# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 19, 2023, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250 "2023-05-19T03:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 234
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4662 "2024-03-13T14:28:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > who’d wind up as the candidate at that point? Does it even matter? Turnout will be terrible. The ones who try to emulate him (like DeSantis) will fail abjectly on a national level. And the ones who don’t emulate him won’t drum up support. Many of the true believers will stay home instead of voting, leaving the rest to deal with the fallout Trump has damaged not only many of our institutions and traditions and credibility as a nation to those around the world, he’s damaged the RNC to the point it can barely exist on its own. They’ll have to figure out how to rebuild in a world where they can’t rely on him. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4663 "2024-03-13T14:28:14Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Assuming he loses, who would hold him accountable? Would the DOJ under Biden care enough to pursue criminal indictments? Hopefully, yes. A second loss might make them find some courage, and stop faffing about worrying about how prosecuting him will be perceived. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4664 "2024-03-13T14:39:24Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Turnout will be terrible. The ones who try to emulate him (like DeSantis) will fail abjectly on a national level. I’d agree that anyone who tries to emulate Trump while (a) running against him, and while (b)Trump himself is campaigning against them would, as you say, fail abjectly. But I’m not sold on the idea that anyone trying to emulate him without saying anything against the guy, and without him saying anything against them, is doomed. For starters, Trump is going to name _someone_ as his running mate pretty soon, and will presumably frame that as the bestest pick ever, really, you can’t believe how good this decision I’ve made is — and if that person never winds up getting on his bad side like Pence, does Trump eventually get to play kingmaker, _without even having meant to,_ by having talked up that person as his choice to keep fighting the good fight? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4665 "2024-03-13T14:41:52Z")
We’ll see. But his stamp of approval, as it were, didn’t help at all during the midterms. The Republicans underperformed massively and the ones more aligned with him personally did particularly bad. It seems that if he’s not personally on the ballot, his supporters just don’t show up. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4666 "2024-03-13T14:52:20Z")
I am talking to my Canadian extended family members a lot these days for a particular reason (an elderly family member is nearing the end). They are almost all (at least my generation and my parents’ generation) right wing nut jobs. Their devotion to Trump and their desperate wish that they had someone that charismatic north of the 49th parallel is really striking. The last time I was involved with these folks was in 2016 (same family member’s 80th birthday celebration) they were mocking the US for having Trump as a serious presidential candidate. A bunch of South Asian immigrants in Canada have now embraced anti-immigrant, white supremacist ideology. The same thing has happened to the US but since I’m talking to those folks all the time the change from eight years ago to now is less stark. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4667 "2024-03-13T14:54:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Anyway, this is one of those landmark days where you’re like “we have reached a new stage in the disease’s progression”. The word you’re looking for is “metastasis”. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4668 "2024-03-13T15:59:01Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > But do we live in a rational universe? I’d like to think we live in a rational universe. But I am 100% certain that we don’t live in a rational country. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4669 "2024-03-13T16:07:26Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Hopefully, yes. A second loss might make them find some courage, and stop faffing about worrying about how prosecuting him will be perceived. Regarding future prosecution of Trump, I don’t think that there will be much hesitation going forward. If Garland was trying to avoid the appearance of a politicized prosecution, that ship sailed with the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. At this point it’s in for a penny in for a pound. > [@Cervaise](#): > > This is the really important thing that I don’t see getting discussed enough. Organizational malfeasance in the national party will have major knock-on effects on dozens if not hundreds of races, literally everywhere. IMHO 2024 will come down to which type of GOP malfeasance has a larger effect. Are the voter suppression efforts at the state level enough to counteract the effect of the graft and dysfunction that comes from rewarding loyalty over competence at the national level? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4670 "2024-03-13T16:08:51Z")
