Trump Wants You To Snap to Attention

[Some Schmo]

This is the mirror image of the insane crap that Republicans say, in my opinion.

You're just assuming that Trump will attempt to subvert Democracy in the most brazen, idiotic way possible. When he has a million other options to enrich himself and advance his political goals that don't involve completely ignoring the Constitution. Note that for all his whinging about election fraud, he never barricaded himself in the office and refused to leave.

It goes back to my hypothesis that TDS makes Trump's critics say some really ridiculous things.

Well, yeah, if you ignore history for the last 10 years, sure... I must be exaggerating.

TDS is not a real thing, dude, unless you're talking about how deranged his fans are. You have said several ridiculous things in his defense, and you don't even seem like a fan.

[Kishkumen]

Exactly. Expressing concern for any of the things on that list is nothing like the ignorance-based fear I've been talking about.

I notice that no one has really provided a counter-interpretation of the video. No one has tried to quibble on the meaning of the term "people" and suggest any kind of more innocuous reading of this. I just don't think such an apologetic would be at all persuasive because the context really makes it clear what Trump is thinking.

The thing is: Trump may be effective at what he does (manipulate the media and the GOP), but he is not that complex a person. He admires people whom he sees as strong leaders. He measures that strength by an authoritarian rubric. If a leader is feared by his people and they kowtow to him, that is a strong leader in DJT's book, and he wants to be such a leader. He wants "his people" (notice he did not say, "the American people," revealing what he wants the "American people" to become) to fear him and kowtow to him (what he would call "showing respect"), so that he can join the ranks of "strong leaders" in his imagination.

I get that it is very frustrating for the schoolyard bully when people don't cower in fear whenever he comes around. The schoolyard bullies who grow up (physically, at least) and learn more effective methods of getting their way must long for those times when all they had to do was find a person they viewed as weaker and torment them, push them, and punch them. DJT continues to do the same thing. He can't throw a punch, and that frustrates him. He is reduced to childish insults, big talk, and preening for the camera.

He thought that being president would mean he could send out the police or the military to crack down on people who do not show him the "respect" he believes he is entitled to. Not respecting the bullies is, in his mind, not being patriotic, or even being an enemy of the United States.

Donald is not a complicated guy. Watch him for any length of time, and you will see someone with the emotional intelligence of a ten-year-old boy who has spent his life lying, cheating, and bullying his way through the world with the help of his daddy's money. If all of this weren't so pathetic and such a telling reflection of what a third of our populace has been reduced to, and, frankly, dangerous, it would be funny. Sadly, it is deadly serious.

[drumdude]

This is the mirror image of the insane crap that Republicans say, in my opinion.

You're just assuming that Trump will attempt to subvert Democracy in the most brazen, idiotic way possible. When he has a million other options to enrich himself and advance his political goals that don't involve completely ignoring the Constitution. Note that for all his whinging about election fraud, he never barricaded himself in the office and refused to leave.

It goes back to my hypothesis that TDS makes Trump's critics say some really ridiculous things.

Well, yeah, if you ignore history for the last 10 years, sure... I must be exaggerating.

TDS is not a real thing, dude, unless you're talking about how deranged his fans are. You have said several ridiculous things in his defense, and you don't even seem like a fan.

It's a fantasy to think he's just going to stay in power forever. If COVID, the BLM protests, Jan 6th, and the recent assassination attempt have proven anything, it's that our country is more resilient than we think.

In order for Trump to turn into a dictator, the American people and military would have to willingly allow it. Even the strongest Trump fans know how hard previous generations fought to maintain our democratic Republic. It's delusional to think they would throw it all away for one old man, charismatic as he may be.

It's a mistake to grossly mischaracterize your political opponents to the extent that you stop believing they want to stay Americans. Trump demonizes the left like this all the time, we don't need to make the same misstep.

[Some Schmo]

It's a fantasy to think he's just going to stay in power forever. If COVID, the BLM protests, Jan 6th, and the recent assassination attempt have proven anything, it's that our country is more resilient than we think.

In order for Trump to turn into a dictator, the American people and military would have to willingly allow it. Even the strongest Trump fans know how hard previous generations fought to maintain our democratic Republic. It's delusional to think they would throw it all away for one old man, charismatic as he may be.

It's a mistake to grossly mischaracterize your political opponents to the extent that you stop believing they want to stay Americans. Trump demonizes the left like this all the time, we don't need to make the same misstep.

I want to believe everything you said here, and I think you have reasonable reasons for saying it.

I'm just not as confident in America's resilience, I guess.

[Binger]

What I am seeing is that people are excited to snap to the attention of the democratic party, even if the elite democrats swap out the candidate that won 50 states in the democratic Democratic primary. I am seeing people pledging to vote for the Democrat candidate no matter what. Lots of projection going on here. Hell, congressmen and Senators in the Democrat Party are running from Biden - but they will still snap to vote for him. Schiff said Biden should bail, but he and all of the Cali D's will vote for him.

