Just for the record, here is what I currently think of Donald Trump, the US president, who is halfway through his first 100 days. This post will be far more interesting in a few years than it is now, which is why I write it.
Note: By “impression” I mean my utterly subjective opinion in all its biased glory. This post is not a report of facts or reasoned arguments, but of personal reactions. If I become brainwashed – or enlightened – use this post as a baseline of “how Abagond used to be.”
Narcissistic: I think he is all front, all image, no substance, no morals, no empathy (except maybe for his children), a consummate attention whore, a con man. He prizes money and fame above all.
Racist: I think he is racist, sexist, Islamophobic and all the rest. He does in fact think racism is a bad thing, but does not see it in himself, his policies, or his top people. After all, he has Black friends!
Untrustworthy: Maybe I travel in the wrong circles, but most people I know would have nothing to do with someone who acts like Trump – unless they were a hideous kiss-up. Or if they needed a job and were hard up. Otherwise, forget it. He lies like it was nothing, which makes him completely untrustworthy and therefore someone who would only cause you grief in the long run.
Massively corrupt: Because he has not made his tax returns public or divested himself from his businesses, I assume that he is corrupt, probably more corrupt than any president since at least Nixon.
Worse than I thought: Part of my low opinion is almost certainly going to come from partisanship as a Democrat (I can see that in my old posts on Romney), but over the past 50 days he has turned out to be worse than I expected. For example:
- I thought his lack of experience would cause trouble, but I never dreamed he would be so brainless as to issue his Muslim ban without first checking with legal and government experts. Or without getting all his people in position first, especially his attorney general.
- I thought he would be sunk in scandal, but I never dreamed it would be this quick and this terrible.
Russiagate: the Russian stuff might turn out to be a red herring or just the tip of the iceberg, but there is something there: Trump is acting like he is hiding something. And Trump and Michael Flynn act in ways that do not make sense. Something is going on.
Better than I thought: so far he respects the rule of law, trying to colour within the constitutional lines as best he can. No Reichstags are on fire. Yet. (Hitler’s Reichstag was on fire after 28 days.) That is heartening. If he can keep that up and keep the US out of any more wars – and does not nuke anyone – I will be relieved.
– Abagond, 2017.
See also:
- How Hitler rose to power
- Donald Trump
- Michael Flynn
519
Yes, my bar is set so low that if he just keeps the US from catching on fire, that’s for the best. He will never be an adequate or even mediocre president. He would have to rise up to that, and I don’t see that happening.
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Trump fronts like he’s the b*stard child of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson on roids.
But look at how he reacted when he thought there was an assassination attempt on his life during a rally in Ohio last year.
His first reaction was to grab his podium and try not to sh*t himself and then latch onto the breast of the biggest whitest man he could find and then allow the rest of his goons to surround him as he watched the 22-year-old child actor get carted off.
It’s easy to talk tough when you are not the one who has to get in the bullring.
Look at how Hilary reacted to what she thought could also be an assassination attempt on her life last year also at a rally in Vegas.
I’m no fan of Hilary one bit. Her eyes became wider. This a normal response for most people when they see a group of people coming towards them that don’t look friendly.
She’s woman and she looked like the damsel in distress until the big black guy came to her rescue but she did, however, stand her ground. She never lost her composure and immediately starts scrutinizing the protesters to see what they’re all about so she can defuse the situation.
She stared down her aggressors with a glare that read, “COME AT ME, BRO!”
When her Secret Service came on stage they instructed her to keep talking, but she said, “I’m fine,” Whereas Trump was fleeing. His facial expression did not look like that of an aggressive person.
As I say – It’s easy to talk tough when you are not the one who has to get in the bullring.
So you got someone who freaks out and shits his pants at the first sign of danger, or someone who stares down an attacker like in some old kung-fu movie?
I guess that’s why draft dodger Trump didn’t go to Nam to fight for his country.
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Well-said, Abagond. Your assessment of Trump is on target, IMO.
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@TheHipHopRecords (@TheHipHopRecord)
come on. as has been said, trump is so bad you don’t need to lie about him to bash him.
