TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

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

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183126: Apr 16th 2017 at 6:50:54 AM

I would fully support that.

[up]I just think it would make him look worse (which would be impressive, I admit).

edited 16th Apr '17 6:55:18 AM by megaeliz

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#183127: Apr 16th 2017 at 6:55:21 AM

OK, seriously, what's with Trump and his obsession with gold everything? He knows that platinum and diamonds are more valuable than gold and thus more conspicuous signifiers of wealth, right?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#183128: Apr 16th 2017 at 6:56:14 AM

[up] Gold Fever is weird like that.

I suspect it's something he picked up at a young age which stuck with him.

edited 16th Apr '17 6:57:40 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#183129: Apr 16th 2017 at 6:57:43 AM
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#183131: Apr 16th 2017 at 6:59:45 AM

[up]

If only...

Disgusted, but not surprised
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183132: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:00:08 AM

Scrooge Mc Duck in his money pile.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bEmjiCoZ6e4

[up] come on, only Scrooge Mc Duck can jump into his money pile without getting horribly injured.

edited 17th Apr '17 10:50:03 AM by megaeliz

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#183133: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:13:10 AM

I'd rather trust Scrooge McDuck with the presidency than Trump.

yes I know he came from Scotland.

edited 16th Apr '17 7:14:00 AM by MorningStar1337

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#183134: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:16:28 AM

Scrooge, canonically, didn't even *need* the Presidency. The dude was so rich that his taxes paid for the entirety of the military budget year after year and he had them at his beck and call.

edited 16th Apr '17 7:16:52 AM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#183135: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:18:08 AM

Trump isn't Scrooge, he's Flintheart Glomgold.

Disgusted, but not surprised
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183136: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:20:52 AM

Who is convinced he's Scrooge.

TrashJack Confirmed Doomer from beyond the Despair Event Horizon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Confirmed Doomer
#183137: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:24:13 AM

[up][up] As I recall, Glomgold wasn't born into wealth. Trump is more like a mixture of Glomgold and John D. Rockerduck.

"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#183138: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:28:09 AM

[up][up][up] He only wishes he's Flintheart Glomgold. I'd trust Glomgold as POTUS before I'd ever trust Trump; from what I vaguely remember of Scrooge's archnemesis (it's been nearly 2 decades since I watched or read anything related to Scrooge and co.), he's at least smart enough to not make boneheadedly stupid missteps of such huge proportions that they threaten everyone, including himself and his objective of being the #1 richest person/duck in the world (no reckless saber-rattling with an unstable rogue state like North Korea or crippling national tourism profits with excessive travel bans, for example).

[up] ... Who's this Rockerduck?

edited 16th Apr '17 7:28:32 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183139: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:29:05 AM

What would Trump's duck name be?

[up] probably a stand in for John D. Rockefeller.

edited 16th Apr '17 7:36:34 AM by megaeliz

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#183140: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:33:03 AM

[up][up]Probably a comic book character.

It's funny, the other board I follow had this exact conversation recently. My first thought was the family that won the lottery in that Duck Tales episode where their daughter had a Romeo and Juliet thing with cave duck Bubba. They burned through their fortune in a petty prank war with Scrooge if I remember right.

edited 16th Apr '17 7:35:50 AM by sgamer82

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#183142: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:51:24 AM

[up]...He looks like Donald with side-whiskers.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#183143: Apr 16th 2017 at 7:54:41 AM

I was put in mind of that one mad scientist duck.

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#183144: Apr 16th 2017 at 8:06:45 AM

@Magaeliz: I'm British, see my response about Trump and his gold request; it's two posts above yours.

OK, seriously, what's with Trump and his obsession with gold everything?

