What Trump got right

Donald J. Trump is likelier to be a two-term POTUS, in spite of the brutal polarization, the controversial and incoherent policies (deregulation + tariffs?) and the constant zig zagging, managerial chaos that characterize this unusual presidency.

How can it be possible that DJT then can be considered "likelier" to be a two-term POTUS?

How can it be possible that Trump has been a one-term POTUS at all? asks the "Trump-hating" opposition.

Here are some blunt reasons why Trump will likely be reelected, perhaps in a landslide:

• Prioritize middle Americans concerns: jobs now, small businesses, policing, border security, healthcare costs. Trump -an experienced salesman and media mogul- sensed earlier than others (around 2011) that both Democrats and Republicans forgot those fundamentals and where woefully out of touch with the growing demand from voters across the spectrum and the country.
• PC-speech and elite-fatigue:  Americans are sick and tired of Liberal platitudes and language-policing censorship. Many voters in critical Mid-America states felt patronized and looked down by Obama's professorial condescension and Hillary's aggressive put-downs (her ill-fated "deplorables" probably sealed her fate). Most Americans think that "freedom of speech" includes their own speech and resent being force-fed with "newspeak" by fringe progressivism. They (some secretly) appreciated Trump's dismissal of political correctness and even his aggressive ti-for-tat.
• Right economic moves and measures: tax cuts, derregulation, pro-business message have created and sustained a bull market and ratcheted up growth from 2 to 4 percent GDP-wise, from 120.000 to 330,000 monthly jobs, raising salaries for the first time in a decade, while lowering unemployment and keeping inflation below 2 percent.
• Stop apologizing - go on the offensive Americans saw the contempt and disrespect shown to the politeness and sensibility of Obama's Cairo speech and with Chavez at OAS. They didn't like to see their President lectured by a bigoted demagogue like Chavez or catering to PLO and Hamas Far Left, anti-American supporters in UN and EU. Trump offered no apologies, even laughed at UN's reaction to his absurd self-vindicating claims. The message was clear: I don't need your Nobel Peace Prize. US doesn't accept EU or UN tutelage on moral or ideological grounds, much less foreign policy.
• Use bargaining power Trump's disrespect for what he considered bad deals for US opened a new round of bargaining, forcing those who took US for granted to took it seriously and make concessions. Whether this ends in successes or failures, it will be seen on a case-by-case basis. Americans love renegotiating mortgages, salaries, prices, loans, and loved the attitude.
• Stick and carrot TR used this policy effectively in the 1910s. "Speak softly and carry a big stick" worked and works with thugs and dictators such as those currently in power in Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. They respect power and brute force, neither care nor understand principle (what means principle for China, Russia, Iran or Venezuela leaders? What for PLO, Hamas, and the larger Middle East? They certainly respect Tomahawks, 300-ship US Navy and the promise of bombing them to the ashes. More than everything, they respond to fear and unpredictable, credible menaces from what is by far the most powerful economy and military on Earth. They depend on US economic and military might far more than the other way around. Trump carried his stick with gusto and credibility, without "red lines". So far it has worked.

Having said all this, Trump still is all the other things: a dangerous opportunist, a Nixonian-minded politician, a one-man, "Wizzard of Oz" real estate speculator and also someone with a probably criminal track record of money laundering as the basis for his business record.

The "king of default" motto is also a worrying sign. His bankruptcies another. The "wrecking ball" POTUS is likely to bring the roof over his head (and ours) down. Those who lived through Latin American demagogues like Peron or Menem or Italy's Berlusconi know very well what kind of disaster can someone like them bring given free reign of the POTUS position.

That's why Madison's checks and balances are so fundamental.

But without understanding what Trump got right, there is no better alternative for American voters to support.

You cannot beat somebody with nobody. You cannot beat bad ideas with no ideas.  

Hating Trump is not a policy. It's exactly the way to campaign for him -showing there is no alternative-. "Democratic socialism" , "sanctuary cities", war on police, free immigration are perfect formulas to re-elect Trump. Or to get elected in Puerto Rico.

And perhaps the next president after his two terms as well.

The Trump 2020 reelection committee

Save for a 2019 sudden economic collapse , Donald J. Trump will be re-elected in 2020 for a larger margin than in 2016.

