Hear me out. Please.

[Happyhippychick]

Like most (all!) of you, none of this has made sense.

How can someone who obviously has no principles or core belief system, develop a belief system that is a complete anathema to the American way.

Why would a man with a life that is full of control and bottomless wealth opt to be in a position where he is mired in bureaucracy and no choices?

Why would a new President purposefully place cabinet members in every single department that will ultimately lead to the destruction of that department? And ultimately the unbalancing of the entire American system?

How can a President lose the election by 3 million votes and still win the electoral college?

I have one answer: If your family businesses are financed by the Russians, if you are caught by the Russians in compromising/humiliating positions, if the Russians have threatened you or your family, then you will do what you have to in order to stay wealthy and alive.

The Russians will ultimately have the entire American system in shambles because the departments will dissolve, they have their puppet complete with nuclear codes ensconced in the White House.

This is is beyond scary.

[guillaumeb]

1. My take:

He was jealous of President Obama. A functional family, a clear grasp of the issues, intelligent, physically attractive, and most infuriating and important for a racist.........Obama is a black man.

Yes, a black man setting an example that Trump can never attain.

But the Government is run by Civil Service professionals, and they will outlast him.

[DK504]

11. Absolutely right.

You can see him seething with hate over one of the best presidents we've ever had.

As Charlie Pierce just said, our government is being run by the DMV. I have more respect for the DMV, I'd go with TSA.

[nikibatts]

18. Trump and most every other white man in Congress feels this way. Take it to the bank!!

[volstork]

24. I think you are 100% correct.

Just look at the Correspondents' Dinner where Obama made fun of trump for about 30 minutes (while the SEALs were taking out Bin Ladin). trump is seething at that dinner. I think that began the quest for revenge.

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. I guess now, we all get to pay for that humiliation.

[Kimchijeon]

38. Yeah, we all get to suffer the revenge of a narcissist out of control

Lucky us

[50 Shades Of Blue]

26. And Obama so effortlessly HUMILIATED Trump at that WH Correspondents dinner!

Obama ridiculed Trump's ego-stroking TV show for the embarrassingly silly, inconsequential crap it is, too!

[guillaumeb]

35. Not to sound Freudian, but was that humiliation the reason that Trump

ran for President?

So we can blame Obama?

Thanks, President Obama.

PS. I loved that clip when I saw it.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

36. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a contributing factor!

I still love that clip!

[lindysalsagal]

2. Chaos and internal imploding is always the russian goal, and so of course, that's happening.

When you know that russia owns DT's debt, all of this makes sense and nothing else ever will.

[Miigwech]

3. Scary, yes

Fight we must and that is what is happening in the streets ........... hope it will be like the 1960's with the end result, this time, being the end of conservative American BS, once and for all.

[vlyons]

4. You sound hopeless. Buck up

I don't believe for a minute that a Traitor Trump admin will dissolve all the departments and give control of this country over to Putin. Damage and set us back here and there, yes. But destroy, no. There are just too many patriotic Americans inside and outside the gov, who will resist Trump and defend our country.

I do think that a Trump admin might very well destroy today's Republican party. They must be sweating bullets over the damage and fallout from the Trump debacle. Have a little faith in your fellow Americans. This is a scarey time. But all of us have to stay calm and look this evil in the face with courage and determination that this constant chaos cannot stand. Once the 2018 campaigning begins in earnest and we start getting poll numbers, I think you'll find that the American people have really soured on the whole Republican party.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Yup. +1. We will Resist and Persist (which includes Survive). . . . nt

[nolabear]

13. +2. We might be damaged but I think the Russia thing is what will let the GOP dump him.

There will come a point where he's a liability. They might have to pump his supporters hard to make them turn on him but I'm betting they're up to it. They just haven't decided he can't be used yet.

But it's getting there. Russia is the old school monster no matter how much he uses the newer, more overtly scary monster, ISIS. People will put up with an unbelievable amount but I don't think enough to sacrifice us to the old monster.

It has been one motherfucker of a power play and dammit, Hillary was sacrificed. But I think it will inevitably fail.

And that keeps me going.

Unfortunately there's no good alternative. We're going to suffer under the GOP for a while and I am less certain we'll take things back in two years, though we damn well should.

And that keeps me going too.

[csziggy]

16. My best hope since Nove,ber 8, 2016 has been that this administration

Will result in the destruction of the Republican Party and the absolute poisoning of the Trump brand. I want everything to do with Trump detested so completely people would rather see his buildings torn down than to have to walk by them. That the family becomes so ashamed they change their names and that they become so destitute they all move to an Eastern European country to raise goats.

[volstork]

21. I remember in the mid-70s

Nixon was as reviled as hitler and Stalin. We can only hope for the same for trump. Only THIS time, there can be no pardons. Ford's pardons paved the way for cheney and rumsfeld to resurface in 2000, and we all know how that turned out...

[csziggy]

22. Yes - this time people at the top need to go to prison

The lower downs can get suspended sentences to be served if they ever get involved in politics in any form every again.

[Pluvious]

33. And don't forget the flurry of xmas eve pardons Bush Sr. did for...

...his own batch of criminals !

[vlyons]

28. Trump is but a symptom of immoral greed and hatred

I want Americans to have an epiphany about the evil & and damaging consequences of unbridled greed, hatred, and ignorance. In Buddhism, these are the three mental poisons that are the source of all our problems and difficulties. I want Americans to fix their moral compass and value the happiness and well being of people above the relentless acquisition on money at any cost. The corruption of unbridled greed pervades our body politic at all gov levels, and it's not just limited to one party. It seems to be an evil that pervades humanity periodically. It is a root cause in the downfall of nations and the rise of revolutions. When 1% of humanity owns and controls over 50% of the wealth and resources, then we are in big big trouble.

