Charles M. Blow: It Is So Much Worse Than I Thought

[babylonsister]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/opinion/trump-russia-michael-cohen-charity.html

It Is So Much Worse Than I Thought
How can a family that can’t run a charity run a country?
By Charles M. Blow
Opinion Columnist
Dec. 19, 2018


I will be going on book leave soon — today is my last column for a while because of the holiday schedule — to write what I believe to be the most important thing that I’ve ever written.

No, it’s not about Donald Trump, just in case you were wondering.

But since I have written almost exclusively about Trump for more than two years, please allow me this parting assessment: It is so much worse than I thought.

My original objections to Trump, the things that pushed me into the Resistance, were his immorality, dishonesty, fraudulence and grift.

I freely admit now that I was seeing only the pointy edge of an enormous machine. I had no idea how immoral Trump actually is.

snip//

I could not have predicted the overwhelming number of contacts that would have existed between people in Trump’s orbit and the Russians during the campaign, or the number of people who would take plea deals and ultimately be charged, indicted or convicted of lying about those contacts.

I couldn’t have predicted any of it, but here we are, and the president, his congressional backers and his citizen supporters are continuing to tell us that this doesn’t matter as much as we think, that this is a politically driven prosecution, that everyone does what Trump has done.

They are all wrong. This is huge, and the longer we pretend that it isn’t, the more damage we do to the health and stability of our own country.

While I am away, I will enjoy not having to follow the hourly insanities too closely, but every day I will worry about the republic in which we live. Trump has the capacity to damage or even destroy it. That’s not hyperbole. That’s an observation informed by a close reading of history.

[spanone]

1. I concur Mr. Blow.

[trev]

2. If we don't do something soon

our nation will collapse.

[babylonsister]

3. I have great faith in the House, starting in

January 2019. They will be doing lots of things!

[trev]

5. Actually, I do too.

I see November as a referendum on Republicans. I think there's hope.

But there's a lot of work to be done.

[Hekate]

4. "A republic, madam, if you can keep it": Ben Franklin, in response to a woman anxiously awaiting ...

...word outside Indepndence Hall, asking "what they had given us."

So here we are, all these years later -- waiting anxiously to see if we can keep this republic.

[RVN VET71]

19. Thanks to Mueller I feel almost like we will.

[Tipperary]

6. I love Charles Blow.

And he hits the nail on the head, as always.

[rufus dog]

7. Maybe I am just a negative MFer, but didn't we see this coming?

Anyone who did a bit of reading knew about the charity, his Russian influence, the only hard thing is trying to remember all of his transgressions.

When he was elected I said he would have more convictions in his admin than all other Presidents in the last 50 years time two!

I was shocked when I first saw Sarah Palin speak, fully thinking the Repub electorate would abandon the party. Then i slightly fell back and thought the Repubs would come around on tRump. By the time it was clear he would be the nominee, it became clear that Repubs will not take any off ramp, he could do and say anything and they would support him.

So you have to ask why? Why would "christians" support this guy? Why would all of these rural folks support him? Why would anyone who claims to support Democracy and the military support this guy? Law and order people? Please it isn't that hard

Occam's Razor folks, they are hate filled racists people. The talking heads keep trying to understand his support, why he can lie multiple times per day. It is a waste of oxygen. The answer is painfully simple.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a thread stating that anyone who is a Republican and still support tRump is a bad person. About 40% of the responses were saying that I was being too harsh. We need to figure this out quick because there are only a couple of options left.

He is a symptom, but the problem, the sickness is much bigger.

[mgardener]

10. I grew up on LI and have been reading about Trump for years.

He is a liar, thief, sociopath.

The republicans who allowed his candidacy are and are responsible for not stopping the growing horror that is this presidency.
Any person could have read about Trump and realized the kind of man he was. There were numerous articles about his moral failings and his deceitful business practices. For years.
It's not rocket science. And it was public knowledge.

[onlyadream]

16. I'm in Brookhaven

And despite knowing that trump was a grifter con, this town loves him.
And they re-elected the trump bootlicker Zelden. 😑

[RobinA]

31. Yep

And I'm from Philadelphia and paid not a lot of attention to Trump. It was always obvious who he is. For me it's not even the morality or its lack, it's the stupidity and the narcissism. Doesn't know, doesn't care. Once he ran for Pres. it was immediately obvious that he's a third grader with Mommy and Daddy issues. No one should be surprised. One thing you have to say about the guy, he never hides exactly who he is.

[bigbrother05]

35. When someone tells you who they are, believe them

Too many of the pundits on both sides of the aisle kept saying he was just pandering to the deplorables and would move to the middle.

They based this on his past and his support for Dems and socially liberal ideas. What they missed is that he supported who was in power and could help him and liberal morality suited his desire to "grab them by the p****". He has always be only for himself and his pocketbook, any benefit to others was entirely coincidental.

