Acknowledging that they have brains in their heads, and are not living in the protrusions on their thoraxes might come before that. It took me ages to work out why conversations with men trying to pick me up didn't seem to have anything to do with me.
In my hetero experience, "conversations with men" -- whether or not engaged in pick-up efforts -- generally center on how terrific they are. Something in my culture-of-origin (bear in mind I'm now 75 and from the US) seems to have persuaded men they need to "sell" themselves in order to acquire sex partners despite already occupying the upper births in politics, economics, and power.
Yeah, very much a sell situation in many cases. I guess it is the human male version of spreading the tail feathers to prove what a good catch they are. Most guys had better luck with me if they went into a give-and-take exchange and slipped in tidbits that might impress.
They are two brilliant ads. I like the Reagan one better, because I am a sucker for the Shining City stuff. The Lincoln Project ad, that is nasty. Good, but nasty.
There was a guy in a pickup truck flying two large flags from the back, one an American flag, and one a "Trump 2020" flag, circling the neighborhood where I was this morning, just driving in circles as far as I could tell. I saw it three times in the 45 minutes or so I was in the area. I was tempted to flash the finger, but was afraid of the possible violent consequences if I did. Honestly, what motivates these people? Granted the neighborhood where I was is, for New York City, somewhat conservative, but still.
There was a guy in a pickup truck flying two large flags from the back, one an American flag, and one a "Trump 2020" flag, circling the neighborhood where I was this morning, just driving in circles as far as I could tell. I saw it three times in the 45 minutes or so I was in the area. I was tempted to flash the finger, but was afraid of the possible violent consequences if I did. Honestly, what motivates these people? Granted the neighborhood where I was is, for New York City, somewhat conservative, but still.
At least he was flying the stars and stripes rather than the stars and bars favoured by many Trump supporters.
There was a guy in a pickup truck flying two large flags from the back, one an American flag, and one a "Trump 2020" flag, circling the neighborhood where I was this morning, just driving in circles as far as I could tell. I saw it three times in the 45 minutes or so I was in the area. I was tempted to flash the finger, but was afraid of the possible violent consequences if I did. Honestly, what motivates these people? Granted the neighborhood where I was is, for New York City, somewhat conservative, but still.
At least he was flying the stars and stripes rather than the stars and bars favoured by many Trump supporters.
[Vexillological pedantry alert]
The flag favored by so many Trump supporters is a modification of various battle flags of armies and units of Confederate forces, not the Stars and Bars.
There was a guy in a pickup truck flying two large flags from the back, one an American flag, and one a "Trump 2020" flag, circling the neighborhood where I was this morning, just driving in circles as far as I could tell. I saw it three times in the 45 minutes or so I was in the area. I was tempted to flash the finger, but was afraid of the possible violent consequences if I did. Honestly, what motivates these people? Granted the neighborhood where I was is, for New York City, somewhat conservative, but still.
At least he was flying the stars and stripes rather than the stars and bars favoured by many Trump supporters.
[Vexillological pedantry alert]
The flag favored by so many Trump supporters is a modification of various battle flags of armies and units of Confederate forces, not the Stars and Bars.
[/pedantry]
Pedantry is always appreciated. I thought stars and bars referred to the battle flag. I'll just have to settle for calling it the "slavers' rag" or something of that nature.
I had no idea there were so many variations on these themes!
If The Mad King's supporters favour some sort of 'battle flag', why do we not see The Mad King himself supporting/flying/humping it? Maybe having it dyed into his toupee? Or even emblazoned on His Royal Face-Mask?
I thought stars and bars referred to the battle flag. I'll just have to settle for calling it the "slavers' rag" or something of that nature.
"Treason flag" is my preferred term. It avoids the ambiguity of the four slaveholding states (as of 1860; all the states were slaveholding states during the Revolutionary War) that remained loyal to America and fought for the United States rather than against it.
Just read that Trump in a speech said that there are a lot cases of COVID because the US does a lot of testing. He also said Obama stopped testing. The article was a transcription of his speech. He was really incoherent. Sure there is now enough evidence for the man being to ill to govern. Surely the 25th amendment, surely.
But how does the 25A get put onto action? It takes the Vice President together with the majority of the Cabinet. Mike Pence is an obedient lapdog, and the Cabinet Secretaries - recall that all are appointed by the President - are a craven collection of the (mostly) ultra-wealthy who are beholden to Trump, determined to undermine the very departments they were appointed to direct, and are protected and happy in their little fiefdoms. Short answer: not gonna happen.
But how does the 25A get put onto action? It takes the Vice President together with the majority of the Cabinet. Mike Pence is an obedient lapdog, and the Cabinet Secretaries - recall that all are appointed by the President - are a craven collection of the (mostly) ultra-wealthy who are beholden to Trump, determined to undermine the very departments they were appointed to direct, and are protected and happy in their little fiefdoms. Short answer: not gonna happen.
Even if it did, the president can claim he's okay and can resume office unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress agree with the vice president and the cabinet that he's not. We already had that vote.
BTW, has anyone heard recently from one of The Mad God-King's Evangelical Christian fruitloop supporters, to wit, the egregious Kenneth Copeland?
He it was who cursed Covid-19, back in March IIRC, declaring that the USA was well again, but who subsequently still had to summon the South Wind to BLOOOOOOOOW the virus away...
I almost wrote this post in the Guns thread.
The Trump advertisements we are being bombarded with right now are sincerely nauseating. One I have to vent about is claiming Biden is going to dismantle the police, then goes on to say what about the poor children who will be shot and killed.
It irritates the snot out of me that the party that will not allow gun control is using this ploy to try to influence people before the election.
Every single day, the hateful, evil, narcissistic orange person gives me more reason to hope he ends up under a prison somewhere.
Every single day, the hateful, evil, narcissistic orange person gives me more reason to hope he ends up under a prison somewhere.
That's hardly fair - I understand prison is meant to be punishment but surely the contamination of the ground and water combined with haunting by whatever passes for Trump's soul would constitute cruel and unusual punishment?
Yes, it very well might, but not perhaps for the Mad God-King Himself, who is seemingly impervious to anything remotely resembling justice, retribution, punishment, Covid-19, etc. etc....
There really must (if God/god/gods there be) exist a specially deep, hot, and nasty place in Hell/Hades reserved for the said MG-K.
Yes, it very well might, but not perhaps for the Mad God-King Himself, who is seemingly impervious to anything remotely resembling justice, retribution, punishment, Covid-19, etc. etc....
There really must (if God/god/gods there be) exist a specially deep, hot, and nasty place in Hell/Hades reserved for the said MG-K.
Oh no, nothing like that. He's allowed into heaven, but no-one pays any attention to him.
Every single day, the hateful, evil, narcissistic orange person gives me more reason to hope he ends up under a prison somewhere.
That's hardly fair - I understand prison is meant to be punishment but surely the contamination of the ground and water combined with haunting by whatever passes for Trump's soul would constitute cruel and unusual punishment?
Ariel Sharon-style stroke is in my evil Christmas wish list for Trump. Ariel Sharon was in an unconscious vegetative state I believe. That's not what I wish upon Trump. I want him to be conscious, aware of his surroundings, but only able to communicate with eye movements. I want him to be unable to feed himself, limbs frozen, unable to toilet and clean himself independently, totally at the mercy of the employees of the agency engaged to tend to his physical needs, who change shift by shift, so nobody ever really gets used to his particular needs. Inexperienced staff who don't really want to do that sort of work would be just the ticket. I do not want him to be able to reconcile himself to this situation. I want him to rage against it inside, blubbering at the injustice of it all.
I want his limbs to ache. I want his back to be sore. Every time he is rolled in the daily process of hygiene and dressing, I want him to experience sharp pain that fades to the sort of ache that is just enough to prevent sleep. His carers, being casual, transient workers, don't know how to roll him properly, and his shoulders and hips gradually get more and more damage. Nobody really bothers about that red patch developing on his buttock, or the rash that develops because his diaper isn't changed that regularly. But when that spot turns black, somebody decides they'd better report it. We don't want him to die, yet.
