Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Hollycakes]

I don't understand how anyone can look at Tuck with a straight face.
How on earth can you watch him while he's making those faces and asking such clown show questions and take him seriously?
It's so obviously a performance piece and character he's created I keep waiting for like the gag reel to come out.

Outtake after outtake of him laughing and trying to get back into character after flubbing the script.

If you haven't seen it yet, this is pretty good:

[Xyonai]

I don't understand how anyone can look at Tuck with a straight face.
How on earth can you watch him while he's making those faces and asking such clown show questions and take him seriously?
It's so obviously a performance piece and character he's created I keep waiting for like the gag reel to come out.

Outtake after outtake of him laughing and trying to get back into character after flubbing the script.

If you haven't seen it yet, this is pretty good:

Folks like to hear shit the already affirms their beliefs, and while I won't claim this to be uniquely a right-wing issue - or even a just a political issue in general - it's the reason folks like Tucker get to keep their lucrative talk-show programs. Confirmation Bias is one hell of a drug.

[The Stormbringer]

Just a personal anecdote here... I live in a small city in the Midwest, and still see Trump signs, though moreso in the surrounding towns and country than in the city proper. It is depressing.

[Fugus]

Just a personal anecdote here... I live in a small city in the Midwest, and still see Trump signs, though moreso in the surrounding towns and country than in the city proper. It is depressing.

My uncle died last July. He lives in Tennessee so me and my dad drove from North Carolina there and back.

Right around the border, some was actually paying for a full sized “Trump/Pence” billboard right by the highway.

And I know as of a month ago, about 10 minutes from the Smithfield Packing plant near Tarheel a guy actually paid for a high quality looking wooded sign right by his mailbox that is probably a little bigger than a full sized movie poster you would see outside of a theater if you included the frame it was mounted in.

Also got a friend of the family who tried to blame Biden for Afghanistan and when I tried to mention Trump was the one who signed that order he denied it and tried to say that no one signed an order and we just left.

[postman1782]

Everyone prepared for some GoP-on-GoP violence?

CNN: Pence preps for potential 2024 presidential run amid rocky headlines about relationship with Trump


I have a feeling this is going to be a bloodbath.

He would never win an election for dog catcher anymore since he didn't violate the constitution and overturn the 2020 election like Trump and his supporters wanted him to.

[Edge-]

He would never win an election for dog catcher anymore since he didn't violate the constitution and overturn the 2020 election like Trump and his supporters wanted him to.

I'm just wondering what idiots would fund this. The Trump base hates him, the non-Trump base doesn't seem to be too in love with him given his strong support of Trump over the years (minus on a few topics).

I mean, I get why Pence would want to do this, it's probably pays better than hosting a podcast and it gives him something to do to feel like a real politician again. But like...man the money blown on his campaign could go towards so many better things.

[Benggaul]

I think the odds are pretty good that Trump will not be running for 2024. I think he'll continue to be coy about it as long as possible because he wants the attention and the donations, but I don't think he has the appetite or the stamina to be in that office again. Even before he got COVID he was weighed down and frustrated by people expecting him to be responsible for once in his fucking life and after COVID he looks more and more like the old man he is. Not to mention the various lawsuits currently running against him and his businesses ranging from sexual assault to fraud. I doubt he's shrugging those off as much as he'd like to suggest.

I hope he keeps up the charade right up to the last minute because it'll make it that much more difficult for other GOP candidates to gain traction, and of course I could very well be wrong in all of this--gods know he's thrown enough ridiculous curve balls--but he's 75 going on 90 right now and has slowed waaaaaay down in the past 5 years. If it weren't for the endless parade of cronies begging him for his support so they can court his base I don't think we'd be hearing even as little as we do about him lately.

[PhaelixWW]

I think the odds are pretty good that Trump will not be running for 2024.

I mean, I somewhat agree, but...

Not to mention the various lawsuits currently running against him and his businesses ranging from sexual assault to fraud. I doubt he's shrugging those off as much as he'd like to suggest.

...in many ways, being president again is his best defense against those lawsuits, however.

Honestly, my ideal scenario would be for him to run and lose again, but I know the safe bet is for him to just not run again.

[Breccia]

his best defense against those lawsuits, however.

It's not much of a defense. You can sue Trump for actions he did that weren't official. And nothing protects his businesses or family at all.

[Poopymonster]

It's not much of a defense. You can sue Trump for actions he did that weren't official. And nothing protects his businesses or family at all.

But the fundraising if he runs! He'll get many moneys. All the moneys. Yuge moneys. Rent 2 pornstars at once moneys! Enough moneys to lease a new import...with a prenup of course.

[PhaelixWW]

It's not much of a defense.

That doesn't mean it's not still his best defense...

[Shadowferal]

As long as Trump keeps stringing everyone along he'll be fêted and ego stroked as the golden idol he thinks himself to be.

[Hollycakes]

He'll get many moneys. All the moneys. Yuge moneys. Rent 2 pornstars at once moneys!

This is fucking funny.
Should be his campaign slogan.
I can see him bragging about it now.

[Breccia]

But the fundraising if he runs! He'll get many moneys. All the moneys. Yuge moneys. Rent 2 pornstars at once moneys! Enough moneys to lease a new import...with a prenup of course.

You're joking of course, but we all know he's going to keep that fundraising going and then host events at his remaining properties just before the Deutsche Repo Men come for it.

That doesn't mean it's not still his best defense...

Let me guess, you didn't get an upgrade in the vault this week either?

[postman1782]

I'm just wondering what idiots would fund this. The Trump base hates him, the non-Trump base doesn't seem to be too in love with him given his strong support of Trump over the years (minus on a few topics).

I mean, I get why Pence would want to do this, it's probably pays better than hosting a podcast and it gives him something to do to feel like a real politician again. But like...man the money blown on his campaign could go towards so many better things.

He wouldn't get anyone, except maybe some evangelicals that aren't stupid enough to be Trump supporters. Which is very few.

[PhaelixWW]

Let me guess, you didn't get an upgrade in the vault this week either?

Oh, fuck, I haven't played WoW in, like... 7 years?

[Benggaul]

...in many ways, being president again is his best defense against those lawsuits, however.

I think even the office of president wouldn't offer him protection against at least some of those. And his attempt to have the DOJ serve as his defense in the rape trial didn't go over well either. 3+ years in-between is also a lot of time for many of those to advance to the point of no return.

Honestly, my ideal scenario would be for him to run and lose again, but I know the safe bet is for him to just not run again.

Agreed.

[Fugus]

Oh, fuck, I haven't played WoW in, like... 7 years?

Off topic but part of me wonders just how many of us stopped playing the game but still remain here. I quit in WotLK just before ICC came out, actually made it to top 24 in the world in druids according to some of the charts before I quit.

Also lost 50 pounds when I did too and I think I am the reason they blocked many of the auction house addon's as I owned the horde side auction house for 6 months on my server for the inscription profession. Actually ran out of stuff to buy by the end of that.

Got a friend who has been asking me to get back into it and tried on the classic server, but just not as fun as it used to be, especially with all the min/maxing and its impact on PvP and the groups and all.

- - - Updated - - -

I think even the office of president wouldn't offer him protection against at least some of those. And his attempt to have the DOJ serve as his defense in the rape trial didn't go over well either. 3+ years in-between is also a lot of time for many of those to advance to the point of no return.

Agreed.

But notice how the DOJ stuff didn't get tossed out till after he was out of office? And how far the Republican's went to protect him at all levels and will gladly go down that rabbit hole again if he got up there.

If he managed to make it into the White House again, the Republicans would fall in line all over again and protect him and will even argue he couldn't be held accountable till after his term was up to prevent him from losing office and making them look bad. They would even work to make sure he was pardoned or given some extra special treatment on the stuff before he left office.

Remember, these are the same people who gleefully put a potential serial rapist on the supreme court while actually blocking the FBI and allowing them to commit perjury to their faces while on camera to do it. Ethics and integrity have no place in their life or governing style and are actually liabilities as all they care about is power and would gladly burn this nation down to make sure they are the ones ruling over the ashes as they have proven multiple times in the past 20 years.

[Draco-Onis]

Honestly, my ideal scenario would be for him to run and lose again, but I know the safe bet is for him to just not run again.

I am thinking the opposite, the only way for Trump to regain his fortune and be kept safe from any prosecution is to run again and to have the republican party use their new laws them to throw out votes to give him the win. Of course I am a pessimist and think of the worse case scenarios however if I were Trump I would run again unless prosecutors gave me some kind of deal.

[Lenonis]

I mean, I get why Pence would want to do this, it's probably pays better than hosting a podcast and it gives him something to do to feel like a real politician again. But like...man the money blown on his campaign could go towards so many better things.

I do wonder what's the point. Pence has got to know he doesn't have a chance. The Trump cult hates him for not being more of a Trump lackey and the non-cult hates him for being too much of a Trump lackey.

So it's gotta be about ego or money or something...unless he really things the party will change that much in a few years.