2020 Update Thanks for DAV for reminding me of this. This post below shows how far you can go wrong, how idiotic you can be, when you, like I, follow mainstream “conservative” sources like NRO, the old Weekly Standard, and other organs I was sure were on the side of truth and light. I even quoted Charles “Obama Sounds Nice” Krauthammer! Absolutely hilarious.
Donald Trump is not, has not been, and will not run for president of the United States. Nor will he campaign for the Republican nomination. He is a cynic and egomaniac whose only purpose in hinting at a run is to garner adulation and attention to feed his thin soul.
Consider: his platform thus far has been nothing more substantial than to insist that there was something nefarious in President Obama ignoring asinine requests to release his “long-form” birth certificate. “You wouldn’t believe what my investigators have found,” he said, implying a deep conspiracy between…whom? He never said, because he could not flesh out his childish claim. And reporters, often unable to hold the thread of a argument for any length of time, have not pressed him.
Only two things are possible here: either Trump believed what he was saying, or he was engaged in a farcical, pettifogging ploy to draw attention to himself. Either disqualifies him from becoming president. 
The worst is if he believed himself. Assuming that only I know the real truth, that the populace has been duped by dark cabal, is a specialty of the conspiracy nut. He lives in a land where denials are proof of complicity, where the most mundane occurrence is deeply laden with occult meaning that only he can see. Does Trump believe himself one of the chosen few who Know The Real Truth?
And if Trump didn’t believe what he was saying, if he was playing to the crowd, then he was not intelligent or savvy enough to know that the “birther controversy” taints whoever touches it. Of course Mr Obama is a citizen; the evidence has long been available.
Two things: even having to write “the evidence has long been available” makes one sound foolish, as if there is something worth discussing. Trump forced sober people to waste their time on nonsense, and in so doing he has made it appear that the Republican party houses a substantial minority of scatterbrained lunatics.
And second, he should have realized that it wouldn’t have mattered even if our president was born on a UFO and deposited in a Hawaiian pineapple field in an alien plot to make Mr Obama our leader. Forget having a birth certificate: if Barack Obama came running naked and screaming out of an orphanage wielding a bloody machete, our starry-eyed press would say, “He must have had his reasons.”
Did Trump or any of his followers actually believe Mr Obama could be made to resign (only to have Joe “Hair Plugs” Biden ascend to the throne)? The mind boggles.
Charles Krauthammer called Trump the “Al Sharpton” of the Republican party, and this is close enough. Although I cannot recall Mr Sharpton haranguing audiences that Chinese men were serial, keep-it-in-the-family fornicators. If Trump had any sense of Chinese history or culture, he would understand how horrific his slur was, how dangerous it is for relations between our countries.
Any president or sitting politician who used the words artfully chosen by Trump would be considered infamous. Never mind that his protectionist scheme is economically unsound and more aligned with Democrat than Republican theory—he would fix a 25% tariff on Chinese goods—his behavior is boorish and un-statesmanlike. It is not—and cannot be seen to be—presidential.
Once again, we have a dichotomy: either Trump’s vocabulary, manners, and common sense are stunted, or he used the words he did in cold calculation, merely so that he could thrill to the crowd crying, “Oh, Donald!” Either way, he is disqualified from office.
His “reality” television show is said to suffer from poor and falling ratings. It will end its run soon. All TV shows end eventually, so this is not like the times Trump has declared bankruptcy, foisting the burdens of his imprudent decisions onto the backs of others. However, the show’s end is important because Trump claims he will make a grand statement at that time.
He said, “I think you will be surprised at a number of things, but I think you will be surprised at what my announcement is.” It will be no surprise when he says, “I am not running”, for it is clear that he never was.
He will instead claim that he wanted to “inform the debate”, or that he wanted to “force the true candidates to talk about the serious issues I brought up”, or something similar. Pure rot. The only things Trump brought up are the lunches of serious citizens forced to behold the horrific spectacle of his unbridled vanity.
“Assuming that only I know the real truth, that the populace has been duped by dark cabal, is a specialty of the conspiracy nut. ”
Dark Cabal = Journolist which has since reformed as Cabalist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JournoList
The media controls the narrative. When they band together to tell only one side of the story and to praise only one side and to pillory everyone not on their side, it is a “dark cabal”.
Darn, I was hoping to read Trump’s personal financial disclosure.
Why flirting with the die-hard right wingers? They won’t vote for Obama now matter what. Well, Donald the Trump, who surely wouldn’t run our country into bankruptcy, must have his own reasons.
Anyone who supports Senator Charles Schumer is a dirtbag. Trump supported Chucky Schumer. Trump is a dirtbag.
I’m starting to think that Trump was trying to cover for Obama. Now he thinks if we start asking for college records we are going to look like petty assholes. Was that his game?
Face it everyone. Obama is not a natural born citizen…this latest fake birth certificate proves it. His daddy wasn’t an American.
Can you even imagine the horror of having to choose between Trump and Obama in an election?
…Trump’s vocabulary, manners, and common sense are stunted, or he used the words he did in cold calculation, merely so that he could thrill to the crowd crying, “Oh, Donald!” Either way, he is disqualified from office.
No argument from me. Dr. B’s analysis is balls on. However, the same could be said about every single politician in America today. It’s all a dog and pony show. Nothing of real substance is ever discussed or debated. All the actors in the political drama are phonies of the first order.
This country is headed down the tubes in a hurry. The future is bleak. The only faction with a clue is the Tea Party, and they don’t have much of one. My feeling is one of utter futility about the USA. Trump is not the answer — there is no answer as far as I can see.
Donald Trump is to a presidential campaign as Judge Judy is to the US Supreme Court.
The Donald has so far forced Obama to do something – release the birth certificate.
That in turn has resulted in Obama touting his release of the birth certificate as something special and difficult to do.
That in turn has made Obama an even bigger laughingstock than he was since releasing a birth certificate is something ordinary people do quite often.
Hockey Teams need enforcers.
“An enforcer’s job is to deter and respond to dirty or violent play by the opposition. When such play occurs, the enforcer is expected to respond aggressively, by fighting or checking the offender. Enforcers are expected to react particularly harshly to violence against star players or goalies.”
The Donald is the only “GOP enforcer” who the media listens to.
“. . . President Obama ignoring asinine requests to release his “long-form†birth certificate . . .”
Hopefully it will put an end to the whole silly affair, and I agree The Donald is pretty far out there. However, I’m not sure “asinine” is the right word to describe the request to confirm Obama’s birthplace. Asking someone to document one of the basic requirements of being a presidential candidate isn’t “asinine.” It has taken, what, two years to finally provide a copy of his birth certificate? C’mon. Obama could have put everything to rest ages ago, with very little effort.
It’s absolutely asinine, and more than that, full blown racist trolling. The fact that america not only allowed but almost insisted for the president to be trolled and be harrassed in this manner casts a deep racist shadow to your country.
And if anyone in here still doubts of the racist character of this troll act, consider, why is it that the first black president is also the first president to be called as “not american”? Why does this myth persists? Racist buffoons like Trump will [i]hint[/i] you (not tell you straight out…. they are cowards after all) that Obama isn’t really christian, he’s a [i]muslim[/i], casting a shadow of something malign and dangerous, and has anyone seen that he’s [i]black?[/i]
Luis: You need to read up on US history, man. You’re ranting but wrong. The “O” is the eighth US president who has had his birthplace/nationality questioned, and at least another five presidential candidates have also faced those questions in the past. The last previous candidate questioned, btw, was a fellow in the run-up to the 2008 campaign named McCain. Among the questioners? A certain junior senator from Illinois.
You need to thicken up your skin, man. I sorta agree Trump looks like a huge “troll”, but the “O” asked for the problem in the first place by stonewalling the issue so long. In the end he was hoisted on his own petard. Our leaders take a lot of hits. Do you not recall some of the slimy things said about GWB, et al?
Btw, Luis, the race card has been played so often these days its value is down to about 12 cents. Just saying.
My two cents…….Trump’s support isn’t coming from the right wing. I consider myself to be very right wing and what I’m seeing is that the right views Trump as, at best, another Bloomberg. He’s a liberal who is willing to masquerade as a conservative for his own personal gain. If he were ever elected the mask would disappear pronto.
I don’t think Trump has any real support. What’s going on is a phenomena we’ve seen before in political polling. I mean, I don’t really believe that Obama is a Reptillian, but if I think that answering a poll that way will hurt his image then that’s what I’ll do. Remember those polls that showed that about 45% of Democrats believed that Bush was responsible for 9/11? Nonsense. If we ever reach the point where that many people really believe that the President murdered 3,000 people, we won’t be taking polls about it, we’ll be too busy fighting in the streets.
Luis Dias said, The fact that america not only allowed but almost insisted for the president to be trolled and be harassed …
The “america†you refer to is what? The United States of America is a country which Wikipedia defines as “ … a geographical region considered to be the physical territory of a sovereign state … “ Perhaps you were using the term to describe the nation of Americans, “ … a group of people who share culture, ethnicity, language and/or territory.†Is it your view that a majority of US citizens were in favor of trolling and harassing the President?
Like all subsets of the human race, some citizens of the United States of America (country or nation) have intractable views that are irrational and/or racist. That’s a fact of life and no amount of education, cajoling, peer pressure or ridicule will change them. Do you propose that it is the job of the US government to silence these people? Should racism be declared a mental disease so racists can be sent to mental hospitals? Perhaps racism should be made illegal so those found guilty of the offense can populate a network of gulags.
The first amendment to the US constitution:
The result is sometimes embarrassing, sometimes discomforting, sometimes difficult and sometimes makes headlines. But in all cases it is far better than the alternative.
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Ah, Luis, you’re a hoot!
Of course all that alleged racism you’re worried about isn’t really anything we can do about anyway, and, therefore, definitely not anything to get upset about — remember, as discussed the other day, we don’t really have free will according to your doctrine, now do we. 🙂
Rereading this with 2020 hindsight.
It IS quite interesting