Absolutely Fascinating
I was awake late last night and then early this morning. I think like most, I expected Clinton to win. WOW! What a shock. I’ll probably surprise you by not saying anything negative. That’s because I’m a great believer in good systems. The US may be imperfect in many ways, but it’s a country that has various good systems. It’s also a country where there are many, many well qualified, intelligent and educated people who are part of said systems. It’s entirely unlikely the country is going to turn into Venezuela or the USSR over the next four years. No gulags. No political arrests. No re-establishment of slavery or segregation.
At this point I must admit I feel I’ve made a mistake. For Trump’s message to resonate with as many people as it does, it means there is a socio-economic problem in America which must be much more significant than I had imagined. I still don’t see how ending free trade (or building walls) could possibly fix problems of that nature; but if what he’s going to try to do is somehow address those issues it’s in the country’s (and the world’s) best interest to wish him luck.
So to all in the US, I wish you good luck.
My Mazamet 
Now he’s won this series of “Americas Next Top Politician” I wonder if he’s going to find doing the same job 24/7 for the next four years something of a booby prize…
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It’ll be interesting to watch. Despite the bombast, many of his positions are diametrically opposed to those of the Republican party. I wonder how they’ll work that out?
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Did you see his young son by his side when he declared victory? He couldn’t have been less excited. The only member of the entourage who hasn’t been media trained to within an inch of his life. 😀
He’s really only a republican of convenience isn’t he, using the name of the party to give his campaign a head start. I’m interested to see what kind of phoenix will rise from the ashes of such a fractured party and what kind of candidate they’ll be fielding in the future. I don’t imagine they’ll allow themselves to be hijacked in such a way again.
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That’s the part I find fascinating. People can call him many things, but something he isn’t is an ideologue. He’s one of those 1980’s Wall Street guys interested in money and women. He wants to have dinner with Kings and Queens and feel special.
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Yes, you don’t go into reality tv unless you crave attention, but now that will be more scrutiny than attention. And of course the minutiae of running a country will never make him feel as special as changing rooms filled with supermodels… 😉
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If it weren’t for the Supreme Court, it could be hilarious.
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I predict nothing at all will happen… and a moderate will be appointed to the Supreme Court 🙂
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You jest.
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I agree. He may be a huge lame duck…
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If I learned anything from the past few month, it’s not to make ANY predictions.
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My only prediction is I have no predictions. They’ve all been wrong, so why make more? Ok I’ll make one: It’s going to be a bumpy ride for the next 4 years, and not just in the US.
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No doubt there. Can you imagine a Secretary of State Rudy Giuliani? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahhahahahhaaha
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Mr. Merveileux,
Rudy would make an even better head of the Department of Justice or the FBI.
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He can’t govern by himself. He still has plenty of opposition and will need to moderate and even reverse some of his more strident and offensive positions to do anything. Not even his supreme Court nominees will be without opposition. It’s not the end of the world or Armageddon.
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Thank you, Mr. Merveilleux!
Rest assured that new President Trump isn’t going to end free trade or immigration.
He is simply going to make deals that favor US interests and reestablish the rule of law.
Outgoing President Obama actually, publically encouraged illegal immigrants to exercise their right as citizens to vote.
Since non-citizens are by law, not allowed to vote, the US for the last eight years has had a President who was in open rebellion against the laws of his own country.
He was aided and abetted by a Republican congress and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
President Trump is going to drain the swamp of corruption and tyranny that has infested US government.
So be at ease as law, order and social justice return to the United States.
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As I said… good luck! Has Trump explained how free trade can be renegotiated?
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I believe that’s ‘President Elect’, SoM. But of course, you knew that.
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Of course you are correct.
I suppose my enthusiasm has gotten the better of me.
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I’m sure it has. Congratulations.
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Yes, good luck in managing the Trump disaster.
When he’s been removed from office, do be sure to re-attached your phone lines and contact the outside world… and let us know what emmergency aid we have to send so you can start your rebuilding.
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You are way too cynical, Mister Z.
Worse than George? I doubt it.
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If his budget passes, US debt to GDP will soar over 100%.
Still, it’s going to be hilarious watching him back down from his $3 trillion WALLLLLLLL!
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If we thought the Republican party was imploding before… let’s see what happens now.
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You reckon he will actually go ahead with that?
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He’ll quickly be the laughing stock if he doesn’t.
Of course, it won’t happen. I saw a cost projection for maintenance alone and it was something like $80 billion a year.
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”All in all it’s just another …. brick in the wall”
I doubt people ever took him at his word in this regard.
They just loved the fact he had the balls to get up and say something so damned outrageous.
He seems to have picked his targets and choice of material very astutely, does he not?
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The American right wing isn’t known for its smarts.
On the upside, David Duke (KKK leader) is so happy he’s tweeting like there’s no tomorrow.
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I wonder how Duke’ll feel when none of the promises materialize.
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Not one of President Obama’s promises materialized.
Yet you folks never say a word about it.
Why don’t you just sit back, relax and watch a master builder go to work.
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Reams and reams or sheets and sheets?
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Just saw the figure, he wants to spend $500bn in infrastructure
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Lovely, isn’t it?
” Now, Republican Congress, can I have a cheque, please…”
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John,
Walls just stand there doing what they do, no maintenance necessary.
And since when does a flaming leftist like you care about the cost of any big government project?
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John,
Hillary is a proven criminal and liar.
People who support her are like the German people during the 1930’s who supported an organized gang of thugs called the NAZI’s.
Like the German people then, people like you now, have no idea that you support a ruthless, totalitarian regime.
Hillary has been around for 40 years and her proven record of criminality speaks for itself.
But like the German people, lo those many decades ago, you simply refuse to see what has been right before your eyes, right out in the open.
The Unites States came within a hair’s breadth of completely giving itself over to a ruthless organized crime syndicate.
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Like I said… Call when you’ve removed Trump from office and let us kow what aid to send so you can start rebuilding what’s about to be broken.
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John,
THE Donald’s policies are just like Ronald Reagans’ which led to the fall of the Soviet Union and 30 years of prosperity.
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… and trippled your debt.
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Oh, and be sure to grab some pussy for me, SOM.
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John,
You grab your own pussy and I’ll grab mine.
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But you have Donald now to grab yours.
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John,
The US national debt under President Obama went from $10 trillion to $20 trillion.
Why doesn’t that bother you at all?
