The Mafioso Mentality of a President...
“I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive and more than energy,” Trump wrote in his 2007 book “Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life.”
Like an Italian Mafioso Don Trump knows that unflinching loyalty is the singularly most important job requirement of a capo. And, like the Mafioso Don he is relentless in his demand for it.
The Washington Post - THE BIG IDEA: President Trump expects unflinching loyalty from those who work for him. The price of that loyalty can be quite high. So, too, can the costs of perceived disloyalty.
A demand for devotion has been a recurring theme in almost every major scandal that has dogged and distracted this White House. “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,” Trump told then-FBI Director James Comey during a private dinner soon after taking office, according to Comey’s sworn testimony.
Sometimes it seems like no amount of loyalty is enough. With the exceptions of the daughter and son-in-law he installed in top White House posts, this famously transactional president seems to hold a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately view of power that has led him to cast aside longtime associates when he’s decided they’ve outlived their usefulness to him.
Wednesday brought six fresh illustrations of the culture and the consequences for some in his orbit.
Continue on BELOW the FOLD for more of the story.
Oh Les... you've fallen for it. Somehow you've been convinced that all the military leaders, diplomats, civil servants and NSC personnel, most of whom were appointed by Pres Trump, are all liars out to get him.
ReplyDeleteFace it Les, you just can't understand how hard it is to drain that swamp and that only one person, Donald J Trump can do it.
He's a man for the task and a man for a moment such as this...
Or that's at least what some would have us believe.
Right. Which is PRECISELY why I stand PROUDLY by the post.
DeleteWhat Trump fails to recognize, or simply chooses to ignore, is that federal employees pledge their allegiance and loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America and the rule of law. NOT to a president. Our Dotard Presnit really couldn't care less about his or "his" staffs loyalty to our Constitution. He only places value on loyalty to HIM and damn the Constitution if it stands in the way of that.
ReplyDeleteTrump NEEDS to go!
Kind of an old concept, going back to the Divine Right of Kings and as late as the Reich oath of public servants:
ReplyDelete"I swear: I will be faithful and obedient to the leader of the German Reich and people,
Adolf Hitler, to observe the law,
and to conscientiously fulfill my official duties, so help me God."
Oathtakers then sang both Deutschland Über Alles and the Nazi anthem Horst-Wessel-Lied.
..that sort of went up in ashes along with der fuhrer, although we suspect Saddam, Puten et. al.
make use of the concept. To paraphrase, "First He came for the GOP congressmen and senators, then...."
..I should add that refusal to take the Fuhrer oath carried the automatic death penalty.
ReplyDeleteI NEVER, I'm my wildest imagination, would have believed that this nation, founded on the principle of the rule of law would sink to accepting and supporting an administration that places personal loyalty to the man over the Constitution and the security and integrity of our nation.
ReplyDeleteTRUMP must go.
Les, you're right, Trump must go. But why not the entire GOP? Once he's gone, they will once again become the party of 100% obstruction once they are in a total minority position. It's the entire party of Trump, McConnell, Gingrich, Pence, Jordan, Nunes and the all rest of the crazies that must get the heave ho.
ReplyDeleteIt does no good to get rid of the Chief if you leave all of his enablers there to support the next hack.
As I see it Dave the USA is hanging on (barely) to its republic by the nails.
ReplyDelete40% of the USA believes Trumpism is the path to a future of excess liberty and prosperity.
A future where the "libtards" have been subdued and beaten. Or better yet according to Franco killed.
The goal of the Trumpian mentality is a return to divine rights and authoritarianism by the right.
So yes, the majority of the current GOP on congress needs to go. And unless the party reforms it needs to die and be replaced by a SENSIBLE center party to keep the progressive agenda not tethered to reality at arms length.
America is going through great political, cultural, and social upheavals right now. The prospects for a proper course correction are far from promising