Vox takes a hard look at Trump's New York Times interview and comes away with the belief that something is seriously wrong with the president.

I already shared with you my thoughts on this bizarre interview down below.

A number of other news outlets have also given their impressions, none of them very good.

However Ezra Klein of Vox News seems almost shaken by what he read in the interview: 

The president of the United States is not well. That is an uncomfortable thing to say, but it is an even worse thing to ignore.

This is nothing new as a lot of people, including licensed psychologists, have suggested that Trump is likely mentally ill.

However Klein seems to be really confronting that possibility for the first time here.

And he gives a a number of examples from the interview to support his concern.

Here is just one of them that I also found quite shocking: 

As for Trump’s contention that “it’s been proven that there is no collusion,” it’s hard to even know how to begin responding to that. In recent months, Trump’s former campaign manager and national security adviser have both been charged with crimes by Robert Mueller, and the investigation is not just ongoing but apparently widening in its scope and ferocity. Yet here is Trump’s take: 

"I saw Dianne Feinstein the other day on television saying there is no collusion. She’s the head of the committee. The Republicans, in terms of the House committees, they come out, they’re so angry because there is no collusion. So, I actually think that it’s turning out — I actually think it’s turning to the Democrats because there was collusion on behalf of the Democrats. There was collusion with the Russians and the Democrats. A lot of collusion."

Sen. Feinstein has not said that she, or any of the ongoing investigations, has concluded that there was no collusion. What she has said is that investigators believe Trump may have obstructed justice in his efforts to derails inquiries into collusion: 

"The [Senate] Judiciary Committee has an investigation going as well and it involves obstruction of justice and I think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice."

It speaks to Trump’s habits of mind, to the sycophantic sources from which he prefers to get his news, that he heard something Feinstein said and has come to believe she has absolved him — yet misses the actual thing she said that threatens him.

Essentially it appears that Trump is not simply rejecting news that he finds critical of him, but is actually unable to even hear that news.

We have heard that Trump's daily briefings are shaped so as not to unduly upset him, but it really seems likely that even if he heard facts that displeased him he may not be able to absorb them or ascertain their meaning.

Here is how Klein ends the post: 

This is the president of the United States speaking to the New York Times. His comments are, by turns, incoherent, incorrect, conspiratorial, delusional, self-aggrandizing, and underinformed. This is not a partisan judgment — indeed, the interview is rarely coherent or specific enough to classify the points Trump makes on a recognizable left-right spectrum. As has been true since he entered American politics, Trump is interested in Trump — over the course of the interview, he mentions his Electoral College strategy seven times, in each case using it to underscore his political savvy and to suggest that he could easily have won the popular vote if he had tried. 

I am not a medical professional, and I will not pretend to know what is truly happening here. It’s become a common conversation topic in Washington to muse on whether the president is suffering from some form of cognitive decline or psychological malady. I don’t think those hypotheses are necessary or meaningful. Whatever the cause, it is plainly obvious from Trump’s words that this is not a man fit to be president, that he is not well or capable in some fundamental way. That is an uncomfortable thing to say, and so many prefer not to say it, but Trump does not occupy a job where such deficiencies can be safely ignored.

I agree with every word of this.

Simply put so long as Trump remains in the White House he puts this entire nation at risk, and that cannot be considered mere hyperbole.

Sometimes people respond to suggestions that Trump be impeached with "But would Mike Pence really be any better?"

And the simple answer to that is "Yes, of course he would, because at least he is sane."

Ezra Klein, editor-in-chief of Vox, explains why we should be terrified of a potential Donald Trump presidency.

Yeah, what he said.

Despite charges to the contrary from Republicans, Kathleen Sebelius is NOT resigning because Obamacare is a failure. She is resigning because it is now clearly a success.

Courtesy of Vox:  

Obamacare has won. And that's why Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius can resign. 

Calls for Sebelius's resignation were almost constant after Obamacare's catastrophic launch. The problem wasn't just that Sebelius had presided over the construction of a fantastically expensive web site that flatly didn't work. It was that she didn't know healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. And so the White House didn't know that healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. The demands that Sebelius to step down — or be fired — were as deafening inside the building as outside of it. 

But President Obama refused. As National Journal's Major Garrett reported, Obama believes that "scaring people with a ceremonial firing deepens fear, turns allies against one another, makes them risk-averse, and saps productivity." Moreover, there was too much to be done to fire one of the few people who knew how to finish the job. Sebelius would stay. The White House wouldn't panic in ways that made it harder to save the law. 

The evidence has piled up in recent weeks that the strategy worked. Obamacare's first year, despite a truly horrific start, was a success. More than 7 million people look to have signed up for health insurance through the exchanges. Millions more have signed up through Medicaid. And millions beyond that have signed up for insurance through their employers.

Right now the Right Wing is patting itself on the back and claiming that Sebelius is caving to pressure from them to resign, despite the fact that they were unable to budge her for the entire healthcare.gov debacle, and that she faced the Republicans down in hearing after hearing.

This is like a big burly man tripping and falling in the street and bunch of children running up and claiming to have knocked him down.

Sebelius resisted the Right Wing calls for her to step down, and for President Obama to fire her, and now that Obamacare has achieved its goal i is simply time for her to take a less stressful job.

Happens all the time, in all administrations.

In my opinion Kathleen Sebelius should be quite proud of her success. If ever there were a heavy lift in American politics the Affordable Care Act was it.

On the other hand the numerous deaths that will surely be the result of the refusal of Republican governors to expand Medicaid will be the legacy of the Right Wing.

Actually Obamacare is working very well. At least for those eligible for Medicaid.

Courtesy of The Washington Post:

The background here is that before the rollout of the Affordable Care Act there were a lot of people eligible for Medicaid who simply didn't know it. This "take-up rate" -- wonk-speak for the percentage of people eligible for the program who sign up for it -- varies widely from state to state, with some states as low as 36 percent and others as high as 81 percent. 

The publicity around the new health-care law has led a lot of those people to inquire about whether they're eligible for health insurance -- and they're finding out that they are. The clearest example of this is in the red states that aren't participating in the law's Medicaid expansion: There, 91,000 people have tried to sign up for health insurance and learned, in the process, that they are already eligible for Medicaid coverage. 

The effect is also present in the blue states. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that of the 70,000 people who've enrolled in Medicaid in Washington State, 30,000 were eligible before the new law took effect -- they just didn't know it.

You know one has to imagine that with this population of individuals having so little difficulty accessing a program that meets their health care needs, that those who DON'T qualify for Medicaid might start really resenting how complicated the insurance companies make buying insurance and start demanding the option of single payer.

And it appears that President Obama may have helped to promote that idea with his speech on Thursday. This read from the Daily Kos:

The insurance companies are now upset. When they cancelled policies they did so with an up-sell of more expensive policies as opposed to encouraging folks to go to the Obamacare exchanges. In doing so they created a political firestorm instigated by Republicans. Now the insurance companies are complaining about the fix disrupting the insurance markets. 

Purists believe the Obamacare fix is about to create a big mess. This is partly true. This mess is politically necessary to expose insurance companies and Republicans. It will illustrate realities versus perceived hypotheticals. 

The insurance companies attempted to circumvent the Obamacare exchanges and got bit. Their threats of future higher premiums should be ignored. If they do not work towards assisting in getting a sustainable pool that can be insured at affordable rates, Americans will demand a public option which will likely evolve into a single payer.

The game is called chess Republicans.

You better learn it. 

The polls for the Republicans just keep getting worse. This might be the worst one yet.

Here Ezra Klein of the Washington Post provides the highlights. (Or is that "low" lights?):

The latest NBC/WSJ poll is just a disaster for the GOP. The highlights: 

- By a 22-point margin, the public thinks the Republican Party is more to blame for the shutdown than President Obama. NBC's Mark Murray notes that that's "a wider margin of blame for the GOP than the party received during the poll during the last shutdown in 1995-96." 

