The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump

[Totenkindly]

What's sadly ironic is that I had to do VOD ethics training this morning about this kind of stuff (who you can accept favors from at work, whether you can run private business while on gov time and so on)... and it's now just feeling like one big joke. It's hard for gov employees to take these admonitions seriously when the president and administration violate it regularly. Of course we still have to -- we'll get in trouble for this kind of thing -- but I guess when you're at the top, you can violate the rules with impunity.

EDIT:
Any Federal Employee Giving Himself A Contract Could Be In Jail – But Not Trump

 

[The Cat]

 

[Jaguar]

Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President
Admiral William H. McRaven
The retired US Navy Adm., a Navy SEAL who oversaw the raid that took out al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011

As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!”

Those words echoed with me throughout the week. It is easy to destroy an organization if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great. We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?

President Trump seems to believe that these qualities are unimportant or show weakness. He is wrong. [...] And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.

Opinion | Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President - The New York Times


And if someone has a problem with bin Laden being killed, move to another fucking country.

 

[anticlimatic]

I think conservatives by and large are over the Trump show, despite how satisfying it's been watching the totalitarian left lose its shit over him every second of every day for these last few years.

If Democrats had the capacity to not be even more batshit insane and run someone even remotely close to grounded and rational the trump show would be over next year, but that probably isn't going to happen.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I don't think more interventionist, world policeman rhetoric from former military industrial complex stooges is really the right answer to the Trump problem. Part of that is what led to someone like Trump coming to power in the first place. "Earth, Hitler, 1938" -James T Kirk

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

What's sadly ironic is that I had to do VOD ethics training this morning about this kind of stuff (who you can accept favors from at work, whether you can run private business while on gov time and so on)... and it's now just feeling like one big joke. It's hard for gov employees to take these admonitions seriously when the president and administration violate it regularly. Of course we still have to -- we'll get in trouble for this kind of thing -- but I guess when you're at the top, you can violate the rules with impunity.

Occasionally I see Trump supporters say, "sure, he's an abrasive, corrupt guy, but he's working on draining the swamp!" I really think that's why a lot of his hardcore supporters are still sticking with him. It's just frustrating that they can't see that as he drains the swamp, he's steadily dumping raw sewage right into the spot where the swamp used to be.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I don't think more interventionist, world policeman rhetoric from former military industrial complex stooges is really the right answer to the Trump problem. Part of that is what led to someone like Trump coming to power in the first place. "Earth, Hitler, 1938" -James T Kirk

True, but this isn't that simple. The thing is that if someone is challenging you there can be no real peace. If USA looses it's global influence it will implode in current state, especially since someone else will fill the power vacuum and take all the benefits and resources. Any man must be careful in choosing his fights in the terms of when and where but the struggle is real and USA just physically can't back from this.


Military fails happened mostly because the strategy was a complete shit and there were no plans how to rebuild countries after interventions, what led to the mass resistance and permanent chaos. If you can't fix water supply at home then you surely can't do it across the world, but that is a matter of attitude more than anything else. After all "interventionism" doesn't have to be militaristic one. However any of this just wouldn't change the fact that the second world is back in the game and the resources of this world are getting more and more depleted.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

True, but this isn't that simple. The thing is that if someone is challenging you there can be no real peace. If USA looses it's global influence it will implode in current state, especially since someone else will fill the power vacuum and take all the benefits and resources. Any man must be careful in choosing his fights in the terms of when and where but the struggle is real and USA just physically can't back from this.


Military fails happened mostly because the strategy was a complete shit and there were no plans how to rebuild countries after interventions, what led to the mass resistance and permanent chaos. If you can't fix water supply at home then you surely can't do it across the world, but that is a matter of attitude more than anything else. After all "interventionism" doesn't have to be militaristic one. However any of this just wouldn't change the fact that the second world is back in the game and the resources of this world are getting more and more depleted.

Expand or whither away. The eternal dilemma with all empires.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Expand or whither away. The eternal dilemma with all empires.

More like hold and repair (at least for now). Almost all empires in the end failed by good margin exactly because they had no patience for the lack of movement and rethinking/upgrading.

 

[Totenkindly]

Occasionally I see Trump supporters say, "sure, he's an abrasive, corrupt guy, but he's working on draining the swamp!" I really think that's why a lot of his hardcore supporters are still sticking with him. It's just frustrating that they can't see that as he drains the swamp, he's steadily dumping raw sewage right into the spot where the swamp used to be.

I'm not even seeing what swamp he is draining, frankly.

He's swapping in people, but there's an awful lot of professionals leaving the administration / government who were doing the work of making sure everything, well, continued to work properly. Now we have a bunch of amateurs who don't know the rules, don't know the processes, and are thus running roughshod over the law as well as effective engagement behaviors. We just have never hit a point where something completely derailed... but I think Turkey/Kurds was one of the most blatant derails we've experienced where the crows came home to roost.

It sounds like all the professionals for a long time were alarmed and trying to cover (although some fled) ... but now they are either worn out or just see it as best to get out of dodge before the city burns to the ground. Same goes for all the leaks and whistleblowing; people are realizing things have just eroded to the point of becoming truly untenable, and they know they need to be one of the first ones out if they're going to survive the crash.

