Tweetizen Trump – 2017-08-10: "Unpredictability!"
Where has the week gone, Donald? Ah, well — at least we haven't yet all died in a nuclear fireball, right? That's a good thing!
So, what's going on in your twitter-pated head today, Mr. President?
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
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HEALTH CARE!
► Senator Mitch McConnell said I had "excessive expectations," but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done? [1]
Um … because you fumbled the ball on the 20, Donald?
No, I mean, sure, the GOP in the Senate (heck, the GOP in the House) have to shoulder a lot of the blame for ACA Repeal not passing. But your effort in persuading the public and cajoling Congress wasn't too stellar, either.
Have you ever read a biography about LBJ, discussing how he got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed? It demonstrates a lot more "Art of the Deal" than you showed in this effort, Donald.
That was yesterday. Then, today …
► Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare! [2]
Wow. Mitch must have really gotten under your skin about your inexperience leading to over-optimism about how easy it would be to repeal the ACA [7]. The irony is, he probably thought he was defending you from criticism — clearly your sense of pride didn't let you take it that way.
On the other hand, an image of Mitch McConnell "screaming" about anything is kind of funny, so thanks for that, Donald.
To be fair, I think everyone on both sides of the aisle thought the ACA repeal was going to be a slam-dunk. Except that it turned out that, hey, some Republican lawmakers were such ideologues that nothing but throwing the sick into workhouses would do for them, while others were moderate enough to actually care about what people back home were saying at Town Hall meetings. Who'da thunk!
Again, that would have been an amazing time to grab the bully pulpit, give a national address, meet with lawmakers on a weekly basis, make those phone calls, rally the troops, lead the charge.
Instead, you let Priebus and Pence do the heavy lifting, sat back in the White House (or Mar-a-Lago), and sniped from the sidelines.
The buck stops there, Donald.
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KOREA!
You retweeted John Bolton (!):
► Our country & civilians are vulnerable today because @BarackObama did not believe in national missile defense. Let’s never forget that. [3]
So let's set aside that Bolton is a nutjob, who's dedicated to defeating anything related to arms control, and a vigorous proponent of building All the Weapons. But while the US (including under Obama) has spent many billions of dollars in trying to develop ICBM defense systems [8], what anyone has been able to come up with is of dubious effectiveness [9].
Shooting down in-flight missiles is hard, Donald. Almost as hard as health care.
But, anyway, nice try in attempting to push responsibility for the North Korea kerfuffle onto your predecessor.
You retweeted "The Five" (!):
► "@POTUS being unpredictable is a big asset, North Korea knew exactly what President Obama was going to do."- @jessebwatters
So … this is the Drunken Master school of nuclear brinksmanship [10]? "If I act like a crazy person, they'll never know what I'm going to say or do next, so they'll back down"? Is that your cunning plan, Donald?
Just remember how that worked for Han Solo [11].
You retweeted "Fox & Friends" (!):
► FOX NEWS ALERT: North Korea responds to U.S. with Guam attack plan as Secretary Mattis warns Kim Jung Un “he is grossly overmatched”
Complete with a quote from Defense Secretary Mattis.
I have to say, Donald, I'm bemused / amazed that this sort of message is being forwarded from the President via a Fox & Friends retweet instead of, you know, you actually making a statement, or forwarding an official tweet from Mattis, or something like this.
I mean, is this a vacation thing? Or just laziness?
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POTPOURRI!
You retweeted "ProgessPolls" with a survey (from a week ago):
► Who is a better President of the United States? #ObamaDay [6]
Oh, Donald, really? For all your lambasting of "Fake News Suppression Polls!" you not only posted an internet poll, but one that had been gamed to show 61% liked you vs 39% for Obama?
Is your ego that easily stroked, Donald?
Meanwhile, over at your favorite professional polling site [12], Rasmussen, your Presidential Approval Index is only at – 18, with a 54% – 44% disapproval to approval result. That's up from last week, so it's a comfort [13].
Of course, at the same point in his presidency, Obama was at on – 9 on the Presidential Approval Index (and ended up at + 12 at the end of his term), so maybe that isn't a comfort. But, then, you invited the comparison.
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Your Social Media Minions also posted under your name …
… an incredibly glurgy photo-montage about you, to the tune of Lee Greenwood's already-glurgy "God Bless the USA". [P]
… a tweet from Bloomberg about job openings being up.
… a retweeted PR piece from the VA talking again about telehealth.
… a retweeted PR piece from Rick Perry about how the US is exporting natural gas now
—-
[1] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/895347654431035393
[2] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/895599179522650112
[3] https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/895343008580866050
[4] https://twitter.com/TheFive/status/895451762122833921
[5] https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/895586911275712512
[6] https://twitter.com/ProgressPolls/status/893558108064239616
[7] http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/mitch-mcconnell-excessive-expectations/index.html
[8] https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-limits-of-u-s-missile-defense/
[9] http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-missile-defense-failings/
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlyai-wfZLw
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raF9wfPxir8
[12] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/876394578777174021
[13] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/trump_approval_index_history
[P] So incredibly awesome that it had to be posted on both @RealDonaldTrump and the official @POTUS account.
