Mike Pompeo: The Lap Dog Roars

In his role as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo has proven himself a fascinating combination of sycophant and bully.

On the one hand, it’s evident that his life mission is to gain the approval of Donald Trump, no matter the cost.  He’s made sure to attune his every position to those of the “President”.  Pompeo was instrumental in undermining the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (a particular obsession for Trump), and his devotion to the Donald’s vision/intransigence has threatened to plunge that region into war on more than one occasion.

Likewise, Pompeo has adopted Trump’s views on North Korea.  Where he was once in charge of a covert cyber campaign against Kim Jong Un, he has now tailored his actions to fall in line with Trump.

He has humbled himself before the dictator, and has repeatedly claimed great success in negotiating with him.  Nothing of lasting value has been achieved, of course, and Kim Jong Un is currently demanding that Pompeo be excluded from any future talks/negotiations.  Given Trump’s peculiar, quasi-romantic, relationship with Kim Jong Un, and his obvious reluctance to lose that special friendship, it remains to be seen what Pompeo will resort to next.

In another effort to gain favor with the groper-in-chief, Pompeo has adopted DJT’s  disrespectful/abusive attitude toward women—as evidenced by his recent temper tantrum directed at NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly.  Pompeo is unable to tolerate challenging questions, and most especially from a woman.  His condescension took full flight—he screamed at her in an expletive-filled tirade, then he employed his mentor’s modus operandi and chose to lie about the encounter.  Apparently, Kelly had to point out Ukraine to him (on an unlabeled map)—and he later claimed she pointed to Bangladesh.  Naturally, Trump felt the need to congratulate Pompeo for his “handling” of the situation.

Personally, I believe Pompeo’s level of rage stemmed from his takedown by Linda Ronstadt at the Kennedy Center Honors dinner (she chastised him for enabling Trump).  Given the setting, he was unable to explode at Ronstadt, and has been looking for a female victim ever since.

Without a doubt, Mike Pompeo is one sorry excuse for an American Secretary of State.  He doesn’t come close to meeting the standards set by his most recent predecessors:  Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, and yes, even John Kerry.  Our country deserves so much better—yet another reason why the November elections are of critical importance.

Trump's Numbers In The Tank

Donald Trump is a man obsessed with numbers.  Sometimes, he’s unable to grasp the significance of big numbers (see “Failed Policies, Trumpcare”) and there are times he struggles with the concept of sharing certain numbers (see “Broken Promises, Release of Tax Returns”).  However, despite numerous bankruptcies, Donald believes that numbers can prove he’s a billionaire as he claims, and not “just” a millionaire as others familiar with his business ventures have maintained.  Numbers would also show if Donald owes large sums of money to Russian banks, but he still refuses to release those pesky tax returns.

There are two numbers in particular that Donald refuses to accept.  62,984,825 and 65,853,516.  The first figure is the number of votes he received in the 2016 presidential election.  The second figure, almost 3 million votes higher, was the number of votes Hillary Clinton received.  If you combine her total with the 4,489,233 votes Gary Johnson received and the 1,457,222 votes Jill Stein received, it’s clear that the vast majority of Americans wanted someone other than Trump--by a huge margin... almost 9 million votes!  Donald doesn’t like those numbers.

So, it’s safe to assume he must really despise a whole bunch of recent numbers.  FiveThirtyEight reports that Trump’s current approval rating of 41.3 constitutes a new low for this presidency, but it’s also a new low for ANY recent presidency at this juncture.  To add historical context:  Trump trails Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, and Obama.  In virtually every instance, Trump trails these former Presidents by huge margins.

Public Policy Polling has Trump with a 40% approval rate, while 53% disapprove.  CNBC reports similar numbers:  42% approve of Trump’s job performance, while 56% think he’s doing a poor job and the country is headed in the wrong direction.

