Donald Trump Is Scared

Source: Peter Nicholas in The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and my own thoughts

People have speculated that Trump’s COVID-19 treatment altered his judgment. They are incorrect. His judgement and behavior have always been erratic. Based on all the reports from those who have known Trump for years tell of a man who believes he has the right to demand whatever he wants.

He seemed as if he might be delirious. He blasted out bewildering tweets in all caps. Sick and infectious, he circled the perimeter of the Walter Reed hospital in an armored SUV, waving to supporters. He demanded the arrest of his opponents.

None of this behavior especially surprises those who’ve heard Oval Office rants dating back to the start of Trump’s presidency. “In terms of his current behavior, to me it looks like just another day at the office,” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, told Peter Nicholas of The Atlantic “He doesn’t need steroids to behave this way.”

Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that President Donald Trump “is the most flawed person” he’s ever known.

It is now reported that in Oval Office meetings, John Kelly, the president’s ex–chief of staff, would clear the room of lower-level aides when Trump grew irate. “His face would get contorted and red, and you could see spit flying out of his mouth because he would get so mad about something,” Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, told Peter Nicholas. “Sometimes he’d get mad about something that wasn’t even the topic of the meeting.”

In appearances this week, he has vented his frustrations with suburban women — a critical voting bloc that polls suggest he has lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden — mixing an uncharacteristic personal plea with raw resentment and a curious claim of achievement.

“Suburban women, will you please like me? I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?” Trump said at a rally in Johnstown, PA.

Right now, the pressure Trump may be “feeling, knowing that he’s going to lose the election, is intensifying everything that we’re seeing and putting him in a hyper-agitated state,” Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, told Peter Nicholas.

It might all get worse. As Election Day nears, Trump’s dread may only grow, and his outbursts may only become more desperate. He may step up attacks in hopes of staving off a loss that he’d see as an intolerable rebuke. For someone who craves adulation and can’t ever seem to get enough, defeat could leave a hole that no treatment can remedy.

America’s Vanishing Social Security Trust Fund

This is a serious topic that neither Joe Biden not Donald Trump is interested in talking about. No wonder. It’s complicated and most people expect their elected representatives to solve the problem.

The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. But you wouldn’t know it. Politicians try to use it to their advantage.

The Social Security trust fund will run out of its funds in a dozen years or so if nothing is done. Some experts say the government should tap general revenue to pay beneficiaries.

A monthly check from Social Security is the only thing keeping millions of older Americans out of poverty. Half of married senior citizens and 70% of unmarried seniors get at least half of their income from it, according to the Social Security Administration. It is the indispensable retirement solution. But the trust fund that pays old age and survivor benefits is going to run out of money sometime in the 2030s.

Those hard facts have raised a question:
Should Social Security stop depending just on payroll taxes and the trust fund to pay benefits and start supplementing those sources with general tax revenue? The debate came to a boil in August, when President Trump floated the idea of a permanent cut in payroll taxes, which would presumably necessitate a big infusion of general tax revenue to keep benefits whole.

A lot of advocates for Social Security worry that tapping general revenue will make people perceive the program as welfare rather than a mutual insurance compact among workers.

On the other hand, drawing on general funds would make it easier to pay scheduled benefits to the Baby Boom generation without big hikes in payroll taxes.

Faced with this scenario, the usual response is to choose from an unpalatable menu for fixing Social Security’s finances, such as raising the retirement age, choosing a stingier cost-of-living adjustment, or increasing the payroll tax rate. Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the Social Security subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring the Social Security 2100 Act, which raises benefits slightly while gradually lifting the payroll tax rate for workers and employers from 6.2% to 7.4% and subjecting wages over $400,000 a year to payroll taxation.

But none of the choices on the menu undo the core problem, which is that American society has aged. The number of beneficiaries per 100 covered workers has risen from 25 in 1965 to 29 in 2000 to 36 this year, and it’s expected to reach 45 by 2040.

Here’s what a Biden presidential win may mean for your Social Security benefits as reported on CNBC. Biden would increase the special minimum benefit, which was created to provide low-earners with adequate benefits. Biden calls for setting that figure at 125% of the federal poverty line. That would bring it to $1,301 from $886 a month as of 2019, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump would like to cut payroll taxes to put more money in every family’s hands now to boost the economy but offers no plan on keeping the program afloat.

Under the influence of Medication or Losing His Mind

Biden says cancel next debate if Trump remains sick with COVID-19. Trump is likely to say you need a president who is brave. Biden isn’t brave enough for the presidency and he is too frail.

My theory is if Trump continues to have the virus and cannot campaign, remaining debates are canceled and if the polls continue to indicate he is likely to lose on November 3 he will use the virus for his path to resign the presidency.

Mere moments after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the next face-off between Donald Trump and Joe Biden would be held virtually rather than in person, the president on Thursday rejected the plan and called it a “waste” of his time.

“I’m not gonna do a virtual debate,” Trump said during a phone-in appearance on Fox Business. “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, it’s ridiculous.”

He went on to complain that the whole concept of a virtual debate was inherently unfair to him, “They cut you off whenever they want,” he claimed. Moreover, the moderator, Steve Scully of C-SPAN, was a “never Trumper.” Trump also accused the Commission, without evidence, of “trying to protect Biden.”

Trump’s interview with FBN’s Maria Bartiromo was alarming. The lines you need to see are below in bold. No wonder House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing a new bill to determine whether Trump is capable of serving as President.

