# Is Donald Trump really THAT bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135 "2017-02-06T00:58:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/101 "2017-02-12T18:47:59Z")
[“Donald Trump Only Knows How to Do One Thing — And It Isn’t Being President”](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nell-minow/donald-trump-only-knows-h_b_14689290.html) Everyone has a gift. His is blaming others. He doesn’t even seem to care about real success or really winning, only the \*appearance \*of winning. > [@](#): > > It is time to stop pretending that Donald Trump has the intelligence, integrity, or understanding to be President. He is not smart, he is not a good person, and he is not even a good businessman. If he was smart, he would not talk about how smart he is all the time. If he was a good person, he would not lie all the time. And if he was a good businessman, he would release the tax forms and other records to prove it. > … > > The sole and only thing Donald Trump knows how to do is what economists call “externalizing.” That means making others pay for your choices or behavior. He uses this technique in business and in responding to criticism. > > Trump is a one-trick pony who externalized his costs over and over to make money by using the bankruptcy and tax laws and underpaying his contractors and those who worked for him to force others to pay the costs of his failures while he got to keep the profits. Those gains are probably less than he claims, of course, because otherwise he would show us the details. > > That’s it. That’s all he knows how to do. > … > > The indispensable RoguePOTUSstaff got it exactly right, explaining that Trump doesn’t care about succeeding; he only cares about “winning.” So anything that goes wrong is always everyone else’s fault. With complete disregard for the truth — or any notion of personal responsibility — he blames the media, Democrats, China, the CIA, or anyone else who has not paid absolute fealty and lavishly praised him. > … > > The President has to accept full responsibility for bad decisions as well as good ones. Remember the sign on Harry S. Truman’s desk in the Oval Office: The Buck Stops Here. That is the opposite of externalizing costs and blame, a technique that may have taken him to the White House but which will not permit him to keep his promises or meet his obligations. … ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/102 "2017-02-13T00:41:59Z")
I have a feeling that being called \*weak \*is going to piss him off just as much as, maybe more than, being called a _loser_. Remember that he said recently that the thing that infuriated him the most about Melissa McCarthy’s parody of Sean Spicer was that being mocked and imitated by a woman made Sean seem _weak_. > [@](#): > > [Donald the Weak](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/donald-the-weak-214771) > _Trump may aspire to be a strongman, but he’s proving to be an exceptionally ineffectual president._ > > Donald Trump ran for president boasting of his supposedly legendary negotiating and management skills while promising that he alone could fix the problems ailing the country. But three weeks into his presidency, a combination of inexperience, lack of attention to detail and an engaged opposition inside and outside the government have left him as the weakest new president in modern American history. > > Trump’s governing style to date can only loosely be called management. He makes decisions quickly, often without consulting relevant experts or even his own appointees. He reads almost nothing, at most a few bullet points—often ripped straight from cable TV—that cannot possibly capture the nuance of complicated policy issues. When his hastily considered decisions backfire in inevitable ways, he doubles down and attacks any critics who point out either the folly or impracticability of his orders. > > As with the bellowing Wizard of Oz, however, those boisterous attacks merely hide the weakness of the man behind the curtain, weakness that has already been exploited by both his staff and outside interests. > … > > But for all the president’s authoritarian tendencies and unwillingness to respect traditional norms and institutions, his inability to moderate his mouth, effectively manage the government or successfully negotiate with foreign leaders have left his presidency wounded and weakened… The closing phrase of this article is > [@](#): > > …the defining characteristic of Trump’s presidency will be not the strength he promised, but enduring flaccidity. Ooooo, _“flaccidity”_ – now \*\*that \*\*is hitting below the belt (as it were), or maybe below the _Beltway_. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/103 "2017-02-13T11:09:25Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > IMHO this isn’t completely insane. > > […] > > Ask them at the end of 4 years if things are better for them and a significant portion will say “Things are GREAT!” while they drink unfiltered mud puddle water and trade a rusty shovel for an old chicken carcass for dinner. > > Of course, while this is happening, actual intelligent people will be spewing spittle while yelling red faced, “NO! THINGS AREN’T GREAT! THINGS ARE HEADED FOR THE CRAPPER YOU IDIOT!” But they will have no numbers to back it up because Trump closed that agency down, and the people they’re yelling at will just back away and vote for Trump again. Whhheeeeeeeeeeeee! Meh, just because it leads to political victory doesn’t mean it’s not completely insane. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/104 "2017-02-13T22:41:32Z")
