Miami Herald: I’m done trying to understand Trump supporters. Why don’t they try to understand me?

[88Comrade2000]

The only reason Trump ran was to boost his wallet. He thought by running he could get NBC to boost his Apprentice salary.

 

He had no real intention of becoming president. When he saw how popular he became; he just went along for the ride.

 

Why does he want to be president.

 

1. Use the presidency to make money.

2. Stop all prosecutions against him.

3. Get revenge against all his perceived enemies.

4. Avenge his 2020 loss which in his mind believes was stolen.

 

And maga will eat it up and go along.

 

 

Trump has to be the poorest billionaire ever. I honestly think he’s nowhere near being worth a billion.

[Dan T.]

Aside from trying to overturn a free and fair national election by any means necessary including a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, continuing to weaken democracy by lying to his followers about the results of that election, siding with Vladimir Putin over the entire U.S. intelligence community, lying about COVID and then massively ****ing up the response to it, starting a costly trade war with China, labeling any news unfavorable to him fake news usurping the phrase from the real fake news Russia was pumping into US political discourse to help him win the election, lying that he had no business interests in Russia even as he was negotiating to build Trump Tower Moscow and offering Putin the penthouse suite, ****ting on long time public servants who had the audacity to tell the truth about him holding Ukrainian aid hostage in return for dirt on his opponent, suggesting the military should shoot protesters in the legs, telling voters he would work so hard he wouldn’t have time to golf and then once elected going to his golf courses 298 times at a cost to taxpayers of $144,000,000, stiffing the Secret Service and taxpayers by gouging them on room rates while staying on his ****ty properties, cheating on all 3 of his wives, lying about his business career, lying about virtually everything, scamming people through “Trump University,” running a scam charity so badly he is banned from heading a charity in New York, treating anyone who disagrees with him as a mortal enemy who must be attacked, telling more than 30,500 lies in his 4 years, and oh god all the rest of his nightmare existence, why not give him another shot? [Bigly eyeroll]

[Larry]

Don't forget firing the head of the FBI because he didn't promise to make sure that the national security investigation he was running wouldn't mention that his people were involved. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Didn’t he try to invite ISIS to Camp David?!?

[Dan T.]

Nice that we’re helping the ignorant and those with short memories. 

[EmirOfShmo]

Add this to the list...posted in the Antifa thread.

 

9 hours ago, Destino said:

remember all those unmarked cars full of federal agents from different agencies that were essentially kidnapping protestors off the street?  It was widely reported and caught on camera numerous times.  Well now we know why.

 

[Dan T.]

Chad Wolf and Ken Cuchinelli should never again be anywhere near the levers of Federal power. 

[The Evil Genius]

This was a good one too. WW's amerikkka.

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by The Evil Genius

[Dan T.]

Then there was this...

 

 

...which was bad enough in and of itself but then he idiotically pressured NOAA to go along with his mistake just to save face.  Imagine pressuring a Federal agency to issue false information about a potentially deadly storm just to help cover up a mistake you made.  Just one example of why a malignant narcissist and pathological liar should never be President. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Dan T.

[Larry]

Oh, my favorite funny (as opposed to "harming the country") Trump moment was a few days into his term, when Trump posted a tweet congratulating himself on what a great meeting he just had with the President of the Virgin Islands.
 

Trump was the President of the Virgin Islands. He'd met with the Governor.  

[Dan T.]

 

^ ^ ^ The leader of the Grand Old Party.

[Fergasun]

The political world still doesn't get it.  Trump is popular because people don't want party puppet politicians.  Not to say he has no strings, but he gives off a pretty good vibe that he's not working for anyone.

 

How many major politicians in either party appear that way?  This is why the MAGA movement is spreading.  

 

I am hopeful in that I wish in 20 years we have 10 more candidates on the national level with different idealogies that are not puppets and not just avoid give off that appearance.  

[mistertim]

5 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Not specific to Trump, but deregulatory actions are generally seen as beneficial to growth.

 

Question I like to ask folks is: are there any general aspects of Trump's America First agenda (be it with immigration, trade, foreign policy) that you agree with? While at the same time realizing that these issues have complexities that won't be addressed by, say, just building a wall.

 

At the same time Republicans have to concede that Biden's approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has gone very well.

 

What drives me crazy are the GOP folks who now decry the "failed Bush/Cheney policies." You heard crickets from these folks when these policies were being enacted.

 

I agree with @Larryon this.

 

Trump's "America First agenda" was basically just something that came out of his mouth at rallies. It didn't have any real, definable policy behind it.

 

For that matter, nothing Trump did seemed to have any clear and consistent underpinning ideology other than "What is good for Trump personally at the moment"?

