What the rest of the world now thinks of us (what a difference from three years ago):
I never thought Iâd live to see the day that America became a laughing stock. 
US President Donald Trump is so paranoid about leakers in the White House that he has repeatedly suggested that all staff members should undergo a lie-detector test, Politico reported Tuesday.
Four former administration staffers told the publication that Trump had often raised the possibility of making staff members and aides take a polygraph test after news stories with leaked information about his presidency appeared.
Ashley Parker seems to really get who T isâŚthe schoolyard bully, the impish child and his main strength is his attack back at you once youâve made a negative comment about him. It stands to reason, T will deflect all incoming subpoenas, align his attackers to call out these âtraitors,â the same attack that was made on him.
We know heâs a jerkâŚbut this is part of his strategy. Wear the enemy down with attacks.
After House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, the Oval Office occupant countered with a creative offer of his own: Impeach me? No, impeach you!
And so it was that Trump suggested, in a series of tweets, that perhaps the two California Democrats leading the effort against him â House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee â should be impeached instead.
âMust all be immediately Impeached!â wrote Trump, who, in a separate missive, also debuted an â#IMPEACHÂÂMITTÂROMNEYâ hashtag, after Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) criticized him for calling on both Ukraine and China to investigate a political rival.
Left unsaid was the pesky fact for the president that lawmakers cannot, in fact, be impeached. But the schoolyard taunt offered another window into Trumpâs âIâm rubber, youâre glueâ approach to the impeachment inquiry now consuming his administration.
Though the White House has yet to launch an official war room to fight the Democratic investigation, it is putting forth something of a one-man platoon in the form of the president himself â in the role of playground bully, wielding his shamelessness like a weaponized rubber kickball, ready to pummel into the mud anyone who dares to level a charge against him.
The tactic epitomizes Trumpâs âI know you are but what am I?â presidency, a long-held strategy in which Trump turns an accusation back forcefully on his accuser, regardless of how outlandish or fallacious the countercharge may be.
âTrumpâs approach to turning his opponentsâ attacks back on them is part branding, part trolling and part relentless, disciplined messaging,â said Cliff Sims, a former White House aide and author of âTeam of Vipers,â about his time working in the Trump administration. âItâs proven to be extraordinarily effective. But itâs not even replicable because no one else is audacious enough to pull it off.â
What a buffoon.
Women have been walking in space for decades, but there had never been a spacewalk involving more than one female astronaut at a time until this past week. On Oct. 18, NASAâs Christina Koch and Jessica Meir teamed up on an historic walk, performing maintenance work on the International Space Station.
As might be expected, the two were congratulated over the phone by the president of the United States. But the president, awkwardly, mischaracterized their achievement.
âThis is the first time for a woman outside of the space station,â Donald Trump said incorrectly, ignoring the work of Svetlana Savitskaya, a Russian astronaut who spacewalked in 1984, and the 14 women (including ones from NASA) who followed her.
He later inspired the nation with this gem:
âTheyâre doing some work, and theyâre doing it in a very high altitude â an altitude that very few people will ever see.â
Ah, the eloquence, the great and unmatched wisdom of our fearless leaderâŚ
Guy Snodgrass is former chief speechwriter for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He is the author of Holding the Line: Inside Trumpâs Pentagon With Secretary Mattis, from which this article is adapted.
Long before real planning for it began, and long before the first news stories about it, those of us in the top levels of the Pentagon heard President Donald Trump demand the military parade he would eventually get. The bizarre request was one of the first signs I had of the enormous rift between my boss at the time, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and the president.
This reads more like a novel than a non-fiction account. If I hadnât followed Trump for years now, it would be hard to believe this was real â it will definitely be a scene in at least one of the Trump presidency postmortem bio-pics. Totally bonkers. Favorite parts:
Mattis, for whom I was working as chief speechwriter, had hoped the briefing would educate Trump on the United Statesâ longstanding commitment to the rest of the world. That is not at all what happened.
Instead, the president burst out in the middle of the meeting.
