Cont: Mueller Investigation pt3

[smartcooky]

A sex scandal involving Rosie O'Donnell. Yep, that would do it.

With his history of hitting on any female within reach of his pudgy little hands, I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't at least tried. It would explain his attitude toward her. He can't stand being turned down.

Too old.

Trump likes 'em young

 

[BadBoy]

He didn’t defeat Hillary just by dumb luck. And it serves his purposes for his opponents to have such a low esteem for him.

I'm not sure sure, or at least I'm not sure I believe that his win was expected - even by himself - and that there was some kind of sophisticated plan to steal the election. In fact he very nearly lost.

Given the way the world was at the time (is still now) he played a particularly crude and reckless all-in hand that pandered to ignorance, bigotry, hate and selfishness. Add a weak opponent like Hilary and you end up with a dubious win to office. Hardly the work of a great mastermind.

Since then I am so not sure his moves have been particularly well calculated at all - all I see are reactionary knee jerk and partisan decisions that appear to be motivated often by either undoing anything that was perceived to be an Obama era policy, or just something he can do without any endorsement from congress. Time will tell on the economy and looming trade wars I guess.

So no I don't see a the low esteem opponents have of him to be a calculated move on his part.

It wouldn't at all surprise me that during or after his time in office a number of coarse and bumbling financial crimes come to light. If as you seem to be suggesting it turns out that all the bluster and buffoonery was actually due to some sophisticated plan from the beginning I'll eat my hat.

I would also suggest that if he is not just a twat, but is actually an intelligent and cruel calculator, then it makes him a much worse individual than I even imagined.

 

[Ziggurat]

Given the way the world was at the time (is still now) he played a particularly crude and reckless all-in hand that pandered to ignorance, bigotry, hate and selfishness.

Characterize it however you want to, but he still played that hand well.

Add a weak opponent like Hilary and you end up with a dubious win to office. Hardly the work of a great mastermind.

Despite Hillary's weaknesses, it was still an upset. That may not require a "great mastermind", but an actual idiot wouldn't have pulled it off.

So no I don't see a the low esteem opponents have of him to be a calculated move on his part.

It doesn't have to be calculated on his part. It's still advantageous to him.

If as you seem to be suggesting it turns out that all the bluster and buffoonery was actually due to some sophisticated plan from the beginning I'll eat my hat.

I'm not claiming it's some sophisticated plan either. But sophistication isn't always a sign of intelligence, and there's nothing stupid about doing something simple when it works.

I'm saying Trump is like the old SNL bit about a scheming Reagan, but the idea that he's just some moronic buffoon isn't any more accurate. He is impulsive, but he's not dumb. He's cunning.

 

[BadBoy]

He's cunning.

Running for office while trying to hide an adulterous affair with secret payoffs and then bungling that and then bungling a cover up is hardly cunning.

Using a lawyer that turns out to be a crook while running for office hardly seems cunning.

And from SmartCookie:

he has insulted allied national leaders and crapped all over America's allies?

he cannot open his mouth without lying.

he stirs up racial hatred in America and that he thinks Nazis, the KKK and their associates are "good people"?

he engenders religious bigotry?

he encourages discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation?

Again, not so much cunning going on their.

I don't swallow the Scott Adams "Clown Genius" at all.

 

[kellyb]

Running for office while trying to hide an adulterous affair with secret payoffs and then bungling that and then bungling a cover up is hardly cunning.

Does his base care? No. Did he accurate sense they wouldn't care? Yes.

Playing fools like a fiddle to create this cult of personality did take a certain type of cunning.

 

[alfaniner]

Yeah, this time from his old chum Vladimir, a few Russian hackers and a number of crooks (like Manafort, Gates and Cohen)

Hackers, crooks, and hookers.

 

[Lurch]

To any who see Trump as having applied any kind of cunning in his squeaker of a win...

When it eventually comes into the full glare of daylight just how much criminal activity was involved in the election, when all the other criminal and civil suits into his personal and business affairs are completed, when he is ignimoniously shown the door out of the WH and thence possibly to jail, then get back to us and crow about his cunning genius.

Trump will rue the day he threw his hat into the political ring. He grasped beyond his limited abilities. A huckster whose main ability and principal object is self aggrandizement is insufficient to the task of leading more than a limited 'family'-sized operation.

 

[Foolmewunz]

A sex scandal involving Rosie O'Donnell. Yep, that would do it.

Wait! Are you saying DJT is a lesbian?

 

[Stacyhs]

The only thing that Trump does truly well is understand what his base wants. Which he gives to them daily. They're not that hard to figure out.

 

[BadBoy]

The only thing that Trump does truly well is understand what his base wants. Which he gives to them daily. They're not that hard to figure out.

this

 

[Venom]

My impression of you from your posts is one of the usual non thinking, left wing xenophobic, Trump apologist. edit:Maybe that was a bit harsh. Perhaps it's what you don't say that appears to be revealing - but of course that would not be evidence of any firm commitment to Trump.

The thing about Trump is, and it is quite obvious to anyone who really watches and listens to what he says and does, and putting his political leanings to one side for a moment, that he is a complete idiot who appears to only care about himself.