 

He basically found what got him the most cheers at rallies and the most love from his supporters and went with that. Other people mostly came up with the slogans, because Trump didn't (doesn't) know or care about things like policy.

 

Bannon came up with "build the wall" and "drain the swamp" and told Trump to say them at rallies because people would cheer for it, so Trump said it. He got cheers and adoration when he vilified and denigrated immigrants, Muslims, and other groups, so he kept doing it and pushed/supported things like a Muslim ban and stopping all immigrants if possible (well, the ones from non-****hole countries at least). Those things were pushed by his racist advisor Stephen Miller.

 

His foreign policy was basically all over the map and seemed to pretty much be decided on a whim and depending on how it made him feel or look personally. He cozied up to dictators and other bad actors because they fed his ego and said nice things about him. He alienated our allies because they didn't, and went so far as to threaten to pull out of NATO because he was annoyed by them. He publicly took Putin's side over his own intelligence services because he hated the idea that his victory wasn't the greatest thing ever and all due to him being the best person in history.

 

His domestic policy was likewise all over the map and seemed to...wait for it...be decided on whims based on how it made him feel or look personally. That includes everything from hurricane responses (Maria fiasco) to ignoring COVID because he was worried it may make him look bad. He went along with the GOP plan for huge tax cuts for the rich and corporations not because he cared from an ideology or policy standpoint, but because he hoped it would make his base love him more and/or make him money personally.

 

Trump had no policy agenda. At all. He doesn't care about policy, doesn't understand policy, isn't curious about policy, mostly ignores policy. He has no political ideology other than "What is good for Trump personally?" His policy was basically dictated by the (mostly awful) people around him and he just went along with it.

 

Trump was, and still is, nothing but a carnival barker who's main drive is adoration.

Edited November 8, 2022 by mistertim

[The Evil Genius]

15 minutes ago, Fergasun said:

The political world still doesn't get it.  Trump is popular because people don't want party puppet politicians.  Not to say he has no strings, but he gives off a pretty good vibe that he's not working for anyone.

 

How many major politicians in either party appear that way?  This is why the MAGA movement is spreading.  

 

I am hopeful in that I wish in 20 years we have 10 more candidates on the national level with different idealogies that are not puppets and not just avoid give off that appearance.  

 

Personally, I'd rather a puppet than someone who's sole philosophy is how they can enrich themselves while President. 

 

Edit..his minor philosophy was how he could enact petty revenge on anyone that had ever slighted him.

 

So no, I hope we never see another major candidate like Trump ever again. Let his outdated boomer shtick die off already and let's get back to country before party. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by The Evil Genius

[tshile]

10 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Do you think he would've been reelected if not for covid?

I, personally, did not think he did a good job as president. 
 

And by anything I believe is objective, he displayed that he was pretty stupid regularly and emotionally unfit for the job. 
 

That said - I do recall during the election cycle for 2020 that there was a pretty big consensus that he’d win had it not been for Covid. 
 

And I believe down ballot, republicans mopped the floor with the democrats. I forget if the numbers backed up the idea that people were voting for republicans but against trump, or choosing not to vote for president, but clearly the down ballot results were different than the presidential results. 

5 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Question I like to ask folks is: are there any general aspects of Trump's America First agenda (be it with immigration, trade, foreign policy) that you agree with?

the only thing I really agreed with him on was butting heads with china 

 

I don’t think he did it particularly well. He was like a bull in a china shop (lol.) but I thought the general idea was correct. 
 

he clearly ****ed up with the tariffs and as everything he did, was reckless and careless with no regard to how things actually work. But I gave him props at the time for actually going after them in the general sense. 

[The Evil Genius]

3 minutes ago, tshile said:

I, personally, did not think he did a good job as president. 
 

And by anything I believe is objective, he displayed that he was pretty stupid regularly and emotionally unfit for the job. 
 

That said - I do recall during the election cycle for 2020 that there was a pretty big consensus that he’d win had it not been for Covid. 
 

And I believe down ballot, republicans mopped the floor with the democrats. I forget if the numbers backed up the idea that people were voting for republicans but against trump, or choosing not to vote for president, but clearly the down ballot results were different than the presidential results. 

 

In 2020, Dems lost 14 net seats in the House but gained 3 seats plus the VP in the Senate. 

 

There are also many other factors when it comes to the House. Especially in light of how gerrymandered the GOP has made some of the districts. 

[tshile]

5 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Not specific to Trump, but deregulatory actions are generally seen as beneficial to growth.

this is myopic thinking though. 
 

it’s beneficial to growth if the only way you characterize growth is it costs less to produce things (therefor things can be sold for cheaper, and more things will be sold, and/or profits can go up)

 

but regulation generally comes about as way to fix wrongs. 
 

