Statistikhengst
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
I want to take a moment and look at presidential aspirant Donald Trump's latest shenanigan from an entirely different perspective. And I hope that adults here will actually read the OP, think and then comment like real adults.
After Trump called Mexicans "rapists", "drug dealers" and "murderers" and saying of Jeb Bush: "who the hell is gonna vote for this guy?!?" AT HIS PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH and since then laying into every candidate he can, after saying that John McCain is not a war hero and then backtracking and saying that well, yeah, he's a hero because he got captured and he (Trump) prefers those who didn't get captured, yadayadayada, we have seen a true-blue food-fight emerge in the GOP, somewhat on the level of 7th graders in the lunchroom.
Now, insulting other candidates is nothing new, but slick politicians have found ways to do this and still do their best to maintain the image that even in the moment that they are insulting someone, they are above the fray. When more than one GOPer, upon being asked if President Obama is really a Christian, answered with "I'll have to take him at his word", that's a nasty insult, but couched in nice words, not at the level of gutter-sluts. And there is plausible deniability in the insult. Bill Clinton insulted Bob Dole in 1996 at the debates when, asked if age played a role in Dole's electability, Clinton answered with "I don't question his age. I question the age of his ideas". Of course Clinton questioned Bob Dole's age, but this was a way to word it without actually having worded it.
So, I'm not under the illusion that pols don't insult each other. They do. In fact, they do it quite regularly. Hell, you should see how rough and tumble it gets in the English House of Commons (their rough equivalent to our House of Representatives)! And pols on all sides have been insulting each other over a long time. This is not just a Republican thing, to be sure.
But Donald Trump took it to new lows yesterday when he released Senator Lindsay Graham's private cell-phone number.
First, Don Trump is definitely one of the richer people in this world, boasting of total assets around 10 Billion. Good for him. That's a big heap of $$$.
But each and every senator is one of the 110-120 most powerful people in our country. No shit. Think about it. After the President, the Vice-President and the Speaker of the HOR (next in line of succession in case of death or removal from office), certain members of the cabinet (like the SOS and SOD) and CIA upper-ups, all 100 Senators would be the next most important people in our country: the life and death of many a law hangs on just 100 elected Senators. It's been said more than once that each Senator gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and sees a future President standing before him. So, whether or not you like any one certain Senator, he possesses a power that only 100 individuals have in any congressional term and for better or worse, was duly elected by voters from his or her state.
Therefore, giving out the personal, private cellphone number of a sitting (or former, for that member) Senator is no trivial thing to do.
Let's analyse how Trump did this. Here is the video:
Trump starts by saying that Lindsay Graham introduced himself to Trump four years ago and asked Trump to pass along his name to FOX and FRIENDS. Trump went on to say that Graham "begged" for Trump to do this (give him a good reference to FOX and FRIENDS) and then gave Trump his number. He says a lot in between about how he gives everyone money to in order to wield influence. Well, ok. There is a hell of a lot of ego in that, but that's nothing new from Don Trump.
The psychology that Trump is using is something like "I'm the bigger dog than you, so I'm gonna piss on you and neenerneenerneener, you can't do a fucking thing about it". I think that pretty much encapsulates Don Trump. That's it.
And I can live with that, too. That's his style and if that brings him mojo, well, hell, ok.
Now, back to the video:
1:43 "So, Lindsay Graham says to me, please, please, whatever you can do, uhm, now, I'm saying to myself, 'what's this guy, a beggar?', he's like begging me to help him with FOX and FRIENDS. So, I say 'ok' and 'I'll mention your name'. He said 'could you mention my name' and I said 'yes, I'll men--' and he gave me his number and I found the card! I wrote the number down, I don't know if it's the right number, let's try it 202- (laughter begins) 228-XXXX (big laughter), I don't know, maybe, you know, it's been three or four years ago, so maybe it's an old number, 202-228-XXXX. Soooo, I don't know, give it a shot...."
Yepp, that's definitely in the category of "I'm the bigger dog than you, so I'm gonna piss on you and neenerneenerneener, you can't do a fucking thing about it". And in this case, Trump pissed on Graham in his own back yard. Well, ok, he can do that, too. It's a free country. And indeed, Graham has insulted Trump more than once. But he didn't give out Trump's private number.
And - this is a presidential candidate we are talking about here. Wow.