He would give away everything we hold precious in the USA if he could get in a decent round of golf.

[milestogo]

32. I live in the Midwest so he was barely on my radar.

But I still knew about his bankruptcies, his attitude towards women, and his monstrous ego. Add to that the birther bullshit, and I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would believe a word he says.

[Nasruddin]

11. Deplorable

I didn't think so at the time, but "deplorable" seems to be a kind thing to say about many Trump supporters.
She was trying to be diplomatic.

[rufus dog]

14. I was not a HRC fan, but when she said 50% were deplorable she was wrong

But it cemented my support of her. She was wrong because the correct estimate is 70%. The same % that thought Obama wasn't born in the US.

[LisaM]

39. HRC said a lot of things that proved to be true.

If possible, I'm a bigger fan of her now than even during the campaign because for almost every terrible thing that's happened, you can pretty much pull up a quote from her warning of that very thing.

[Pepsidog]

17. I'm sad to say you are absolutely correct.

[hibbing]

22. It is like the Democratic candidate did not warn us n/t

[Hamlette]

27. I haven't heard any of the "try to understand the supporters" talk in the last weeks

it's like we have all come to the conclusion that we don't care about his supporters anymore, he and his whole family are so dreadful and if his supporters can't see it, fuck them.

My favorite part of the column is:

"The same month that Trump pulled the outrageous stunt of inviting women who had accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior to his debate with Hillary Clinton, his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, apparently under his instructions, facilitated a $130,000 payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from telling America that she had a sexual encounter with Trump, who was married with a small child. This payment was a few months after Cohen had helped arrange a $150,000 deal between American Media Inc., the parent company of The National Enquirer, to buy the story of the Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed a sexual relationship with Trump."

It was a disgusting, deplorable stunt and anyone who could do that is too sick to be with polite society, let alone president.

[CrispyQ]

37. 35+ years of hate radio & now it's evil spawn Fox News have stoked the hatred.

And the MSM has never called it out until recently, & even then they are more concerned about getting ratings from any story than actually exposing or telling the truth. When Palin started her hate filled rhetoric, the MSM should have called her out, & the republican party, too. They should have shamed the GOP into taking her off the ticket, but they were happy for the ratings she created. Now, they have a hate filled fascist who speaks badly of the MSM & possibly even censoring them, & finally they are reporting on him.

In the end, however, it falls on the citizens. All the info about the Con's lack of character, his business failings, his treatment of women, his hiring of immigrants, his not paying his vendors, his suing anyone who spoke badly of him, it was out there for anyone with 15 minutes, an internet connection, & a desire to know the truth, not just what was spoon fed to them by the media.

The media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it. ~bumper sticker philosophy

[rufus dog]

38. Exactly

The MSM is the biggest enabler of the repukes. No excuse for their collective behavior.

[erpowers]

8. It Is Not That They Could Not Run a Charity

It is not that they could not run charity; it is that they chose to use the charity as a family slush fund. Either way they should not be running the country, but we need to understand that this was not an accident.

[JohnZSmith]

20. -

"It is not that they could not run charity; it is that they chose to use the charity as a family slush fund."

It's a matter of semantics. It's accurate to say they could not run a charity in the same sense that Dracula could not run a blood bank, or an extreme pedophile could not run an orphanage. That is, they're morally incapable of running it honestly and not abusing it.

In fact, because of their complete moral bankruptcy, they would never even come up with the idea of running a charity without first coming up with the idea to illegally profit from something. The concept sprang from their arrogance and greed, not from any altruism. If the world's most notorious alcoholic suddenly decided to work as your bartender, it would be more than appropriate to question his motives.

The Trumps spent generations money grabbing and cheating, not earning a reputation for charity or compassion.

[rurallib]

9. "While I am away, I will enjoy not having to follow the hourly insanities too closely"

Good luck on trying to avert your eyes from the ongoing train wrecks that is the current admin.

[Wawannabe]

26. Right?

One’s head would have to be deeper in the sand than tRump’s!

Train wreck indeed! Hehe

[Honeycombe8]

12. Good article. He puts into words so well what my thoughts are.

This is huge. The worst we thought but we didn't have proof of, is turning out to be true. Yet his supporters continue to behave as if all this is a personal persecution not based on facts and those who listen, are crazy hate-filled partisans. Still, we look at the facts we know of, and those that are strongly implied, and we know it's true. We wait for them to acknowledge their mistake, to acknowledge we're not insane, that the sky is blue and the grass IS green and not purple, as Trump says.

Every now and then I think...how did this happen? In this country. In my lifetime. The damage he's done so far has been more than I want to think about. The National Parks are being drilled in, for gosh sakes. Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are being tear gassed. Hate throughout the nation has been unleashed, as journalists and "foreigners" and protesters and students are being murdered.