However, the bad news gets even worse for Donald.  The latest Gallup poll measured his approval rating at a paltry 36% following the Trumpcare debacle.  To Donald, all these numbers must sound as bad as someone telling him that, upon review, it’s been discovered that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings as host of “The Apprentice” had actually been higher than Trump’s.  News of that sort would likely cause angry denials followed by uncontrolled fits of rage.

Yes, numbers certainly matter.  They play a vital role in our lives... and sometimes, they’re just plain fun--but don't ask Donald.

Donald Trump Screws the Base

Much as he gloated about grabbing women by the p***y, Donald Trump is now assuming he can bend his base over the proverbial “Apprentice” casting couch, and expect them to take it while still singing his praises.  The question is... will they?  Or, is there a chance that at least some of them will wake up and realize they’ve been conned by a lesser Oz?

Throughout the campaign last fall, Trump liked to throw red meat to the tens of thousands of his supporters who craved blood, baring their fangs at every opportunity.  I believe the chant was “lock her up”, in reference of course, to former Frist Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Guess what?  Trump made it clear in the first days of his (pseudo) presidency that he has no plans whatsoever to pursue the matter.

Trump promised to “drain the swamp”.  Well, he pretty much acknowledged that was just a campaign slogan, and he had no intention of drastically altering the status quo.  In fact, he’s appointed a cabinet of billionaires:  anti-labor, pro-corporate establishment who have absolutely nothing in common with the average American.  

Trump claimed he was beholden to no one, but his Russian ties continue to raise questions and keep him tied in knots of his own creation.  While the world condemns Putin’s second attempt to poison a political opponent (Vladimir Kara-Murza), Trump remains silent.  Trump appointed Putin ally and patsy Rex Tillerson (former Exxon CEO) as his Secretary of State.  Tillerson is an advocate of lifting sanctions on Putin and his circle of thugs.  The questions remain about Putin’s efforts to get Trump elected--just how deep was his involvement?  Were the constant Wikileaks drips piped out of the Kremlin?  Just as Trump has no interest in releasing his taxes due to the revelations they contain (perhaps he’s not really a billionaire, perhaps he owes millions to Russian banks...) he constantly attempts to divert attention from investigations into the “Russian connection”.  His latest break with reality came when he accused President Obama of wiretapping Mordor (Trump Tower).  No proof whatsoever, but Trump has a close relationship with fantasy.  Does his base really want the image of the United States of America tarnished by a close relationship with a murderous band of thugs?  We’ve unfortunately ventured down this road before; it wasn’t pretty.

Finally, there’s healthcare.  Wow... candidate Trump promised that when he repealed Obamacare he would “take care of everybody”-- his replacement would be cheaper & better.  Now, suddenly, he is claiming that “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated”.  Wrong.  He may have been the only one who didn’t realize the complexity of the issue.  His response to this shocking discovery has been to take refuge in Paul Ryan’s plan.  Well, the CBO (a nonpartisan group designed to provide Congress with independent analysis & estimates of the cost of proposed legislation) has reported that 24 million people will likely lose insurance in the next decade under this “plan”--with 14 million losing their insurance in 2018 alone!  I hate to break it to the base, but there’s every indication that this will hit you hard.

There are so many other reasons to open your eyes.  U.S. taxpayers are paying for Trump's wall folly, not Mexico. Coal is not coming back.  He has not divested from his businesses.  He slept through the Yemen raid (in which a Navy SEAL and an 8 year old American girl were killed--along with numerous other civilians.  The raid produced no useful intel.  He touts the same jobs reports he once labeled as “phony”.  He invented “fake news”, and continues to create more of it than any other person, living or dead.

Stop allowing this man to abuse you, and don’t believe his promises (once a liar, always a liar).  Remember, all abusers have a weakness... some fatal flaw that allows victims the opportunity to break free.  In Trump's case it's his massive ego.  Just remind him that he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and that John Lewis was right, Donald will never be a legitimate president.