âI just returned from France,â he said. âDid you see President Macronâs handshake?â he asked no one in particular. âHe wouldnât let go. He just kept holding on. I spent two hours at Bastille Day. Very impressive.â
A pause.
âI want a âVictory Day.â Just like Veterans Day. The Fourth of July is too hot,â he said, apparently out of nowhere. âI want vehicles and tanks on Main Street. On Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. We need spirit! We should blow everybody away with this parade. The French had an amazing parade on Bastille Day with tanks and everything. Why canât we do that?â
A âVictory Dayâ? Victory over what? Iâve often thought that one of the primary reasons that Trump turned on Mattis had nothing to do with foreign policy, but was really all about Mattisâs opposition to Trumpâs self-aggrandizing military parade. This inside look at the meeting where Trump first proposed it, reinforces that belief (thatâs just IMO).
The fact that Trump wanted this parade shows, first, that he wants to be an authoritarian ruler or probably even a dictator â dictators have the best military parades. Second, it shows he has no idea who we are as a country.
Another favorite passage:
Pence and Kushner sat stone-faced, not uttering a single word throughout the entire meeting. Maybe they were the smart ones. Over time Mattis began to shut down, sitting back in his chair with a distant, defeated look on his face. He had cared so much about this meeting, had poured his heart and soul into it, and had believed firmly in his ability to bring Trump around to his way of thinking. None of his attempts were working. From my vantage point, Mattis was playing a game of chess against a president fixated on âRock, Paper, Scissors.â
And
For the remainder of the meeting, Trump veered from topic to topicâSyria, Mexico, a recent Washington Post story he didnât likeâlike a squirrel caught in traffic, dashing one way and then another.
The issues were complicated, yet all of the presidentâs answers were simplistic and ad hoc. He was shooting from the hip on issues of global importance.
With that, the meeting ended.
Most recent AP/NORC poll numbers, prior to the killing of al-Bahgdadi
61 % Sixty-one percent of Americans think Trump does not have much respect for the countryâs democratic institutions;
46 % Forty-six percent of Americans say Trump makes them feel angry, while 40% say he makes them feel overwhelmed
48% Forty-eight percent of adults say Trumpâs actions as president have been good at strengthening the economy, 30% disagree
Poll
http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/Assessing-Trumpâs-Performance.aspx
Assessing Trumpâs Performance
An AP-NORC Poll conducted in October 2019 assesses Americansâ views of Trump. There continues to be large partisan differences in the publicâs evaluation of the president.
Overall, 42% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 56% disapprove in the latest AP-NORC survey. These assessments are holding steady compared to the last AP-NORC survey conducted in September when 40% approved and 59% disapproved.
While Republicans remain overwhelmingly supportive of the presidentâs job performance, they are slightly less positive about his honesty, his discipline, and his respect for the countryâs democratic institutions and traditions.
Sixty-one percent of Americans think Trump does not have much respect for the countryâs democratic institutions; 38% think he does have some respect. Although Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think Trump respects democratic institutions, still 26% say he has little or no respect.
Americans have mixed opinions when asked to assess Trumpâs personal qualities. A majority see Trump as someone who stands up for what he believes in. Fewer describe Trump as a strong leader, and someone who is honest or disciplined. Again, Republicans are more likely to have a more favorable view of Trumpâs qualities than Democrats, but they are not enormously positive about his honesty or discipline.
âŚ
Forty-six percent of Americans say Trump makes them feel angry, while 40% say he makes them feel overwhelmed. Fewer feel proud (32%) or excited (28%). Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say President Trump makes them feel angry or overwhelmed. While in the minority, sizeable numbers of Republicans say Trump does not make them feel proud or excited.
âŚ
Fifty-four percent of Americans approve Trumpâs handling of the economy compared to 44% who disapprove. Fewer approve of Trumpâs handling of health care, trade negotiations with other countries, and foreign policy. Republicans are more likely to approve of the way Trump is handling the issues.
