IdleRich

IdleRich
“We have Big Macs, we have Quarter Pounders with cheese,” he said.

“We have everything that I like, that you like,” Trump continued, “and I know no matter what we did, there’s nothing you could have that’s better than that, right?”
I didn't realise how right I was.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Some great comments I read on Twitter about Trump's infantile burger-banquet: that it looks like a scene from "a film where a child becomes President", or "a film where a time-traveller to the past returns to the present and realises he's made a terrible mistake".

Also, specifically on the burgers being served up on silver platters, "this is the most ghetto shit I've ever seen".
 

Leo

Well-known member
Dw-ZV6YUYAASI_1.jpg:large
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Anyone else see the FBI guy claiming that the agency worked to keep 'progressives' out of government? -
So the "deep state" was not actually anti-Trump then?
Anyway, today I have been enjoying the story about Trump's lies in the Guardian. The fact-checkers kept busy all day every day keeping track of his falsehoods that come at a rate of sometimes over 100 per day. This I found funny:

Reporters have noticed another Trump trait: his tendency to make something up, then embellish his own lie each time he repeats it.
Qiu wrote about the phenomenon in the New York Times in December, noting how Trump had gone from announcing that United States Steel Corp was opening six new plants due to his policies. That was a lie, as was his later claim that US Steel was opening seven plants.
“The snowball effect of it has been pretty interesting,” Qiu said. Trump went on to claim US Steel was opening eight new plants, then nine.
Weird.
But also

“There’ve been some politicians that were fast and loose with the truth. But not like Trump,” Kessler said.
“And the ironic thing is 30 years ago when I worked in New York covering finance. And he was exactly the same.
“Nothing has changed.”
I found interesting. Cos when I saw Trump previously I thought he seemed different, less of a dick in some ways. I've also read lots of articles on the deteriorating levels of his speech and so on and I wondered if he had become more dishonest and cynical, but this would suggest not. I suppose that if he has been getting away with it his whole life in business then why would he change now? Sure more people are checking on him and catching him out but it doesn't change anything. It's insane really, a kind of genius. You can see it in Boris Johnson the other day denying that he ever said anything about Turkey - he's obviously seen Trump and understood that the truth no longer matters, just say what you want to be true and deny anything else even if the evidence clearly supports the opposite.
 

firefinga

Well-known member
With Trump I have the impression he isn't "lying" as such, meaning lying = voluntarily saying not the truth. The guy rather believes all the crap he is spouting. Doesn't make anything better of course.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
With Trump I have the impression he isn't "lying" as such, meaning lying = voluntarily saying not the truth. The guy rather believes all the crap he is spouting. Doesn't make anything better of course.

Perhaps ironically comforting in one way and even more worrying in another?
 

Leo

Well-known member
nah. pretty positive he knows he's lying, just doesn't care. he's a life-long real estate sleaze bag, and those guys go through life saying whatever they think will get them the deal, regardless of whether it's true or not.
 

Leo

Well-known member
The guy rather believes all the crap he is spouting.

probably true regarding his beliefs, such thinking he doesn't need any sort of strategic plan and is best to be a day trader and just wing it, or that NATO is a waste of money, or that all global trade deals are bad, etc. these aren't "lies", they are beliefs, however misguided they might be.

but he absolutely does not believe the actual lies he tells. when he lies, he's intentionally saying what he thinks will win the day.
 

Leo

Well-known member
this sort of article must really get under his skin...

Trump two years in: The dealmaker who can’t seem to make a deal

Trump’s management of the partial government shutdown — his first foray in divided government — has exposed as never before his shortcomings as a dealmaker. The president has been adamant about securing $5.7 billion in public money to construct his long-promised border wall, but he has not won over congressional Democrats, who call the wall immoral and have refused to negotiate over border security until the government reopens.

The 30-day shutdown — the impacts of which have begun rippling beyond the federal workforce into the everyday lives of millions of Americans — is defining the second half of Trump’s term and has set a foundation for the nascent 2020 presidential campaign.

