Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor to the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. ‘Trump’s Irrationality Is Dangerous’ by Nichols deserves widespread notice. It was published in The Atlantic on August 4.
…[His supporters’] excuses have never really held much water. But his rant yesterday about the Reflecting Pool (speaking of things that don’t hold water) was a warning that the president has encased himself in the hard amber of irrationality that inevitably surrounds authoritarian leaders. He has become detached from reality—and that detachment is extremely dangerous.
…Trump has now passed from being a stubborn narcissist to a cocooned authoritarian. Political scientists since World War II have studied the problem of “irrational” leaders, people in positions of power who seem unable to accept any version of reality that conflicts with their assumptions. Irrational, in this sense, does not mean “stupid,” or “incompetent,” or “psychotic.” It refers more specifically to leaders who have become so trapped by their own self-regard, so isolated from the outside world, so imprisoned within their own sense of infallibility that they refuse to consider any arguments or information that conflicts with their beliefs.
…His belief in tariffs, for example, is a flatly irrational attachment to a tool that has been proven, over and over, to harm Americans.
…The war in Iran, however, has shown that Trump’s inability to perceive reality has become truly dangerous.
…Iran is a disaster, but Trump’s irrationality could create other, even more perilous situations…
More worrisome is the possibility of a military crisis that unfolds quickly and threatens U.S. allies or the United States itself… Trump would have to make decisions of potentially cataclysmic importance…
Trump is not going to have some sudden epiphany about the need for an open and honest policy process. Like other authoritarians before him, the president has retreated, irrevocably, behind the walls of his own Forbidden City of the mind—a place where he is the emperor, his judgment is always right, and his commands must always be obeyed.
Categories: USA
in-sights.ca 
The thought occurs to me that irrationality begins with the entry into politics, when every tenet and scruple bends toward the magnetic pole of interest and self-interest as the vision of personal and group advantage erases the restraints that civilized morality might otherwise impose.
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Pardoning the wrong people? Who does that 97 times?
Any guesses?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-pardon-jon-ponder-hope-for-prisoners-b3036473.html
Donald Trump’s 2020 pardon for a bank robber-turned-nonprofit CEO called him “a source of inspiration for former inmates who desire to rebuild their lives when they leave prison.”
But by this past spring, that pardoned man, Jon Ponder, 60, was banned from state prison property.
Then, on Tuesday, he was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting inmates.
Ponder faces 20 charges, including one count of sexual assault, seven counts of unauthorized custodial contact, one count of attempted coercion and 11 gross misdemeanor charges after several incarcerated women accused him of abusing his position to solicit sex.
He is the latest recipient of a Trump pardon to be later charged with new crimes, a list that includes nearly 100 Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom have since been charged with sex offenses ranging from sexual assault to possession of child pornography.
Ponder pleaded guilty to bank robbery in 2005 and served a 63-month sentence, according to the White House. Trump pardoned him on the second night of the Republican National Convention in 2020.
The Constitution grants sweeping pardon authority to the president, who has wielded his clemency powers dozens of times over his two terms in office.
On his first day back inside the White House last January, Trump issued pardons for virtually everyone accused of crimes connected to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, including rioters convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers, among other crimes.
At least 97 people pardoned in connection with the attack have been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of crimes separate from the January 6 riots in the aftermath of those pardons, according to an analysis from Lawfare.
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The BBC fact checks to see if Mr Lutnick has a problem… with facts…
He does.
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/ced7yj7564zo
Examining US official’s claim that data centres ‘don’t use water’
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that data centres don’t use water.
According to the International Energy Agency, a data centre in the United States uses around 2 million litres per day on average.
They have become a controversial topic for communities across the US in the run up to November’s midterm elections.
[Before that the Commerce Secretary claimed…]
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6068731-lutnick-apologizes-iran-death-claim/
Lutnick ‘misspoke’ when he said no US soldiers have died in Iran war
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick apologized Thursday for saying on television that no Americans had died in the war with Iran, saying he was thinking about Venezuela.
“I misspoke. 18 members of our military have died, and to those families my heart breaks and I am so very sorry for their loss. I was thinking about the Venezuelan military operation where no service members died,” Lutnick said in a post on the social platform X.
Lutnick made the comments on CNBC on Wednesday while attending the Group of 20 finance summit in North Carolina.
“The way the president is playing Iran — there haven’t been American deaths, it’s really just an economic choke-out,” he said when talking about bond markets.
President Trump defended his Commerce secretary on Truth Social before Lutnick’s post.
“Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed,” Trump wrote. “18 people were killed in Iran!”
The Commerce Department did not respond to request for comment from The Hill on Wednesday.
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An interesting legal interpretation due South.
The US Constitution doesn’t protect the population from being lied to and sickened by politicians.
https://www.rawstory.com/lead-in-drinking-water/
A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump told residents of Jackson, Mississippi on Friday they have no right to water untainted by lead, according to a new report.
Kurt Engelhardt, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge, affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against their city, accused of knowingly allowing residents drink the contaminated water for six months in 2015, Mother Jones reported Saturday.
“Defendants’ actions allegedly deprived Plaintiffs of clean water and guileless information,” he said. “These deprivations, while grievous, do not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.”
Nine U.S. states and more than a dozen countries protect citizens’ right to clean drinking water — in New York and Massachusetts it is embedded into state constitutions, the report noted.
But the Fifth Circuit ruled the U.S. constitution does not protect the residents of Jackson, who claimed the city government not only withheld information but exacerbated the problem by instructing people to boil water — which kills bacteria but concentrates lead.