And Reagan was dealing with a Democrat Congress.
Back in Reagan’s day it was the Congress that managed government spending.
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It was 12 trillion when he took office and is now 17 trillion. You’ve seen the biggest decreasing in deficit under Obama in 20 years.
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John,
I bring up that Hillary is a proven criminal and you completely ignore it and start a completely bogus argument about the US national dept.
Leftists like you couldn’t care less about the national debt.
Apparently you don’t care that Hillary Clinton is a proven liar and criminal who aided and abetted her proven to be a sexual predator husband, Bill Clinton, in his sexual crimes.
Why is it that you ignore the Clintons’ actual sex crimes but make a big deal out of THE Donald’s dirty talk?
It’s because leftists don’t care about the Clintons’ actual war on women any more than they care about the US national debt.
You’re just flapping your gums and foaming at the mouth with rabid hatred.
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Could you name the charges brought against her, and identify the criminal court in which her trial was heard?
Sexual predator is Trump.
It’s going to be interesting… He has a rape trial begining in January.
Have you ever had a President-elect defending rape charges in court?
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John,
You can read it all for yourself in their own words.
All the emails, all of Hillary’s trafficking in top secret information.
Since the executive branch (that would be President Obama) owns the justice department there won’t be any charges against Hillary until President Trump’s justice department takes over.
He has promised to have her prosecuted and sent prison.
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Vladimir will be so, so, so very proud of his lap dog.
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DOJ is a part of the executive branch. The independent power is judicial. You can’t have impartial prosecution.
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Obama is still the president, I suppose. How come that he allows the probe into the emails if he owns the DOJ? Where’s logic in your claims?
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Now the fun begins. Because the Republicans have made a clean sweep, let’s start demanding solutions. The Republicans have made sure that the status quo is never good enough, that it must change, that it’s the Democrat’s fault for every problem because they haven’t fixed it. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Fix everything. Now.
The Republican idiots are about to find out that no matter what they do, they and they alone are responsible for not fixing everything now. They’ve created a dysfunctional government and now get to own it. We’re about to see the Republicans become the most despised party ever to hold all branches of government because they’ve ensured – as the famous Part of No – that the government has to remain dysfunctional.
Let’s watch the debt soar. Let’s watch these famous tax cuts in action and revel in how these institutions implode, how they cease to be able to fix the very problems Republicans have blamed on the Democrats.
I tell you, this is going to be fun and people like SoM are going to sputter on and on and on about blaming everyone and everything even when their party controls all the power and reveal just how pathetic is their grasp on reality.
Go ahead, and cut all the supports for all those idiots who voted for Trump in the name of a failed trickle down fiscal policy and see how your political support evaporates before your power-hungry eyes. The solution is either a disaster for the Republicans OR a fascist state that is a disaster for all of us. Guess which one the Republicans will choose as we hold them accountable for the gong show they’ve planned for, implemented, and now get to star in?
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It’ll be quite the show.
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Tildeb,
The People have demanded solutions.
That is why THE Donald was elected.
Hillary was just four more years of the same Obama crap, lies and corruption.
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SOM, Obama and Clinton are history now. You are beating a dead horse. Now is time to deliver on the promises. I’d focus on that.
BTW, one of the questions at the citizenship interview is “have you voted in any U.S. elections?” I suppose a “yes” answer would be disqualifying. Perhaps, Obama was trying to make Trump’s job to deport the immigrants easier?
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Agrudzinsky,
Obama and the Clintons are NOT history now.
They are three of the most powerful people in the United States.
And they aren’t going to sit idly by as a President Trump dismantles their federal government-crony empire.
You don’t remember the Clintons like I do from 25 years ago.
Back then it was the same story of never ending corruption, strong arm tactics to silence people (especially women) who stood up to tell the truth.
The Obama’s and the Clintons will only be history when they die of old age.
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I don’t see Obama as corrupt. Clintons, perhaps (by American standards). But you have not seen corruption and crony-based government monopoly. You should go to Russia or Ukraine. Trump seems so much in love with Putin who has a habit of sending large business owners to jail and giving their businesses to state monopolies headed by his cronies. He awards large government contracts like building the winter Olympic complex in subtropical Sochi or a bridge to Crimea to the companies run by his former judo buddies. Russian attorney general runs a family racketeering business and uses his power to extort businesses with fake law suits and handing these businesses over to companies run by his sons. That’s a model leader of a country for Trump with whom he wants to “get along”. If Trump is against government-crony empires, he should despise Putin and not admire him. It’s a bit inconsistent.
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Agrudzinsky,
If you don’t see President Obama’s corruption it is because you aren’t paying attention.
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Som- do you have any idea of how many comments you’ve left here today? Just consider for one second if you think it’s healthy (for yourself) to live in this combative & antagonistic mindset? What do you feel is accomplished?
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Mr. Merveilleux,
I am an evangelist for truth, justice and the American Way.
I love what I say here. And I love myself for saying it.
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If you stare into an empty space and imagine you see something there, soon you will really start seeing it. What is it that I’m not aware of? Any facts?
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Is there a name for that phenomena?
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I tried to find it, but instead came across this interesting forum thread
http://www.uncommonforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=22204. It may be relevant.
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I suppose, the Trump university fraud is not corruption in your view?
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Agrudzinsky,
THE Donald, being a private citizen, is subject to the law.
If he acted in a corrupt manner that broke the law, he will be held accountable, one way or the other.
But the Obama Regime is above the law.
They are unaccountable and can get away with anything they want since they own the justice system.
This is the fundamental flaw with Democrat Party leftist political philosophy.
It takes all the flaws of a free market system, puts them on steroids and then puts people in charge of a system that is above the law.
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I see. Nobody can see Obama’s corruption because it’s invisible. It’s also pink and has one horn. Obama uses magic to conceal it.
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Wait a second… are you saying I’m Obama’s corruption? Just so you know, I have two horns, not one.
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And the fact that nobody can see Obama’s corruption is the proof that he uses magic to conceal it. Hey, I’m open to believe that Obama is corrupt. But do you have a single fact, please? And doesn’t it worry you that a man with a few open lawsuits against him and propensity to fraud, intimidation, and racketeering will “own the DOJ” in a couple months?
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By the way, name at least one civil law suit or even a fraud allegation against Obama, can you?
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Agrudzinsky,
The Justice Department is owned and operated by the Executive branch of government (President Obama).
