In the summer of 2017, Donald Trump had just become president and I published my book "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, A 500-Year History." I'd started writing it in 2014. The last chapter deals with Trump and where America seemed headed. Here are the relevant pages. 1/8


2/8

Reading the indictment. So many gems. Here are five.

This from the introduction.

1/5 A summary of the classified documents he illegally kept and hid from the government, 31 of which (among those 21 marked Top Secret) are detailed in each of 31 of the total 38 criminal counts.

2/5

Been studying up on migration. Some key facts I learned.

Hundreds of thousands each year move here by getting standard immigration visas.

Another small group, about 40,000 a year recently, are granted
refugee/asylum status—what the people now massing at the border want. 1/3 To move here as refugees or “asylees” they must convince screeners they’ve been persecuted or have “a well-founded fear” of it because of political opinions, or bigotry against their race, religion or caste. They can either apply abroad and get it, or just show up and hope. 2/3

On trial for defaming his alleged victim, he posted 2 rants on his site by 10 am. The judge soon warned his lawyer:“Your client is endeavoring to speak to his public about things he's not supposed to speak about. But more troublesome, to the jury.” 1/4 Defense lawyer: "I will address them with my client, to the degree I have an ability to."

Judge: “I hope you’re successful, because we’re getting into an area where your client might be tampering with a potential new source of liability. And I think you know what I mean.” 2/4

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome is when mentally ill attention-hungry caregivers invent or cause illnesses in order to heroically cure them. It has been Trump’s main presidential tactic.
1/4 He made the migrant crisis worse, then blamed migrants and Democrats and judges. He tried to destroy Obamacare so he could save health care. He threatened war with North Korea, then became Kim’s BFF. He imposed tariffs that hurt farmers, then paid off farmers. 2/4

Prompted by @DanBarryNYT's good piece about Trump's driving lifelong horror of people thinking he's a loser, I looked at his 337 tweets containing the slurs "loser" or "losers."

The first 3 appeared in late 2011, two years after he started tweeting.
1/5 nytimes.com/2020/11/26/us/… 2/5
He became more promiscuous during 2012, going from one "loser" every month or two to tweeting about this or that loser, or losers in general, every two weeks on average--then ramped up to twice a week in 2103, and then weekly during 2014 and 2015.

About Amy Coney Barrett's religious beliefs.

Just before the Constitution was written, Thomas Jefferson wrote of religious tolerance in our nation-to-be: “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” 1/5 One's religion— Islam, atheism, membership in the tiny Christian sect People of Praise, whatever--should prevent nobody from holding any public office. But it's perfectly legitimate for citizens to examine and discuss the full mental apparatus of any Supreme Court nominee.
2/5

On his weekly live @Facebook video yesterday, Trump’s @HHSGov assistant secretary for public affairs @MichaelRCaputo let his freak flag fly. He said @CDCgov contains a “resistance unit” of scientists engaged in “sedition.” That’s the least crazy bit. 1/5 nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/… “Remember the Trump supporter who was shot and killed [in Portland]? That was a drill,” Trump’s @HHSGov assistant secretary said. “Squads [are] being trained all over this country.....When Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin.” 2/5

Steve Bannon, CEO of the 2016 campaign, was indicted for fraudulently fundraising from MAGA suckers.

The emails from the 2020 campaign may not directly enrich Trumps, but I've never encountered such grifty bullshit in political donation solicitations.

Here are 5 recent days. First day, from nobody in particular:

"For the NEXT HOUR, all contributions made to our critical $25,000,000 End-of-Month Goal will be not 500, not 600, but 700%-MATCHED!"

@nytdavidbrooks says he’s OK with a “New Deal agenda” to restore a US “when unions protected workers” and everyone “had a ladder to climb”—but NOT “some vast effort to remake capitalism” or “a Nordic-style system.” This is impossible and ahistorical. 1/4
nytimes.com/2020/07/16/opi… The New Deal was a crucial stage in the necessary ongoing evolution of capitalism—making it more fair and civilized and sustainable and social-democratic. Around 1980 the right managed to stop that process in America, while the Nordics and other rich countries continued it. 2/4

2015.

1/9

https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/status/667928009345773568

2015.

2/9

https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/status/668109890305531906

Biden can occasionally be great, like in this @nytimes group interview, regarding Facebook and big tech—how as VP he was “meeting with the leaders in Silicon Valley trying to work out an agreement protecting intellectual property for artists....” 1/4 nytimes.com/interactive/20… “...And one of the little creeps who was close to a billionaire told me he was an artist because he was able to come up with games to teach you how to kill people. And then one of these righteous people said to me....” 2/4

@BernieSanders hasn’t been my first choice, but in this long @nytimes editorial board interview I found him kind of lovable.

Some highlights. 1/5 nytimes.com/interactive/20… As usual, he used the old-fashioned term “industrialized world” instead of the more modern “developed world” or “rich world,” but also said, apropos his heart attack 3 months ago, that he’d just had some “spare ribs.” 2/5

I’m betting Trump just found out he can’t fire the head of the Smithsonian.

In a new memoir, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch describes showing him the Museum of African American History’s exhibit on “the role of the Dutch in the slave trade. As he pondered the label...” 1/3 2/3 “...I felt that maybe he was paying attention to the work of the museum. He quickly proved me wrong. As he turned from the display he said to me, ‘You know, they love me in the Netherlands.’ All I could say was let’s continue walking.” 1/3

1/5 I find it irresistible to deconstruct the transcripts of his interviews. Every one has nuggets that perfectly illustrate most his pathologies and impairments.

nytimes.com/2019/02/01/us/… 2/5 Narcissism & Gracelessness

After he claimed to be the most popular president ever among Republicans, more than Reagan, it was suggested that George W. Bush also polled well:

"During, during a tiny little period, during the World Trade Center. That ended quickly."