Jan.08

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Trump Gone Wild

Yesterday, joined by Special-Envoy-to-the-Middle-East-designate Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. And he said lots of wild and crazy things. Here's a rundown:

• Canada, Greenland and Panama: A major theme of the press conference was Trump continuing to air his expansionist fantasies. He said that the annexation of Canada might be accomplished through economic means, whereas Greenland and Panama might be achieved in the same way, or possibly through the use of military force.
  
  
• A Little Di** Waving: Also on the foreign affairs front (and this is why Witkoff was in attendance), Trump warned that Hamas better return its remaining hostages before he takes office or "all hell will break loose in the Middle East." He added: "It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone... I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is." Could be hot air, could be prologue to World War III. Anything's possible.
  
  
• The Gulf of America: For roughly 500 years, the body of water directly south of the Gulf Coast has been known as the Gulf of Mexico. As part of his campaign of redrawing maps (with or without the aid of Sharpies), Trump announced that he plans to rename it as the Gulf of America.
  
  This is not the first time this has been proposed. It was put forward by former state Rep. Steve Holland (D-MS) in 2012, and also by Stephen Colbert (at that time serving as host of The Colbert Report). In both of those cases, the point was to satirize Republicans' obsession with eliminating all things Mexican from American culture. Apparently, Trump did not get the joke.
  
  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Trump's loyal lap dog (well, one of them), has already submitted legislation to make the change official. Maybe Congress will pass the bill, or maybe Trump will issue an XO. Either way, the new rules will apply only to federal mapmakers. For everyone else in the U.S., and for foreign countries, the change will only be adopted if found to be agreeable. And not to give anything away, but the next time (Z) lectures on the Mexican-American War, you can be damn well sure he won't be talking about how the Americans attacked via the Gulf of America.
  
  
• The Environment: This part of the presentation was... scattered, to say the least. However, Trump apparently wants: (1) fewer electric heaters and more gas heaters, (2) fewer electric cars, (3) an end to low-flow faucets and shower heads and (4) an end to water-efficient dishwashers and washing machines. Trump claimed that the latter two technologies are not needed because "We have so much water, we don't know what to do with it." Maybe he is not aware that the water in the "Gulf of America" can't be used for drinking, showering, etc.
  
  Trump also went on an extended harangue about windmills, which are actually a longstanding nemesis of his. He said he wants to "try and have a policy where no windmills are being built." One of his reasons is that windmills are "driving the whales crazy, obviously." You can't make this stuff up, though one cannot help but think of the other guy who was famous for making an enemy out of windmills. He was also named Don.
  
  
• Capitol Rioters: During the campaign, of course, Trump promised he would pardon all the people convicted of crimes due to their actions on 1/6. Since then, he's been backtracking on that a bit. And while it's hard to fully understand what he's talking about, he's apparently glommed on to the notion that some of the 1/6 rioters were, in fact, members of Hezbollah. In response to questions about the pardons yesterday, he said: "We have to find out about Hezbollah. We have to find out about who exactly was in that whole thing because people that did some bad things were not prosecuted." At very least, this buys him some time to "look into it." Maybe it gives him cover to refuse pardons to some or all participants. Or, alternatively, it could be giving him cover to grant pardons indiscriminately. "If we didn't punish the Hezbollah members," he might ask, "Then how can we punish actual Americans?"
  
  
• Joe Biden: There will be no Trump press conference this month where he does not badmouth Joe Biden. There may not be one this year. Yesterday's carping focused on two things. The first is that Trump is unhappy (naturally) that Biden just declared 635 million acres of American waters off-limits to new drilling permits. The second is that Trump claims the Biden White House is making the transition needlessly difficult. By contrast, incoming chief-of-staff Susan Wiles says that the Biden White House has "been very helpful." Readers may decide for themselves which person they believe.
  
  
• Jimmy Carter: Trump is also furious with Jimmy Carter for stealing some of his (Trump's) thunder by having the bad taste to die in close proximity to the inauguration. The President-elect has already complained about the fact that flags will be at half-staff during the inaugural. Yesterday, he took a couple of semi-potshots at his deceased predecessor, asserting that Carter deserved to lose his re-election bid, and that the primary reason for it was the cession of the Panama Canal. This is both low-class and is bad history; Carter was done in by the economy and by the hostage situation in the Middle East.
  
  
• DoJ: Trump also had a go at the Department of Justice and, in particular, Special Counsel Jack Smith. The President-elect took some new slurs out for a spin, describing it as the "Injustice Department" engaged in "lawfare." Some very smart stuff. He also said he was very pleased that another one of his lap dogs, Judge Aileen Cannon, had blocked the release of Smith's final report on his investigations (more below).
  
  
• Sajwani: Trump also bragged that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani has agreed to invest at least $20 billion for data centers across the United States. The president-elect said that Sajwani "wouldn't do it without the election." That is probably true, though we would guess it's not in the way Trump thinks. We presume Sajwani is following the same line of thinking that the Saudi-backed LIV golf does when it makes a point of hosting numerous events each year at Trump-owned properties. It's not because the greens are so verdant, or the lawns are so nicely manicured.

There was more, but that's certainly enough to convey the main themes, as well as the tone and tenor.

We are not sure exactly what is going on here. Clearly, despite winning the election, and getting about as favorable an outcome as is possible in his various legal situations, Trump is very angry. Here is how John King put it:

It is remarkable. Somebody who is two weeks from resuming the presidency of the United States who, whether you voted for him or not, whether you like him or not, just engineered a remarkable historical political comeback, is so whiny and so full of grievances.

The part we're not sure about is: What's driving this? Are these the ramblings of an old man who is increasingly mentally infirm and increasingly emotionally unstable? Or is there some level of method to the madness? Has he concluded (possibly rightly) that the most important thing, in terms of his base, is to feed them a steady diet of outrage, and that actual policy achievements don't much matter? Or is he creating a smokescreen to cover for more embarrassing news, like his legal troubles and his semi-failing high-level nominees (see below)? Maybe it's all of these things.

An even trickier question, at least for us, is figuring out how much attention to give to these sorts of unhinged meanderings. The vast majority of this will go nowhere, and so an argument could be made that writing about it is not useful, and just exploits a sick, old man, or enables his manipulative behavior, or both. On the other hand, some of it will go somewhere—at very least, it will inform the actions of the Trump White House and the Republican Congress. And it's hard to know which things are the ones he'll actually pursue. Greenland? The windmills? The Hezbollah "conspiracy"? Further, the less scrutiny a president gets, the more power they have to fly under the radar. So, maybe we have to write about all of Trump's rantings and ravings.

It is also important to realize that while co-president-elect Elon Musk is conservative, he is intelligent and has a good grasp of reality and an especially good grasp of what is good for Elon Musk. Random wars are not good for the economy, the stock market, or him. Banning electric cars or ways to generate electricity are not good for him. He certainly won't interfere with Trump venting, but quietly thereafter he may explain things to Trump.

Thoughts from readers? (Z)