Getting rid of consumer protections makes banking cheaper - but it also lets the elite prey on normal people 

 

getting rid of water pollution standards makes manufacturing cheaper but contaminates drinking water

 

same with air standards and breathing 

 

you’ve gotta be pretty simpleminded to say deregulation leads to growth, and leave it at that like that somehow says something meaningful. 

4 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

In 2020, Dems lost 14 net seats in the House but gained 3 seats plus the VP in the Senate. 

 

There are also many other factors when it comes to the House. Especially in light of how gerrymandered the GOP has made some of the districts. 

And if I recall correctly statewide elections were dominated by republicans 

 

Which I think is important but I imagine some people don’t. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by tshile

[Fan since a Fetus]

As far as the sayings and catch phrases, they have all been taken from something before. “Drain the Swamp” has been around since the early 1900’s. Unsurprisingly, they stole this from Reagan who popularized it as well as Make America Great Again in the early ‘80s. Trump does not have an original thought in his brain. He’s a follower. He does exactly what the Republican Party needs him to do. They whisper in his ear and he believes that it his idea and they let him believe it. He’s not like the other politicians, except for he’s exactly like the others, just with less intelligence and a larger mouth for berating those who aren’t him.
 

[Simmsy]

23 minutes ago, Fan since a Fetus said:

As far as the sayings and catch phrases, they have all been taken from something before. “Drain the Swamp” has been around since the early 1900’s. Unsurprisingly, they stole this from Reagan who popularized it as well as Make America Great Again in the early ‘80s. Trump does not have an original thought in his brain. He’s a follower. He does exactly what the Republican Party needs him to do. They whisper in his ear and he believes that it his idea and they let him believe it. He’s not like the other politicians, except for he’s exactly like the others, just with less intelligence and a larger mouth for berating those who aren’t him.
 

 

To be fair, I believe Trump did come up with "Make America Great Again Again", give the man some credit.

[Captain Wiggles]

6 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Not specific to Trump, but deregulatory actions are generally seen as beneficial to growth.

 

In the short term yes. Once all the nefarious things that happen behind the scenes due to lack of regulations the economy tanks tho. Credit default swap derivatives for example. 🤓

[The 12th Commandment]

6 minutes ago, Captain Wiggles said:

 

In the short term yes. Once all the nefarious things that happen behind the scenes due to lack of regulations the economy tanks tho. Credit default swap derivatives for example. 🤓

The one that made me switch careers in my thirties (real estate appraiser to geographer) was the 110% cash out refi.  I was part of making loans happen where everyone involved, from the borrower to the title company knew with absolute certainty that the loans would default.  Regulating industry is a very conservative thing to do in a non bizarro world.

[Larry]

1 hour ago, tshile said:

the only thing I really agreed with him on was butting heads with china 

 

I don’t think he did it particularly well. He was like a bull in a china shop (lol.) but I thought the general idea was correct. 

He pulled us out of a free trade agreement that we'd already negotiated, and agreed to. That would have included 40% of the world's GDP, and excluded China. 

[mistertim]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

He pulled us out of a free trade agreement that we'd already negotiated, and agreed to. That would have included 40% of the world's GDP, and excluded China. 

 

And basically the only reason he did that was because it was negotiated under Obama.

 

Trump truly takes simple-minded narcissistic pettiness to entirely new levels. I legitimately believe he'd completely destroy this country and let it permanently burn to the ground if it helped him make money, settle a score, or avoid accountability for something he did.

 

Which is one reason why his "Make America Great Again" thing is so ludicrous to me. I doubt there's ever been a person elected to national office who cared less about this country than Donald Trump. While he was POTUS I don't believe he ever performed a single act in good faith and service to this country. Not one.

 

And now in the aftermath of his presidency almost every day we're finding out new evidence that it was all somehow even worse than we thought at the time.

[88Comrade2000]

2 hours ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

In 2020, Dems lost 14 net seats in the House but gained 3 seats plus the VP in the Senate. 

 

There are also many other factors when it comes to the House. Especially in light of how gerrymandered the GOP has made some of the districts. 

Dems only won Georgia’s senate seat due to Trump telling Georgia gop voters not to trust the runoff.

 

If Trump said nothing ; gop

likely wins one of those 2 seats.

 

2020 was more of a gop year. Remember Gop did win senate seats that people that Dems had a chance to win.

[Cooked Crack]

On 11/7/2022 at 9:51 PM, WashingtonWoke said:

I can’t wait for the RED Tsunami tomorrow! Wonder what excuses you liberals will have next?

 

Where it at?