- Like Gallup, this poll shows the Republican Party at record levels of unpopularity. Only 24 percent have a favorable opinion of the GOP, and only 21 percent have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party. Both are "all-time lows in the history of the poll." 

- Last month, voters preferred a Democratic Congress to a Republican Congress by three points. This month, it's up to eight points. 

- Obama's approval rating has nudged up by two percent. This is a similar finding to the Washington Post/ABC News poll, which found Obama's numbers slightly improved even as the GOP plummeted.

 - Despite the awful launch, Obamacare is becoming more popular. Last month, 31 percent said it was a good idea and 44 percent said it was a bad idea. This month, 38 percent think it's a good idea and 43 percent think it's a bad idea.

 - Most people don't know enough about Sen. Ted Cruz to register an opinion. But among those who do, Cruz fares poorly: 28 percent have as negative opinion and only 14 percent have a positive opinion. 

So to sum up the Republican strategy thus far has made THEM more unpopular than ever before, improved the President's popularity, and even helped improve the poll numbers for Obamacare.

Damn talk about the gang that couldn't shoot straight!

If they keep this up much longer Obama will see his poll numbers go through the roof, EVERYBODY will be clamoring for Obamacare, and the Republicans will be considered such damaged goods that they couldn't even get elected hall monitor.

In fact at least one of the President's supporters was so thrilled with this new poll that he sent Ted Cruz a fancy gift basket:  

Buoyed by a new poll showing that the current federal shutdown has whacked the Republicans and lifted support for Obamacare, one of the president's closest allies decided to thank the architect of the GOP strategy with a fancy gift basket. 

“Dear Ted,” said the card to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on the fruit and snack basket from 1-800-FLOWERS sent by Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change and the former Democratic Party communications director. “A Texas sized thank you!! Thanks to you, Obamacare is more popular and the GOP is less so. Keep up the Good Work!! Yours, Americans United for Change.” 

He added, “it's the best $90 we've spent.” The gag gift, which cost $91.98 including the service charge, is called “Fruit Gathering,” and meant for “your closest friends,” according to the website.

Hey maybe we should all start doing that. I wonder what will happen to Cruz's support among the Tea Party if his office starts filling up with thank you gift baskets from Democrats?

Could be fun to find out.

Everything you need to know about the Fiscal Cliff deal. But were too confused to ask. Update!

Smokin' Joe Biden rides to the rescue and finally gets through a fiscal cliff package.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

 — Tax rates will permanently rise to Clinton-era levels for families with income above $450,000 and individuals above $400,000. All income below the threshold will permanently be taxed at Bush-era rates. 

— The tax on capital gains and dividends will be permanently set at 20 percent for those with income above the $450,000/$400,000 threshold. It will remain at 15 percent for everyone else. (Clinton-era rates were 20 percent for capital gains and taxed dividends as ordinary income, with a top rate of 39.6 percent.)

 — The estate tax will be set at 40 percent for those at the $450,000/$400,000 threshold, with a $5 million exemption. That threshold will be indexed to inflation, as a concession to Republicans and some Democrats in rural areas like Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mt.). 

— The sequester will be delayed for two months. Half of the delay will be offset by discretionary cuts, split between defense and non-defense. The other half will be offset by revenue raised by the voluntary transfer of traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs, which would tax retirement savings when they’re moved over.

 — The pay freeze on members of Congress and all other federal civilian employees, which Obama had lifted this week, will be re-imposed, . 

— The 2009 expansion of tax breaks for low-income Americans: the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit will be extended for five years.

 — The Alternative Minimum Tax will be permanently patched to avoid raising taxes on the middle-class. 

— The deal will not address the debt-ceiling, and the payroll tax holiday will be allowed to expire. 

— Two limits on tax exemptions and deductions for higher-income Americans will be reimposed: Personal Exemption Phaseout (PEP) will be set at $250,000 and the itemized deduction limitation (Pease) kicks in at $300,000. 

