The Trouble Is Trump May Be The Best Of The Lot.

[TheMastersNemesis]

The real problem is that none of the other GOP candidates are really really any better then Trump. And some are even worse and that includes Kasich who is a real devil who looks better.

Even a discussion of their policies is absurd because ALL their policies are destructive and mean. One of these goons will get the nomination. And they will have a chance to win considering the political conditions in the country.

Not a single one of the mean spirited racist bigoted Christianazis is worth what you flush down a toilet. Yet the MSM portrays any one of them as legitimate presidential material.

And I know a lot of idots around me who would enthusiastically and viciously support them.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. No. Trump is *not* better than the rest of them.

Granted, they are all pretty awful.

But Trump, unrestrained by the political system and his own ego, would likely be the worst.

He's insane. Literally insane. Zero impulse control. Thinks only of his own personal gratification. That's the stuff that dictators are made of.

That being said, nothing good can come from the whole lot.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. But he would be restrained by reality

Trump thinks things work like they do in a business, and they do NOT work that way in government. He can't simply order a wall built and it will be built. He can't cancel treaties that are the law of the land. He cannot simply call up the Army to start arresting "illegal aliens" and deporting them.

Trump would be impeached inside of six months.

Practically all of the candidates have expressed intentions to do things the law simply will not allow them to do. so I don't see much difference in any of them.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. I think he could possibly try to do those things, regardless of their legality.

Whether he'd have the military and law enforcement to support him in such efforts is an entirely different question.

Bush, Walker, Rubio, Kasich, whomever would be restrained somewhat by the political system, as they have all their careers. Now, if we don't muster up good numbers in Congress, that restraint might be token, but still there'd be a sense of boundaries there. I don't see the same boundaries by Trump.

It's a bit of a Pick Your Poison and certainly a no-win scenario, but I think Trump's poison, coming in the form of megalomania, has the potential to be a lot more potent and fast acting.

[Kelvin Mace]

15. He is not going to get elected, unless

the DNC does something incredibly stupid, like refuse to back Sanders if HRC implodes.

[Fumesucker]

12. Who would impeach Trump?

The Democrats?

The Republicans?

[Kelvin Mace]

14. I think both, to be honest

once he started trying to order the military around like his own private Gestapo.

[Fumesucker]

16. Personally I think Trump is sandbagging like mad and laughing at all the rubes who believe him

I doubt he actually believes a fraction of the garbage he spouts. A DUer who has done business with Trump posted the other day that privately Trump's not much like his public persona, much nicer.

Trump scares me considerably less than Cruz or even Jeb!

[Kelvin Mace]

20. I am on the fence

As to whether Trump is a performance or megalomaniac. Cruz genuinely believes the crazy shit he spouts and the Bush Boys are sociopaths.

[MH1]

2. I agree with every word you wrote.

The only way I think Trump might be worse is actually handling a critical foreign policy situation. Not so much that any of the others would have better objectives, but they just might be less of a total freakin' disaster. Okay I'm struggling to give an example but I guess even though we wouldn't want Graham anywhere near the big red button, at least he'd be less likely to push it out of a deer-in-the-headlights freakout.

[randys1]

3. Sort of, and what Tommy says on this thread is valid also. Here is the rub

Trump is LIBERAL LEFT on taxing hedge funds and rich people.

Big time.

So while he would also be a literal nightmare on other stuff, he would do something NO OTHER republican candidate in our lifetimes will even consider, properly taxing the public under a progressive tax system which will result in tremendous improvements for all.

The will NEVER do that, he will.

Dont get me wrong, I will work 24/7 to make sure our candidate wins, no matter who our candidate is.

But, Trump is bad in many ways but not all.

Also, he doesn't want to be president.

The guy has not worked a full day in his life.

Bush/W hated being president, he wanted to play golf and video games, literally, and was forced to do grownup stuff way more often than he liked.

Trump would last 24 hours and then be exhausted and would pull a Palin.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. Trump's framing himself as a populist because it's in his best interest to do so.

The GOP gave him a platform to emulate himself and he's positioning himself in the best position possible.

There's a truth to the fact that he doesn't need to kiss up to the plutocrats to get by. That doesn't mean he ultimately doesn't share the plutocrat's own best interests, given that he himself is one.

But because he's in a far better position regarding self-financing, he knows that his only obstacle is getting the quantity of votes. And that means playing to the Republican base because that's where the numbers are (in people, not dollars because he already has that.)

Does the Republican base care about the Carried Interest Tax Deduction? Hardly. But tell them your favorite book is the Bible and talk about deporting Mexicans and you'll have them eating out of your hand.

