What did Other Trump advisors think of Trump?

Trump

 

Trump’s former senior strategist Steve Bannon widely believed to be the mastermind behind Trump’s 2016 election win, said Trump was “like an 11-year-old child,” and later said Trump had “lost his step.”  That last one is a pretty mild Trump insult by his standards.

John Bolton who served as Trump’s National Security Advisor said this about him:

“Trump has this impression that foreign leaders, especially adversaries, hold him in high regard, that he’s got a good relationship with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un. In fact, the exact opposite is true. I have been in those rooms with him when he’s met with those leaders. I believe they think he is a laughing fool.”

 

Cassidy Hutchinson was a Republican and loyal worker for Trump until she saw him in action on January 6th 2021 when Trump supporters on Capitol Hill were trying to find Mike Pence in order to ang him.  After seeing him do nothing to help his Vice-President this is what she said, in her book Enough:

“They’re calling for the Vice-President to be hanged. The president is OK with it. He doesn’t want to do anything. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. He thinks Mike is a traitor. This is crazy. We need to be doing something more.”

 

She also testified under oath at the January 6th House of Representatives, under oath, about how disgusted she was with him on January 6th.

Former Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert often worked with Trump because those issues he dealt were issues Trump was interested in.

As Trump was dealing with the Ukraine scandal, Bossert told ABC’s “This Week” he was “deeply disturbed” by the contents of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian President. However, he also warned not to rush to judgment. In the same appearance, Bossert said he had told Trump there was no basis for the theory that Ukraine intervened in the 2016 US presidential election to assist Democrats.

Bossert has also criticized Trump for not wearing a face mask in public amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Do as I say, not as I do isn’t very useful,” Bossert told “This Week.”

 

Cliff Sims, former special assistant to the President and director of White House Message Strategy wrote “Team of Vipers,” claiming, among other things, that Trump created an “enemies list” consisting of members of his own administration.

It is really deeply surprising how many of Trump’s cohorts, almost all, if not all Republicans, have come out to say how unfit Trump was for office. I think that is unprecedented.

 

What did Trump’s advisors and aids think of Trump?

Trump

 

Trump’s advisors had intimate knowledge of how Trump worked, considered, and made decisions.  They frequently saw him in action. They knew him well. After months, or in some cases years of working with him, what was their opinion of their former boss?

 

As Maegan Vazquez reported on CNN,

“All White Houses find themselves confronting the odd tell-all memoir or interview from a jaundiced aide. But Trump, who is famous for demanding loyalty, has not appeared to inspire great confidence in those who quit or were dismissed from his administration.

Those officials aren’t just comprised of holdovers from the Obama administration, staff compelled to testify under oath, or career intelligence and Justice Department officials Trump has dubbed as being part of the so-called “deep state. There’s a long list of allies-turned-critics that includes several of the men and women Trump hand-selected to lead agencies across the federal government.”

 

The New York Times in a recent editorial in which it declared that Trump was unfit to be president, summed up what his people thought of him this way:

 

“Those who know Mr. Trump’s character best — the people he appointed to serve in the most important positions of his White House — have expressed grave doubts about his fitness for office.”

 

His former chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, described Mr. Trump as “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.”

 

Bill Barr, whom Mr. Trump appointed as attorney general, said of him, “He will always put his own interest and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest.”

 

James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who served as defense secretary, said, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.”

 Mike Pence, Mr. Trump’s vice president, has disavowed him. No other vice president in modern American history has done this. “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Mr. Pence has said. “And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”

 

Omarosa Manigault Newman, the highest-ranking African-American staffer in Trump’s West Wing, also said he was “unhinged.” In fact, she used that as the title of her book about her time in Trump land. She also said in her book, “Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness.”

 

Trump’s economic advisor Gary Cohn said Trump was “dumb as shit.”

