Trump

[Lustful Bride]

And now he wants to end Birthright Citizenship. This should scare everyone on the left of right. Makes it all the more easier for the government to say who is and is not a citizen, and who is not entitled to the rights and freedoms of the constitution.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-says-he-is-seriously-looking-at-ending-birthright-citizenship/ar-AAG7LHl?ocid=spartandhp

[Oniya]

I'm not a Constitutional Law scholar - but that's talking about making a significant change to the 14th Amendment.  Last time that we made a change to an amendment (repealing Prohibition), it took the full process of getting the repealing amendment proposed in Congress (Feb 20, 1933) and then ratified by the requisite number of states (Dec 5, 1933)

[Sara Nilsson]

Something tells me he is just saying it for his base.

Wait. it is Trump it is possible he is just that stupid.

Hmm.. please change possible to.. quite certain.. no.. he is that stupid.

[Beorning]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1163961882945970176

He's cancelled/postponed a scheduled state visit to Denmark because he can't buy Greenland.

Anyone got words?  I don't have any words.

Just learned about this. This is insane.

[legomaster00156]

Dear world, we really hope to have a more boring President come 2021.

[Beorning]

Stuff like Trump's row with Denmark about Greenland really starts to convince me that Trump has mental problems. There's stuff like immoral politics, there's stuff like bad political decisions... but cancelling a state visit in a huff, because an ally pointed out to him that one particular idea is just plain impossible? This is literally elementary school child's mentality. I really start to wonder if Trump is mentally competent enough to be in office? An adult person with their faculties intact just doesn't behave this way.

And where the heck are Trump's advisors? Why didn't anyone go to him and say: "Mr. President, you shouldn't be doing this"..? Is the Trump administration made of mindless yes-men?

What next? Trump will be visiting Poland in a few days. What if he says to our president: "Mr. Duda, I'd like to buy Warsaw from you!". When Duda tells him "No", will Trump leave in a huff, too? Will he cancel the military equipments deals he made with Poland not too long ago? Or, maybe, will he order a plane strike at us? I'm honestly reminded of the ending to the old Land Of Confusion video...

[Sara Nilsson]

Is the Trump administration made of mindless yes-men?

Yes. Yes it is. The republican party is pretty much just a bunch of yes men these days.

[legomaster00156]

Yes, Donald Trump is a manchild. No, he is not mentally fit for his position. Yes, his entire party is full of sycophants and yes-men.

[Oniya]

There's a text-analysis scale called the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference).  You can find any number of apps online that will use it to evaluate the competency level of a piece of text from A1 (Basic, breakthrough user - can understand and use basic phrases and introduce themselves) to C2 (Proficient user - Can express themselves fluently).  My descriptions in the previous sentence are expanded on at the Wikipedia link.

Now, here's the 'game':  Go find a transcript of one of Trump's earlier speeches/bits of writing.  They're all over the Internet as well.  Run it through the app.  Now find a recent transcript and do the same thing.

It's quite sobering.

Quoting this forward for reference.  I used this analysis app to assess the level of Trump's 1976 Letter to the Editor (pasting in all of the paragraphs)  Result was a solid 'C1': 

Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer clauses, and recognize implicit meaning.
    Can express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.
    Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
    Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.

Then, I took a recent speech.  I used the first half of the speech he gave yesterday at the AMVETS 75th National Convention - up until the first break where he hands the microphone off (because the sample size was already huge and my blood pressure was up from what I was reading).  Result was in the B1 range:

Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
    Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken.
    Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
    Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

I'm fairly certain that the more 'spontaneous' pressers he's been giving ranked a bit lower, but the Factbase site has the transcripts if you want to explore for yourself.

[Callie Del Noire]

I’m not sure that it’s a fair comparison, one is a letter to the editors which could be edited whereas the second is a speech that is purely his own making


As much as it falls me to say that. It would be more apt to compare the letter to tweets BUT I DO NOT suggest doing that.  The blood pressure hit could be fatal

[Kitteredge]

I've never subscribed to the idea that Trump is losing his mental faculties. I always look at George W. Bush, who was a complete dunderhead when in office, constantly flubbing and making verbal mistakes, while he was a competent speaker before he took office. He simply was a stupid man -- or, charitably, 'average' -- who far outran his capacity to understand what he was doing.

Being president is hard. You have to semi-master a range of topics. While you may not be able to have the details at your fingertips, you have to take what your aides tell you and consolidate them into a coherent story in your head.

George W. Bush couldn't do this, because he was a lazy idiot. Trump is even worse. He won't even read more than a couple pages. His handlers have to scatter his name across written media to get him to pay attention. He is profoundly inept at his job. He not only doesn't give a shit, he actively thinks he's a brilliant man who understands everything just fine.

This is why he sounds like a moron, at best, and a ludicrous crazy person, at worst, whenever he has to speak even briefly on extemporaneous matters. His mind is a broken jalopy trying to run on a fast track. There's no way he can do this. You see the performance.

[Oniya]

I’m not sure that it’s a fair comparison, one is a letter to the editors which could be edited whereas the second is a speech that is purely his own making


As much as it falls me to say that. It would be more apt to compare the letter to tweets BUT I DO NOT suggest doing that.  The blood pressure hit could be fatal

Tweets are also limited by the nature of the platform - although I do see quite a few of those on a daily basis.  Also, the tool works better with a large sample size, and again - tweets are limited there.

If you saw the AMVET speech, he references an antidepressant/stimulant that he wants the VA to use - turns out, that's a nasal-spray cousin of ketamine, called Spravato.  The second link takes you directly to the potential side-effects of the drug.

I've never subscribed to the idea that Trump is losing his mental faculties. I always look at George W. Bush, who was a complete dunderhead when in office, constantly flubbing and making verbal mistakes, while he was a competent speaker before he took office. He simply was a stupid man -- or, charitably, 'average' -- who far outran his capacity to understand what he was doing.

Being president is hard. You have to semi-master a range of topics. While you may not be able to have the details at your fingertips, you have to take what your aides tell you and consolidate them into a coherent story in your head.

George W. Bush couldn't do this, because he was a lazy idiot. Trump is even worse. He won't even read more than a couple pages. His handlers have to scatter his name across written media to get him to pay attention. He is profoundly inept at his job. He not only doesn't give a shit, he actively thinks he's a brilliant man who understands everything just fine.

This is why he sounds like a moron, at best, and a ludicrous crazy person, at worst, whenever he has to speak even briefly on extemporaneous matters. His mind is a broken jalopy trying to run on a fast track. There's no way he can do this. You see the performance.

Some people have noticed more physical signs - things like the way he walks and stands (wide stance and leaning on things when standing, hands down and away from the body while walking like he's crossing a log bridge.)  I'm remembering how Reagan was experiencing Alzheimer's decline in the last couple years of his Presidency, and everyone said there was nothing wrong.

[Kitteredge]

Some people have noticed more physical signs - things like the way he walks and stands (wide stance and leaning on things when standing, hands down and away from the body while walking like he's crossing a log bridge.)  I'm remembering how Reagan was experiencing Alzheimer's decline in the last couple years of his Presidency, and everyone said there was nothing wrong.

Oh, he's certainly breaking down physically. Small surprise, given his diet and disbelief in any exercise (he believes we have finite lifetime 'batteries' and exercise depletes them). But this has been from the start. There are pictures of him clasping Theresa May's hand at the WH early on: he's afraid of stairs and stands in a weird pigeon-toed, leaning forward stance (partly to hide his girth, letting his suit coat hang free).

Mentally, I'm not going to give him the benefit of dementia. He's the same trash person he always was and knows exactly what he's saying. The insane narcissistic sewage he comes up with is the same as before the election. Did you know he once had his people contact Richard Branson when the actual billionaire went to New York? This was years ago. Branson had never talked with him before, but though, hmm... okay?

Trump spent the entire dinner inveighing against those who had slighted him, according to his perceptions, and what a great person he was.

If anything, he's all King of the Jews and Chosen One as a natural result of an entire Republican Party kowtowing to him, an entire Federal Government powerless to stop him, and a media that never truly calls him on his bullshit. In my mind, he is absolutely NOT non compos mentis. He has all his usual diseased faculties and he continues to reform the world around himself. I will NOT give him the benefit of losing his mind. He owns this completely.

[Oniya]

If anything, he's all King of the Jews and Chosen One as a natural result of an entire Republican Party kowtowing to him, an entire Federal Government powerless to stop him, and a media that never truly calls him on his bullshit. In my mind, he is absolutely NOT non compos mentis. He has all his usual diseased faculties and he continues to reform the world around himself. I will NOT give him the benefit of losing his mind. He owns this completely.

Fair point - and honestly, given the choice between 'petty fragile man-child with the nuclear codes' and 'dementia patient with the nuclear codes', the only comfort would be that the dementia patient might forget where he put them.

[Callie Del Noire]

Fair point - and honestly, given the choice between 'petty fragile man-child with the nuclear codes' and 'dementia patient with the nuclear codes', the only comfort would be that the dementia patient might forget where he put them.

There is little comfort in that. I figure that he’s about the scariest thing in the White House in a long long time. I’m more reassured that he eventually fires EVERYONE. So the warhawks, like Bolton, will be out soonish. (I mean no one besides his son in law and kids have lasted the whole term have they?)

[Skynet]

A lot of what can be chalked up to 'mental illness' on Trump's part can just as easily be explained as fatigue, ego, and petty cruelty. None of which necessarily facilitate a disorder.

It's quite en vogue to armchair analyze hateful figures and wonder what kind of diagnosis may fit them, but this ends up creating the effect where we posit that authoritarianism and hatemongering is something no sane person can subscribe to or perform. Adolf Hitler is perhaps the most notable example; the man was a meth addict during his final moments and doubtlessly operated under extreme stress in his bunker, but this omits the fact that Heinrich Himmer was just as guilty a facilitator of the Holocaust but suffered from none of that. Not to mention the millions of mentally stable German citizens who gladly went along with the Reich's worst excesses.

We should not give Trump and his supporter the same benefit of the doubt. He is still a mentally competent man; rather it is his arrogance and unwillingness to be wrong which makes him act irrationally.

[TheGlyphstone]

There is little comfort in that. I figure that he’s about the scariest thing in the White House in a long long time. I’m more reassured that he eventually fires EVERYONE. So the warhawks, like Bolton, will be out soonish. (I mean no one besides his son in law and kids have lasted the whole term have they?)

Miller is still there.

[Oniya]

Miller is still there.

Miller is like the only non-relative from the campaign time that's still there.

[gaggedLouise]

Oh for fuck's sake...

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138796205654016

Donald Trump, the Messiah? :)

[Deamonbane]

Donald Trump, the Messiah? :)

You'd think that the evangelical base wouldn't take to Trump literally calling himself Jesus too well, but then, I'm done being surprised over how hypocritical they are.

[Lustful Bride]

You'd think that the evangelical base wouldn't take to Trump literally calling himself Jesus too well, but then, I'm done being surprised over how hypocritical they are.

+1.  This is literally the kind of thing that they normally cry to the high heavens about. Trump is as much a False Prophet as one can get. But nope, they will applaud and happily sell their souls if he asks, and they have only themselves to blame.

[TheGlyphstone]

Isn't there literally a belief that Trump is the subject of a Biblical prophecy, something about a sinful king who will pave the way for the holy land?

[Oniya]

Well, as someone who avidly read both Revelations and Ezekiel, there's a whole lot of that stuff that could be seen in the current administration - although historically, it was more likely to be Rome than DC.  Plot twist, though - that 'sinful king' in the prophecy is the Antichrist, and all his followers get the short end of things after the Eschaton.

[Iniquitous]

Well, as someone who avidly read both Revelations and Ezekiel, there's a whole lot of that stuff that could be seen in the current administration - although historically, it was more likely to be Rome than DC.  Plot twist, though - that 'sinful king' in the prophecy is the Antichrist, and all his followers get the short end of things after the Eschaton.

The attempt to explain the evangelical support of Dump is likened to King Cyrus who was a pagan king yet was used to do god's will in rebuilding the temple.

[Hades]

The bit about the Persian king Cyrus is in the book of Isaiah (chapter 45 if anyone's curious).  Of course, for that one to apply to Herr Cheeto evangelicals would have to ignore the whole temple of Solomon being built in the first place and then destroyed by Rome during the Judea uprisings.