President Donald John Trump

[Griff]

I think his core support wants the spectacle of the left getting a thumb in the eye not actual results.

[Flint]

BigV is putting into words so much of the thoughts I've been too overwhelmed to get out, off my chest.

How many people here, and people you know in your life, are completely mentally and emotionally exhausted? I know I am.

Because we've all dealt with unstable people in our lives. This is nothing new.

The worst part of having a person like this in the White House is that WE KNOW what causes a person to act like that, WE'VE SEEN this before. Who hasn't ever been in a bad relationship? Who hasn't ever had a toxic, malignant narcissist in their family or circle of acquaintances? Who hasn't had an older relative whom we've lost respect for as we see them succumb to magical thinking, and/or flat-out dementia?

This is tired, worn ground, and WE KNOW WHERE IT LEADS. It doesn't get better. It never gets better because people like that don't ever change, because they don't care. It's not a problem for them. They don't see what everyone else sees.

Here is what I believe: EVERYONE knows this. E V E R Y O N E
The opportunists in congress who want to get their bills signed, of course they know. The Trump voters who like the general shape of his policies, they know. You can't NOT know, you can only overlook it if you think you're getting something you want out of it.

This is completely non-political. Trump is a patently psychologically unstable person, and having someone like that in a big, important job that can affect billions of lives ... is beyond ill-advised.

Many things will be broken that can never be put back the same way, ever again. Even if you like the direction of these changes, the trust and respect in our institutions, our highly vaunted "way of life" --these things cannot change overnight, and they can only take so much pressure before snapping. It's irresponsible.

This is not hyperbole. This is not hysteria.

Everyone who is reading this knows exactly what I mean. I believe that. Even if you're okay with it. You know it's a gamble.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Many things will be broken that can never be put back the same way, ever again. Even if you like the direction of these changes, the trust and respect in our institutions, our highly vaunted "way of life" --these things cannot change overnight, and they can only take so much pressure before snapping. It's irresponsible.

I think you're right, I also think the people who voted for him were unhappy about what the country has become and wanted to shake up the system. They all had their own vision of what they wanted to be the result of that shake up, and I doubt many will be happy with the outcome.

[glatt]

That's the way it is with a loose cannon.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's the way it is with a loose cannon.

Destruction can happen in minutes or days. Construction takes years or decades. Example: TPP.

[Flint]

Destruction is easy. Being stupid and hateful is man's DEFAULT state. Appealing to fear-based, "black and white" thinking is the easiest, most effective way of getting the most people to listen to you. Even if you have no ideas, no solutions.

[Undertoad]

To me, the national divide is a much bigger tsunami than Trump, muuuuch bigger problem. Let's put it this way:

Didn't we say Bush was a Fascist? Of course.

So now we're at an unsustainable level of histrionics? Of course!

Wouldn't half of us be absolutely losing our shit almost just as bad if Ted Cruz was our POTUS? Naturally!!

So... isn't Trump's personal style really just an excuse to lose our shit entirely? Because that's what we wanted to do anyway, and how convenient that he makes such a marvelous target?

~

I gotta tell you that the narcissist label is a very interesting one in this case. Having just dealt with a 10 out of 10 narcissist, I find I'm able to spot them easily enough. The answer is yeah, he is. BUT THEY ALL ARE, DID YOU NOT NOTICE? OMG, what do you say, when a very likeable bloke is not only plowing tail with the hot blond on the campaign trail, but making a baby -- while the wife sits at home dying of cancer? Politicians are narcissists, that is in the job description.

But there's this fly in the ointment of the public psychoanalysis that I can't get over, and it is this:

By all accounts, Trump's adult children are bright, well-adjusted, and perhaps nicer than he is, and they want to be a part of his life.

Inasmuch as picking a POTUS is picking the national parent, we should turn out so well. At the least it doesn't appear to have been a disaster.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ted Cruz would have destroyed the separation of church and state, much as I think Pence would if Trump kicks, but I doubt either would be as unpredictable as Trump.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

To me, the national divide is a much bigger tsunami than Trump, muuuuch bigger problem. Let's put it this way:

Didn't we say Bush was a Fascist? Of course.

Of course, nothing exacerbates the national divide like the two Presidents who lost the popular vote, and had the lowest electoral college victory of any other presidents since Reagan, right?

What about a guy who repeatedly claims he has the HIGHEST electoral college victory (almost exactly opposite the truth) and when called on it, says, "Uh, well, that's what somebody told me. I heard that somewhere." ƒUCKING LITERALLY HE SAID THIS.

But, of course, the snowflake libtards are just being hysterical, in both cases, right?

Bad, bad, horrible example, UT.

When most people don't want that President, don't like that President, and didn't vote for that President, they push back. Calling it hysterical is asshole-ish gaslighting.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Wouldn't half of us be absolutely losing our shit almost just as bad if Ted Cruz was our POTUS? Naturally!!

So... isn't Trump's personal style really just an excuse to lose our shit entirely? Because that's what we wanted to do anyway, and how convenient that he makes such a marvelous target?

Yes, I would be losing my shit about Cruz. I'm not Christian, and don't want to be a 2nd class citizen because of that.

BUT in 2012-- I voted for MITT ROMNEY, a REPUBLICAN who was NOT batsh!t ƒucking insane. Who was a businessman, a leader with experience, a STABLE "dad" figure.

What does you condescending theory say about that??

Is it that "ANY" Republican is a good target, or is it just SH!TTY Republicans??

Is it that "coastal elites" just "hate" middle America, or is it that Republican POLITICIANS have become increasingly divisive and extreme??

[Flint]

Royal families used to like each other so much that they interbred until horrible genetic mutations were commonplace.

[Undertoad]

A competent (insert your opposition here) would be more of a threat in many ways.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

A competent (insert your opposition here) would be more of a threat in many ways.

Of course.

OF COURSE.

But, what about the psychological unhinging of vast swaths of people, reeling to reconcile their stable reality with this Godzilla of unpredictability?

It's so destabilizing, to the fabric of society. The REAL fabric of society, such as "can people sleep at night?"


Edit to add:
Your "good dad" analogy is horrible. A "good dad" is STABLE and COMFORTING.

[xoxoxoBruce]

A "good parent" does not teach his children, Fuck others as you think they would fuck you given a chance. Nor does he teach them to stick close or you move from us to them.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Flint

Your "good dad" analogy is horrible. A "good dad" is STABLE and COMFORTING.

That is not the point at all.

The point was, the common belief is that he is a narcissist, but narcissists of the variety he is suspected to be, do not have good, close relationships with their adult children.

From what I've heard in conversations of Celebrity Apprentice players, he does have a narcissist-level need to be liked. And his public actions certainly appear to be narcissistic. His children tell us that it is not so drop-dead simple. His particular variety of narcissism may be a little more complex.

A "good dad" is STABLE and COMFORTING.

Some narcissists will give you exactly that. When narcissists are successful, it's because they project a believable self-confidence. It IS stable and comforting, as long as they are at a distance. They are in sales, for that reason.




this post has been delayed for a month, to allow the poisonous emotional atmosphere of the thread to clear before making the point