There has been some recognition that whatever else Trump is, he is also crazy.

It’s Sundowning in America by Paul Krugman

A presidential mind is a dangerous thing to lose.

I had never heard the term “sundowning” before it happened to my own father, yet it’s a fairly common syndrome. In his last few months my father remained lucid and rational — remained himself — during daylight hours. Once the sun went down he deteriorated, becoming confused, paranoid and aggressive.

It’s terrible to watch sundowning in someone you love. But that’s a personal tragedy – not a national or global one. It’s an entirely different matter when the president of the United States is sundowning — a president surrounded by malign sycophants who tell him whatever he wants to hear and indulge his every whim, no matter how destructive.

For good reasons, it’s normally bad practice to pronounce on someone’s mental health from afar. Some of us still remember when right-wing pundits liked to call anyone critical of George W. Bush mentally ill. But after reading the letter that Trump just sent to the prime minister of Norway (Jonas Gahr Støre has confirmed that it’s genuine) there should be no doubt that we have a president who is suffering a real detachment from reality:

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.

I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

This might not exactly be sundowning, since it’s not clear that Trump is lucid and rational at any time of the day. What is incontrovertible is that he’s deeply unwell and rapidly getting sicker.

In fact, Trump is so deeply unwell that it’s time to stop blaming him for all the terrible things he’s doing. He is what he is. Responsibility for the catastrophe overtaking America now rests with his enablers — people who have to know that he’s a sick man but continue to support his depredations.

Some of these enablers are monsters themselves. For example, Stephen Miller, Trump’s immigration czar and the architect of his violent ethnic cleansing policies, is clearly a fanatic who is using Trump to achieve his own fascist goals.

However, many of Trump’s enablers aren’t fanatics, just amoral opportunists. Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, clearly understands how destructive Trump’s actions are, evidenced by the fact that he has at times tried to tone them down. But for some inexplicable reason, Bessent has decided to sell his soul to Trump.

And then there are those who revel in the reflected glory, who are such utter narcissists that they’re willing to destroy this country in return for the limelight and perks. In that camp we can find Pete Hegseth with his Pentagon makeup studio, who is purging the finest officers in the military; Kristi Noem with her Barbie-in-a-10-gallon-hat act, who positively gushes while calling a murdered mother a terrorist; and Kash Patel, who thinks its fine to fly on an FBI jet to watch his girlfriend sing while overseeing the debasement and corruption of the FBI.

And what can we say about the cowardly Republicans in Congress, who are still sustaining Trump even though many of them – perhaps most of them – are privately appalled by his behavior? It would take just eight of these people — four Republican senators and four Republican House members — to switch sides and caucus with the Democrats to end G.O.P. control of Congress and eliminate much of Trump’s power. But taking such a step would mean risking Trump’s wrath by standing up and acting like patriots, rather than knuckling down and averting their eyes as Trump descends into madness.

How did a great, sophisticated nation, one of the world’s longest-standing republics, end up so fragile that it can be undone by one man’s dementia? That’s an important question, the answer to which I believe lies in the straight line from Bush vs Gore and the Roberts Supreme Court, to January 6th, to the execution of Renee Good. However, what’s more important is that we realize where we are right now, that we don’t try to sugarcoat and sanewash what’s happening: A petulant, violent and deranged individual is running America. (Substack)

The New York Times didn’t seem to notice.

Instead it ignored how crazy Trump’s letter to the head of Norway was, and told us Ted Cruz, that good ole boy, says we need Greenland too.

It did criticize Trump too, but in a familiar way, not calling for the Congress to remove him from office.

New York Times’ reaction to the Grifter-in-Chief.

How TRUMP has pocketed $1,408,500,000

One year ago, Donald Trump took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he has focused on using the presidency to enrich himself.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.

He has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests.

A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.

The Trumps are pocketing $28 million from Amazon for a documentary about Melania Trump.

Amazon paid far more for the rights to “Melania” than the next highest bidder — and far more than the company has previously paid for similar projects, according to The Wall Street Journal. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chairman and one of the world’s richest people, has many reasons to curry favor with the administration, including antitrust regulation, Amazon’s defense contracts and his space company’s federal contracts.

Major tech and media companies
have paid Mr. Trump $90.5 million in
settlements since his re-election.

The settlements have come from X, ABC News, Meta, YouTube and Paramount. None of them were justified on the merits. Paramount, for example, agreed to pay the president $16 million for what he claimed was the deceptive editing of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview. The editing was a normal part of journalism. Three weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion merger with Skydance.

Qatar gave Mr. Trump a $400 million jet
that he will use as Air Force One
while president and plans to take with
him after leaving office.

Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge that the gift would influence his treatment of Qatar. “We are going to protect this country,” he said in Doha shortly after Qatar offered the plane. Mr. Trump has said he expects to transfer the plane to his presidential library after leaving office.

The Trumps have made at least $867 million through various cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Trump’s sale of crypto has been by far his biggest moneymaker, according to Reuters. People who hope to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy his family’s coins, effectively transferring money to the Trumps, and the deals are often secret. One that has become public: A United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm announced plans last year to deposit $2 billion into a Trump firm — two weeks before the president gave the country access to advanced chips.

All told, Mr. Trump has profited from
his return to the presidency by an
amount of money equal to 16,822 times
the median U.S. household income.

MR. TRUMP’S HUNGER for wealth is brazen. Throughout the nation’s history, presidents of both parties have taken care to avoid even the appearance of profiting from public service. This president gleefully squeezes American corporations, flaunts gifts from foreign governments and celebrates the rapid growth of his own fortune.