—The full package of temporary business tax breaks — benefiting everything from R&D and wind energy to race-car track owners — will be extended for another year.

 — Scheduled cuts to doctors under Medicare would be avoided for a year through spending cuts that haven’t been specified. 

— Federal unemployment insurance will be extended for another year, benefiting those unemployed for longer than 26 weeks. This $30 billion provision won’t be offset. 

 — A nine-month farm bill fix will be attached to the deal, Sen. Debbie Stabenow told reporters, averting the newly dubbed milk cliff. 

I understand that the House is supposed to vote on this by 1:00 EST today. However there are still rumors that many House members are not planning to vote for it and John Boehner has also made some remarks about possible modifications, which would kill the bill outright.

Still there is hope that it will pass.

Of course this bill only postpones those deep spending cuts for two months so it really is nothing more than a Band-Aid applied to a potential internal hemorrhage, but it is still a lot better than many thought the Senate could ever hope to agree on.

I wonder if this new Congress will really be any more rational or if THIS is the kind of thing we will see for the next two years?  God, let's hope not.

Update: There are some who think the President completely punked the Republicans with this deal:

Higher taxes on the richest Americans (the level is yet to be determined, and the president pointedly stayed away from confirming the $400K/$450K numbers floating around, but taxes are going up). He just forced Grover Norquist's Republican party to allow a tax increase. Big. F*cken. Deal. 

The middle class tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, child tax credit education tax credit and other Obama stimulus tax credits are staying in place for 5 years, as are the breaks for small businesses, especially for the clean energy industry (I don't think most people running around with their hair on fire realize how big a deal this is for the environmental community). The Alternative Minimum tax is fixed permanently not to affect the middle class. 

Unemployment benefits extension. 

An increase in the estate tax rate to 40%. 

What do the Republicans get in return? Bupkiss. Nada. Nothing. A big fat zero. So basically, the president permanently protects working people and the poor and the middle class, permanently raises taxes on the rich, and the additional tax revenue from that. Republicans get no entitlement changes, not even a permanent aversion of the cuts hitting defense and other Republican sweetheart industries.

I know there are those on the Left who think the President gave away too much, but in the end it looks like the President did that whole Jedi mind trick thing again.

Update 2: Politicususa agrees that the President (And Joe Biden) cleaned the Republican's clock..

Ezra Klein explains exactly WHY Mitt Romney's comments about the "47%" makes him essentially ineligible to be the President of this country.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

The worst of Romney’s now-infamous comments about “the 47 percent” came in this couplet: “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” 

Put aside the tin-eared term “those people.” When he said this, Romney didn’t just write off half the country behind closed doors. He also confirmed the worst suspicions about who he is: an entitled rich guy with no understanding of how people who aren’t rich actually live. 

The thing about not having much money is you have to take much more responsibility for your life. You can’t pay people to watch your kids or clean your house or fix your meals. You can’t necessarily afford a car or a washing machine or a home in a good school district. That’s what money buys you: goods and services that make your life easier, that give you time and space to focus on what you want to focus on. 

That’s what money has bought Romney, too. He’s a guy who sold his dad’s stock to pay for college, who built an elevator to ensure easier access to his multiple cars and who was able to support his wife’s decision to be a stay-at-home mom. That’s great! That’s the dream. 

The problem is living the dream has blinded him to other people’s reality. His comments evince no understanding of how difficult it is to focus on college when you’re also working full time, how much planning it takes to reliably commute to work without a car, how awful it is to choose between skipping a day on a job you can’t afford to lose and letting your sick child fend for herself. The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it.

Wow!  That is beautifully put.

And that is pretty much it. Romney has NO idea what is like to be a person who requires support from the government or help from their community. He is a wealthy man, who came from a wealthy family, and who is surround by wealthy peers.

Unless he is running for office he has no use for us, and obviously WE have no use for him.

Will the real Teabaggers please stand up! Rachel Maddow discusses our tea stained politics.

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