Trump on the World Stage and Can't Handle It: Like a Hotseat and in Over his Head

A terrific example for Donald J. Trump to follow - but he won't

WASHINGTON (whole complete article here from the LA TIMES) – highlighted below to fit the blog – an excellent piece – a real keeper:

1.  Sen. John McCain's decision to exclude President Donald Trump from his funeral is an extraordinary moment, McCain has always regarded the presidency as sacred – and that Trump now defiles the office.

2.  He has been unwelcome at funerals, cultural celebrations, and victory parties is another unprecedented aspect of his presidency.

3.  In April, Trump was asked to stay away from the funeral of Barbara Bush, wife to one president and mother of another.

4.  In December, he opted to skip the president's traditional attendance at the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala after several of the artists being feted threatened a boycott.

5.  The British royal family dispensed with inviting foreign dignitaries to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in May partly to avoid having to invite Trump, whom Markle had attacked as “divisive and misogynistic.”

6.  Trump canceled the usual White House celebration for the NFL's Super Bowl champions when he learned most of the Philadelphia Eagles players were unwilling to attend.

7.  Only months earlier the Golden State Warriors had passed on their own invitation to celebrate their 2017 NBA championship title at the White House.

8. Trump has used such rejection to his advantage to mobilize his supporters at political rallies saying that the “elites” will never accept them – the “deplorables” the word he co-opted from Hillary Clinton to highlight their sense of the disapproval shown by the nation's political and cultural establishment for Trump and his core supporters. Update on that here – FYI.

9.  Example of Trump at MN rally in June: “You ever notice they always call the other side ... the elites? The elites. Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I'm smarter than they are. I'm richer than they are. I became president and they didn't. And I'm representing the greatest, smartest, most loyal, best people on Earth - the deplorables.”

(The crowd yelled like crazy as the always do – he thrives on that kind of acceptance and honor and glory in his reality show on stage front and center – where he must always be – just him in the spotlight).

Trump has the same deep and abiding disdain for the elites that each and every one of the “deplorables” have today. His resentment was a constant throughout his career in business and entertainment where he was dismissed as more of a boastful, tabloid-seeking showman than the serious mogul he believed himself to be.

He is aggravated that the political establishment still will not accept him (says one longtime friend who asked not to be identified given the sensitivity of the subject). He really doesn't understand is that their objection is cultural as well as political and that they will never accept him. 

Others say Trump has created the isolation by his own occasionally outrageous behavior, by reveling in a politics that feeds conspiracy theories, humiliates rivals, and disdains basic notions of civility.

He lacks any kind of humility. He takes pride in kicking people around. Insults is his weapon of choice. When people strike back, he shouldn't be disappointed or surprised – because in many ways he has asked for it and indeed thrives on it.

Trump's response to McCain's death is just the sort of break from presidential tradition and civility that alienates many, e.g., after lowering the White House American flag to half-staff on Sunday (the day after McCain died) but by Monday it had been back to full staff therefore weaponizing the visual sign of disrespect even as flags remained lowered at federal buildings throughout Washington, including the Capitol, and in many states. Aides did not respond to requests to explain the decision.

The background on this is simple: Trump declined initially to issue the usual official presidential proclamation honoring McCain, or to answer reporters' questions about him in three appearances at the White House the day after. Instead, he spent the weekend playing golf and tweeting about the strength of the economy and his own popularity, despite polls to the contrary.

However, after petitions of protest from the nation's leading veterans' organizations, the White House later Monday released a proclamation that flags would remain at half-staff until McCain's burial on Sunday.

The White House also issued a statement expressing respect for McCain's service. Later, Trump told evangelical conservatives at the White House for dinner: “We very much appreciate everything that Sen. McCain has done for our country.”

McCain's longtime confidant, Rick Davis, read from McCain’s farewell statement – which served as McCain's final shot at Trump's brand of politics. 
McCain’s complete final last words to the country are here from the NY POST – worth reading for sure.

McCain sloughed off Trump's attacks on his military service and heroism while he focused his animus that was “more about his concern about where (Trump) was taking the country and his attacks on innocent people, on average people, on people who have sacrificed at the highest level. Like highlighting Trump's 2016 attacks on the parents of Humayun Khan, the Army Captain who died while serving in Iraq.

Trump tends to view such fights in terms of winning and losing. Even after he denigrated McCain's heroism as a Vietnam prisoner of war and disparaged the Khan family after they criticized him, and personal name calling and childish  attacks on opponents that many people said, at the time, said would sink Trump's candidacy (including the gross Access Hollywood tape), despite all that, Trump won his party's presidential nomination and then the election thus convincing him that his style is validated and that’s why he continues to this day – wounded, maybe, but just as mean and ugly.

My 2 cents: Finally, and today (*from Bloomberg here) Trump is calling for some legal action against Google and their massive search engine. He calls it “rigged against him (of course him), unfair, and should in essence be shut down.” As usual, this style from Trump:

A 2-minute video report at this site

FYI Mr. Trump: It isn’t not gonna happen at any of your whims. Those of us who search the internet whether via Google, Yahoo, or the other search engine sites – we decide what is “fake of a hoax” not you – deal with it. 

Stay tuned – this man is out of control on so many fronts it’s nearly impossible to keep score or keep up… but, it is he that needs to be shut down, not the free press or others like Google, et al, and ASAP would be better for our collective national sanity and I’d add, yes, even for our national security. Trump is a genuine menace to both. 

Our closest allies are turning away from us – thanks to Trump’s insults and bullying. Decades of friendship down the drain. He says we are #1 and need to be great again – does that mean alone?

My final assessment of Donald J. Trump – Seven “C” words: Conning; Cunning; Corrupt; Crooked; Conniving; Callous; and Contemptible.

Thanks for stopping by.