Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
This article is adapted from “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America,” which will be published on Jan. 21 by Penguin Press.
By Carol D. Leonnig & Philip Rucker @ WashingtonPost.com, Jan. 17
[....] Trump organized his unorthodox worldview under the simplistic banner of “America First,” but Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn feared his proposals were rash, barely considered, and a danger to America’s superpower standing. They also felt that many of Trump’s impulsive ideas stemmed from his lack of familiarity with U.S. history and, even, where countries were located. To have a useful discussion with him, the trio agreed, they had to create a basic knowledge, a shared language.
So on July 20, 2017, Mattis invited Trump to the Tank for what he, Tillerson, and Cohn had carefully organized as a tailored tutorial. What happened inside the Tank that day crystallized the commander in chief’s berating, derisive and dismissive manner, foreshadowing decisions such as the one earlier this month that brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. The Tank meeting was a turning point in Trump’s presidency. Rather than getting him to appreciate America’s traditional role and alliances, Trump began to tune out and eventually push away the experts who believed their duty was to protect the country by restraining his more dangerous impulses.
The episode has been documented numerous times, but subsequent reporting reveals a more complete picture of the moment and the chilling effect Trump’s comments and hostility had on the nation’s military and national security leadership [....]
Comments
by artappraiser on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 4:25pm
Tillerson comes across in the story as the main one with guts, honor and leadership ability.
A lot of past reporting made a point of how he was eviscerating the State Dept. And from that, one might have the impression that he didn't "get it". Here, we find he "got it," enough to stand up to Trump, not just put up with him.
by artappraiser on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 4:31pm
No, anyone of the people involved could have stood up and told the public the truth. The most they might have done was leak the stories to these reporters, anonymously. The people that need to hear it will call it liberal lies and fake news since there is no authoritative voice or evidence. Tillerson, Mattis, and everyone else in this administration will go down as cowards when the history is written.
by ocean-kat on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 4:56pm
Agree - none of these jerkoffs spoke out loud and clear. You'd think someone was willing to go down in flames, even though this is much less than *that* physical challenge. A country ruled by babies. Incredible.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 6:09pm
Has the truth, or absolutely anything Trump says or does, made any difference to his core base of support at around 45%? They'll only desert him when the next economic debt collapse arrives if he is still in office, otherwise they'll blame it on Dems and Pelosi.
by NCD on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 6:53pm
I am sure, 99% convinced now that the approval rating is this:
the same 33% of the country that are right wing kooks we've had for the last 40 yrs., they show up in every poll and every election for 40 years, as regular as rain, you can count that they are still there
+
10% who are thrilled with the employment rate and low inflation. What we have now has been very rare in our lifetimes, it's either been high unemployment or high inflation. They don't want to rock the boat, and they don't read the news, hence they approve.
Many of the 10% probably do mistakenly believe that it was"getting tough on immigration" and some also, on trade (i.e., Perot's giant sucking sound after NAFTA.) As both have been popular memes for decades with a significant part of our population that crosses party lines. And it's not something that's particular to our country either.
by artappraiser on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 10:00pm
538 has him flatlined at 42% fapprove or 2 years. It's scary.
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 2:42am
As far as the presidential election, I do think it definitely means swing states, swing voters and Independents are still very key.
Got me thinking how Rick Wilson is not just a witty jokester Never Trumper; in an earlier life he was successful GOP operative. Methinks there is probably a lot of good advice in his new book Running Against the Devil... about getting him out of office. He's often tweeted a reminder that it's about very few states.
At same time, I have to remind myself: even though out of office he's not going anywhere, him and the fans will still be there for quite some time, with more coverage because he'll like be on Fox News everyday or similar. No peace in our future, it's just the way it is. After he dies even, there'll be the Deep State murder plot line, along with Vince Foster and Jimmy Hoffa.By then Armaggedon will be included, as the coasts will be submerging and wildfires everywhere? Yessiree a jolly future outlook for the end of our lives, the Devil indeed.
by artappraiser on Sat, 01/18/2020 - 5:37am