Quote of the Day

Nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck. . . . In a matter of weeks, President Trump has taken dozens of steps that, if they are not reversed, will rip families apart, foul rivers and pollute the air, intensify the calamitous effects of climate change and profoundly weaken the system of American public education for all.

His attempt to de-insure millions of people who had finally received healthcare coverage and, along the way, enact a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich has been put on hold for the moment. But he is proceeding with his efforts to defang the government’s regulatory agencies and bloat the Pentagon’s budget even as he supposedly retreats from the global stage.

These are immensely dangerous developments which threaten to weaken this country’s moral standing in the world, imperil the planet and reverse years of slow but steady gains by marginalized or impoverished Americans. But, chilling as they are, these radically wrongheaded policy choices are not, in fact, the most frightening aspect of the Trump presidency.

What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation – these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.

– The Editorial Board
Excerpted from "Our Dishonest President"
Los Angeles Times
April 2, 2017

Related Off-site Links:
A Presidency Stalled And Sputtering – Domenico Montanaro (NPR News, April 1, 2017).
Stephen King on Donald Trump: "How Do Such Men Rise? First As a Joke" – Stephen King (The Guardian, April 1, 2017).
It's Not Over Yet for Donald Trump – David Frum (The Atlantic, April 1, 2016).
Judge to Trump: No Protection for Speech Inciting Violence – The Associated Press via The Seattle Times (April 1, 2016).
Presidential Pathology: Coping With Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the White House – Nell Ziehl (Quartz, December 6, 2016).
Is the GOP at Its Tipping Point? Congressional Republicans Might Be Getting Ready to Dump Trump – Jefferson Morley (AlterNet via Salon, April 2, 2017).

UPDATES: Why Is Trump Flailing? Because Americans Hate His Agenda, and It’s Based on Lies – Greg Sargent (The Washington Post, April 3, 2017).
It's Not Just Trump: A Toxic Right-Wing Nationalism Is Rising Across the Planet – Alfred W. McCoy (Tom Dispatch via AlterNet, April 2, 2017).
Creeping Toward Crisis – Charles M. Blow (The New York Times, April 6, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – March 26, 2017
• A Profoundly Troubling and Tragic Indictment
• Historian: Trump's Immigration Ban Is a "Shock Event" Orchestrated by Steve Bannon to Destabilize and Distract
• "The Movement of Love and Inclusion Has Just Been Unleashed"
• Something to Think About – January 20, 2017
• Quote of the Day – January 11, 2017
• Quote of the Day – December 25, 2016
• On International Human Rights Day, Saying "No" to Donald Trump and His Fascist Agenda
• Progressive Perspectives on the Election of Donald Trump as President of the United States
• Election Eve Thoughts
• Carrying It On
• Progressive Perspectives on the Rise of Donald Trump
• Trump's Playbook

Image: A participant in the Twin Cities Inauguration Day Mega-March, January 20, 2017. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)