I know and love people with a little more capacity to communicate than the prison I have designed for Trump. They are happy, engaging, witty people whose condition was bad at birth and deteriorated as they age. I don't want Trump to become like them. I want him to mourn for what he was.
I want him never to see his family. Maybe a phone call every now and then on his birthday, or Christmas, but not consistently. I want him to look forward to a call from Ivanka or Barron for months, knowing they will call to wish him a happy birthday, having such a small thing as a cherished hope, and then nobody in his family remembers to call. Ivanka thought Barron was going to do it, and he thought it was her turn to call. Neither really cares. They have their own concerns.
And I want Trump to live to a very old age. When he finally dies, it will be a footnote. Not many people will remember his time as President. It was so long ago. Wasn't he the guy who stuffed up the Pandemic response? Good riddance, old man.
But if you pay big dollars you might get experienced, competent and responsible people committed to people with disabilities leading as fulfilling lives as possible. That's not what I want for Trump. Poorly trained and motivated staff is what Trump should have, just working one or two shifts and then quitting. A constant parade of new staff will increase his misery exponentially.
Look, you want him out of the way, disabled by some medical condition or imprisoned for egregious lawbreaking. I can understand that.
But don't let that be your proxy for doing the heavy lifting of getting him out by democratic means. That's how he got there. That's how you get rid of him.
Look, you want him out of the way, disabled by some medical condition or imprisoned for egregious lawbreaking. I can understand that.
But don't let that be your proxy for doing the heavy lifting of getting him out by democratic means. That's how he got there. That's how you get rid of him.
Copy, paste, disseminate, print out in large block letters, and broadcast across the landscape.
Look, you want him out of the way, disabled by some medical condition or imprisoned for egregious lawbreaking. I can understand that.
But don't let that be your proxy for doing the heavy lifting of getting him out by democratic means. That's how he got there. That's how you get rid of him.
You misunderstand me. I'm imaging a hell on earth for him. While Ariel Sharon's stroke was in office, that's not how Trump's goes in my fantasy. The stroke has already happened when my fantasy begins. I imagine him already in that conscious vegetative state, in a room in a well-to-do house that he owns but can no longer enjoy.
From a political point of view, it is important that a fit Trump loses an election, and that he loses it badly, so there is no doubt that his way of practicing politics is thoroughly rejected by the American electorate. I want it to be crystal clear that trying to repeat the strategy of dividing the electorate and playing exclusively to your base will not work in America for at least a generation.
I can understand wanting Donald Trump's father to rot in hell. Steve Bannon, Mitch McConnell, all the people who seem to have functional views of morality that they ignore to enable Trump, sure. Trump himself is as far as I can tell no more morally responsible than a chimpanzee.
I can understand wanting Donald Trump's father to rot in hell. Steve Bannon, Mitch McConnell, all the people who seem to have functional views of morality that they ignore to enable Trump, sure. Trump himself is as far as I can tell no more morally responsible than a chimpanzee.
I was, as an articled clerk, deputised (against the rules I think) to be the solicitor instructing a barrister in a case where our client had seriously assaulted a small number of people. The Court held that he was not criminally liable for his conduct as he had consumed roughly 12 glasses of port (wine fortified by the winemaker with brandy and similar concoctions) and an amount of prescription medication. He was so out of it, the Court found, that he did not know what he was doing. We produced substantial expert evidence in support of this defence.
Why is Donald Trump not responsible for his own actions?
Because he's so deeply damaged, massively broken, possibly has dementia, etc., etc.
Dafyd can answer you himself. But I think that T probably couldn't do much better than he has. In my observation, he has different modes of behavior and functioning.
Once in a great while, I see a moment where he seems more normal, more able to care about people in a healthy way. But I haven't seen any for a long time.
As Dafyd mentioned, T's father broke him. He taught all the kids that only winners deserve to be loved. IMHO, that's pretty much the driving force for his life. That, alone, might not necessarily be a horrible thing, depending on how T handled it. Lots of people have similar drives.
But it's not just that. I don't know much about T's mom; but I've heard recently that she damaged him, too. Plus the kind of stuff Mary Trump, his niece, is revealing in her book. Massively dysfunctional, abusive (as I understand it) family.
With a lot of intense, 24 hr/day help, he might be able to do a bit better. Honestly, I don't think he should even cross the street without a minder.
Trump himself is as far as I can tell no more morally responsible than a chimpanzee.
Why is Donald Trump not responsible for his own actions?
Whenever he tries to fake a moral sentiment he gets it wrong. (As in the time an interviewer said he wasn't known for his humility; Trump visibly whirs as he tries to work out whether that's good or bad, and comes out with, most people don't realise how deeply humble I am.) He hasn't got enough grasp of the difference between right and wrong to even pretend.
I suspect you two are talking about whether Trump is fundamentally evil, in a way that is philosophically or theologically impossible because Trump too carries within him the image of God. His soul is God's business, but you are right, compassion is ours. But we are not in a position to administer compassion unless one of you is Ivanka or Melania Trump. I've met GK in real life, so I have you down as a fake welshman, Dafyd. Compassion is for when Trump is out of office and no longer a force in American public life.
My description of hell on earth is not in any way exaggerated. It is reality, some of the time, for most people in residential care in Australia who do not communicate well. It is an outworking of my distress perhaps,as well as a vindictive fantasy.
But in exercising judgement in this world upon the man, he is in no way sufficiently disabled to escape responsibility for his acts, criminal or otherwise. He is fully liable. Dementia is as I understand it for a non-medical perspective, manifests differently in different people. Trump, if he has it, is very early in the process I reckon. There is no way a person with anything more than a touch of deterioration could do an interview with Chris Wallace like the one he did. Sure it was bizarre, but he was focused and lucid. I have only seen snippets, but I saw none of the tricks my father played to disguise his fundamental and intermittent incapacity when he had a diagnosis.
Trump may be twisted, but he has boundless energy. Trump may act unusually, but his resilience is strong. Flying around the country doing rallies for the length it takes in an American election campaign length is a feat that would leave me exhausted and broken. I simply could not do it. I know, because I did something similar for about three weeks once, and my body just broke down. I was in my thirties, and it took me maybe a month to recover.
How he got through the pussy gate revelations revealed an internal fortitude that is simply stunning. There is a reason why he is President of the United States. That he managed to get elected is a stunning personal achievement. He has prodigious talents as a politician, and especially as a media manipulator and self-publicist. He can't sell a policy, he can't keep to his talking points, he has no time for the interests of others, and his judgement as a public official is abysmal, but he is nevertheless a very capable person.
That's why I think he's actually angling to be a Putin-like figure in America. He really believes that he has the opportunity to found a dynasty. He is prepared to kill to do it, by executive order, and by a nudge and a wink to the right people. He is a hugely talented monster. Other policy related reasons why he is evil I surely do not need to enumerate on the Ship of Fools.
How he got through the pussy gate revelations revealed an internal fortitude that is simply stunning.
You are a blithering idiot. He got through that by being a titanic narcissist, giving no fucks about anyone else, and a giant dose of self-delusion. To imply a narrative of poor suffering Trumpikins somehow managing to find the internal fortitude to survive what would be massive humiliation for any person with a soul, is to expose your own wishful projections of humanity on the psychopath.
I wish every kind of unpleasant plague to descend soon upon the vile trump and all the rodents who line up to kiss his arse every day.
I think the idea of closing the US/Canada border was a good one - anything to keep the nastier of the people infected by Republicanism or Covid-19 out of Canada - but unfortunately, our children and grandchildren live in the USA, as well as my beloved mother-in-law. When we showed up at the border yesterday I was handed a paper that said "non essential" and told to go home, while my (American) wife was told that she was free to continue to NY, presumably while I walked home on my own. It's almost a hundred miles and it was raining, so we decided to drive home together. From reading their website, it appeared that these decisions are discretionary, and I could have been allowed entry, especially as we'd been asked to go while my much loved m-i-l needed support during a medical procedure today.
It may be my usual paranoia, but I have a suspicion that this may have been retaliation for the UK's sensible banning of American tourists, and as I only have a UK passport, I was, once again, an easy target for those verminous Homeland Security thugs.
I have no idea when I'll see our daughters and grandchildren again.
Trump may be twisted, but he has boundless energy. Trump may act unusually, but his resilience is strong. Flying around the country doing rallies for the length it takes in an American election campaign length is a feat that would leave me exhausted and broken. I simply could not do it. I know, because I did something similar for about three weeks once, and my body just broke down. I was in my thirties, and it took me maybe a month to recover.
So you were flying around in your personal luxury jet with a sizeable staff to handle all your logistical concerns, giving speeches to stadiums filled with your adoring fans, and your body broke down anyway despite these advantages? I had no idea you were such a jet-setter! I don't deny that presidential campaigns are physically grueling, but given how each major party manages to find someone over forty to do that every four years it's not that exceptional.
How he got through the pussy gate revelations revealed an internal fortitude that is simply stunning.
"Internal fortitude" is an interesting euphemism for Russian hackers and the American media's willingness to bury the story in order to pursue their quarter-century-long vendetta against Hillary Clinton. Seriously, John Podesta's risotto recipe is a matter of greater public interest than the fact that a major political party's presidential nominee is an admitted sexual predator?
BTW, I think going forward American political scandals should stop using the "-gate" suffix and start using "-a-Lago".
He has prodigious talents as a politician, and especially as a media manipulator and self-publicist. He can't sell a policy, he can't keep to his talking points, he has no time for the interests of others, and his judgement as a public official is abysmal, but he is nevertheless a very capable person.
I think you're falling prey to the fallacy of past inevitability, the idea that because something did happen it was inevitably going to happen due to [ insert reason here ], rather than recognizing that most complicated events have multiple causes and are incredibly contingent on lots of factors. Donald Trump's presidency* is contingent on a whole lot of things, most of which have nothing to do with Donald Trump himself.
As for his alleged talent as a politician, one of the key measures is whether or not they can enact their agenda (or "sell a policy", as you put it). So far Donald Trump's only accomplishment is passing the kind of massive tax cut for big business and the already wealthy that you'd get out of any Republican president. Repealing the Affordable Care Act? Nope, most Americans can still get community-rated health insurance without worrying about pre-existing conditions. Stopping immigration from "shithole countries"? Nope, unless you want to give Trump credit for COVID-19. Building that stupid wall? Nope. Aside from a tax bill that was largely the product of Congress, Trump has no policy accomplishments to his name after three and half years in office.
The other measure of political talent (in a democratic system) is popularity, and Trump fails here as well. He's never been popular, never polled the approval of a majority of Americans for his job as president*, and is probably the most reviled president* (over the long term) since Herbert Hoover. Sure, he's got talent as a self-publicist as far as getting his name known, but not in getting himself liked.
I'm building a case for his imprisonment in one of the many hells available on the planet. My comments should be read in that context. Where were you guys when Dafyd suggested that Trump was not morally responsible for his actions?
How he got through the pussy gate revelations revealed an internal fortitude that is simply stunning.
You are a blithering idiot. He got through that by being a titanic narcissist, giving no fucks about anyone else, and a giant dose of self-delusion. To imply a narrative of poor suffering Trumpikins somehow managing to find the internal fortitude to survive what would be massive humiliation for any person with a soul, is to expose your own wishful projections of humanity on the psychopath.
Your willful ignorance disgusts me.
There was a moment there where he nearly pulled out of the race, I read somewhere. Maybe Burnstein's book?
