America's Chief Incoherence Officer

"So today I'll be up here, but then tomorrow I'll be over there.  Everybody got that?"....said President Donald Trump at his first Cabinet meeting. 

You know how most organizations have a Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, a Chief Technical Officer, etc?  Our government apparently doesn't work like that.  Instead we have a Chief Incoherence Officer, and then a bunch of confused underlings running around the world wondering what the boss is going to say next. 

This week was a good example of that with VP Pence, Sec Defense Mattis, and Sec State Tillerson all in Europe to reassure our allies there, and NATO, that we are solidly with them, just like we have been since we all kicked Hitler to the curb back in '45.   But....DOH!....then our Chief Incoherence Officer (CIO), aka President Donald Trump, piped in by saying they'd better pay up or we're outta there.

And just yesterday our CIO told a room full of influential conservatives that he was going to whip up on those %^&^* errant Muslims, and hours later his National Security Adviser, Lt. Gen. McMaster, came along behind him and said the boss was....ummm.... just having a bad day.  *ahem*

Our CIO also told the crowd our program to expel Mexican illegals was a "military operation", but then his Sec of Homeland Security, a 4-Star Marine General (Ret), had to step up and say no, it was NOT a military operation.  Wha....what?

The only person who seems to be operating on the same wave length as the President is his Senior White House Adviser, Steve Bannon.  Not long ago I wondered aloud if Bannon was Trump's Rasputin?  (Grigori Rasputin was the glassy-eyed mystic/healer who became a favored adviser of the last Russian Czar after convincing him he could heal his seriously hemophiliac son.  He didn't, and his political advice reeked, too.)

Wanna hear an eerie coincidence?  I heard someone on TV recently say Steve Bannon's style was straight out of the playbook of Aleksandr Dugin, so I looked Dugin up and this is what I found:

Aleksandr Dugin

Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a Russian political scientist known for his fascist views who calls to hasten the "end of times" with all out war.  Wikipedia

Essentially Dugin says push, coerce, intimidate, and if it takes a war in order to prevail, so be it.  A nuclear war isn't unthinkable.

And speaking of Russia, what's the deal with Trump's bro-mance with Russia / Putin?  When all our intel guys say they caught the Rooskies red handed meddling in our election, why does Trump just shuffle his feet and yell SQUIRREL?   

Why did Trump's man Flynn tell the Russian Ambassador to not worry about the sanctions we've placed on them?  First Flynn said he didn't say it, then admitted he did and was fired for it.  Now that's a scandal all by itself.  Why have Republicans so far tip-toed around investigating any of this?  (One Congressman lamely said an investigation would take up too much congressional "band width".  HUH?)  Why did Reince Priebus (Trump's Chief of Staff) ask the FBI to say it was no big deal?  Maybe it wasn't, we don't know, but there sure is a lot of smoke.  Something smells!

And just coincidentally, still speaking of Mother Russia, here are a few interesting facts:  Russians are seriously underperforming thinkers.  Russian's share of international patent applications is just two-tenth's of 1%, despite having 2% of the world's population and 5% of the world's college graduates.

Also, due to widespread excessive smoking and drinking, the life expectancy of the average Russian today is just 64, with a 15-year-old Russian boy having a life expectancy 3 years less than his counterpart in Haiti.   Haiti!  (Source: Forbes)

Yeah boy....we really should pal around more with those cool Russians.  Good guys to suck up to, Mr. Bannon.  *NOT*

S

Maybe they should rename Twitter "Trump's Trumpet"

Between recent coughing spells (bronchitis) I've seen a bit more of the news than normal.  Of course, in the US, "news" today means whatever Donald Trump has said or done, and not much else.  I've always been a big fan of raking public servants over the coals when they do something stupid or dishonorable (pretty much ALL of them are by now quite crispy), but every now and then one surprises me and I'm happy to give 'em an attaboy.  So....

Oh, The Donald, The Donald....how could you?  You picked Steve Mnuchin, one-time Goldman Sachs Director of Mortgage Backed Securities, later to pick up broke subprime lender IndyMac for pennies, rename it OneWest, then get into the robo-foreclosure biz, ignoring any law that got in his way on the road to a tidy multi-billion dollar profit, to be our Secretary of Treasury?  Off to the burn pit, Prez-elect Trump!

But then Prez-to-be Trump selected Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis to be his pick for Secretary of Defense.  I've read up on Gen. Mattis and found that by virtually every measure he'll be an exemplary advisor who will give his Commander-In-Chief good counsel, looking for ways to avoid using the sword, but who would, if necessary, field a kick-ass, disciplined force.  Two-thumbs-up Mr. Trump!

And he's given us SC Governor Nikki Haley, who has expertly negotiated her way through some VERY difficult and varied constituents back home, as his choice for UN Ambassador.  Kudos!

But then he's gone and picked long-time bureaucrat (and wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch...gag...McConnell) Elaine Chao to be Secretary of Something-Or-Other.  Meh....

Late edit:  I just learned she sits on the Board of Wells Fargo Bank.  More coals on the fire!

I can't get a handle on Gen. Michael Flynn, Trumps pick to be his National Security Adviser.  Those who know him well say he's a top-notch intelligence guy, but has a crazy, somewhat  scary side to him, too.  My antennae is up on this guy.

But Gen. John Kelly seems like an excellent pick for Secretary Of Homeland Security.  From what I've read, he gets very good marks from all sides.  Another Kudo Mr. Trump!  I'd trust him with my homeland.  :)

Notice all the Generals?  Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or what?  Good leadership, or a barracks coup in the making?  Beats me, but I think I'd rather see them than a bunch of the same old recycled #$%^& bureaucrats who have already run us into the ground.

Oops, sorry.  That was the cynic in me coming out.  Your thoughts?

S