Nine Bullets | 100 Days Gone. What We Know

1) Donald Trump is not ready to be President. Didn't plan on it, doesn't know how the government works and is not a serious enough person to try. He has been weirdly confessional on this point but makes the typical rich idiot mistake of presuming that because he didn't know something, "nobody" could have known it. Presidenting is hard work, and Trump has never had to work hard. So he goes to Florida and plays golf every 5 days.
2) Donald Trump lies a lot -- pathologically so - but it is not clear he knows he is lying. It is more like he just doesn't pay any attention to what he says from one minute to the next. His toadies don't have the courage to tell him the truth. He also just doesn't care. Moreover, much of what the Administration says and does appears designed to troll the nation.
3) His gaps in knowledge and policy are being filled by the Russians, Nazis, and super-fundamentalist Christians. It would be one thing if he was thrust into this job while competent politicians were at his side to educate and guide him. However, he is surrounded by political neophytes and ideologues. No one in the White House knows anything about legislation or policy. He is learning about the world from some of the worst people you could assemble.
4) Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions is an example of competent evil (by comparison). Session's has been waiting his whole life to restore Jim Crow to the South and now he has the power to do it. His goals are to strip citizenship from immigrants to keep them from voting. Strip voting rights from protesters and people of color.
5) The Trump administration doesn't care about increasing his base because Jeff Sessions doesn't plan to let Democrats vote in the next election. Sessions efforts are part of a larger Republican plan fueled by White Nationalist fears of being outnumbered by minorities in the future. Sessions believes that the only way for Republicans to remain in power is to structure the democratic institutions so that non-Republicans can't vote. See North Carolina for examples of that tactics they plan to use.
6) The Russian thing is big, and Trump's inner circle knows it. Flynn, Manafort, Page, Gorka, Sessions - the list goes on. As the investigations continue, it will eventually be easier to list the people who weren't on the Russian payroll.
7) Trump is a bully, but he backs down easily. China figured out right away that Trump was a "paper tiger." A bully that backs down at the first hint of resistance. Paul Ryan and Congress took a little longer, but they are figuring it out too. He has no core principals, he does not do research and doesn't understand how the US government works. So even if he threatens you, he's got nothing to back it up and so he's an easy mark to roll.
8) Trump loves evil dictators, apparently. In his dreams Trump sees himself as a beloved mob boss or long ruling dictator. No surprise then that he's cuddling up to strong men while denouncing Democracies. This will come in handy when Sessions starts stripping people of their citizenship.
9) Republicans are misreading and misplaying the Trump victory. Most Republicans think that Trump's voters could primary them if they don't fall in line. As we've seen, however, Trump doesn't really have anything he cares about other than Trump. Congressional Republicans can't agree on any legislation to pass that will be popular, so they are going to face a referendum on Trump when they come up for reelection. By that time the Republican brand may be so tarnished by Trump's incompetence and mendacity that we could see a big loss for GOP in the general.

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