Friedrich Schiller nailed it, sadly: > [@](#): > > Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield! > Against stupidity the very gods > Themselves contend in vain. Exalted reason, > Resplendent daughter of the head divine, > Wise foundress of the system of the world, > Guide of the stars, who art thou then if thou, > Bound to the tail of folly’s uncurbed steed, > Must, vainly shrieking with the drunken crowd, > Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss. > Accursed, who striveth after noble ends, > And with deliberate wisdom forms his plans! > To the fool-king belongs the world. > > - _Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans)_ (1801), Act III, sc. vi (as translated by Anna Swanwick) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4671 "2024-03-13T16:25:09Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I genuinely cannot believe the Republicans gave him control of the Party’s money. Absolutely amazing the complete and utter lack of courage in that Party, just astounding. Maybe it’s a sign that the accounts are already empty - - or will be as soon as they can manage it. ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4672 "2024-03-13T16:35:59Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I can’t help but think of that one giant aquatic louse that parasitically replaces the tongue of a host fish. Given Trump’s endlessly flapping mouth, it seems appropriately analogous to see Trump as having installed himself as the tongue of the party. [_Cymothoa exigua_](https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/insects-invertebrates/meet-the-cymothoa-exigua-parasite-the-tongue-eating-isopod) is a far cooler organism than Donald Trump could ever aspire to be. (CW: parasitic isopod) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4673 "2024-03-13T18:41:37Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > No, no, he’d have started out as a sleazy salesman on his _dad’s_ car lot and would be running it into the ground after inheriting it. Spot on. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4674 "2024-03-13T18:58:35Z")
Complemented by Yeats, 120 years later: > The best lack all conviction, while the worst > Are full of passionate intensity. > > –_The Second Coming_, 1920 What better description of Democrats / liberals /progressives on the one hand and Republicans / conservatives on the other? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4675 "2024-03-13T19:03:00Z")
I’m proposing a counterpoint. Control of the party’s purse-strings is just part of the plan. ALL down ticket members will have to pledge undying loyalty to the monster or be cut off entirely. The loyalty will include (require) outrageous lies, corruption, undermining election confidence, and participation in a new, perhaps more violent, Jan 6th in an attempt to throw the election to the house. The strategy is based on the immigration issue which is being pounded into the minds of the Faux faithful. Fear, hatred and only The Donald can save you (white Jesus) is the order of the day. Rant perhaps more pertinent to the Evil thread but I’m not seeing the Schadenfreude associated with grabbing all the monies. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4676 "2024-03-13T19:18:30Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I genuinely cannot believe the Republicans gave him control of the Party’s money. Absolutely amazing the complete and utter lack of courage in that Party, just astounding. Trump is the greatest conman in history. You generally think of conmen as being genial, even charming. Who knew that what it takes to make it really work is being a vile, hateful piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4677 "2024-03-13T19:28:25Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I’m proposing a counterpoint. Control of the party’s purse-strings is just part of the plan. ALL down ticket members will have to pledge undying loyalty to the monster or be cut off entirely. I’m thinking they’ll be asked for more than a loyalty pledge, but also a cash donation to the Party. If the check doesn’t clear, candidate Trump will mention how insincere you seem when he stumps in your area. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4678 "2024-03-13T19:44:49Z")
obey tongue. [Sir Kensington’s Mayo Gets Tongues Tingling in Surreal Spot | LBBOnline](https://www.lbbonline.com/news/sir-kensingtons-mayo-gets-tongues-tingling-in-surreal-spot/) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4679 "2024-03-13T20:24:34Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Trump is the greatest conman in history. You generally think of conmen as being genial, even charming. Who knew that what it takes to make it really work is being a vile, hateful piece of shit. It worked (sometimes even better) for other people through history. He’s not even the best demagogue ever. Possibly not even the best over the last century. The big difference for us is that he’s the one _we_ have to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4680 "2024-03-13T20:34:24Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > The big difference for us is that he’s the one _we_ have to deal with. That, and he’s the first one with the potential to destroy the wealthiest, most powerful nation in history just to feed the con. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4681 "2024-03-13T21:11:44Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Would the DOJ under Biden care enough to pursue criminal indictments? Depends on whether Biden replaces Garland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250.md?page=233) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250.md?page=235)