Is Donald Trump his own worst enemy? (1 Viewer)

Steve R.

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On the surface, Trump is his own worst enemy. A lot of unintentional gaffs. But we also have to ask ourselves about the concept of: "genius". That was discussed in this thread: Is genius born or made? Trump may simply be playing a game that is beyond our comprehension. I've done a lot of head scratching. Sometimes there is a fine line between "genius" and "stupidity". Nevertheless this article presents a very core observation: "Donald Trump’s incredible ability to market himself got him to where he is today ..."

Unfortunately this article was also "poisoned" by the constant media barrage of negative news articles concerning Trump. Trump, in many cases is a "victim", of blatant partisan actions by the some of the media and the Democratic party. Recently, Trump was vilified for using a bible as a prop. OK, but then Pelosi and Schummer use African inspired garb (cultural appropriation) in the US capital building as a photo-op. To my knowledge they have not been condemned (to the same extent that Trump has been condemed) for that gross opportunistic pandering.

To conclude, Trump through a lot of his actions, seems to be his own worst enemy; but he is also being unjustly vilified.
 
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The_Doc_Man

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As long as the media has Trump Derangement Syndrome, Donald cannot be his own worst enemy.
 

Isaac

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I got a chuckle that the sentence the article chose to highlight in blue, had a misspelling.

Anyway, on a more germane note, it does look like for the first time since his election, he is on a pretty serious downward spiral. Literally perhaps for the first time. Polls are really bad. Demanding CNN apologize for a poll I think came across as pathetically desperate, and what he said about Martin Gugino really made him look totally ridiculous, and I think some of these (or other similar) things are finally making some people rethink their position.
I personally never felt any angst toward him due to Covid-19. While the situation is horrible, it would seem really weird to blame that on the president. I think he actually tried to do the best he could think of to solve the problem.

But the stuff he says ...some of it ... I mean, I've calmly read his stuff since day one... It's always been really out there, but I think the last 2 weeks specifically it has taken a turn for the worst more than at any point before, and that is having its effect.

Having said that, surely he recognizes that...the polls are getting his attention. He's not totally stupid when it comes to strategy. He's realizing that firing up just his ultra-pure base probably won't be enough from here on out. He will probably do stuff to change course between now and the election time. I agree with Romney. There is still a very good chance he wins.
 

Dick7Access

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When the election was over almost 4 years ago, I felt sick to my stomach. I did not want to open the news. I could not take seeing that Hillary was our president. After all, the polls showed her winning.

Now the polls show Biden is ahead, yet everywhere I go, (and I travel extensively) I see signs, flags, shirts, bumper stickers, business marquees, with Trump, (yesterday in the diner the man ahead of me had a shirt that said, (Truckers for Trump). Another diner who the owner has been notoriously know as liberal has on his marque a twenty-foot sign, (Trump 2020). I have yet to see one Biden sign. Make your own conclusion. Just my observation.
 

Pat Hartman

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In CT you have to be registered with a party to vote in a primary so in 2015, I switched from "Democrat" to "Republican" because it was going to be more important to vote in the Republican primary and we can't vote in both. Although my husband was a Republican and I am a Libertarian, we were both registered Democrats" because CT is so blue that it is more important to vote for the best Democrat candidate in the primary. Then you can vote for whomever you want in the general election and cross your fingers.

It looked like Trump was going to win the primary and I didn't want him to. Not because I thought he didn't have the makings of a great president but because he was never going to be able to control his mouth and his tweets and he was going to alienate too many people. Was I right or was I right? When the general election came around, the choice was the corrupt candidate who took money for access and who told the Marines to stand down and let Americans die in Benghazi or the big-mouth Philanderer. No choice there. Trump got my vote. The philandering part was more of a qualification for President than not since with the exception of Bush the younger and Obama, most of our presidents couldn't keep their pants zipped anyway so he would be in good company. But there was no way that anyone with a brain would vote for someone who sold access for money and abandoned Americans to terrorists when there was a chance to save them. There was nothing illegal about what Clinton did regarding Benghazi, it was just not how I want my president to behave.

