Politics: "Donald Trump is the funniest president in the history of the republic."

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
10/25/2017 at 15:59 • Filed to: None

According to Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is worth a read.

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DISCUSSION (44)

TheHondaBro > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:01

Scott Adams is a piece of shit.

EL_ULY > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:08

Kinja'd!!!

this was funny to very horrible people

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:11

And therein lies the real issue with Trump’s supporters, it’s not just that they agree with horrible views that no decent human being should ever have, it’s that they don’t care that a clearly unstable, immature, and impulsive troll is destroying hundreds of years of political discourse and precedent because it’s ‘funny’. I don’t know how the nation come back from that if serious geopolitical and domestic concerns are constantly thought of as a joke by half the voters in this country.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > TheHondaBro
10/25/2017 at 16:11

That’s pretty vague.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 16:12

I can go along with that take. I don’t think Adams himself is necessarily laughing though.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > EL_ULY
10/25/2017 at 16:20

Is this where he was mocking the disabled guy? That was “humorous” as well. To his base. But if you read Adams’ piece, and someone like, say, Jeff Flake gets elected POTUS — and the citizenry is collectively relieved because it ain’t Trump — then that would be “beyond the sale” also.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:21

Funny, but not in a ha-ha way.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 16:28

“destroying hundreds of years of political discourse and precedent because it’s ‘funny’.”

And somehow people at my work are pissed at McCain for wanting to come up with bipartisan health care solutions. It’s the smartest thing I’ve heard a republican say in since... I can’t remember. Not that I’m keeping tabs.

But even Trump aside, I would say we are destroying politics, more than they already were. If we are going to make the best of our 2 party system we are going to have to reach across the aisle. Otherwise every time the pendulum swings that sides policies will die with that swing.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > TheHondaBro
10/25/2017 at 16:30

I agree with OC, whi?

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:30

Maybe not laughing himself, but he definitely doesn’t seem to realize the dangerous implications of Trump, as he mentioned, effectively weaponizing humor. Like it used to be that any official statement made by the President, no matter how off-the-cuff or insignificant, was meant to be dead serious, carefully parsed and crafted so that the administration’s view on the subject was established without equivocation. Now Trump says horrifically offensive and shocking things and his base defends it as “he’s just joking!”, effectively giving Trump free reign to make whatever batshit insane remarks he wants to without consequence because no one takes him eriously. To me that’s the biggest consequence of the Trump presidency, we can no longer take what the leader of our country says at face value because he’s either trolling or has an army of brainwashed supports to handwave away any authentic statement he articulates.

MonkeePuzzle > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:37

insightful and interesting read

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 16:38

And the conservative pundits say, “Ignore what he says , and just look at what he does .” But that makes you and me liberal wimps because we prefer civil discourse.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail
10/25/2017 at 16:39

Were you able to read the Adams piece?

Saracen > EL_ULY
10/25/2017 at 16:56

Ugh, that still fucking sickens me.

TheHondaBro > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 16:58

SVTyler > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/25/2017 at 16:58

I can see both sides of the McCain argument; on one hand he tends to talk a big game about being a maverick but more often that not he eventually votes the party line for whatever it was he was ‘greatly concerned’ about, but at the same time any kind of dissent from the Republicans, especially a respected senior Senator, is very much needed in this administration. We’ll see how his voting record looks from here on out.

And while I don’t identify with either party and don’t want this to devolve into a partisan pissing contest but there’s definitely more arms reaching across the aisle from one side than the other, and have been for some time now. The ACA as a revised clone of a Republican plan, Merrick Garland as a moderate SCOTUS nomination, and dialing back numerous proposed gun control measures are just a few times Democrats tried to offer the olive branch to Republicans and had it thrown back in their face. The Overton window has been moved so far right in the post-Gingrich political environment that it just seems like both parties are equally to blame.

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 17:04

Gotta love how Trump is seen as a straight-shooting man of action when he constantly needs people to explain the crazy bullshit he says and his majority-controlled Congress can’t pass even the most basic points of conservative agenda. It’s almost like rational, nuanced discourse has a place in politics...

My bird IS the word > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 17:13

Pretty sure TR was the funniest president. I want to have a beer with that guy.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 17:13

Yep. I think it gives 45 far too much credit.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 17:13

I feel the R’s have been particularly greedy and short sighted. Not willing to reach across the aisle and instead pushing forth inferior legislation in such a manner that it circumvents the necessity for D support. Thankfully there been a handful of republican senators that saw fit to block this nonsense. But far too many were willing to vote for this shit, simply for the sake of proving to themselves and the public that they could force partisan legislation through the house and senate. Again greedy and short sighted. The next time the pendulum swings, all of it will be dismantled.

Oh man seeing the name Merrick Garland again is just getting me all sorts of riled up, haha. At the end of the day though, I agree that both parties are to blame, there are plenty of mistakes on both sides. It’s just that on the R side it’s very visible right now because they are the majority party and I would argue their mistakes have a much bigger impact at the moment because of them being more visible + in the majority. It’s just baffling how fucked up it all is.

I really wish we could reach across the aisle and come up with some sensible improvements to the ACA and I wish, if we were pushing for tax reform, that it would favor small business AND most importantly low to medium incomes. Those are the people that need it most and those are the people that will have the greatest impact on the economy, they will be consumers, people with high income will simply save it.

edit: And I agree on McCain, for now I’m simply thankful that he’s making the right noises, I’ll simply hope for the right votes, haha.

SVTyler > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/25/2017 at 17:27

That’s one of the most frustrating parts of modern American politics, the two-steps forward, one-step back bullshit that happens every eight or so years where the newly-elected party is so intent on dismantling what their predecessors did they get sidetracked from accomplishing their own agenda. Not to say those two things are mutually exclusive, but if Congress devoted as much energy to working together as they spend mudslinging something might actually get done.

And honestly I don’t know how you improve healthcare without implementing single-payer/Medicare-for-all or otherwise removing all of the profits out of the industry. Until you do that we’ll just have extremely wealthy lobbyists bribing politicans to keep blocking any kind of reform that would benefit the country. Same kind of problem with tax reform, Republicans and their billionaire donors still buy into trickle-down economics so any proposed measures, as seen by their most recent attempts, will focus more on the top than the bottom of the brackets.

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 17:49

That’s crazy talk...

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 18:10

Trump is one of the world’s top trolls. He was hired primarily for his trolling capabilities. How someone reacts to him is strongly correlated with personality strengths and weaknesses...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MonkeePuzzle
10/25/2017 at 18:22

Dilbert was one of the all time great comics because Adams understands people so well and few people would be better qualified to analyze Trump’s behavior in the manner that Adams has. The piece did much to help me wrap my head around what’s going on.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 18:24

I honestly don’t think Donald Trump cares about America at all. I think he only cares about Donald Trump and he is having a great time pulling the levers of power and destroying civilization as we know it, not to put too fine a point on it...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 18:31

I appreciate this remark. There is such a momentous divide in perception that you just cannot quantify who’s done what and expect to be taken seriously. I do opine that Liberals brought us here and I could be considered a Liberal by many. My leadership, my ideologues, failed me totally, beginning with Bill Clinton’s cigar. And trotting out HRC as the candidate? Qualified, she certainly was. Electable, she certainly was not. And they flushed 50 years of liberal social progress right down the toilet of a very gender specific public restroom. Good news: DiFi is running for reelection.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SVTyler
10/25/2017 at 18:34

Trump touts, $4,000 per household and I’m thinking, You spend that much on dinner .

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/25/2017 at 18:34

The Garland deal struck me as SO unfair...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
10/25/2017 at 18:36

He’s just walking around the halls of power lobbing grenades. I don’t think he cares about anything or anyone, even his own family.

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 19:03

Trump’s shown time and again that all he cares about is himself and what others think of him; I guarantee that’s why he’s run for President for the last twenty years, he loves getting up on stage and being the center of attention with literally thousands of people chanting his name and applauding everything he says.

That being said I bet (and hope) he’s absolutely miserable being President. Think about it, the dude’s never had to work a day in his life and got to where he is now by bullshitting and screwing over everyone in his path and absolutely none of that flies in the White House. Every single waking second is a reminder that he’s completely unprepared and totally out of his element, from the officials constantly badgering him to make decisions to the sheer amount of hate directed his way by the media and general public, the majority of whom voted for another candidate. It must be an absolute nightmare for an egomaniac like Trump, and he’s not even 1/4th of the way through his term.

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 19:21

That’s pretty much my take on the Democratic Party too: good ideas, bad execution. The theme of the 2016 election was that of anti-establishment, alternative politics and the Dems had probably the easiest path to the Presidency in years, and they go and nominate arguably the most establishment candidate they could find because... I don’t even know why, it was her turn I guess. I’m not sure where they go from here either, seems like there’s a bunch of anti-Trump, anti-Republican sentiment going around right now and they’ve failed to capitalize on it so far.

I also can’t help but to fault the liberals who stayed home on election night as a protest; yeah, Hillary was a wholly uninspiring candidate but they can’t keep waiting for an Obama to come along, they’ll lose every election while the Republicans show up in droves to vote for the guy who has an (R) next to his name. Doesn’t help to play fair if you lose the game every time.

SVTyler > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 19:27

Yet another reason to hate statistics in politics, they use averages instead of medians. You could have ten families with nine getting absolutely zero tax breaks but if one in the top-most bracket gets $40k a year, then that’s $4k per.

And like Trump has any idea what anything costs to us mere mortals. He thought healthcare was $12/yr, I want someone to ask what he thinks a steak costs.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/25/2017 at 21:49

i wouldn’t say that is funny, I’d say its a good sales tactic. What I find complete bullshit is this myth that “oh hes just looking for an emotional response, his supporters don’t beleive that” accectdotal, but going by what two co-workers say that is exactly what they think/want him him to do.

Given his position on family members of isis, women that have abortions, millions on the aca hes opened up a pandoras box. Adams “well hes great persuader” is justification for unethical lying is nuts.

Dan Carlin had an episode, i think it was @March of 2016, where he breaks it down, (paraphrsing) ‘he’s convinced people hes their last hope, and only he can fix it” what happens when he doesn’t? Trump is starting a ball that he can’t control.”

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
10/25/2017 at 23:22

I did not read the Adams piece as giving Trump credit for anything but effective use of a few techniques and pointing up some irony. I find the guy repugnant but I:m trying to keep an open mind and hope for something I can feel okay about.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/26/2017 at 00:54

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-22/how-dilbert-s-scott-adams-got-hypnotized-by-trump

I don’t like Scott Adams. He pretends to be some sort of sociopathic edgelord with a superiority complex. This article only gives more questions for the reader for Adams.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
10/26/2017 at 07:38

“Sociopathic edgelord...” What is an edgelord??

Thank you for the link. From the story, Adams is definitely weird and cut from cloth that is eerily similar to Trump’s, hence, the obvious admiration. Adams is also a Rich White Guy who will never be harmed by any of Trump’s shenanigans.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
10/26/2017 at 07:42

Creepy dude. Look at who he sleeps with? She’s half his age, but carries on like she could be his granddaughter’s age.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/26/2017 at 08:12

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-22/how-dilbert-s-scott-adams-got-hypnotized-by-trump

POS? I don’t know. Creepy? Definitely. But very helpful in understanding Trump.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
10/26/2017 at 08:13

Thank you for this link. I am adding the story to my Trump dossier.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
10/26/2017 at 08:40

I have a suspicion that Donald Trump possesses a sort of genius whereby the qualities that Scott Adams describes come naturally to Trump; they his gifts, where Adams has had to work at and study these techniques in order to practice them.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SVTyler
10/26/2017 at 08:53

I’ve always believed those lobbyists are part of the problem. The immense power the wield, the obviousness with which policy is shaped by their interests is sickening. Something needs to change there. Everything seems to come down to big money. Winning the presidency takes millions, changing legislation takes millions (lobbying, fund raising, etc). These are both things we could be doing for next to nothing. Lobbying shouldn’t be tied to money, it should be interest groups lobbying their arguments for or against something.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/26/2017 at 08:53

I’m still baffled they were able to block his nomination, both Obama and Garland had all the proper qualifications to get it done. Should have been a mere formality.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/26/2017 at 09:20

Parliamentary games, Mitch McConnell, my understanding.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SVTyler
10/26/2017 at 09:55

And a bottle of Ketchup, ask him what that costs too.