From:
slider@anashram.com
It seem eons ago now — though only a few years — that Donald Trump capitalized on the soaring stature of the Oval Office to shatter
equilibriums with his brand of edicts and outrage. He would roil public discourse for weeks with his claims — that he won the popular vote in 2016 because millions voted illegally, enjoyed the largest inaugural crowd in history, was wiretapped by President Barack Obama, saw moral equivalency between white supremacists and those who oppose them, and threatened "fire
and fury" against North Korea.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/todaysdebate/2020/08/13/meet-donald-trump-incredibly-shrinking-president-editorials-debates/3355321001/
It was all false, phony or came to nothing. But the point was his towering ability back then to shock people.
And today? Not so much.
Does anyone really believe Trump?
When a massive explosion vaporized the center of Beirut last week, Trump
that same day declared it an "attack ... a bomb of some kind" with a level
of certainty that should have sent ripples of concern through foreign governments. As it was, few paid any attention. His comment barely
registered as news, and evidence quickly surfaced that the blast was
almost certainly a terrible accident.
And there have been other pronouncements recently that, all things being
equal, should have generated quite a stir. Except they didn't.
The president promised July 19 that within two weeks, he'd produce a long-awaited plan for overhauling the nation's health care system. Days
later, he committed to unveiling a strategy for defeating coronavirus
"that's going to be very, very powerful." And recently, Trump said that if reelected, he'd strike a deal with Iran in four weeks.
All have been met with a collective shrug, probably because Americans
sensed they would come to nothing. There has been no health care plan and
no grand COVID-19 strategy, even as U.S. deaths due to the coronavirus
surpass 165,000. And does anyone really believe Trump will reach an
agreement with an Iranian regime that refuses even to speak with him?
Smoke and mirrors
So what has happened? Trump's ability to shock and awe has gotten smaller.
He's the incredibly shrinking president.
Even his dramatic declaration last weekend that he would "save American
jobs and provide relief to the American workers" with a series of
executive actions hasn't moved the dial on his low approval ratings.
And that's because it's all smoke and mirrors.
The promise to provide enhanced unemployment benefits with money pulled
out of an emergency relief fund (during a major hurricane season) may not
be legal. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called it "unconstitutional slop."
The $400 in additional weekly payments would work only if cash-strapped
states kick in 25% and would only last about six weeks. In addition, a
payroll tax holiday Trump is promising is really a deferral of taxes that
will have to be paid back. And his commitment to block evictions amounts
to little more than a recommendation to landlords.
The reality is that the public has grown weary of a president whose words
mean very little. It probably began with all of the unkept campaign
promises — 4% annual economic growth, repeal and replace Obamacare,
invest in infrastructure and build a wall paid for by Mexico.
Certainly a growing mountain of lies and falsehoods haven't helped. The Washington Post estimates now more than 20,000.
But what might have finally tipped Trump toward triviality is the
grotesque way he dismissed (and continues to dismiss) a deadly pandemic as something that will simply disappear, even as it ravages America.
### - geez 20,000 lies and falsehoods?? lol talk about smoke & mirrors!
:)))
fuck me, no one any longer believes a single word he says? (that's 5,000
lies per year folks??)
and will thus prolly go down in history as being one of the greatest
bs-ers ever! :)
which is just about all he's apparently ever really been any good at heh...
fact is, he was only originally put in there to fix the economy except
that's now all gone completely by the wayside, he started-off well enough
but the pandemic soon put-paid to all that and the US is arguably now
worse-off than ever AND is on the brink of civil war to-boot due to his actions!?
with hindsight anyway he'll be blamed for all of it haha :)))
coz he's really messed up the whole deal + ultimately made the right-wing
look like an incompetent bungling ass...
and that's good info for the world :)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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