Comments
At least he was flying the stars and stripes rather than the stars and bars favoured by many Trump supporters.
The flag favored by so many Trump supporters is a modification of various battle flags of armies and units of Confederate forces, not the Stars and Bars.
[/pedantry]
Pedantry is always appreciated. I thought stars and bars referred to the battle flag. I'll just have to settle for calling it the "slavers' rag" or something of that nature.
If The Mad King's supporters favour some sort of 'battle flag', why do we not see The Mad King himself supporting/flying/humping it? Maybe having it dyed into his toupee? Or even emblazoned on His Royal Face-Mask?
"Treason flag" is my preferred term. It avoids the ambiguity of the four slaveholding states (as of 1860; all the states were slaveholding states during the Revolutionary War) that remained loyal to America and fought for the United States rather than against it.
As a historical note, the last flag adopted by Confederate forces had three very narrow red stripes against a white background. It was linen and had previously seen service as a dish towel.
Best not give one to The Mad God-King - He might wipe his Sacred Face with it, whereupon the white bits would turn orange...
Even if it did, the president can claim he's okay and can resume office unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress agree with the vice president and the cabinet that he's not. We already had that vote.
He it was who cursed Covid-19, back in March IIRC, declaring that the USA was well again, but who subsequently still had to summon the South Wind to BLOOOOOOOOW the virus away...
(praise Jeeeeeesusssss.....!)
The Trump advertisements we are being bombarded with right now are sincerely nauseating. One I have to vent about is claiming Biden is going to dismantle the police, then goes on to say what about the poor children who will be shot and killed.
It irritates the snot out of me that the party that will not allow gun control is using this ploy to try to influence people before the election.
Every single day, the hateful, evil, narcissistic orange person gives me more reason to hope he ends up under a prison somewhere.
That's hardly fair - I understand prison is meant to be punishment but surely the contamination of the ground and water combined with haunting by whatever passes for Trump's soul would constitute cruel and unusual punishment?
There really must (if God/god/gods there be) exist a specially deep, hot, and nasty place in Hell/Hades reserved for the said MG-K.
Oh no, nothing like that. He's allowed into heaven, but no-one pays any attention to him.
Ariel Sharon-style stroke is in my evil Christmas wish list for Trump. Ariel Sharon was in an unconscious vegetative state I believe. That's not what I wish upon Trump. I want him to be conscious, aware of his surroundings, but only able to communicate with eye movements. I want him to be unable to feed himself, limbs frozen, unable to toilet and clean himself independently, totally at the mercy of the employees of the agency engaged to tend to his physical needs, who change shift by shift, so nobody ever really gets used to his particular needs. Inexperienced staff who don't really want to do that sort of work would be just the ticket. I do not want him to be able to reconcile himself to this situation. I want him to rage against it inside, blubbering at the injustice of it all.
I want his limbs to ache. I want his back to be sore. Every time he is rolled in the daily process of hygiene and dressing, I want him to experience sharp pain that fades to the sort of ache that is just enough to prevent sleep. His carers, being casual, transient workers, don't know how to roll him properly, and his shoulders and hips gradually get more and more damage. Nobody really bothers about that red patch developing on his buttock, or the rash that develops because his diaper isn't changed that regularly. But when that spot turns black, somebody decides they'd better report it. We don't want him to die, yet.
I know and love people with a little more capacity to communicate than the prison I have designed for Trump. They are happy, engaging, witty people whose condition was bad at birth and deteriorated as they age. I don't want Trump to become like them. I want him to mourn for what he was.
I want him never to see his family. Maybe a phone call every now and then on his birthday, or Christmas, but not consistently. I want him to look forward to a call from Ivanka or Barron for months, knowing they will call to wish him a happy birthday, having such a small thing as a cherished hope, and then nobody in his family remembers to call. Ivanka thought Barron was going to do it, and he thought it was her turn to call. Neither really cares. They have their own concerns.
