Is Trump for real?

sdram wrote:

I’m not trying to stir up anything but this last week makes me wonder about him. Is he truly trying to win or is it all a sham?

Seems like he’s playing the snidely whiplash role – to lose intentionally.

I don’t think he thought he had any chance to win when he first entered the race. I think he was running for the media exposure, and thought he could spend his campaign money on his own companies. Which he did.

Then, I think, his ego got the better of him once he took the lead. But all along, he has not taken campaigning seriously. He has brought in no real help, has no organization in his organization, morale is low on his staff (allegedly), and it doesn’t look good.

I don’t know. He certainly doesn’t act like a man who is seriously trying to win.

Zooey wrote:

sdram wrote:

I’m not trying to stir up anything but this last week makes me wonder about him. Is he truly trying to win or is it all a sham?

Seems like he’s playing the snidely whiplash role – to lose intentionally.

I don’t think he thought he had any chance to win when he first entered the race. I think he was running for the media exposure, and thought he could spend his campaign money on his own companies. Which he did.

Then, I think, his ego got the better of him once he took the lead. But all along, he has not taken campaigning seriously. He has brought in no real help, has no organization in his organization, morale is low on his staff (allegedly), and it doesn’t look good.

I don’t know. He certainly doesn’t act like a man who is seriously trying to win.

I agree with all that you said Zooey. His ego is too big to allow him to take advice from anyone. He beat an incredibly inept and unlikable group of people in the primaries by being an asshole, and he thinks this is how he will win the election against Hillary. He is in for an epic failure and he will blame everyone around him, but not himself.

sdram wrote:

I didn’t pay much attention to the primaries – I was busy flossing or something. Now that I’ve retired I’m catching up on all kinds of stuff. Next week, I’m going to re-grout the bathroom tile in the guest room.

So the town hall or whatever with the crying baby yesterday. Seemed like he thought about his initial response which may or may not have been sarcastic – I couldn’t tell. And then he told the lady to get her crying baby out of the room in front of a room full of his supporters. How does that help him in any way? Shouldn’t he try to be little bit more charming when the room is full of people who think they want to vote for him. He wants them to vote for him right?

He could have held and smiled at the baby – kissed the baby – breathed on the baby – or even just ignored it. Instead this predisposed villain kind of pops out at almost every turn. His whole campaign seems like a scam for some reason to me.

I’d love to help you with the grout project. Tiling has become one of my favorite remodeling gigs. Unless that tile is really small mosaic work, in which case, I’m busy. I’d just tear that out and start over rather than put that much elbow grease into it.

On the baby, I think Trump has actually grown into this persona. As Orwell said, if you wear a mask, your face grows to fit it. His instinct as Presidential Candidate Trump is to play the bully now. He is kind of trapped by that persona. But see…this is the part that makes me question, like you, whether he is serious or not. Because if he REALLY wanted to win, he would have chosen another response, or ignored the baby altogether. He has to know that he needs to get MORE supporters than whom he already has, and he isn’t going to gain MORE support by being a bully. He already has the crowd that is going to respond to the black and white, firm, authoritarian, me-first schtick. To win, he needs to get some of the more moderate folks, and that means kissing some babies along the way. He HAS to know that.

waterfield wrote:

Unfortunately Zooey-I think your wrong. People in this country have come to love the bully. People hear a baby cry in church “want” to say take the baby out of her. Same with people in a theater and a restaurant, etc. But they don’t. People identify with the guy and wish they could do the same thing. Were a country in love with ass holes. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

I’m not sure what I’m wrong about. I concede that people love a bully. What I posited is that the bull-lovers are already lined up behind him, and if he wants to expand his appeal, it won’t be through bullying MORE. Unless you think there are some diehards out there who aren’t convinced that he is enough of a bully, and are waiting to see some serious bully action, like attacking crying babies.

waterfield wrote:

Zooey wrote:

sdram wrote:

I didn’t pay much attention to the primaries – I was busy flossing or something. Now that I’ve retired I’m catching up on all kinds of stuff. Next week, I’m going to re-grout the bathroom tile in the guest room.

So the town hall or whatever with the crying baby yesterday. Seemed like he thought about his initial response which may or may not have been sarcastic – I couldn’t tell. And then he told the lady to get her crying baby out of the room in front of a room full of his supporters. How does that help him in any way? Shouldn’t he try to be little bit more charming when the room is full of people who think they want to vote for him. He wants them to vote for him right?

He could have held and smiled at the baby – kissed the baby – breathed on the baby – or even just ignored it. Instead this predisposed villain kind of pops out at almost every turn. His whole campaign seems like a scam for some reason to me.

I’d love to help you with the grout project. Tiling has become one of my favorite remodeling gigs. Unless that tile is really small mosaic work, in which case, I’m busy. I’d just tear that out and start over rather than put that much elbow grease into it.

On the baby, I think Trump has actually grown into this persona. As Orwell said, if you wear a mask, your face grows to fit it. His instinct as Presidential Candidate Trump is to play the bully now. He is kind of trapped by that persona. But see…this is the part that makes me question, like you, whether he is serious or not. Because if he REALLY wanted to win, he would have chosen another response, or ignored the baby altogether. He has to know that he needs to get MORE supporters than whom he already has, and he isn’t going to gain MORE support by being a bully. He already has the crowd that is going to respond to the black and white, firm, authoritarian, me-first schtick. To win, he needs to get some of the more moderate folks, and that means kissing some babies along the way. He HAS to know that.

Unfortunately Zooey-I think your wrong. People in this country have come to love the bully. People hear a baby cry in church “want” to say take the baby out of her. Same with people in a theater and a restaurant, etc. But they don’t. People identify with the guy and wish they could do the same thing. Were a country in love with ass holes. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

I think you are right. I think the fact that trump is willing to flaunt societal convention is a big turn on for his supporters. The GOP will either grin and bear it or switch sides like Whitman has.

bnw wrote:

“societal convention” if that means Political Correctness then yes flaunting it is common sense and long overdue.

Well, I don’t think it’s ok to be an asshole to people, and usually when people complain about PC that’s what they are defending…the right to be an asshole to people.