Therefore, there is no way to bring charges against President Obama and his cronies.
The head of the FBI is ordered to declare Hillary Clinton as pure as the wind driven snow and so it is.
And that is in spite of all the proof, cited by the same FBI director.
The only way to drain the swamp of Obama-Clinton corruption in Washington DC is to elect an government outsider like THE Donald.
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I can understand the support for Trump’s economic policies (although I would seriously doubt their effectiveness). But what do you think of the intent to dismantle the environmental protection regulations? Do you support the idea of trashing the American environment by opening up the federal lands to oil drilling and building oil pipes? Do you support lifting restrictions on burning coal? Why is that a good idea? Do you want Americans wear masks and die from cancer like people do in China? Global warming aside.
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Agrudzinsky,
Investigative reporter Michelle Malkin wrote the New York Times best seller, “Culture of Corruption” back in 2009.
It’s a great book and everything bit of information is sourced and cited.
Concerning his presidency, we now know that Obama lied about ObamaCare in order to get it passed.
He lied about his economic stimulus plan.
He lied about fixing America’s infrastructure.
He lied about uniting the country and healing racial division.
He lied about bringing about world peace.
And you don’t care.
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I’ll check it out. But what was his personal gain from these lies? And what makes you think Trump doesn’t lie?
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Agrudzinsky,
If nobody can see President Obama’s corruption, why was his entire agenda repudiated by the election of THE Donald.
If nobody saw President Obama’s corruption, Hillary would have been elected president.
The fact is you are blind.
That is why you can’t see President Obama’s corruption.
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Fascinated by this delusion that Trump will “drain the swamp”. Delusions have abounded this election, but I find this one particularly intriguing given it has NO basis in reality, even if you squint.
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Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! Don’t answer him! Total loonfest.
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Josh,
The way to break government corruption is to defund it and get rid of the crooks.
THE Donald’s policy approach to draining the swamp is across the board tax cuts, especially on businesses, and term limits on members of congress.
An independent justice department would also be helpful.
As we see with Hillary’s criminality, a sympathetic justice department lets crooks get away with anything they want.
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I’m waiting for the reaction of people when Trump’s promises about how he is going to bring back coal, bring back mill jobs, and renegotiate trade deals, build a wall, all are reneged on.
Now, what will the reaction be? Will the gullible rebel or will they just follow the person who makes even bigger promises? It’s great fun to watch Christians like SOM take up Satan’s promise on the mountain.
It s cute to watch you tell more lies about Obama, SOM. Thank you for showing that you have no more respect for Christianity than I do. But please do tell us how Obama was in “open rebellion against the laws of his own country”. What is your evidence for that, dear SOM? Or will you run away again?
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Social justice is defined as “… promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity.” It exists when “all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources.”
Just saying.
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Yeah, Metan, just saying.
Why weren’t you saying it during the eight disastrous years of the Obama Regime.
It’s because you leftist don’t really care about social justice.
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Well, just in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not American, and wasn’t really interested in your politics until recently. I find the way you treat your politicians utterly fascinating, you all seem to really love them, and actually want to trust them! Astounding.
We have very short election campaigns here (mere weeks), and consider that period of time quite enough punishment. Not only that, if any of our candidates put on a rally expecting supporters to cheer their pronouncements they wouldn’t need to hire anything larger than a suburban scout hall, and would still have to put on a free lunch.
We are a naturally anti-authoritarian, secular, society who expects that politicians promises are insubstantial (so of course I’m very interested to see how many of Trump’s promises are fulfilled), the only reason our Prime Minister got the gig was because we liked the other guy less.
Both parties policies regarding equitable treatment and support for human rights were constantly questioned, and continue to be an important issue, the party that won (the right) almost lost due to a (false) last minute suggestion they would mess with our free healthcare. Social justice is an important issue here, on both sides of the political divide.
I put that definition above because I believe that you were narrowing the definition of social justice to the point where it only included white Americans, rather than all humans.
By the way, I voted to the right in our recent election, so don’t automatically assume that someone who questions Trump’s grip on reality is one of your despised leftists, and I’ll try not to assume all of Trump’s supporters aren’t capable of independent thought.
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In France when we’re being super-friendly to ministers we just boo and throw eggs 🙂
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😀 love a society that doesn’t hold its pollies in too much reverence.
I think what we love the most about ours is the constant fodder for comedians, after all, what’s the point of them if we can’t laugh at them.
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Actually, I’m watching the news right now and it’s interesting to see people out in the streets protesting the election results. As only around 50ish% of eligible voters turned out I wonder if a lot of people assumed that Clinton would win and didn’t bother to queue? (Kicking themselves now I’m sure).
Amazing that your country seemed so passionate about each of the candidates (hating is passion too) but not everyone wanted to have their say. I wonder what kind of result there would have been with a higher turnout, or if voting was on a weekend, or if there was a viable third option.
I find it interesting that you vote on a Tuesday, do people take the day off to vote? Or do they just try to fit it into their normal day?
Hmmm… Twinkly music now, and the screen goes all wibbly as I try to imagine what would happen if we were told to get ourselves out vote after work one night… the ‘Return To Weekend Voting’ party would put on a sausage sizzle at every voting booth and win in a landslide, regardless of policies.
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He has never struck me as savvy enough to make a great President but not too dumb to be the worst.
Let’s remember he didn’t become so wealthy by robbing stage coaches!
Maybe he will actually circle the wagons and focus on more home-based interests, who knows?.
If he can reduce arms expenditure and deployment across the globe in war situations that might be a step in the right direction.
Will he be allowed to cut back is another question.
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The *allowed* part will be amusing to watch. Are the Republicans suddenly going to go for a huge infrastructure spending bill? For walking back from free trade agreements that have made comfort available to much of the population?
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And I’m not sure he wants to reduce arms expenditure and deployment, as some of the things on his to-do list are;
-Submit a new budget to rebuild America’s “depleted military”
-Pursue “aggressive joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS”.
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He’s also proposing a 45% tariff/tax on Chinese imports. 35% on Mexican ones.
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One wonders about the trade agreements sometimes and who they really benefit?
For example: the relaxation of certain checks and balances over here saw a massive influx of cheaply manufactured Chinese clothing that, for all intent and purpose, saw the almost total extinction of our own local manufacturing industry.
Chinese traders and business owners (Malls are going up all over the place) are currently exempt from paying VAT.
I have no doubt that palms are so well greased it might be impossible to grip some of them long enough to shake.
