# Hello Universe? Can we get some better Trump defenders on this board? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 31, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663 "2019-12-31T13:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/281 "2020-01-07T14:57:33Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Foreign policy involves the goals and benefit of the country. Not the man in the foreign policy chair. Don’t you even try calling what Trump did “foreign policy”. It was _selling out_ foreign policy. That’s your opinion. I don’t think that what Trump did was for the good of the country but he makes the argument that it was and republican congressmen are inclined to use the fig leaf offered by the administration to defend their vote. I hope that Pelosi has something up their sleeve so that their vote comes back to bite them all in the ass. But for right now, you can’t blame Republicans for voting the way they did absent incontrovertible proof. Republicans are under no obligation to see things from your perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/282 "2020-01-07T14:58:34Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > By never intending to faithfully fulfill the oath, of course. That sounds like mindreading. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/283 "2020-01-07T15:13:39Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > That sounds like mindreading. No-That sounds like a basic understanding of the man via his words and deeds to date. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/284 "2020-01-07T15:19:46Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > That’s your opinion. I don’t think that what Trump did was for the good of the country but he makes the argument that it was and republican congressmen are inclined to use the fig leaf offered by the administration to defend their vote. I hope that Pelosi has something up their sleeve so that their vote comes back to bite them all in the ass. But for right now, you can’t blame Republicans for voting the way they did absent incontrovertible proof. Republicans are under no obligation to see things from your perspective. You can blame Republicans for not caring that a lot of the evidence and a lot of the testimony from key witnesses is being blocked by a combined effort of theirs and the White House’s. This is deliberate sabotage, and they directly to blame. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/285 "2020-01-07T15:22:39Z")
> [@margin](#): > > I’m a combat veteran who has spoken openly about struggling against PTSD for years-----in the hope that another vet might see and realize that they’re not alone. Half my Iraq company has PTSD. Several killed themselves. I tried four times. OK, so everyone is giving you a pass because you are dealing with some shit right now? Can I suggest that a board like this (and social media in general) may not be good for you. It is confrontational by nature and driven by the most extreme elements on both sides of a debate. I know some very stable people who have started to lose their shit in the last two years in political debates. We all take a break from time to time. > [@](#): > > Shodan has repeatedly, viciously, attacked me over it. For years. Then he slithers away and pretends----and sometimes protests----that despite his taunts that specify mental illness, he didn’t know. Like he did a few pages ago. I was referring to your treatment of me. If Shodan mocked you for your current struggles, I cannot see it in this thread unless there is some dog whistle I am not familiar with. > [@](#): > > If any veterans read this, here is the number that you can call. Press 1, for military. Don’t do something permanent about temporary problems. Call 1-800-273-8255. 24 hours every day. Put that number on speed dial. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/286 "2020-01-07T15:24:53Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > OK, so everyone is giving you a pass because you are dealing with some shit right now? Can I suggest that a board like this (and social media in general) may not be good for you. It is confrontational by nature and driven by the most extreme elements on both sides of a debate. I know some very stable people who have started to lose their shit in the last two years in political debates. We all take a break from time to time. > > I was referring to your treatment of me. If Shodan mocked you for your current struggles, I cannot see it in this thread unless there is some dog whistle I am not familiar with. Blaming the victim, I see. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/287 "2020-01-07T15:28:46Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > An oath is a promise about the future, which also implies a behavioral past. To break an oath is called perjury. Making this distinction about past vs future behavior might be a good way to split the baby for less important matters, but why would we have an oath for the presidency if it was only about prosepctive matters going forward, which might be successfully defended on technical grounds? Oaths are serious and can’t be parsed like that. Lets say when I get married and I promise to love honor and obey. Prior to my wedding, I was a womanizer. Did I break my wedding vows as soon as I made them? Lets say that 6 months after my wedding I cheat on my wife. Does that mean I broke my wedding vows as soon as I took them? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/288 "2020-01-07T15:41:11Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > There is a reason we would not let Bernie Madoff take the presidential oath. We might believe he can stay out of trouble for four years and not be a bad boy. If he’s potus he won’t need to break the law: potuses and ex potuses all do well financially. So why would we not let him take the oath? > > Try the thought experiment with any unconvicted criminal type that you can think of. Wait are felons prohibited from becoming President? I understand why a felon might not be elected but I am pretty sure they can be president. Lets say this guy had gotten convicted and become a felon, would he be ineligible for the presidency? > **[Humanitarian Volunteer Scott Warren Not Guilty of Felonies for Aiding Migrants](https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/21/headlines/humanitarian_volunteer_scott_warren_not_guilty_of_felonies_for_aiding_migrants)** > > In Tucson, Arizona, a federal jury found humanitarian activist Scott Warren not guilty Wednesday on two felony charges of harboring migrants, after he provided food, water and shelter to a pair of men who survived a perilous journey across the... Or did you mean because Trump is a liar? If lying is a disqualifying factor then we haven’t had a qualified president since perhaps Eisenhower. Like it or not Trump is our President. He was duly elected and even if we impeach him and remove him we will still have to deal with the fact that this country at one time elected someone like him. And rather than get outraged that so much of the country can do something that you so vehemently disagree with, perhaps you should try and figure out why so many people did something like this. Try and understand them rather than simply condemn them, because even if Trump gets impeached, those people get to keep voting. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/289 "2020-01-07T15:44:24Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > This is also what I said about **Shodan** : I can count on one hand the number of posters on this board that can admit they are wrong without that admission being dragged out of them. Nothing unique about Shodan there. > [@](#): > > This is why: > > See posts [#169](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22058683&postcount=169) and [#183](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22058683&postcount=183). > > He has a history of presenting disingenuous arguments. > > Accusation stands. Aside from nitpicking about bad diction and a bit of namecalling, I don’t see and actual argument in either of those realtively content free posts. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/290 "2020-01-07T15:47:58Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If there is one thing which is unambiguously banned by Jesus, Paul, and the Old Testament, it’s **divorce**. There is no other thing in the whole Bible that we can be more sure of, in the text, in regards to what the Creator of you, your family, your friends, and life on Earth, than that he wants you to pick someone \* and make it work, come hell or high water\*. And you’re not even allowed to murder each other. I’m not sure how this clarifies your comments earlier. > [@](#): > > Argue all you want about taxes, homosexuality, or anything else where religion intersects with the laws that people want to have passed or removed, it would be impossible to explain how we live in a world where there is a greater political effort to establish prayer in schools than there is to ensure that the spiritual bond between a man and a woman is never treated flippantly, never entered into for base needs, and never ever sundered. > > And that, that sounds like a joke - well, there’s human fidelity to things they don’t want to do, because of their own personal reasons, for you. I don’t know what you are trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/291 "2020-01-07T15:51:14Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Let me change that to, “There’s the power of human ability to interpret any text to say _anything_, given enough desire to cheat.” > > In the case of divorce, probably there’s something to be said for allowing it. Forcing people to be miserable for 40+ years because they made one bad choice (or their family made a bad one for them) seems unreasonable. Though, by the same standard, having “marriage” just be “more official dating” is probably something that isn’t ideal either. > > Corruption in politics, I don’t see any up-side by violating the text. > > The reason for wanting to violate it is that people think that politics are fun and meaningless, not something that affects the lives and deaths of real human beings, which is largely because the Federal government’s primary focus is _international_. The things that actually affect people - school, public transportation, etc. - are all local government pretty much settled. No one wants big changes there, so no big changes are made there - it’s all just time wasting and being silly, with things that really don’t matter all that much. > > But, so, the politics ends up existing in the public consciousness in the same territory as celebrity gossip and team sports. It’s something to lay wagers on, buy trinkets to wave around, and chant slogans for. > > But the reality is that people are saved by the government, killed by the government, etc. it’s just a small number overall and, with the Federal government, largely overseas. Your average Ukrainian or Mexican is more greatly impacted by the American President than the average American, they’re the ones who live or die. And corruption impacts that. > > Having Ukrainians die because 40% of the American population likes to see the people on CNN get angry is horrible. If the President held back aid from the country for months, simply because he likes to be able to strut around and call himself “President of the United States” and not for any reason that’s actually part of his job, then he was just straight up murdering people. Not actively - it’s just through blissful ignorance and blindness to his own impact on the world - but it’s still a completely unnecessary set of deaths that are rooted in nothing greater than that people were being stupid, ignoring the Constitution, and playing games with a metaphorical loaded gun because “I’m sure there’s no one over on the other side of that shrubbery”. > > Bill Clinton may well have bombed people just because he was trying to distract the media. Trump may well have bombed the Iraqi airport because some unredacted Ukraine emails leaked. And maybe they would have done things of that nature anyways, but it was probably less well-considered and more hastily done than it otherwise would have been. More innocents may have died than necessary because it was initiated in a panic rather than as part of a considered and deliberate measure. > > It is not a joke to have a joke President, nor to have that person undertaking his duties without serious, deliberate, and justifiable intent. OK. So? If you want a better president then get more people to elect a better president. I suspect that most of the people on this board preach to the choir and don’t actually try to understand why people might have voted for trump and simply write them off as racists or something. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/292 "2020-01-07T15:52:21Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/293 "2020-01-07T15:53:22Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Where are you finding “excuse” in the constitution? Where are you finding the constitutional requirement that puts a timeline on providing aid to Ukraine? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/294 "2020-01-07T15:56:43Z")
> [@margin](#): > > Again, get the GOP to adopt that standard with regard to Hillary and you can get all pissy. > > Bugger off till then, wankstain. Have you heard me accusing Hillary of rape (or anything else) based on uncorroborated testimony? I can’t control what the GOP does and its funny that you think I can. If it helps dispel any misconceptions you may have, let me just say… fuck the GOP fuck them in the ass with a saguaro cactus. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/295 "2020-01-07T17:02:17Z")
> [@margin](#): > > Yes, the madam of the whorehouse was calling someone else slutty. Explain to me how Trump is the madam of a whorehouse and Ukraine is the person being called slutty? > [@](#): > > Maybe in Gilead or Trumpworld. No in the real world. We have been doing it at least since Monroe. Human kind has been doing it since the beginning of civilization. Foreign policy and diplomacy isn’t all pleases and thank you’s. There is a significant amount of coercion involved. > [@](#): > > You’ve made repeated reference to “liberal echo chambers” and I am not the only person to call you on it. And? Several people have also agreed that this is an echo chamber. > [@](#): > > “Getting the vapors” is yet another dogwhistle for the concept of “hysteria.” It is not gender neutral. “Getting the vapors” calls to mind a corseted lady swooning to her fainting couch. So? Are you getting the vapors about the use of the word vapors now? What ever happened to putting me on ignore? promises, promises > [@](#): > > How odd that you only seem to find anything unseemly when it’s a woman being sarcastic. Just coincidence, I’m sure. > > Calling a woman nuts, crazy, hysterical, mentally unstable, is part of the proud tradition of sexist assholes choosing to label themselves and other men logical while calling women emotional. Frankly, I didn’t know you were a woman. Your name is pretty gender neutral. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/296 "2020-01-07T17:10:06Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Blah blah, IANAL, blah blah. The phone call was certainly _criminal_, and IIRC bribery (which it was) is specifically listed as impeachable in the Const. Treason? I think so, but then again IANAL. How was it criminal? Or is this another case of “trump did it so it MUST be wrong” Bribery as it is used in that context usually refers to being the recipient of a bribe. We use carrots and sticks in foreign policy all the time. Now you may not agree that Trump was executing foreign policy but that’s a matter of opinion. > [@](#): > > If you didn’t even know her gender, any opinion you have about **margin** is worthless. I have no idea of your gender and I think my opinion of you is as good as anyone else’s. I can judge her on what she says regardless of what’s between her legs. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/297 "2020-01-07T17:12:17Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > **Damuri** is the exhausting one who waits a week, then does post after post responding to every post in the last week with long essays that only occasionally have facts or address the poster. I kind of do this in bursts. It’s a time management thing. I think my posts are pretty content rich but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/298 "2020-01-07T17:14:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No-That sounds like a basic understanding of the man via his words and deeds to date. That’s still mindreading. His biggest political accomplishment to that point was accusing Obama of being a Nigerian. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/299 "2020-01-07T17:14:35Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > NM Fucking asshole, and no, I won’t explain to you how you are a fucking asshole. If it isn’t apparent to you, then no amount of explaining will ever get thru to you. And I quoted this one because all the rest of the typewriter diarrhea didn’t deserve to be quoted. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663/300 "2020-01-07T17:33:48Z")
“Like it or not Trump is our President. He was duly elected and even if we impeach him and remove him we will still have to deal with the fact that this country at one time elected someone like him. And rather than get outraged that so much of the country can do something that you so vehemently disagree with, **perhaps you should try and figure out why so many people did something like this**. Try and understand them rather than simply condemn them, because even if Trump gets impeached, those people get to keep voting.” The entire argument that Trump is President because a group of people wearing “Fuck your feelings” t-shirts to his 2016 rallies got their feelings offended is, perhaps, the most honest admittance of the complete lack of intellectual and moral capital in the conservative movement I have yet seen. Thanks, DA! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hello-universe-can-we-get-some-better-trump-defenders-on-this-board/845663.md?page=16)