The ultimate disrupter
Mark Leibovich at the Times talked to some press secretaries for the Golden Hitler.
“What’s true on Monday in terms of a process decision may change by Friday,” Sanders said. “And I can’t always know that things will be different.” It often does not take that long for a “process” to evolve, I said. Sometimes a 5 a.m. tweet generated from the White House residence amounts to a “process” in Trump’s presidency. Or an old friend of Trump’s who just joined his legal team might go to dinner and jump on Fox News for a few minutes, and then the “process” jumps again. Like many of her White House colleagues, Sanders is quick to suggest that some of the criticism the Trump White House has received is a product of a biased press.
Except that that’s less true of Trump than it is of other Republican presidents. There are many Republicans who detest his lies and bullying (the two are closely linked – lying is a kind of bullying, especially in someone as powerful as he is).
“It certainly bothers me,” she said of the “liar” rap. “Because one of the few things you have are your integrity and reputation.” She added that “there’s a difference between misspeaking or not knowing something
than[and] maliciously lying.”
Integrity and reputation can’t survive working for Trump. It’s not humanly possible.
No one would argue that a person’s integrity isn’t of paramount importance, I said. But I asked Sanders if there is a danger in linking your integrity to a president who might not always be known for accuracy. There have been many instances where the president has not told the truth, I said.
“But you’re asking about me,” Sanders said, not challenging the premise.
True, I said, but she has to speak for him. I asked the question another way: “Is it possible to be factual if you’re speaking for someone who is trying to make a point that is not factual?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Sanders said. “I’m not following totally.” But it was important for me to remember this: Donald Trump is president. “And I think one of the biggest reasons Donald Trump is president is because he is not scripted, not following your conventional playbook.” He is “the ultimate disrupter,” and people find his plain-spoken style “refreshing.” They like that he is unfiltered, she said, like that he “tells it like it is.”
Whoooosh, there goes her integrity and reputation, never to be seen again.
Yes, Trump is not “scripted,” not “following your conventional playbook” – that has rules about things like telling the truth and not using high office to enrich yourself. One could say that about anyone – murderers, rapists, Mafia bosses, genociders. Ultimate disruption is not always desirable, and a “refreshing” plain-spoken style that calls people animals and brags about grabbing women by the pussy is not a good thing, especially in a president.
Does SHS think she still has integrity or reputation? She lies for him every day. Trump may be able to convince himself 2 and 2 are NO COLLUSION and another dozen patent falsehoods before breakfast, but we know better. I wouldn’t want to assume that Sanders has the same ability to fool herself, but if she doesn’t, she has to know that the stuff she’s pushing day in and day out are not only false but known to be false by the whole press pool and most of us out here too.
The worst thing about this whole mess is that, if the Republic does somehow limp through and Trump manages to get re-elected without going full-on fascist and sunsets without too much fuss when it’s over, is that the presidency will forever then be seen as an insulating force to one’s criminality and indeed one’s reputation. Just listen to the milquetoast way the author says ‘…a president who might not always be known for accuracy’.
Such an obvious Bowdlerisation of what everyone knows to be true is disgusting. Everyone who matters is pretending that the prestige of the office is paramount, and in so doing they are shitting on all of the work done by all of Trump’s predecessors in building that prestige and earning that respect so that the worst person in the world can skate by on his venal criminality. And when he’s gone, without having had to answer for any of his crimes, with a party eager to ‘put it behind them’ and a country too weary to right itself, nobody will ever be able to trust or respect the President of the United States ever again.
Bush did immeasurable harm to the office, and to the country. Obama was such a stark contrast that his very presence allowed the world to forget, to write Bush off as a temporary madness, and to more-or-less pretend the whole sordid administration simply had not happened. Now that the office has been opened to naked hucksters and ravening criminals (as long as they are Republicans, anyway), the US will never be able to recoup that reputation. It’s gone, and it simply is not coming back.
Good luck. You’ll need it.
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