The president of the United States is so temperamentally unstable that his own aides are hiding real information – information that must be considered to evaluate his position – all to avoid his rage. They are playing a game whereby the goal is to convince Trump that things aren’t as bad as the evidence clearly indicates, according to a report in this morning’s Daily Beast.

Yes, all of this relates to Trump’s campaign, and in that respect, it certainly leaves Democrats and Biden in an even better position if Trump is making decisions that are not “reality-based.” On the other hand, it is terrifying. We are in the middle of a pandemic hitting the United States harder than any other country on earth and it may well be due, in part, to the fact that Trump doesn’t want to hear real numbers and deal with reality.

Indeed, the situation with the poll numbers sounds eerily familiar to what we heard about the early stages in the epidemic, as well as Trump’s behavior now about social distancing and masks. The incident regarding the cease and desist letter to CNN is just one instance where aides acted quickly (and against their own interests) to calm Trump down:

In one respect, it was just the latest effort by the president’s aides to attempt to satisfy the boss’ appetite for retribution. But it also revealed an element of the Trump political operation that has increasingly demanded time, money, and attention—mainly, the task of convincing Trump that the electoral landscape and polling deficits.

“This helps keep the president from flying into a rage as much as he otherwise would,” said a White House official who’s been in the room for these types of sessions.

His own staff is willing to make him look ridiculous, willing to take a hit in terms of appearances and likely make the matter worse, in order to avoid Trump’s rage. It is tempting to laugh it off as nothing more than just more Trump and Trump administration incompetence, but this is too terrifying to laugh off. We are in the midst of a pandemic and all this sounds eerily familiar.

See if you spot a pattern here:

At one point, members of the president’s team began briefing him on the campaign’s own private polling, much of which did not look favorable. They sought to reassure the president by telling him that their numbers showed a large “enthusiasm gap” between Trump and Biden voters, and that much of the public polling wasn’t to be trusted, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. In particular, they argued that public polls skew in favor of the Democratic Party at this time because polling firms were polling registered voters and not “likely voters.”

Doesn’t that sound exactly like what we heard Kushner do in February in pushing a data model showing a much more limited spread of the virus, in part because Trump didn’t want to acknowledge the danger and rattle the markets, thereby slowing the economy?

The fact that this president doesn’t have the temperament to deal in reality is one of the principal reasons he’s unfit to serve. Thankfully, the fact that he can’t deal with the reality that his polling is terrible, increases the likelihood that he will be tossed from office. The U.S. deserves a president who can deal with reality.

****

Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom