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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
There are people in this country who are neither hardcore Trumpeteers nor devoted Democrat voters.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.French outrage after US President Trump mimics Paris attackers.
He mimicked gunmen summoning and shooting victims one by one, saying "Boom! Come over here!" and using his hand to imitate a gun being fired.
Honestly this is disgusting.
That... doesn't really address my point. The sole group that is stopping his approval rating from going any lower are Republicans, and I see zero evidence that this will lead to independents backing Trump.
Because frankly foreign leaders making nice with the President is hardly some massive boon that will boost one's approval rating, even if it does benefit him I see even less reason to believe that it will offer any substantial benefit.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangQuite, I could imagine this improving his approval rating with Republican leaning independents but such people were already mostly on his side anyway so it's hardly a significantly bonus.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangIf the only people who ever agreed with Trump's policies were his unshakable base, his approval rating wouldn't fluctuate the way it does.
Not every Republican is a Trump cultist. Not everyone who ever agrees with a decision he makes is a Trump cultist. Not every poll is "The dedicated Trump cultists on one side, everyone else on the other." The very idea that only Trump cultists weigh in positively on him is another example of the same misplaced Democratic optimism that led to Hillary Clinton's Unbreakble Blue Wall.
We will never beat Trump if we cannot accept the basic concept that there are a lot of people in the middle ground, watching the news and deciding what to believe or whose side to be on based on whatever just happened today.
Blind, hopeless optimism that every American has a flawless Bullshit Filter is why we lost. We need to stop putting our hopes and faith in that. It's long past time that the Left stopped treating Trump like a powerless gag opponent.
edited 5th May '18 3:12:39 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.US President Donald Trump has outraged French opinion by suggesting the 2015 attacks on Paris could have been stopped by giving people guns.
He mimicked gunmen summoning and shooting victims one by one, saying "Boom! Come over here!" and using his hand to imitate a gun being fired.
Honestly this is disgusting.
I don't even...
We know the answer.
Inter arma enim silent legesMe Watches George Carlin
Starts groaning and whining
edited 5th May '18 3:17:19 PM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my countryYeah, Trump is the ultimate "lets trigger Liberals" in a country where Liberal is basically "everyone with a moral conscience".
edited 5th May '18 3:23:27 PM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my countryYes not every Republican is a Trump cultist, just most of them. Now if just 1/10 of his base stays home come midterms or 2020 then he could face serious trouble but this isn't really related to the conversation at hand, it's more than accurate to say that Republicans as a group are loyal to Trump. Because they are.
Just that your arguments that leaders making nice with Trump will somehow offer him meaningful benefits is extremely unconvincing.
I have not once employed optimism blind or otherwise and even if you disagree with my position I would strongly prefer that you avoid unjustifiably smearing me.
edited 5th May '18 3:27:04 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yangmeaninfull? not, but it get hard to disprove that as argument about why trump is bullshit.
Granted the problem with that is that it require trump to fail AT EVERYTHING in order for dems to win, which lower anything to "did trumpt not fuck everything? them the dems are crazy".
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Except I'm not optimistic and my arguments have not been rooted in any form of optimistic logic, furthermore I have not argued against vigilance.
I absolutely adore how some people seem incapable of arguing against anything I've actually said
edited 5th May '18 5:24:21 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangMost people don't really understand foreign policy and as far as elections go, it's mostly fodder for the coastal intelligentsia and political set. A strong domestic platform will beat a strong international platform, every time, and Trump is mediocre on both counts. Churchill is probably the most illustrative example of a politician thrown out on his ass because he couldn't — or wouldn't — deliver on the domestic front.
edited 5th May '18 6:53:40 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."
That. Bush Senior was torpedoed by his own party for raising taxes, not his actions in the Gulf. The entitlement of the GOP at the time led them to shred him publicly, confident they had enough of a grip on the White House that they could afford to trash him and turn him into a puppet for term 2. Then Bill showed up and promised to 'do conservatism right', and people voted for the guy who had not just raised taxes and been dumped on by his own party.
George H.W. Bush didn't overthrow Saddam because he was afraid of the consequences for destabilizing the reason.
I think it would have been dramatically better to do it then.
But he had a far better idea of international relations and handling these things.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Right. But the problem with all of these foreign leaders successfully manipulating Trump is that they by doing so, they make Trump look good to anyone who isn't already predisposed to be skeptical of him.
A perfect example was the recent visit by Emmanuel Macron. Macron played Trump like a fiddle, placating his ego and treating him with kids' gloves to try and get him to actually listen and pay attention to important world issues. We can recognize that for what it was, because we've been following along and playing close attention to the developing political situation. But for someone who hasn't?
I had a talk with my mom about Macron's visit, and she was thrilled by it. Her interpretation of the visit was this:
"Macron loves Trump! Did you see how happy he was? I've never seen anyone be so happy to be in a room with Obama. Trump's foreign policy really is working wonders. It's amazing. America is respected again by the world in a way we haven't been in years!"
Trump's narrative, that he's restored the world's respect for our country, becomes strengthened every time one of these world leaders kisses his ass. We see all the chaos and trauma and incompetence behind the scenes, but all they see is the leaders of the free world openly talking about how brilliant and wonderful and amazing Donald Trump is as a leader.
edited 5th May '18 3:02:19 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.