Say Anything. The words alone conjure up thoughts of speaking freely and without inhibition. Sadly, it also evokes memories of the movie with John Cusack holding up a boom box and blasting what was a perfectly good Peter Gabriel song (In Your Eyes) and ruining it for many of us forever. But it also alludes to the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This episode of As The Donald Turns is “Say Anything.”
As The Donald Turns; Say Anything
Sure this is nothing new coming from this particular president, considering his incredibly loose association with the truth. But as we embark upon the eve of the redacted Mueller Report, the Trump Train has gone much further off the rails in recent days. He is tweeting, and saying anything at unprecedented levels.
We only have to look to the fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame earlier this week. Donald, who surely knows more about fire fighting than those who actually do it for a living, offered the following advice.
So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
Of course, it was an imbecilic suggestion. Pouring that amount of tonnage of water on an aging structure would have caused it to collapse. But that’s Donald being Donald. If you want to put your eyes on a proper head of state response, look no further than Donald’s predecessor.
Notre Dame is one of the world’s great treasures, and we’re thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. It’s in our nature to mourn when we see history lost – but it’s also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2019
That guy always knew how to say things.
Or maybe the former first lady.
The majesty of Notre Dame—the history, artistry, and spirituality—took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be. Being here in Paris tonight, my heart aches with the people of France. Yet I know that Notre Dame will soon awe us again. https://t.co/p1mIDMbwe1
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) April 15, 2019
That same day Donald also resorted to his tired old trope that there were unseemly shenanigans during the 2016 campaign.
THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN (We will never forget)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
What he meant to “say” of course was that the FISA court approved warrants signed by the justice department, based on counter surveillance intel. The Russians were trying to get to the Trump folks, it was working, (hence all the Russians working with Trump friends and family), and there needed to be an investigation. So yeah, “they spied.”
This came after saying that Robert Mueller had cleared him of collusion and conspiracy, which of course did not happen.
Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
When you are willing to “say anything,” life is so much easier. You can just ramble nonsensical balderdash and if you do it in a high enough frequency you get away with it. These were just one-third of Trumps’ tweets from Monday alone. People roll their eyes, or sigh. But the disgust that is warranted never really spreads like the wildfire that it should. Keeping track of every nonsensical falsity becomes exhausting for most people, so you can get away with so much.
At one point he retweeted a video of Ken Starr clearing Donald’s good name. Yes, that Ken Starr. Oh, sure he investigated Bill Clinton. But we are talking about the Ken Starr that has never been held accountable for being president at Baylor University during a period of rampant sexual assaults against women. His appearing on Fox to defend Donald was rich in irony.
Of course this week has not been all doom and gloom and conspiracies theories in the “Say Anything” world of Donald Trump. He only appears angry all the time. He did offer some very unsolicited business advice to Boeing, in light of the grounding of all 737 Max planes.
What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name.
No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
This is brilliant advice considering nearly everything Donald has put his name on has been sued or gone into bankruptcy. Anyone still remember Trump Taj Mahal? Trump Castle Hotel and Casino? Trump Plaza Hotel? Trump Airlines? Trump Steaks? Trump Entertainment Resorts? Trump University? You get the point. The guy is an all-time epic business failure. But typical of this president, he will say anything. It’s not just that the plane has a branding issue. People died. Nearly 350 souls were lost in two crashes and Donald’s answer for Boeing is to trick out the planes and re-brand it. You see, when you are willing to say anything, you also tend to be so narcissistic that you lose sight of anything other than what is in your own relatively empty head. He was right about one part…what the Hell does he know?
Donald also been focused on the 2020 election in this very short week. He tweeted that he has taken care of the “forgotten voters,” and that the steel industry is “expanding at a pace it has not seen in decades.” Reality says steel industry employment is down 4% from where it was four years ago, per the American Iron and Steel Institute. Thanks to tariffs and trade wars, Trump’s “forgotten voters” are getting hit harder than most anyone else in the country. Many of them found that out on tax day this week. Welcome to the world many warned you about.
Donald has also selected his opponents for the 2020 election. How considerate of him, right?
I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)! I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2019
Ironic that the guy who won his presidency despite admitting to sexual assault is giving a blessing to potential hand-picked opponents.
At the end of the day, this all meant to divert attention from the forthcoming Mueller Report. There aren’t likely to be bombshells in the report. Come next week, Donald is still going to be president. But he is likely to be damaged by some of the testimony from his own current and former staffers. Rudy Guiliani is reportedly preparing a response to the report, even though he has not read the report. We’re not sure why you have to respond to the report if it fully exonerates the president as he has claimed for a month now. But Donald is never at a loss on ways to weigh in.
Wow! FBI made 11 payments to Fake Dossier’s discredited author, Trump hater Christopher Steele. @OANN @JudicialWatch The Witch Hunt has been a total fraud on your President and the American people! It was brought to you by Dirty Cops, Crooked Hillary and the DNC.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2019
Donald makes it sound like he and One America News have broken the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Case. The FBI already acknowledged last year that Christopher Steele was paid as a human resource for his information, a common bureau practice. But now amateur sleuth Tom Fitton, the head of Judicial Watch, has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for all the FBI records related to Steele and any other confidential informant they used in the investigation. This is the 12th FOIA request by Fitton, a Fox News contributor, filed in the Mueller case. Donald treats him like his own private investigator.
At the end of the day it really is just about convoluting the conversation. Say anything to divert the discourse or spin the scrutiny before the story even comes out. Trump and his minions have been propagating a lie for the last month that the report found there was no collusion and no obstruction. In fact, all we had was the William Barr Book Report; A four-page personal review of a 400-page investigation summary. Trump’s Kool-Aid drinkers are all-in already, because they like it when he says anything. Thursday on Fox, there will be a clearing of Donald before anyone has even finished reading the redacted 400 pages.
Donald no doubt will be up early Thursday, having eaten some breakfast sandwiches from his favorite fast food place, getting his Twitter fingers in position, ready to Say Anything. Having produced 30 tweets over two-and-a-half days already, Twitter may need to clear some server space for the president.