Now, back to Trump's moment in Ames, Iowa last Saturday, just four days ago:
Trump insults a war hero Page 8 US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum
In that posting, I did a transcript of the key moments of that 26 minute performance:
Ok, let's take Donald Trump at his word. If he really knows all of the most important people in the world, then I wonder how they might feel about him giving out someone's private telepone number during an event that was video'd, as a sort of revenge in the middle of a sophomoric food-fight? I wonder how many of those super-rich people, who have also probably given Donald Trump their telephone number, feel about this. And I wonder if they will trust him in the future.
What Trump did may have been good for his form of in-your-face, reality show politics. But it certainly was bad business sense. And he claims to be a great businessman, right?
So,
?
It may win him the nomination or at least cause a hung convention, but it won't win him a General Election.
Just imagine a "Pres. Trump", in possession of "the nuclear briefcase". Just imagine that.
And in 3 or 4 years, surely we will hear how the Clinton camp relished every single one of these trumpian-moments. I bet the Clinton team is whooping with glee every moment the Don opens his mouth somewhere. I bet good money that in 3 or 4 years, a book about the Clinton team will come out and a great deal of it will be a recounting of the "Trump factor".
What a circus.
So, back to the OP title itself: did Donald Trump even consider the damage he did to himself yesterday?
I doubt it.
And BTW, did any other GOP candidate make his way to the front page anywhere yesterday? The day before? The day before that? Where are they? Why, they are getting buried with more and more Trumpian Neutron Bombs. That's what is happening to them. As a Democrat, I am glad to see their ship already hitting rocky shores, but as a citizen, I do think it's a shame that our process is getting cheapened this much by an ultra-rich person who will still be ultra-rich and will laugh all the way to the bank. Or maybe not...
Discuss. Is it cool for a candidate to give out private information like this?
After Trump called Mexicans "rapists", "drug dealers" and "murderers" and saying of Jeb Bush: "who the hell is gonna vote for this guy?!?" AT HIS PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH and since then laying into every candidate he can, after saying that John McCain is not a war hero and then backtracking and saying that well, yeah, he's a hero because he got captured and he (Trump) prefers those who didn't get captured, yadayadayada, we have seen a true-blue food-fight emerge in the GOP, somewhat on the level of 7th graders in the lunchroom.
Now, insulting other candidates is nothing new, but slick politicians have found ways to do this and still do their best to maintain the image that even in the moment that they are insulting someone, they are above the fray. When more than one GOPer, upon being asked if President Obama is really a Christian, answered with "I'll have to take him at his word", that's a nasty insult, but couched in nice words, not at the level of gutter-sluts. And there is plausible deniability in the insult. Bill Clinton insulted Bob Dole in 1996 at the debates when, asked if age played a role in Dole's electability, Clinton answered with "I don't question his age. I question the age of his ideas". Of course Clinton questioned Bob Dole's age, but this was a way to word it without actually having worded it.
So, I'm not under the illusion that pols don't insult each other. They do. In fact, they do it quite regularly. Hell, you should see how rough and tumble it gets in the English House of Commons (their rough equivalent to our House of Representatives)! And pols on all sides have been insulting each other over a long time. This is not just a Republican thing, to be sure.
But Donald Trump took it to new lows yesterday when he released Senator Lindsay Graham's private cell-phone number.
First, Don Trump is definitely one of the richer people in this world, boasting of total assets around 10 Billion. Good for him. That's a big heap of $$$.
But each and every senator is one of the 110-120 most powerful people in our country. No shit. Think about it. After the President, the Vice-President and the Speaker of the HOR (next in line of succession in case of death or removal from office), certain members of the cabinet (like the SOS and SOD) and CIA upper-ups, all 100 Senators would be the next most important people in our country: the life and death of many a law hangs on just 100 elected Senators. It's been said more than once that each Senator gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and sees a future President standing before him. So, whether or not you like any one certain Senator, he possesses a power that only 100 individuals have in any congressional term and for better or worse, was duly elected by voters from his or her state.
Therefore, giving out the personal, private cellphone number of a sitting (or former, for that member) Senator is no trivial thing to do.
