Trump -man of the moment or the greatest conman in history?

[Trevor.Dennis]

Terri, seeing as you have raised the subject, how is it even remotely viable that after  so many American celebrities and politicians have been sacked or forced to resign over claims of  sexual harassment, and yet Trump, who bragged about his own blatant contemptible behavior with women, is still the President of the United States?  I can see that the GOP wants to hang on to power at any cost, but at what point does their ever decreasing credibility make their position no longer tenable? 

[D Fosse]

That's very true, pziecina, and an undercommunicated point. "45" is a symptom, not the disease itself.

For a glimpse of the underlying cause, see the excellent documentary "Inequality For All", prominently featuring Robert Reich, economist and Secretary of Labor under Clinton. It's on Netflix (at least here in Norway).

[D Fosse]

I'm really fascinated by how 45 has completely dodged #metoo. How long can that last?

Is there really nobody willing to go on record? Or are they bullied into silence? I suspect the latter. There must be hundreds of cases over the years - we all heard the tape, we know how he thinks.

OTOH - the tape was published before metoo took off. What would the reaction have been if it became public today?

[D Fosse]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

I'm really fascinated by how 45 has completely dodged #metoo. How long can that last?

Is there really nobody willing to go on record? Or are they bullied into silence? I suspect the latter. There must be hundreds of cases over the years - we all heard the tape, we know how he thinks.

OTOH - the tape was published before metoo took off. What would the reaction have been if it became public today?

Just as I wrote that, it seems to be happening.

[Terri_Stevens]

Obama clearly thinks there are similarities between Trump and Hitler if you heard the speech he gave last week in Vienna. Hitler used the Jews as escape goats responsible for everything and Trump uses Muslims. I myself wondered if he might be the Anti-Christ until I realised Satan wouldn't choose a complete moron to bring about 'the End of Days'

Pence isn't any better though with his wild ideas that you can cure homosexuality with electric shock therapy, why not go the whole hog and give all gay people a lobotomy? Pence even argues that smoking doesn't cause cancer-I wonder what sort of retainer he's on with the tobacco lobby?

Did anyone hear Trump's speech last week about resiting the embassy in Jerusalem? Towards the end his speech went very peculiar and he was slurring his words. He couldn't even clearly say 'God Bless the United States of America' without sounding drunk. The White House's current paid serial liar Sarah Huckerbee Sanders said he just had a dry throat, but a friend of mine who is a doctor suggested there were signs of Motor Neurone Disease there. How's that for a conspiracy theory? When I thought about that I remembered him holding Theresa May's hand at the White House in January. It emerged later that Trump is unsteady on sloping ground-another sign of a neurological problem? It wouldn't be the first time an American president had a serious illness covered up. Ronald Reagan's early onset Alzheimers was pretty obvious -in the end Nancy was finishing his sentences for him. 

[Cactus_Cowboy]

I hate this damn topic, I hate these threads, I see a lot of acp's in a different way now reading these things.

[Terri_Stevens]

Sorry to hear you disapprove , but nobody is forcing you to read the comments here. If you see ACPs in a different way perhaps you have elevated us to an entirely artificial position of importance? ACPs are just ordinary people, perhaps a little more successful in life than some and possibly middle class on higher than average income-but flesh a blood none the less. I'm sorry but all the statistics available show Trump's demographic is badly educated, blue collar workers who easily have fallen pray to this Svengali. A democratic system permits criticism of politicians of all colors-you don't seem to appreciate hearing the truth about the man you voted for.

[JR Boulay]

There are things that can not be forgiven.

[ricky336]

Just to add to the discussion, as another non ACP person - These posts remind me of a song by Leonard Cohen -'Democracy'.

[D Fosse]

So how does Trump explain this defeat?

I knew all along that Moore would lose! And I was right! Again!

This should sound familiar to anyone with small kids.

[Guest]

I am very surprised to see a man like Trump still on power as the president. I thought America was all about fair democracy. I hope the people of United states will make the right decision.

[Nancy OShea]

samuels80897907  wrote

I am very surprised to see a man like Trump still on power as the president. I thought America was all about fair democracy. I hope the people of United states will make the right decision.

This isn't a TV reality show where we can just say "you're fired."   That's not how things work here.

Trump won the last major election which means we're stuck with him for 3 more years unless he resigns or is officially removed by articles of  impeachment.   I honestly don't think Trump will ever resign.  But anything's possible.

[Guest]

Of course, I know that! To be honest, the most qualified man to become the president of United States is Bernie Senders. The democrats have made their biggest mistake and lost the election. 

[Ussnorway]

yes Bernie would have walked in but then funding for the democrats would have mysteriously dried up

[Trevor.Dennis]

Ussnorway  wrote

yes Bernie would have walked in but then funding for the democrats would have mysteriously dried up

It's a dirty business all right, and you can't altogether blame the people who felt unable to support Hillary Clinton.  You can well imagine that lots of people voted for Trump by way of sending a message to the Democrats, and it backfired on them.  Just like it did in the UK with Brexit, and Macron ultimately becoming the President of France.   At the same time, you can't realistically expect the likes of Hillary Clinton to remain totally removed from all Corporate support when a run for the US Presidency — Google has a range of figures, but $3 billion is right in the middle.

