President Donald Trump bemoaned a decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton after the 2016 presidential election, decrying a "rigged system" that still doesn't have the "right people" in place to fix it, during a freewheeling speech to Republican donors in Florida on Saturday.
In the closed-door remarks, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, Trump also praised China's President Xi Jinping for recently consolidating power and extending his potential tenure, musing he wouldn't mind making such a maneuver himself.
"He's now president for life. President for life. No, he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day."
The remarks, delivered inside the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a lunch and fundraiser, were upbeat, lengthy, and peppered with jokes and laughter. But Trump's words reflected his deeply felt resentment that his actions during the 2016 campaign remain under scrutiny while those of his former rival, Hillary Clinton, do not.
"I'm telling you, it's a rigged system folks," Trump said. "I've been saying that for a long time. It's a rigged system. And we don't have the right people in there yet. We have a lot of great people, but certain things, we don't have the right people."
What President Xi did was push to abolish term limits, effectively making him China's leader for life.
If President Obama had even hinted at such a thing, there would be outrage echoing throughout Washington, and it would be subject one on every Sunday morning talk show in the country.
Especially if the public were aware of what was in this Washington Post report as well:
Inside the White House, aides over the past week have described an air of anxiety and volatility — with an uncontrollable commander in chief at its center.
These are the darkest days in at least half a year, they say, and they worry just how much farther President Trump and his administration may plunge into unrest and malaise before they start to recover. As one official put it: “We haven’t bottomed out.”
Trump is now a president in transition, at times angry and increasingly isolated. He fumes in private that just about every time he looks up at a television screen, the cable news headlines are trumpeting yet another scandal. He voices frustration that son-in-law Jared Kushner has few on-air defenders. He revives old grudges. And he confides to friends that he is uncertain about whom to trust.
In an unorthodox presidency in which emotion, impulse and ego often drive events, Trump’s ominous moods manifested themselves last week in his zigzagging positions on gun control; his shock trade war that jolted markets and was opposed by Republican leaders and many in his own administration; and his roiling feud of playground insults with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Retired four-star Army general Barry McCaffrey said the American people — and Congress especially — should be alarmed.
“I think the president is starting to wobble in his emotional stability and this is not going to end well,” McCaffrey said. “Trump’s judgment is fundamentally flawed, and the more pressure put on him and the more isolated he becomes, I think, his ability to do harm is going to increase.”
Trump is becoming increasingly isolated within that White House, feeling abandoned and increasingly mistrustful, left only with his increasing madness to keep him company.
Even his attempts at levity are tinged with darkness and insecurities.
Courtesy of Variety:
President Donald Trump joked about impeachment, Jared Kushner’s security clearance and Melania Trump leaving him as he attended his first Gridiron Club dinner, a highly formal and traditional event full of the news media he often dubs “fake news.”
A number of his quips made fun of the atmosphere in the West Wing after a chaotic week, what with more staff departures and rumors of more to come.
“It’s been really another calm week at the White House,” he quipped. “We finally have it running like a fine-tuned machine.”
He was joined on the dais by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, and the most controversial joke of the evening involved her.
“I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Now the question everybody keeps asking is, ‘Who is going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?”
Trump is known for saying out loud the things that are bothering him or frightening him, and then attempting to pass them off as jokes.
Trump also tried to joke about Jared Kushner's security clearance, the attention Mike Pence pays to news about impeachment, and his difficult relationship with Jeff Sessions.
You do not have to have a PHD in Psychology to recognize that he finds none of those topics actually humorous.
Trump is crumbling before our eyes.
And we can only hope that when he finally snaps, he does not take the whole country down with him.
