Fools or not

[liberty]

I suspect we will soon learn who the real Donald Trump is. I could be wrong, but I think he's been playing you guys; he said outrageous things so the left would attack him and when you attack him those people out there in the great unwashed masses who are not liberals saw it as an attack of the liberal elite on one of their own, so they rallied around him. I think that might have been his strategy all along; he played you guys for fools, and you just couldn't help yourself because you enjoyed it too much. Now if nothing changes and he still acts the same way he did during his first term I stand corrected. I might be wrong; I always thought that Donald Trump had to be reasonably intelligent. He couldn't be the total idiot you all claimed he is and be able to make money or even hold on to it. I know from experience that going out of business is a damn easy thing to do; I've done it.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I know from experience that going out of business is a damn easy thing to do; I've done it.

Like running a casino and going bankrupt? BT, DT lib? Do tell.

[Bicycle Bill]

With regards to the actions of the Grifter in Chief, I think Hanlon's Razor applies —

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

And like the example ex-KA brought up ... you've got to be a special kind of inept to lose money running a casino.

-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

Just how did he make all this money? His father put together a big pile building housing for the less than average income, both apartments and single family dwellings, up and down the mid Atlantic region. The Donald turned into a small fortune preserved by bribes and creative book-keeping-that is the action that resulted in his felony convictions under NY state law. The only money he made was in renting out his name to other corporate entities that operated without any other participation from him. He was so smart he could not even manage a casino or a family 'charity' tax doge. His big tv access was totally scripted and run by others. So smart? His academic record is more secretive than NSA, and his tax records are right along with NSA's budget. He has managed to get the votes of Liberty's great unwashed by following the rule that no one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

snailgate

[Sue U]

I suspect we will soon learn who the real Donald Trump is.

If you don't know who Donald Trump is by now, you are either willfully ignorant or rock stupid.

[Crackpot]

What about both? That seems to fit best.

[BoSoxGal]

In fairness,

Many U.S. businesses don't survive their first decade, with failure rates reaching 23.2% within a year, 48% within five years and 65.3% within ten.

That said, most people starting businesses don’t inherit or take loans totaling tens of million of dollars from bank of daddy which they still manage to parlay into 6 business bankruptcies.

[Big RR]

[quoteNow if nothing changes and he still acts the same way he did during his first term I stand corrected. I might be wrong][/quote]

So what are you saying Liberty--that he deliberately played the fool for four years and now is going to be a statesman? That makes no sense.

[Joe Guy]

....I might be wrong; I always thought that Donald Trump had to be reasonably intelligent.....

[MajGenl.Meade]

those people out there in the great unwashed masses who are not liberals saw it as an attack of the liberal elite on one of their own

Well, lib's wrong but only in detail IMO. My radio is NPR / Ideastream and I was struck by a particular view of the post election polls. Altho' "the economy" was cited as the number 1 reason MAGAts voted for DT, more than one expert opined that this and other reasons were given because they were "safe". Many folks are unwilling to say why they really supported him because they are reluctant to admit it and bring the judgement of the media down upon themselves.

Trump has the lunatic right sewed up. They ain't afraid to wave their non-Nazi swastikas about. He has common or garden racists in his corner. He has stupid pretty much locked up. But these are not enough to give him victory. Pro-lifers are mostly for him. What tipped the balance this time are a damn lot of people somewhat like me, I think.

As lib so eloquently puts it, the unwashed in the millions (even if appalled by Trump's vile persona) are also appalled by what is perceived to be the vulgarization of society by the glorification of perverseness. Normal people (oh don't quibble) are in the vast majority. And for years now they've put up with an ever-growing drift into the enthronement of the abnormal as being of equal or greater worth. I hear it on NPR where the left increasingly rule with their determined overly-statistical stocking of queer contributors and forbidding of him/her in favor of their - a disease that's spread now all over the media to the point where MNF commentator said something like "Dante got another sack - the fifth solo sack they have made this game". Apparently he doesn't know that Dante is a he too - no, he knew but was conforming to an "acceptable" word out of fear.

Of more annoyance is the program to encourage children to choose their own identity - be it cat or gender Not only that they can but that it is a virtue. And anyone who thinks differently (as most people do) is some kind of retarded antediluvian horror that doesn't deserve to live, let alone vote. A tiny minority of Ls, Gs, Bs and other alphabet soups are in our faces over and over and we're well over it all.

