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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#156876: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:36:29 PM

I mean, the reason the President is exempt from conflict of interest laws is that their purview is so wide that just about anyone could be argued to have a conflict of interest somewhere.

It's just that typically, Presidents care about not looking corrupt.

Which is why he really should be impeached. Congress really should say 'actually, it does matter, and is not acceptable, if you're openly corrupt'.

edited 19th Nov '16 4:38:21 PM by Gilphon

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#156877: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:38:58 PM

Trump is making me feel sorry for Nixon.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/richard_nixon.jpg

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#156878: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:41:49 PM

[up][up] Trump's best insurance against that is his base's ability to vote disloyal congresspeople out of office, and beyond that the fact that he'll be more than happy to "share the wealth" so to speak with people who actually have the kind of power necessary to get the ball rolling on impeachment.

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#156879: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:47:27 PM

I did say 'should' there. It's what I want to happen more than what I think will happen.

But really I think the threat of using the voters to punish disloyal congressmen is an empty one in this case- A decent percentage of Trump's supporters are really just GOP supporters who are willing to stomach a subpar candidate from their party, and being able to say 'I voted to impeach Trump' could win over some people who would vote Democrat.

Though, of course, an empty threat isn't always the same as an ineffectual one.

nightwyrm_zero Since: Apr, 2010
#156880: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:52:46 PM

[up]I think most GOP congressman are more worried about being primaried from the right than being ousted in the general. And Trump does have a lot more sway with ppl who regularly vote in the primaries.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#156881: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:53:36 PM

Nixon may have been a douche and also a huge racist, but he also had a competent understanding of policy who had at least some respect for the office. As funny as Futurama is he's not a monster, and it's a tragedy that his impeachment had the side effect of pushing the public beyond cynicism of government into outright conspiratorial thinking.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#156882: Nov 19th 2016 at 4:58:08 PM

Almost any world leader you can think of is going to look better next to Trump, in at least SOME fashion.

Like, it's a REALLY low bar.

Watch:

Mussolini was a better orator.

Hitler had something that he believed in, however horrid it was.

edited 19th Nov '16 4:58:46 PM by Draghinazzo

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#156883: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:00:21 PM

Mussolini was a pretty good orator by most standards, let's be fair. Hitler was an outstanding orator.

No, it's more like, "Andrew 'Fucking' Jackson was more literate and intellectual."

"Aaron Burr was more principled."

"Theodore Roosevelt had more restraint."

"John Adams wasn't as thin-skinned."

edited 19th Nov '16 5:02:17 PM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#156884: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:14:56 PM

[up] Trump's certainly less eloquent than Mussolini, but he's a skilled orator in his own way. A big part of his communication in speeches and rallies is conveyed non-verbally, or through back and forth dialogue with the crowd, which is part of why it sounds so bizarre when transcribed. Of course, if someone demands details, he quickly descends into word salad, and sounds like an utter moron.

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#156885: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:19:43 PM

This is why he lost the debates handily. He's in his element when he's got a crowd to play off of. A room without two other people, one who disagrees with him and one who's not taking sides, is not a context he comes across well in.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#156886: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:19:52 PM

He's good at talking to people who've only graduated (public, USA, rural) high-school.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#156887: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:21:19 PM

That is in itself kind of a strength; he delivers his speeches in very easy to understand ways, that come across well to people without much education.

It was his ability to connect with those people that nailed him a win after all.

pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#156888: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:24:26 PM

[up][up]Makes sense, since Trump is no Rhodes scholar himself. He only has a bachelor's degree in economics (and he probably bought the answers to the exams.) Then he was handed the reins to his father's real estate and construction business.

edited 19th Nov '16 6:50:00 PM by pwiegle

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#156889: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:26:16 PM

Trump is not a good orator but he is a VERY good showman, he manage to sell you a feeling(in this case, the man who said what he thinks and is going to punch the evil establishment in the face) and once you get that illusion is VERY hard to break as everything will have a explanation of a excuse.