Trump says what he means (in artfully) and means what he says and nobody knows how to deal with that they are so used to having politicians lie every time they open their mouths. And then there's the stupid tweets. I get why he does it but I sure wish he would get a filter who could tell him when he needed to rethink what he said.

The article as usual was short on facts and long on opinion and wishful thinking. Hillary led the polls until the moment she lost. If you want Trump to lose don't get your hopes up just yet. You should also think about the alternative if you are a US citizen. The Democrats are keeping Biden as hidden as they can possibly get away with with the help of the media. They don't want the public to see how he is failing. The also don't want him to be questioned about the money Biden's son and brother got which was essentially a bribe for Joe. Sadly, our campaign finance laws do't prohibit children and siblings from benefiting from foreign donations. The law only prohibits spouses from benefiting. So, Hunter can take all the money he can get from foreign governments for his no-show jobs and no one is going to jail over it, nor will they ever be charged. But, the optics are really bad for Biden personally and the Obama administration in general since they allowed it to go on. The Obama administration also allowed foreign governments to buy access to the Sectary of State by making donations to the Clinton Foundation even though she promised to shut it down if he appointed her.

If you're not a US citizen, you should also think long and hard about what's good for you. Do you really want someone like Biden who can be bought and who will then roll over and play dead for China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran? Did you really think that giving the Mullahs billions of shrink wrapped cash was the right thing to do? They're closer to you than we are? Do you actually want them to nuke Tel Aviv? Or sell nuclear waste to terrorists so they can plant dirty bombs in London and Paris? Was it right to give the Rocket Man money every time he set off a missile? Was it right to allow Russia to annex parts of the Ukraine? Don't forget the open mic comment made by Obama. At the end of a press conference, he leaned over to the Russian sitting next to him and said "tell Vlad I'll have more flexibility after the election". Was it right to keep backing up behind your red line as you tried to stop Assad from gassing his own citizens?

You may think that Trump is a buffoon but much of what he says and does comes straight out of The Art of War and The Prince. Keep your friends close and your enemies CLOSER for starters. Of course he's not going to get into a public pissing contest with Putin. Do you really want him to risk starting a nuclear war? That's why he speaks to Putin privately. He can say anything he wants and he can threaten if he has to and Putin doesn't loose face and feel the need to flatten Seattle, although that might not be such a bad idea now that is officially it's own country ruled by Antifa.
 

Jon

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People have short memories and I believe the opinion polls are an overreaction to current events. We have just had a pandemic, riots, economic collapse and self-isolation. Once that fades, the sun will come out, people will feel better and his ratings will recover. I would also add, although Killary was favourite, The Donald still beat her with a fraction of her campaign budget. Now, his budget is much larger. Anyone know the relative size of their campaign budgets at the last election and the estimate of what they will be this election?

Personally, I liked Obama's persona. He was smooth, articulate and persuasive. He came across like you think a president should. Donald is brash, braggy and pushy, a culture shock for many. I warmed to him because I was getting fed up with politicians everywhere, both UK, US and elsewhere, just spouting rubbish. You could never trust what they say. It was all about being PC, saying things to try to appeal to everybody. Donald the Disrupter put an end to that. He was authentic and unpolished. I liked it!
 

Isaac

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I would also add, although Killary was favourite, The Donald still beat her with a fraction of her campaign budget
Is that really a true statement? (I don't know, so the question is an honest one).
I mean setting aside this statistic or that statistic (because many politicians have an "official campaign budget", but the actual amount of money funneled into their benefit through PAC's is many orders of magnitude larger).
I was always under the impression Trump basically bought the election, though maybe indirectly. I don't mind being corrected, just curious where that statistic came from.
 

Jon

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I thought Donald had like a fifth of her budget, something like that. Come on fact checkers, where are you?!

Edit: Looks nearer to half.

Fundraising. Throughout the general election campaign, Clinton consistently led Trump in fundraising. Through August 2016, Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and Clinton's main super PAC, Priorities USA Action, had raised more than $700 million, while Trump had brought in $400 million.

From Wikipedia, the fountain of knowledge.

And all that in the backdrop of a sleaze dossier bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC. Plus, the whitewashing of Hillary by the corrupt James Comey.
 