It is probably a similar picture in many countries.
If you can’t look after your own back yard it hardly seems right ”gardening” on someone else’s property.
However, with the US being the biggest producer of arms someone has to buy them. (or use them, right?)
And, of course, they are the highest consumer of oil.
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Free trade agreements are certainly imperfect- but a number of studies show that overall they increase quality of life.
Consider what percentage of your salary it cost to buy a television 30 years ago versus today. In some countries even a phone was a huge luxury…
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There often seems to be Carte Blanche when it comes to interpreting ‘Free Trade’ and it usually favours the strongest or most aggressive. negotiator. The resulting imbalance is often huge,sometimes seeing the eradication of indigenous industry etc.
It certainly happens with flora and fauna.
I am all for innovation and moving forward, ( Watch the movie Other Peoples Money -brilliant) but to my mind the goal should be the improvement for all involved; a general raising of technological and service standards.
Should those involved in an existing system that is replaced be cast aside?
Difficult call, I know.
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Mr. Merveilleux,
The Republicans went for a big infrastructure bill during the first term of the Obama Regime.
Obama spent it paying off his cronies.
That’s why our infrastructure is still a mess.
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He wants to spend MORE on military. Has already said the most expensive military in the history of the world is inadequate.
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Josh,
Obama gutted the US military.
That’s why Russia, China and the Islamic Jihad are all running loose in the world again.
Peace through strength is not only easily understood common sense but it has been proven again and again by the United States for the last century.
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Thank you for reminding me that our system of checks and balances will hopefully save us from our own choices. A country desperate for someone else to fix the multitude of problems. It’s absolutely an indicator of how bad the socio-economic issues are in the U.S., and that should be a wakeup call for the entire world.
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People just need to figure out how to calm everyone down and diffuse all the anger now…
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Employ a Mexican?
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I also read that Canada plans to build a wall to save them from us.
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HA! Last night at dinner Mike said jokingly that the way the world is going, we should probably consider making our wall much higher and just hiding out. I think I agree with him 🙂
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I’ll agree with you on some of this, which is what I said early on. I think he’ll shift toward the middle. Having said that, all of that talk of not being beholden to anyone is bogus. He’s beholden to his electorate and to his party to a certain degree.
He will have, most likely, three appointments to the Supreme Court. I think the first one, which will replace Scalia, will necessarily be a conservative(probably ultra). Scalia was a conservative so that won’t change the balance, really. And I think it plays to his supporters. After that I do think the next two will be more moderate to possibly even left leaning, simply because after the next election cycle the balance in the Congress will likely have shifted.
I have never disagreed with everything Trump has stated was on his agenda. I do think the Republican platform, in general, is detrimental to the LGBTQ community, women, and minorities. He’s got two years. Let’s see what he can do. Saying is one thing. Doing is entirely another. Soon he will see how hamstrung the Obama administration has been.
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I’m wondering if this is what it felt like after finding out people voted Leave.
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I imagine so. And the Colombians must have felt the same last month as well.
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Yeah, that was a head-scratcher.
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We all thought this was the no age of reason. ’tis not so.
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The thing about the “age of reason” is that the Internet causes as much irrationality as it does “reason”.
People are caught in their own little bubbles on the web. As an example, a few people on WEIT accused SJWs and the left for Trump being elected. Appearantly, annoying leftist college students caused this entire election to go in Trumps favor.
These type of people are spending their time on the web and getting the impression that the true concerns in life are SJWs, college students and leftist journalist “hating on” poor white cis males. In their little internet bubbles, they are completely ignorant about the runnings of society or about human rights.
They don’t care about such things because “the Internet” told them that they should vote Trump because SJWs are mean against white males, and immigrants are bad.
Sorry for being such a downer, but I found this election depressing, even though it shouldn’t affect me.
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I too found the whole affair profoundly depressing. In particular this phenomena you mention. As if it weren’t enough that we have competing factions in society and sectarianism, we’re watching LIVE as people create whole new (often quite ridiculous) categories.
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The thing is, if my hastily researched numbers are correct, more people voted Leave than Remain (17,410,742 v 16,141,241) but it looks like more people voted for Hilary than Trump (59,814,018 v 59,611,678).
The surprise of the result is Brexit-ish, as I suspect are the reasons behind Trump’s success, but the voters didn’t actually choose him like they chose to Leave.
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I just read Trump’s first act as President will be to name January 22nd as “National Pussy Gropin’ Day.” Can’t wait!
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President Clinton, Hillary’s husband declared every day his personal pussy gropin’ day over 20 years ago.
And Hillary has spent all the energy necessary to make sure her husband Bill has happy holidays.
You should listen to his victims sometime.
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shucks, and here we have SOM doing some of that holy work showing that he is indeed a sexist, a liar and a bigot. I’m glad you do your work so we don’t have to, SOM. So much for your protestations elsewhere. 🙂
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SOM’s persona, much like Trump’s, is reactive. In that sense he only exists as a critic. And that can only happen when one’s group is never in power. I wonder what he’s going to do now? Who will he blame?
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Mr. Merveilleux,
I don’t blame anyone.
I simply instruct on the nature of things.
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Yep, the poor wannabee martyr.
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Now that Americans have exercised their franchise in an emotional temper tantrum – and feel so much better for demonstrating the “I’ll Show Them You Can’t Reason With Me” all-too-common character of the American psyche – we get to watch the bewilderment that will soon follow that The Donald – almost surprisingly – has no policies, that electing a misogynistic, bullying senior psychopath actually has real world and highly negative consequences… not just for the country or even the world but on an individual basis. All those ‘middle class’ homeowners will now enjoy watching their mortgage rates rise, markets tank, gold soar, and investment uncertainty elevated to new levels as The Donald brings his business expertise on to the international stage. Of course, someone will have to be blamed when the chosen shit path leads to shit (wow, who knew?) ’cause that’s all The Donald can do well and so a replacement for the demonized Democratic leadership will have to be found. Is it you? Or you? Or you? Stay tuned to this Bat Channel….
If any of you had a child who behaved the way The Donald behaves, said the kind of things The Donald said, called all accurate criticisms lies, avoided taking responsibility for his actions by saying no one’s to blame except everyone else, you’d be ashamed you had done such a piss-poor parenting job, amazed that such a disreputable character could have come from you… someone who started out with such good intentions.