Engelhardt told these citizens they had no constitutional right to “truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.”
Mother Jones also noted Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency on Friday released a rule that dilutes the Clean Water Act.
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OK. Here’s the Deal. Would a bribe seal the deal?
Mr. Trump wants a midterm win in November. Is this going too far?
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/trump-promises-to-pay-americans-5-000-if-republicans-win-midterms/ar-AA2bULYs?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=e12b52a62c64422b99044df4510be83d&ei=20
Trump promises to pay Americans $5,000 if Republicans win midterms
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration would pay a $5,000 “Trump Dividend” to each American adult if voters deliver Republicans a win in the 2026 midterms.
“So if the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump said of the plan during his speech at the Republican midterm convention in Texas. “It will be called the Trump Dividend.”
The president offered few details of the plan, but he said the funds would have to be spent in America.
Commentators accused the president of attempting to bribe voters to back Republicans, who are forecast to suffer heavy loses in November.
In a post on X, reporter Sam Stein accused the president of describing “openly bribing people to vote for Republicans.”
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Free Trade FACT CHECK – Bombardier ban.
https://www.kake.com/home/president-trump-demands-bombardier-shift-production-to-the-us/
article_04b128b7-91a2-4a5d-8b23-6831da27344d.html
President Trump demands Bombardier shift production to the US
WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) — President Donald Trump said Monday that Canadian private jet maker Bombardier must begin building its products in the U.S.
Bombardier, whose U.S. headquarters is located in Wichita, employs more than 1,200 workers who service jets, run the flight test center and build special mission aircraft for the U.S. Air Force.
Trump called for the end of Canada-based Bombardier’s sales in the United States unless they “stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.'”
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Completely unjust and unfair! That Era is OVER! If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a “piggybank.” BUY AMERICAN. FLY ON AMERICAN AIRLINERS. ENJOY AMERICAN LIQUOR AND BEVERAGES. SAIL ON LAKE AMERICA. AMERICA FIRST!”
Democratic candidate for Kansas governor Cindy Holscher said in a statement regarding Trump’s post that the president is “putting 1,200 Wichita jobs at risk in a pointless trade war.”
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OK… How many aircraft manufacturers are there?
Airbus, EU
Embraer, Brazil
Dassault Aviation France
Pilatus Aviation, Switzerland
De Havilland, Canada
COMAC, China
Mitsubishi Aircraft, Japan
Diamond Aircraft, Austria
Saab, Sweden
ATR, France/Italy
BAE SYSTEMS, UK
Will Trump ban all non-US manufactured sales?
Not set up in the US means you can’t sell planes to the US?
Is that how Free Trade works?
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For reasons unclear Donald Trump has decided to threaten voters.
In North Carolina he said the following…
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-midterms-2677870795/
President Donald Trump told North Carolinians that he’ll withhold FEMA funding needed for hurricane relief unless the candidate he endorsed wins the midterms.
On Wednesday, Trump showed up in Gastonia, North Carolina, to stump for GOP Senate nominee Michael Whatley, and he told the voters at the rally that Whatley had to win if the state were to receive any additional FEMA funding as the state continues to recover from Hurricane Helene.
“We spent more than $2 billion in FEMA funding, and you know you’re waiting for some additional money,” Trump reminded his rally attendees. “I’m going to get that to you, Michael. Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it.”
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It gets weirder…
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-canada-2677870567/
President Donald Trump sparked an angry backlash Wednesday after threatening to punish Europe if Canada forms a closer alliance with the European Union.
Speaking to reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump called the prospect of Canada becoming the EU’s first associate member “laughable” and described the longtime U.S. ally as “a terrible trade partner.”
“And if they do that, if I think it’s a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump said, adding that “very heavy tariffs” could follow the move.
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Next target is his recent pick for the Federal Reserve.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-economy-2677868938/
The Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023 on Wednesday, citing persistent inflation and global impacts from the war in Iran. That puts Chairman Kevin Warsh on a “collision course” with Trump, the Guardian noted, because Trump said in a Truth Social post earlier in the day that the U.S. should have “the lowest interest rates in the world.” The president also threatened to cut off trade with other countries if the Federal Reserve didn’t lower interest rates.
“Inflation remains elevated. Today’s policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee’s 2 percent goal,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement.
Warsh and Trump appear even more likely to clash in the near future as officials estimate at least one more rate hike is coming before the end of the year, according to the report. That could push the central bank’s interest rates up to 4.5%, increasing borrowing costs.
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Wait. President Trump “will cut off trade with other countries” if the Federal Reserve doesn’t back down?
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For Mark Carney? Mr. Trump seems a gift that keeps on giving.
In Europe Mr. Trump’s latest bout of Goliath-style intimidation will lift Canada’s already high status and popularity and further stiffen resistance in Canada.
In The True North most likely his threats will expand a wide public boycott of American goods and services. Definitely it will bolster Mark Carney’s “Team Canada” credentials. As in, ‘No exceptions. We must be united. This is who we’re dealing with.’
If Mr. Trump imposes more tariffs on the EU – despite US courts opposing their legality? From day one it would damage American consumers trying to cope with a series of other failed Trump policies. Such as? The household, business and military costs mounting daily from the Iran War.
Because he perceives allies as enemies now Mr. Trump keeps setting traps. Which then harms his personal agenda, his base, his party.
America’s prospects become entangled in more losses.
Because? That’s what a stable genius must do.
You understand that, right?
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