The Current American Crisis: Narcissism Trumps Pain

Thomas Paine:

"'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Swamp Creature has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Trump arrived upon the Potomac."--I quote from memory. Susan Rice's.

While Harveywood melts down in the long-overdue Panic of the Potted Plants, there is an even greater panic afoot: The Great Trump Perma-Panic!

It is why Hillary, who can't stop talking, was unable to speak on Election Night.

It causes an allegedly free press to volunteer for ideological slavery, rowing the slave-ship Obamulus in intellectual circles while jettisoning whatever scraps of integrity they once clung to like so many pieces of #FakeNews flotsam.

It causes the very pundits who claim Trump's followers change positions at his command to change their own at his volition:

 

Sean Davis Verified account  @seanmdav    

 Life comes at @JRubinBlogger fast. From "the deal has to go" to "in a perfect world, the Iran deal would stay in place."

Baby Goat Alliance‏ @AceofSpadesHQ 22h22 hours ago Replying to @AceofSpadesHQ

Pro-tip: If trump defines every one of your positions, even that means taking the exact contrary position, you're a Mind Slave of Trump's".......

 
It is why self-styled Deep State Patriots feel free to impose their Cockroach Coup-attempt on their lessers, i.e., you and me.

Here, President Trump causes his opponents to reconsider American Independence and root for King George: "Next Thursday, October 19, marks the 236th anniversary of the day that George Washington’s Continental Army defeated the British at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. When our young American flag waved that day over the British surrender, it marked more than a victory of American arms. It represented the emergence of Stars and Stripes as a beacon of freedom around the world. 1781When our young American flag waved that day over the British surrender, it marked more than a victory of American arms. It represented the emergence of Stars and Stripes as a beacon of freedom around the world."
 

Mirror, mirror...

Wikipedia: "In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. He was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope. He was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis noticed this behavior and attracted Narcissus to a pool, where he saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus lost his will to live. He stared at his reflection until he died. Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception."

Trump's opponents routinely refer to him as a Narcissus. Yet he is their Nemesis, sending them to stare unrequited into the presidential pool. Seeing their own image, they have mistaken their own evil image for Trump's. Fixated and obsessed, they have fallen in hate, not in love, and are now paralyzed in permanent panic, unable to leave the ugliness of their own reflection even though it dooms them to write unreadable screeds chronicling their public meltdowns like "What Happened", optioned by Miracle-Gro spokesman Harvey Weinstein.

"What Happened"? As Paine puts it, the President has become a 'touchstone of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. He has the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. He sifts out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world.'

Without even trying.


Restoring the Fabric: "C'mon in; the water's fine!"

UPDATE: InstaPundit:

NO WONDER DEMOCRATS ARE SO UPSET: Behind Trump’s latest moves: A return to constitutional government.

"Obama kept the Affordable Care Act looking healthy via an extra-constitutional grant of $1 trillion to health-insurance companies. That required congressional approval, and Obama’s decision to bypass Congress was held unconstitutional by a federal court. President Trump’s decision Thursday to halt the bailout makes the litigation moot and represents a return to constitutional government.
The same can be said of Trump’s Friday decision to throw the Iran deal back to Congress, by refusing to certify that Iran is in compliance with the deal.
Recall that this was a treaty that should never have been adopted without two-thirds approval in the Senate, as required by the Constitution. That didn’t happen — because a compliant Republican Congress passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which provided that the president certify to Congress every 90 days that the suspension of sanctions against the regime is “appropriate and proportionate” with respect to its illicit nuclear program.
And that’s what Trump didn’t do. He didn’t tear up the treaty, or even decertify anything. Rather, he failed to certify, and simply told the truth. Iran isn’t permitting the nuclear inspections the treaty contemplates, and the Revolutionary Guard, which controls much of the government, is a terrorist organization.
The regime is building missiles that threaten us and our allies, and its infractions don’t justify our continued suspension of sanctions.
Now it’s Congress that has to act. Or dodge its duty, as it did when it passed INARA in 2015."

 No wonder Republicans are so upset.".......

[More from F.H. Buckley]:

Trump’s decision is also a special message to Sen. Bob Corker. He’s been Trump’s biggest critic in Congress lately, and his name is on the INARA legislation.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Corker was the one who should have insisted that the treaty be submitted for formal approval by two-thirds of the Senate. He knew that that would never happen, and became Obama’s willing accomplice in the end run around the Constitution.
He was the guy who could have stopped the Iran treaty from going through, and he failed to do so. And now we’re supposed to pay attention to what he thinks of Trump’s foreign-policy decisions?
What Obama and Corker gave us was one of the worst deals America has ever made. We gave Iran $1.7 billion in upfront cash, which it doubtless used to support terrorism and develop weapons that could be used against us. The deal legitimized Iran as the dominant power in the region.
It signaled that we were weak, that Iran could defy us with impunity, that it could proceed to develop a nuclear arsenal and a delivery system that could destroy its hated enemy in Israel and threaten us, that it could roll all over us.".......

 Define "we".

SpongeBob Corker About to Discover His Holiday from History is Over