My old boss used to tell me -- None of Don's supporters believe what he says. Like a lot of Cons, my boss thought Don would hire good people, he did not. Believed he would grow into the office, he did not. In the end, the Cons just said - Don is Don - he does what he wants.

He does not. America is stronger than a fake strong man. Now Don is a Lame Duck.

At times, a president can seem all-powerful, and Trump’s presidency had an especially consuming quality to it, for both his supporters and detractors. Even members of Congress, especially Republicans, liked to claim during the past four years that they were powerless to change Trump’s behavior.

But that’s not how the U.S. government really works. As Matt Glassman, a Georgetown University political scientist, has told me: “Presidents compete with numerous actors — Congress, the courts, interest groups, political appointees in the departments and agencies, and career civil servants — for influence over public policy. The president must rely on his informal ability to convince other political actors it is in their interest to go along with him, or at least not stand in his way.”

When a president fails to do so, he often ends up being powerless to act. And that’s what happened to Trump. Hundreds of local election officials refused to bend to him. Over the past few days, several congressional Republicans publicly told him that he needed to acknowledge reality. (Many other congressional Republicans were only mildly supportive of him, giving credence to his lies but doing nothing concrete to support his efforts to change the result.) Business groups — traditional Republican allies — also told him to begin the transition.

In the end, Trump did as they told him to do.

Matt Flegenheimer and Maggie Haberman write about what Trump liked about being president. One thing he seemed to genuinely enjoy: pardoning turkeys.

Courtesy the NYT, who also -- has a story about giddy Wall Street denizens who are eager to unfollow the various TRUMP world people who opine on policy and may have the president’s ear, depending on the day and the topic.

#57daysAmerica #whatadisgracethishasbeen







[Post edited by Lazarus at 11/24/2020 06:44AM]