And I want Trump to live to a very old age. When he finally dies, it will be a footnote. Not many people will remember his time as President. It was so long ago. Wasn't he the guy who stuffed up the Pandemic response? Good riddance, old man.
No way. People who have to deal with this asshole should be paid princely sums of money.
But don't let that be your proxy for doing the heavy lifting of getting him out by democratic means. That's how he got there. That's how you get rid of him.
Copy, paste, disseminate, print out in large block letters, and broadcast across the landscape.
You misunderstand me. I'm imaging a hell on earth for him. While Ariel Sharon's stroke was in office, that's not how Trump's goes in my fantasy. The stroke has already happened when my fantasy begins. I imagine him already in that conscious vegetative state, in a room in a well-to-do house that he owns but can no longer enjoy.
From a political point of view, it is important that a fit Trump loses an election, and that he loses it badly, so there is no doubt that his way of practicing politics is thoroughly rejected by the American electorate. I want it to be crystal clear that trying to repeat the strategy of dividing the electorate and playing exclusively to your base will not work in America for at least a generation.
I pretty much agree, especially with your first and last sentences.
I was, as an articled clerk, deputised (against the rules I think) to be the solicitor instructing a barrister in a case where our client had seriously assaulted a small number of people. The Court held that he was not criminally liable for his conduct as he had consumed roughly 12 glasses of port (wine fortified by the winemaker with brandy and similar concoctions) and an amount of prescription medication. He was so out of it, the Court found, that he did not know what he was doing. We produced substantial expert evidence in support of this defence.
Why is Donald Trump not responsible for his own actions?
Simon Toad--
Because he's so deeply damaged, massively broken, possibly has dementia, etc., etc.
Dafyd can answer you himself. But I think that T probably couldn't do much better than he has. In my observation, he has different modes of behavior and functioning.
Once in a great while, I see a moment where he seems more normal, more able to care about people in a healthy way. But I haven't seen any for a long time.
As Dafyd mentioned, T's father broke him. He taught all the kids that only winners deserve to be loved. IMHO, that's pretty much the driving force for his life. That, alone, might not necessarily be a horrible thing, depending on how T handled it. Lots of people have similar drives.
But it's not just that. I don't know much about T's mom; but I've heard recently that she damaged him, too. Plus the kind of stuff Mary Trump, his niece, is revealing in her book. Massively dysfunctional, abusive (as I understand it) family.
With a lot of intense, 24 hr/day help, he might be able to do a bit better. Honestly, I don't think he should even cross the street without a minder.
. Bishop Akinola, I think.
My description of hell on earth is not in any way exaggerated. It is reality, some of the time, for most people in residential care in Australia who do not communicate well. It is an outworking of my distress perhaps,as well as a vindictive fantasy.
But in exercising judgement in this world upon the man, he is in no way sufficiently disabled to escape responsibility for his acts, criminal or otherwise. He is fully liable. Dementia is as I understand it for a non-medical perspective, manifests differently in different people. Trump, if he has it, is very early in the process I reckon. There is no way a person with anything more than a touch of deterioration could do an interview with Chris Wallace like the one he did. Sure it was bizarre, but he was focused and lucid. I have only seen snippets, but I saw none of the tricks my father played to disguise his fundamental and intermittent incapacity when he had a diagnosis.
Trump may be twisted, but he has boundless energy. Trump may act unusually, but his resilience is strong. Flying around the country doing rallies for the length it takes in an American election campaign length is a feat that would leave me exhausted and broken. I simply could not do it. I know, because I did something similar for about three weeks once, and my body just broke down. I was in my thirties, and it took me maybe a month to recover.
How he got through the pussy gate revelations revealed an internal fortitude that is simply stunning. There is a reason why he is President of the United States. That he managed to get elected is a stunning personal achievement. He has prodigious talents as a politician, and especially as a media manipulator and self-publicist. He can't sell a policy, he can't keep to his talking points, he has no time for the interests of others, and his judgement as a public official is abysmal, but he is nevertheless a very capable person.