Let's analyse how Trump did this. Here is the video:
Trump starts by saying that Lindsay Graham introduced himself to Trump four years ago and asked Trump to pass along his name to FOX and FRIENDS. Trump went on to say that Graham "begged" for Trump to do this (give him a good reference to FOX and FRIENDS) and then gave Trump his number. He says a lot in between about how he gives everyone money to in order to wield influence. Well, ok. There is a hell of a lot of ego in that, but that's nothing new from Don Trump.
The psychology that Trump is using is something like "I'm the bigger dog than you, so I'm gonna piss on you and neenerneenerneener, you can't do a fucking thing about it". I think that pretty much encapsulates Don Trump. That's it.
And I can live with that, too. That's his style and if that brings him mojo, well, hell, ok.
Now, back to the video:
1:43 "So, Lindsay Graham says to me, please, please, whatever you can do, uhm, now, I'm saying to myself, 'what's this guy, a beggar?', he's like begging me to help him with FOX and FRIENDS. So, I say 'ok' and 'I'll mention your name'. He said 'could you mention my name' and I said 'yes, I'll men--' and he gave me his number and I found the card! I wrote the number down, I don't know if it's the right number, let's try it 202- (laughter begins) 228-XXXX (big laughter), I don't know, maybe, you know, it's been three or four years ago, so maybe it's an old number, 202-228-XXXX. Soooo, I don't know, give it a shot...."
Yepp, that's definitely in the category of "I'm the bigger dog than you, so I'm gonna piss on you and neenerneenerneener, you can't do a fucking thing about it". And in this case, Trump pissed on Graham in his own back yard. Well, ok, he can do that, too. It's a free country. And indeed, Graham has insulted Trump more than once. But he didn't give out Trump's private number.
And - this is a presidential candidate we are talking about here. Wow.
Now, back to Trump's moment in Ames, Iowa last Saturday, just four days ago:
Trump insults a war hero Page 8 US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum
In that posting, I did a transcript of the key moments of that 26 minute performance:
11:24 "I've contributed to everybody, they've done whatever I said"
EGO!!!
13:10 (about Jeb Bush) "can you imagine this guy negotiating with China? Who would you rather have negotiating with China - Trump, or Bush?"
EGO!!!
13:37 Questioner no. 2: How does his faith influence how he raises his children? The Don says he was very strict with his children over alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.
16:00 "I was a great father"
EGO!!!
16:53 "I know all of the successful people in the world"
EGO!!!
17:15 "Love the Mexican people, thousands of them work for me!"
EGO!!!
18:02 "I know the richest people in the world, I know the toughest people in the world..."
EGO!!!
19:44 Luntz: "What is your relationship with G-d?" Trump: "Well, I pray, I go to church, I do things that are wrong...I'm a business person, I am really great at deals, I own some of the greatest properties in the world... I think G-d helped me"
Ok, let's take Donald Trump at his word. If he really knows all of the most important people in the world, then I wonder how they might feel about him giving out someone's private telepone number during an event that was video'd, as a sort of revenge in the middle of a sophomoric food-fight? I wonder how many of those super-rich people, who have also probably given Donald Trump their telephone number, feel about this. And I wonder if they will trust him in the future.
What Trump did may have been good for his form of in-your-face, reality show politics. But it certainly was bad business sense. And he claims to be a great businessman, right?
So,
?It may win him the nomination or at least cause a hung convention, but it won't win him a General Election.
Just imagine a "Pres. Trump", in possession of "the nuclear briefcase". Just imagine that.
And in 3 or 4 years, surely we will hear how the Clinton camp relished every single one of these trumpian-moments. I bet the Clinton team is whooping with glee every moment the Don opens his mouth somewhere. I bet good money that in 3 or 4 years, a book about the Clinton team will come out and a great deal of it will be a recounting of the "Trump factor".
What a circus.
So, back to the OP title itself: did Donald Trump even consider the damage he did to himself yesterday?
I doubt it.
And BTW, did any other GOP candidate make his way to the front page anywhere yesterday? The day before? The day before that? Where are they? Why, they are getting buried with more and more Trumpian Neutron Bombs. That's what is happening to them. As a Democrat, I am glad to see their ship already hitting rocky shores, but as a citizen, I do think it's a shame that our process is getting cheapened this much by an ultra-rich person who will still be ultra-rich and will laugh all the way to the bank. Or maybe not...
Discuss. Is it cool for a candidate to give out private information like this?
Last edited:
There is nothing I would like more than to see both democrats and republicans driven out of power. You ALL suck, IMO. 
