Week one of this presidency ended as it began – by scaring the sh*t out of the entire planet (sorry, Momma). A week ago Friday, the worst, most unqualified candidate in history became the worst, most unqualified president in history. My most uttered phrase this week? Holy Jesus. And I uttered that phrase over and over at each terrifying revelation.
As a case in point, at this very moment, the tabs on my browser summarize the reasons that normal people around the world are filled with fear and dread: US News’ Temperament Tantrum; NPR’s How Does [Cheeto Jesus’s] Immigration Freeze Square with His Business Interests?; [TwitterFinger] Shuffles NSC; and China Military Official Says war with US…’Becoming Practical Reality’.
Ruth Marcus’ opinion piece in the Washington Post this morning though, sums up this erratic week that we all experienced – alarming. Cheeto Jesus seems to be intentionally trying scare the world, and it’s working. China is resigned to a war with the US. For the first time in our history, we have official US government policy of institutional religious discrimination. Muslims are banned, Christians are given priority. Oh, and conveniently, the ban applies only to Muslim majority countries where Twitterfinger has no business interests. The others? Not so much.
Of the legion of alarming decisions, though, the one reshuffling the National Security Counsel is the most disturbing. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence were removed and Steve Bannon, propagandist and alt-right racist was made a permanent member of the council. Think about it – the most experienced voices of the military and national intelligence are now excluded from the highest level discussions of security and intelligence. This decision boggles the mind and will have disastrous consequences. The, uh…urp, president has zero foreign policy or defense experience (with the possible exception of his pee-pee parties with prostitutes in Moscow). His direct reports are either warmongering nuts or self serving billionaires. The senior diplomatic staff at the State Department has walked. There are no ambassadors sitting in any of our embassies. The Director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, is a hayseed teabagger from Kansas whose most important issues in his career have been destroying the healthcare system and denying women the right to control their own bodies. The Secretary of Defense publicly disagrees with CJ on several issues, including torture. Essentially, he is walling himself off from those with experience or decent judgement.
Cheeto Jesus talks in the word salad of a 5th grade playground bully. Add that oddity to his intentionally provocative behavior and isolation and you have a volatile combination. The risks of him touching off a major international crisis increases everyday. He’ll finally poke someone in the eye, like China, and they’ll respond with a tactical weapon or shoot down an airliner. I’m afraid that’s what it’s going to take before the Congress finally acts and removes this lunatic before he starts WWIII.
Steve Mnuchin, former chairman and chief executive officer of OneWest Bank, known for its aggressive foreclosure practices, flatly denied in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee that OneWest used “robo-signing” on mortgage documents.
When Deputy Health and Human Services Commissioner Gregg Phillips and private consultant Chris Britton helped write the $1 billion legislation to privatize Texas’ human services system, they apparently did so partly with an eye on profit — their own.