Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

just the idea of someone being "on the fence" about voting for Trump or not....*seinfeld voice* "who ARE these people..???"

― scott seward, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 11:12 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

for this election, sounds like they're young people who will most likely not vote for anyone rather than people struggling to decide between trump and biden and taking their civic duty very seriously.

the "truth social juror" was misreported. it was someone who saw screenshots of trump's posts on twitter.

https://bsky.app/profile/qjurecic.bsky.social/post/3kts5xphu622n

poor Matt Gaetz was getting excited over nothing

yeah I agree 100% with Scott there, there's something distinctly inhuman about Trump that I've never really felt about a politician before. like say what you will about Biden or Dubya or even Reagan but those folks at least cared about stuff. they went to church and respected tradition and did seem deeply invested in America as a whole even if it led them down some evil paths. with Trump on the other hand you get the feeling that if Don Jr. was to overdose tomorrow he'd just be like *seinfeld voice* "that's a shame"

yeah he has some kind of serious personality disorder

I keep thinking of Nixon because obv of the Roger Stone connection and Nixon's own pathological need to be liked; but even though we now understand how little policymaking actually went on in the Nixon White House -- especially after 1973 when Watergate became all-consuming -- as opposed to settling scores and making Democrats look bad, the dude was smart, could be thoughtful on occasion, and had a crabbed affection for the people around him. It's hard for me to imagine Trump having a Nixon-in-1992 moment calling up his aides to discuss what a great book War and Peace is.

The book part alone ...

This book is hilarious: https://www.amazon.com/Nixon-Winter-Revelations-Diplomacy-Watergate/dp/0679456953

He shares thoughts on Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche!

honestly if Biden can't wipe this scumbag off the map in a single debate then we need a new nominee. just let him talk and then point out how what he said was fucking disturbingly nuts

also Obama needs to step up

Too early.

Democrats would really benefit from treating him like the clown he is

I get the impression that many undecided voters think Trump is kind of crazy but also that he didn't personally affect their lives when he was president, and consumer prices were lower than they are now. In fact, they think, maybe the economy was good back then *because* he was unconventional, a tough business guy rather than a typical wishy-washy politician. They may not hate Biden, maybe they even like him personally more than they do Trump, but they can't help but blame him for not keeping inflation under control and worry that he's too old and "not up for the job."

And each of those perceptions shows their essential detachment from the realities of politics, government and economics.

Just bully the man! No one cares about facts anymore. He's so thin skinned it should be easy.

xp Right, they're mostly people who aren't paying close attention to the news and aren't thinking deeply about political principles or ideologies.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:v35s7l2l3nyjyxvqf427r5av/bafkreibn6vl76wnw6sva7olpqbszhnwk5ui2ls5liwfqoskkivx3j6nxia@jpeg

they're trying a bit!

Obama has never “stepped up” and done anything remotely radical

“When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are.”

Richard Nixon to a portrait of JFK in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995)

xxpost Whoa, I didn't even know Yoda had been charged with any crimes

xxpost He got a bunch of candidates to drop out so Bernie wouldn't win

And each of those perceptions shows their essential detachment from the realities of politics, government and economics.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless),

i.e. normal people. We're Terminally Online and we have to remind ourselves we're not like other people who read three aggregated headlines on their phones once a day around Instagram reels.

yeah i’m on “break” from ilx but this case should always be the “hush money election fraud” case outta your mouth and phone, it has both and flows enuf. i’m off to the showers to cleanse.

Biden should just fatally beat the shit out of Trump on the stage, not even try to debate. hopefully by that point SCOTUS has ruled the President is immune from crimes.

That’s true! He serves the elite very well

There's something like 40 countries that don't allow convicted felons to visit. Biden's campaign should publish a list - and photos of him there.

Nothing to add here at all, just testing out to see if one of my posts is powerful enough to kill this thread, just like all the others I've managed to kill in the last few months. I'll feel pretty fuckin' proud of myself if I can bring down this behemoth too.

i.e. normal people. We're Terminally Online and we have to remind ourselves we're not like other people who read three aggregated headlines on their phones once a day around Instagram reels.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 4, 2024 11:29 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yup, they're not even watching Scott's beloved Jimmy Kimmel; the average number of Kimmel viewers per episode (1.7 million) is about 1% of the number of people who voted in 2020 (154 million).

Biden should just fatally beat the shit out of Trump on the stage, not even try to debate. hopefully by that point SCOTUS has ruled the President is immune from crimes.

― Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, June 4, 2024 12:30 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's a good chance Trump will call Biden a pedophile or something during the debate. Would like to see Biden smack him.

Biden should deny trump intelligence briefings and let him prominently and publicly litigate that until Election Day

there was a good thread on that sort of thing a few days ago on bluesky

give him fake Intelligence Briefings which are just Curious George books

just do a bunch of crazy shit, every day

Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
·
3d
Maybe even create a way to keep the story going, offer a negotiation where Trump is allowed the security briefings but only if he agrees to have a FBI agent standing over his shoulder the entire time or something humiliating like that. Keep it in the news!

focus goups, can't beat em https://t.co/8B4onntuQT pic.twitter.com/KhcLBrG632

— tyson brody (@tysonbrody) June 4, 2024

https://x.com/nilocobau/status/1798044637468508329

lol, you should crime better

honestly if Biden can't wipe this scumbag off the map in a single debate then we need a new nominee. just let him talk and then point out how what he said was fucking disturbingly nuts

― Heez, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 11:02 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes

And also the “can you believe this asshole” face

I haven’t enjoyed how the discourse has coarsened in the last decade - swearing etc - but I would love for Biden to ask Trump “what the fuck are you talking about, you loon?” on national TV

I remember when he kept saying "That's a load of stuff" in his debate with Paul Ryan.

y'all, the focus group:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/04/opinion/trump-verdict-focus-group.html

yeah I agree 100% with Scott there, there's something distinctly inhuman about Trump that I've never really felt about a politician before.

You never had Thatcher.

"can we really trust a man who can't even pull off a hush money payment" is a decent point I must admit

worth repeating that if Trump had just paid Daniels out of his own pocket instead of trying to fob it off as a business expense he'd be in the clear instead of a convicted felon

maybe when 2coups is at long last imprisoned he can get on with his 'art of the deal' literary oeuvre, a la ezra pound and his cantos?

they are both, after all, university of pennsylvania alumni

Orange is the New Orange

I mean that seriously too like outside of The Apprentice everything he's done has been an abject failure, not only would he be way richer if he'd just invested his inheritance he also had to commit massive amounts of fraud just to tread water

worth repeating that if Trump had just paid Daniels out of his own pocket instead of trying to fob it off as a business expense he'd be in the clear instead of a convicted felon

True, but even something that small would be antithetical to his fundamental operating principle. The closest thing Trump has to an ideology is that he is never, ever, ever responsible or accountable for anything. Accepting any kind of responsibility — legal, moral or ethical — is a mug's game. And that's a big part of his appeal imo. The fantasy he embodies is wealth and power without consequences. It's also why even this verdict in a relatively minor and legally novel case is a real dent for him. It tugs back the curtain just a little.

the dude (Nixon) was smart, could be thoughtful on occasion, and had a crabbed affection for the people around him.

Hell, he also created the EPA and signed into law the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Even the worst of the worst signed into law bipartisan legislation that benefited the country at large here and there.

It's astonishing how far things have fallen since Gingrich and more importantly McConnell. They enabled much of this present day partisan strife and paved the way for Trump's ascendancy.

xp Yup, narcissists are always doubling down inside their house of cards. It's always an illusory con game with them, and so so so necessary to keep up appearances for your cult, because it's all so fragile in the end - similarly with dictatorships.

Hell, he also created the EPA and signed into law the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Even the worst of the worst signed into law bipartisan legislation that benefited the country at large here and there.

wellllll no -- don't give him too much credit. Nixon was the first (and last?) president to start his term controlling neither chamber of Congress. Dems had overwhelming majorities. He signed what they gave him.