1. “I beat him easily in the first debate, according to the polls that I’ve seen, but I beat him easily in the — I felt I beat him easily. I think he felt it too.”
Every reputable post-debate poll showed that viewers believed former Vice President Joe Biden won the first presidential debate. And away we go!

2. “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate. It’s ridiculous. And then they cut you off whenever they want.”
“Debate” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides.”

3. “And they tried to protect Biden. Everybody is. “
Trump believes every agency involved in the debate is opposed to him.

4. “(Biden) was raising his — his very thin hand and he was fracking. And now all of a sudden he’s not fracking.”
What? Was Biden drilling for oil? This line is a complete non-sequiter.

5. “They’re lying to everybody. They’re lying about so many different things.”
Donald Trump once said four false things. In one sentence.

6. “Yes, well, first of all, I think I’m better. I — when — when — to a point where I — I’d love to do a rally tonight. I wanted to do one last night.”
It may be worthwhile to note here that Donald Trump is not, in fact, a medical doctor.

7. “You know, no matter how good the security, you’re not going to protect yourselves from this thing with just your standard anything unless you just literally don’t come out.”
This is patently false. Doctors and infectious disease experts — not to mention scads of data — have made clear that wearing a mask, social distancing and avoiding large crowds all can greatly reduce the spread of Covid-19. That Trump often didn’t take any of those precautions likely played a significant role in him getting the virus.

8. “No, I don’t think I’m contagious, but we still have to wait — I don’t think I’m contagious at all.”
… said someone who is not a doctor.

9. “You catch this thing. It’s, you know, it’s — it’s particles of dust. It’s tiny stuff.”
The scientist has spoken.

10. “And, remember this, when you catch it, you get better. And then you’re immune, you know? I — as soon as everything goes away for me, you’re immune.”
Well, 211,000 Americans who caught Covid-19 didn’t get better. They died from it. As to whether Trump, or anyone else who has had Covid-19, is immune from getting it again, the science is still very unclear.

11. “I’m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way.”
Oh, you are not really 74 years old and obese.

12. “Perhaps a couple of pounds we could lose here and there, but, you know, because a lot of people in that category.”
According to his 2020 physical, Trump has a Body Mass Index of 30.5, which puts him in the “obese” category.

13. “Now, what happens is you get better. That’s what happens, you get better.”
Again, 211,000 Americans did not get better.

14. “I think I would have done it fine without drugs. It — you know, you don’t really need drugs.”
Not. A. Doctor. (Also: This sends a very dangerous message to Trump backers who may get Covid-19 and insist, like the President, that they don’t need drugs to treat it.)

15. “I’m — I’m glad because I’m the leader. And I can’t be like Biden where I hang out in a basement every day. Sure, he — if I wanted to hang out in a basement, I wouldn’t catch it, but I meet a lot of people and I have to.”

16. “Sometimes I’d be with — in groups of — for instance Gold Star families. I met with Gold Star families. I didn’t want to cancel that. But they all came in and they all talked about their son and daughter and father.”
In which the President of the United States suggests, with zero proof, that he contracted the coronavirus by meeting with Gold Star families.

17. “They want to hug me and they want to kiss me. And they do. And frankly, I’m not telling them to back up. I’m not doing it. But I did say it’s like — it’s obviously dangerous. It’s a dangerous thing I guess if you go by the Covid thing.”

“The Covid thing?”

18. “I figured that you probably — that probably at some point I’d catch it and I’ll get better. That’s what happened. I’ve caught it. I could’ve been out of the hospital in one day.”
Actual doctors decided to keep Trump in the hospital for four days.

19. “Look, I sit next to Joe and I looked at Joe. Joe’s not lasting two months as president, OK, that’s my opinion. He’s not going to be lasting two months.”
Then there was the argument the Biden couldn’t put two sentences together.

20. “And, you know, to be honest, Bill Barr’s going to go down either as the greatest attorney general in the history of the country or he’s going to go down as a very sad — sad situation. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, he’s got all the information he needs.”
Just the President running a pressure campaign against his own attorney general. This is fine!

Melt Down

The coronavirus is now pulsing through the capital: Three Senate Republicans — MIKE LEE of Utah, RON JOHNSON of Wisconsin and THOM TILLIS of North Carolina — all have tested positive. This reduces Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL’S majority to 50-47 for the time being. This situation will impact upcoming interviews of Amy Coney Barrett nominated for the Supreme Court. The Dems have one more arrow to shoot at this nomination. Can approval of her be stopped? Doubtful unless the virus brings the senate to a standstill.

Donald Trump’s words and behavior are impossible to understand. Some have suggested that the meds he received at Walter Reed Hospital may have effected his judgement.

First he arrives back at the White House from Walter Reed Hospital and he tears of his mask. Oh, wait a minute. I don’t like how that video came out, we have to do a re-do of my arrival.

Today Trump is reported to have said, “I Got the Coronavirus to Prove I Could Beat It Because That’s What Leaders Do!” Really? After all the effort you made to keep ill people away from you, you suddenly decided to get the infection. Is anyone going to believe this claim?

President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiators to halt talks over a new stimulus package, after the two sides have struggled for months to reach a deal, a stunning move that puts an end to last-ditch efforts for a major economic relief package as millions are reeling from the coronavirus crisis.

“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.

This would be a give away to Democrats who will say Trump doesn’t care about you.

Instructions to sycophant Mike Pence is no plexiglass shield at tomorrow’s debate. We need to show strength.

I cannot offer any reasonable explanation for Trump’s behavior. If this mad man is re-elected I fear what the next four years will do to this country.