I’ve made my views regarding our current president abundantly clear in two previous  posts.  I asked readers to defend President Trump but nobody was willing to do so although some said they supported him. My previous posts expressed concern over his hypocrisy, flip-flopping on policies, boorish/sexist/racist behavior, possibly unethical and illegal behavior, racism, and essential disdain for American citizens. Now I’m concerned that he is a real danger to our country and to the world.

And I’m not alone. The top editorial in Thursday morning’s New York Daily News was entitled “Donald Trump is a Madman: The President’s Wednesday Twitter spasms confirm what many Americans have long suspected“. The editorial continued: “After his latest spasm of deranged tweets, only those completely under his spell can deny what growing numbers of Americans have long suspected: The President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman’s definition, mentally unwell and viciously lashing out”.

FYI: The New York Daily news endorsed Mitt Romney (Republican) over Barack Obama (Democrat) in 2008.

Unless you were tuned out on Wednesday you know that President Trump retweeted three anti-Muslim videos (at least one of which has already been debunked) that had been produced by a British alt-right group. It would be similar to a leader of another country re-tweeting videos produced by America’s KKK. Trump’s tweet was racist and was praised by white supremacist David Duke.

When his press secretary was asked about the tweets she said it didn’t matter whether the videos were genuine. And when the leader of our staunchest ally, British Prime Minister Teresa May, rebuked President Trump for the tweets he essentially told her to mind her own business.

Thankfully he stopped there. Right?

When challenged over the videos President Trump resorted to his usual tactic: deflection. He tried to change the focus to someone else by tweeting “And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!”. This tweet refers to the death of an intern in Scarborough’s Florida office when he was a member of Congress. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Trump was accusing Scarborough of murder. The death was thoroughly investigated and the coroner determined the intern had been physically ill and fell, hitting her head and ultimately dying. But again, facts don’t matter to our post-truth president.

And, by the way, ratings for Scarborough’s show, “The Morning Joe”, spiked a few months ago when Trump started a Twitter storm about the show because it criticizes him daily. I’m sure Scarborough appreciates the President’s attention. And, by the way, the Morning Joe’s ratings actually reached an all-time high last month. Facts are so bothersome.

More evidence of our President’s instability?

• At an event honoring the W W II Navajo code talkers earlier this week President Trump referred to Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. Yes. This is also a racist remark that insulted Native Americans.
• Trump ridiculed Senator Al Franken and Matt Lauer for their inappropriate sexual behavior while excusing Alabama Senatorial candidate Roy Moore. This from a man who admitted being unfaithful to his wives. And this from a man who was recorded bragging about grabbing women’s private parts and forcefully kissing them. And this from a man accused of groping, assaulting, sexually harassing, or otherwise mistreating a rather long list of women. Many of these incidents were corroborated by witnesses. His first wife was one accuser. Another accused him of raping her when she was thirteen years old. But he feels comfortable commenting on the inappropriate behavior of others?
• Our government will shut down next Friday, December 8 unless Congress can pass an appropriations bill that the President can sign. The smart thing to do is for the President to meet with Congressional leaders to plan a course of action, and that is precisely what was scheduled on November 28. However, earlier that morning the President tweeted a deflecting criticism of the Democratic leaders concluding that “I don’t see a deal”. He was sabotaging the discussions before they happened. And when Democratic leaders chose to skip the meeting because of the tweet he pulled a Clint Eastwood moment by leaving their chairs and name cards as props for media opportunities. And then he and Republican leaders said a shutdown will be the fault of Democrats. Nope. The unnecessary tweet and Republicans’ inability to accomplish anything even with control of Congress and the White House will be to blame.
• Remember President Trump’s terribly inappropriate speech to the Boy Scouts earlier this year in which he bragged about the size of the crowd (they were Boy Scouts there for a jamboree, so a captive audience), called Washington a cesspool, threatened to fire a Cabinet member, and discussed his yacht and real estate dealings? To Boy Scouts?

If you pay attention at all to the news you know I’m just scratching the surface of President Trump’s erratic behavior.

We were warned. In 2016, for example, retired four-star Admiral John B. Nathman said of Trump: “What is required is not just the recognition of Trump’s lack of temperament to serve, but I would add it also takes personal courage to say it out loud.” Nathman continued by stating that “…his unstable temperament and ignorance make it clear he cannot serve as president.”

A recent Fox News poll found that 60% of Americans believe President Trump is unstable. Only 33% (his solid base) disagree. I’m optimistic that at least most Americans can see the obvious problem.

Our President’s stability matters as Congress is unable to pass major legislation, North Korea is becoming a nuclear power, Russia keeps trying to influence American politics, our State Department is constantly undermined and unable to engage in diplomacy, support for Puerto Rico remains woefully inadequate, and countless other world issues go unaddressed.

We need a leader with a real plan rather than one who, in his book The Art of the Deal, said : “Most people are surprised by the way I work. I play it very loose. I try not to schedule too many meetings… I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” He doesn’t believe in planning. That may work when you are building casinos or hotels, but it doesn’t work when running the country.

And he also said “I play to people’s fantasies,” …”people may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.”

We need a president who uses less hyperbole and who resides more in the real world.

I expect to lose readers over this post but my offer to submit opposing views still stands. I will gladly publish any comments based on facts.