Your Monday Trump Dump

Trump seems to be trapped in a vicious circle: The more he gets criticized by the press and ridiculed by comedians, the more his ranting provides ammo for those who criticize or ridicule him.

There's a certain poetic justice happening with his TV coverage. Not that long ago, the programming folks seem to have come to the conclusion that covering Trump's campaign speeches, usually in full, was good for ratings. That helped him a lot to get where he is today. But now, the folks who do late night programming seem to have concluded that calling Trump a clueless, lying lunatic is good for ratings. Live by the Nielsens, die by the Nielsens. Here are some links…

  • As Kevin Drum notes, enthusiasm for getting rid of Obamacare is faltering among Republicans now they they've gotten rid of Obama. I agree with his observation that "Hating Obamacare was mostly just a way of hating Obama."
  • Matt Taibbi explains what Trump is trying to accomplish by repealing the bi-partisan provision of the Dodd-Frank bill known as the Cardin-Lugar Amendment. Hint: It isn't to keep his promise to cut down on the power of special interests to get what they want out of government.
  • Daniel Larison explains why it would be foolish and counter-productive for the Trump administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Some people sure want them to.
  • Trump just selected Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser. Fred Kaplan explains why this might turn out to be a pretty good choice.

Lastly: I've been catching up on TV programs I missed while I was away and I have to say I was really disappointed in Bill Maher for having Milo Yiannopoulos on his show and for acting like the mere fact that some people don't want this man to speak in certain venues means that he has something to say worth hearing. Yiannopoulos struck me as one of those people who has learned that saying outrageous things that piss people off is a good career move…so he says outrageous things that piss people off.

I am reminded of when I worked with the late "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, back when he was a superstar bad-guy wrestler. Out of the ring, Roddy was a great, funny fellow who admitted his villainy was all an act…but, as he put it, "It made me rich and famous and I didn't have to work on a loading dock anymore."  To some, being a hated somebody is better than being a non-hated nobody, especially if there's money in it.

No principle of Free Speech guarantees anyone a forum to air their views. I live not far from where Maher does his show and there's a derelict-looking guy who's sometimes about, yelling hatred of Jews and Blacks and women who don't stay home and just make fudge and babies…and there are no coherent views behind any of this. It's just kind of a desperate primal scream to be noticed. I look forward to seeing him on Real Time in the near future.