A whole whack of people magically think that by becoming President of the Greatest Goddamned Nation In The World, The Donald will undergo a Phoenix event , that he will change if we just love him enough, that somehow it’ll all be okay, that mysterious ‘forces’ will somehow influence and alter reality-denying The Donald into becoming what he has never been, a good person with positive leadership abilities, foresight, insight, someone able to surround Himself with talented and effective people, someone smart enough to give enough power to others to implement real solutions to real problems.
This is delusional thinking.
The United States is entering a delusional stage of grandeur, that by believing the country can become Great Again by electing someone who says the country can become Great Again, Presto!, the country will become Great Again by doing and saying everything that is the opposite of being great, by being petty and vindictive and selfish and mean. This is what passes for positive nation building in the emotional minds of those who voted for The Donald… people who think spreading fear, blame, tapping into emotional anger is ‘refreshing’ and ‘honest’ and who assume that rhetorical expressions of these feelings and pointing fingers are ‘solutions’.
We are about to undergo a tear down on a global scale. Build walls, create scapegoats, weaken if not tear up NATO (Gee, I wonder why the Russians helped The Donald? Such a mystery…), walk away from international agreements, pollute the shit out of the world if it helps short term employment, grab a passing pussy to feel empowerful when the confidence levels are sagging, get the FBI to look a little closer at that guy down the street ’cause he walks a little funny and has been known to order late night Chinese takeout food – or so he says, say how we should all come together, all work together, show patriotism by recognizing that The Donald is the President of every citizen (and you’ll follow his godly goddamned rules or you’re deserving of being called a lyin’ enemy of the State).
Yup, this is how Not Great nations become losers. And Americans have just elected themselves a gigantic Loser.Now we all get to go on this ride because too many Americans thought it time to a political hissy fit.
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Appaluse.
That, Sir, is golden.
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Superb.
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They’re not alone. It’s a worldwide tantrum. Colombians voted stupidly, the British voted stupidly, Hungary elected a proto-fascist and in one month Austria may very well elect the first unabashed fascist since the death of General Franco.
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It will never be said we didn’t live in interesting times.
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Donald Trump played a fairly familiar refrain. Here’s what happened in a nutshell:
He spoketh to the nation, his chosen people, and gaveth them a chance to repent. To them he said, “All you who are sick, poor, downtrodden, broken, and on the brink of disaster, lo I am with you always. Believe in me and I will do what I alone can do. I will save you from the certain hell that awaits if you reject me. You are ill and I alone can heal you. To me alone belongs praise. Have I not made foolish the wisdom of this world?”
And so the people got on their knees and bowed down to his greatness.
He made the people believe they were in sick and then he sold them the cure.
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We get to see his tax returns now, don’t we?
That”ll be fun.
He also has to diossolve all business interests… Including those he said he didn’t have with Putin.
This is going to be hilarious.
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Can you imagine all the people in the wings waiting to go after him?
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Never. He will never show those returns.
The Russians are celebrating. The rest of the world is looking on in horror. That should say everything. Yet his supporters see that as a good thing.
It won’t matter for long, though. When he dismantle the EPA and removes regulations from oil and natural gas production the U.S. is going to turn itself into a desolate wasteland of desert and a big crack in the ground from all the earthquake activity resulting from fracking.
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But he has to, doesn’t he? He’s now an employee of the US people, it has to be published.
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No, I think legally he doesn’t have to do it.
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Not as a candidate… But he’s not a “candidate” anymore. We have to see what conflicts of interest he has.
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He will not have to and almost certainly never will. Being a public employee means the people get to know what they are paying you, not all of your taxes.
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And yes, I’m terrified most, I think, about what he’s going to do to wind-back any progress toward curbing climate change agreements…. which already don’t go nearly far enough.
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John,
Ridiculous meant for suckers only climate change agreements are specifically designed to funnel your paycheck and mine into the bank accounts of rich Chinese oligarchs.
When are you going to wake up and smell the Columbian coffee?
There is no global warming and change is what climate does naturally.
So get a grip and then get a brain.
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Technically it would take 4 years for him to get out of the Paris agreement. That’ll be his full (and I presume only) term in office.
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He’ll be up on sexual assault/rape charges before May, 2017.
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I thought the accuser had backed out.
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I see she has, last week.
Mmmm, $$$$$’s
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Yes. Just read that there was some sort of “financial” settlement and that the story was supposedly made up. Don’t know why there’d be a settlement if it were made up, but this is America. Every things make believe here.
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Mr. Merveilleux,
You are correct.
There are no charges pending against THE Donald.
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He’s in court December 16th, I believe, in a civil case over allegedly raping a woman when she was 13. Yep. The President-Elect of the US up on pedophile rape allegations. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.
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Yes, but in the Republican world, Hillary is the real criminal….
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Well, she has tried and convicted of over 47 major felonies, right? 🙂
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Yes and she defended a rapist, got him off and then laughed about it.
It’s all on video.
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Sorry Tildeb, but Hillary is a criminal because she and the people around her say so.
Hillary’s criminality is all her own.
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Inspired,
Anybody can charge anyone for anything.
What the Democrat Party is doing to THE Donald is standard operating procedure.
Luckily, THE Donald is a brawler and won’t be taken down by these obvious dirty tricks.
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That model has been used since Constantine popularized it 😉
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You’d think we’d learn from history. But no. We just keep repeating it.
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Austria is on the verge of electing a fascist. Yes, electing. That happens in 30 days.
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Mr. Merveilleux,
It is you the leftist who is a fascist.
Little guys (les deplorables) like me just want fascists like you and Hillary to leave us alone.
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Ruth,
If you really cared about learning from history, you wouldn’t get anywhere near Hillary Clinton who has a 30 year history of criminality for all to see.
It’s being published even as we speak by WikiLeaks.
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It’s being published even as we speak by WikiLeaks.
I always believe everything someone accused of rape who hides out in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid extradition to face his charges writes and publishes.
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Ruth,
The Wikileaks are actual emails written by Hillary and her cronies.
It isn’t anyone’s opinion.
It is actual material directly from the source.
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SOM,
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/election-victory-shield-trump-legal-woes/story?id=43415273
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Snaketh Oil?
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Snaketh Oileth Selleth 😀
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lmao – Indeedeth!
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Ruth,
That’s not what THE Donald said.
That’s what Hillary has been saying for the last 30 years!
Instead of hallucinating an opposition that doesn’t exist, try listening to your own candidate for a change.
