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It's sedatious, I tell you.

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More and more Trump reminds me of a bad imitation of Rodney Dangerfield.  Granted, he can be funny in spite of himself but most of the time he just comes off incredibly stupid.  Here he was promoting Tulsi Gabbard's absurd claim of Obama's sedition in the 2016 elections during a WH meeting with Filipino leader Marcos.  "Obama was sedatious."

Obama wasn't laughing.  He blasted the bizarre allegations but that didn't stop Republican Congressional leaders from trying to pass off Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections as a false flag despite ample proof of their involvement.  Trump's Deputy AG at the time launched an investigation, if for no other reason than to clear Trump's name. Donald took such personal offense that he held Sessions and Rosenstein directly responsible for dragging his name into it.  The circus went on for months with Robert Mueller eventually concluding that there was Russian interference but that it didn't alter the outcome of the election.  Try telling that to Ron Johnson, who believes the false narrative was entirely concocted by Democrats and the liberal media.

I just want this to be over and yet we are only six months into Trump's second tenure.  It is demonstrably worse than the first time around but Trump was telling everyone he accomplished more in his first 100 days than any president accomplished their entire terms.  I suppose if you count his "Big Beautiful Bill," he does have one legislative victory, but all his "victories" are through the Supreme Court, which has essentially given him carte blanche on his executive orders.  With no one to stop him, the Trump administration could have a very menacing effect on our fragile democracy.  It was not designed to bear up under such strain, as it is more about gentleman's agreements than it is any binding laws.  With the Supreme Court in his back pocket there is little to stop him from rounding up anyone he considers a political threat and shipping him or her off to Alligator Alcatraz, including Rosie O'Donnell. Another feud that goes back decades.  

The big problem is that everyone is trying to step around Trump these days.  No one wants to directly confront him for fear he might raise tariffs or inflict some other kind of economic misery on their country.  The new German PM Merz even gave Trump a framed copy of his grandfather's German birth certificate that seemed to visibly please the President.  I wonder if it said "Drumpf" on it? At least Donald is no longer calling for Greenland or Canada to be part of the United States, but you never know when that might come up again.

At the latest NATO conference, member countries went out of their way to appease Trump, letting him know they were raising their defense spending at his insistence, and remarking on how well he handled Iran, even if it has since been shown the US inflicted no major damage to the country's nuclear weapons program.  NATO Sec. General Mark Rutte even called him "daddy."  No one could figure out where that came from.  

However, the tone shifted slightly when Trump declared he was giving Ukraine badly needed Patriot missiles, only to add that Germany was paying for them. This prompted Estonian PM Kaja Kallas to ask, "How is that a gift?" Although she commended him for finally speaking out against Putin and resuming military aid to Ukraine.  Apparently Trump was unaware that Pentagon Chief Hegseth had rerouted weapons shipments to the Middle East last month.

It's clear no one knows exactly how to respond to Trump.  They understand they will have to bear with his administration for the next four years, so it is better to appeal to his vanity than it is to incur his wrath.  Even China has agreed in principle to a new trade deal that greatly reduced proposed tariffs.  I suppose Trump can herald this as a victory after all the bellicose words exchanged between the two countries.

However, something just won't go away no matter how hard he tries to bury it.  The Epstein Files.  This seems to be all his MAGA base cares about as they were hoping to have some Democratic heads served up on a platter, namely Bill Clinton.  Trump has done his best to downplay the "client list" that laid at the heart of his second campaign.  Seems his name is all over that list and the DOJ is busy trying to scrub it clean.  In the meantime, His national security advisor levels accusations at Obama, hoping that will steer the media away from their high crimes and misdemeanors.  The only thing worse than being on that list is trying to cover up that you are on that list. This would indeed be an impeachable offense.  Just the same, unsavory tidbits are trickling out that he can't stop other than to threaten lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal.  He's gotten away with everything so far, so I can't imagine these salacious claims will bring him down. Although it would be nice to think so.

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