Immigration. I hate programs that separate families. I hate employers who take advantage of illegals. I support proper avenues of entry to the benefits of US citizenship. But I'm also in line with native-born Americans, Latino Americans, and other immigrant Americans (like me) who think that illegal border crossings must be stopped. There's a huge f-ing problem and the liberal view is exemplified by so-called sanctuary cities. To hell with their outright defiance of the law and anti-Federal posturing. I'd like the Feds to go in and arrest the boss pols.

People not too unlike me want to take back the country - take it back from decadent opponents of a decent society. Some don't want the likes of Trump and his minions to be in charge because they aren't decent either. Many are not anti-women's choice in pregnancy. Many are not racist. But far too many are pissed off enough to set aside repugnance for the man and vote against a continuation of the leftward drift of morality as they see it.

So, had I voted for Trump instead of Harris, it would be because it's time for a change - it's time for normal people to stand up and demand respect for normal standards of behavior. And it wasn't the economy, stupid. It was this: "You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about . . ."

And I think you dear people don't get it. Or if you do, your reaction may be to stamp on it with hatred and vitriol every bit as pernicious as that of the President-elect. I'm not sure I get it either but hatred and vitriol do come easier these days and I've got me worried. If it had not been Trump (or Vance) but a rational human being heading the anti-reformation, would I have voted differently?

[Burning Petard]

Maj Gen'l, I am surprised. You seem to be very confused about 'sanctuary cities'. I can understand that--much of controversial topics are described with special vocabulary designed to obfuscate. Sanctuary cities provide no sanctuary for undocumented aliens. They simply tell the Feds that they will not spend their local taxpayer money to enforce federal laws when the federals will not allocate funds for that enforcement. The big contention is when Juan Valdez is apprehended for running a stop sign and is arrested by Philly cops for driving his coffee beans into Philadelphia without a PA drivers license and his truck is not ensured under Pennsylvania requirements. The feds want the city of Philadelphia to confine him in the city jail for an indefinite period until ICE, at their convenience, is prepared to bring Señor Valdez in to federal court for federal proceedings. Philly, as a sanctuary city, tells the feds, "We arrested him for various traffic violations, he'd paid the fines, we released him because we had no evidence that he was in violation of any other local laws. If you want us to enforce Federal laws, give us federal money to do it."

Just one more example of the basic principle of understanding the way things work in America--follow the money.

snailgate.

[Joe Guy]

One big reason that Trump won the election is because he and his MAGA-peeps convinced the voting majority that things like democrat-run 'Sanctuary Cities' were inviting undocumented aliens to hide there and public schools were performing sex changes on students without parental consent. When that is added to the democrats running a presidential candidate that most people hadn't even paid attention to until August 2024, it's not really a surprise that Trump won.

It's likely that the majority of voters don't do a lot of research on their own to learn everything they can about presidential candidates. They more likely occasionally watch Fox-like or CNN-like TV and choose a candidate based on the recommendation of the TV & radio personalities they like. If some tough guy on TikTok tells you to vote for Trump, a lot of iron pumping people at the gym are going to vote for him.

A presidential campaign is more like a Miss America pageant than an intellectual contest.

liberty voted for Trump because he was convinced that Trump hates liberals and understands the threat of allowing black people to exist. Other people voted for Trump because they believe the world was much better off during Trump's last term. Still others voted for him because they don't think a woman could handle the job.

Democrats have four years to find someone within their party who can appeal to the masses. They better get started.

[BoSoxGal]

One big reason that Trump won the election is because he and his MAGA-peeps convinced the voting majority that things like democrat-run 'Sanctuary Cities' were inviting undocumented aliens to hide there and public schools were performing sex changes on students without parental consent. When that is added to the democrats running a presidential candidate that most people hadn't even paid attention to until August 2024, it's not really a surprise that Trump won.

It's likely that the majority of voters don't do a lot of research on their own to learn everything they can about presidential candidates. They more likely occasionally watch Fox-like or CNN-like TV and choose a candidate based on the recommendation of the TV & radio personalities they like. If some tough guy on TikTok tells you to vote for Trump, a lot of iron pumping people at the gym are going to vote for him.