I ideally would like to say anyone can lead our government -- land of opportunity and all that -- but the reality people don't get is that one should really understand the legal boundaries and precedents, and one should also understand the processes by which consensus is made and deals are developed constructively. What amazes me is the myth of Trump -- he was REALLY successful at pretending to have it all together and making a big name for himself, while in actuality we are now seeing he's pretty incapable of running enterprises except out of fear, and by doctoring the books, and bullying naysayers, and simply expecting people to ask "how high" when he tells them to jump. He doesn't build consensus, he doesn't take advice, he doesn't analyze problems, everything is just based on his own prejudices and impulses. How did he stay afloat for so long before the presidency? Was he actually afloat? He sure managed to build himself into a legend, for what seems like subpar executive skill. And he still has a lot of people hanging on his every word.

Creating the "myth of Trump" seems to be his greatest achievement, honestly.

 

[Jaguar]

I'm not even seeing what swamp he is draining, frankly.

Nothing is being drained, the streets are now flooded. I may buy a hovercraft.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Occasionally I see Trump supporters say, "sure, he's an abrasive, corrupt guy, but he's working on draining the swamp!" I really think that's why a lot of his hardcore supporters are still sticking with him. It's just frustrating that they can't see that as he drains the swamp, he's steadily dumping raw sewage right into the spot where the swamp used to be.

I got kinda stuck on this sentiment too. While I'd agree that he's additionally erected a full-on Legion of Doom on the swamp that was there, I don't see how anyone can effectively claim that he's drained anything.

Although I talked to a conservative friend about this and gathered that the term "swamp" doesn't seem to have a solid meaning that travels well across partisan lines. He claimed it was called the swamp due to incompetence instead of greed/corruption, so in his mind firing people who weren't doing a great job was "draining the swamp." (After a bit of researching the etymology of it, I'm inclined to maintain that it really is more about greed/corruption - because that's how it started - but whatever).

/side tangent

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

More like hold and repair (at least for now). Almost all empires in the end failed by good margin exactly because they had no patience for the lack of movement and rethinking/upgrading.

Yesterday's innovators become tomorrow's conservatives. It happened to Rome and all of the other great empires.

 

[ceecee]

I got kinda stuck on this sentiment too. While I'd agree that he's additionally erected a full-on Legion of Doom on the swamp that was there, I don't see how anyone can effectively claim that he's drained anything.

Although I talked to a conservative friend about this and gathered that the term "swamp" doesn't seem to have a solid meaning that travels well across partisan lines. He claimed it was called the swamp due to incompetence instead of greed/corruption, so in his mind firing people who weren't doing a great job was "draining the swamp." (After a bit of researching the etymology of it, I'm inclined to maintain that it really is more about greed/corruption - because that's how it started - but whatever).

/side tangent

There hasn't been a truly qualified person hired for a single position in this administration. So I have no idea what people like this are thinking - I don't think conservatives that support Trump understand what expertise is in these areas either. Here's the latest of the "best people" he's appointed or hired.

Trump chose self-help Illuminati author for federal education board - Business Insider

These people also have no idea what "drain the swamp" is. It means to drain the capitalist swamp of cronyism and corruption.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Yesterday's innovators become tomorrow's conservatives. It happened to Rome and all of the other great empires.

Call it cultural bias on my part but I don't see this as fundamentally true.


Actually hold/repair/upgrade isn't really innovative mindset. This is pure maintenance and since people at the top are generally extroverts or "idealists" they tend to run system to the ground by ignoring this. Actually with pushing constant and speedy innovation you have decent chances to wreck the system. Since not all experts wouldn't have the time to keep up, there probably wouldn't be enough people to implement it at once everywhere, everyone will want to invent and maintenance will be ignored, you get incompatible systems or flawed systems ... etc.



This is probably why America isn't doing well since just about everyone wants to rule/conquer, innovate, trade, entertain etc. While foundation and production on which everything stands is basically ignored. Therefore production is being outsourced and infrastructure ... who cares (for the most part).

 

[Virtual ghost]

To be honest I am not here to piss on people or argue until the end of days. It is just that I am frustrated by the fact that globally democracy and many nice things will go to shit as it stands ... and I see it as something that is preventable.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

These people also have no idea what "drain the swamp" is. It means to drain the capitalist swamp of cronyism and corruption.

I can't help but think the meaning of "swamp" was intentionally altered a bit, for PR, so that claims of draining it could plausibly be pitched. Towards people who have been hearing about how "the swamp" is a bad thing for as long as they can remember but don't know exactly what it is. Kind of like how defining "poverty" differently can enable a politician to honestly claim the % in poverty decreased, even if the actual situations are worse.

And yeah, this administration has made hyperbolically bad swampy choices to hire from the get go.

 

[Jaguar]

To be honest I am not here to piss on people or argue until the end of days. It is just that I am frustrated by the fact that globally democracy and many nice things will go to shit as it stands ... and I see it as something that is preventable.

Recent headline:

Turkey fired on U.S. special forces in Syria. It's absurd that it still has U.S. nukes. It’s folly for the U.S. to expose itself to potential nuclear blackmail by keeping these weapons in a country with which it's increasingly in conflict.

Nah, it's all fine. Really. We're good.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Recent headline:


Nah, it's all fine. Really. We're good.

Well, Erdogan is obviously triggered by the certain letter he received the other day.


But if you want the truth I don't find it anything less schizophrenic that the country exports concrete industry into the country that is evident militaristic and cultural rival. Or the NBA "scandal" from the other day. These are all serious strategic mistakes.

 

[Jaguar]

.