The problem is that he doesn’t care if what he sets in motion fails as long as he personally comes out ahead in the deal. Whatever he does for this country will be done with only one goal in mind.
ESPN would disagree with you:
My implication was that there is actually so little we know about Trump. He once was fairly liberal, pro-choice, pro-Clinton. He is now claims to be an ultra-right wing conservative.
Has he had a change of heart? Is he just pandering to the audience for the purpose of getting elected, but still holds his original values?
The Trump phenomenon is truly a mystery. We know what he has said during his campaigning, we don’t know what he really believes. This is truly scary. We don’t know what else could be underneath the surface and we don’t know how to find out.
Rumsfeld was an evil man. He was much mocked and scorned for what he said. He even deliberately lied about or ignored about what he did know. But despite this, this quote is true. Contradictions. Trump, I’m afraid is also full of contradictions.
TriPolar - I see you’ve said a lot about how Trump operates in post #16 and post # 19 but without any cites or examples. I understand that the vague idea of ‘how Trump operates his business life’ is a difficult thing to cite - there won’t be one good summary somewhere, but where would you suggest someone go to see for themselves what generated your opinion?
Gotcha. Trump seems to be a master marketer, especially of himself during this campaign. Smoke and mirrors, and buffoonerisms gallore, but he’s a shrewd guy so I desperately hope that he is simply “playing” to get the vote. Playing the campaign game, playing the public. But I think he is a man of substance due to his business successes, and I think from all of those there would be plenty of information available to those who want to research him. Being a shrewd and successful businessman I think he knows how to build a winning team, and if he wins the election he would need that team in the White House. If he wins the election, I think he would build that team.
If he wins, not just the Rep nomination but also the White House, I think many campaign managers will study how he did it and revise their strategies for future elections.
He is a winner, I will give him that. Early on I did not want him at all, did not think he was Presidential. I thought his conduct unbecoming of what I want my President to be. Lately, though, I am playing closer attention, especially since he is quite viable.
How do I think that Trump would govern?
Like a Democrat, because that’s what he really is.
The only reason that he’s running as a Republican is because that’s the party wherein he felt that he’d have the best chance of winning this cycle.
I do think, however, that a President Trump would nominate more far right-wing Justices to the Supreme Court, which scares me. The last thing this country needs is more Alito’s & Scalia’s on SCOTUS; that would basically freeze all future Democratic presidents out of policy making altogether, given that the current conservative judicial mantra has moved from “Undo Roe v. Wade” to “Undo all laws passed by Democrats.”
How does that disagree with me? It says the same thing, it was a bad idea from the start.
I don’t know where to find the information consolidated. He’s been in business for a long time, his business ventures were highly reported in print. I don’t know for sure how he acted behind closed doors but everything I’ve seen concentrates on him being a tough negotiator. I think if he tended to act the way you see him now on TV in board rooms and business meetings that would have been reported.
My thoughts as well.
I’ve said it before: a Trump presidency might be kinda fun if it weren’t for him being Commander in Chief. That would be anxiety making.
Well, he’s not a politician. He doesn’t seem to understand how government works, how a budget works, and promises things that won’t happen (i.e. Mexican-paid border wall).
So he’ll govern like any 12 year old would. :rolleyes:
I’ve read a lot of reporting on Trump, much of which seems to state that he’s high on bombast in his business dealings but it gets a lot more vague when you want to see if there’s more than hype.
Here’s an example: http://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2015/09/29/inside-the-epic-fantasy-thats-driven-donald-trump-for-33-years/4/#7914ca9861fc
And another: Donald Trump isn't rich because he's a great investor. He's rich because his dad was rich. | Vox
And one that’s more neutral: Donald Trump's wealth: He isn't only rich because of his dad.
That’s kind of irrelevant, isn’t it? Presumably no one on the SDMB has been in a board room with Trump, but neither would anyone accuse Trump of talking about immigration policy in a board room. Why would anyone expect the same things to come out of a person’s mouth in such different contexts?
That’s two highly biased opinion pieces that show nothing and one that could be considered neutral that debunks the second one. Do you have a point there?
Nobody has said that Trump talked about immigration policy in board rooms, but he may have, it’s a concern to businesses. Many people have commented on him being a clown and assuming that his calculated TV persona reflects how he runs his business and I don’t accept that, it’s unreasonable to think that he’s built up such a huge business by insulting the people he deals with in business, or acting irrational in any way.
My point being that I know what I’ve read that influences my opinions about Trump, but asking for what I can read that has a different opinion about Trump doesn’t go anywhere.
I’m not trying to argue with you about Trump, I’m trying to figure out your epistemology about Trump.
I’m 60 years old, I’ve heard about many of his business ventures throughout my adult life. The criticism of his style is primarily based on his public self-promotion, when his business has been evaluated rather than his personality it shows a long list of successes intermixed with some failures. When other businessmen have commented on him they’ve been complimentary about his business skills in general.
I can’t easily point to specific sources over the past 40 years, but I can tell you something about an interview that did impress me. He was asked about the early financial difficulties of his Atlantic City hotel. He said that things were a mess because the guy he put in charge had a Type B personality, I think he means what he’s calling ‘low energy’ now. He said that a hotel needs a Type A personality in charge. Then he said it was his mistake, he a chosen a good man, but he should have known that the man was suited for his job. That’s an illustration of the things I’ve seen and read about his business over the years, he learns from his mistakes, he picks up the pieces and moves on. At one point that hotel nearly sank his business. He didn’t panic, he re-negotiated his debt, then made the place successful enough to sell without taking a total bath on it. Those are indications of a competent and successful businessman.
My knowledge of Trump is relatively scant (i.e. I haven’t read any of his books, and I’ve tried to avoid his television shows), but I have heard, repeatedly, that he is very litigious. It is apparently in-line with his mantra to hit back harder than someone hits you (even if the initial hit is only imagined).
Translating that to the Executive, I do worry that he would be very active in his use of force…I’m sure he would fully embrace the drone programs used by Obama, but he’s probably also likely to end up expanding our active combat role, too.
Sure Trump declared he was a Democrat in the past. But how do we know it was real? If he’s faking being a Republican now he was probably faking being a Democrat then.
I wouldn’t equate litigation and military action, but your larger point is something to consider. He expresses the same kind of bravado that Bush the Imbecile did and that might lead us to unnecessary military action.
Sounds a lot to me like the guys that make it rich while making others be the losers. Extrapolating that to the country I do think that he will not panic indeed, he will pick up the pieces and go to another country after sinking this one.
There was a survey made recently that showed that Trump and most Trump supporters had something in common: That they like authoritarian ideas or solutions.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533
So expect also the right wing military dictatorships of many nations to get lots of support and incentives for cues from Trump and buddies.