My mind can't consider that Mueller won't be allowed to finish the job. A lot is riding on the Democrats in the House and on our Judicial system.

[dalton99a]

13. Never forget that Republicans begged him to be the GOP candidate

when he lied and said he would win as an independent

Link to tweet

[gratuitous]

15. First Iron Rule of Trumpworld

It's always worse then what you first hear.

You never hear some preliminary report about the latest Trump bullshit and later say, "Oh, that wasn't as bad as I first heard." No, the full story is ALWAYS worse.

[House of Roberts]

21. That's what they always say about oil spills.

No matter what they're admitting, it's always worse, usually much worse.

Trump is the equivalent of a bad oil spill, on one of his better days.

[UpInArms]

18. I worked in commercial real estate in the 80s

tRump was a joke to all of us ... everything he touched turned to shit

[PatrickforO]

23. Bottomless Pinocchio - a purveyor of the big lie.

Why am I shaking my head?

Maybe pity for the people of this country, and of the world, who deserve so much better than a bottomless Pinocchio.

When will we grow up?

[House of Roberts]

24. If 'everyone' has done what Trump has done,

then once Mueller has him convicted and in jail, start looking at the rest of them too. You have to start somewhere.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

25. So, what will he be writing about that he feels

is the most important thing he has ever done ? Does anyone know ?

His writings are inspired. A new book will be eagerly awaited. But what will it cover ?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

28. seems a bit late to the party

There have been quite a few of us warning of the destructive capability of GOP with Trump for quite a long time. When the people who lived through 1930s Germany started speaking out about the similarities with present-day U.S., it was high time to be scared for the survival of the nation.

The blue tsunami gave us hope and a chance, but not victory. We have children in cages, our military used as political props and even possibly being shuffled around by orders from a foreign power, policies that divide and isolate nations long allies, and a party that is willing to defy democracy to retain power.

None of the outrageousness will be written in future history books if they are written by Emperor Putin's descendants.

[Achilleaze]

29. The republicans have taken a massive, stinking dump on America

and are without honor or loyalty to America in her time of greatest need.

[Botany]

30. +1

Charles Blow NY Times The most important thing that I’ve ever written. How can a family that can’t run a charity run a country?

[calimary]

33. Well, look at it this way - he'll be on a book tour.

He’ll be interviewed all over the place. He’ll have a platform to make this larger point. Many interviewers will likely take this bait and ask him about it. “Your final column made quite a statement. What did you mean by that?”

For people who don’t bother reading but do watch a lot of TV, that’ll be a good thing. They might actually get exposed to some wisdom, even if only briefly. Hope he makes some noise!

[CaptYossarian]

34. The number of associates/contacts that have been indicted or forced to resign--in just two years...

are approaching the same as the Nixon (6 years) and Reagan (8 years) administrations. Those are tied only because of the pardon to Caspar Weinberger.

Remember: He only hires the best people.

[CrispyQ]

36. It can't happen here.

Too many believe that it can't happen here, even as it's happening before our eyes. My non-political friends do not want to see the direness of our situation & believe that winning the House is going to turn it all around. My political friends are alarmed & have been since he won the nomination. We might breathe a little easier once we seat the House on Jan 3, but that is no guarantee of anything. His numbers hold steady at around 40%.

Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow
Babies in cages were no ‘mistake’ by Trump but test-marketing for barbarism
Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 05:00

Fintan O'Toole

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375

One of the basic tools of fascism is the rigging of elections – we’ve seen that trialled in the election of Trump, in the Brexit referendum and (less successfully) in the French presidential elections. Another is the generation of tribal identities, the division of society into mutually exclusive polarities. Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about 40 per cent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your 40 per cent is fanatically committed. That’s been tested out too. And fascism of course needs a propaganda machine so effective that it creates for its followers a universe of “alternative facts” impervious to unwanted realities. Again, the testing for this is very far advanced.

More at link.

[lunatica]

40. The people who support him still are just like him in character

They would be him if they were rich.

I’ve known quite a few of them, though I didn’t realize just how low they would go. They are just as greedy, just as willing to con and bilk and abuse others as he is. They prefer to lie and manipulate and use others because they are also sociopaths. It’s an equal opportunity birth defect.

And they love to hide behind their apparent Christianity, which, if it even exists, extends no further than their immediate family.

And to top it all off, they are proud of being that way.

[niyad]

41. as dark as my own view of the sexual predator in chief was, he has gone far beyond anything I

imagined in my most despondent thoughts.

[PatSeg]

42. I felt that Trump was a disaster

when he was elected president. I feared the worst and he has exceeded every dire expectation I had. He is in a strange way an over-achiever. I feel there is no bottom for this man. If he's going down, he'll take the entire world with him, if its possible.

[Demovictory9]

43. Kick