Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 23

[Belz...]

We're talking 40% percent of the electorate

Are we really, though?

 

[thaiboxerken]

Are we really, though?

Well.. 40% of those that are allowed to vote.

 

[blutoski]

Are we really, though?

Good question, because the expression 'his base' has some ambiguity.

My working definition is something like, "want him re-elected."

 

[Segnosaur]

We're talking 40% percent of the electorate

Are we really, though?

Not sure what you're arguing.

Trump got over 40% of the vote in the 2016 election. His current approval rating is ~40%. (In fact, even at its lowest, it was over 35%.) Real Clear Politics has a polling average of ~40% for Trump in a Trump/Biden match-up.

How else can we define that as anything but 40% of the electorate?

 

[alfaniner]

Previously noted -- I thought I heard Trump say something about "the upcoming 220 Election" in his Tulsa speech (vs "2020 Election"), but I can't be debased to sit through the video or transcript.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Previously noted -- I thought I heard Trump say something about "the upcoming 220 Election" in his Tulsa speech (vs "2020 Election"), but I can't be debased to sit through the video or transcript.

He's running against Emperor Elagabalus. One is a notoriously unstable immature perverted maniac loated by almost everyone, and the other is Emperor Elagabalus.

 

[Trebuchet]

Trump tells Wisconsin shipyard workers the Navy chose their yard to help him get re-elected.

As he read aloud a description that the frigates would be the “fastest, most advanced, and most maneuverable combat ships anywhere on the ocean,” Trump looked up and ad-libbed: “I hear the maneuverability is one of the big factors that you were chosen for the contract. The other is your location in Wisconsin, if you want to know the truth.”

Oh, and the ships were going to be ugly so he personally redesigned them.

In another portion of the speech devoted to praising himself, Trump also claimed that he had personally intervened in the design of the new Navy frigate. “The ships that they were building, they looked terrible. I changed designs. I looked at it. I said, ‘That’s a terrible looking ship. Let’s make it beautiful. It’ll cost you the same, and maybe less,'” the president told workers at the shipyard.

 

[Belz...]

Not sure what you're arguing.

The question mark should clue you in that I'm not, actualy, arguing anything. I'm asking a question about what we know about his voter base.

Trump got over 40% of the vote in the 2016 election. His current approval rating is ~40%. (In fact, even at its lowest, it was over 35%.) Real Clear Politics has a polling average of ~40% for Trump in a Trump/Biden match-up.

How else can we define that as anything but 40% of the electorate?

How much do you trust the polls?

 

[TragicMonkey]

Oh, and the ships were going to be ugly so he personally redesigned them.

He's really getting more like the Kims every day.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump tells Wisconsin shipyard workers the Navy chose their yard to help him get re-elected.

Oh, and the ships were going to be ugly so he personally redesigned them.

Yeah, I rather thought he was lying as usual:

As the Green Bay Press Gazette reported in April, Marinette Marine, which has built ships in Wisconsin since the 1940s, was acquired by the Italian yacht-maker Fincantieri in 2009. The firm’s winning frigate design is based on an Italian warship that already exists, and was not designed by the president.

 

[a_unique_person]

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1276341601632206848



Quote embedded in tweet. Spoiler: it's a load of irrelevant waffle. Trump was unable to answer a softball question from an ally simply asking him what he wants to accomplish in a second term.

All he left out was how they used to wear onions on their belts.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1276341601632206848



Quote embedded in tweet. Spoiler: it's a load of irrelevant waffle. Trump was unable to answer a softball question from an ally simply asking him what he wants to accomplish in a second term.

I took a high school psychology class, and our textbook had an anecdote where a mother receives a letter from her son and it just goes off on tangent after tangent. It was an illustration of how schizophrenia can affect a person's ability to use language correctly.

Quoting from my textbook:

"Dear mother. I am writing on paper. The pen I am using is from a factory called Perry & Co. The factory is in England. The city of London is in England. I know this from my high school days. Then I always liked geography. My last teacher in that subject... (and so on)"​

While I don't think Trump has schizophrenia, specifically, it's strange to see such a clear, and consistent, example of exactly what the textbook was talking about - this inability to remain on topic and actually deliver a message.

I think about that passage a lot these days.

 

[quadraginta]

I remembered watching Biden live and noted the mistake but seemed to remember him also correcting himself. So when I read Trump's tweet, I googled it. Almost no one noted the correction; they were overwhelmingly just reprints of the misleading video. It took me several minutes to actually find an article that had the quote with the correction. No one who supports Trump would take the time to fact check it and I suspect neither would a lot of those who like to present Biden as a doddering old fool.

I suspect it's a coordinated campaign. Expect to see a lot more of that.

Here in NC we are getting deluged daily by the local 'Big Three' channels with multiple runs of a pro-Trump ad ominously warning about Biden's poor health and cognitive problems. It would be hysterically funny in an ironic sort of way if not for the fact that Trumpers in this state will suck up every word.

 

[Belz...]

I took a high school psychology class, and our textbook had an anecdote where a mother receives a letter from her son and it just goes off on tangent after tangent. It was an illustration of how schizophrenia can affect a person's ability to use language correctly.

Quoting from my textbook:

"Dear mother. I am writing on paper. The pen I am using is from a factory called Perry & Co. The factory is in England. The city of London is in England. I know this from my high school days. Then I always liked geography. My last teacher in that subject... (and so on)"​

While I don't think Trump has schizophrenia, specifically, it's strange to see such a clear, and consistent, example of exactly what the textbook was talking about - this inability to remain on topic and actually deliver a message.

I think about that passage a lot these days.

Has he always been like that? I didn't pay much attention to him pre-campaign.

 

[Stacyhs]

In a classic example of irony, Trump commenting on Biden's 'gaffe' of saying "120 million deaths" before quickly correcting it to "120 thousand death":

He doesn’t talk, nobody hears him. Whenever he does talk he can't put two sentences together,” Mr Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I don’t want to be nice or unnice, okay?”

"I mean, the man can't speak. And he's going to be your president because some people don't love me, maybe”, he continued. “All I’m doing is doing my job”.

This coming from someone known for rambling word salads that make no sense.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

.... and who still thought she was sure to win and campaigned that way. Biden won't make the same mistake.

This is a bull **** narrative! Honestly, can you (and everyone else) just stop?

You are forgetting about 20 years of incessant attacks on Clinton, Comey's Oct surprise, Russian interference, especially Cambridge Analytica's use of data mining.... What's with this crap cherry picking something to make it all Clinton's fault?

If you want to blame Clinton, blame it on some campaign mistakes like ignoring Comey because a few decades earlier fighting back on this kind of thing made it worse. What evidence do you have that she "still thought she was sure to win and campaigned that way"? You don't because there isn't any. There is a narrative the same way Bernie supporters blamed his loss on the fact some key people in the DNC supported Clinton and boo,hoo, they rigged the Primary. That was a bull **** narrative too.

The least you could do is move the **** on.

 

[Stacyhs]

Has he always been like that? I didn't pay much attention to him pre-campaign.

No, he was not. Go back and look at video of interviews from 10 or so years ago. He was much more coherent. Here's a 1987 interview with Larry King. Notice he can stay focused and doesn't ramble. Notice the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wJc7vHcTs

 

[Stacyhs]

This is a bull **** narrative! Honestly, can you (and everyone else) just stop?

You are forgetting about 20 years of incessant attacks on Clinton, Comey's Oct surprise, Russian interference, especially Cambridge Analytica's use of data mining.... What's with this crap cherry picking something to make it all Clinton's fault?

If you want to blame Clinton, blame it on some campaign mistakes like ignoring Comey because a few decades earlier fighting back on this kind of thing made it worse. What evidence do you have that she "still thought she was sure to win and campaigned that way"? You don't because there isn't any. There is a narrative the same way Bernie supporters blamed his loss on the fact some key people in the DNC supported Clinton and boo,hoo, they rigged the Primary. That was a bull **** narrative too.

The least you could do is move the **** on.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Has he always been like that? I didn't pay much attention to him pre-campaign.

He hasn't, but I do wonder sometimes if it's deliberate, a kind of chewbacca defense where he gives an answer that makes no sense, rather than just saying "no comment" or trying to come up with some coherent, rational answer. If your answer has no actual content or meaning, there's nothing to pick apart.

What with the other symptoms he's exhibiting, though -- problems with walking, not managing to lift a glass of water with only one hand, etc., I'm leaning towards it being an actual mental decline.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

And the courts, those having been pretty heavily packed with right-wingers.

Just wondering aloud: Neither Justice Alito nor Justice Thomas is particularly old, 70 and 72 respectively; but I wouldn't be surprised to see them step down if Trump loses so he can appoint a couple of younger conservatives. Not the slightest doubt Mitch would confirm them.

No way. I don't know much about Alito, but Thomas doesn't appear to the the least bit interested in anyone but himself.