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Agrudzinsky,
ABC “News” is part of the Hillary campaign.
Or haven’t you been paying attention?
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I’m curious, was there ever a time the US was considered truly great, or is this simply wishful thinking?
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The US was considered great on August 15th, 1965. It was not great before or after that.
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Was this when the Beatles played Shea Stadium?
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Could be. It also had something to do with Johnson helping an old lady home with her groceries.
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Silver linings: Melania is easy on the eye and quite stylish!
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A good few countries bank on that fantasy.
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This comment is so bitter! I also happen to think it’s spot on. Very soon it will be time to pay the piper. Sadly, all of us will be paying.
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Not me!!!! Nananah . I live in the south of France behind massive walls 🙂
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Well I meant mostly Americans, but this will have ripple effects around the globe, even behind your walls. Believe me! 😛
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excellent, tildeb.
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I agree on the world wide tantrum bit. It’s not so much democracy at work as a large angry uprising. I’m not sure how it will work for the US economy – possibly not worse than before.
Apart from the obvious fear for LGBTIQ people I’m most distressed about the climate. As someone posted, somewhere, Florida have apparently just voted to drown themselves :-(.
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The climate is indeed worrying. The things is international agreements aren’t as easy to walk away from as Trump has implied. In fact none of what he proposes is straight forward from a legal perspective…
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True, but the US are big emitters and I think we can assume any carbon trading scheme is off the table.
Not fun times for Muslims, either.
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I’m confident banning people based on religion would be unconstitutional…
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Not on religious grounds, Pink… no, never.
Free-Dom!
Free-Dom!
Free-Dom!
No, we keep ‘those’ people out on national security concerns, donchaknow,
What’s that? Why, you ask?
Strictly a need-to-know basis, Mr., and you don’t need to know anything. Just shut up and move along. Nothing to see here.
U-S-A!
U-S-A!
Free-Dom!
Greatest Goddamn Nation In The World.
And you can’t question that.
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Extreme–extreme–vetting.
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Yup… not vetting of any kind for The Donald, of course (tax returns?), nor anything he says and/or does (but the 13 year old was a 10!)… but those Muslims. Yeah, like the kids of that Syrian family are the ones carrying around the nuclear codes.
Good grief.
I know I’ll sleep better knowing that Putin and Erdogan are in agreement and happy about welcoming The Donald in to the exclusive Tyrant Club.
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Tildeb,
Who is Dom and why does he need to be set free?
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We’ve got a ‘nice’ line here in Australia of keeping it constitutional and practising hate anyway, because our leaders d9n’t condemn it.
Or we just ignore international human rights law and detain Muslims on Nauru and Manus island
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I saw a documentary about the islands recently. Bad, bad Australia!
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I have never known you to be such a great optimist! This is a good post good friend
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I’m a pragmatic optimist 🙂
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I’m just relieved that it is not Clinton….I don’t fancy the consequences of a war with Russia and Putin is no Khrushchev.
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I wonder how the people in Kiev are feeling?
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Worried, I should imagine. But no doubt those who instigated the coup have their bolt holes arranged…
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People in Ukraine are worried that Trump will recognize the Crimea annexation and will advocate lifting sanctions from Russia. Some say that it’s a message for Ukraine to rely on its own resources. Others say that Trump is no gift for Putin. His policies will lead to further drop in oil prices and the good old Republican hawks like McCain are not going anywhere.
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I share the sentiment in this post. My reaction to this outcome was surprise and curiosity what will happen next with a few takeaways: 1) things will not be what we expect; 2) we live in a bubble reading the media we like and talking to the people we agree with which gives us a distorted picture of the world. It’s time to open the eyes and ears. Even maps of deeply democratic states such as Oregon or New York look red except for the metropolitan areas. It’s clear that the people from the mainstream media miss something from the political picture given that all media predicted Clinton’s win at 70 to 90%. It’s important to understand the other side.
I don’t get why SOM is spending time reading your posts and engaging in discussions, but I really appreciate him doing it.
Fascinating, perhaps, is a good word to describe it. As you said, I don’t expect everything turning on a dime and going to hell. There is also a confidence that in, at most, 8 years, there will be another president. Many nations in the world don’t have this luxury of peacefully getting a new president. So we might as well enjoy it.
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HA! I don’t know why SOM comes here either. I’m not sure it’s a good decision for his own peace of mind as it seems I (or you people) upset him regularly 🙂
In any event, I think we’re at a crossroads. The digital age has created the illusion that we don’t need diplomacy, that we don’t need to find ways to work together. Soon enough most will find very little can get done in those terms.
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HA! I don’t know why SOM comes here either. I’m not sure it’s a good decision for his own peace of mind as it seems I (or you people) upset him regularly
I seem to do it on the regular. I think it’s because I’m a woman. 😉
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But is it just because you’re a woman or because you’re a woman who answers back to him? 🙂
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You’re right. I should know my place. Or not feed the troll. Either way…
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Mr. Merveilleux,
Your very insulting comment demonstrates exactly why THE Donald was victorious.
You fascists who are of course superior to the untermensch (Les Deplorables) are isolated and out of touch with the real world.
And if you had the power you would get rid of us by any means possible.
It is my duty as an American and a human being to oppose fascism, especially your kind of fascism which is the European variety.
The last time America let fascism go unopposed, the result was a global blood bath.
It is far easier to take you folks to task while conversation is still possible.
A Hillary victory would have made Les Deplorables like me enemies of the State.
Now, instead of calling us Jews, you fascists call us trolls.
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I suspect that SoM comes here for the fun.
After all, if you live in a bubble where everyone has been drinking the same Kool-Aid, and unquestioningly worships the same gods, life would be entirely boring. Why not come here where people don’t just nod agreeably and have a bit of a shout at the non-believers. Imagine the self-righteous glow when she logs off. 😀
Perhaps it’s the modern version of going on a religious mission. There’s always the hope of converting one of us, and none of the discomfort of living with the natives. 🙂
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Ah Metan, I’d forgotten how surgically precise you can be. Go girl! 😀
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Metan,
Actually, I find the majority Merveilleux’s posts to be quite interesting and thought provoking.
And based on the stupendous conversations that take place in the comments, I am not the only one who thinks that.
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I also find the conversations here quite entertaining.
Actually, if Sanders had received the nomination rather than Clinton what would your opinion have been of him? Is it all Democrats you hate, or just the Clintons?