This will be more likely if the roster of 34+ candidates (perhaps even more?) continues to look as of today. It's McGovern 1972 all over again. The likelihood of an Elizabeth  Warren , Bernie Sanders , Ocasio Cortes or Kamala Harris Presidency are remote in a general election taking place outside college campuses. They don't even belong in the Biden-Bradley league of primary contenders. They belong in the Green Party's, Ralph Nader's asteroids galaxy of fringe candidates. (footnote: Ocasio Cortez wants to run on a Green New Deal Tax already)

Yet, the Democratic party -the only viable opposition in a bipartisan system- seems as Hell-bent on self-immolation as it was when it elected McGovern in 1972. "Democratic socialist" Democrats should heed Karl Marx's advice that history repeats itself only as a farce.

A more viable challenge would be a more Main street-, Middle America-oriented ticket such as Biden-Oprah or vice versa -attending to the popularity of identity politics among Democrats and Good Old Joe's experience as Obama's VP and perennial presidential hopeful since 1980 (that's 39 years of experience serenading voters)-. They seem to be exploring those waters as well, and they make good pictures together.

The most likely outcome is that either formula of the party of no ideas will be trounced by Trump in a fair economy. More even if the GDP grows north of 3 percent and unemployment continues sinking.

The choice between bigotry and chavism, Russia's crony capitalism or Puerto Rico's "democratic socialism" is quite unappealing. 

Lots of independents and Never Trumpers will wait out for 2024. 

The problem with competent , moderate candidates

Mitt Romney's misfortunes as a moderate Republican candidate epitomize some of the difficulties of democratic rule: competence is not enough to win elections. 

Mike Bloomberg -probably the most qualified candidate around with a stellar record in business and governing New York city as an independent- came to the same conclusion recently:

The unfortunate consequence of the most competent candidates self-selecting out of the race is that (a) the choice between the lesser of two evils -the party of no ideas vs the party of bad ideas- and (b) the prevalence of "off-the-wall" extremists that in normal times would be the ones opting out of a presidential race.

As a consequence -as in 2015 with Republicans- the 2019 Democratic rosters are overpopulated with under-qualified candidates that are likely to lose against the incumbent in a landslide like the one McGovern obtained in 1972 serving the White House to Richard M. Nixon's infaust second term. 

Democracy is not the best system to select competent candidates. For all its obvious miseries, the parties' old  "smoking rooms" that were the norm before 1968 Chicago DNC Convention offered better chances to non-charismatic, yet highly competent candidates. Governors, congress members and mayors were much better at selecting candidates than the "beauty contests" -or reality shows- that came after. Primaries are not even truly democratic, because informed, reasoning voters are outnumbered by those bamboozled by smear campaigns, social media or tweets.

And -as in the case of Governor and Senator Romney and Mayors Bloomberg- they allowed competency to get in office and turn around the disasters left behind by charismatic incompetence such as Salt Lakes Olimpic Games, Massachusetts' healthcare or Lindsay's crime-ridden, broke New York-.

The alternative for competency, otherwise, is to line up behind populist characters -like McCain picking Sarah Palin as VP candidate or Romney pitching for Secretary of State for Donald Trump-. Such Faustian pacts end usually poorly.

The art of the (bad) deal

Contrary to Barry Goldwater's assertion, moderation can be virtue when applied to public policy and government as much as it is applied to private life and personal behavior. Thinking otherwise is what brought us -and US- where we are now.

It's not all well what ends well. If the economy favors Trump, he will likely be a two-terms POTUS. The collateral damage brought by his uncivil rule will last longer than those economic results: a low-grade civil war, the rise of incompetent extremists and charlatans in both parties, a general decadence of the Union.

Cultural wars go to the couch: TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) or the politics of madness

"Trump derangement syndrome (TDS) is a neologism describing a reaction to United States President Donald Trump by liberals, progressives, and anti-Trump conservatives, who are said to respond to Trump's statements and political actions irrationally and with little regard to Trump's actual position or action taken.^[1] The term has been used by pro-Trump conservatives to discredit criticism of Trump's actions"  Wikipedia

"Derangement is the state of being mentally ill and unable to think or act in a controlled way. "   Collins Dictionary

I was recently diagnosed with "TDS" by a friend with strong pro-Trump views. 

Not being a FOX or any other cable channel regular viewer, I looked up for help in Wikipedia: "Tax Deducted at Source" showed up on top, but didn't seem the case. I kept searching until the word "Trump" appeared. Then, I was able to track its origins back to its sources: FOX channel and the self-proclaimed conservative media.

