And yes, he does believe being a stupid asshole is a desirable trait. He is from that class of Americans that believes cruelty and bullying shows how tough you are.

Trump made his controversial statements in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday. He said, “off the record,” that he is not making any compromises at all with Canada — and that he could not say this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”

“Here’s the problem. If I say no — the answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to put that and it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal … I can’t kill these people,” Trump said of the Canadian government.

In another remark he did not want published, Trump said that any deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms.” He suggested he was scaring the Canadians into submission by repeatedly threatening to impose tariffs on imports of Canadian-made cars.

“Off the record, Canada’s working their ass off. And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” Trump said. The Impala is produced at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont.

Bloomberg agreed to Trump’s request to keep the comments off the record. But the Star, which obtained the quotes from a source, is not bound by any promises Bloomberg made to the president, and it published the quotes after they became part of the critical negotiations.

Trump corroborated the quotes in an afternoon tweet.

“Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!” he said.

In a speech in Charlotte later, Trump said: “These are very dishonourable people. But I said, in the end it’s OK, because at least Canada knows how I feel. So it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s true.”

I think the anticipation for the Friday before Labor Day may be misplaced. It’s not clear that the DOJ custom of not issuing indictments between Labor Day and an election would apply in this case: Trump is not participating in this election.

And just how well would a prosecutor respond to the argument that Trump is too involved, because he needs a Republican Congress to continue to obstruct justice on his behalf?

And it is just a custom. Witness Comey’s intervention against Clinton in the final few days of the 2016 campaign. Mueller would need Rosey to take one final stand.

And aside from the legal consequences for Trump, imagine even the Republicans trying to confirm a Supreme Court Justice transparently chosen to side with Trump, after Mueller declares him guilty? Kavanaugh may quietly disappear from view if Mueller proceeds against Trump soon enough.

Ya know, RL, I remain optimistic. I never expected that expelling the Trump poison could happen overnight. The 2018 elections are the first real opportunity to hamstring that fascist, at a minimum; remove him at best. 538 gives the Blue Wave a 70% chance of taking the House.

America will win. We’ll vomit up Trump and his followers and enablers soon enough.

And we’ll have been reminded, in a thoroughly brutal way, of what we truly value. Maybe, a long time from now, we’ll look back on these years as a necessary purgative that, in the end, made us better.

But you’re right, the real mystery here is his followers. Surely they can see what we see, surely they must understand how flawed this man is. I can visualize a political leader I would follow loyally, but would I accept this kind of behavior from him? Maybe I’m just fooling myself, maybe I would make excuses for him too. The Conservatives saw Obama as a monster, I thought I saw a really nice guy, trying to do his best, in fact, decent to a fault considering the unscrupulous viciousness of his opposition.

I realize its only natural to cover for someone who is doing what you believe is right, to cover up for the crimes of someone you admire or love. But somehow, the support of Trump’s followers just seems too much. Its like the mother whose murderous, vicious, cruel son cries out when he’s captured by the police, (along with mountains of evidence!); “But he’s such a good boy, he could never have done that.” Mothers may be biologically programmed to love their children, no matter what they do, but this is different.

Psychopaths and sociopaths are often successful because they have learned how to skillfully conceal their character flaws and manage to coast on their other talents. But this cannot be the case with Trump. Even those who support his policies must be able to see his cruel and childish behavior, his insecurity and pettiness, his pathological lying and childish tantrums. He makes no effort to hide them, he flaunts them, its what his followers seem to love about him. And even those who have nothing but contempt for him continue to support him because he’s on what they see as the winning team, and they have bet heavily on the outcome.

The Trump era has really depressed me. Its not that he’s a fool and thug; as I have mentioned before, democracies sometimes elect people like this, and they can come from either party. What fills me with disappointment is how so many otherwise good people have fallen for his con and refuse to see the daily evidence of his pathology, even when it is clear he has made no effort to conceal it.

And then I fall into real despair when I understand how many people know perfectly well how evil and dangerous this man is, but they continue to support him because they expect to profit from his crimes. For the first time in my life I have asked myself is this a deep flaw in Democracy? Or is it humanity itself that is doomed?

This insecurity was always obvious- but can his blind followers STILL not see it? Can they still be oblivious to the fact that this depth of insecurity is exceedingly dangerous in a national leader?

My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,

Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.

I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone else’s.

I owe that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.

‘Fellow Americans’ — that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the process.

We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.

We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.

Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.

I feel it powerfully still.

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.

(Copied from NBC web site, assumed in the public domain. We are, after all, its intended recipients.)