Donald Trump shares a thoughtlet about Yucca Mountain 

Donald Trump and his supporters are very impressed with the decision of a little more than half the U.S. Senate to look the other way and let Trump still be president no matter what.

Trump & Co. are so impressed, in fact, that the day after the Senate refused to find Trump guilty of abusing his power by pressuring a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election and then obstructing congressional investigation of the scheme, Trump thinks he’s got a chance to win Nevada.

Nevada, I hear you on Yucca Mountain and my Administration will RESPECT you! Congress and previous Administrations have long failed to find lasting solutions – my Administration is committed to exploring innovative approaches – I’m confident we can get it done!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020

White House officials confirmed that unlike his previous budgets, his 2021 budget request won’t include funding to relaunch the dump project.

Reality check: Trump does not care/has no opinions about Yucca Mountain, beyond pleasing the nuclear utility industry executives who bankroll Republican campaigns and order his cabinet around because the swamp is so drained now.

And just to clarify, Trump has no RESPECT for anyone except alpha male authoritarian dictators, before whom he literally cowers.

The only reason he’s pulling money from Yucca — for the time being? —  is because he momentarily thinks he is invincible and possibly immortal, so in his mind, Nevada must be in play in the 2020 election. And even though his name is on a building across the street from the Fashion Show Mall, the only Nevada-specific issue Trump and his campaign seem to be aware of is Yucca Mountain.

In other words, the correct translation of Trump’s tweet is: “Hi Nevada I was acquitted I am the greatest president ever and also the magical man who can do no wrong and even though you snubbed Liddle Adam Laxalt and that poor loser Dean Heller in 2018 and elected Democrats up and down the ballot in a midterm when Democrats typically don’t even show up for elections now that I am unbeatable I believe I can win Nevada, so hi!”

That’s a paraphrase, but not much of one.

Laxalt, who cares about Yucca Mountain about as much as Trump does, took credit for Trump’s Yucca statement. “Mr. President – THANK YOU! It was great spending time with you this weekend. We are so fortunate that you listened to us,” Laxalt tweeted.

Laxalt neglected to explain what he was doing spending time with Trump over the weekend. Carrying a message from Laxalt career patron Sheldon Adelson seems a likely scenario. But that’s just a guess.

Nevada’s aforementioned nearly all-Democratic contingent of elected officials reacted to Trump’s newfound RESPECT for Nevada with varying degrees of eerie otherworldly normalization.

“I look forward to working with you on this critical issue for Nevada,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto tweeted at Trump.

“I welcome the President’s announced opposition to restarting the Yucca Mountain Project, & I look forward to seeing no funding for this project included in his budget next week,” tweeted Gov. Steve Sisolak, in a statement notable mostly because it appears to take something Trump said seriously.

Rep. Steven Horsford praised the work of himself and the rest of Nevada’s congressional delegation, which “has clearly put pressure on the White House, as evidenced by the President’s newfound commitment to finding alternatives.”

Rep. Dina Titus, too, gloated about the Nevada delegation beating back Trump’s efforts to breathe new life into the dump. But noting Trump’s predilection for being, well, Trump, Titus added, “I have no reason to trust him this time around.”

No one does.