Looking at the levels of anger around the public persona of Donald J. Trump I couldn't help but to remember similar reactions towards his three predecessors: Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Presidents before Clinton (1992) were contested -Reagan being the most obvious example- but not with the intensity that the last four have experienced. 

I looked up again and noticed a revealing marker: 1993. It was the year Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel with the explicit mission of promoting a militant, anti-liberal agenda and the candidates of the Republican Party.

Over time, MSNBC took FOX's role on the Left camp and CNN turned to what its critics (mostly in FOX) nicknamed "Clinton Cable News".

The rise of partisan mass-media combined with the populist politics of personal attacks and slander campaigns has created a toxic atmosphere that turns politics into a civil war re-fought by other means.

In such a climate, paranoia prospers and spreads -conspiracy theories, "us-versus-them", identity politics and so on- and finds constantly malignant and insane enemies in those who think, look or live differently from "us".  

The newest fashion promoted by FOX channel is the ultimate "psycho-insult": calling on others the "TDS syndrome" (for Trump Derangement Syndrome), a new epithet meant to dis-qualify any criticism directed toward Donald Trump as a mental instability problem of the critic. 

The problem with encouraging self-made psychologists to engage in drive-through psychoanalysis  is that ill-defined categories can be obviously applied back the other way around. 

Let's stop for a minute on the "D" for Derangement in TDS. 

If we follow the definition of the term:

"Derangement is the state of being mentally ill and unable to think or act in a controlled way. "   Collins Dictionary

When we think of "Derangement" we should  include "Trump-lovers" in addition to "Trump-haters". Love and hate, after all, have little to do with reason. And infatuation can turn into hate and vice versa. As it did with Hillary and Donald's views on each other before and after the 2016 election.

The good old days when Donald was a Clinton fan -and Hillary loved his jokes-

If there is such a thing as a Trump Derangement Syndrome, it seems as accurate to describe unconditional and fanatical allegiance as hate. In both cases, irrationality is on full display, and both TDS-negative and TDS-positive types can close their minds and ears to each other's views and arguments. Family and friends included. 

Psychoanalyzing others instead of discussing facts and arguments ratchets up another notch the barriers to rational discussion and communication. Both TDS-positive and TDS-negative might find comfort in saying: "after all, why bother listening to deranged people?". Mental institutions are crowded with people feeling that way.

Civility takes a serious blow each time discussions turned into personal arguments and character attacks. On this area, Left- and Right-wing extremist media -from Mother Jones to Breitbart- not only excel, but thrive as a cottage industry catering to extremism and reciprocal paranoia.

TDS is the Trumpian-intolerance equivalent to Left-wing "safe zones". It has the same uses -preventing any contact with those who think differently, enabling aggression and shutting down any criticism. 

Both forms of TDS serve the purpose of erecting walls between Americans. Walls much thicker than physical barriers and much stronger than party registration.  The Anti-Trump Far Left sets its TDS walls in the campuses calling them "safe zones". 

The Pro-Trump Far Right  has created its own version of "safe zones" with "TDS" shutdowns.

The danger of this psychological "TDS walls" is precisely that they shut down peaceful communication,  escalating the inevitable contact with the "others" into physical confrontation.

The "TDS" category is also a recycled product. 

It used to be called "BDS" for Bush when it was first invented by FOX news to use against any Bush 43 critic. 

There was, of course, also an "Obama Derangement Syndrome" (ODS) as well -used by Obama fans to shut down Obama critics as bigots and those like talk show host Glenn Beck to shut down Obama supporters:

And, of course, we don't have any moral or rational reason to listen to haters. 

We actually are told (by partisan media) that we have a moral and rational obligation not to listen to those we diagnose with TDS.

Each time we use the "TDS" argument to shut down others, we engage in cultural warfare and become part of the TDS syndrome we just tagged to others.

This rant scene of the old Network film was very popular among anti-Obama Tea Party conservatives, back when Trump campaigned on questioning Obama's birth certificate. It is a good example of Derangement Syndrome (you choose the first letter for the object of deranged passion) and it summarizes the power and the danger of "TDS" and the politics of madness:

The Wizard of Oz Presidency

"Pay no attention to that very bad man behind the curtain" 

Wizzard of Oz, Vincent Minelli

Donald Trump made a media career by playing the role of the successful businessman and executive. He sold his name and exhibited his properties as symbols of his ability to run businesses and published several ghostwritten books to foster his reputation as an expert.

His public persona as a businessman was further fostered and showcased in cable TV with The Apprentice, a show designed to present Trump as a mix of Peter Drucker and Jack Welch, mentoring young hopefuls into his own companies.

For those looking more carefully into the substance of shows, it was pretty evident that Trump Inc. looked pretty much like a mom and pop operation staged in luxury towers. With big double-stretched limos and helicopters landing on the towers' roofs. Exactly as in Hollywood.

There were no professional managers or directors around. Just Trump and his children auditioning candidates to play as if they were managers in a real business operation. There was no MBA stuff, no business plans, just the kind of operational stuff that concierges and real estate agents have to handle.

And that might be as much management as Donald J. Trump has done during his entire life as CEO, President and owner of Trump Enterprises. There is no much more to Trump Inc than there was to Kramerica Indusytries in Jerry Seinfeld's famed comedy:

Only that now, the joke is on those who voted a Wizzard of Oz into the White House expecting something like professional management. Or those -many more- who expected Trump to move from campaigning on cultural war to governing on the Constitution -like most previously aggressive and controversial campaigners (think of Reagan or Bush 43) did.

Far from that, the slim but consistent majority of moderate, independent Americans (40 percent of the electorate, check polls) who expected a return to civility and increasingly organized , professional management of POTUS office during the past two years have witnessed a White House ran as a "mom & pop" (or better said, "dad & kids") operation. 

Professional staff positions were not appointed, then gradually cut off  in any form of policy by the President. When finally appointed, those celebrated as heroes at inception ended their short tenures as career military like Secretary of Defense Mattis o General Kelly. To a staggering 65 percent turnover tracked until October (before Mattis and Kelly's departure)  by Brookings Institution.

Managing the POTUS institution has always been hard. As JFK said after a tumultuous first 100 days in office: "there is no school for presidents". 

Historians of the POTUS institution agree, but also remark that JFK called previous president Einsenhower when in trouble. And got good advice. Same did Bill Clinton with Richard Nixon first and Bush 41 later. 

Reagan called James Baker III -who's still around going strong- when things got out of hand. Bush 43 got help from Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two old hands dating back to Gerald Ford's administration (btw, Gerald Ford was also asked for advice to both Bush and Clinton). There is also a President's Club.

The problem that makes Trump's a Wizard of Oz presidency is not only that he doesn't ask for advice to his predecessors or experienced officers, but that he assumes he knows better and engages in dangerous 'trial and error" experiments led by polls and talk-show hosts. Polls are lagging, not leading indicators. As Henry Ford explained, had he polled people before introducing the car, they would have asked for "a faster horse".

This becomes a serious problem because the office of POTUS is not -and was not- meant to operate like that of a monarch. That was precisely what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison -the Founding Fathers and our first presidents- had in mind to prevent the United States to repeat the catastrophes and chaos of George III's madness or the excesses that turn the French Revolution into the Reign of Terror and the crowing of Emperor Napoleon to restore order.

Chaos, like Saturn, devores those who embrace it. 

 Just looking at the painful saga of the Secretaries of Press Spicer and the "Communications" chief Scaramucci tells the story of a small family business in disarray. 

Hundreds of stories, half a dozen books by and recurring post-exit testimonies (including exit interviews and open letters) from former Secretaries of State and top cabinet officers recurrently describe a one-man show kind of operation, where changes in mood and early morning musings have become M.O. 

That is now what the markets and foreign leaders expect from POTUS and what they discount in their VIX swings at home and preemptive political alliances abroad. And the main reason for such wealth-destroying, dangerous volatility.

Like in a dysfunctional small family-ran operation, Donald J, Trump plays all the roles: he's the Chief of Staff, Secretary of Press, State, Defense, Budget, Fed, DOJ, Attorney General and even rescue operations director. He not only plays the roles. He thinks he can. 

The difference between the Office of the President of the United States, the one that should operate the West Wing and Trump Inc. fades more every day. It has been doing so with each firing of top officers and hiring of lower level, more docile underlings. 

Those who have some experience in small business consulting or  run one are painfully familiar with these kind of scenes. And they worry when they see them because they know that small businesses ran this way end in bankruptcy. Like many of Donald J. Trump previous ventures. 

