#Election (3) Unmaking of the Presidency

• Author:  S. Hennessey,  B. Wittes
  
• Title: Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump’s War on the World’s Most Powerful Office
  
• Published: 2020    (433 pages)
  
• Genre:  non-fiction
  
• List of Challenges 2020
• Monthly plan

Conclusion:

1. Politics is not beanbag….it’s hardball.
2. If you want to make an informed choice at the
3. ballot box in November 2020 start by looking
4. under the hood of Trump and his
5. … Administration in the White House.
6. This is not a book. This is an achievement
7. The Electoral College ushered Trump into office 2016
8. …despite losing the popular vote (3-4 million votes).
9. If Trump wins again in 2020…the question is:
10. has the public accepted as tolerable Trump’s presidency that
11. …is fundamentally about the vanity of one individual?
12. Be afraid, be very afraid in these dystopian times.
13. #MustRead

1. Speech:
2. Stream-of- consciousness, (example East Room Speech dd 07 February 2020)
3. Proudly illiterate; misspellings, Kansas City Chiefs
4. …Super Bowl winners…from Kansas or Missouri?
   
5. Trump does not speak to persuade, never makes an argument
6. …but constantly repeats epithets (Sleep Joe, Shifty Schiff) and
7. …slogans (MAGA, KAGA. Do Nothing Dems, Hoax, Witch Hunt)
   
8. to  keep the base mobilized and validated.
9. Lies:
10. Trump does not ‘tap dance around the truth….he is a pathological
11. …liar about everything!!  (example SOTU address dd 04 February 2020)
12. Mueller Report:
13. Trump feels like ‘victim-in-chief’.
14. Kingship:
15. I have the absolute right….to even pardon myself!
16. Management style:
17. Governs in eruptions;  Trump attacks opponents via Dept of Justice
    
18. New York Times  Editorial Board dd 13 February was very clear:
19. TRUMP does NOT have the authority to run the DOJ
    — like a goon squad at one of his failed casinos.
20. What has Attorney Bill Barr done for Trump?
    —misled the public about the findings from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III,
    —cleared Trump of obstruction of justice,
    —embraced Trump’s claim that the FBI was “spying” on him,
    —worked to discredit the Russia probe,
    —disputed the inspector general’s finding that the probe had a proper basis
    —commissioned another probe in pursuit of his desired outcome
    —declined to investigate the Ukraine allegations
    —announced softened sentencing recommendations for Trump pal Roger Stone
    —after Trump demanded it.
    —investigating the prosecution of another former Trump aide, Michael Flynn.
21. Foreign Policy:
22. Shoot-from-the-hip deal-making,  does not want to listen to his Generals.
23. Many foreign interlocutors simply ignore what the president says.
24. But I don’t think the Turkish President Erdogan will EVER forget Trump’s
25. ….brash personal letter in which he warned
26. …not to be a “tough guy” or a “fool,” and
27. …said he risked being remembered as “the devil”.  #OUCH