Isaac

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Something I may have to study up on later tonight. :)
 

Jon

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Trump did buy the election - at half price! :D
 

Jon

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It was the other way around. Hillary tried to buy the election and failed. Even $700M+ wasn't enough to get her elected.
 

Pat Hartman

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The Democrats never say die though. It's like playing wack-a-mole. Things they are still pushing.
1. Mail in ballots for all. My state has signed on to this madness so dead people and people who have moved out of the state or moved and re-reregistered without reporting the previous registration will get ballots since we're not good at cleaning the list and somehow, all those votes will be cast for Democrats because there will be people riffling through mailboxes on vacant houses/apartments to pick them up on the day they're delivered. There will also be people visiting the elderly to try to get them to allow "help" with filling out the form.
2. Circumventing the Electoral College. States are rushing to write laws that change how their electoral votes are allocated. They want them to all be cast for whoever has the majority of the popular vote (not just the popular vote in their state but in all states). Hopefully, someone is working these cases up to the Supreme Court so they can be shot down before the election. But, in the end, this could completely backfire on the Dems.
3. CT automatically registers people to vote when they renew their driver's licenses. Since there is no way to tell by a driver's license information who is a citizen and who is a legal or illegal resident, we are currently registering non-citizens to vote. I know this for a fact because a friend who is Canadian discovered his voter registration when he got back to the office that day and looked at the paper work. He went right back and made them fix it but how many people are that honest or observant?
4. States do not control the paper ballots properly. They should all be numbered (even the ones cast in person) and when ballots are counted, duplicates should be identified and over counts (more people voting than registered or counted by the census) should be reported forcing a manual recount. This is of course why the Democrats are so against the Census distinguishing between citizen and non-citizen. They yell and scream that it will keep people from filling out the forms, but why? Only if the left frightens people and convinces them that non-citizen is the same as illegal alien which it is not. The rules of the Census prevent actual detail data from being released for x years. I don't remember the number but it is at least 20 years. Only statistics can be released. So, you should be able to see a count of citizens and non-citizens for a state or municipality but not the names/addresses of anyone. Ballots cast by mail should also be numbered and a record of who got what ballot should be kept. When the voter fills in the ballot, he should have to provide his voter ID number and sign the ballot to confirm it is his vote. This of course obliterates secret ballots but no other solution is actually safe. There are enough technically saavy people here to know why electronic voting is downright idiotic unless you can find a way to absolutely tie a vote to a person. We can't even do that for tax returns so every year, millions of dollars are stolen from the US Treasury by people filing false tax returns.

Sadly, the Republicans are so afraid of being called names that they roll over and play dead rather than actually challenge any of these attempts to subvert our elections. It pains me to have to vote for them.
 
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Isaac

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I would like to have a presidential, senate and house ballots that showed multiple person choices--more than 2. Whatever they need to change in the system to make it happen, and most likely it never will so I am wasting my finger strength typing this, but it would sure be nice to have more than 2 choices for these things. Having to choose between 2 crappy choices is a crock, in my opinion. But more importantly, I think it is part of the reason why many people don't vote. Many people refuse to vote 'yes' to either of 2 people they dislike. Maybe if there were 5 choices, there would be a lot more participation.
 

Pat Hartman

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I don't like the 2-party system either. It creates much of the political divide we experience. Congress doesn't vote based on what they think is right for their constituency, they vote the party line most times or what their donors want which is generally really bad for the people who voted for them. But the worst thing of all is that they don't bother to even read the bills they vote on.
 

Dick7Access

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I don't like the 2-party system either. It creates much of the political divide we experience. Congress doesn't vote based on what they think is right for their constituency, they vote the party line most times or what their donors want which is generally really bad for the people who voted for them. But the worst thing of all is that they don't bother to even read the bills they vote on.
About the dumbest otterence from DC (in my life time) (in my opinion) is: "WE HAVE TO VOTE THIS IN TO SEE WHAT'S IN IT" sorry for the shouting!
BTW: Pat I was suppose to be up there (right now) in CT, RI MA and fried clams, clam cakes, and New York System but I am stuck here in all this sunshine.
 

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