As hard as one might try, it is next to impossible to forget the exchange between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the foreign policy debate (October 2016), when each accused the other of being a puppet.  As we approach the first anniversary of this national nightmare, it’s clear the evidence is on Clinton’s side.  Without a moral compass, the marionette-in-chief seems to have abandoned almost every populist position voiced during the campaign in favor of someone else’s agenda.  So, the question is no longer whether Trump is a puppet.  The only issue still open is exactly who is pulling the strings.

Today’s headlines provide a pretty good starting point for answering this question.  Hours ago, the Washington Post reported Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Session III will announce “he is rescinding a trio of memos from the Obama administration that adopted a policy of non-interference with marijuana-friendly state laws, according to a source with knowledge of the decision.”  This position contradicts Trump’s campaign pledge to let states regulate both medical and recreational use of cannabis.  Why the reversal?  Follow Big Pharma donations and Sessions’ ignorance about the benefits and risks of weed.

As if that were not enough evidence Trump has abdicated his role of commander-in-chief to become the commandeered-in -chief, the forthcoming Michael Wolff book on the Trump White House provides additional fodder.  For example, if you’re Trump’s chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, why else would you sell your soul by standing next to Trump, someone Cohn considers to be “dumb as sh*t” while Trump enabled the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville?  For the same reason, sailors on submarines invite someone “dumb as sh*t” to join their poker game.  An easy mark who can be had with little or no risk.  He got what he wanted, a tax bill which rewards Republican donors and Wall Street financial analysts and hedge fund managers.  And as they say, he is probably laughing all the way to the bank.

Add to the list the following puppeteers.

• Vladimir Putin who has made Trump his surrogate for undermining the Constitution and democratic alliances around the world.
• The evangelical right who is using him to pack the courts with justices who will endorse discrimination in the name of religious freedom.
• Paul Ryan who cannot wait to justify slicing large holes in the social safety net in the name of deficit reduction (caused by the tax scam).
• Betsy Devos who sees the Trump White House as the means of pushing her parochial education agenda.  Can you spell creationism?  I knew you could.

And this is only a partial accounting of Trump’s manipulators.  By the time you finish there are more practitioners of puppetry than participate in the biennial Festival Mondial des Theatres de Marionettes (The World Puppet Festival) in Charleviille-Mezieres, France.

No wonder Trump is exhibiting signs of stress and instability.  With so many puppet masters tugging on his strings, a marionette cannot possibly know which way to turn or when.  I wonder if, like Pinocchio, Trump too dreams of being a real boy someday.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP