Trump

[TheGlyphstone]

Herbert Hoover might be a good comparison as well - president during a devastating national crisis, and whose policies arguably prolonged and worsened its severity.

[Oniya]

I've also seen unflattering comparisons to Harding, and the Teapot Dome Scandal (et al.)

[TheGlyphstone]

I've also seen unflattering comparisons to Harding, and the Teapot Dome Scandal (et al.)

That's extra amusing because it was the Teapot Dome Scandal that led to Congress being permitted to subpoena tax records of citizens...

[gaggedLouise]

I think its a well-known psychological path these personalities tread. Its somewhat akin to the mental process serial killers follow. You have one level of "success" and it satisfies for a while but then you need more... and more...

The pros- and cons- aside I do feel that Trump may well rank as the most unfit POTUS there has ever been. I think he out-does Nixon who was pretty awful. I know that in the 1870s Grant's presidency was deeply corrupt but at least as a personality Grant wasn't so terrible.

Trump is the worst since at least Warren Harding a century ago IMHO (google "Teapot Dome scandal") - but his effect reaches much wider than Harding's.

[gaggedLouise]

Obviously I didn't see the people posting above me on this page - Haibane was at the bottom of last page. :)

[Callie Del Noire]

I think its a well-known psychological path these personalities tread. Its somewhat akin to the mental process serial killers follow. You have one level of "success" and it satisfies for a while but then you need more... and more...

The pros- and cons- aside I do feel that Trump may well rank as the most unfit POTUS there has ever been. I think he out-does Nixon who was pretty awful. I know that in the 1870s Grant's presidency was deeply corrupt but at least as a personality Grant wasn't so terrible.

I disagree, Nixon might have (in my opinion) the beginning of the trend towards Imperial Presidents that ,besides President Carter, has been building over the last 50 years. He did some foul things before and during his term of office. HUAC comes to mind. He did things that deescalated things with China, though I think that is unraveling.

I think you could choose a lower bar but Nixon at least tried to do helpful things. Trump wants to undo anything remotely associated with President Obama, and aside from that roll back a century of regulation to make the ‘Anything goes for a dollar’ school of business. You want to see what sort of business he wants? Check out The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

Trump has achieved a level of corruption that no president, even Richard Nixon, has done in my outlook. Definitely in my lifetime.

[Haibane]

I did say he "out-does" Nixon, so I think we are agreed. Nixon's blatant lies and Watergate are of course what non-Americans remember him for.

[Callie Del Noire]

I did say he "out-does" Nixon, so I think we are agreed. Nixon's blatant lies and Watergate are of course what non-Americans remember him for.

Sorry got done arguing with a relative with ‘good old days’ amnesia. She drives me nuts at times. Reagan never raised taxes (uh..something like 8 times), OSHA is bad for business. (She grew up in a textile town where I recall several folks missing digits before ‘useless’ safety regulations, she got pissed off when I mentioned that). The list goes on

Truthfully I don’t think it’s fair to compare any other president to Trump, he’s that bad.

[Haibane]

That I can agree on.

[Oniya]

Trump ad to 'support the troops' features Russian planes and weapons.

“That’s definitely a MiG-29,” said Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”

He noted the angle of the aircraft’s tail, the way the tail is swept far back, and the spacing of the engines, along with the tunnel between them.

Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, confirmed that the planes are Russian MiG-29s, and also said the soldier on the far right in the ad carries an AK-74 assault rifle.

[Haibane]

It beggars belief that a campaign to re-elect the president does dumb crap like go to Shutterstock for images. And sends a clueless tech person to do it and not someone with some knowledge of military equipment. Why the hell don't they use actual images of USA troops taken in training or on exercise? Doesn't anyone over there ever think?

[TheHangedOne]

It beggars belief that a campaign to re-elect the president does dumb crap like go to Shutterstock for images. And sends a clueless tech person to do it and not someone with some knowledge of military equipment. Why the hell don't they use actual images of USA troops taken in training or on exercise? Doesn't anyone over there ever think?

