Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Really, I'd prefer if we shied away from attempts at armchair diagnoses. His policies and general behavior are fodder enough.
edited 28th Feb '17 11:34:32 AM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!And now we're crossing into some really kind of shitty territory regarding speculating on mental disorders. Guys, can we reign that in? He's a selfish, idiotic asshole. This doesn't mean he's got a mental defect and quite frankly this kind of speculation is kind of bigoted. It also goes a long way in absolving him of responsibility for his poorest decisions; Mental defects and being a terrible person aren't the same thing.
I get that people are interested in this kind of thing, but we're verging on tasteless, here. Especially with that Down Syndrome comment.
Actually related, I wonder if there's anyone who can force him to give a yes or no answer.
Also, can we quit the junk food news for a while? This thread is being swamped by all manner of clickbaity junk. Wanking about the size of Trump's crowds carries zero practical significance.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanYeah, I'm going to have to second the request that we refrain from trying to use mental illness as an excuse for why Trump's a shit. Mental illness does not make someone a shit, nor does being a shit require someone to have mental illness. The thorough demonization that is the Mental Illness = Evil association is a toxic cultural meme that exists, as many such memes do, for the sole purpose of excusing the efforts to remove a group of people from society for not meeting an arbitrary standard of normalcy.
The same efforts have been made for the exclusion of minorities, women, the poor, the LGBT community, etc. for ages.
As a care-giver for a paranoid schizophrenic, this is a bit of a sore spot for me.
edited 28th Feb '17 11:41:46 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.![]()
I'd say that was relevant back when he was making a scene about it, but I suppose there are more important matters now.
edited 28th Feb '17 11:41:37 AM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!
x5 REPORTER: Mr.Trump, let me get right to the point. Do you exist?
TRUMP: Well Dave, can I call you Dave, that is a good question, that is a very good question, isn't it? Do I exist? Honestly Dave, I don't think, yeah, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that, but I'll tell you what I am qualified to answer, and that is whether or not we can Make America Great Again; do you know what the answer is Dave?
REPORTER: Uh, Trump, you're changing the subject again—
TRUMP: FAKE NEWS, REPORTER TRASH, GET HIM OUT OF HERE! Sad.
edited 28th Feb '17 12:05:33 PM by kkhohoho
Gonna add myself to the list of people who're not ok with the armchair mental diagnoses. Unless he's actually diagnosed properly, he's just an evil bastard. And if he is diagnosed properly and found to have a condition, he is an evil bastard who also happens to have mental health issues.
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KVPolitico: New NSC chief pushed Trump to moderate his language on terrorism
Brannon's going to pounce on this guy faster than you can say his name.
![]()
Exactly. Trying to attribute his evilness to having a mental disorder would be an insult to people who actually have mental disorders or autism ({raises hand}) or what have you. He's just Stupid Evil. No more, no less.
edited 28th Feb '17 12:22:40 PM by kkhohoho
So it looks like Trump deflected blame from the botched SEAL raid onto the military brass.
On the list of bad ideas, that has to be somewhere around "installing speed bumps on highways" or "packaging drain cleaner in ambiguously labeled 2-liter soda bottles".
He's the President of the United States, that means taking responsibility if you make a bad call, even if you made the best decision possible with the information you had at the time. Is that fair? Perhaps not, but that's the job Trump signed up for even though he probably doesn't realize it.
edited 28th Feb '17 12:30:01 PM by Falrinn
Going to have to agree with not calling Trump mentally ill until he's diagnosed as such. He's definitely delusional, in the catch-all, "views don't match reality" sense, though, because there's really no other word to describe his truly singular level of cognitive dissonance, and his policywanking can best be described as the ranting of a Boisterous Weakling.
edited 28th Feb '17 12:28:46 PM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."I know I participated in the armchair diagnosis a while back, but yeah, it shouldn't be done. I apologize for my hypocrisy.
Although the idea that Trump needs reading glasses but doesn't get them out of pride is one I'm totally on board with. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
And the thing about no straight answers. I thought about it a bit more. Many politicians do that because they don't want to be locked into a certain position without knowing exactly what that position actually is. Trump, on the other hand, has spent his entire life without saying anything clearly. He's like the nastiest stereotype of the real estate agent, the one who almost, but not quite, lies about the condition of the house so they can foist the sale on you. Which fits, I guess, but someone who does that habitually is impossible to trust, because, as has been noted before, they'll say whatever they want to make the person right in front of them, at that moment, like them so they can make the sale.
![]()
![]()
Of all the people to blame, the last people you want to blame are the Generals who followed orders for something like this. He actually has someone to blame this time (if the rumors are true): His Defense Secretary, James "Mad Dog" Mattis, who basically tricked (to put it lightly) Trump into going through with it (again, if the rumors are true).
Either the rumors aren't true, or he has such blind loyalty to Mattis that even if he wanted to, he couldn't pin anything bad on him.
edited 28th Feb '17 12:35:37 PM by DingoWalley1

Someone pointed out something interesting about Trump to me. If you watch interviews he's done, he rarely, if ever, directly says yes or no to a yes or no question. He always gives a barely relevant rambly answer about himself, regardless of the question.
This might explain how inconsistent he is, since he apparently can't give a completely straight answer to any question he's asked.
edited 28th Feb '17 10:15:30 AM by Zendervai