Right now Im ask me that maybe Sander should have that debate with Trump

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#156890: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:30:31 PM

You know what would be really funny and cathartic?

If in one of these unsecured phone calls Trump has with some world leader, he has a riot about how he played his base for fools.

"Hahahah, can you believe it?!!? What the fuck do I even know about working on a steel mill or whatever, did they honestly think I was going to do anything for them?? Serves them right for being grade A suckers!! I'm great!!!"

And then because he gives no fucks about protocol or security, the call leaks.

edited 19th Nov '16 5:31:59 PM by Draghinazzo

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#156891: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:32:25 PM

Then Stephen Bannon passes it off as a false flag video doctored by Georgory Clintoros.

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#156892: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:32:47 PM

[up][up]Consider the whole pussygate issue, im really believing something like that will happen

edited 19th Nov '16 5:33:07 PM by unknowing

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#156893: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:34:29 PM

Trump knows security protocols, he has the best security protocols.

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#156894: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:35:03 PM

[up][up][up] Additionally, Trump gets into a twitter war with some celebrity in order to shift the media narrative away from the genuinely harmful stories. I'm seriously contemplating whether his supporters claims that he's "playing 4D chess" has some merit to it; there's very clearly a method to his madness, whether he's doing it deliberately or not.

edited 19th Nov '16 5:35:11 PM by CaptainCapsase

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#156895: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:39:54 PM

I can buy that Trump is smart enough to create distractions, yes.

FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#156896: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:45:07 PM

Trump's simplistic speech patterns with short sentences also resonate well with Chinese immigrants who are not fluent in English. I personally suspect that this played a huge role in giving him a surprisingly strong following among that demographic.

It also doesn't help that said Chinese immigrants tend to have Values Dissonance in regards to what constitutes a hardline or extremist policy, and that they typically view themselves as outside the American race-relation spectrum of whites > latinos and blacks.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#156897: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:49:38 PM

It's ironic because my parents would tell me the whole thing about restaurants not serving black patrons in the South was something that would happen with Asians in the Northeast, even if you spoke fluent unaccented English. But most people only ever hear about the former. And under Jim Crow laws "colored" included Asians and everyone else, hence the phrase "people of color".

edited 19th Nov '16 5:54:35 PM by AlleyOop

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#156898: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:51:46 PM

As I understand it the main thing asian-americans have "going for them" is that they're not typically associated with criminality, so they're not really viewed as "dangerous" in the same way latinos and black people are.

They still get dumpstered in a bunch of other ways though. White supremacists hate them like they do everyone else. If anything, the alt-right might hate them slightly LESS than they do everyone else. And with the whole thing about China now...

edited 19th Nov '16 5:57:58 PM by Draghinazzo

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#156899: Nov 19th 2016 at 5:58:05 PM

And even then it's only relatively recently that the Chinese in particular haven't been associated with crime. Hence all the old tropes about the The Triads and the Tongs, Yellow Peril, Inscrutable Oriental, Asian versions of Gypsy curses, Chinatown being a mysterious and dark place full of dark magic and mysterious dealings, etc.

It's possible we're going to see the government push a China Takes Over the World narrative in full force, along with bigots proclaiming Asians are "stealing" all the whitecollar jobs and infiltrating the upper echelons due to many of us having higher degrees and the like. It's already happened with people on Tumblr "real justice" and "anti SJW" sites crying about how feminists have infiltrated the federal government and such and that they're stealing jobs from more-qualified men in order to push their feminist ideology on society.

edited 19th Nov '16 6:01:08 PM by AlleyOop

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#156900: Nov 19th 2016 at 6:16:54 PM

[up] A cold war with China is bone chilling for me on a personal basis, as half of my family is of Chinese ancestry, and such a scenario would most certainly result in an uptick in discrimination against Chinese Americans, at least to the point of prejudice against Russian Americans during the cold war if not worse.


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