures should free Trump up to be Trump.
And thats a bad thing no matter where you stand. Say what you want about his record so far, it would be far worse if people had simply followed his instincts and directives. Wed already be in a full blown constitutional crisis if the White House lawyer Don McGahn hadnt refused to fire Robert Mueller or if Reince Priebus hadnt stopped Attorney General Jeff Sessions from resigning. Defense Secretary James Mattis simply ignored Trumps proclamation on transgendered troops. There are more than a dozen other examples of Trump making policy statements that were walked back or heavily modified to make them comply with the law or simple sanity.
The courts have also played an important role in saving Trump from himself, and theyll need to continue fulfilling that role because were entering a new phase where the president is going to find it much easier to convert the insane ideas that pop into his head into official policy.
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Trump is Liberated to Act on His Impulses (Original Post)
babylonsister
Mar 2018
OP
And now we're going spend tens of millions of dollars for a military parade no one but Trump wants.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
Mar 2018
#1
Ryan and McConnell are his enablers, they should be the focus not Benedict Donald
uponit7771
Mar 2018
#2
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,601 posts)1. And now we're going spend tens of millions of dollars for a military parade no one but Trump wants.
And if gets his way with having one this year (bigger than France's, natch), you can be sure he'll want an even bigger one next year--maybe deepening the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and mooring the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan in the middle of it -- if he's still in office, which will probably be the case.
uponit7771
(90,371 posts)2. Ryan and McConnell are his enablers, they should be the focus not Benedict Donald