zenpundit.com

[ by Charles Cameron — NYorker invokes the nested dolls archetype — not kind to Trump ]
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You already know that I sit up and take special notice when certain forms (symmetries, helices, ouroboroi, etc) show up — because forms are a particularly powerful way in which the mind orders its world, or because the world teaches the mind that it is ordered in formal ways, take your pick — well, one of those forms is the nested form called Matryoshka, which I’ve discussed before:

Nesting Buddhas and insubstantiality

ISIS goes Matryoshka

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Imagine, then, my interest to read today’s New Yorker post, Valley of the Russian Dolls: A Hollow, Repetitive Form Proves Perfect for Trump.

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I invite you to read the article yourself to learn about Halina Danchenko. who sells Matryoshka dolls. Shoppers are asked not to open the dolls on display in her stone themselves — however “If you want to see what’s inside the leader of the free world, Danchenko will open him for you.”

The article is witty, if you share her perspective:

Trump, who is as matronly as a big bullying man can be, already has the de-facto physique of a nesting doll (and something very like the shellac)

The dolls are witty too, or should I say catty? Read about the two Trump sets that the article describes in detail..

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If you think Trump is father to a host of lies, as the NYT does, why then this article will amuse you, and conversely, if you see him as a straight-shooting man of truth, not so much.

The writer, Kathryn Schulz, is clearly in the first category:

Never has a President seemed so entirely hollow as Trump, so intellectually and morally vacant. Nor has any Administration, so early in its tenure, concealed such a lengthy series of deceptions, or grown so bizarrely, fatally fractal: its lawyers have lawyers, its scandals have sub-scandals, its lies have little lie-lets. It’s easy to imagine, given this prevailing opacity and the incompetence of those nominally in charge, that there is another Trump Russian doll out there, this one filled up with actual Russians.

And her conclusion:

That might or might not prove to be the truth about what’s going on inside Donald Trump politically. What’s going on psychologically is a different story. All of us are largely hidden from one another, our most important attributes by definition invisible: minds, hearts, psyches, consciences, souls. Even for ourselves, we can access these aspects only through sustained introspection, a habit anathema to Trump; other people, meanwhile, reveal their innermost selves to us chiefly through their actions. On that evidence, the most accurate Trump doll is the one made of Donalds all the way down: utterly full of himself, in all other ways utterly empty.

[ by Charles Cameron — another “life imitates art” and a Trumpian ouroboros ]
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In my view, humility shaves ckoser than Occam’s Razor — Occam tends not to shave our assumptions, while humility invites us to consider even our thoughts, even our certainties, as uncertain, as open to question.

Did I mention I’m the proud owner of the domain name, Church of the Open Question?

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Life imitates art:

Upper panel: George W Bush and Bill Clinton on humility:

Lower panel: from Madam Secretary, season 3..

Trumpian Ouroboros:

That’s actually brilliant, IMO. And Trump relishes and repeats it:

"@KennicotAsks: @realDonaldTrump Of all the fellow celebrities you've met, which do you consider to be the most humble?" ME!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2014

Hey, Pope Francis is a close second..

The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2013

And then there’s this — delicious — from a WaPo piece titled Donald Trump’s Secret Service code name is less humble, more mogul:

During a lightning round of a debate, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump picked a potential Secret Service code name that was truly coded: HUMBLE. When the braggadocious billionaire starts to receive actual Secret Service protection Wednesday morning, agents plan to call him something a bit more fitting: MOGUL.

Okay. Mebbe that’s a bit more modest.

Hm. MOGUL as in magnate, tycoon? Or MOGUL as in speed-bump on the ski slopes?

[ by Charles Cameron — more on the digging dirt / foreign sources story ]
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It’s all too easy to lose sight of the intriguing parallelism here — but symmetries are worth watching, often revelatory. Good catch by Daniel Nexon:

1. Accusations in this @politico story about the Clinton campaign are potentially analogous with the Trump mess. https://t.co/FgQp1OM8hD

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

2. But that analogy is not a shield for Don Jr., Jared, and the rest.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

3. Members of the Trump omitted multiple contacts—including one now explicitly revealed to involve attempted collusion—from their SF-86s.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

4. At least some of the same people lied repeatedly about their activities and engaged in a concerted campaign of deception to hide them

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

5. But, most importantly, we can't deal in the hypothetical. It's possible that Clinton and her people would've been in the same boat.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

6. We'll never know, though, because she's not POTUS.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

7. The relevant parties in the Clinton campaign aren't running the White House. the biz interests of the President, and/or getting the PDB.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

8. So, maybe Clinton would be looking at possible impeachment for collusion with Kiev. With this Congress, I'm sure it would be a live issue

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

9. Ultimately, such whataboutism is a distraction. Don Jr's revelations have massive national-security implications. Full stop. The end.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

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From January: Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire:

Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.

Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.

A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort’s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump’s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine’s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia’s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.

Russia’s effort was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

[ .. more .. ]

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Your thoughts? — valuable since they’ll no doubt differ from mine..

[ by Charles Cameron — a superb find & capture ]
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Life imitates art.#G20Summit by #craignewmark pic.twitter.com/C6fynHqfZO

— Russ Turner (@MadHelp4U) July 7, 2017

In an earlier tweet, Turner identified “Underwood and Petrov in ‘House of Cards’ season 3 vs. Trump and Putin IRL by #timoreilly“. That’s them.

