After Florida, Trump is losing it
The proof of how freaked out Trump is by the Florida shooting and the reaction of the surviving students was vividly illustrated by something very stupid he did on Wednesday: at his little White House “listening session” he accidentally held the piece of paper containing his talking points with the writing facing outward, instead of concealing it against his body.
This should have been something Sarah Sanders Huckabee and Kellyanne Conway warned him against. It should have been something they practiced with him over and over: “If you have to have the piece of paper with you—if you can’t memorize the talking points—then please hide the writing against your body! We don’t want anybody to see it except you.”
Either such warnings were never issued, or Trump was too nervous to heed them. The result: in his chubby little hand he clutched the talking points the wrong way, so that all the world could see how phony and manufactured the entire event was.
Here are Trump’s five talking points:
- What would you most want me to know about your experience?
- What can we do to help you feel safe?
- Do you [obscured] see something [obscured] effective?
- Resources? Ideas?
- I hear you.
(Point #3 was obscured by his fat fingers.)
If I were the Florida survivors who forced Trump on this, I would be outraged. As, indeed, the students and their supporters were, when they saw the photo and learned of Trump’s callous, insincere indifference towards them and the tragedy. On Twitter, one woman wrote, “He has crib notes on how to behave human.” A man similarly tweeted, “When someone needs crib notes on how to show common decency, they are not qualified to be president!” At Shareblue Media, they tweeted, “Trump seriously needed notes to remind him to show empathy for grieving families.”
You can see many more reactions on social media at Raw Story, including this one: “Barack Obama sang ‘Amazing Grace’ at a funeral in Charleston and Donald Trump needs a fucking cheat card to show empathy.” Here’s one of my favorites, cited overseas in the International Business Times: “Here mr. President, use these responses—they might trick grieving families in to thinking you care even the slightest bit about them. (Unfortunately, his henchmen forgot to tell @realDonaldTrump not to filddle with his empathy cheat-sheet in front of the cameras.)”
That Trump has little or no human decency is conceded even by his fans. Even Franklin Graham, the rightwing son of the late Billy Graham, said of Trump, “He is not President Perfect,” adding, “We certainly don’t hold him up as the pastor of this nation and he is not.” That was after the news about Stormy Daniels arose; imagine the outcry from so-called Christians if the president who utilized the services of a porn star were a Democrat!
Well, the Rev. Graham’s mild rebuke is as close as we’re likely to get from Republicans to outright condemnation of an adulterous, profane sexual abuser, so let’s be grateful for that little crumb. Meanwhile, the crib sheet is continuing to have repercussions. At a glance, it tells the world how shallow Trump is, how calculated, how fake. Any emotion from him suggesting empathy or sympathy is ersatz. When he tries to be pious, he comes across as stiff, unconvincing and mendacious. Reagan could get away with it. Trump can’t. We know that the only authentic emotions he feels are anger, resentment, fear and sexual arousal.
I hope you will support the Florida students and students across America, who are standing up to the bullies at the NRA, the thugs at Breitbart and the felonious president. Common sense gun control is within sight for the first time ever. Yesterday, of course, Trump trotted out his pitifully limited response to Florida—a thimble of “reforms” that the NRA told him it is prepared to accept. But it’s not enough; it’s nowhere near enough. True reform has got to include a complete ban on assault guns by anyone except law enforcement! The latest Quinippiac Poll shows that Americans favor a total ban on assault weapons by an overwhelming 67% to 29%.
The #NeverAgain students must insist on such a ban.
Holding his cheat sheet backwards was only a small thing, but a telling one: Trump is losing his grip. He’s starting to screw up in little ways. He’s losing it. He hears the clock ticking: tick…tick…tick. Behind it is Mueller. It’s unnerving him. We have got to keep up the pressure.
Have a great weekend!
” On Twitter, one woman wrote, “He has crib notes on how to behave human.””
Of course. Otherwise he’d have no chance at behaving that way.