As far as I know, there is nobody posting on this board who lives in Pennsylvania. None of these opinions, including mine, are relevant. And nobody in this conversation has a vote for President that quantifiably matters, including my vote.

The only ballots that matter are ballots counted in the states with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit, Omaha and Phoenix. Enthusiasm to vote or harvest ballots will be based on immigration, inflation, spending on a lost war for NATO and this woke DEI BS/awesomeness. None of those issues favor Biden, so a campaign will focus on the Democrat Candidate not being Trump.

None of this matters. Biden is polling within the margin of error in Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Omaha and Milwaukee. With those cities- Biden, or his replacement, wins. He is no worse off today than he was 4 years ago. The battleground states are the same. Trump is not going to sneak Virginia into his colum. Biden has the clearest path to 270 and all this yammering is cover for a ballot counting contest and media hype. Nobody expects Trump to win Philadelphia, Detroit or Milwaukee.

[Gadianton]

Drumdude,

let's get more specific about what the claims are. What is the possibility that Trump will desperately try to remain in power at the end of his term? I give that 98%.

What chance do you give Trump successfully remaining in power after the end of his term? I give that 10%.

What odds do you think reasonable people would accept, and what odds indicate TDS?"

[Binger]

Drumdude,

let's get more specific about what the claims are. What is the possibility that Trump will desperately try to remain in power at the end of his term? I give that 98%.

What chance do you give Trump successfully remaining in power after the end of his term? I give that 10%.

What odds do you think reasonable people would accept, and what odds indicate TDS?"

No matter what the outcome, Gadianton is correct. He nailed it. Absolutely nailed it. When we are talking about this in 2029, Gadianton will have been exactly and perfectly correct. In light of that, all counterarguments are false and counter theories are not undisproved.

This guy also has a prediction.

[drumdude]

Drumdude,

let's get more specific about what the claims are. What is the possibility that Trump will desperately try to remain in power at the end of his term? I give that 98%.

What chance do you give Trump successfully remaining in power after the end of his term? I give that 10%.

What odds do you think reasonable people would accept, and what odds indicate TDS?"

This is an important distinction. Trump made some sort of attempt to stay in power on Jan 6, but it was a pretty weak one. Basically he said “if you all want to start a coup go for it.” He didn’t do any planning, he didn’t have some grand design. He was just vomiting words like he always does about how unfair he thought the election was and the chips would fall however they fell.

He could say something similar at the end of his second term. That’s probably likely. He could lament the term limit, make hypotheticals about how great the country would be if he ran again. But I don’t see him making some Machiavellian scheme to actually accomplish it.

TDS would be someone putting a high percentage on Trump actually pulling it off. Or even putting together some sort of meaningful plan.

[Kishkumen]

This is an important distinction. Trump made some sort of attempt to stay in power on Jan 6, but it was a pretty weak one. Basically he said “if you all want to start a coup go for it.” He didn’t do any planning, he didn’t have some grand design. He was just vomiting words like he always does about how unfair he thought the election was and the chips would fall however they fell.

He could say something similar at the end of his second term. That’s probably likely. He could lament the term limit, make hypotheticals about how great the country would be if he ran again. But I don’t see him making some Machiavellian scheme to actually accomplish it.

TDS would be someone putting a high percentage on Trump actually pulling it off. Or even putting together some sort of meaningful plan.

The right is a lot better organized and prepared for the next Trump administration than the first one because the first one was almost completely unexpected, even by Trump. The Supreme Court has lined up rulings that will make it possible for Trump to abuse his power within the Executive Branch to force prosecutions related to the election. Any criminal activities undertaken to hold onto power within the Executive Branch are now covered by the new ruling on presidential immunity. He can tell his people to commit crimes and then pardon them. In short, the fear that people had in 2020-2021 will no longer stop those who balked at taking one for the Donald. They are now covered. I don't think you have thought this through, or, at least, you do not show your awareness of these real possibilities.

[Gadianton]

Or even putting together some sort of meaningful plan.

Where we likely differ is on the efforts put into planning. From what I recall, he planned extensively, in fact, he was barely doing his job by the end and spent most of his time entertaining conspiracy theorists and potential conspirators. It seems as if you disagree, that you don't think he was putting significant effort into staying in power?

"Meaningful plan" is very subjective. What does it take to be meaningful? His plan was a range of approaches, all of which had a low chance of working or required efforts from his subordinates that they weren't will to perform. You don't think the fake elector scheme was real? Do you think the court cases are just for show? And his 60+ cases to the Supreme Court, which were obviously nothing more than "return the favor for putting you there!" weren't real or took effort?

Another dimension to the word "meaningful" could be likelihood to succeed. Our nation wasn't built to fall to coups. It's difficult in advance to predict what's going to work. We won't know where the security hole is, we'll only know it when it's been exploited, and Trump's efforts have been to send out as many of his allies as he can get to roam the neighborhood testing for unlocked doors.