I've lived in tinpot dictatorships

[Recursion]

I've lived in Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka. I've lived in places where the government draws up kill lists of journalists. I've lived in Modi's India. I've lived in places where the government uses mob violence to silence minority voices. I've lived in Berdimuhammedow's Turkmenistan. I've lived in places where a narcissistic despot drops 2:1 scale statues of himself everywhere.

And yet, I have still until today never seen a Head of State live-tweeting intimidation to a witness speaking against him as she testified. Even the tinpot dictators like to leave the fig leaf, you know? I've never in all my travels seen a Head of State who is this full of self-doubt.

I don't know. There are a lot of awful dictators out there, but nearly all of them "earned it". I don't mean there's any justification for what they did; I mean that they had to claw their way up a ladder to get where they were. Rajapaksa was a political infighter for 40 years who finally defeated all his rivals. Modi started out selling tea on a train and worked his way up to the leader of Hindu nationalism by defeating everyone who stood in his way. Donald Trump was handed a TV show and parlayed that into the Presidency. I think that's the difference.

Anyways: my point is he's not even being a competent dictator. Dictators don't threaten witnesses directly. They have people for that.

[dlk]

1. Trump knows he's going to be impeached and is going all out while he still can

We can forever thank the GOP for blighting our country with this toxic waste dump of a person.

[shanti]

7. Chump was the perfect storm

What's now going on wouldn't have happened had it been someone else elected. That's why they love him so.

[Demovictory9]

2. k&r

[Martin Eden]

3. "he's not even being a competent dictator"

Donnie Two-Scoops is, first and foremost, a sociopath with an enormous but fragile ego.

In a sane world the mental pathologies he puts on display would have been his downfall long before it got to this point.

[Recursion]

4. There it is

That's exactly right

[Rainbow Droid]

8. Yup, exactly right.

[bullwinkle428]

5. John Fugelsang has used the phrase "Dim Shady" ever since he took office -

the explanation being that the STUPID always outweighs the EVIL, so he continues to show himself as his own worst enemy.

[Mike 03]

6. Kick

Great insight. I hope this gets a lot of recs...

"He's not even being a competent dictator."

[Mr.Bill]

10. That's why I cringe when someone calls him a bully.

I wouldn't even raise him to that level.

[FakeNoose]

9. The lawyers should have taken his phone away

He's just incriminating himself before the entire nation now.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Trump is running the country exactly like he ran his businesses...

corruptly and incompetantly.

The real question is: How many of our institutions will still be reasonably operable once he's gone?

[Captain Zero]

12. She is STILL currently a government employee !!

And he is a superior threatening and harassing her. Openly. In public. In the media. He could not do this as CEO of any major corporation and get away with it! He would be dismissed by his board. Shee should sue his ass for this so it can be addressed when he is no longer President.

[panfluteman]

13. And I've Lived Through Massive Corruption in Post-Communist Era Romania

And it's not a pretty sight. But living through that experience has certainly made me more appreciative of what the Ukrainians are going through as they try to root our corruption and rebuild their nation along free and democratic lines.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. He no longer has any minders that can keep him fenced in.

I think now, all his staff are just as bad or worse than him and strongly suspect they write many of his Tweets, although he may sign off on them.

Regardless, it's nothing but a circus of criminals in our White House......

[kiri]

16. hundreds of staff will remain in the White House

If removed from office, all these hundreds of staff remain in the White House. Trained and experienced to do evil for the next Pres, Pence .

It will take a strong Democratic administration, and new laws, and years to undo and start anew on a clean slate.

[maddiemom]

17. The hundreds of "White House staff" members who remain there were not hired by Trump...

and I doubt if he even knows most of them, let alone trains them to do evil. I assume you mean lower level people in government. A lot was written about the confusion of those people when the Trump "team" took over with no idea of what was expected of them, causing mass confusion in many government offices

[catbyte]

15. Even I gave him too much credit. I knew it was going to be a clusterfuck of epic proportions

I underestimated his utter incompetence at even being a sleazy crook. This has been and continues to be a clusterfuck of Biblical proportions.

[LiberalLovinLug]

18. In some ways its better if Trump is so stupid as to threaten them himself

And not some thugs that he can deny he knows.

[crickets]

19. K&R for visibility

[jimlup]

20. Putin succeeded beyond his wildest dreams

that's all I can say about this these days because it is so kookie.

We have to win in 2020 or the ship of state is lost.