Terrific insight.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Politics
Dr_Krippen — 9 years ago(February 16, 2017 07:06 AM)
Terrific insight.
The misery of Donald Trump
You could see it in the president's face as he listened to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explain the strong bonds that tie our two countries together.
You could see it at Mar-a-Lago, during an impromptu appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Shinto Abe.
You can see it, actually, every time Trump appears in public. He seems exhausted and miserable.
You can hear it, too. When you're tired, you revert to stock phrases and canned responses. During the Trudeau press conference, Trump was asked four easy questions, and his answers grappled for coherence (even more than usual). On Syrian refugees potentially entering the United States, he strung together a bunch of phrases about immigration and ended with a signature (and weakly delivered) note of self-praise.
Trump seems utterly exhausted and just plain miserable. His staff is also surely miserable. Many do not like him. More importantly, they don't trust him. They don't trust Stephen Bannon to translate his core hunches into policy, with only a few exceptions. They compete for Trump's affections by throwing each other under whatever buses might be rolling by. They leak to their favorite reporters.
The president borrows his temperament from A Confederacy of Dunces' Ignatius J. Reilly. He craves spontaneity and stimulation, lives in a world of his own imagining, and is also beset by anxiety and germophobia.
But being the president means that he is not, in fact, in a world he can create. He can't tame his schedule, which is intense purposefully so, because his staff wants to create the impression that he is working hard, and fast, to keep his promises. He can't decide who he talks to, and when, and gets reproached every time he seems to speak his mind.
There were no adoring crowds feeding his energy when he allegedly hung up on the prime minister of Australia, or when he had to listen to a lecture by German President Angela Merkel about the Geneva Convention. Certainly, the decision to cut ties with erstwhile National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was greeted not with cheers, but by pitchfork-wielding mobs of critics.
For a president who craves adulation and praise, the presidency has him drowning in misery.
This misery might matter less if the president and his staff shared a purpose that was ennobling. But that purpose total disruption, the creation of the media as an enemy state is inherently unstable. It's a poor man's gloss on a real governing philosophy. -
Slow_Coming_Warbird — 9 years ago(February 16, 2017 07:22 AM)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/melania-trump-miserable-first-lady-130407072.html
Melania Trump Is Miserable as First Lady, Unhappy With How Her Life Ended Up
While her husband, Donald Trump, wields his power as president, first lady Melania Trump is struggling with the realities of her new role and the scrutiny that comes with it, insiders reveal in the new issue of Us Weekly. This life wasnt her dream. It was Donalds, Trump family friend and stylist Phillip Bloch tells Us. Truthfully, its a lot to cope with. Find out more in the video above, and detailed below.
PHOTOS: Donald Trump's Family: His Kids, Grandkids, Wives and More
Indeed, her unconventional living arrangement she's staying in New York City while son Barron, 10, finishes school has already made her a late-night punch line. (Jimmy Kimmel quipped February 8 that shes trapped like Rapunzel in her Trump Tower penthouse.) Vogue faced boycott threats after editor Anna Wintour said on February 9 that she expected Melania, 46, to appear on a future cover. And Melania's libel lawsuit against U.K. paper Daily Mail, which she claims harmed her unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to launch a broad-based commercial brand, has opened her up to criticism that she intends to cash in on the presidency.
PHOTOS: See Melania Trump's Style Evolution, From 1999 to Today
The deluge has reportedly become too daunting for the deeply private Sevnica, Slovenia, native, who moved to the United States in 1996 to launch a fashion career not to preside over the East Wing. Melania is unhappy with how her life ended up, alleges a family source. She is miserable.
Since inauguration day, Melania has spent most of her time holed up in her lavish apartment. Never a fixture on the NYC social scene, she is staying hidden more, claims Bloch. (By contrast, Michelle Obama hosted an open house for select members of the public, plus a party for White House staffers during her first week on the job in 2009.)
PHOTOS: Inside Donald Trump's Inauguration Freedom Ball
According to a family source, not even Barron can get her out the gold-plated front door. Pre-inauguration, Melania would shuttle her son in a chauffeured SUV to and from his private school. But that was before picketers took up residence outside her building. Now, claims the source, Melania has the Secret Service take Barron to school and retrieve him.
Melania has left her $100 million apartment a handful of times. But aside from one outing to run errands January 30, she has usually headed to her other (luxurious) home. The first lady joined Donald, 70, at Mar-a-Lago, their $300 million estate in Palm Beach, Florida, the weekend of February 3. She went the following weekend too with a quick pit stop in Washington, D.C., to catch a ride on Air Force One with Donald and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie. Melania says shes most happy at Mar-a-Lago, says a source close to the first lady. She loves Palm Beach!
In familiar surroundings, she happily played hostess February 11. It was a conspicuous contrast to the previous day, when the most important woman in Japan was left to tour various spots in the nations capital minus the traditional first lady escort. (Both Laura Bush and Obama accompanied Akie on previous visits.) While their husbands talked policy over a round of golf February 11, Melania and Akie visited a Bethesda-by-the-Sea church where the Trumps wed in 2005 and strolled around the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. Dont let her smile in those photos fool you, claims the source. She hates this.
A Melania source counters that she is very happy with her life and supporting her husband and family.
For much more on Melania's new life, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now!
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