Trump Is Not Just Incompetent - He Is Also Lazy

The folks over at Axios.com got hold of Donald Trump's official schedule between November 7th of 2018 and February 1st of 2019. The schedule was leaked by a White House insider. The results were shocking at the very least.

The top chart shows the activities and the actual amount of time doing each. The bottom chart shows the percentage of time for each activity.

Trump spent 15.3% of his time in meetings, 7.6% at events, 10.7% traveling, and 7.8% at lunch. But the largest block of time (59.1%) was spent in "executive time". "Executive time" is Trump-speak for his down-time -- the time he spends alone (watching TV, tweeting, and calling Fox News and other supporters to whine about how he is being covered in the media).

To be blunt, Donald Trump is our laziest president. Maybe that's a good thing. Considering his utter and complete incompetence at doing his job, it's probably to the country's advantage that Trump spends so little time doing his job.

Has The Trump/Russia Investigation Gone On Too Long ?

You may note that I called the investigation the "Trump/Russia Investigation" instead of the "Mueller Investigation". That's because I am tired of the news media calling it the Mueller Investigation. Robert Mueller is NOT being investigated. Donald Trump (and his underlings) and Russia are being investigated -- and the terminology should reflect that.

Trump's base and many of his GOP cohorts in Congress are now saying the Trump/Russia Investigation has gone on for too long. They would have you believe that because it has now passed the one-year mark, it should be stopped, because a year should have been enough time to discover anything that could be discovered.

They are hoping that not enough has been discovered to impeach or indict their favorite demagogue, and they want the investigation stopped before that can happen. I think they are wrong. I believe Mueller has uncovered a lot, and will continue his investigation until he feels he knows everything there is to know.

Is one year too long for a serious investigation to continue. No! let me direct your attention to the chart above (from fivethirtyeight.com). The Watergate (Nixon) investigation took over four years. The Iran-Contra (Reagan) investigation took over six years, and the Whitewater (Clinton) investigation took over seven years. Compared to these investigation, the Trump/Russia investigation is just in its infancy.

Note also that the Trump/Russia investigation has produced more indictments and pleas than any other investigation in its first year. The investigation needs to continue -- even (and especially) if it goes all the way to the president (as the Watergate investigation did).

Be patient. Mueller is doing his job.

Iraq Wants A Withdrawal Timetable

It's been obvious for quite a while now that almost everyone would like for the United States to withdraw their troops from Iraq. Nearly 70% of the American people want it. An even larger percentage of the Iraqi people want it. And it goes without saying that the rest of the world would like to see it.

In fact, the only people who don't want U.S. troops to leave Iraq are members of the Bush administration and, of course, the puppet government Bush has installed in Iraq. Now, even that is changing.

The U.N. mandate that gives the United States some legal ground (although shaky) to be in Iraq will expire at the end of December. Bush doesn't want to have to go back to the United Nations, especially now that they know the Bush administration lied to them to get the original mandate. It's very unlikely Bush could get another one.

So instead, Bush has been trying to negotiate an agreement with the puppet government that would allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq. Until now, the sticking point in the agreement has been Bush's demand that "contractors" in Iraq (such as Blackwater) receive full immunity for their actions. Last week, in an effort to get the agreement, Bush dropped the immunity demand.

But now the government of Nouri al-Maliki (pictured above) has come up with a demand of their own. They are asking for the United States government to set a timetable for withdrawal of all troops. It looks like al-Maliki is starting to think his government could survive without Bush's support (I think he's wrong).

This is a slap in the face for Bush (and McCain). Both had hopes of leaving permanent military bases in Iraq so they could control access to Iraqi oil. Now even the government they installed and have been protecting want the troops out.

Doesn't look like Sidney McCain will get those "100-year" military bases now. This can't be good for his presidential campaign either.