This show may contain words that would offend the sensibility of certain habituaries of monasteries.

It's Monday, February 4th, 2019, from Slate, it's the GIST, Dime Mike Pesca.

Don't listen to what he tweets, just listen to what he says.

Okay, don't listen to what he says, just pay attention to what he does.

You know, there are a lot of rules and ways to process Donald Trump, and they're all designed to orient, really, to protect the listener.

Sometimes, the advice is like looking at an eclipse, it's about self-preservation.

And you may remember Trump violated that particular rule at No Harm to himself.

Other times, the advice is just about how to listen.

How to hear the words so that you have a sense of what Trump is saying,

but so that they don't infect you, sort of like how ultra-orthodox Jewish couples supposedly have sex through a hole in the sheet.

Now, theologically speaking, that is an example to take seriously, but not literally from what I understand, but the point is clear.

Just taking whatever Trump serves you, and then putting it through your ear holes, and into your brain parts, it is a fool's errand.

But sometimes I like to, just for fun.

Just to pretend, you know, what if we did have a president who was maybe even mostly wrong, but at least based on actual facts?

Perhaps he came to poor conclusions, but you know, the logic along the way was okay.

Or maybe he had a process for acquiring information that actually comported with how the real world worked.

What if he even put forth an argument that I could pay attention to and consider on its merits?

That's a little game I like to play with myself when I listen to Donald Trump doing an interview, because it would be such a great joy to have that kind of president.

We don't. We have this kind of president.

I am going to trust the intelligence that I'm putting there, but I will say this, my intelligence people, if they said in fact that Iran is a wonderful kindergarten, I disagree with them 100%.

Well, yes, if they were to say Iran was kindergarten, then you could give them all a time out in the naughty chair.

Now, what they did say or what Dan Coates, the director of National Intelligence said in front of Congress, and what got the president all worked up was he said, quote,

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