How Much Does it Cost to Become President? | Investopedia

There is probably some irony in the 2016 US Election, because I suspect that the consensus is that Trump bought his Presidency, but I somehow can't believe that more than a very tiny percentage of his running costs, came out of his pocket.  Least ways, if it did, it was by way of the Deutsche Bank, and President Putin, (who stole it from Russian business interests in the first place).

[ricky336]

It seems in America, that a lot of interest groups may support a certain candidate - lobby groups for example. So, perhaps lobby groups with interests in Izrael, says to Trump, 'we'll give you lots and lots of money if you make Jerusalem the capital.'

Don't known if he 'bought the presidency' more like he was given it under certain conditions.

I think the irony here is that if he lost the election, the election was rigged - he was going on and on during the campaign about how the election may be rigged. Well, maybe it WAS rigged, so that it would rather be impossible for him to lose! (Russian hacking?) Hence saying if he lost, the election was rigged as he was assured of a win by special interest groups!

The unexpected happened! We're in for quite a ride, with Trump, Brexit, North Korea...roll on 2018

[D Fosse]

Trevor.Dennis  wrote

the consensus is that Trump bought his Presidency

Of course he did, but in this respect he's no worse than the others.

Here's how the Wikipedia article on "plutocracy" starts: Plutocracy (...) defines a society ruled or controlled by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens.

Sounds familiar? I mentioned economist and UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich earlier. Now he's featured in a new documentary called "Saving Capitalism", in which he talks about how the wealthy use their influence to change the rules and legislation in their favor. At first I thought it was a bit dull and boring compared to "Inequality For All" - until suddenly the deep significance of what he's saying hit me.

[D Fosse]

Yes, I suspect Bernie could have actually won. That would have given people something to vote for, instead of against. Don't underestimate the power of that.

[JR Boulay]

From Paris, with love

[JR Boulay]

Nice cover, isn't it ?

[Trevor.Dennis]

I see some African countries have asked for an apology.  Good luck with that.   He is flat out lying and saying that he didn't use those words, which is worse than using them in the first place.  Not that anyone seems to care.

[jane-e]

Watching this happen in my own country is like being in The Twilight Zone.

‘Don’t Feed the Troll’: Much of the World Reacts in Anger at Trump’s Insult - The New York Times

Thank you to everyone for your support. It makes me hopeful that we cam bring this to an end. Somehow.

[Nancy OShea]

You have to give credit to Donald Trump for one thing.  He says what he thinks. 

His father was a bigot.  The apple doesn't fall far from it's tree.   Why does any of what Donald Trump say or do surprise us anymore?   He's all but giving the next election away to the democrats.   A record breaking 31 House republicans won't seek re-election this year.   Thank you Donald!!

Nancy

[D Fosse]

The more of these thing he says the better. Let's get it out in the open. A lot of people who initially bought his lies are starting to see the ugly reality.

Trump is just the peak of an ugly trend that has gradually gained momentum over the last five to ten years, worldwide. This may be what it takes to turn it, finally. Trump may be the best thing that has happened in a long time.

[Terri_Stevens]

So Dag as a patriotic arean, blue eyed Norwegian will you be lining up outside the US embassy in Oslo on Monday morning to get your green card I'd be furious if I was from Norway being associated with what's acceptable to this disgusting racist president -but to be fair he's a 'stable genius' which means he's the total reverse.

I find watching American television amusing as the commentators all think we want to go there-they say it's the greatest country in the world-and it's clearly not. If that's true why is tourism to the US down by 11% and who would want to live somewhere with lousy health care when we get it for free and where there is a massacre with machine guns often involving kids every two months and nothing gets done in order to protect the profits of the arms manufacturers. America is great if you have money but for most of the population the system doesn't work. They are currently taking millions out of health care to give gigantic tax cuts to billionaires and corporations, but find the money to spend another $150 billion on defence. The truth is America is a expansionist colonial power with over 200 military bases worldwide -why? What business is it of the US what they do in Angola or the Ukraine. I'm generally pro America but would like to see the UK distance itself from the US as the political elite are simply out of control. For me getting out of NATO and having a dedicated European army/defence force is the way forward. Americans don't realise that the EU is the worlds biggest economy by far, bigger than the US and China and we don't need to depend on America for anything. We can be friends with them but it's time to stop being in their shadow and start projecting true 21st century values, not the philosophy of the wild west where size matters in hand guns and nuclear buttons. We forget that the US has been a super power for less than a hundred years so they are new at it and might improve if politics becomes an honourable profession again not just a vector to obtain wealth and power.

[D Fosse]

Terri - we're all deeply embarrassed by this, or about 49% of us are at any rate. Trust me. We have our own brand of conservative/reactionary government these days, and they won the election largely by promising even tighter immigration restrictions. We have a prison-like facility for detaining all these people, where they get to spend years before being brutally sent out in the middle of the night. Children are growing up under these conditions.

But that was my point. Trump's idiotic statements can do nothing other than open people's eyes to what this is really about: racism, pure and simple.

Your second paragraph is extremely well put. I honestly have no idea why everybody can't see this, it's so painfully obvious.