There's an old thing in Britain that comes from having a class society. It's not a saying exactly so much as an attitude. There's a tradition of 'old money' and 'new money' not liking each other and it stems from perceptions of 'class' (attitude, behaviour, how money is spent, etc.). You see, it's not that 'old money' doesn't lavishly show off its wealth, because it does. And it's not that 'old money' can't be tasteless, tacky, and from a completely different planet, because it can. But those people are considered 'fringe' among 'old money' as well. 'Old money' isn't showing off 'wealth', it's showing off 'influence'.

That's the bit that 'new money' people of Trump's type don't get, and that's why he doesn't get accepted in the circles he so desperately wants to be a part of. There's a 'heritage' part to being 'old money' that 'new money' doesn't have, and can't get. If it tries to buy it, it gets even more ostracised (or treated as a curiosity) by the circles it's trying to become accepted by.

Trump thinks that by mimicking the 'grandeur' of historic eras, he can buy his way into the social circles he wants to be part of. But when he looks at the 'grandeur' of history, all he sees is the gilt and gold, so that's what he aims to replicate. He's making the classic 'new money' mistake of not being able to tell the difference between 'I have money' and 'I have an entire family history of high level influence'. It's not the gilded chairs (or the cost of them), or the oil paintings of your great-grandfather (or the cost of them). It's how your family got that gilded chair or how the oil painting came to exist. That's the money shot. That's the wealth.

Now, if all this sounds snobbish, that's because it is snobbish. It's worse, too. Because the 'peasant class' has existed throughout history side-by-side with the 'upper class'. The 'middle class' is just new money by a different name. It's an interloper. That's why reverse snobbery exists (working class people who think they're better than everyone else because they're 'real' people who live in the 'real' world and therefore know what 'real' problems are).

'New money' is basically what both the 'old money' and the 'no money' call people whose families have gone from nothing to wealthy and who just don't 'get it'. They betray their 'no money' class by trying to deny it and escape it, and they don't get accepted by the 'old money' for the same reason.

You ask why Trump is so obsessed with the gold. It's because the sheer snobbery I've just outlined in my post is something he's bought into. Hook, line and sinker.

Oh, and if you're wondering if my post sounds like a 'reverse snobbery' post about people who buy into this attitude, you're absolutely right. That's what I'm aiming to convey. You shouldn't buy into what I've just said. No-one should. But Trump does. And that's where his obsession with gold comes from.

edited 16th Apr '17 8:12:16 AM by Wyldchyld

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#183145: Apr 16th 2017 at 8:10:01 AM

In real life, Trump probably fancies himself to be like John D. Rockefeller. He isn't. At all.

John D. Rockefeller was, by all accounts, not that pleasant, but there's a reason he was beloved in New York, namely that during the Great Depression he personally financed the construction of Rockefeller Center, therefore creating tons of jobs that wouldn't have existed otherwise and possibly preventing NYC from collapsing entirely. And he did that because he thought it was too much of a pain to wait for someone to rent the property and because he knew NYC would be very greatful to him and he would have a loyal workforce for decades to come. Basically, he planned ahead and deliberately cultivated love while looking like a slightly loopy pragmatist. Trump isn't even a bad imitation of Rockefeller, he's like a really crappy caricature made by an artist who has no idea what he's doing.

[up] It doesn't help that Trump has no taste, to an extreme even most of the New Money people think is gross. Trump's terrible taste genuinely means that he looks cheap, because almost none of the things he thinks make him look rich are easy to distinguish from cheap substitutes. Which he may actually have done on purpose.

edited 16th Apr '17 8:14:28 AM by Zendervai

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#183146: Apr 16th 2017 at 8:14:16 AM

@Wyldchild. I've a question. How does the people who idolize True Art think of the Nouveau Riche? Do they think of the latter as shallow for looking at the surface details (glitz and gold)?

edited 16th Apr '17 8:15:35 AM by MorningStar1337

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#183147: Apr 16th 2017 at 8:14:18 AM

[up][up]Rockefeller invested in society. Trump merely preys on it.

It doesn't help that Trump has no taste, to an extreme even most of the New Money people think is gross. Trump's terrible taste genuinely means that he looks cheap, because almost none of the things he thinks make him look rich are easy to distinguish from cheap substitutes. Which he may actually have done on purpose.