I got this via Thomas Hegghammer, who has a keen European eye — something I suspect may be invaluable in analytic work.

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Likewise noteworthy, a neat title to an Atlantic piece on the same meeting of the minds — which also exhibits double vision:

Here’s the relevant detail-work from the text of that piece:

Attendance at the meeting was sharply limited, reportedly in order to avoid leaks: There were just six people in the room, including each president’s foreign-policy chief and an interpreter for each side. That means that anyone curious to know what was discussed is forced to rely on the accounts of the two governments involved—neither of which has a sterling reputation for honesty.

Adding to the confusion, the two initial accounts of the meeting differ sharply. Russian and American officials, together with Jordan, announced a cease-fire in southwest Syria, the one major material accomplishment, though one that based on Jordan’s involvement was clearly in the works long before the two presidents met. The two sides also agreed to set up a working group on cybersecurity. From there, accounts diverge, creating a Rashomon-like situation in which it’s likely impossible to piece together what actually happened.

Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, briefed reporters in Hamburg on the discussion. Tillerson said Trump had begun the meeting by pressing Putin about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“The president opened the meeting by raising the concerns of the American people regarding Russian interference in 2016 election. Putin denied such involvement, as he has done in the past,” Tillerson said. He said that Trump had returned to the topic more than once during the meeting. (As the meeting ran over, first lady Melania Trump was reportedly sent inside in an unsuccessful attempt to get the men to wrap up.)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also briefing reporters in Hamburg, agreed that Trump had brought up the accusations, but that Trump had accepted Putin’s version of the events, which is that Russia is innocent of any involvement. U.S. officials denied that. He also claimed Trump had dismissed the allegations: “Trump mentioned that in U.S. certain circles still inflate subject of Russian meddling in elections, even though they have no proof.”

It’s hard to know what to believe. Lavrov and Russia have obvious motivation to lie about what happened. But Trump has repeatedly shown that despite his bluster about being a tough negotiator, he can be easily persuaded by foreign leaders during face-to-face meetings, abandoning long-held positions when effectively debated by a counterpart. (This is one reason that Putin, like other foreign leaders, was so eager to meet in person.)

Moreover, Trump’s own view on the interference in the election remains opaque. He has never fully accepted the judgment of U.S. intelligence agencies and most of his own aides that Russia was behind hacking of email accounts and other feints. Most recently, on Thursday in Warsaw, Trump suggested that Russia might have been involved but might not have been alone, and concluded, “Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.”

Rashomon indeed! — but maybe that’s the play here: obfuscate.

[ by Charles Cameron — sources for my previous post with tweet & DoubleQuote]
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In fairness, because I questioned & implicitly critiqued Jenkins on one of the tweets in this series in my previous post, here’s the whole series for your consideration:

1. In light of last night's Make America Great Again hymn (?), some notes about what I call an emerging Trumpian Christian Nationalism. https://t.co/MkFXparb6b

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

2. First, Trump and/or his advisers have been crafting a form of Christian nationalism since his inauguration. https://t.co/4UNBaJijtU

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

3. Christian nationalism per se isn't new; Fusions of patriotism and piety are as old as America itself.

But Trump's version is…different.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

4. He uses common themes, such as the idea that America is a Christian nation ("our God"), and that faith is inherently patriotic.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

5. Here's some lines from his inauguration speech, as well as his speech to Liberty University in May. pic.twitter.com/Tc4ls7vNR9

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

6. The fusion of faith and patriotism is old, and Trump (or his speechwriters) know it.

He harped on the "In God we Trust" at Liberty. pic.twitter.com/K3r7YIuh4e

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

7. "In God we trust," of course, only showed up on U.S. currency in 1954 during the Red Scare.

But his point is they were right to do it.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

8. Trump's Christian nationalism, however, diverges from the traditional strain (preached by many) in two key ways.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

9. The first is subtle: his line about Americans worshipping "God not government"—used last night and in other speeches—appears partisan. pic.twitter.com/8sB9fy5ibE

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

10. Many a preacher has endorsed the GOP small government approach, but few politicians have framed it as brazenly as Trump does.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

11. But the truly unusual part of Trump's Christian nationalism is how he appears to place HIMSELF at the center of his theology—as a savior

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

12. At his inauguration, he appeared to imply that God will keep America safe BECAUSE he is president.

That is, as they say, not normal. pic.twitter.com/eMc4nCAMsO

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

13. Trump's allies echo this: Rev. Jeffress, who emceed last night, delivered an inauguration sermon entitled "When God chooses a leader." pic.twitter.com/MkryYbkoKk

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

14. Granted, the idea that presidents are imbued with divine purpose is NOT unique to Trump. Some likely thought the same of Obama.

But…

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

15. Implying God's protection = a byproduct of your rule? Having choirs sing your campaign slogan?

That's a new, untested mix in America.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

16. Long story short: keep an eye on Trump's faith cadre—Jeffress, etc—going forward.

Trends suggest this theology will only grow bolder.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

Here you can find Jenkins’ ThinkProgress article, Trump is creating a new form of Christian nationalism centered on himself.