 

According to Michael Wolf’s book Fire and Fury, both Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former chief of staff Reince Priebus also called Trump an “idiot,” after they had worked with him.  This seems like a very common refrain from his former staffers? They challenged his intelligence. None of them said he was a stable genius.  Only Trump said that.

I have got some of these quotes from Rebecca Morin who wrote an article called “Idiot,’ ‘Dope,’ ‘Moron’: How Trump’s aides have insulted the boss,” in Politico.

Did anyone hear one of Obama’s former staffers say anything like that? Or Biden’s current staff?

But there is more: Next Time.

The Only one who Matters

politics, Trump

 

I think there is a lot we can learn about Donald Trump from those who worked most closely with him. They got to see the real Trump.  What was that like?

His Attorney General Bill Barr who served to very near the end of the first Presidency  got to know Trump very well. Bill Barr summed up his views of the president he served so faithfully for so long this way: “He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest.” In itself this is astonishing. But even more astonishing is the fact that millions of Americans continue to believe in this man’s ability to lead the country. Because really that was obvious to all of us.  How is that possible?

As Mark Epson one of his Secretaries of Defense, said, “He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country.” Again this not surprise.

Mike Pence his ultra loyal Vice-President who also served him faithfully until Trump demanded that Pence ignore the constitution and the will of the electorate put it this way: “Anyone who puts himself over the constitution should never be president of the United States…President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the constitution.I chose the constitution.”

When it comes to Trump, everyone knows him. He does not often hide his true self. He has been in the news more than any other many alive. He has bared his soul and his true character over and over again. There is nothing more anyone needs to know. Trump cares only about one person—himself. No one should ever expect anything different. This is part of his DNA.

They described a narcissist who cared about no one other than himself. Even the members of his family were of little concern. He did not care about his party. The country was of no concern.

Should such a man be elected president of the United States?

Killing Political Leaders

Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Political Violence

 

As some of my readers will know by now, I am not a fan of Donald J Trump. I was about to post about him again and have decided to give him a one day pass.   But I want to be clear I do condone assassinating him. I want Trump to be defeated at the polls. Not in the courts and not at the hands of a gunman. I denounce all attempts to impose political beliefs by violence.

Each time political violence occurs in the United States I am surprised by how surprised Americans are by it.

Joe Biden said the actions against Trump were “un-American.”  But that was not true. Political violence is very American. It is bred in the bone.

As Brian Stetler said on CBC last night: “Former Democratic politician Gabby Giffords from Arizona once said, Political violence is  not American. History says it is.”

Matthew Dallek and Robert Dallek said in the New York Times today, “Among all major democracies, then, when it comes to assassination attempts on heads of government, the United States is the leader of the pack.” Those two also pointed out that 4 of the 46 American presidents have been assassinated. That is almost 10%! Such a high percentage is shocking. I would say, killing an American president is as American as apple pie.

  Watching CBC’s The National from yesterday I was struck by a man with a big grin driving a big truck with a big sign on it that said,  “Fuck Biden.” Sort of like many signs we have in Canada He was asked if he thought the temperature of American political debate was too high and he said quickly, without thinking, “Yes.”  Then the interviewer asked him about the sign on his truck? He answered, with another grin,  that it was “the best $25 I ever spent.” Clearly, he did not get it. Then he added, “no shame in my game.” Again, without any irony. He even claimed that 99% of the comments he had received about his sign were “positive.”

Canada of course is not immune to extremism in politics. But it is nowhere near the amount in the US. No Canadian prime minister has ever been assassinated. The US is a country filled with political anger and guns. That is a volatile combination. Yet in Canada there have been many such signs referring to our prime minister with the same words. I have seen such signs unashamedly in Steinbach, the Holy City. At least at once it was the Holy City.  I oppose such signs here as I do in the US.

I keep raising this question about America:  Why is there so much political violence in that country?  I am less concerned about their lax to non-existent gun laws than I am by the ubiquity of political violence. Why are they so quick to turn to violence to obtain political change? Why is their society so violent? Few people seem to be asking that question?  I think we should ask.

