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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I cannot for the life of me comprehend why anyone thinks Trump is charismatic. I mean, I really can't. I find him anti-charismatic, a man who would be irritating to listen to even if I liked the things he had to say. His repetitive gestures and limited vocabulary makes everything he says a chore to listen to, in a way that's outright irritating to the senses.
And it's not just because I disagree with him. I think Ronald Reagan was extremely charismatic despite the fact that I disagree with most of his politics. Trump is a guy I would like to punch on impulse even if he was my friend.
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I personally think that it's not the "charisma" that attracted them to Trump. Some people are just inclined toward authoritarianism: they want to be ruled over by a king, dictator, emperor, etc. All Trump had to do to get them onboard his authoritarian agenda was to be loud enough for them to hear him, and use a vocabulary limited enough for the Lowest Common Denominator to understand. Once he accomplished that, they were hooked no matter how uncharismatic he was and how many scandals he had.
edited 8th Jun '17 12:45:27 AM by TrashJack
"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's DictionaryTrump isn't charismatic. He is just charismatic enough to a small group of people, small but sufficient to get him to the presidency. But since it landed them the presidency, Trump to the republicans is the golden goose so of course they will say he is charismatic.
I wouldn't describe him as charismatic: I'd say he is intimidating. Not in the sense that that is how I perceive him, but that's the idea he wants to give of himself. Everything he does or say is intended to rile people up, challenge, or berate them, it's his business strategy. Nothing is conciliatory, intelligent, or actually sensical because he doesn't need to be either of those he just needs to be outrageous to get his way.
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesI think it's because he's an asshole. An asshole becoming President is sweet, sweet validation for other assholes.
For non-asshole supporters (yes, they exist), his "charisma" comes in the form of him seeming "honest" because he has no filter (though he shuts up and lies quickly enough when asked about personal finances...), which I suppose is refreshing to some people who have had the Sleazy Politician image ingrained in their minds. My dad is one of these people — he has a very low opinion of politicians. Probably because his dad (my grandpa) was a public servant as well who spent most of his career cleaning up after the shit his superiors pulled — he actually warned my dad to never go into politics.
Personally, I find everything about Trump grating. Listening to him talk is like chewing on tinfoil.
edited 8th Jun '17 1:00:55 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedYou can't get more sleazy than Trump. He is really the epitome of the ugly American.
In the end, Trump is a big fish in a small pond. I mean, there is a reason why I opened his own club...because the actual elite clubs would never accept him (not that I particularly like elite clubs, but they do have some standards not related to money). It's just that in a country as big as the US even the small pond is pretty big. But the moment Trump leaves the security of his own world, it is impossible not to see what a, to quote JK Rowling, tiny, tiny, little man he truly is. In the middle east, he was treated like a child which you stuff full of sweets in order to keep it calm and happy. In Europe he ended up between grown-ups who had no interest to coddle him, so he eventually ended up in the kiddie mobile while the grown-up took a stroll without him. That's what the whole posturing he does is about, he wants to be important, but he doesn't want to do the work related to his position.
Lest we forget that he's a troglodyte.
Trump is a good salesman, and that's a kind of charisma. He's very good at telling people what they want to hear, and he can lie and change his mind with no shame whatsoever. That, combined with Refuge in Audacity, makes him very attractive to a certain type of voter.
Don't know if this was brought up earlier, but that Twitter link to Trump's shitty response to the terrorist attacks in Iran included an article concerning the new sanctions being placed on Iran that were overwhelmingly voted into approval in the Senate (91 voted yes, 1 abstained, 8 voted no).
The only Senators who voted No are listed here.
Sanders asked for a delay on the vote in light of the attack, voted against it...but afterwards whoever handles his Twitter account screwed the pooch again by talking shit about Iran.
edited 8th Jun '17 2:13:26 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedHe's not a good salesman though. Every product he's tried to sell has failed, the only thing he's managed to be succesful at is real estate (this includes Golf, Hotels and Properties.) Every actual product, from jets to perfume to board games, has been a massive failure. The one thing you need to do to be succesful at the Golf, Hotels and Properties is a) Having enough money to buy them in the first place or inheriting them, b) keep them in workable condition (something he famously achieves by making small companies fix them up, then refuse to pay them, then slow down the legal process until the small companies go into bankruptcy and have to capitulate the lawsuit since they can't afford lawyers anymore), and c) knowing you can delegate this to other people.