That's why I think he's actually angling to be a Putin-like figure in America. He really believes that he has the opportunity to found a dynasty. He is prepared to kill to do it, by executive order, and by a nudge and a wink to the right people. He is a hugely talented monster. Other policy related reasons why he is evil I surely do not need to enumerate on the Ship of Fools.
Yes, I've been thinking of that, too.
You are a blithering idiot. He got through that by being a titanic narcissist, giving no fucks about anyone else, and a giant dose of self-delusion. To imply a narrative of poor suffering Trumpikins somehow managing to find the internal fortitude to survive what would be massive humiliation for any person with a soul, is to expose your own wishful projections of humanity on the psychopath.
Your willful ignorance disgusts me.
I think the idea of closing the US/Canada border was a good one - anything to keep the nastier of the people infected by Republicanism or Covid-19 out of Canada - but unfortunately, our children and grandchildren live in the USA, as well as my beloved mother-in-law. When we showed up at the border yesterday I was handed a paper that said "non essential" and told to go home, while my (American) wife was told that she was free to continue to NY, presumably while I walked home on my own. It's almost a hundred miles and it was raining, so we decided to drive home together. From reading their website, it appeared that these decisions are discretionary, and I could have been allowed entry, especially as we'd been asked to go while my much loved m-i-l needed support during a medical procedure today.
It may be my usual paranoia, but I have a suspicion that this may have been retaliation for the UK's sensible banning of American tourists, and as I only have a UK passport, I was, once again, an easy target for those verminous Homeland Security thugs.
I have no idea when I'll see our daughters and grandchildren again.
So you were flying around in your personal luxury jet with a sizeable staff to handle all your logistical concerns, giving speeches to stadiums filled with your adoring fans, and your body broke down anyway despite these advantages? I had no idea you were such a jet-setter! I don't deny that presidential campaigns are physically grueling, but given how each major party manages to find someone over forty to do that every four years it's not that exceptional.
"Internal fortitude" is an interesting euphemism for Russian hackers and the American media's willingness to bury the story in order to pursue their quarter-century-long vendetta against Hillary Clinton. Seriously, John Podesta's risotto recipe is a matter of greater public interest than the fact that a major political party's presidential nominee is an admitted sexual predator?
BTW, I think going forward American political scandals should stop using the "-gate" suffix and start using "-a-Lago".
Yes. James Comey and the Twelfth Amendment.
Again, only if that person is James Comey.
I think you're falling prey to the fallacy of past inevitability, the idea that because something did happen it was inevitably going to happen due to [ insert reason here ], rather than recognizing that most complicated events have multiple causes and are incredibly contingent on lots of factors. Donald Trump's presidency* is contingent on a whole lot of things, most of which have nothing to do with Donald Trump himself.
As for his alleged talent as a politician, one of the key measures is whether or not they can enact their agenda (or "sell a policy", as you put it). So far Donald Trump's only accomplishment is passing the kind of massive tax cut for big business and the already wealthy that you'd get out of any Republican president. Repealing the Affordable Care Act? Nope, most Americans can still get community-rated health insurance without worrying about pre-existing conditions. Stopping immigration from "shithole countries"? Nope, unless you want to give Trump credit for COVID-19. Building that stupid wall? Nope. Aside from a tax bill that was largely the product of Congress, Trump has no policy accomplishments to his name after three and half years in office.
The other measure of political talent (in a democratic system) is popularity, and Trump fails here as well. He's never been popular, never polled the approval of a majority of Americans for his job as president*, and is probably the most reviled president* (over the long term) since Herbert Hoover. Sure, he's got talent as a self-publicist as far as getting his name known, but not in getting himself liked.
I'm building a case for his imprisonment in one of the many hells available on the planet. My comments should be read in that context. Where were you guys when Dafyd suggested that Trump was not morally responsible for his actions?
Pussy-a-lago. I like it; sounds like a classy joint
There was a moment there where he nearly pulled out of the race, I read somewhere. Maybe Burnstein's book?