 

 

What do Trump’s People think about Trump?

politics, Trump

 

 

It is beginning to look more and more likely that the American people with their arcane election system are about to re-elect Donald Trump as their next president. To many of us that seems insane, but nonetheless it almost seems inevitable. (I hope I am wrong about this).

 We know that Trump supporters support him with religious devotion. Therefore, they dismiss out of hand insults from “libs” “woke’ or the “enemy.” Such critics are easy to dismiss. But what about people—good Republicans all—who worked with Trump. What do they say about Trump?  When you look it is amazing.  No president has left such a train of naysayers behind him.

Bob Woodward wrote a book called “Fear: Trump in the White House,” in which he detailed the astonishing chaos in the president’s immediate orbit. But even that is a drop in a bucket of slime flung at Trump by those who gave up on Trump after working with him.  These are people who really know Trump. The numbers of former Trump workers who have nothing good to say about him is literally staggering.

As Josh Dawsey in the Washington Post,

“No president has ever attracted more public detractors who were formerly in his inner circle…. Additionally, more than a dozen people once in his employ could end up taking the stand and providing testimony as part of multiple criminal trials, according to people with knowledge of the cases and court documents.

At the same time, even some who have publicly declared Trump unfit for office have said they would still support him over Biden in 2024.

So far, Trump has surged toward the GOP nomination even as former aides critical of him have blanketed the airwaves, giving scathing speeches, testifying on camera in front of congressional committees and penning books — shaking off the kinds of condemnations that could mortally wound another politician.”

 

That of course is the amazing thing about Trump—his loyal followers continue to follow him no matter what. I have characterized this as religious devotion and I think that is correct. Correct and scary. I shudder whenever political leaders, no matter who they are, attract theological reverence. I consider that deeply dangerous. But for now I want to consider the words of those who worked with him, knew him, and gave up on him. Later we must look at the devoted.

 

The Weak President versus the Lying President

Death of Truth, politics, Trump, Trumpism

 

Edward Luce of the  Wall Street Journal and David Frum of The Atlantic were interviewed by Fareed Zakaria on his show the Global Public Square.  After the recent debate between Trump and Biden, only about 25% of Americans, including about half the Democrats believe Joseph Biden is competent to be president compared to about 44 % who believe Trump is competent. Both bad numbers, but Biden is now in a much worse position. Trump is 19 points ahead on this important issue.

 

Many believe Biden performed very badly in the debate. From what little I saw I agree he performed badly. But in my view Trump performed even worse, but in a different way.  Trump released an avalanche of lies and absurd hyperbolic remarks which clearly demonstrate that Trump is entirely separated from the truth. He has been called unhinged for good reason.

 

Who is less worthy of being president of the United States?  The liar or the incompetent?  According to David Frum,

 

“What we have here is a debate between the fire brigade and the arsonists. We are in this jam because the Republican Party is rallying around somebody who tried to overthrow an election thus the constitution…Who is a proven fraudster. Who has half a billion dollars of claims against him for civil frauds and who is a convicted criminal in New York with many more trials to come.”

 

Zakaria pointed out that “even by Donald Trump’s standards it was really extraordinary how much he lied. He was totally unconstrained by even pretending to doff his cap to the truth. In the good old days, there had to be at least a kernel in there somewhere of the truth. ” CNN counted 30 major lies he made during the debate. Trump even claimed to negotiate insulin prices down for seniors when that was something Biden did, not him.

 

Luce agreed entirely. He said, “There was an unhinged unending Orwellian stream of lies from Trump, even by his standards…We have watched Mitch McConnell call Trump ‘a despicable human being there on stage.”

 

Luce said you could basically pick any one of his statements to look at if you wanted to challenge the truth. He lied from start to finish.

