Steve Bannon – white supremacist, anti-Semite.  Professional alt-right propagandist and liar. Permanent member of the National Security Council.

I’m so proud.  Aren’t you?

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.

Gaslighting, a technique used to manipulate people by making them question their own judgement, is the prime tool being used by Cheeto Jesus and his Merry Band of Bigots now infesting the White House and spreading the cancer of hate throughout the US government.  Psychology today has published a guide to recognizing it and protecting yourself from it.

One of the first things that TwitterFinger did last Friday was to order the shutdown of the White House comment line where you could call to express an opinion about issues that were important to you.  The number, 202-456-1111, now has a recording that says it’s “currently closed” and to leave an opinion via Facebook or the White House website.  Contrary to his assertions of turning the government back to the people, he’s actually trying to take it away from the people, and shutting down the phone line is just one step in that process.

But worry not.  There is a solution! As we all know, Cheeto Jesus has refused to disentangle himself from his businesses which puts him in direct conflict with law and the Constitution.  However, there is an upside to him owning this vast network of businesses.  These businesses, since they are directly connected to him, are actually individual White Houses.  When CJ’s business partners want to contact him, they don’t call the White House, they call the business in which they have interest.  So, we can do the same thing!

White House Inc. built by the same folks who ran Bernie Sanders digital campaign, is the solution for you to reach the, uh…erp, president through his businesses.  All you do is put in your name, phone number and email address and you will receive an automated call that will then randomly connected to one of his businesses.  You may get a startled reservations clerk, but you can give your opinion about whatever issue that’s important to you.  It’s the same thing as calling the comment line and speaking to a volunteer, since whoever is answering these calls is directly connected to their employer.  Give it a try!

In his first major network interview since the inauguration, TwitterFinger’s personality was on full view of the American people, and it wasn’t pretty.  It wasn’t just laughable; it was terrifying. It was unbelievable.  It was embarrassing.  The Washington Post’s summary of the interview is even more chilling.  To read those words is almost more jarring than hearing them since we’ve all gotten used to his 5th grade playground bully schtick.  In print, his words are horrifying.  My God, this guy’s not just a flaming asshole (sorry, Momma), he’s actually mentally unstable.  He is so pathologically narcissistic that everything, I mean everything is about him.  His speeches are the best ever, his crowds are the best ever, his standing ovations are larger, longer, and better than anyone’s.  To wit:

“See what Fox said. They said it was one of the great speeches. [At the CIA] They showed the people applauding and screaming. … I got a standing ovation. In fact, they said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl, and they said it was equal. I got a standing ovation. It lasted for a long period of time. You probably ran it live. I know when I do good speeches. I know when I do bad speeches. That speech was a total home run. They loved it. … People loved it. They loved it. They gave me a standing ovation for a long period of time. They never even sat down, most of them, during the speech. There was love in the room. You and other networks covered it very inaccurately. … That speech was a good speech. And you and a couple of other networks tried to downplay that speech. And it was very, very unfortunate that you did.”

Holy Jesus.  I used to think that he was just a cynical reality television star using his fame to play his supporters for chumps.  I have changed my opinion – he’s a nut.  He’s truly unstable and dangerous.  He obsesses so much about his fame and popularity that he actually makes decisions based on how much attention he can get.  If he gets offended, he flies into a rage.  If he perceives even a tiny slight he wildly overreacts and lashes out for days.  And this guy has the nuclear codes (and he’s putting Rootin’ Tootin’ Rick Perry in charge of the nuclear arsenal.)

I’ve gone from head shaking disbelief that the voters have inflicted this clown on us to truly fearing for our country.  The pit in my stomach isn’t healthy, but I feel completely helpless to do anything about this impending national tragedy.  I’m not even sure that even when impeached he’ll actually leave the White House; he’ll likely have to be physically removed.  This is not just a big Celebrity Apprentice episode, this is a modern day Madness of King George.

Newsweek has  come across the fact that, just like the Bush White House, senior staff for Cheeto Jesus IS USING A PRIVATE EMAIL SERVER LOCATED AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE.  This includes Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon, among others.  That’s right, folks, the very same people who were going nuts and wanting to “lock her up” during the campaign, are doing exactly the same goddam thing, except that, just like GWB, it’s being run at the RNC instead of somebody’s basement.  You’ll recall that when the Bush server was discovered during the Valerie Plame investigation, it suddenly disappeared, along with 22 million emails.  What are we going to hear from Jason Chaffetz?  Crickets, I would assume.