There Is No "I" in "Team"

Lindsey Graham had to soften his anti-impeachment letter to some weak-sauce process complaints. And he still lost 10 Republicans.

Trump has some real problems in the Senate. https://t.co/P0kah2KKsn

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) October 25, 2019

No, this isn't from NYMag:

During yet another extended South Lawn ran rant while a chopper awaited, President Donald Trump disavowed any election shenanigans within his administration and those defending him against impeachment, saying, “I don’t have teams,” before adding  “I am the team.”

Which explains the frustration in the Senate, where even Tom Cotton had to warn off Lindsay Graham (!). It also explains why Trump can't do anything.

He doesn't conceive of international relations as, well, relations.  Don't call it "transactional," that's still giving him too much credit.  This is not a man who has made money in the business world, he has just somehow managed not to lose all the money his father left him.  He's not transactional, he's dysfunctional.  Period.  He sincerely believes (based on his tweets, his public statements) that he is commanding the world, when all he did in Syria is capitulate to Erdogan on the phone, then run like a scalded cat.  His tweets betray the reality with his imagined victory:  ISIS is not contained, Syria is not at peace, and things are not as they were before, only better.  This is a man behaving as if he thinks this is the way real people behave, but he only understands news coverage as reality.  And yet Trump is pouting that the Senate won't stand foursquare and defend him against all comers.

Because there is no team; there is only I; and I is Trump.  And how's that working out for him?

Isn’t Lindsey Graham’s resolution a sign of weakness? Key point: It’s not a defense of the president. It’s a criticism of House Democrats which, when the committees release the transcripts and move to open hearings and then the floor, becomes moot. And it only has 44 sponsors.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 25, 2019

The louder the "Freedom Caucus" shouts for transparency, the more they are not going to like it when they get it.

Cummings funeral made me so sad. So many eloquent and decent people extolling kindness, virtue, selflessness. And we have a president totally incapable of even faking it.

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 25, 2019