 

What really surprises me is how Republican supporters at least fail to take this into consideration. They know he lies, but they don’t care.

 

When 2 political candidates are considered, we must always remember such comparisons are not made in a vacuum. We must compare who is worse or who is better. This is because, as one political pundit said, “Mother Theresa is never on the ballot.”

 

No matter how competent he is, I would rather have Biden as the American president than Donald Trump.

 

 

Missa Gai/Earth Mass

Buddhism, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy, New Attitude to Nature

 

Professor Moriarty tended his lecture by talking about an   album of music released by Paul Winter in 1982 called “Missa Gaia/Earth Mass”.  The title actually refers to two languages, Latin for the word missa which means mass (the religious service)  and gaia from the Greek which refers to Mother nature. The earth in others words. So Missa Gaia is a mass for the earth.

 

Winter became artist in residence at the Cathedral of St. John Divine in New York City which Moriarty referred to as “a great ship wreck of a Church.” It was one of the largest churches in the world, which naturally did not impress Professor Moriarty. “It may be the biggest but it’s not the most beautiful he said. The mass has been referred to as “an environmental liturgy of contemporary music.” It is performed annually at that church. The calls of wolves, whales and other animals are weaved into the pieces of music sometimes used as melody.

 

Moriarty also said it was exclesias down there. Where God has come down to earth. This comes from the Greek word Ekklēsia (gathering of those summoned).  It was where people gathered. Like the Greek agora, that I remember from my very first day in Athens many years ago  led by a wonderful woman—Maria. She pointed out the agora to us. The word exclesias also makes us think of the Carol “Gloria, in excelsis Deo!”

 

In the music the voices of whales are heard and the alt sax that is used imitates the voice of the whale. And the voice of the loon and the voice of the wolf. When you hear this, Moriarty says, everything is brought in from the cold. You hear whales and wolves singing parts of the mass. It is an earth mass. It is a mass for the earth. It makes the entire earth sacred. And when you hear a mass for the earth how could you ravage it. It is sacred after all.

The Missa Gaia, according to Moriarty, is also the place where the Buddha found enlightenment. Apparently, there is now a temple there where the people have built a temple and called it Buddgaya or Bodh Gaya which is a village in the north east Indian state of Bihar.  It is considered one of  the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites and houses at an ancient Mahabodhi Temple Complex, that was built to commemorate the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment underneath a sacred Bodhi Tree.

 

The mass includes as text the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei. The mass is an environmental liturgy of contemporary music.  The “Kyrie” is derived from the call of a wolf, the “Sanctus” from the songs of humpback whales. Man literally learns how to sing from animals. Missa Gaia  is not just ecological it is also ecumenical. It wants to contain and include all voices of the earth. Many musical traditions are embraced by the Missa Gaia such as Gregorian chants  from the Middle Ages, Protestant hymns, Romantic organ music, African instruments, Latin American rhythms, elements of Gospel music, and even rock music.

The name “Missa Gaia” refers to the  “Gaia hypothesis” proposed by scientists Jame Lovelock and Lynn Margulis which provides that “the entire range of living matter on Earth, from whales to viruses, and from oaks to algae, could be regarded as constituting a single living entity, capable of manipulating the Earth’s atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and power far beyond its constituent parts”.

 The Mass had been performed annually at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at The Feast of St. Francis which is the blessing of the animals.

 

When St. Francis of Assisi referred to brother sun and sister moon he is really saying, says Moriarty, “I am the little brother.”  He is saying they are the great brother or sister.  He is not saying I am the great conqueror! He is not saying I am the ruler of the earth. He is saying we are kin! That brings us right back to the ideas of Chief Seattle and the indigenous people of North America and elsewhere. Now that is really a profound new attitude to the earth!

