Donald Trump for President?
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Maybe they should pray that men stop raping children.. I hear it every day. A few days ago this Indian man raped a 7-yr old, and the local folks beat HER.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m.../1/311127.html
once their number grows to sufficient numbers in US , they will demand such laws in US too .
Trump needs to just say no to releasing the tax return. It would be a better look than his current script.
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Yeah, as usual he's all over the map on this one: first he says he'll release them, then he says he can't because he's being audited (which is a total non-sequitur, and doesn't explain why he can't release other years, anyway), then he says he won't, then less than a day later he says he might, but that there's nothing that's really important in them. Try to chart the logic of that.
Meanwhile, here's Megan McArdle taking down the "he'd be a good President because he's a good businessman" argument (both in terms of internal logic and the false premise that he's a great businessman to begin with):
Worth reading the whole thing. Trump's ability to insulate himself from business failures, passing the losses on to creditors, has no analog in the Presidency, except leaving taxpayers with the bill.
Meanwhile, here's Megan McArdle taking down the "he'd be a good President because he's a good businessman" argument (both in terms of internal logic and the false premise that he's a great businessman to begin with):
Leave aside the fact that Trump’s not really all that great of a businessman. Even if he were the CEO of the century, that would be no guarantee of success in the presidency. Running a business takes skill and understanding. But those skills, those understandings, don’t translate particularly well into the arena of U.S. government.
Consider: There is nothing in business that parallels the U.S. government debt. Trump is basically imagining something like a structured negotiation under threat of bankruptcy. This is a false analogy, for any number of reasons: Our debt is bond debt, not bank debt, which is much harder to restructure, and there is no bankruptcy court for nations, which is why sovereign defaults are such wild fun for everyone but the participants.
Consider: There is nothing in business that parallels the U.S. government debt. Trump is basically imagining something like a structured negotiation under threat of bankruptcy. This is a false analogy, for any number of reasons: Our debt is bond debt, not bank debt, which is much harder to restructure, and there is no bankruptcy court for nations, which is why sovereign defaults are such wild fun for everyone but the participants.
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Looks like he's started to backtrack on his Muslim comments, or at least finally clarify them. He knows that he was able to attract the racists/Islamaphobes early on, and now he's moving more to the centre unsurprisingly.
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He's also started talking about raising taxes for the rich.
I'm telling you. His populist messages will resonate with at least some people from the left and Hillary might be in trouble.
Everyone knows Trump is a weak candidate, but Hillary is too. If there's a Democrat he can beat, it's Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I'm telling you. His populist messages will resonate with at least some people from the left and Hillary might be in trouble.
Everyone knows Trump is a weak candidate, but Hillary is too. If there's a Democrat he can beat, it's Hillary Rodham Clinton.
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Looks like he's started to backtrack on his Muslim comments, or at least finally clarify them. He knows that he was able to attract the racists/Islamaphobes early on, and now he's moving more to the centre unsurprisingly.
He may try to claim this is a "clarification," but as usual, his penchant for making absolute promises burns him:
"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a campaign press release said.
So he's calling for a thing that we shouldn't necessarily do, and it's complete and total except for the exceptions it'll have. But he's the one you can trust on border security.
If I were a Trump supporter, I'd have to at least occasionally reflect on how many times his critics have correctly predicted he would walk something back. After about a dozen of those, it's probably time to consider the possibility that they've got a pretty good grip on what this guy is.
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Trump courted megadonors he now scorns:
Related:
It's interesting how often we see this same thing repeated, be it in relationships, business, or politics: someone spurns him somehow, and then he just starts making stuff up about them. They "came to him for a job" or "asked him to be on their show" or something else that is always denied vehemently and for which no evidence is ever produced. Kinda reminds me of all those sentences that start with "People keep telling me..." followed by some unbelievably convenient remark that happens to serve his purpose at the moment.
Trump’s courtship of Adelson, a Las Vegas casino mogul and ardent Zionist, involved “a very clear ask for money,” said a source close to Adelson, who noted the request came even as Trump was publicly declaring that he didn’t need donors’ money. “It was an odd ask.”
Trump personally called Adelson and had his staff attempt to set up a meeting in Vegas
Trump personally called Adelson and had his staff attempt to set up a meeting in Vegas
It's interesting how often we see this same thing repeated, be it in relationships, business, or politics: someone spurns him somehow, and then he just starts making stuff up about them. They "came to him for a job" or "asked him to be on their show" or something else that is always denied vehemently and for which no evidence is ever produced. Kinda reminds me of all those sentences that start with "People keep telling me..." followed by some unbelievably convenient remark that happens to serve his purpose at the moment.
Last edited by Yoda; 05-16-16 at 02:24 PM.
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Donald Trump is a really bittersweet candidate. In some ways he's the most moderate and willing to compromise Republican, and in other ways he's really radical, extreme and offputting. He abused and manipulated the 24/7 new spin cycle with a negative campaign, but made us aware of the media's faults. He put the Republican Party in a civil war, but nonetheless forced it to examine its own values.
I agree with some of his views such as rescinding NAFTA and cutting foreign aid. Then, there's the muslim ban and an irresponsible tax plan. That, and he's always had a problem with providing specifics. The numbers in his proposals just don't add up. Between that, flip flopping on issues every 2 weeks and running a negative campaign to distract from the issues whenever he's pressed for details, I just have no reason to vote for him.
Nonetheless, I'm glad he ran. And not just because he's entertaining or because I like seeing Republican Party turn into a circus. I think people are tired of the establishment, weak politicians, lobbying and canned packaged bowdlerized stump speeches. The era of stiff wooden and mild-mannered politicians like John Kerry and Mitt Romney is officially over.
Trump is getting more people involved in politics and more aware of what's going on. He's bringing in new voters to vote for him, and new voters to vote against him.
Trump's campaign was the heart attack this country needs.
I agree with some of his views such as rescinding NAFTA and cutting foreign aid. Then, there's the muslim ban and an irresponsible tax plan. That, and he's always had a problem with providing specifics. The numbers in his proposals just don't add up. Between that, flip flopping on issues every 2 weeks and running a negative campaign to distract from the issues whenever he's pressed for details, I just have no reason to vote for him.
Nonetheless, I'm glad he ran. And not just because he's entertaining or because I like seeing Republican Party turn into a circus. I think people are tired of the establishment, weak politicians, lobbying and canned packaged bowdlerized stump speeches. The era of stiff wooden and mild-mannered politicians like John Kerry and Mitt Romney is officially over.
Trump is getting more people involved in politics and more aware of what's going on. He's bringing in new voters to vote for him, and new voters to vote against him.
Trump's campaign was the heart attack this country needs.
The idea of Trump as creative destruction is the only defense of the candidate (not the man, mind you) that I think is remotely arguable. But I think you're being too optimistic about what's actually pushing his candidacy; if it were really a vehicle for a thoughtful reevaluation, we wouldn't see all these tortured attempts to deflect his manifest contradictions, or the dressing up of his hucksterism into business savvy. There's little sign of any clear-eyed pragmatism or nuance about him being a vehicle to some other end, and lots of pop-up mythologizing about him as an end in and of himself.
I'd be quite happy with a substantive debate on things like NAFTA, largely because there really isn't any serious evidence-based argument against it. What's worrying is that there appears to be little appetite for productive argument. It's heavy on "burn it down" and light on what we build in its place, and combined with the borderline-allergic reaction to meaningful debate, it's hard to imagine this being some kind of healthy, necessary political corrective.
I'd be quite happy with a substantive debate on things like NAFTA, largely because there really isn't any serious evidence-based argument against it. What's worrying is that there appears to be little appetite for productive argument. It's heavy on "burn it down" and light on what we build in its place, and combined with the borderline-allergic reaction to meaningful debate, it's hard to imagine this being some kind of healthy, necessary political corrective.
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I'm not saying Trump is interested in a meaningful conversation. I'm saying that after this election blows over, we'll finally start to have one.
I didn't think you were talking about Trump himself (and neither was I). I'm talking about his supporters: it's certainly possible a Trump loss (or a win and subsequent policy failure) will lead to self-reflection and a thoughtful rebuilding of the party, but there sure isn't much in their collective rhetoric to suggest it. It's borderline French Revolution.
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I honestly don't think Trump's supporters are the revolutionary type. They're moreso the passive jaded type.
Meaningful conversation? Yep. Neeeeeever gonna happen.
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I don't think they're the revolutionary type either, I just think people who use that kind of rhetoric probably aren't the kinds of people to reflect and compromise after a loss.
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And if it's true that Trump is the voice of that publicist on the phone, then there's another thing you can compare Trump and me to -- we both like fooling people with alternate identities.
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