Now, does Donald Trump honestly want to get rid of the Carried Interest Tax Deduction if he's (shudders) elected president? I have no clue. If I'm a betting man, I'd probably say no. It doesn't work in his own best interests, and if we know anything about Donald Trump, the only thing that matters to Donald Trump is Donald Trump.

But by saying he's for getting rid of the Carried Interest Tax Deduction, it almost works as a "My favorite book is the Bible!" for centrists and maybe even some confused members of the left, i.e., "Yes, Donald Trump is raging egomaniac with no political experience and no concrete plausible policy solutions, but he said he's against the Carried Interest Tax Deduction so he can't be all bad!"

The bottom line is that for all this "outsider" stuff, Trump's just another sleazeball politician, saying anything to try to get elected.

Now does he want to be President? The jury's still out of that, I believe.

The better question is, does he want to be dictator?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I wouldn't say he's the best of the lot.

They are all spectacularly terrible but in different ways. Trump is terrible because his raging narcissism combined with his ignorance of anything related to how government works is likely to get us into a whole world of hurt, especially internationally. If we were the laughingstock of the world on account of electing W, just imagine how our image would tank if "we" elected that buffoon.

The others are awful because of their insane policies and positions. Trump is awful because of himself. Not sure which would be worse.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Exactly. nt

[joeybee12]

8. Scary, but true...

They all suck, and while I wouldn't say he's the best of the sorry lot, I will say that none are any better.

[HooptieWagon]

10. There is nothing in Trumps resume or temperament...

...that suggests he'd be anything other than a disaster as POTUS, measured from any point on the spectrum.
Trump would be like Rick Scott...coming from a business world where he's in effect a dictator, to the public sector where he's in the spotlight, has to compromise, has to comply with special laws. Except Trump would be POTUS instead of a Governor.
Some of the GOP candidates fall into the same category as Trump. Others have at least held public office, and though we may disagree vastly with their positions, at least they executed the functions of the office somewhat competently.

[TheMastersNemesis]

11. That's The Problem They Were Competent In Employing Their Destructive Policies.

[HooptieWagon]

13. I'm talking competence in the basics.

Paying the bills, keeping govt functioning, avoiding major scandal, at least generally following the law.
For example, JEB's policies were pretty bad, but at least he kept the executive branch functioning. Rick Scott can't even manage that....same goes for Scott Walker and Christie.

[olddots]

17. all of them should be bussing tables at Hooters

or cleaning Porto Potties after a chili cook off for Klan members .

[phleshdef]

18. Trump could be to the left of Sanders and I still would NEVER vote for him.

He is not mentally healthy. I'd rather have someone I completely disagree with on policy in the White House than someone who is obviously missing as much upstairs as Trump is.

[hifiguy]

19. The repuke field is insane beyond recapture.

I posted this three years ago. I am both bemused and existentially horrified that it has come to pass.
___________

The Repukes have mutated into some horrifying, malevolent interplanetary virus like something out of Plan 9 From Outer Space or Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I can't believe that I have seen this kind of insanity in my lifetime. The assortment of kooks, psychopaths, fly-eating dingbats, racists and flat out lunatics that was the Repuke primary field left me boggled. Not a one of these people with the sole exception of Jon Huntsman - who seems like a civil and rational adult, and you saw what happened to him - would ever have been taken seriously as a candidate for park commissioner in a one-horse town only 25 years ago yet there they were.

McCain's disastrous pick of Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods seemed to unlock the door to the dungeon where all the even crazier people were locked up, and the flatulent, belching and wheezing orcs came boiling out of that dungeon like raw crude out of a broken oil pipe in the Gulf. Now they're in the middle of the dinner party, scaring the cat half to death, taking bites out of the dog and dropping boot-sized turds in the corner. And no one knows how to get rid of them. Their level of discourse, if such it can be called, sounds like Beethoven's Ninth if Ludwig van had composed it for an orchestra composed of jackhammers, rabid raccoons and the local insane asylum's kazoo and anvil band.

This collection of troglodytic mouth-breathers, duck-fuckers, greedheads, and evolutionary throwbacks, immune to facts or reason, have scared me badly, really badly and they cannot be permitted to get within a parsec of the White House. The late, great Hunter S. Thompson once said that when the going gets weird the weird turn pro. What has happened to this country would have sent him on a Wild Turkey and Ibogaine bender for six months.

September 7. 2012 http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1292588

______________

It appears I was, if anything, optimistic.