Trump says "I like conflict...I enjoy watching it."

I agree with you on that one. It is much the same here in the UK.

 

As an outside observer, I would say that I think Trump will prove to be good for jobs and the economy, but bad for social cohesion and the general ethos of what it means to be a citizen. I think his somewhat blunted attitude will be able to get certain things done, at the expense of a more sophisticated and egalitarian vision of what constitutes a good standard of life. Both in the US and the UK right now we have to think about the next level shit. Like where do we really want to go with the project of automation in the workplace, how do we start to redefine what quality of life really is, and attempt to redress the balance of power regarding who leads the way forward. Because at the moment it really is the corporate elite and technocrats calling the shots.

I wanted Bernie, but didn't want Hillary at all. Can't say if I was right or wrong there.

 

The cons says this is not a democracy...they say it's a republic....but the cons force other countries to be a democracy, like Iraq. The EC has taken democracy out in favor of letting the rich decide who the POTUS is, because they are the ones that own all the property...the non-rich migrate to the cities because that's where the jobs are.

 

Yes, and what do they mean by "republic"? That we don't have a king? The Framers meant at the time that they gave the male citizenry a voice in selecting the leaders to the House of Representatives, subject to all kinds of checks and balances, including a Senate appointed by the state legislatures, a Bill of Rights, and the Electoral College. That changed. Democracy at the time the Framers put the system together was a cuss word they associated with mob rule. Our system adapted. And now we can speak of democratic republics, "republic" meaning representative democracy with minority rights. The EC hangs on through inertia.

 

No, con republic is MONEY rule....that's why they declared corporations people.

 

You're talking reality rather than rhetoric. I agree we don't have anything close to a functioning democracy--even a representative one. But we should!

 

I like what you're saying. My take on the Korea issue is that all the people laying out plans like the Secretary of State and Pence were leading us toward a conflict. Trump's pivot has the potential to avoid a war that those old warmongers clearly wanted. I'm sick of war, its been part of nearly my whole life in one form or another. If the orange baboon can keep us from sending troops and weapons into Korea, all I can do is applaud the effort.

 

No doubt this might work out great. I just wish it was part of some plan and not just a whim because a delegation from South Korea happened to be visiting the White House and he wanted to be a hero. If it works it’ll be by accident not intention. He has no idea what his staff had planned for a strategy.

 

What if he did though. Trump seems like the kind of guy who has had an army of trusted spies in every aspect of his life for decades. It's probably the only way someone like him hasn't caught a slug already.

 

No chance

 

Sheer fantasy, with no evidence to support it whatsoever. With that technique, it's possible to win any argument--if people go for it. Trump knows more than the generals and diplomats. That's what the Germans thought about Hitler.

 

Pence might have something to do with that.

 

Maybe. But Trump did take his dads 22M left him and turn it into billions. In a real estate market inhabited by a lot of pretty savvy shark infested waters. I don't really think he could accomplish that by being stupid, irrational or without some good resources around him.

 

Being a 'succesful' opportunistic business man takes a different kind of smart than being in a governing function (esp. the highest function of the nation). It also seems to take a different set of morals (a tinier set )

 

How much smarts does it really take to be born into privilege, inherit a fortune, and turn it into the same amount 50 years later

 

Turning 22M into more than one billion doesn't get there by chance or stupidity.

In a place that everyone wants to take you down like NY real estate, doesn't differ too much from politics.

Beating career politicians on both sides of the party, your first time out...........sorry but again that doesn't happen by chance.

 

It could happen because of misplaced expectations, a strong urge to vote against all the established bullshit and the feeling of there being nothing better.
Not because he is so smart or word his stuff so smart.

 

He was smart enough to see that opportunity. Pretty much the platform he vocally ran on. Almost the same words spoken.He left out bullshit.

 

The point is it happened because faith in the 2 big parties and their candidates was (is) at an all time low. Not because of Trumps intelligence or political talent.
Putting Clinton before Sanders was also a disastrous move (of the Democrat party as i understand, not the voters).