The shutdown also has accentuated several fundamental traits of Trump’s presidency: his apparent shortage of empathy, in this case for furloughed workers; his difficulty accepting responsibility, this time for a crisis he had said he would be proud to instigate; his tendency for revenge when it comes to one-upping political foes; and his seeming misunderstanding of Democrats’ motivations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.7ad295276b69
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
With Trump I have the impression he isn't "lying" as such, meaning lying = voluntarily saying not the truth. The guy rather believes all the crap he is spouting. Doesn't make anything better of course.
I think it's something in-between. He almost thinks that if he says it it becomes true, that reality bends to his will. The result of being so spoilt that you can get what you want your whole life, you lose the ability to distinguish between statements such as "I want an ice cream" and "I want the weather to change" or "I want what happened yesterday to be different". The fact he never gets slapped down for this shit surely reinforces this belief. Terrifying really.
Whereas with Boris Johnson he absolutely knows he's lying, just thinks he can get away with it.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Is he the first Thelemic president?

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Or rather:

Everything is true (if I say it), everything is permitted (if I do it - which I didn't, by the way - but even if I did...)
 

Leo

Well-known member
trump's is a lot more like Boris than you think. he absolutely knows when he's lying, believe me.

just two recent examples: he sat in a press briefing with Pelosi and schumer and bragged about how he'd be proud to shut the government down, that he'll take the heat, etc....and a week later, once he realizes how badly it's playing out, starts calling it the democrats shutdown, the Pelosi shutdown. week after that, he goes on TV and says everyone except democrats want him to continue the shutdown and get the wall, then in private yells at aids saying "we're getting crushed."

a. big. fat. fucking. liar.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
So eventually Trump allowed the government shut-down to end without getting a penny to build his wall. But he definitely didn't in any way give in or cave or anything like that. Oh no, in fact

"“Democrats have held our government hostage for weeks but thanks to President @realDonaldTrump’s leadership, the government will reopen and federal workers will be paid in the next few days,”
Even by the newspeak standards of the Whitehouse that is some pretty serious bullshit right? Does anyone actually believe this? Of course they do...
 

Leo

Well-known member
turns out he's a "good" negotiator only when republicans hold all three branched of government, and totally stymied now that the democrats rule the house of representative. who would have guessed, right?

it's a total joke and everyone sees through the bullshit. the extent of his negotiating over the past month during the shutdown has been "give me everything I want, full stop", "give me everything I want and I'll give you a temporary reprieve on dreamers/DACA" and finally "I give up, let's reopen the government and see if congress can solve the problem".

awesome leadership from the White House.
 

Leo

Well-known member
comforting...

'Willful Ignorance.' Inside President Trump's Troubled Intelligence Briefings

Senior intelligence briefers are breaking two years of silence to warn that the President is endangering American security with what they say is a stubborn disregard for their assessments. Citing multiple in-person episodes, these intelligence officials say Trump displays what one called “willful ignorance” when presented with analyses generated by America’s $81 billion-a-year intelligence services. The officials, who include analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves, describe futile attempts to keep his attention by using visual aids, confining some briefing points to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible.

What is most troubling, say these officials and others in government and on Capitol Hill who have been briefed on the episodes, are Trump’s angry reactions when he is given information that contradicts positions he has taken or beliefs he holds. Two intelligence officers even reported that they have been warned to avoid giving the President intelligence assessments that contradict stances he has taken in public. …

The danger, one former intelligence official said, is that those leaders and other intelligence briefers may eventually stop taking such risks in laying out the facts for the President.

http://time.com/5518947/donald-trump-intelligence-briefings-national-security/
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
we're entering geopolitical deadlock cos everyone has dickpicks of everyone.

but seriously, imagine the force and power you have to go at someone like bezos, who, with all his wealth is one of the most powerful persons of this globe. now imagine how many smaller threats have been silenced this way.
 
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