Rolling onto their backs for the big dog
Donald Trump is an idiot. He’s always been an idiot. And much, much worse. That much he’s proved. What’s kept him from falling out of the lifestyle into which he was born is Daddy Fred’s money and his feral instincts honed by Roy Cohn. Trump exerts dominance as instictively as Maverick flies jets. Don’t think. Just do. Not thinking is the easiest part.
Trump nominating a rogues’ gallery of misfits and lackeys to his cabinet is another loyalty test for a man who offers none in return, as Ezra Klein insists. But that’s just the first layer of this onion.
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The second layer is Trump’s goal to demoralize any opposition, tweets Trump niece Mary Trump. “Elevating incompetent fascists” like Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Matt Gaetz to the cabinet is meant to humiliate his opponents.
He’s gotten away with fomenting an insurrection and stealing state secrets. Now he’s testing how much lower he can go.
Thank you, sir. May I have another?
Getting the GOP-led Senate to confirm these clowns to the president’s cabinet is the third layer. It’s the dominance move. It will show Trump he has broken his allies’ will to his own. If they will roll over on their backs and pee in the air when he barks (submissive peeing), there’s no Trump whim to which they won’t accede. Confirming the unconfirmable is not the floor. It’s the celiing.
Republicans in the House are already on their backs, and Trump hasn’t even started barking.
There will be some opposition. But if they don’t roll over, they’ll be gone swiftly. Elon Musk is already making noise about funding primary opponents to Republicans who won’t kowtow low enough.
Stay tuned.
