Everything the President Does Reflects the Fact that He is a Deeply Damaged Individual

 Buried in a NYT article about negotiations to end the U.S./Israel-Iran War:

Mr. Trump has told advisers he will not sign off on any deal in which the United States can be said to be giving direct cash payments to Iran. One U.S. official described this as a “public relations” challenge, acknowledging that some form of financial relief would be required for Iran. Mr. Trump has attacked President Barack Obama for years over sending “pallets of cash” to Iran to settle a decades-old financial dispute, timed after Mr. Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal.

Given that political reality, Mr. Trump’s team has been developing ideas that would involve other countries, including the Qataris, releasing funds to the Iranians — so that the U.S. could say it did not replenish the coffers of Iran’s regime. But it is not clear whether that political sleight-of-hand would quiet the many critics who are already noting that while Mr. Obama shipped $1.7 billion to Iran, Mr. Trump is looking at potentially unfreezing many times that amount.

So President Deals hasn't been able to reach an agreement with Iran because, while he is willing to pay Iran reparations for the illegal war, he needs to launder the money through a third country to make it look like he isn't paying Iran because that is too much like what the black guy did.

Trump's primary success might be a sign of upcoming failure

 Lots of commentary has been made about how many Republicans who crossed Trump (even if just occasionally) are losing their primaries to Trump-endorsed candidates. This has been portrayed as a show of strength. And I suppose it is in the sense that Trump has an increasingly iron grip over his own party.

But there is another way to look at this. Trump's support among the general public is in free fall. While Trump supporters remain loyal, the number of people who call themselves Trump supporters is going down. And since the modern Republican Party is Trump's party those who are not 100% on board are leaving the GOP.

So we have a shrinking party, with people leaving because they are disappointed in Trump. Which means that those who don't leave are the Trump loyalist who are left. It's a shrinking pool, but only the people who are still in the pool can vote in the GOP primary.

In other words, maybe Trump's recent primary victories is more of a reflection of the Republican party's overall loss with the total population. As the party shrinks the original coalition of MAGA plus "mainstream Republicans" (i.e. Republicans who disagree with Trump 1% of the time) starts to shed the mainstream Republicans. That leaves only the MAGA crowd who are going to listen to Trump when he tells them to slay his enemies in the primary. But that doesn't mean the party is strong, or that is will do well when the overall population votes. The Republicans who no longer feel at home in the party may stay home in the next election or cast a protest vote.

This is just my hypothesis. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it is just wishful thinking. But there are two clear trends: Trump's falling approval with the overall pubic, and Trump's better success at removing disloyal GOPers in the primary than he has had in the past. My hypothesis can at least explain both.

ICE are human traffickers

Forcibly sending people to a country other than their home country is not "deportation", it is trafficking.

Finally a half-assed Trump brain fart I can get behind

Trump has apparently told Fox News' John Roberts that he is "seriously considering" making Venezuela the 51st State. Never mind that is not something a President has the power to do, or all the difficult questions the "U.S. State of Venezuela" would raise, I am hoping Trump pushes this plan just because it would give Stephen Miller a heart attack.

Where is this all going?

 So are we just going to have an almost daily string of bullshit announcements that a peace deal with Iran is right around the corner, interspersed with bombings and exchange of fire around the Persian Gulf, while the Straits of Hormuz remains mostly closed until the global economic fallout hits the U.S. economy hard enough for Trump to completely give up?

It seems to me that is where this is going, mostly because Trump is too emotionally fragile to admit that attacking Iran was a massive mistake. So he is going to do everything he can to deny it and pretend that his imaginary master dealmaking will rescue us until it becomes undeniable that it can't.

Clear Majority

55% of the American public supports impeaching President Trump, a clear majority. With 45% saying they "strongly" support impeachment. And 88% of all Democrats favor impeachment. So why isn't every Democratic candidate singing the impeachment song?

Update: Platner has real issues, don't get me wrong. But he is openly talking about impeachment, and if anything that seems to be boosting his campaign. So why isn't everyone running doing this?

Being led by a moron makes ending this war so much harder

Our greedy dumbass of a President doesn't understand that publicly stating that the U.S. wants to "take Iran's oil" is going to make it impossible for anyone leading Iran to give Trump an exit ramp from this war. They now have every incentive to keep fighting, and they have a perfect way to rally the Iranian people behind them.