âŚ
Forty-eight percent of adults say Trumpâs actions as president have been good at strengthening the economy, 30% disagree. Twenty-one percent say they have been neither good nor bad.Fewer credit Trump with improving the U.S standing in the world: 39% have a positive view compared to 46% who disagree and 13% who report his actions havenât had a good nor bad impact. When it comes to the reduction of corruption in the government, 32% view Trumpâs actions positively and 45% see them negatively. Thirty-seven percent think Trumpâs presidency has been good for the fight against terrorism compared to 42% who say itâs been bad.
Since Trump took office, 42% of Americans say they pay more attention to politics, and 43% say they pay about the same attention as they did before. Fifteen percent say they have less interest in politics. This is true across party lines.
Read this review of what Tâs actions have to do with our DemocracyâŚwritten by Tom Nichols, @RadioFreeTom
Professor, author on Russia, war, nukes, and âThe Death of Expertise.â Noted curmudgeon. Cat guy. Ex-GOP and Never Trumper âhuman scum.â Views solely my own.
The article in question:
Tis trueâŚthe Democrat won in KY.
What is he thinking? A draft dodger leading a Veterans Day Parade? I thought this was a piece from The Onion, but yes, it is true. You canât make this stuff up.
Donald Trump will finally get his wish when he kicks off the 100th annual Veterans Day parade in New York City on Monday. Before he became president, Trump donated huge sums of money to the veterans group that organizes the annual parade in hopes he would be named grand marshalâwhich the New York Post reports never happened. The president and first lady are expected to kick off the event and lay a wreath at the Eternal Light Memorial at Madison Square Park. âThe president has been great supporter of our veterans and indeed this parade here in New York City for more than 25 years,â said Bill White, 2019 Veteranâs Day Parade co-producer. âWhat he is doing now as president with regard to veterans choice, funding our military, and holding them and their families in the highest regard is truly extraordinary. He is loved by our veterans for sure.â Trump has been booed several times as heâs made public appearances in recent weeks, including at a pro-wrestling event and a World Series game.
Just sayinââŚgives me the hives thinking about it, but he and his supporters ARE in the danger zone.
I believe T is gonna see some hateâŚbigly. 
The Veterans Day Parade begins on Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street, and continues north along Fifth Avenue to 56th Street.
YupâŚvindictive, bullying, pettyâŚthatâs the Trump way. Their dead-in-the-eye approach to every problem is payback- âWeâre up, Youâre downâŚâ âWe will get back at you, always.â
Oh, there is no mercy with these folks.
None.
That really is who Trump is. Heâs obsessed with revenge.
Trump gave this is as his number one piece of advice at the National Achievers Congress in Sydney: âGet even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe it.â
I never forget that, deep down, this is who he is, and it motivates everything he does. Anybody who ever crossed him is on a list, and he takes petty delight in destroying them. And thatâs why Trumpites adore him. He speaks to their darkest desires of revenge and payback.
The lying numbers (false claims) are staggeringâŚit is almost as if (and it is) T makes it up as he goes.
President Donald Trump made 67 false claims last week, 27 of them related to Democratsâ impeachment inquiry.
This was the sixth consecutive week in which Trump made more false claims about impeachment or Ukraine than about any other subject.
Trumpâs three most frequent false claims of the week were all impeachment-related. He said seven times that the whistleblower has disappeared (there is no evidence of this), four times that the whistleblowerâs complaint was inaccurate (it has proven highly accurate), and four times that the Washington Post fabricated its sources for an article about how Trump had reportedly tried to get Attorney General William Barr to hold a news conference declaring he had committed no crimes in his July call with Ukraineâs president (there is no evidence the Post invented any sources; other news outlets, including CNN, quickly followed the Post scoop with similar reports).
Trump has made 1,202 false claims in the 18 weeks we have been fact checking him at CNN, about 10 false claims per day. Last weekâs total of 67 false claims was his eighth-highest weekly total.
This is what I was thinking as well. Pelosi has his ânumberâ and knows that all that he says is really very self-referential. Pelosi has even said he knows he is a fraudâŚThis all rings true when he criticizes Intel Chair Adam Schiff