Wake The Hell Up, GOP!

It's not cute anymore, Republicans. The President of the United States is completely detached from reality, and you can't fix that. You can't cover it up, you can't explain it away, and let me make this as clear as I possibly can for you. You cannot possibly undo the damage you are doing to the party brand by trying to pretend this man is anything other than completely unhinged. I'm watching Sean Hannity borrow guests from the Alex Jones show in an attempt to bolster Trump's conspiratorial claims. I'm seeing relatively mainstream conservatives make themselves look like the crazed fringes of the paranoid right wing. Don't believe me? Look at this.

Yes, one week ago today I wrote a post that perhaps Trump had turned the corner and was going to be Presidential. Go ahead, get it out of your system. You done laughing at me? Fine. I deserved that. President Trump waits precisely 3 days to wake up, and with him he reawakened his paranoid delusional personality. Here was the resulting Twitter rant.

Now if you've been listening to Hannity, Levin, or any one of the vast majority of right wing pundits out there you might think that the President has a point. Is it fair for me to compare them to the crazed right? Absolutely. You know who else is making this point? World Net Daily. You may have known them for any one of their other crazed right wing conspiracies, like say (just for a completely random example) Trump's idiotic birther claims. I quote the above linked WND story here.

As WND reported on Monday, the evidence for Trump’s contention appeared to be published by the New York Times on Jan. 20, in an article with a print-version headline: “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides.”

The article cited an official who said “intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House.”

Others appeared to notice the irony of the Times apparently ignoring or discrediting its own story. On Sunday, radio talk-show host Mark Levin asked, in reference to the wiretapping: “You wanna know how I know? It’s in the newspapers! It’s right there!”

Alluding to that Times story and others, Levin quipped, “The media seems to be confused about their own reporting!”

On Monday, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh targeted one of the three writers of the Times story, Michael Schmidt, who “wrote that Team Trump had Russia connections, and to support his point, said that Trump’s people were wiretapped, and that’s in the New York Times in January.”

“So,” Limbaugh continued, “Trump tweets over the weekend that Obama’s wiretapping him, and how low that is and what Trump thinks of it and so forth. This same reporter comes back and says there’s no evidence of that. Trump’s a lunatic. There’s no evidence that. Trump’s insane.

“Now, what’s going on at the New York Times?” wondered the talk-show host. “How in the world – do they know what they’re doing, or did they just forget what they did?” 

Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, and World Net Daily all nicely wrapped together in one blanket. So clearly the New York Times must be wrong here, right? Not exactly. Here is the image of the newspaper article in question.

Now wait a second. It's right there. "Wiretapped Data Used In Inquiry Of Trump Aides". Fair enough, but does it say Trump was tapped? I would quote you the part of the article that does, but that part doesn't freaking exist. I've read the entire article and it says nothing of the kind. Here, read it yourself. Pay special attention to these paragraphs. (The following paragraphs are all from the article, but do not appear in consecutive order as quoted below. They can be read in full context in the linked article.)

It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with Mr. Trump’s campaign, or Mr. Trump himself. It is also unclear whether the inquiry has anything to do with an investigation into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and other attempts to disrupt the elections in November. The American government has concluded that the Russian government was responsible for a broad computer hacking campaign, including the operation against the D.N.C.

Counterintelligence investigations examine the connections between American citizens and foreign governments. Those connections can involve efforts to steal state or corporate secrets, curry favor with American government leaders or influence policy. It is unclear which Russian officials are under investigation, or what particular conversations caught the attention of American eavesdroppers. The legal standard for opening these investigations is low, and prosecutions are rare.  

So there you see that NYT didn't claim it was a tapping of Trump, and they specifically pointed out that the communications were from Russians who were under investigation, and that it wasn't clear if the communications had anything to do with Trump or the Campaign. So no, Rush. They didn't forget what they did. You either didn't read what they did, or you are knowingly and willingly misrepresenting what they did.

At this point one might assume that the irony of this whole situation couldn't possibly be any thicker. One would be wrong. If you haven't vomited all over your screen in disgust at what this party is becoming, check out my personal favorite paragraph from the article.

Representatives of the agencies involved declined to comment. Of the half-dozen current and former officials who confirmed the existence of the investigations, some said they were providing information because they feared the new administration would obstruct their efforts. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cases. 

So the story comes from the New York Times, which Trump has called "fake news". The article is based on anonymous sources, and Trump has said when they don't name their sources it's because they are making it up. Yet when Trump learns of the article, he believes it and becomes enraged to the point that he tweets out in anger. So for those of you keeping score at home...

1. He should have dismissed the story since it was based on an article from the fake news.
2. He should have dismissed the story because it contained anonymous sources, a clear indicator of fake news.
3. No rational person could conclude from the story that Trump or his phone had been tapped.
4. At no point in the story did it even suggest that President Obama was personally involved in any of the espionage discussed.

Despite all of these facts, we have the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Levin defending the President. This is nothing short of insanity and it has got to stop. I don't care who you think you are, or what you think you are capable of, there is no way to make the delusional rantings of a mad man sound logical. You're simply tarnishing your own reputations and in so doing dragging the party down with you. You want to help? Clearly the guy listens to you. Call him. Get in touch with the secretary of his medicine cabinet. Find out what they shot him up with before his address to Congress and give him two more doses and confiscate his electronic devices until the morning. You're not doing him any favors by convincing him that this is anything other than the rantings of an unhinged person who is completely detached from reality. Furthermore, it is completely irrational to even want to do so. A man this gullible and this given to temper tantrums without any real provocation is a danger to himself and the Country when holding the position he currently occupies. Wake the hell up, folks. You're playing with fire. It's only a matter of time until someone gets burned.