Yes, but not the people in power. Incompetence gets promoted in our country.

[avarus]

Changed to link for child picture

[legomaster00156]

To use actual photos of troops on training, not otherwise released for use by the U.S. military, would actually be illegal. It would violate classification of military exercises. Of course, the President can declassify such things on a whim, including to promote his own re-election, but this would be corruption, and this President would never use his power for corrupt purposes.

[Oniya]

Simply searching 'US Army soldier' in Google Images brought up a lot of photos, including a couple of stock photos, which are presumably declassified.

'US military aircraft' even brought up a dramatic shot of an F-16 from Wikipedia:



But adding that one teeny qualifier and doing a minimum amount of 'is this what's in the picture?' is beyond our boys.

[Aiden]

Trump ad to 'support the troops' features Russian planes and weapons.

He is a Russian puppet, no surprise here.

I just hope people aren't numbed to this nonsense and get out to vote.

The people who want to move, give up are worse than those who don't vote in my eyes. Get mad, stay mad and do something about it.

[Caela]

He is a Russian puppet, no surprise here.

I just hope people aren't numbed to this nonsense and get out to vote.

The people who want to move, give up are worse than those who don't vote in my eyes. Get mad, stay mad and do something about it.

Honestly...I will get my ass out and vote but if shit goes horribly sideways, I'd totally consider a work visa in another country (and then vote by absentee ballot) until shit returned to some semblance of sanity.

Wouldn't necessarily be looking to change my citizenship, but move away for a few years to protect both my sanity and my LGBTQIA child from the bigotry and bullshit this man espouses...yeah, I'd definitely consider it...and in fact have been told by said child to make it happen if Trump got re-elected.

[Dice]

I have said, not totally joking, that Australia is a great place to request asylum... If you can get over our stupid political bs.

[Bibliophilia]

I have said, not totally joking, that Australia is a great place to request asylum... If you can get over our stupid political bs.

Isn't Australia almost as bad as the US on LGBTQ+ issues?

[Haibane]

For LGBTQ+ sanity probably the Netherlands is your best bet. Sweden if you prefer it cooler and maybe southern France if you prefer it warmer. A few years ago I'd have suggested the UK but after Brexit anything's possible here.

Europe's leaders though are struggling with the asylum seeker influx. France and Denmark have been prominently anti-muslim in recent years. The UK and France have a very well known police racism issue.

Perhaps a Mars colony might be the only answer?

[Norwegian One]

Might I suggest Norway?

Come for the free Healthcare, education and HDI, stay for the beautiful women and horrific prices :P

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-biden-mask-mandate-abc-town-hall_n_5f617ac9c5b68d1b09c9541a

President Donald Trump moved to blame his Democratic competitor, former Vice President Joe Biden, for not instituting a national mask mandate during the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden wasn't slow in replying

Joe Biden
To be clear: I am not currently president. But if you chip in now, we can change that in November: https://joe.link/35LrCCJ

oh and another gem from the article

Addressing claims made to journalist Bob Woodward earlier this year that he had actively downplayed the threat of the coronavirus despite knowing how dangerous it was, Trump said he didn’t do that and, in fact, had cast the virus as more serious.

“I didn’t downplay it,” Trump said during the town hall. “I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong.”

[Haibane]

He is on planet Trump. A place of his own imaginative creation. The rest of us are on planet earth and the two places are very different.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Trump's planet has no climate crisis, minorities, Liberals, coronavirus, or people needing his tax returns.  We have all of that, at least, and more.  One thing we do share is KFC and Diet Coke.  :D

[gaggedLouise]

We're not even at the first one-on-one tv debate yet, and this campaign (I mean the Trump campaign and events around it) already feels louder and weirder than any campaign by a US major-party nominee I can remember.