When there is smoke, there is fire. Unfortunately for The New York Times, the dumpster fire known as its opinion section continues to get stoked with the words of unhinged leftists saying categorically insane things. Usually, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman throws coal into the smoldering trash heap with his often unsubstantiated views, or Thomas Friedman peddles insufferable nonsense that often triggers you slamming your face through a desk.
But this time it was Charles Blow, who wasted no time on this fine Monday morning by publishing a piece aptly titled “Pause This Presidency!” This calls the question of why on earth Blow believes that Donald Trump’s presidency should endure an uncharacteristic “pause.” He kicks off the column with the following charge:
The American people must immediately demand a cessation of all consequential actions by this “president” until we can be assured that Russian efforts to hack our election, in a way that was clearly meant to help him and damage his opponent, did not also include collusion with or coverup by anyone involved in the Trump campaign and now administration.
Let us ignore for a moment that Blow placed the word “president” in quotation marks, alluding to his asinine belief that Trump is #NotHisPresident, and focus on his baseless charges. First of all, the charge that Trump and the Russians colluded to rig the election is false. There is no evidence of it; even the intelligence community acknowledged that it is such a fantasy that it makes Thomas the Tank Engine look real.
However, that does not stop Blow from alluding to the leftist narrative that the American public does not see Trump as a legitimate president and therefore, before Trump continues with his constitutionally-mandated duties and suggests policy to Congress, he needs to prove that he is innocent to the unhinged leftists who already find him guilty.
Here is an excerpt from Blow’s rant:
Americans must demand at least a momentary respite from — my preference would be a permanent termination of — Trump’s aggressive agenda to dramatically alter the social, economic and political contours of this country.
America deserves to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our president is legitimate before he issues a single new disruptive executive order.
America deserves to know that he is legitimate before he pursues a program to dismantle Obamacare.
America deserves to know that he is legitimate before he pushes through a budget that obscenely expands military spending while making dramatic cuts in other areas.
America deserves to know that he is legitimate before the Senate moves forward with confirmation hearings for his Supreme Court nominee.
Blow then rips Trump for his comments regarding Barack Obama possibly wiretapping him and his staff. Ironically, from this dumpster fire column, he also projects that the smoke is not coming from the unhinged pages of The New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media, but from the Trump administration!
There is a helluva lot of smoke here for there to be no fire. Maybe all of these contacts with the Russians have some benign and believable explanation that escapes me at the moment. Maybe this is just the culmination of an extraordinary series of coincidences. Maybe.
I actually hope that’s true. The alternative explanation is nearly unfathomable in its ability to injure our democracy.
Whatever the case, we need answers before we simply pretend that there is some sort of political inertia pulling us forward and that the Trump agenda is an inevitable consequence of a suspect election.
No!
Yes, Charles. It is very possible that meetings between Trump surrogates and Russian officials are completely benign and have nothing to do with the election. As Jeff Sessions explained during his press conference last Thursday, his meeting with the Russian ambassador was part of his senatorial responsibilities as a member of the Armed Services Committee. But Blow refuses to acknowledge the possibility that he may be overreacting (he is) and his views make him seem conspiratorial, unreliable, and deranged (they do).
He ends his column pretending to speak on behalf of all Americans.
We must all demand without equivocation: Pause this presidency!
In short, The New York Times published an entire column that not only operates off the premise of guilty until proven innocent, but that also deliberately calls to obstruct the Trump administration based on circumstantial evidence, hyperbole, and conspiratorial nonsense. This is an article that one would expect coming out of Salon, not one of the most widely-read newspapers in the world.
No wonder President Trump loves to slap the “failing New York Times.”
Somebody with aptitude and conviction should buy the FAKE NEWS and failing @nytimes and either run it correctly or let it fold with dignity!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017
It also comes as no surprise that Charles Blow does not enjoy being told that his moronic column was both unhinged and categorically insane.
Unhinged and categorically insane leftist @CharlesMBlow writes something unhinged and categorically insane. Shocker! https://t.co/Q6ip7mmD7V
— Elliott Hamilton (@ElliottRHams) March 6, 2017
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Hey @bandlersbanter, cue the music! pic.twitter.com/EBrAsiYoRS
— Elliott Hamilton (@ElliottRHams) March 6, 2017
Truth hurts.