The American Dark Age (2016-2020) An archived history of the worst President ever

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/27/president-trumps-full-washington-post-interview-transcript-annotated

RUCKER: Are you going to make it over there to Afghanistan?

TRUMP: At the right time I will.

RUCKER: Before Christmas, you think?

[TRUMP speaks off the record.]

DAWSEY: Last night, Mr. President, the special counsel’s team charged Paul Manafort with saying, they accused him, at least, of saying more lies, and ended his plea deal. People around you have told me you’re upset about the way he’s been treated. Are you planning to do anything to help him?

Manafort pleaded guilty when he was facing a second trial after being convicted on eight counts at his first trial. Mueller’s team has said he should be sentenced immediately.

TRUMP: Let me go off the record because I don’t want to get in the middle of the whole thing.

[Trump speaks off the record.]

DAWSEY: Is there any version of that you’re willing to give us on the record in answer to that question?

TRUMP: I’d rather not. At some point, I’ll talk on the record about it. But I’d rather not.

[Trump speaks off the record.]

[Trump will remember this.]

Super Genius

The first (and very last) bit seems straightforward enough. Interest rates were pretty near zero for much of Obama’s two terms thanks to the financial crisis, whereas the Fed Funds rate is now at 2.25%. Still pretty low by historical standards, actually, but a lot more than 0.25%.

The stuff about paydowns, I have no good idea. We’re not paying down the debt, because the deficit is growing. I can only assume he’s talking about the end of QE and the reduction of the Fed’s balance sheet, but I don’t see what that has to do with his larger point, to the extent there is one.

I think his larger point can be summarized as “I rule, Obama drools”.

… I didn’t think I’d ever say this about an Internet post, but the comments there do a good job explaining what’s actually going on - Trump is confused, as usual, and thinks the Fed selling bonds is paying down the national debt(!). Though the most on-point comment was this one:

Speaking of the Fed, I missed this minor gem of insanity from his WaPo interview yesterday:

The president also appeared hung up on [former Fed chair] Yellen’s height. He told aides on the National Economic Council on several occasions that the 5-foot-3-inch economist was not tall enough to lead the central bank, quizzing them on whether they agreed, current and former officials said.

… As usual, Donnie concentrates on the really important stuff.

It seems like someone told him that interest rates on the debt are higher now and he interpreted that like he was running a company. A company that has limited liquidity and has to actually pay down its debt, rather than just borrow more ad infinitum. Also a company that is in the business of making money for shareholders, rather than running a country in the interests of its citizens.

To be fair, it looks a little better in context, in that he correctly ties it to reduced liquidity in the banking system (ceteris paribus). But it still doesn’t amount to a coherent thought. Let alone a reason to attack the Fed chair - the Fed’s job is to control prices and maintain as close to full employment as possible, not to boost growth.

Nonsense. The job of the Fed chairman is to make Donnie look good. That’s the only reason anyone exists in Trump’s universe.

I meant to post that also. It is just that there is so much bat shit crazy stuff he says every single day that is exhausting trying to keep up with it.

He’s just being Lincoln-esque.

“General Sheridan, when this peculiar war began I thought a cavalryman should be at least six feet four inches high, but I have changed my mind. Five feet four will do in a pinch.”

Data mining may very well be a threat to privacy, information security, and democracy. But it does have its uses.

Like, say, trolling Trump supporters … with science!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/29/how-donald-trump-appeals-to-men-secretly-insecure-about-their-manhood

… [O]ur research suggests that Trump is not necessarily attracting male supporters who are as confidently masculine as the president presents himself to be. Instead, Trump appears to appeal more to men who are secretly insecure about their manhood. We call this the “fragile masculinity hypothesis.” Here is some of our evidence…

We found that support for Trump in the 2016 election was higher in areas that had more searches for topics such as “erectile dysfunction.” Moreover, this relationship persisted after accounting for demographic attributes in media markets, such as education levels and racial composition, as well as searches for topics unrelated to fragile masculinity, such as “breast augmentation” and “menopause.”

In contrast, fragile masculinity was not associated with support for Mitt Romney in 2012 or support for John McCain in 2008 — suggesting that the correlation of fragile masculinity and voting in presidential elections was distinctively stronger in 2016.

That kind of trolling, provided those people read that article, could actually change their minds, IMO.

There’s the rub.

And another piece of the puzzle fits into place.

“Everyone knows I’m a fuck up, so why should I worry about conflicts of interest?”

… and another highlight. When the Trump/Cohen bromance mob movie is made, this will be the opening scene and line:

Begin FLASHBACK

INT - TRUMP TOWER

(The late 1990s. A young, fresh-faced MICHAEL COHEN enters the revolving doors. He looks around in wonder.)

COHEN: Just like I pictured it!

Just needs a Scorsese-style tracking shot that culminates in Cohen walking into Trump’s “office”, past rows of golden toilets, where he finds his new boss snorting coke off Ivanka’s breasts to the score of “Gettin’ Jiggy With It”.

I actually have some respect for Michael Cohen trying to do the right thing now.

Maybe his dad had something to do with it, someone who knows a lot about what the end game of the fascist Republican party looks like.