Another tidbit from the Rogues Gallery: > [@](#): > > [Why Is Trump Adviser Wearing Medal of Nazi Collaborators?](https://lobelog.com/why-is-trump-adviser-wearing-medal-of-nazi-collaborators/) > > The White House’s omission of Jewish victims of the Holocaust in its statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day raised objections from Jewish groups across the political spectrum but the Trump administration’s combative defense was perhaps the most surprising move by a presidency facing record low approval numbers. Last Monday, Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka refused to admit that that it may have been poor judgment not to specifically acknowledge the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust. > > Gorka was an odd choice of proxies for the White House to put forward in defense of its Holocaust Remembrance day statement. > > He has appeared in multiple photographs wearing the medal of a Hungarian group listed by the State Department as having collaborated with the Nazis during World War II… ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/105 "2017-02-13T22:47:08Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Another tidbit from the Rogues Gallery: I was coming in to post this. I heard that guy being interviewed on NPR this morning. I had never heard of him before, but I immediately pegged him as a hateful ass. Good to know I wasn’t wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/106 "2017-02-14T04:37:16Z")
Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere. [Trump turns Mar-a-Lago Club terrace into open-air situation room](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-turns-mar-a-lago-club-terrace-into-open-air-situation-room/2017/02/13/c5525096-f20d-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html) > [@](#): > > It was Saturday night, and Palm Beach’s tony Mar-a-Lago Club was packed. There was a wedding reception in the ballroom. There was a full house for dinner on the terrace. > > And at one table on the terrace, there was the president and the leader of a major U.S. ally, hashing out a national security problem in the open air. > > “Someone opened up a laptop, and at the table . . . a group of Japanese people stood around the prime minister and Donald, and they were all looking at the laptop,” said Jay Weitzman, a member of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and founder of the Pennsylvania-based parking management company Park America. He was sitting three tables away from Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday evening. > > “Whoa,” Weitzman remembered thinking. “What’s going on?” > > “Turns out, it was a missile launch,” he said Monday. > > As Weitzman and other patrons watched Saturday evening, Trump and Abe remained at the table and discussed their response to a ballistic missile test by North Korea. While waiters came and went — and while one club member snapped photos — the two leaders reviewed documents by the light of an aide’s cellphone… There are so many things wrong with this picture, one hardly knows where to begin. Our so-called President is always harping on national security, and to discuss this in a restaurant… well, no need to belabor. He crucified Hillary over using a private email server, and when the 30,000+ emails were examined there was NOTHING in them that threatened national security-- you know why? Because she has a brain in her head and decades of government experience, of which The Donald has neither. You have to wonder what the Japanese Prime Minister thought of this. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when he and his wife discussed it later. BTW, Trump got Abe’s name wrong-- because no one on his staff researched the proper way to address an Asian person-- surname is often first. But note this: Trump is all about APPEARANCES. The inauguration crowds, telling his people how to dress, turning down some Cabinet suggestions because the people didn’t “look the part.” And here he is in HIS own property showing off, grandstanding, letting all the patrons and waiters watching him acting and, more importantly, LOOKING all “presidential.” Christ on a cracker. :smack: Like he’s in some kind of movie or something. _“Ha, let’s see them laugh at me now and say I don’t look like a President. I sure as fuck look like one now! Look at me- look at me- look at me, you losers!”_ Sadly, we ARE the losers. ☹ And Congress just ignores him… Ryan and McConnell, you two are pathetic. Your boy makes G.W. Bush look like a member of Mensa. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/107 "2017-02-14T05:38:31Z")
Trump seems to be treating _The Distinguished Gentleman_ As a textbook. Sadly, Trump believes Dick Dodge is the protagonist. In reality, what Trump is doing is dicking Dodge and every other place in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/108 "2017-02-14T05:44:45Z")
**ThelmaLou** : Maybe the Trump crew are taking advice from Fox News, an outfit that [thinks Abe is Japan’s president](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/13/chinese-media-calls-on-us-world-powers-to-address-north-koreas-concerns.html?ref=yfp). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/109 "2017-02-14T12:16:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > You have to wonder what the Japanese Prime Minister thought of this. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when he and his wife discussed it later. BTW, Trump got Abe’s name wrong-- because no one on his staff researched the proper way to address an Asian person-- surname is often first. Wait, did Trump call him “Prime Minister Shinzo” or did he try to speak with him familiarly and call him “Abe” instead of “Shinzo”? Because in Western reporting the names are written in the Western style (thus Shinzo Abe and not Abe Shinzo in the NY Times, for example), and I’ve never known anyone from a culture that does the family name first to insist that their name be kept in that order when in the US or get angry about it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/110 "2017-02-14T13:22:47Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Wait, did Trump call him “Prime Minister Shinzo” or did he try to speak with him familiarly and call him “Abe” instead of “Shinzo”? Because in Western reporting the names are written in the Western style (thus Shinzo Abe and not Abe Shinzo in the NY Times, for example), and I’ve never known anyone from a culture that does the family name first to insist that their name be kept in that order when in the US or get angry about it. It was the former. Here’s the tweet: > It’s not a matter of Abe getting angry or insisting on anything. Of course he wouldn’t. This is not about Abe at all. It’s that the President’s staff is supposed to be on top of etiquette niceties when dealing with other heads of state when it comes to knowing and paying attention to the way they do things. We want to show respect and not look like a bunch of clueless, arrogant hicks. Oops-- too late. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/111 "2017-02-14T13:35:10Z")
So, Trump really is getting tips on governing from old movies, in this case _King Ralph_. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/112 "2017-02-19T03:36:21Z")
Trump is having a hard time finding someone who wants to be National Security Advisor. What if he created a reality TV show and launched a nationwide search for the next candidate, similar to America’s Got Talent? He could just open it to candidates from all over the country and they would be winnowed down by a panel of experts from all walks of life, you know, a movie star, a chef, a sports figure, maybe a Wal-Mart greeter. They would come on every week and compete in feats of…well, National Security shit, whatever that is. And the audience, made up of Trumpniks, of course, would choose the winner by applause. I’ll bet it would beat Arnold’s ratings. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/113 "2017-02-19T05:05:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Trump is having a hard time finding someone who wants to be National Security Advisor. What if he created a reality TV show and launched a nationwide search for the next candidate, similar to America’s Got Talent? He could just open it to candidates from all over the country and they would be winnowed down by a panel of experts from all walks of life, you know, a movie star, a chef, a sports figure, maybe a Wal-Mart greeter. They would come on every week and compete in feats of…well, National Security shit, whatever that is. And the audience, made up of Trumpniks, of course, would choose the winner by applause. I’ll bet it would beat Arnold’s ratings. Imagine the prospect of Trump voters picking the National Security Advisor! Oh, man, I’m so glad you’re joking… Whew…Hey wait a minute… ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/114 "2017-02-19T05:21:21Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Imagine the prospect of Trump voters picking the National Security Advisor! Oh, man, I’m so glad you’re joking… Whew…Hey wait a minute… I know. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![lbrevolution](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@lbrevolution](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lbrevolution)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/115 "2017-02-19T07:32:33Z")
The only ones left that are not a threat or dange or terrorist to trump r are White Extremist groups and the Saudis ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/116 "2017-02-19T08:52:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It’s that the President’s staff is supposed to be on top of etiquette niceties when dealing with other heads of state when it comes to knowing and paying attention to the way they do things. We want to show respect and not look like a bunch of clueless, arrogant hicks. Oops-- too late. Well, maybe they hit it off and they’re on first name basis now :D. I would _so_ love Japan to put out a punctiliously polite communiqué about their PM’s meeting with President Donald\*. \*(Of course, then I’d wonder if Mr. Abe was talking about a visit to Disneyland or sommat, but that’s neither here nor there) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/117 "2017-02-19T15:44:48Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So, Trump really is getting tips on governing from old movies, in this case _King Ralph_. More likely _[Duck Soup](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/15/duck-soup-review-marx-brothers)_. May the gods preserve us if he is searching Netflix for recent Marvel movies with “the funny looking British dude” and finds [this](http://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DrStrangelove060Pyxurz.jpg) instead. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/118 "2017-02-19T17:49:47Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So, Trump really is getting tips on governing from old movies, in this case _King Ralph_. No, King Ralph was a good hearted sort, who meant well. He knew he was in over his head and he tried to learn, tried to fix it. He also stepped down voluntarily and peacefully, in favor of the more qualified person. Ralph was the Anti-Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/119 "2017-02-19T20:58:30Z")
And, Trump invents another incident. At a rally on Saturday, Trump said: > [@](#): > > You look at what’s happening in Germany. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers, they’re having problems like they never thought possible. There was, of course, no incident of note in Sweden the previous night. It’s unclear what might have sparked Trump’s imagination this time. There was some speculation that Fox had run a story mentioning Sweden the night before, and somehow Trump thought there was an incident of some kind. Because, really, why talk about Sweden unless there was a terror attack there? It’s only a matter of time until we get _The Protocols of the Elders of Islam_. It will, of course, be written in tweets. > **[Twitter Mocks Trump For Citing Non-Existent Incident ‘Last Night In Sweden’](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/twitter-trump-last-night-in-sweden)** > > After President Donald Trump cited a non-existent incident "last night in Sweden" during a rally on Saturday night, Twitter was quick to skewer him for the gaffe while speculating pointedly about what… ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135/120 "2017-02-19T21:13:43Z")
Chelsea Clinton [stuck the knife in with a twist](https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/833297606138789888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-really-that-bad/779135.md?page=7)