He's managed to fail casinos. Let me tell you about hte business casinos are: Casinos are a business which is where customers pay you for the privilege of giving you more money. Only someone as incompetent as Trump would make THAT go down.
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
He fails at so many businesses because 1) he's an idiot, 2) he can afford the losses for the most part so he never learns anything, and 3) the money isn't what really matters to him. He just wants to plaster his name on everything.
Steak. Vodka. Casinoes. Hotels. Golf courses. Resorts. The USA.
edited 8th Jun '17 2:09:41 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedJust a reminder that the House will vote to dismantle Dodd Frank this week.
While it's probably not going to be able to pass the Senate as-is, the GOP really wants to look like they are making good on their promises of deregulation, regardless of whether or not anything actually comes of it.
Not sure myself, though the article mentions "top-secret intelligence" hinting at increased aggression from Iran.
As for what the sanctions will actually target:
edited 8th Jun '17 2:38:25 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedLast night I found out some people in my family are climare sceptics. After being shocked, I started to try to convince them about the benefits of renewables.
I compaired investing in renewables to investing in a bank. If you were given a large some of money, would it be smarter to use it all quickly on something that will only last a short time, or put most of it in a bank. Most would say investing it would be better, so you can earn money on the interest. Fossil fuels is like spending your money all in one go, it's good now, but what happens when we run out? Renewables is that long term investment, it costs more up front, but better in the long run.
Also the governor of North Carolina of all places, supports the Paris Accord.
http://wncn.com/2017/06/06/north-carolina-to-support-paris-climate-accord-gov-cooper-announces/amp/
edited 8th Jun '17 3:22:42 AM by megaeliz
@3of4 That is sadly more truthful than you may realize. Obama broke tradition trying actual diplomacy with Iran, and boy did that have political repercussions.
Money is one of the major reasons China is investing in renewables.
Don't forget that N. Carolina's governor is a Democrat.
edited 8th Jun '17 3:25:12 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedBeing Iran, and thus shaking off a US-backed dictatorship, is tantamount to heresy in the Republican geopolitical view.
Same reason why they're starting to u-turn on Europe - we gave the US the middle finger. If it's not uncontested American hegemony, they're not happy, the sad little whiny children.
If there is a slight upside to the clusterfuck that is the 2016 election and 2017 presidency, at least it's the fact that the Republicans now have a face who says exactly what they're all thinking, and the world wants to light him - and them - on fire and piss on the ashes.
edited 8th Jun '17 3:32:55 AM by math792d
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.The whole Iran matter is ridiculous. Why exactly do we keep coddling Saudi Arabia, which is actively influencing our Muslim communities into a mind-set which is a breeding ground for terrorism (we had, btw, an expert about this matter on Germany TV last evening...very interesting point of view, he was pretty hard with the Muslim communities about how they (with the help of the left) just make themselves comfortable in their victim roles instead of actively working against those ideas within the conservative Islam which eventually lead to people becoming Islamists)....anyway, why are we coddling Saudi Arabia but are always siding against Iran even through the Iran isn't responsible for terrorist attacks in the West? Like, at all. The Iran was a democracy until they ended up with a Shah due to US intervention and their half democratic half religious society they have now instead is still a far cry from what they used to have but would like to have again. It is notable that during the Obama administration, the Iran did move further in the direction of a more open society (relatively speaking).
Bzzt wrong, Iran has plenty of oil.
The difference is partly because SA is a lot more willing to deal with the US, at least in public. And partly it's because of Cold War-era grudges on both sides.
Obama went out of his way to fix relations that were jammed for no good reason (case in point, Cuba). He made a lot of progress, but eight years isn't enough to fix US-Iranian relations. He was only able to break the Cuban lock because, A, Fidel had stepped down, and B, because just about everyone on both teams agreed that the whole fight had become meaningless since 1991. US-Iran relations have far more, mm, current issues to work through than the capitalist-communist issue.
edited 8th Jun '17 4:12:12 AM by Ramidel

Here's a John Oliver take on it too: