President Donald Trump is running the White House as a vengeful businessman. Trump knows he will lose the asset that brought him immense political power, a protective bubble and untold riches, courtesy of the federal wallet.
The bankruptcy playbook involves rewarding the board and executives that led the company to fail, sheltering prize assets from creditors and cutting pay, benefits and jobs for workers. It's basically reward me and harm everyone else.
Trump rewarded cronies with plum short term positions, while sacking those deemed insufficiently loyal. Trump tried for months to cut the currency of democracy, the people's right to vote. His absurd legal cases have been tossed by courts with increasing contempt.
Trump is trying to optimize the Republican Party for his personal glory and future success. Only a few Congressional Republicans have challenged Trump's unhinged narrative that he won the Presidency despite losing by 6 million votes in a Joe Biden electoral landslide.
President Trump's retaliatory impulse is in overdrive as his rage over losing is externalized. A petulant Trump insulted the few Red Team members who dared challenge his delusions of glorious victory stolen by miscreants. Trump rewrote history in saying the Blue Team never gave his administration a transition, thus he plans to return the behavior tenfold.
The chaotic Presidency of Donald Trump is reaching maximum instability as the COVID-19 pandemic inflicts widespread suffering and stresses America's healthcare system. Trump has two months left to use the White House for his ego needs, while inflicting harm on those who fail to appreciate his greatness. He's a dark man making difficult times darker.
Update 11-27-20: Trump does not make U.S. election rules. Here's his latest delusion.
Update 12-3-20: A conservative pundit reinforced this is the most dangerous time of a Trump Presidency. Emotionally wounded and livid over the loss Trump will cause chaos as payback. Son-in-law Jared Kushner is in the Middle East, now an angry hornet's nest. Trump blames China for the virus that showed Trump's callousness to the American people.
Update 12-6-20: NYT reported on Trump's to do list as his presidency winds down:
He has fixated on rewarding friends, purging the disloyal and punishing a growing list of perceived enemies that now includes Republican governors, his own attorney general and even Fox News.
Update 12-12-20: The Supreme Court dismissed Trump's Hail Mary to hold onto the White House. "106 Republicans in Congress signed a lawsuit, backed by more than a dozen Republican state attorneys general, asking the US supreme court to overturn the results of a free and fair American election, because a Democrat won."
Update 12-18-20: Reuters reported "Trump has largely closed himself off from the public in recent weeks, communicating mostly through tweets. He has done little to show he is focused on governing other than speaking at an event to highlight the speed of coronavirus vaccine development."
Update 12-19-20:
Update 12-24-20: The "reward me and harm everyone else" playbook has Trump's presidency ending like Herbert Hoover's, with callous disregard for the suffering of millions of Americans and a middle finger salute to the rule of law with his disgusting pardons of murderers, con men and loyal sycophants, including close relations. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who called the pardons “rotten to the core.”
Update 12-26-20: CNN reported "Every day he has been in Palm Beach, the White House has added a highly strange note on his daily schedule alerting readers: 'During the Holiday season, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American People. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.' But each day he's made the same 10-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago, across the Intracoastal Waterway, to his golf course, where CNN's cameras have captured him on the green."
Working tirelessly for the American people is not part of the bankruptcy playbook. Rounds of golf on Uncle Sam's wallet are.
Update 5-13-22: Trump wants to try bankrupting the country by defaulting on our debt.
