In case you were thinking the former Marine General who's now President Trump's Chief of Staff will stop all the drama in the White House, the incomparable Heather Digby Parton at Salon warns us that President Trump hasn't gotten on quite well with perceived military strongmen as time has gone on. Gen. McMaster, in particular, was "the new sheriff in town" not long ago, and now they're pushing him out of the way like he's Mayor Farnum on Deadwood. But here's a question: if Mr. Trump does turn on yet another man he sees as "a 'tough' leader, like himself," will Trump votaries start thinking maybe Mr. Trump isn't actually tough? Or will they continue to equate acting like a prick with "being tough"?
Speaking of the President acting like a prick, now the White House tells us his statement to Long Island police suggesting they should not be "too nice" when apprehending certain suspects was a "joke." If you find police brutality funny, or if you think all suspects are guilty merely because the police arrest them, then I guess the "joke" worked for you, even if it apparently didn't work for dozens of police departments, who don't routinely get criticized by the right for being so "sensitive" like the rest of us do.
Russian government passes law banning Virtual Private Networks (or VPNs), as well as other means of surfing the internet anonymously. Like our own CIA chief, the Russian government seems to think that the mere act of trying to protect your identity (or your data) online means you're a criminal trying to cover your tracks. You could just be a patriot, trying to protect yourself from the state! Why do I suspect that Trump supporters -- who call themselves patriots an awful lot, after all -- would cheer this on? Because their "patriotism" mainly means sticking it to liberals, that's why.
Wells Fargo admits to charging "several hundred thousand borrowers for car insurance they did not want or need," which of course enabled them to collect unearned missed-payment fees and repossess some 20,000 cars. Is this why we should let our bravest and boldest entrepreneurs do whatever they please, with no fear of government regulation? Not only do these bravest-and-boldest contribute nothing of value to our civilization except perhaps their bad example, they don't do any real work, either. Concocting a fraud scheme isn't work.
Finally, Brian Klaas at USA Today reminds us that President Trump "Embodies Every One of the Seven Deadly Sins." "He made the Boy Scouts speech about himself rather than about serving others" is the perfect sentence I spent a whole paragraph trying to write last week. But despite the cascade of irrefutable charges I'm sure Trump votaries won't be swayed, for how much of themselves will they see in this portrait of Dear Leader? There's nothing wrong with giving all your enemies what-for, they'll say, though I'm sure all of them, at some point, accepted the notion that some enemies are best ignored.
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