The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated

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Pogue Mahone said:
What reason has Trump ever given you to think he's in any way intelligent? The world is full of stupid rich people and when you inherit the sort of wealth he did in the same era that he lived it's really hard not to make a lot of money. All it takes is a few clued in advisers, who will more than likely come with the inheritance.
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It's not so much that I think he's intelligent, more so that I don't think his campaign was the shambles people believe. Most of what he said/did was calculated to play to a specific base of people. Now, was Trump personally behind those calculations? Probably not. Yet, it doesn't matter much whether he does what he's told, whether he devised the shock-jock strategy himself, or whether this is actually just Trump, and no political/PR calculations have been made at all (which is the most absurd of the three options).

Most of his opponents dissect the absurdity of the things he says without ever trying to figure out the value in it from his perspective. A lot of what he has been saying is very popular amongst a large base of pissed off conservatives. And politics, especially for the likes of Trump, is nothing but a popularity contest.
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
It's not so much that I think he's intelligent, more so that I don't think his campaign was the shambles people believe. Most of what he said/did was calculated to play to a specific base of people. Now, was Trump personally behind those calculations? Probably not. Yet, it doesn't matter much whether he does what he's told, whether he devised the shock-jock strategy himself, or whether this is actually just Trump, and no political/PR calculations have been made at all (which is the most absurd of the three options).

Most of his opponents dissect the absurdity of the things he says without ever trying to figure out the value in it from his perspective. A lot of what he has been saying is very popular amongst a large base of pissed off conservatives. And politics, especially for the likes of Trump, is nothing but a popularity contest.
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I just think the whole thing is a massive, unfortunate coincidence. He knows only one way to behave but lucked out by shooting for the stars at a historically unique time when people were desperate for a change to the status quo and his blend of bluster, bullshit and populist nonsense was the perfect antidote to the polished political double-speak people were sick of.
 
Mciahel Goodman said:
It's not so much that I think he's intelligent, more so that I don't think his campaign was the shambles people believe. Most of what he said/did was calculated to play to a specific base of people. Now, was Trump personally behind those calculations? Probably not. Yet, it doesn't matter much whether he does what he's told, whether he devised the shock-jock strategy himself, or whether this is actually just Trump, and no political/PR calculations have been made at all (which is the most absurd of the three options).

Most of his opponents dissect the absurdity of the things he says without ever trying to figure out the value in it from his perspective. A lot of what he has been saying is very popular amongst a large base of pissed off conservatives. And politics, especially for the likes of Trump, is nothing but a popularity contest.
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Has to be this. I wasn't that aware of the people in his inner circle and their influence, other than some very superficial stories. That's why I thought yesterday's New York Times article about the role of his son in law was absolutely brilliant, for me it was a fascinating and very grim insight into the people he's surrounding himself with and the extreme range of parties involved in this mess.

That doesn't necessarily exclude the option about this whole thing being a massive and unfortunate coincidence like Pogue said by the way, it most definitely looks like a combination. Especially with so many random things going wrong, tipping the scale in his favour.
 
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Pogue Mahone said:
He knows only one way to behave but lucked out by shooting for the stars at a historically unique time when people were desperate for a change to the status quo and his blend of bluster, bullshit and populist nonsense was the perfect antidote to the polished political double-speak people were sick of.
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I agree (mostly) with this part. But he still had to recognise the time was right for him to run, which means understanding political trends and current opinion. He must have sunk money into diagnosing the likelihood of his candidacy before he announced it. All politicians do that, even the ones who aren't politicians. And, from the start, he's more or less stayed on the same course throughout.

Self interest and megalomaniacal tendencies drove his campaign, in my opinion. The same things will more than likely drive his presidency.

Having said that, evidence of Trump's self awareness can be found if you really want to look for it. He's not entirely what the TV portrays.
 
Dante said:
It'll teach them to be more discerning with their votes next time. US politics will shift to the Left when they see how bad the visceral Right can be.
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They didn't learn their lesson from Bush. Hell, they haven't learned their lesson after almost 40 years of trickle-down economics. So I doubt it will change much. A significant subset of the American people are a special kind of stupid, unfortunately for the rest.
 
Trump reminds me of some bosses I've had over the years; the first to disparage other races, and yet their offices were full of photos of them embracing or shaking hands with the very Poles/Arabs/Jews/Whoever they routinely and appallingly mocked. These bosses were willing to 'get into bed' with anyone, so long as a deal was beneficial to themselves, primarily. In this, and despite his claims to the contrary, Trump truly is a modern-era 'politician'.
 
Oh God...
Guardian said:
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson flies out for talks with Trump's team
Meeting marks first formal contact between a UK minister and Trump administration
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Mciahel Goodman said:
I agree (mostly) with this part. But he still had to recognise the time was right for him to run, which means understanding political trends and current opinion. He must have sunk money into diagnosing the likelihood of his candidacy before he announced it. All politicians do that, even the ones who aren't politicians. And, from the start, he's more or less stayed on the same course throughout.

Self interest and megalomaniacal tendencies drove his campaign, in my opinion. The same things will more than likely drive his presidency.

Having said that, evidence of Trump's self awareness can be found if you really want to look for it. He's not entirely what the TV portrays.
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I was kind of hoping you'd help me with that. I don't know the bloke. I'm reliant on judging him by what I've seen of him on Tv, interviews in the press, interviews with people who know him (have you read this?) and following him on twitter. All of which leads me to the conclusion he's a total buffoon, with none of the hidden depths people seem desperate to see in him.
 
I wonder if Obamacare would've got a better reception had it originated from a white president? Because I often feel that part of the campaign to prevent/repeal it is driven by the mere fact that it's Barack's project; it appears strangely personal to me.
 
SteveJ said:
I wonder if Obamacare would've got a better reception had it originated from a white president? Because I often feel that part of the campaign to prevent/repeal it is driven by the mere fact that it's Barack's project; it appears strangely personal to me.
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You mean someone like say Romney?
 
Maybe it's just me, chief, and I'm wrong.
 
SteveJ said:
I wonder if Obamacare would've got a better reception had it originated from a white president? Because I often feel that part of the campaign to prevent/repeal it is driven by the mere fact that it's Barack's project; it appears strangely personal to me.
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Polls tend to show the public having a higher favorability towards Obamacare when its called the "Affordable Care Act".
 
"Beryl Street's last album was a flop! Such floppiness! Wow!"
 
Big mistake for him to bring up "not" mocking a disabled reporter, as the media are now just going to replay that video over and over.
 
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