I am encouraged by the Progressive movement. But don't think for a minute that defeating Trump will make unbridled greed go away, because it is a human failing. A failing that each and every one of us must individually guard against.

[volstork]

17. Thank you for the much- needed

pep talk! My emotions have all over the place, so it good to hear a steadying word.

[Happyhippychick]

23. I'm not hopeless, I'm working day and night organizing meetings, making calls,

attending town halls and sending money. I'm filed with hope and renewal.

Putin/Trump are setting out to destroy this country. They won't do it but they are trying. They are trying to delegitimize the press. They are trying to delegitimize the FBI and CIA. Next step (you read it here) they will try to take over the military.

It's textbook. This is not hopelessness, this is what is being attempted.

[yeoman6987]

27. I just wish we had 100 percent chance at the senate. We may take the house though

[Kingofalldems]

34. This will take care of the Senate yeoman6987:

Link to tweet

Trump fans have to be dejected right now.

[MrScorpio]

5. Trump played himself off as a white savior through brand promotion, which is his only skill

Much of white America fell for it and voted for their savior in a white backlash.

The GOPrs have promoted themselves as the party of incompetence. Trump, being incompetent himself, became its poster child. They've played on the fears white Americans, weaponizing their anxieties, even while using the government against the general welfare. This is why so many whites have no faith in government at all.

When you combine the senses of entitlement of being rich and white male supremacy, something like competence becomes irrelevant. After all, rich and white is supposed to be the "Best of the best." A lie that we always tell ourselves.

Everything that's happening now is the result of this ideological mindset, one that we've always had in this country, but we were never collectively stupid and resentful enough before to let it take control.

I don't blame the Russians, this country clearly did it to itself.

[Quayblue]

9. Indeed.

[GliderGuider]

6. My answers:

How can someone who obviously has no principles or core belief system, develop a belief system that is a complete anathema to the American way.

He's profoundly mentally ill - a malignant narcissistic psychopath. In a very real sense he can't help being who he is, and he can't change it.

Why would a man with a life that is full of control and bottomless wealth opt to be in a position where he is mired in bureaucracy and no choices?

I think he either miscalculated or didn't understand the nature of the job. He just saw the power, and went for it. The fact that it came with responsibility, complexity and nuance that he can't comprehend probably shocked the shit out of him.

Why would a new President purposefully place cabinet members in every single department that will ultimately lead to the destruction of that department? And ultimately the unbalancing of the entire American system?

He is mentally ill, and is being guided by people who do not have the best interests of America at heart - specifically Bannon, Miller and the Heritage Foundation. He probably doesn't even realize what he's done, or if he does he can't care because of his mental illness.

How can a President lose the election by 3 million votes and still win the electoral college?

Because your Founding Fathers weren't as smart as they thought they were. Oh, and slavery. I know of no other democracy that has such a ridiculous form of elections.

Yes, this is utterly terrifying.

[erronis]

15. Echoing my thoughts. Thank you.

Repuglicans are basically conniving evil bastards (and a few bitches). But they're in the game for the win, not the patriotism.

Trump was a wannabe carnival barker who ended up with too much money and a caustic attitude that let him roll over others - steal, lie, abuse.

The founding fathers/mothers were no saints, and they could not have predicted this abomination. However, they would believe that the people could exorcise the cancer, eventually.

Good luck to us all.

[SticksnStones]

7. In a word, money

He was promised a bucket load.

That and he got really hooked on the adoring throngs chanting his name.

[Liberal In Red State]

10. FINALLY!!!!! Someone I agree with . . . tRump is deep in with the Russian Oligarchs. . . no

Western banks nor European banks would lend money to him . . . So how is he staying afloat financially?

[njhoneybadger]

12. BINGO!!!

[colorado_ufo]

14. Yep.

[Jim Beard]

19. Why am I not surprised that the Clown President pretended not to know about Flynn's Federal crimes.

Trump has been called a pathological liar by many, but most of the medica-psychiatric professionals who weighed in on his diagnosis recognize the symptoms more accurately as NPD - Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The patient is in his/her reality, and is really not aware that he (for convenience) contradicts himself in the face of written or video evidence. Dismayed foreign leaders politely refer to Trump as "unstable".

Not only is he ignorant of history, he has not the slightest idea how our government works.

Policy is set, executive orders are issues, and Cabinet secretaries are appointed by Trump's handlers, chief among which are the infamous Bannon, who is accurately depicted as the Grim Reaper on Saturday Night Live caricatures by Alec Baldwin.

That calls it better than all the punditry

[kairos12]

20. Russians aim to use Putin boot licker

Drumpt to make us vulnerable to a first strike attack. Bottom line.

[GeoWilliam750]

25. Also, Why is CNN the only major network asking the tough questions?

[BigBearJohn]

29. This has more truth to it than I care to admit. Scares me a lot

[Richard D]

30. Black Mirror

See Black Mirror, Episode "Shut Up and Dance"

Absolutely chilling piece on electronic blackmail and control of the victims.

[iluvtennis]

31. Your summation is very feasible. nt

[bdamomma]

37. I don't want humanity be taken out

by this non reality TV celebrity bully man, there I said it. Happyhippychick, very insightful post and true.