Trump may or may not be going insane, but he is certainly driving most of us crazy

President Trump in an undated and uncredited photo that appeared on websites this past summer.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"DONALD TRUMP IS A MADMAN"

That was the headline on a New York Daily News editorial that declared:

"The President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman's definition, mentally unwell and viciously lashing out.

"Trump is broadcasting discredited [Muslim] hate videos even as he now tells multiple people in his inner circle that the real, verified 'Access Hollywood' video in which he boasted of grabbing women 'by the pussy' -- words for which he has already publicly apologized -- was falsified."

The News went on to suggest "some might say we are just suffering through the umpteenth canny, calculated presidential eruption designed to distract the nation from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, or perhaps from unpopular [tax] legislation working its way through Congress."

"Quite possible, The News editorial board said. "But ... the sheer strangeness of Trump's behavior leads us to conclude we are witnessing signs of mania."

WNYC-FM

This morning, Brian Lehrer on WNYC-FM, New York and New Jersey Public Radio, said following the news really can drive you a little crazy before enumerating all of the times President Trump has launched assaults on the truth recently.

"Maybe it's Trump who is going insane," Lehrer said.

The Record

In a front-page story below the fold today, The Record of Woodland Park, my local daily newspaper, reported that Trump's anti-Muslim tweets "spark outrage" (1A).

But the editors gave far more space on Page 1 to the firing of Matt Lauer, co-host of the "Today" show, assigning the story to Staff Writer Jim Beckerman, one of the veterans who survived widespread layoffs at the Gannett-owned daily.

"Oh, Matt,

you too?"

The coy headline was bad enough, but Beckerman also treats Lauer kindly, calling the accused sex abuser "the lovable co-host of 'Today'" ... with a "good-guy persona" (1A).

Readers will have to search for a story from Bloomberg, which reports Lauer's poor performance as a journalist during "Today" interviews of Hillary Clinton and Trump on the 2016 presidential campaign trail:

"...Lauer  was criticized for spending much of his time with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton focused on her use of a private email service, while failing to push Trump as hard on other topics" (6A).

Reader speaks out

You can find "reviews" of The Record's print edition on NorthJersey.com's Facebook page.

Reader Michael Esposito said:

"Please Gannett Publishing ... I beg of you ... please put this once-great newspaper you've destroyed out of its misery. It's become an embarrassment in the world of journalism. On the plus side, it now takes me so little time to read what's left of the paper that it frees me up to do other things. You should be ashamed of yourselves, but that would involve having a conscience. You possess none.

"Concerning the Money and Markets Report that would appear every Sunday ... where did it go? First, it was removed from the delivered paper and only appeared in the digital edition. Now it's gone from there as well. Is there a weekly vote or something among you greed heads as to what part of the paper you'll eliminate next ? Eventually this once-legendary newspaper will be reduced to the size of a pamphlet. Shameful, but apparently you don't care."