I think Trump is likely to be impeached AND convicted before his term ends. — Wayfarer
France has a long tradition of demonsrating in the streets, since their much beloved revolution. The US hasn't had that tradition for a long time, yet I think, unfortunately, it will be the new normal for you now. — ssu
His supporters had hungered for a charismatic leader like him
When I think "charismatic", I think charming, smart, strong, self-confident, maybe good-looking — Kenosha Kid
Charisma is perhaps more accurately compared to the phenomena of screen presence in TV and films. It's not so much about the character being laudable as it is about their ability to hold our attention. Think of John Malkovich for example. He typically plays evil characters, but he's a very watchable actor. When he's on screen he's probably what you're looking at. — Hippyhead
Charisma is a mysterious force in human affairs. It doesn't necessarily have a logical basis, because human beings aren't fundamentally rational. — Hippyhead
I just can't get my head around what sort of person -- and there are tens of millions of them, so it's my fault -- would see leadership in that. He did the opposite of charming people: he gave them every reason to be turned off, and invented a few new ones. — Kenosha Kid
What's also true is that "all politicians lie" is not that unreasonable of a claim. Not perfectly true in every instance, but true enough often enough that it can't just be swept off the table. — Hippyhead
And it's not hard to see that Trump's actions after the November elections are acts of fraud. — Metaphysician Undercover
First, they see leadership in Trump because Trump actually did lead. He defeated the entire political establishment of both parties and defied media speculation which was convinced of Clinton's inevitable victory. — Hippyhead
Once elected Trump led by overturning a number of decisions and assumptions of the established political class. Instead of ignoring immigration and conceiving of that issue as being very complicated and sophisticated etc etc blah, blah, blah, he said, "Fuck that, let's build a wall!" — Hippyhead
He left the Iran deal, the Paris accords, the WHO. He challenged NATO to pay their own way. Same thing here. Examples of bold leadership, just not the flavor that you and I prefer. — Hippyhead
More importantly perhaps, Trump offered his base leadership on a more personal emotional level. Educated liberals such as ourselves have been looking down our snooty noses at rural and working people for decades. We are the cool smart people, they are the clueless bumpkins etc. Trump led by raising his middle finger and jamming it in our eye, thus channeling the understandable emotions of many millions of people, who then rewarded him with their loyalty. — Hippyhead
Almost everything he did seemed to highlight him as a disastrous candidate based on prior experience. — Kenosha Kid
They must have loved him before they voted for him. — Kenosha Kid
He promised the wall as part of his campaign, so his supporters either voted for him in part because of that or despite it. I get that a lot of people in the confederate states hate Mexicans, hate non-whites in general — Kenosha Kid
What about this would make someone go, "Yeah, fuck the Iran deal, we need this guy to sort it out"? — Kenosha Kid
I have seen no evidence of this. — Kenosha Kid
Anyone else think this impeachment is a terrible idea? — Count Timothy von Icarus
Anyone else think this impeachment is a terrible idea? It's totally doomed to faliure — Count Timothy von Icarus
Anyone else think this impeachment is a terrible idea? It's totally doomed to faliure and it will dominate Biden's first month in office while he should be focused on the economy and pandemic. It will also hold up cabinet appointments. — Count Timothy von Icarus
The guy is off social media and most media outlets won't let him on. Let him fade away. He's an obese 74 year old so its entirety possible nature takes away the 2020 threat, and in any case, it seems not improbable he might be in state prison or have fled the country by then. — Count Timothy von Icarus
There's nothing in principle wrong with someone hosting a private medium of discussion.
There's nothing in principle wrong with them deciding how to filter content on it.
But there's definitely something wrong with the effective public square of society being on such privately controlled media, of course.
Yet that privately controlled media became the effective public square because a bunch of people chose to use it. — Pfhorrest
What's a euphemism for stupid? They are stupid; we may as well say so. Question: do you know of any responsible spokesperson for the Trump right? Is there anything even arguably correct coming out of the Trump right? Anyone at all? Anything at all? Whatever kernels of even arguable truth might have been in his policies, they were perverted, bent, and screwed up beyond any utility.If we persist in calling Trump voters stupid, — Hippyhead
It won't remove him. — Count Timothy von Icarus
That's ignorance, and that's the condition of us all. Stupid is when you buy it, take it home, and keep it, when it shouldn't be either bought, taken, or kept. — tim wood
s there anything even arguably correct coming out of the Trump right? Anyone at all? Anything at all?
— tim wood
I've addressed this already in other posts above, which you are free to read should it interest you to do so. — Hippyhead
All right. Good. Thank you! — tim wood
Almost everything he did seemed to highlight him as a disastrous candidate based on prior experience.
— Kenosha Kid
In comparison to what? More decades of the same old political status quo which has failed so many people? — Hippyhead
Yes, because Trump promised an alternative to the status quo, which he then delivered on. — Hippyhead
But why be sympathetic to that and not, say, someone saying "We need universal health care, it's wrong for Americans to be left to die just because they're poor, I'm going to do something about that, there I did something?" — Kenosha Kid
Remember George Bush senior? "Read my lips, NO NEW TAXES!" Whereupon he proceeded to support new taxes. — Hippyhead
Please observe the assumption that a desire for defendable borders to one's country is a function of racism. — Hippyhead
All the Iran deal did was kick the can down the road. The Iran deal served to hand Obama's problem off to some future President. — Hippyhead
Is your goal to understand the Trump phenomena, or just be against it? — Hippyhead
He’s simply a conman who tells them what they want to hear and in a way that they enjoy hearing it. Not just anyone can do that. Have you ever watched him speak at one of his rallies? It’s just raw divisive nonsense that only a completely unprincipled narcissist could spew. — praxis
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