You have been captured by the shadowy forces of the Discordian Society. The random play of the strobe lights, mix with the Barney “I love you” song blaring over the loud speakers pierce a hole in your brain. You must escape this hell but there is no escape but one. With each strobe of the light the the words “Trump” “Palin” and “Choose” repeat in random order on the screen filling your entire field of vision. The drug they have given you has paralyzed your entire body save of the index finger on your right had which hovers over two switches labeled Palin and Trump. Which every you choose will become the next POTUS, the Discordians will make sure of that and you know they have the power. After you choose you will be released unharmed but will be unable to leave the country until Feb 1st 2021. There is not third party, you cannot bow out, even the sweet release of death is denied you YOU MUST CHOOSE!
Response from OP:
I keep going back and forth on this. On the one hand Trump is clearly more competent than Palin. But on the other hand, while they are both Narcissists. There is a likelihood that Palin may be open to accepting advice from aides, while Trump would trust his own judgment and likely dismiss anyone who contradicted him. In the end I think I would go with Trump in the vain hope that much of his rhetoric is designed to play to the masses and that underneath if given actual responsibility he will conform his actions to reality.
Would he actually be forbidden from acting as CEO while POTUS? I mean, it’s a terrible idea, and I would completely understand why voters wouldn’t like it, but I have a hard time seeing him being barred from being CEO and POTUS simultaneously as a constitutional matter.
Edit: I forgot to say, while they are both bad options, Trump might be a blowhard and may not listen to advice, but he actually seems to have some policy ideas and an ounce of common sense (only that much though). That puts him in a category above Palin. Of course, an armadillo would be in a category above Palin too, so that’s not saying much.
Trump, for an admittedly dubious reason: I’m a woman, and I’ll be damned if the first female POTUS is Palin. Plus, at least Trump is open and honest about his bigotry.
You could throw Charles Manson into the mix and make it a difficult three way choice. Trump, but only because he might actually hire some people that know something for advisors. Plus he might know why there are two Koreas.
Trump. He may be insane, but he’s not necessarily stupid. The same can’t be said for Palin. That’s what burns me about Palin so much-- not her bluster, or her quitty-ness, or her beliefs, or her smarminess, but the fact that someone so fucking stupid could get this far in driving our nation’s politics and policies.
If Palin were president, I would be ashamed to be an American. If Trump were president, I would shake my head and wonder what the hell happened, but I wouldn’t feel the deep shame for our nation like if Palin were president. She’s no better than President Camacho. Trump is only slightly better, but Trump gets my vote over Sarah.
I’d say she’s worse. Camacho knew he had a serious problem he was responsible for fixing, knew he was in over his head, and knew he needed to find the best-prepared person to fix it and to hand it over to him along with all the authority and resources that person would need. That’s actual leadership, of an idiocratic sort. But Palin would never come to any of those realizations.
Trump. I think he has more real experience than her. And while I don’t think either REALLY wants the job, I think Palin has made it quite clear she’s more interested in being a pundit and getting paid big bucks to speak, while Trump is at least going through the motions. Has Palin even made a statement that she has any interest in joining the race? And besides all that, I really think most of what he’s saying is a combination between what he thinks he needs to say to get the Republican base interested, and just straight up trolling at an epic level.
I could hold out a long time. maybe it reduces the term a bit.
Palin. She at least has experience as a small state governor where she had to work with people she couldn’t fire. She’s more likely to have experienced political professionals as part of her team and might even listen sometimes. Trump’s run off some of the professionals he’s brought in to his campaign. I’d also expect Trump to be more aggressive and effective at trying to implement his plans. Given the quality of his ideas I consider that a bad thing.