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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Redmess
No, his reasoning would be "I'm not doing well in the polls, I'm going to look like a total loser if I lose, better step down and declare victory!" This is what he has repeatedly done in his businesses: once things start going south, he declares victory and jumps ship.
The real question is not whether or not he is stupid enough to step down, but whether his ego will outweigh his self-preservation.
Also, I highly doubt he believes he has this victory in the bag. This is an extremely insecure man with a massive inferiority complex. He has been fretting about re-election from the day he was elected.
Trump is never secure about the outcome of his actions. This is why he cheats, almost reflexively, to ensure he wins no matter what.
Edited by Redmess on Jun 29th 2020 at 3:41:13 PM
Optimism is a duty.
Honestly, were Trump to, by some weird miracle, opt not to run again, I'd fully expect him to do so remotely from a plane already en route to some place without an extradition treaty.
Asgore Adopts Noelle
If Trump tried to drop out, I can't imagine the Republican Party wouldn't try to hold him in place against his will; they know that if Trump jumps ship the Republicans lose in 2020 period. We're talking about Jones winning Re-Election and Mitch losing Re-Election levels of lose period. At least with Trump they have a better chance of keeping some seats in Congress, even if they all are resigned about losing the White House.
I would love it though if he does end his campaign, but he isn't going to, and the Republican Party will not let him do it even if he wanted to. His only hope of getting out of the race would be to out and out resign, and he's not going to do that either.
Bingo, at this point the GOP has no one who could step up on such short notice.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
indighost | he/them
AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019.
Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.
The assessment was included in at least one of President Donald Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019.
The White House did not respond to questions about Trump or other officials’ awareness of Russia’s provocations in 2019. The White House has said Trump was not — and still has not been — briefed on the intelligence assessments because they have not been fully verified. However, it is rare for intelligence to be confirmed without a shadow of a doubt before it is presented to top officials.
I'm willing to buy that Trump might've said something to that effect. I'm less confident in the idea that he meant it, or would stick by it if he meant it.
But, equally, I can't confidently say that dropping out to avoid humiliation would be out of character. It wouldn't be a good idea from his perspective, because it would burn a lot of his bridges within the GOP and not being president exposes him to legal consequences, but just because something's a bad idea doesn't mean Trump won't do it.
But it also strikes me as the sort of thing his sycophants could talk him out of, and they have every motivations to do so.
I mean, honestly, the best case scenario in this story was them legitimately keeping Trump in the dark. If I was in the Pentagon or the CIA and I thought there was a non-negligible chance the president is a Russian asset or spy, you better believe some stuff wouldn’t make it into the briefings.
....that was the best case
Edited by Lightysnake on Jun 29th 2020 at 10:34:32 AM
Oh, bother.
My guess is that it was in a briefing, but Trump zoned out during it. The man has the attention span of a particularly dimwitted gnat.
Disgusted, but not surprised
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
. According to the NYT, he got a written report about it, and as we all know, Trump doesn’t read.
Also, the Conway family dynamic gets even stranger. Family dinners must be..... interesting, to say the least.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
It was more of an afterthought tbh. The Intended takeaway was more about how Trump probably didn’t actually read the report.
Edited by megaeliz on Jun 30th 2020 at 4:03:33 AM
Web links are not examples
Apparently, Kellyanne Conway's daughter is posting "Save Barron 2020" content on Tiktok. I know that Barron is Trump's son, but this is the first I've heard of "Save Barron 2020".
Edited by BearyScary on Jun 30th 2020 at 11:49:06 AM
I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
That or an ironclad "no politics past the front door" rule.
"You can reply to this Message!"
One Winged Egret
Or, given George Conway's opinions, maybe just "don't talk to your Mom about politics."
A procrastination in of itself
I’ve seen it theorised that the family has no actual political beliefs and are simply grifters, with one of them assigned to each side so that one of them always comes out on the right side.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xandr/trump-fragile-mood-may-drop-152718908.html
So the bastard apparently can't take the blame he's rightly being assigned. And now he might well cut and run like he always does!
Redmess
I don't think the GOP (or any other party, really) can force someone to run against their will. If someone wants to pull out of the race at the last moment for whatever reason, well, you pretty much have no choice. You can't force people to run at gunpoint, so to speak. That wouldn't exactly be democratic.
They might force him to resign, though, in which case Pence would become the incumbent, if I'm not mistaken. That would be one way out of the mess.
Optimism is a duty.
If it did happen, I would craft a Youtube Musical from:
- "When you Wish Upon A Star" by Disney
- "Brand New Day" from the Wiz
- "There are no cats in America" An American Tail
And others to celebrate my mood.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Redmess
Reddit says its site is "not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups."
Good riddance.
Seems like some social media sites are starting to stand up to Trump now that the end of his term is in sight. The most courageous warriors show up after the battle is almost over, it seems.
Another "brave warrior":
Edited by Redmess on Jun 30th 2020 at 10:50:37 AM
Optimism is a duty.
https://www.themarysue.com/stop-hate-for-profit-campaign-facebook/
Facebook lost 50 billion dollars due to protestors against its Trump and hate alliances.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
x6. That’s really far fetched.
If I had to pick one that is least likely to have their heart into what they are saying, it would be Kellyanne, honestly. (Commander of Cheese is a nickname, and not a slip of the tongue.)
Edited by megaeliz on Jun 30th 2020 at 5:13:56 AM
Redmess
Yeah, seems like the only way these companies will improve is by hitting them in the wallet. These people have absolutely no moral fiber.
Optimism is a duty.
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
If Trump resigns it'll be during a surprise state visit to a non extradition country
(God I hope I'm joking here)
"You can reply to this Message!"
Corporations are not people. They are soulless constructs built for the purpose of accumulating more money. They have their uses, but never assume they'll ever do "the right thing" for the sake of it.
Edited by Kayeka on Jun 30th 2020 at 11:13:03 AM
That, I don't know why any one would ever assume otherwise... any "good move" made by a company is a carefully caculated one that the have determined will generate them more money any way.
I dont get why the right keeps saying that twitter, youtube, and facebook are left biased... and the left says they are right biased, the reality is neither.... they are proffit biased, there money is all they give a shit about.
Edited by Imca on Jun 30th 2020 at 2:17:12 AM
My money would be on "No". I don't think Trump is as stupid as some people do, but he is a narcissist surrounded by sychophants, which is pretty similar. I'd say it's extremely likely he thinks he has the victory in the bag, and him and his cronies probably try to downplay the importance of polls.
He's not going to think "Oh, darn. I'm not doing well in the polls, people must not like me! I guess I should quit". He's going to think "Hey, what gives? I'm clearly awesome and people like me, so why don't the polls reflect this? The polls must not be doing their job correctly. Yeah, that's it. Besides, the polls said I was gonna lose last time, and I won, so I clearly have this!"
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"