I dunno - I had just recently reached a different conclusion, that things had assumed a new low - a new normal. The book was a big buzz for a week, but what did it really do to move the needle for anyone? Couldn’t make me think any less of him (and just makes the state of our country’s governance even MORE depressing.) And isn’t going to affect the opinions of the true faithful.
Yeah, his self-clutching is odd - and seems more prominent. But he has flat out told Congress that he will sign whatever they put in front of him. So they can ignore him as anything other than a cartoon figurehead - a king, if you will - and both parties can focus on the midterms and whatever they can cobble together in their self interests.
I remember people talking of Reagan as managing in a “hands off” style. Trump is taking that to an extreme. He is free to lurch to whatever public appearances he wishes, and otherwise, watch TV and golf as the country runs itself in a half assed manner. He’ll take credit for any perceived successes, and deny responsibility for any perceived shortcomings.
Here’s an article from Mashable regarding the frequency of Tweets by President Very Stable Genius (to Nov. 2017):
A quick look at Twitter analytics shows him averaging about 7 Tweets/day over the past month, so leveling off a bit; OTOH there probably is a practical limit to the number of Tweets he can emit and still leave a few hours for that annoying Presidentin’ stuff, and he may have reached it.
I think one of Trump’s staple body languages is he’s always punting his hand over his heart to get what he perceives as a salient point across. Which one might interpret as clutching his imaginary pearls.
As more members of his administration are thrown under the the bus, there may be less people willing to work in his administration only be be thrown under the bus themselves. So with less other-people to blame, more stuff sticks to Donny boy?
I don’t think he actually wanted to be President, and he certainly didn’t understand what would be expected of him if he was, and the microscope he would be under.
He’s always been surrounded by underlings who had to keep their mouths shut; now he’s dealing with Senators and Representatives who don’t have to kowtow to him, and he can’t deal with it.
It seems as though there have been increased film bites of him in meetings, apparently aimed at suggesting he is somehow involved. “Making deals”, as it were. A great deal of the time he has his arms crossed in front of his chest - hugging himself. I’m no master of body language (and disfavor over-reliance on it in many situations), but arms crossed is generally suggestive of insecurity, defensiveness - definitely nothing strong and in control. Makes him look like the petulant child many of us think he is.
Do you really think they were attempting to offer a medical diagnosis with that comment? They also referred to him as a child both now and at the time he was elected. Did you think they were literally saying he was under the age of 13 in November 2016? Or that he is currently an actual child?
In terms of ethics, which do you think is a more serious violation:
A doctor violating a standard of practice not to diagnose someone who is not their patient.
Trump’s multiple and ongoing ethics problems, per both Democratic and Republican former White House ethics advisers?
I don’t mean that one ethics lapse excuses another, but I think it is important to establish the severity of an ethics breach in a more holistic context, such as comparing it to other breaches.
He crosses his arms and kind of hugs himself. It seems more common now. A lot of impressions of Nixon had similar behavior, but I don’t know if he really did that, or it just became part of a Nixon schtick.
The book seems to have triggered Trump. He has these moments, but when he comes back down, it seems to be a little worse, like he never resets completely. It’s most pronounced when he’s challenged by a woman, especially a woman of color.