Moriarty asked a very pertinent question: “Why don’t we call the earth Buddgaya?” That it is an enlightened earth?” At least that the earth will one day be enlightened. Of course, he is really suggesting that it is not enlightened now. I think the reason that has not been done is that we need a completely new transformative attitude to nature. Only when we do that can we consider ourselves, or the earth we inhabit, enlightened. We have not yet earned the right to call us or the earth enlightened. Not yet.

If we can do that Moriarty says on Christmas night when he goes to the stable, he won’t have to say humans are alone in the earth. “I won’t be experiencing the awful desolation of us and them.” Until we are enlightened, we will be experiencing the awful alienation of us from the earth. “Maybe our mass has to become a Missa Gaia. When we walk the earth we must realize we are walking in Buddgaya.

Then finally we will be walking beautifully upon the sacred earth.

 

 

An Irish Stream

Indigenous Religion and Philosophy, New Attitude to Nature

 

Professor Moriarty  told a story about a man in Dingle in the south west of Kerry on a lovely gorgeous evening when the mountains were almost heart-breakingly lovely and blue on a silent, silent evening. The only sound was the sound of a stream tumbling down the mountainside. An old man said, “It is calling us down into eternity out of which it is itself coming.” According to Moriarty this eternity is not behind time it is an eternity that is right there in front. It is right in front of you. It is unhidden.

It is the same eternity that Wordsworth talked about in the intimations of Immortality and that Traherne talked about. So the corn is the orient and immortal wheat.

Moriarty contrasts that with the end of the 19th century when white people were scattering around the American continent  in pursuit of Manifest Destiny. They came upon the holy sacred mountains of the Sioux Indians. As Moriarty said, “an old life, a sacred life was being destroyed there.” Of course, the same thing was happening everywhere across this great continent.  Non-indigenous people were destroying nature in pursuit of economic advantage.

In California a man rose up to the heavens during an eclipse where he learned a sacred dance that later came to be called the Ghost dance. The dancers would fall into a sort of trance. It was an apocalyptic dance, according to Moriarty. They were dancing in circles. According to Moriarty. And they were dong it everywhere.

As Moriarty said,

“they were going to roll up the whole white world that we had brought with us in the way you would roll up a carpet, from the Chicagos  and New Yorks and then the North American continent would return to the way it originally was. We know Europeans who treat corn as an economic commodity  and have to undertake a ghost dance ourselves. Ghost dance was what Wordsworth called their light of common day out of our eyes. Ghost dance is what Traherne called the dirty devices of the world. The philosophical assumptions and axioms. Ghost dance the Medusa mind set, the European mind set out of our eyes.”

 

 

Moriarty wants us to walk “enfranchised on an enfranchised earth.”  We need to be liberated. Then we can be in a paradise that is not “out there”, but down here where we are. All we have to do is “ghost dance the dirty devices out of our world.”

Moriarty believes this could bring about a new and reborn agriculture.  It would no longer be just an economic thing. According to him, “our eyes have become economic tumours.” When we look at things in that way, we are committing a sin Moriarty says. That is why we must comb them out just the way Takana Kapsalut’s hair had to be combed out of the sins of the people. We need the ghost dance in Europe.

 

Moriarty railed against the ancient and long-standing tendency of humans to try to shape nature, rather than allowing nature to shape us. “Sometimes,” Moriarty said, “I think we have gone the wrong way. We have gone the disastrous way and the world is paying a terrible price for that.”  This is exactly what I have been saying. We desperately need a new attitude to nature. It is like Prometheus who stole technological fire from heaven. The whales and dolphins instead went into the water where there was no fire. They did not want to go the technological way. As Professor Moriarty said, “They did not go the way of technological domination of the earth. They said to the world shape us.”

 

Moriarty says he has problems with the idea of the transcendence of God and domination of the earth. It often seems that this is now impossible. No one can go the way of the whales and dolphins anymore, though Moriarty hopes that some people can still do this. We believe that somehow, we have given permission to do to the earth what we are doing. Moriarty has problems with that view. He too wants a new attitude to nature.