I don't dislike him because of his politics (though I definitely don't like his politics), I dislike him because he is a nasty, spoilt, vindictive person and because he lies so much in the most obvious ways. I think he could well be a psychopath:

Symptoms and signs of psychopathy:

Superficial charm and glibness.
Inflated sense of self-worth.
Constant need for stimulation.
Lying pathologically.
Conning others; being manipulative.
Lack of remorse or guilt.
Shallow emotions.
Callousness; lack of empathy.

I think that is what most people cannot understand about Trump supporters. They seem to be more interested in sticking it to the lefties than worrying about the fact that their leader is a dangerous moron. I mean do you care at all that Trump is snuggling up to an aggressive state that is quite obviously trying to inflict damage on the US? Are you quite sure you are willing to ignore that (irrespective of whether he has done anything illegal concerning Russian involvement)?

Trumpsters are cutting their nose to spite their face:

"Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger.

Good post.

Unless leftists in political office start coming out with whatever crazy conspiracy theories and beliefs, I don't want to hear about how radical leftists are a bigger or even as big a problem as the hard right right now.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

He didn’t defeat Hillary just by dumb luck.

That's true. He defeated her by getting hacked information and altering his political strategy overnight WRT which states to focus on thereby taking advantage of that information, and by having pressure applied to Comey so that - rightly or wrongly - he felt he had no choice but to make a public announcement that Clinton was under investigation by the FBI.

 

[Belz...]

I am fully prepared to believe Trump only cares about himself (and you should always suspect that about all politicians anyways). But if you think Trump is stupid, then you don’t understand him at all. He didn’t defeat Hillary just by dumb luck.

Yeah, that's right. He beat her because she was an undesirable candidate who ran a mediocre campaign leading many democratic voters to sit out the election.

He's cunning.

Bwa ha ha ha! No, he's not. He knows how to manipulate the media cycle. That's his one single talent: selling himself.

 

[a_unique_person]

Yeah, that's right. He beat her because she was an undesirable candidate who ran a mediocre campaign leading many democratic voters to sit out the election.



Bwa ha ha ha! No, he's not. He knows how to manipulate the media cycle. That's his one single talent: selling himself.

I don't think it's even that. What he is, is just what his target audience want. He didn't think of doing it, he just did what he always does. Like he said, he could go outside and shoot someone and they wouldn't care.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Trump beat Clinton first and foremost because the White House changes party almost always after a two-term incumbent.
Clinton was massively handicapped by years of smear campaigns and a White House and FBI that was so sure that she would win that they wouldn't sound the alarm on election meddling.
And even then, she won the popular vote by a significant margin.

 

[Upchurch]

I'm not claiming it's some sophisticated plan either. But sophistication isn't always a sign of intelligence, and there's nothing stupid about doing something simple when it works.

I'm saying Trump is like the old SNL bit about a scheming Reagan, but the idea that he's just some moronic buffoon isn't any more accurate. He is impulsive, but he's not dumb. He's cunning.

Poor Zig. Are you under the assumption that Trump wanted to win? He spent the last month or two of the campaign setting up for his defeat. He was going to ride the recognition of his campaign to a media empire, probably. Remember the rumblings of Trump TV?

Watch Trump trudging up for his victory speech. That is not a happy man.

ETA: The only thing Trump has ever been good at is selling his own brand. The man has no other skills and it shows.

 

[newyorkguy]

Trump beat Clinton first and foremost because the White House changes party almost always after a two-term incumbent.
Clinton was massively handicapped by years of smear campaigns and a White House and FBI that was so sure that she would win that they wouldn't sound the alarm on election meddling.
And even then, she won the popular vote by a significant margin.

This seems like a pretty accurate analysis of the 2016 election.

The Trump team did expect to lose. Reince Priebus and others have recounted a post-Hollywood Access meeting at which the consensus was, the groin groping comments had just cost Trump any chance of winning the election.

According to the [New York Magazine article], everyone on Trump's team, including former chief strategist Steve Bannon, had a future in mind following what they believed would be Trump's inevitable loss — the Trump family would become even more internationally famous than they already were, and Bannon looked ready to position himself as the head of the Tea Party movement. Upon learning of Trump's win, Trump's team was reportedly stunned. Trump himself looked like he had seen a ghost, according to Wolff. And despite tweets from Trump to the contrary, the report claims that First Lady Melania Trump burst into tears. Link

 

[autumn1971]

‘k.

A poster was just fantacizing about murder in an open and graphic way, and we get whataboutism and “no YOU!” from so called Skeptics.

Oy vey

I was not fantasizing. I was expressing my opinion, deeply held, about how to treat fascists.

 

[The Big Dog]

I was not fantasizing. I was expressing my opinion, deeply held, about how to treat fascists.

I think you meant describing violent murder of people that are, in your opinion, fascists. Fortunately most people were rightly horrified by it. Unfortunately, not all.

 

[LSSBB]

The only thing that Trump does truly well is understand what his base wants. Which he gives to them daily. They're not that hard to figure out.

That's pretty much it.