Trump was reacting to the direct physical threat of someone rushing the stage.
Hillary was reacting, and in a bizarre fashion BTW, to hecklers, not potential assassins.
Hating Trump is one thing. But the false representations only make you look dishonest.
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@nomad
+1000
@abagond
“Note: By “impression” I mean my utterly subjective opinion in all its biased glory. This post is not a report of facts or reasoned arguments, but of personal reactions. If I become brainwashed – or enlightened – use this post as a baseline of “how Abagond used to be.”
+1000. This is a big step in the right (honest) direction. I’m proud of you and hope to see more of it.
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You know, before the election cycle, I really didn’t have an opinion on Trump one way or another. Even his birtherism didn’t raise a flag, he just seemed to be on the conspiracy bandwagon and his needling was suitably asked and answered by no less than Obama himself at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
I now find him so despicable, I wouldn’t piss on him if his heart was on fire. What a horribly racist, misogynistic all around jerk we’ve elected.
Trump has taught me how easy it is to ruin one’s own reputation and that all the money in the world cannot by a sense of decency, manners or class.
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Let it out. Couldn’t agree with you more. 45 is fearsome. Gray areas? Your intuition is most likely on target! I am also very worried about his effect on our already weak democracy (attacks on media, judicial, etc.)
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Mitt gave my state universal healthcare when he was governor, making us the first state to get it. He looks like a messiah compared to Donny here.
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@abagond
A good exercise.
Man, I wish you had done one for Obama so you could compare how you feel 8 years later. I bet it would be a whole lot different than you feel now.
My impression of Obama would have been different too. Not that I expected much. But I never thought, like your number 5 point, that he’d be so abysmal. One thing that would not have been on my list of first impressions and which I would have to put on the list of my last is ‘racist’. For his bombing of brown people, for his mass deportations and for his malign neglect of his black citizenry. The end list would be a lot lit your current impression of Trump.
Narcissistic: Everything is about him.
Racist: Anti-Black despite the fact that he is nominally black.,
Untrustworthy: Big Lies. On healthcare. On mass surveillance. On ISIS.
Massively corrupt:
Worse than I thought:
Nothing about him is better than I initially thought. It’s all been worse. Had no regard for the rule of law. Forced Bolivian presidential plane to land in search of Snowden. Assassinated Americans. Invaded nations etc.
My outgoing Obama list looks a lot like your incoming list for Trump. They’re like a pair of matching bookends. ‘Different as night and…night.’
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Your header reminds me of the Matrix.
I don’t want to take either pill.
I agree with most of what you wrote though my instinct is there is nothing to Russiagate.
So we shall see.
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Just tuned in to NBC just to sample whats going on in MSM. Matt Lauer says hes going to interview Senator Graham “about Russian hacking” of the 2016 election. Not “alleged” Russian hacking, as the news media is supposedly careful to insert when the facts are not in. No, no, no. They are treating it as if it were proven fact, if not overtly, in these subliminal ways. That’s how propaganda works. That’s why MSM viewers believe Russia hacked the election. That’s why MSM is propaganda.
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@ nomad
Even Trump himself admitted Russia was probably behind the hacking.
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Trump is not a news media. He obviously gets his news from MSM. “Probably” is not fact.
You know, I think I’m going to go on an MSM news diet for a couple of weeks. Yeah. Get all my news from MSM. See what kind of nonsense I come out believing.
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I think you might be underestimating Mr. Tangerine Man.
I believe that he practices white supremacy consciously, is very comfortable with being a racist, knows that his top people are as racist as he is and sees racism as being a good thing.
I think he probably sees his “black friends” as his pets.
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you watch tv?
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Who me? Yeah. I watch a lot. Now I understand my TV is watching me. I must be boring the CIA guys to tears.
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I just got it, michaeljon. It’s Pi!!! I’m sure Abagond probably explains the new header somewhere. My brother just reminded me 3.14 was Pi Day, which I had never heard of before. I bet abagond put that header up on 3.14.17.
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@ nomad @ michaeljonbarker
Right, it was for Pi Day.
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But I did do it with green on black to make it look Matrixy.
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45 the orange monkey with small hands BOO! to him.
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Exactly if he can keep the US out of wars and not get us nuked i will be happy with that. That’s the least i can hope for.
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@ Mary Burrell
Every time you post about Donald Trump, it makes me giggle. The names you call him!!!
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And today was the Ides of March. What a pity that history didn’t re… No, better not say that. The FBI is probably listening through my toaster.
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This is so funny. Trump actually has some black employees.
Black women remove Andrea Mitchell from White House for asking wrong question.
(https://youtu.be/NhdqN2ue2eY)
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LOL. I had to watch that again.
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Who me? Yeah. I watch a lot. Now I understand my TV is watching me. I must be boring the CIA guys to tears.
Start cussing at the T.V. and wait and see if the CIA turns up. Give it the finger! I’ve been doing this, so far, no knocks.
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lol. probably doesn’t have the manpower to follow up on all it sees, that’s the problem with watching everybody and criminalizing everything. I lose track of how many laws I break each day, and I’m just one person.
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I think “sexist” and Islamophobic deserve their own points. Yes, I get it,this is your personal opinion but I sometimes have a feeling all I hear is some sexist or Islamophobic s*** he says.
I also think he does have a delusion of grandeur or whatever it’s called. As in, he thinks he’s oh, so great but in fact is largely incompetent about basically anything. Even without the dangerous stuff he’d be a very incompetent president.
I still can’t at people voting for him. Like, even those who share his beliefs, how couldn’t they see how bad and empty and incompetent he is?
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(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtYD7zQ_3Rc)
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@Mira
“…even those who share his beliefs, how couldn’t they see how bad and empty and incompetent he is?”
You are discounting two things:
How dumbed down many Americans have become through constant rightwing (and commercial) propaganda over the past forty years.
How good Trump makes his base feel. He says the same things they say at the kitchen table or at the local bar. They are ecstatic with him in the White House.
I wish they were more rational and less emotional, too.
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My sentiments exactly. Also I like the fact that he has caused the Deep State to reveal itself to people who apparently didn’t know it existed.
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Silly.
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One thing Trump can do to completely upset the apple cart. With the failure of his own right wing healthcare proposal. Hes already alienated half his party. And the Obamapalosers are out to get him. Something Obama should have did, which is why Obamacare is such an Obamapaloser. Medicare for all. He could say, “Look, I tried a righter wing healthcare than Obama’s, but it didn’t work. So I’m going to single payer.” That would slap his enemies on both the left and the right in the face and complete the polar reversal of Democrat and Republican parties, perhaps even destroying them in the process. “Oops! No more enemies and the people love me! Even black people.”
“But of course I’d have to abolish the corporate health insurance vampires to do it. And that’s my creed. I love vampires. So, nah. I’d rather lose. Like Obama.”
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Go ahead< Trump. Upset that apple cart.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/04/whats-going-happen-obamacare.html
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Clintonism. You know that horror movie where at the end the spirit of the slain super-fiend possesses someone else? That’s how it is with Clintinism. It should have died with Hillary’s defeat. But it didn’t. Ithas taken possession of Trump!!! Clintonism!!! The thing that wouldn’t die!!! I thought it was dead. I was celebrating! But it…it…it came back to life!
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/04/17/jared-kushner-suspected-gangster-within-trump-white-house.html
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Trump, from my earlier comment.
“But of course I’d have to abolish the corporate health insurance vampires to do it. And that’s my creed. I love vampires. So, nah. I’d rather lose. Like Obama.”
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Just saw this video of the First Lady expressing her impression of Trump:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article148214119.html
Whoa!
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I wonder how much her pre-nup is worth?
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@Herneith
I would say she has earned every last penny.
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‘Islamophobia’ is a nonsense word. Fear of Islam, the ideology, is perfectly justified. The harshest criticism of Islam is perfectly justified and no religion or secular ideology should be spared criticism or mockery. If you wish to call out bigotry against Muslims that is another thing entirely. Muslims are not Islam. It is extremely dangerous for free speech and rational thought to confuse the two.
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