A presidential campaign is more like a Miss America pageant than an intellectual contest.

liberty voted for Trump because he was convinced that Trump hates liberals and understands the threat of allowing black people to exist. Other people voted for Trump because they believe the world was much better off during Trump's last term. Still others voted for him because they don't think a woman could handle the job.

Democrats have four years to find someone within their party who can appeal to the masses. They better get started.

I agree with much of what you wrote, but have to point out that his popular vote win was by a mere 1.6% now the votes are all nearly counted. That’s the smallest popular vote majority since the 19th century.

It seems Kamala Harris appealed to nearly half the masses and maybe if she’d had more than 3 months to run she might be naming her cabinet officials as we speak.

[Joe Guy]

I agree with much of what you wrote, but have to point out that his popular vote win was by a mere 1.6% now the votes are all nearly counted. That’s the smallest popular vote majority since the 19th century.

I'm sure Trump will never accept that. If it was brought to his attention, he would probably claim the popular vote was rigged.

It seems Kamala Harris appealed to nearly half the masses and maybe if she’d had more than 3 months to run she might be naming her cabinet officials as we speak.

I agree but we'll never know.

[Big RR]

BSG--a small majority or not, he still won the popular vote, and that is something I thought he'd never do. Another 3 months might have helped Kamala, but I think key to her loss was the number of people who stayed home and didn't vote. It's something the dems have to address for the upcoming presidential elections; if a big difference in policy doesn't get the vote out, we have to find out what will. I can understand (well, not really, but at least a little) staying home when people don't see all that much difference between the candidates, but when Trump is on the other side. Even if I detested Harris, I would still vote against Trump by voting for her, but what was in the mind of the people who stayed home?

[BoSoxGal]

I'm still puzzled to some degree, but I think some mix of bias against women in leadership, fear of the cultural shift Dems embrace, and misunderstanding of how the economy actually works and why his proposals will end up biting them in the ass while hers would likely have improved their lives. I think that accounts for people who changed their votes from Biden 2020 to him this time, and the ones who stayed home just didn't grasp the importance of this election like they did when people were dying all around them in 2020.

[Big RR]

That may be one reason (racial bias is another), but I think the difference is that the Trump campaign, for better or worse, inspires people to get out and vote FOR something; sp ar as I can see the dems do not. In 2020, the dems inspired people to vote against Trump--I don't think that Biden was particularly inspirational and few could understand or explain his positions (other than with regard to covid); i this election he wasn't that inspirational and, while she tried, Harris couldn't produce that enthusiasm either.

As I alluded to above, I think there are a lot of us, myself included, who would rise from our death beds to prevent the election of Trump, but that is clearly not enough (since he won in 2016 and 2024). And I would hope the dems start assessing this right away, because a president Vance scares me even more than Trump.

[liberty]

The reason Trump was elected was because those people out there, the ones you all call the deplorable, the great unwashed masses that elites despise voted for him in large numbers and not all were white, being as a deplorable does not have a race requirement. They voted for him because Democrats make promises and do nothing and nothing changes. I made a suggestion about how to reduce the cost of automobile repairs and it was met with jeers here; Elites think everything is fine. cars don't cost too much, and repairs are not expensive enough in their mind. I once heard one of you elites make a comment on talk radio show that all these broken-down old cars should be taken off the road for being eyesore, the thing is people are driving those old broken-down cars because they cannot afford anything better. As far as you are concerned, they can walk or take the bus to work that doesn't exist. The Elites, which is, the Democrat Party now, just don't care about the people out there struggling from day to day, they are more concerned about which bathroom a transgender person can use not the safety of the children of the deplorable.

[Big RR]

You seem to know a lot about "elites", and even know who they are here. However, I can say I have never called anyone a "deplorable" (at least any group of people, there may have been an individual or two who had deplorable behavior, but i don't recall), nor have I seen it used here, so I don't know what you are talking about. Nor have I ever said "old" cars should be removed from the road. And why someone woud take the bus to a work that "doesn't exist" is beyond me as well, but I can sy I took the bus to work (for a job that did exist) for many years, and knew a lot of others who took the bus and train, so why is taking a bus suddenly horrible?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Ironic that Trump and all his pals are indeed "the elite" financially and venally. Not ordinary folks, but the rich bastards such as Musk (pending Trump ruining the EV market for American car makers which equal kickbacks to Tesla). The rich boy club-lads are rubbing their hands in glee at their coming January pay-back.