Really, it would be more interesting to hear an intelligently worded opinion on Trump or god rather you just hating on the commenters. We’re allowed to not believe in them and they’re both very welcome to prove us wrong.
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Snaketh Oileth Selleth
Like they say here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., “Like hot pancakes!”
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Ruth,
The fascist speaks:
Jew or red neck.
Toe-MAY-toe, Toe-MAH-toe
You people are so blind to your truly perverse way of thinking that you assign it to your political enemies.
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Fascist? I’m confused. I thought we were all rabid Leftists? Have the Fascists moved to the left while I wasn’t looking?
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Actually, fascism’s roots are very much from the Left. National socialism, and all that jazz.
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Oh…:(
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Acflory,
Tildeb doesn’t know that she’s talking about, as usual.
As Aristotle taught 2500 years ago, if one can learn the nature of a thing, one can know the thing itself.
Both the Communist left and fascist right began in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.
They were polar opposites, hated each other and competed against each other in the streets for political power.
Whereas the Communists sought to remake human nature (the New Man), society and economy by forcing everyone to be equal, the fascists established totalitarian regimes that were intimately connected to industrial, banking and media oligarchs.
The fascists believed in rule of the untermensch (inferior people) by the elites.
Over time Communism turned out to be a big FAILzilla and evolved into fascism, since fascism can be made to work.
Consequently, it is obvious that the Democrat Party under President Obama and the Clintons is fascist.
The global left of which the American Democrat Party is a part, is fascist.
People like Mr. Merveilleux, Ruth, Tildeb, John Zande are all elitists who hallucinate a worldview with themselves as the ubermensch (intellectual, cultural superiors).
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Ah well, I had the historical part right then. As I’m Australian, however, I don’t share any of your ideas about President Obama, Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump.
We have a Medicare system here that, whilst not perfect, ensures that every Australian has access to health care and medication. We do pay for it, but we consider healthcare a right in any civilized society. The fact that so many Americans are offended by the idea of having a responsibility towards their fellow man has always struck me as being…odd, especially given how many church goers there are. I’m an atheist, yet I believe I have a responsibility towards my fellow man. I also believe that compassion is what makes the naked ape /human/. Which is why I believe Donald Trump is a sociopath who has successfully conned enough people in enough states to win the election. All that bullshit about ‘we’ and ‘us’ was as fake as his tan and that ludicrous combover. I have nothing but contempt for the President Elect and I wish you joy of him once the honeymoon is over.
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Acflory,
Like other leftists your understanding of the United States is a hallucination.
Nobody in the United States is deprived of health care. In fact, the Canadians who need fast medical care come to the United States.
Socialized anything, including medicine is much more expensive than it need be and not half as good.
Market driven economics is far more compassionate than socialized economics because such markets provide the best services at the lowest prices.
Regarding THE Donald, he is a good man with a good character who has a great family who loves him very much.
It is criminals like Hillary and her sexual predator husband Bill who are the sociopaths.
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I won’t argue with you about what is or is not the case in the US. All I will say is that anecdotal evidence from people who CANNOT afford to pay for your top-notch health care tells a different story.
As for socialized health care being more expensive and less effective than healthcare based on private providers…you’re absolutely right. Bureaucracies are inherently inefficient. But we’re not talking about the ‘best’ vs ‘socialized’ healthcare. We’re talking about ‘zero’ vs ‘socialized’ healthcare.
You keep yakking on about us Leftists, yet we are the ones prepared to PAY for others to have a share of the good life. You, however, seem to believe that only those who can afford healthcare should have it. Where is your compassion?
I’m an atheist and on a very tight budget, yet I give when I can…because I’ve been brought up to believe it’s the right thing to do. I don’t whine about a tiny part of my income going towards helping the less fortunate. Why do you?
Why do so many god-fearing, church-going Americans believe that people less fortunate than themselves /deserve/ to be down and out?
You talk about Donald Trump being a good man. Well, all the good people I know, both here, in the US, and elsewhere in the world care about others. If that makes us all deluded Leftists then it’s a label I’ll wear with pride.
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Bureaucracies are inherently inefficient.
I often see this line of thought as if it were a legitimate criticism of health care without a profit margin to be less efficient than health care with both bureaucracy AND a profit margin. This is really very strange reasoning. The assumption is that profit gets rid of inefficiencies. But we’re talking about the efficiency of healthcare which, by definition, is a cost. Want to save money? Close all the medical facilities. Get rid of all health insurance companies. Problem solved. Efficiency restored.
But that’s not what we’re really talking about, is it? For some bizarre reason, Americans believe phoning some bureaucrat and asking for some kind of medical coverage after paying insurance premiums is somehow more efficient than asking a real doctor for medical service if necessary. To many Americans, the faceless insurance bureaucrat trying to spend as little money as possible to meet their legal obligations is somehow ‘better’ than a universal healthcare system run by medical experts within a fixed public budget. Inserting a profit concern is seen to be superior because it is ‘free enterprise’ for those who can afford it rather than appropriate medical services for all. Very strange because the same principle of inserting a profit margin to maximize economic efficiency s is not applied to the Armed Forces, police, or fire departments where, presumably, better access to these services going through a faceless bureaucrat concerned about costs for those can afford insurance premiums should be held as the same model.
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Blind faith in Capitalism? A small business is ALWAYS more efficient than a bureaucracy because the people running it are risking their own money every day. The irony, however, is that corporations are just a tiny step more efficient than institutional bureaucracy because the money they spend is not their own either, and they only have to answer to their shareholders for any losses that may result from their inefficiency. Worse, these days, CEO’s can run a company into the ground and still walk away with a multi-million dollar ‘bonus’.
So the Capitalist mantra about efficiency does NOT scale well at all. Neither does the idea that Capitalism = competition. If profit and constant growth are the only criteria for a business, then eliminating the competition is absolutely necessary. That’s why the corporations at the top of the tree are essentially running monopolies. Which is anathema to ‘true’ Capitalism. Perhaps we need a new label for the First World – Corporate Oligarchy?
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Hitler named his party Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which means National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The term Nazi derives from a shortened version of nationalist with overtones about being a peasant, being ignorant, being a brute. The Party adopted the name for its members.
Does that sound far right to you? The worker’s party? Same for the Italian fascist party.
Yeah, me neither.
