Has Trump gone off the deep end?

The primary topic of Sunday's talks shows was Trump's tweet attack on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.  If you are a news junky like me, you know who they are; if not, you probably don't.  They are the token conservative voice on the liberal MSNBC cable news channel.  Joe Scarborough, a former Republican member of congress, host the show called "Morning Joe," and Mika is his sidekick.  They have been critical of Trump from time to time and Trump lashed out at them last Thursday calling Mika "low I. Q. Mika," and Joe, "Psycho Joe."  He also said very unkind things about Mika. Here are the full tweets.

On Friday's Morning Joe, Scarborough revealed that at one point in the past he was getting calls from the President's staff saying the president was going to have a National Enquirer story critical of Scarborough published unless he called the president and apologized for critical things he has said of the President (link). That is just weird. It is certainly below the dignity of the office.

On the Sunday talk shows it was reported that when the President had a group of Senators in to discuss the pending Republican health care bill that he spend most of time ranting about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. I cannot help but think this is not normal behavior.

The newly elected South Korean president was in Washington to meet with Trump and instead of that important meeting being a primary topic of conversation, the news was all about the Trump tweet attack on Joe and Mika. The situation of North Korea becoming a nuclear power that can threaten their neighbors and soon will be able to hit the US with nuclear weapons and what to do about it should have been a big news story.  A meeting with the President of South Korea should have been big news and the occasion for analysis and discussion but Trump was more concerned about some talk show host that spoke critically of him. His narcissistic tirade sucked all the oxygen out of the room.

I am not going to be an arm chair psychiatrist and say the President is crazy or mentally unbalance, but his behavior is plain weird. Reports are coming out of the White House that he is obsessed with what the press says about him and will often go into rants about it.  To say the least, he has a thin skin.  I always thought he lacked the temperament to be president and I think he is bearing that out.  His behavior is hurting the Republican agenda. Most of his problems are self inflicted.  If Trump would have quietly asked Comey to resign instead of humiliating him and then changing his story about why he fired him, we could have probably avoided the whole special prosecutor situation and the Russian probe would have remained an intelligence investigation of Russian meddling. Trump's own behavior escalated the issue.

Wavering Republicans are going to be less inclined to fall in line and support the president when the president is sabotaging his own agenda and weakening his office. Republicans are going to be less inclined to attempt to please the President and the President is less able to twist arms. I don't think we should impeach the President because he is an egotistical, thin-skinned, narcissistic jerk and  bully and I doubt his behavior rises to the level that make him unable to perform the duties of the office.  Unless serious wrong doing is proven, such as collusion with the Russian to steal the election (and there is no evidence to support that assertion), then we are stuck with Trump.  Being stuck with Trump does not bode well for the country, the Republican agenda or the 2018 mid-term elections.  I think we would be much better off, if Trump left office and Mike Spence became president. 

I kept hoping Trump would moderate his behavior and take the job of president more seriously and act presidential. I don't think the tiger can change it's stripes, however. Trump is who he is and we are stuck with him. He is an embarrassment. I am pleased to see that more and more Republicans are speaking out against Trump over this last incident.  Congressman Marsha Blackburn who has been a stanch supporter of the President said in a Facebook post, that his latest tweets were "a step too far" and strongly criticized the President.  It is about time Republicans speak out. Being further isolated and having fewer friends however, may make him even worse, it that is possible.  I just pray that he doesn't fly off the handle and create a war or a market collapse by some angry tweet in the middle of the night.

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