When President Harry Truman left office in 1953, he did not even own a car. He and his wife returned to Missouri by train and lived for a time on his Army pension. He refused to take any job that he regarded as commercializing his public service, explaining, “I knew that they were not interested in hiring Harry Truman, the person, but what they wanted to hire was the former president of the United States.” Mr. Trump has said that when he leaves office, he plans to take with him a $400 million Boeing 747 that was a gift from Qatar, and to display it at his presidential library.

This tally focuses on Mr. Trump’s documented gains. The $1.4 billion figure is a minimum, not a full accounting. It is probable that Mr. Trump has collected several hundred million dollars in additional profits from his cryptocurrency ventures over the past year. The Trumps have acknowledged as much. When The Financial Times asked Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, about its estimated value of the family’s crypto gains, he said they were probably even larger than the news organization thought.

Our accounting also does not include other ways in which the president has encouraged influence seekers to make donations that benefit him politically, including to his planned White House renovation. During the government shutdown, Mr. Trump even used a private gift to finance his policy priorities. Other presidents did not behave this way.

Mr. Trump was already the wealthiest person to serve as president of the United States. He began his second term with a large portfolio of real estate holdings and an ownership stake in a social media company. Those businesses have benefited from his presidency. His real estate company, for example, is making millions from deals licensing Mr. Trump’s name for use on new projects in foreign countries. Even more striking, however, are the enormous profits the Trump family has reaped by creating and selling cryptocurrencies, allowing Mr. Trump to collect money from those seeking his favor.

It is impossible to know how often Mr. Trump makes official decisions, in part or entirely, because he wants to be richer. And that is precisely the problem. A culture of corruption is pernicious because it is not just a deviation from government in the public interest; it is also the destruction of the state’s democratic legitimacy. It undermines the necessary faith that the representatives of the people are acting in the interest of the people.

Aristotle, writing more than 2,000 years ago, saw clearly and warned that a government whose leaders worked to enrich themselves might still call itself a republic, and might still go through the motions, but when the aim of government shifts from public good to private gain, its constitution becomes an empty shell. The government is no longer for the people.

The demands of avarice gradually corrupt the work of government as officials facilitate the accumulation of personal wealth. Worse, such a government corrupts the people who live under its rule. They learn by experience that they live in a society where the laws are written by the highest bidder. They become less likely to obey those laws, and to participate in the work of democracy — speaking, voting, paying taxes. The United States risks falling into this cynical spiral as Mr. Trump hollows out the institutions of government for personal gain. (Editorial Board, New York Times).

Glad for this, but how could they ignore that the man is also crazy. See Paul Krugman above.☝️

Trump issued a late M.L.K. Day proclamation after he was criticized by civil rights activists.

President Trump proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday evening, after he was criticized by civil rights activists for breaking from tradition by failing to recognize Dr. King’s legacy or attending commemorations of the holiday.

In the past, presidents issued statements about Dr. King even before the federal holiday. Toward the end of Mr. Trump’s first term in 2021, when M.L.K. Day fell on Jan. 18, his proclamation was issued on Jan. 15, Dr. King’s birthday. Last year, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation on Jan. 17, days before the holiday.

Each year, the United States celebrates Dr. King’s legacy with a federal holiday on the third Monday of January. Dr. King played an instrumental role in the civil rights movement, which called for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.

Presidents usually attend parades and commemorative services held in his honor. The federal holiday was created in 1983 by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan, 15 years after Dr. King was assassinated. President Bill Clinton signed legislation in 1994 designating it as a day of service to encourage Americans to volunteer in their communities.

Mr. Trump did not attend M.L.K. Day events on Monday, spending the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. In the proclamation, Mr. Trump said he had honored Dr. King last year by declassifying documents related to his assassination. Several noted historians said at the time, however, that there was little of note in these documents and most of Dr. King’s family had opposed their release.

“Dr. King’s extraordinary resolve stands as an enduring testament to the unstoppable fire of freedom and, tragically, ultimately cost him his life,” Mr. Trump said in the proclamation.

“Today, we honor the brave men and women who remain steadfast in their commitment to law, order, liberty, and justice for all. We renew our resolve to honor our heritage, reclaim our freedom, and recommit to the truth that America is, was, and forever will be a great Nation,” the proclamation said.

The lack of a proclamation for most of Monday was criticized by civil rights groups, including the N.A.A.C.P.

In a social media post on Monday, Bernice King, Dr. King’s daughter, called on Americans to remember her father by, among other things, “amplifying and advocating for the end of state-sanctioned and facilitated violence against Black and Brown immigrants and against people, period.”

Mr. Trump’s M.L.K. Day proclamation was not shared by the White House or the president on their social media accounts, which have posted throughout the day about immigration enforcement actions and the college football championship in Miami, which Mr. Trump was attending on Monday night. (New York Times)

Trump was in DC and now he is in Davos.

Before he left for Davos, Trump held a press conference in which he incoherently ranted and raved for almost 2 hours. He also insulted the European leaders he was about to meet.

Then at Davos, Trump and his position on Greenland were not popular. For sure.

One more thing. Or two.

Trump’s Treasury Secretary is there too.

What world does he live in.👇

Canada made it clear they aren’t for sale either.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s full speech at Davos.

Some good news.

Mikie Sherrill of NJ was sworn in yesterday.

The two new Democratic Governors 👇. Mikie and Abigail Spanberger, Governor of Virginia, who has been in office since January 17.

Virginia is all blue - Governor, State Senate, House of Delegates, but it can’t hurt to get another vote.

Georgia delivered again.

Maryland will help pay back Texas Gerrymandering.

A new Senator is coming, from North Carolina.

Give PBS its highest rating in history.

Jack Smith begins testimony on Thursday 7:00 am PT/ 10:00 am ET.

Side note. Yesterday at his incoherent presser, Trump called Jack Smith a "sick son of a bitch."

Classy guy, that Trump. Remember the photo that began this Roundup.