SoM’s understanding is typical here in the West that uses the term as an opposite to communism… because the party was deeply anti-Marxism. But it was also anti-liberal in the classical sense of the term ‘liberal’, deeply distrustful of the ‘elites’ who had lots of letters after their names, and was one of the first to implement hate laws and use social equality as a springboard for later totalitarian policies. Of course, we all know the German version was anti-Semite (not so for much of the Italian party) and extremely nationalistic. So to select only one aspect of the party – its anti-communist position – to be the identifier as a ‘right wing’ party is well off the mark (excuse the pun). This party was very much a Left wing creation, a socialist movement that later morphed into an unapologetic totalitarian regime (as was Italy). And the important take-away is to understand how individual rights and freedoms were undermined by the fascists in the name of other socially desired unifying policies. This is the fascist creep we see today from the Left masquerading as ‘social justice warriors’, people who strongly support the actions they deem serving of greater social benefits than the individual rights they refuse to respect. And we see this with what is called the Regressive Left’s actions supporting deeply anti-liberal actions like banning, censoring, disinviting, de-platforming, and so on, Ah, but the social good of the group, donchaknow…
Any time we encounter an idea contrary to respecting and protecting individual legal autonomy often in the guise of being good for the larger and usually national group, I think you are meeting the seductive aspect of fascism up close and in person. Remember, fasicsm is an Italian word derived from fascismo and fascista – from fascio and the plural fasci – meaning a “bundle, fasces, group”). That’s why both the social order and patriotism for the personal sacrifice of rights and freedoms needed to implement such fascvist ideas runs large in this meme. It also explains why anyone who stands contrary to the reduction in legal rights demanded by such social warriors is passionately painted as selfish and unpatriotic, someone who is willing to harm the whole, to reduce the potential greatness of the whole, in the name of some Other (who is then as passionately vilified).
This is a left wing creation from people who forget why individually autonomy is of paramount importance for all of us who seek and respect the shared rights and freedoms for all. Not groups. Individuals.
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You do realize you’re both describing exactly the same things, but simply using a different lexicon, right? It’s not a disagreement of substance, it’s a dispute in naming.
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That’s why I’m pointing out the means. Totalitarianism can come about in enlightened societies by the power of belief in group identity superior to individual legal autonomy. The rise of fascism is rooted in the kind of socialistic ideology equated today by the principles of the regressive Left.
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Okay, so details aside, both communists and fascists are ‘group’ based while democracy is ‘individual’ based. I understand that, but I simply cannot accept that unfettered individualism is any better than unfettered communism or unfettered fascism. They are all skewed towards an untenable extreme, only the details are different.
Real societies run best when the needs of the individual are balanced against the needs of the group. This is a /biological/ imperative that no amount of social theory can change because individuals are fundamentally self-centred. Not necessarily ‘selfish’, but we do put ourselves first in most situations.
Self-centredness is a core human trait that has to be countered by /something/ because humans are incapable of surviving on their own. We aren’t solitary leopards. We’re more like ants or termites.
I know this is not a very flattering view of humanity, but I believe it is a pragmatic one.
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You say that and yet I’m still the little crocodile from yesterday’s picture 😀
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-giggles- frog-pecked?
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Okay, so details aside, both communists and fascists are ‘group’ based while democracy is ‘individual’ based.
Democracy is just majority (mob) rule. That’s why the Arab Spring failed and merely produced more ‘strongmen’ leaders. What is missing is what makes Western liberal democracies liberal: individual legal autonomy shared by all.
Obviously, there must be limits on individuals to avoid all kinds of greater ills: we must all respect these rules… such as driving on only one side of the road. When individual liberty is curtailed, it must be curtailed equally and for sound reasons. This doesn’t make the rules overbearing. Nor does it permit unfettered self-centeredness. Classical liberalism is about shared rights and shared freedoms…. legal treatment of these the same for anyone.
The idea of fascism is to protect the rights of the nebulous group over and above the shared rights of the individuals who constitute the group.
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‘When individual liberty is curtailed, it must be curtailed equally and for sound reasons.’
Absolutely, and the lack thereof is a sure sign of a democracry going bad. Are Black Americans treated the same as White Americans by law enforcement? Do the poor have the same rights under law as a multinational corporation? Do women earn equal pay for equal work? Or is inequality enshrined in the way this representational democracy functions?
In the past, most Americans aspired to become the Donald Trumps of this world so they didn’t feel resentment against the ‘elite’. Envy yes, resentment no. Now, those same Americans know their aspirations are futile and resentment over inequality is growing.
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That would depend on the classification of left and right. And that’s why those words can be misleading.
It’s more clear to divide policies into authoritarian vs. liberal.
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Quite right, Pink. The important point is to understand that classical liberalism of individual rights is opposite to the social authoritarianism we call fascism. The move into the fascism of Italy and Germany was a social movement led by those who sold it as a necessary and militant change on behalf of elevating the weak and poor from the greed and corruption of their governments and business leaders, achieved by draining the swamp of those who led government institutions by dismantling the regulations that supported them and making them subject to the whim of some Strongman who acts to protect the people from various nefarious forces. A good clue of a similar movement today is noticing when we are being told we must all walk in lockstep.
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I’ll just add for anyone interested in this topic they should read about Plenge and his declaration of war on the values of 1789 (The French revolution). In essence this was the soi-disant German left, declaring war on the ideas of the original left of the French assembly (where the term political left comes from, btw!)
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The one thing we haven’t talked about is that societies in which everyone prospers do not make fertile ground for Strong Men of any description.
It’s when people become desperate that the promises of Strong Men become seductive.
In the US, unfettered corporate Capitalism has driven the move to offshore processing. This globalisation /may/ lead to an improvement in global standards of living, one day, but for now it’s driving a whopping big wedge between the haves and the have nots, and it’s taking the ‘we-used-to-haves’ with it. The First World is slipping and people are scared.
This is probably what happened during the Industrial Revolution, and it will happen again when the next phase of disruptive development occurs in the future. It’s cyclical, yet those in power fail to recognize the lessons of history until it hits them in the face.
Trump and Brexit aren’t new. We simply haven’t seen the pattern for a long time. In that sense, both Trump and Brexit could lead to a better world in the future, but only if those in power recognize what’s happening and move to defuse the fear that drives both movements.
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Agrudzinsky,
McCain is a knit wit who opposed THE Donald at every turn.
He’s a has-been with a big mouth.
President Trump won’t pay attention to him except to squash him if he gets under foot.
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