Learn from North Korea
TheMoneyIllusion » Learn from North Korea
Surely Trump’s top aides can do better than
this:
Before he
abruptly ended Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer had been
unusually fulsome in his praise of his
displeased boss, President Trump. The president’s trip “truly was an extraordinary week for America and our people,” Spicer said, and the Saudi Arabia leg “was a historic turning point that people will be talking about for years to come,” in which Trump single-handedly “united the civilized world in the fight against terrorism and extremism.”
“We’ve never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of American interests and the inauguration of a foreign policy strategy designed to bring back the world from growing dangers and perpetual disasters brought on by years of failed leadership,” Spicer said. And Trump’s interactions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that
upended 50 years of close U.S.-European relations? “I think the relationship that the president has had with Merkel, he would describe as fairly unbelievable,” Spicer said. “They get along very well.”
And
Gary Cohn:
Over the weekend, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn — who was the second-in-command at Goldman Sachs before joining the White House — declared the president’s economic development deal with Saudi Arabia to be unlike anything he had seen in his 30 years in business.
And
Hope Hicks:
“President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him,” the statement said. “He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor . . . and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.”
I think it’s a lack of motivation. Insufficiently effusive supporters of North Korea’s leader are executed with
anti-aircraft guns. Trump merely screams at aides who refuse to treat him like the Sun King.
PS. And people wonder why Trump is
unable to fill government positions:
Donald Trump is struggling to find new staff to work for him because everyone thinks he is “crazy”, a senior member of the US President’s Republican Party has said.
Michael Steele said potential White House employees were put off by an environment in which aides are “flying by the seat of their pants”.
“The talent pool is shrinking, because who wants to sign up for crazy?” added Mr Steele, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee between 2009 and 2011.
Wasn’t Trump going to get the best people? No wonder they haven’t even developed a tax proposal for Congress to consider.
PS. Today Trump bragged about the progress of “our tax bill”:
Our tax bill is moving along in Congress and I believe it’s doing very well.
Matt Yglesias has some fun with this claim:
The thing about this is there is, literally, no tax bill.
- No tax bill has been introduced to the US House of Representatives.
- No tax bill has been introduced to the US Senate.
- The White House has not released a tax plan that is detailed enough for experts to assess its economic or fiscal impact.
Indeed, just a week ago, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney explained that what most experts saw as a
$2 trillion accounting mistake in the White House budget
was actually deliberate.
Another
Yglesias post explains why Trump makes so many false statements, and also explains why he doesn’t like people who have integrity
PPS. FWIW, the Paris Accord was mostly symbolic. But withdrawing is bad symbolism.