And current ones, such as the Trump Foundation or his children's fleeting brands.

Mike Bloomberg- a real businessman- minced no words to describe how the business community sees Donald Trump's career and track record:

It's high time for this country and the POTUS office to get some help from a script doctor. The Constitution has SCOTUS and POTUS for that role. They are being tested regularly with tactics reminiscent those of burglars trying to break in during a Christmas vacation.

This two-year run would be a funny series if it only were a sequel of The Apprentice. 

But this is the Presidency of the United States.

Or it should be.

Funerals for civility

John McCain will certainly be missed. The Republic this Republican with big "R" fought for as a military and a senator is under stress test by the forces of incivility unleashed by the Trump presidency.

McCain minced no words to warn against the "half-baked nationalism" and its "blood and soil" dark undertones.

But while fighting his last battle against cancer, he scored two magnificent blows to those who have turned the Republican party against republican principles.

First, with his "no" vote on dashing the Obama healthcare act without proper debate and support -precisely the reason he opposed Obama's law as vehemently as Trump's: civility.

Civility in Congress matters maters. It's about following the original design of the Framers and a 250-year-old tradition of making key laws in a bipartisan way.

The difference between "Jacksonian democracy" or populism and a republic is precisely that. Popular vote is the ever-changing matter that must be opposed and controlled by  Republican form and rule. That's the difference between "majority rule" and rule of law, between "democratic republics" (code name for dictatorships) and "republic of laws" that apply equally to everyone. Included the President of the United States, who's not the King of the United States, even when and if acting like one.

The second blow that McCain gave to those who want to skip the rule of law and rule by tweets was his own funeral, carefully orchestrated as the old senator and formidable campaigner McCain was, into a remarkable display of civility and bipartisanship.

President Bush and Obama were selected on purpose to speak and show how the Republic stands above party and -hopefully- in good health.

President Bush made special point in condemning hatred and bigotry against Latino immigrants and non-white people, as well as vulgar personal attacks and comments that demean the offices of the US as a Republic.

President Obama joined the display of civility, reminding how his political duels with McCain in both campaign and government helped him (and president Bush before him) to rise their game and check their own mistakes.

McCain had indeed his last hurrah and also his last laugh.

Perhaps this was not a funeral but a baptism. 

Perhaps the public display of civility across the political spectrum and public officers -past and present- will help those who believe in our Constitution keep faith that the Union will prevail and come out of this uncivil war stronger than before.

Perhaps this is John S. McCain's lasting victory.

All checks, no balance: the dangerous education of Donald J. Trump

The progression of Special Counsel Mueller probe on President Trump's possible grounds for impeachment has unveiled new and troubling evidence with his personal lawyer's confession.

After months of campaigning publicly against the Special Counsel's "witch hunt", Trump has been rendered legally mute. Illegal conspiracy to hide evidence of unethical behavior that might have affected the election's results has been exposed. 

The most disturbing element of the new developments are not the accusations and probes but the fact that even those defending President Trump are assuming in fact that he has committed crimes such as to be impeached if his associates "turn on him" and reveal what they know. Or -to be more precise- what everybody already knows (conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and collusion with Russian agents) mostly because the same candidate Trump announced it during the campaign. 

This is not a horror but a suspense story. Spectators know who and how committed the crime, they just watch the unfolding events waiting for the next shoe to drop. Some with fear, other with joy. All carried away by two years of endless and mindless antagonistic and hyper-partisan politics fueled by the President that might end being victim of his own showmanship.  

As with chess, in constitutional law there are also "checks". Like in chess, constitutional checks -like a Special Council probe- announce impending doom for those who trespassed their consitutional limits and their office duties. 

As in chess, the next stop can be another check, a loss or the ending of the game.

The Constitution of the United States was specifically designed to check those in power and prevent them from abusing their offices. In 250 years, it has been tested by several former presidents and worked effectively.

James Madison wrote the famous Federalist 10 explaining that:

"No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.

With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time"

Madison warned that:

 When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.

And proposed institutions to check majorities (always circumstantial) and factions (always self-serving) from breaking or bending the law: 

To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed. 

Those who think that social media and showmanship can trump (no pun intended) the Constitution have met their first check. There are evidently plenty more down this road. 

Madison had "obnoxious presidents" in his mind when he wrote: 

Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.  

And conceived an intricate -yet not unassailable- set of rules written in the Federalist papers and then into our 1787 Constitution. The new form of government was not a democracy -democracy was already 2000 years old and had time and again turned presidents into Caesars- but a republic, a system with checks and balances between three separated powers.

Come November, the balance of power in Congress can -and probably will- swing to the opposition party, making more likely President Trump's impeachment. 

The next check can become a check mate.

We haven't had time yet to look at the consequences of a premature end of Donald Trump's presidency.

We should.

Trump's Impeachment Fright

Definition of delusion 

a : something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated 

• delusion

• delusions

b psychology : a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary 

• delusion

; also : the abnormal state marked by such beliefs
: the act of tricking or deceiving someone : the state of being deluded

"Sic transit gloria mundi" was the inscription  at the top of the Caesar's victorious banners and in the crown wags of Popes' and monarchs. It s purpose was to remind absolute rulers that "all glory is transient", all power is passing.

It didn't help.

Even seeing how easy was to get his once powerful enemies stabbed, shot, hanged, beheaded or dismembered by an angry mob didn't prevent  Caesar, Saddam, Robespierre or Qaddafi from  falling into the delusion of thinking they would not end up like them.  Nor did the risk of public embarrassment and humiliation prevent Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton from creating a web of lies and deceit that destroyed their own careers, harmed their families and tarnished their legacies. 

The greatest danger for those with unchecked power is not corruption, but delusion. 

That's precisely why the Framers of US Constitution created checks and balances and instituted limited term, limited re-election presidencies. All that POTUS, COTUS and SCOTUS institutes, their successors can undo. That's what makes the United States the longest uninterrupted republican democracy in the world. Donald J, Trump is its 45th president. The one between Barak Obama and the 46th, who will take office either in 2 or 6 years from now.

Donald J. Trump seems to have a hard time thinking beyond his two-terms (if reelected). And yet, as a 72-year old man without a party, in a non-dynastic system, no matter how much he "wins" his political battles, how hard his hardcore believers hang to his zig-zagging definitions and decisions, Donald J Trump will be replaced by our 46th President in 2020 or 2024.

The 46th president might, like him, devote his (or her) presidency to unravel and erase each and every one of 45th's  decisions. The more Mr. Trump revels in his  conquests and in humiliating a growing number of foes, the more this is likely to happen.

Mr. Trump seems obsessed with getting rid of any charges of collusion and any opposition to his own, grandiose self-image. Paradoxically, in doing so, he's spreading insurrection among his own Republican party, his donors, staff, and even those serving in the country's Armed forces and Intelligence and Security communities. That's how deep the "deep State" actually is if we follow the delusional course charted during the almost two years of the 45th President.  

The last straw has been retired Admiral William H. MacRaven's public pronouncement against the President's behavior.

The same Admiral McRaven that gave this inspiring commencement speech and wrote a book on the moral code of Marine discipline and leadership titled "If you wanna change the world start of by making your bed" has now berated Donald Trump's handling of the POTUS office.

Admiral McRaven didn't mince words in his response to President Trump's treatment of CIA and FBI career officers that dared to testify in the ongoing probe about Mr. Trump's campaign possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign and perhaps after the election.

Dear Mr. President:

Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him. 

Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. 

Like most Americans, I had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and become the leader this great nation needs. 

A good leader tries to embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others before himself or herself. 

Your leadership, however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation. 

If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.

Even if President Trump is vindicated in his claims of "no collusion", his efforts -like Nixon's in the Watergate case- in obstructing the investigation are turning the entire process into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even tough President Trump believes his base would absolve him even if he shot someone in New York's Fifth Avenue-

his behavior might cost him the majority in Congress , the last firewall protecting him from impeachment. Moreover, Trump's growing list of enemies might increase anti-Trump turnout into a "blue wave" in spite of the good economy over which Trump presides. 

President Trump tweets and personal insults about his own disgruntled Secretaries of State, WH staff, campaign and personal lawyers show growing evidence of delusion, a problem that sent previous presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton to face articles of impeachment and lasting shame.

These later episodes might be remembered as a turning point in the Trump presidency. 

Even if President Trump survives to become a two-term president -a goal that his own behavior is pushing farther and farther away with each passing news cycle- , there will be another President after him. And certainly, there will be a retaliatory push back against his initiatives.

Delusion is thinking otherwise.