He's actually quite the cheapskate with his own money and is a big believer in style over substance. Hence an inauguration cake made of styrofoam, and a gilded personal jet that's actually really old and not maintained well.

edited 16th Apr '17 8:16:31 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#183148: Apr 16th 2017 at 8:49:30 AM

@Wyldchild. I've a question. How does the people who idolize True Art think of the Nouveau Riche? Do they think of the latter as shallow for looking at the surface details (glitz and gold)?

I don't think that the 'True Art' issue fits nicely into any one class. It's more of an 'education' snobbery, where art history is associated with 'class'. It's like the issue with literary classics. Only someone without any class will dislike Shakespeare, etc., etc.. 'Class' becomes 'taste' and really it's about intolerance for anyone with a different taste in art (or literature). There certainly is an association of art history with upper classes, but it's not limited to them.

And... there's a trope (Nouveau Riche) summarising my previous post. God, if I'd realised that, I could have avoided making the post. [lol]

[up] I saw a documentary once on Trump's plane, and the staff who pilot and maintain it. The staff seem to bend over backwards to meet Trump's demands. The problem is that he expects people to jump as soon as he snaps his fingers, which makes it difficult to fit regular health and safety standards checks into the schedule. They can have meticulously scheduled everything to ensure Trump's personal needs and business needs are met and still allow for the required standards checking to be done, only for Trump to suddenly ring through with a whimsy demand, requiring the plane to be ready to go in an hour. Suddenly, everyone's scrambling to get the health and safety checks done to the legal requirements and still meet Trump's new time scale.

The one example the documentary makers were present for was a full refit of the plane which was occurring at the same time as the legal health and safety standards check. Trump rang through his whimsy demand for the plane to be ready. Everyone bust their guts to get the plane ready, right down to the pilot having to go through the cabins prior to Trump's arrival with a toothbrush to make sure there was no dust or scuff marks... just so Trump could go to Scotland for a game of golf.

To top it off, while everyone else scrambled to get the plane ready on time, Trump himself didn't bother showing up to the plane for several hours - no warning, no information, no phoning ahead; the airport itself was holding the runaway open right up to the legal midnight closing time before Trump sauntered onto his plane (no explanation, no apology). The plane took off just minutes before the airport was going to have intervene on legal grounds, all of which combined to ensure the pilots were flying over the Atlantic, at night, having not slept in nearly 48 hours.

Trump was not completely oblivious. It was not a case that all he saw were people jumping when he told them to and things magically appearing when and where he wanted them. He knew the refit and the health and safety checks were occurring. He knew how long it took. He knew what the airport's closing time was. He knew his pilots hadn't slept. He just didn't care. In fact, once he got to Scotland, he agreed to let his pilots have time off to sleep but, just as they were about to go to bed, he rang through saying he wanted a fly-by of the golf course so he could see the entire course from air (and to make sure all his visitors could see his plane clearly from down below).

I don't know why anyone would work for someone like that.

edited 16th Apr '17 9:14:36 AM by Wyldchyld

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#183149: Apr 16th 2017 at 9:20:18 AM

[up]

I don't know why anyone would work for someone like that.

Apparently it's partly the money, partly loyalty to his father (for the older employees), and partly because of that same bizarre charisma that convinced a lot of people to vote for him.

edited 16th Apr '17 9:20:25 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#183150: Apr 16th 2017 at 9:27:00 AM

They mentioned that loyalty got them great salary and benefits, but when the documentary makers tried to ask about some staff that were fired, the existing staff didn't want to talk about it - they just circled back to talking about loyalty. There were hints that staff who left the organisation, particularly if they were fired, found their futures being ruined by Trump.

It was only a hint rather than anything concrete, but the problem with this specific kind of hint is that there's been information out there in the press for years on the subject.

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.

Total posts: 417,856
Top