A gift from Laurie.
The ‘stable genius’ isn’t even functioning as president
I am unsure why folks see Trump as so "deranged" when I have known several people very like him, these include family, bosses, commenters, etc. Now I agree that Trump's habit of attacking and escalating is a bit more extreme. Then again maybe not, I am not sure how the people I know would react if they had to defend their pride and self image in a very public form...
Some of their characteristics:
The ‘stable genius’ isn’t even functioning as president
I am unsure why folks see Trump as so "deranged" when I have known several people very like him, these include family, bosses, commenters, etc. Now I agree that Trump's habit of attacking and escalating is a bit more extreme. Then again maybe not, I am not sure how the people I know would react if they had to defend their pride and self image in a very public form...
Some of their characteristics:
- they believe they are owed unquestioning respect from people who they believe have less experience, age, stature, etc
- they really like having "yes" people around them
- they get very angry when people ask for their rationale / belief
- they "know more than others" and "know what to do"
Now imagine how frustrating being a President would be if one had that personality. I mean all the checks and balances built into the system and the non-stop critiques would be infuriating. I assume most of these people enjoy being self employed or being a CEO, in these positions they would not be questioned and could be the "emperor"...
37 comments:
I am not a fan of the mental illness narrative. It's too easy a way to dismiss substantive arguments. And while Wolff seems to have raised issues about Trump's mental health, the more basic issue is his fitness for office.
--Hiram
Does some one being a narcissist lying control freak make someone "not fit for the Presidency"? Maybe...
However as I have noted before... What he says / tweets is usually very different from what he does...
The other view is that Trump is a master manipulator to some extent... I dislike manipulation because it requires insincerity, power games, false emotions, etc. However it seems to work for many people of questionable character.
A side note: for 10 years I delayed buying and reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" because I though it was a book on how to manipulate people. Then after seeing it had been in print for ~70 years, I decided it was worth a try. It turns out that it is the "anti-manipulation book" and one of the best interpersonal relations books I have ever read !!!
you clearly don't appreciate how dumb Trump is about policy and he how has no interest (or ability?) in learning anything about it. My link provides examples and strong argument that this is a dangerous situation and not what the people voted for. Did you even read the link?
Actually I had not read it yet, but now I have. The most useful thing I got of it that it referenced the 25th amendment.
Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.[3]
Now who here thinks that anyone in the GOP is going to vote no confidence for the President when most GOP voters still approve of the job he is doing?
Liberals can continue to scare themselves silly however until he actually truly does something irrational or illegal... We are stuck with him.
One more note... The reality for better or worse is that many CEOs do not know the details of their companies... They simply watch the big picture and hopefully hire the right people.
the trouble with trump is he doesn't understand the big picture either. I think a bright middle school student knows as much about healthcare policy as Trump does (more if they read and discuss the news with their parents.)
I think things will need to get quite bad before Trump is removed from office, so hopefully he continues to muddle along without having a major crisis. I think one of the more serious dangers that would majorly disrupt the country is how he would respond to a terrorist attack. He would not have a rock steady calming influence that would unite the country.
He would trust Mattis and Kelly.
That seems okay to me.
He would be extremely anti Muslim and take actions that would result in protest from the left. the country would become even more divided.
What exactly do you think he would do?
Reintroduce internment camps for Muslims...
I just don't see it happening...
By the way, we did have a terror attack in NY. No extreme measures so far.
you are right that Trump did not over react to the small attacks of the past year. so here is something sure to happen that will let Trump have a platform for his anti immigrant views - the budget fight-
s
In next round of budget talks, ‘dreamers’ are set to dominate
I hope the democrats do not give him much funding for his border wall in exchange for DACA. I'd rather see them let the govt shut down. The GOP is in control and the dems should not make big compromises to help them keep the govt running.
Democrats have no problem spending hundreds of Billions of dollars a year on welfare and yet you balk at funding a massive jobs program that will dissuade some illegal entry?
Why is this?
one third of the border already has a fence, maybe more fencing is a good idea in some places. Building a wall along the entire border is an unneeded waste of money and is a bad, ugly, symbol.
Yes, we are experiencing a net outflow of illegal, undocumented workers from America back to Mexico
So you are willing to let DACA go away and/or shut down the government because you do not like "the symbol that we have a wall on our Southern border... Is that it?
Now please remember that if 250,000 people enter the USA each year... And 255,000 are deported each year that is considered a net outflow.
And yet we have allowed approximately the whole population of Minneapolis enter our country with no search, back ground check, etc. Another source
The other advantage of Trump being very loudly anti-illegal border jumpers is that fewer people will try. That means that people will stay in Central America instead of risking their lives by paying smugglers to transport them through Mexico.
Now if you want to increase US Aid in Mexico and Central America to help them improve their countries, that sounds good to me. However to encourage folks to try to illegally enter America by supporting their hopes is not something I can support.
Now if we can lock down our border against illegal drugs, then the cartels would lose their money and power... Though the opioid and heroin death toll is terrible in so many ways. The upside is that the customers do die and hopefully the demand drops. Well that is if we can stop other idiots from getting addicted.
$20 billion or more on a border wall is a waste of money. There are better ways to spend that amount such as roads, bridges, airports, or fixing up run down schools for example. I think dems could compromise a little bit on increasing border security, like agree to maybe a quarter of what Trump is asking for in exchange for DACA. The GOP needs to compromise as well, as they are too incompetent to pass a budget without dem votes.
It will be interesting to see how the negotiation goes...
Trump is a brilliant negotiator, one who has won every negotiation he has ever engaged in. So we have to ask the question, why negotiate with him? Why should we negotiate to get him to do things he should do anyway?
--Hiram
I suppose the DEMs should just give him the 18 billion and stop fighting the inevitable then. :-)
Wouldn't that be a form of negotiation?
--Hiram
I guess I don't consider it a negotiation when I pay what is on the price tag.
It is, assuming you buy it. The price of something is what you pay for it, not the number that appears on the tag.
--Hiram
That is true, but if they don't buy it I would consider that Trump lost the negotiation ... Which you said would not happen. :-)
That isn't the way Trump would see it. Donald is self centered and views the world in transnational terms. If he isn't involved in it, it is doesn't exist for him. Donald frequently withdraws from trade deals; it's his hallmark as president. But it never seems to occur to him, that his erstwhile partners in those deals simply deal with someone else. It doesn't seem to occur to Trump to follow up. He does assume that people will want to renegotiate the deals he breaks, but for obvious reasons people are reluctant to do that.
From an international law standpoint, this is novel. When a president makes a deal with a foreign country, it's not personal. It's a deal between two sovereign nations which continues on after the politicians who made it leave office. This way of thinking doesn't seem to occur to Trump. He sees power as personal; that a deal made by a predecessor isn't binding on him.
--Hiram
Hey I am just playing along with your initial comment...
"Trump is a brilliant negotiator, one who has won every negotiation he has ever engaged in. So we have to ask the question, why negotiate with him? Why should we negotiate to get him to do things he should do anyway?"
--Hiram
I don't think of Trump as a good negotiator in business or politics.
Trump Says He’s a Great Negotiator, but the Evidence Says Otherwise
Laurie,
I agree with you... But I am a Win - Win negotiator where he seems to be a Win - Lose negotiator...
Donald Trump Wants to Waste a Lot of Money on New Border Patrol Agents
there is probably something in that post for you to disagree with
Here apparently are some actual numbers. Apparently there are ~20,000 Border Patrol agents for the whole country.
There are about 2000 miles along the Southern border alone.
That would mean that if all of the agents were on that border... Each officer would be responsible for 1/10th of a mile of border. Well that if they were robots and worker 24/7...
Well since the borders need to be watched all the time... And since that many officers require Supervisors, meetings, training, shift changes, lunch, etc.
So let's do the math.
365 days x 24 hours = 8,760 hours
Typical active work year after training, meetings, vacation, etc: 1,800 hrs per employee per year
Therefore it requires ~5 shifts to cover the hours. 8760/1800
So our work force then drops from 20,000 individuals to 4,000 teams to cover 2,000 miles. That's not bad I mean each team them only has to cover 1/2 mile.
Oh I forgot about the need for Supervisors, Arresting folks and the other 10,000+ miles of Border they need to cover. Or the fact that most of the agents need to stay in the areas of high population density looking for tunnels, searching cars, etc.
No wonder we still have 100's of thousands of illegal entries each year.
Then there is the fact that many of those entries are not to smuggle illegal workers only. They are to narcotics and other substances that are killing our most vulnerable addicts.
Here’s What We Know About Trump’s Mexico Wall
the number of people illegally entering USA is way down from a peak in 2000. The estimate is 80% of people crossing border illegally are apprehended.
Laurie,
Excellent link !!!
Now I am flexible regarding the solution, however my goal is ZERO people, ZERO drugs, ZERO sex slaves, etc run across or dig under our Southern border each year. Now I know that we will never attain perfection, but it is the correct goal to discourage people from trying.
What is your goal for this illegal smuggling of people / contraband?
Please note per YOUR source.
"Outside estimates are less rosy. In a 2013 report, the Council on Foreign Relations estimated that Border Patrol’s success rate was in the 40 percent to 55 percent range. The Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group that works solely for U.S. government agencies, estimates that about 200,000 people made it across in 2015 —down from an estimated 2 million entries in 2000."
I did not know how much of the wall was installed during the Bush, Clinton, Bush Presidencies and how well it had worked as a deterrent. Per the
"Border apprehensions tend to decrease in areas after barriers have been constructed, though other factors likely contribute.
There was a significant drop in apprehensions after fencing was built near San Diego in the early 1990s. The drop there was followed by a spike in apprehensions to the east, near Tucson, Arizona, where the border was less fortified. When fencing was extended across much of the Arizona border, apprehensions fell there, too. Now apprehensions are highest in the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector in southern Texas. Much of Texas lacks fencing, though there is some in the Rio Grande Valley.
While fencing certainly contributed to fewer apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, it is likely that several factors led to the drop. New border fencing often coincided with an increase in border patrol agents in the area. Apprehensions fell by half after the recession that ran from 2007 to 2009, when fewer economic opportunities in the U.S. may have deterred would-be migrants.
It's clear that reinforcement is not without limitations. Border agents told the New York Times that they found at least one tunnel a month from 2007 to 2010 as more fencing went up. Also, a wall wouldn't deter asylum seekers, who present themselves to border agents at legal ports of entry and currently make up a large number of those apprehended at the border. Nor would it stop immigrants who fly into the country and overstay legal visas. The Department of Homeland Security said almost 530,000 people overstayed in fiscal 2015, about 200,000 more than were apprehended at the border that same year.
In January, President Trump pointed to Israel's wall as a successful model, telling Fox News, “They were having a total disaster coming across, and they had a wall. It's 99.9 percent stoppage.”
"Most of the existing border fence was built after 2006, under President George W. Bush.
Federally funded construction began in the 1990s, when 14 miles of fencing was built along the California border during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. The barriers targeted border crossers between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego.
In 2006, George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, which ultimately led to construction of 653 miles of reinforced fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Department of Homeland Security had finished most of the fencing by the time President Barack Obama took office in 2009, but the agency still has 47 miles of authorized, unfinished fencing to be constructed."
Now why again are people against finishing the wall?
They seem to have worked excellently?
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