Forgive my skepticism, but...

[kentuck]

The Trump parade in the nation's capitol was not meant to bring the nation together. It was intended to help Mr Trump's political fortunes.

In my opinion, he had seen some internal polls that frightened his Party and the parade was a good place to begin the needed correction. They know that only about a third of the American people trust and support Donald Trump. He has alienated all others.

The Republican leadership understands that they will be severely damaged in the next election if Mr Trump does not get his approval numbers up. It is a necessity that he increase his number of supporters.

Also, he understands that Mr Mueller is set to testify before Congress in less than two weeks. This is paramount in his mind to all other issues. He believes in his power of persuasion and his style of PR, which is to repeat "no collusion, no obstruction" over and over until Mr Mueller's testimony. His aim is to destroy the messenger.

When the smoke clears, which may be after the next rain, little was accomplished with Mr Trump's parade on Independence Day. Hopefully, most of the smoke will have dissipated by the time Mr Mueller testifies on July 17th.

[watoos]

1. Someone is directing Trump's strategy behind the scenes,

Trump isn't stupid, but he is mentally ill. Trump is a con man but someone else is directing him.

I have wandered on to Dr. Steve Pieczernik's You Tube web site and he has been pushing the same strategies that Trump has been employing from before Trump was elected president. I have zero proof that Pieczernik is directing Trump but Dr. Steve is one smart cookie, he was a hostage negotiator among his many talents. He is also pals with InfoWars. Just a crazy thought of mine.

[kentuck]

2. Never heard of him?

[woodsprite]

4. I hadn't either, but he definitely has the knowledge

To control people and would know what tact to take with Trump. This, from IMDB:

“Dr. Steve Pieczenik was born in Cuba, raised in France and the United States. He is a critically acclaimed author of psycho-political novels and the co-creator of the best-selling "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" and "Tom Clancy's Net Force" series. He was also executive producer of the TV version of the novels. Most recently he was one of the excecutive producers the films Red Cockroaches (2003), and Memorias del desarrollo (2010)

He is a Harvard-educated psychiatrist with an M.D. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in International Relations from M.I.T. Dr. Pieczenik served four presidential administrations as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, International Crisis Manager, and Hostage Negotiator.”

[cannabis_flower]

8. I think from what I've seen

is that Steven Miller is behind a lot of Trump's policies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Miller_(political_advisor)

[MoonRiver]

12. Sorry, but anyone who thinks there were airports in 1775 is stupid, or senile.

Take your choice.

[vlyons]

3. Trump is stupid in many ways

For starters his mind is filled, crammed full, of dark delusions, of grandeur, of insecurities, petty grudges, lust for vengance, greed, sex lust, and completely ignorant of his effect on others. He is probably dyslexic, and woefully ignorant about and indifferent to history, and completely amoral.

He will not find new supporters. What he has now is all he will ever have. The rest of America is completely disgusted with him. That's why ReThugs are desparate to quash voting rights in any way possible. The worst thing that could happen to Trump, other than a complete Dem blow-out at the polls is for some viable Republican to primary him. Or even a RW independant.

[kentuck]

5. That might also be why they are so intent on getting the census question around the Supreme Court ?

[vlyons]

6. exactly!!!

and what would come next? your ID must indicate if you are a citizen? a special stamp or mark on your driver's license? Papers please?

They are neo-Fascists.

[NewJeffCT]

7. However, he is NOT stupid

in his ability to promote himself to his base and to America. He has a fantastic ability to drive the media narrative away from the scandals that happened yesterday, last week and last month.

And, while it may be temporary, any war with Iran will inflate his numbers because the media will give it nonstop coverage for its entirety. Bill Clinton conducting a 4 day bombing campaign in Iraq led to him getting a 10 point bump in the polls. Trump launching a few missiles into Syria gave him positive media coverage for a week and his numbers temporarily increased 4-5 points.

His campaign in 2015 and 2016 was one scandal after another and filled with chaos (multiple campaign managers), but Trump played the media like a violin. His hundreds of campaign-ending for anybody else scandals were weighed in the media and given equal (or lesser) weight than than the manufactured Clinton/DNC email scandal.

Yes, Russia was a big help to Trump, but Trump driving the media narrative most days had a lot to do with our media here.

[vlyons]

9. depends on how we define "stupid"

There's stupidity based on one's IQ. Rumor has it that in high school his IQ was 73.

As a Buddhist, stupidity to me means one's mind is filled with delusions, confusion, the negative emotions of greed and hatred, envy and false pride, and indifference to the suffering of others. Trump has an animal intelligence for survival. In Buddhism, the realm of animals is considered the realm of stupidity.

[malaise]

10. Well that mess last night sure won't help

He's the laughing stock of the world.
The American people begged for rain and got it and then he paraded his ignorance of history and is now the subject of absolute ridicule. Across the globe people were howling with laughter last night -what a fucking flop!!

[Fla Dem]

11. It was a freaking Trump rally paid fo by the every tax paying US citizen.