# "Leave Donald Alone!" Pleads His Press Secretary **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125 "2017-01-02T04:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/101 "2017-01-02T22:17:41Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > But time after time we’ve seen liberals and Democrats seek to thwart development or the harvesting of natural resources in order to protect vast swathes of land that virtually nobody ever sees. :rolleyes: You really need to re-examine your silly assumption that the environmental importance of a region is determined solely by how many and how often human beings physically see it. For example, many of the drought-stricken regions in the West are physically remote and unpopulated, but they nonetheless have a massive impact when it comes to devastating wildfires. Most of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are entirely unpopulated, but their significance for climate factors affecting billions of humans is huge. [QUOTE=Starving Artist] In the late 60s liberals were all het up that we were running out of trees [/quote] What makes you think that deforestation **wasn’t** a serious environmental problem in the 1960s (or that it isn’t still a serious environmental problem)? [QUOTE=Starving Artist] in the early 70s we were all running out of oil [/quote] 😕 In what way are you imagining that “running out of oil” is an **environmental** problem? Cite for 1970s “liberals” presenting it that way? I think you’ve just got mixed up between environmental crises and the oil embargo, which was fundamentally an **economic** crisis. [QUOTE=Starving Artist] ithen came the hole in the ozone that was gonna kill us all [/quote] Which is now a diminishing problem because of international legislation that successfully addressed the causes of it. Yay, regulation! [QUOTE=Starving Artist] and now it’s [del]global warming[/del] climate change. [/quote] You seem to be confused about the name of the problem: it can be correctly described **both** as global warming and as climate change. The global warming of the atmosphere produced by massive anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gas concentrations is what produces the various changes in climate. [QUOTE=Starving Artist] I know this because the country’s liberals have now been placated on all these issues except climate change by costly and restrictive regulation [/quote] Please name even one specific example of US legislation to counteract deforestation, as well as one to counteract ozone depletion, that you consider “costly and restrictive” when compared to the long-term costs of **not** addressing those problems. (I’ll let you off finding an example about oil shortage since, as I said, I think you just got confused between the economic crisis of an oil shortage and an actual environmental crisis.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/102 "2017-01-02T22:18:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Starving Artist** : > > Not only did I not state that the majority of the country and world perceives Trump the way you do, but I disagree completely with the allegation that Trump is in this for the money. If anything, I believe that Trump’s business success and reality show have been stepping stones to the presidency. He’s seventy years old and has plenty of money with no real need of more. I think he’s been truly unhappy with the way the country has been run for decades and has been setting himself up all along to get himself elected and in a position to do something about it. Trump has had no business successes, and his net worth is probably negative. I’m a better businessman than Trump is, as are most of the other members of this board. We’d all be able to at least invest our money in a nice index fund, which would have given a better return on investment than Trump’s thievery. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/103 "2017-01-02T22:24:38Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > in the early 70s we were all running out of oil, Actually, OPEC was pissed we supplied arms to Israel in the Yom Kippur War. In 79, it was the Iranian Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/104 "2017-01-02T22:25:10Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There is always a reason beneficial to Trump as to why he does the things he does. In this case he complains about people mocking him because it: a) delegitimizes his attackers because it presents them as acting out of malice rather than substance; and b) it energizes his base against the mockers. > > I actually laughed out loud when someone called **aldibronti** delusional over his claim that Trump wasn’t bothered by being mocked. Trump has the toughest skin and the least concern over what people think of him as anyone I’ve ever seen. He does what in his mind he needs to do in order to accomplish his goals and he doesn’t give the least flying fuck whether anyone at all approves of it or likes him for it. That goes for those he does business with, his political opponents, his own fans or family, or anyone else. And he’s been that way through his entire career. Those who think Trump is hurt or bothered on a personal level by being mocked are the ones who are delusional. It’s truly jarring how little the fantasy Donald Trump you’ve built up in your mind has in common with the actual Donald Trump— whom, it may surprise you to learn, we can all see and hear. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/105 "2017-01-02T22:30:27Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Has anyone ever told you that you have a way of putting things in other people’s mouths? No. I’m not pretending to quote you or in any way misrepresenting your direct words: I’m just being clear about what the claims you’re making actually imply. [QUOTE=Starving Artist] could you please explain the mechanism by which the rich getting richer results in the poor getting poorer? [/quote] You misunderstood the statement: it’s not the mere fact of rich people getting richer that necessarily causes poor people to get poorer. **It’s the particular strategies of Republican trickle-up economics that cause both those things to happen together.** Here’s an example illustrating the difference. When, say, J.K. Rowling writes another successful Harry Potter book or Ted Nugent gives another successful concert, those are examples of rich people getting richer **without** causing poor people to become poorer in consequence. But when Republican legislators pass large top-bracket tax cuts and cut means-tested social services to pay for them, since [tax cuts for the wealthy don’t produce economic growth](http://www.cnbc.com/id/49059989), that results in the rich getting richer (since they pay less in taxes) **and** the poor getting poorer (since they have less support from needed services) simultaneously. ---
**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 2, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/106 "2017-01-02T22:30:51Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > It’s truly jarring how little the fantasy Donald Trump you’ve built up in your mind has in common with the actual Donald Trump— whom, it may surprise you to learn, we can all see and hear. It used to surprise me what imaginary gods people would willingly choose to worship, until I started comparing them to the non-imaginary gods they also chose to bow down to. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/107 "2017-01-02T22:39:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Trump has had no business successes, and his net worth is probably negative. I’m a better businessman than Trump is, as are most of the other members of this board. We’d all be able to at least invest our money in a nice index fund, which would have given a better return on investment than Trump’s thievery. Oh yeah? Well, if Trump is such a bad business man, then how did he inherit so much money, huh? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/108 "2017-01-02T22:45:52Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh yeah? Well, if Trump is such a bad business man, then how did he inherit so much money, huh? [Paris Hilton](http://thefederalist.com/2015/12/10/paris-hilton-is-better-at-business-than-donald-trump-is/) has been far more successful turning her inheritance into a business empire than The Donald has. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/109 "2017-01-02T22:47:26Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Paris Hilton](http://thefederalist.com/2015/12/10/paris-hilton-is-better-at-business-than-donald-trump-is/) has been far more successful turning her inheritance into a business empire than The Donald has. I do _not_ want to see the Donald Trump sex tape. ---
**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 2, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/110 "2017-01-02T22:47:46Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Paris Hilton](http://thefederalist.com/2015/12/10/paris-hilton-is-better-at-business-than-donald-trump-is/) has been far more successful turning her inheritance into a business empire than The Donald has. The Olsen Twins are better at business. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/111 "2017-01-03T00:02:11Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I do _not_ want to see the Donald Trump sex tape. I’d be OK with somebody else seeing it, and telling me about it. Especially if it were something impeachable, like an unauthorized blowjob. Me, I’d bet that if Trump sex tape exists that shows him to be a sexual Tyrannosaurus with a dick like the Hammer of Thor…we’d already have it. He ain’t shy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/112 "2017-01-03T00:30:45Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > If nothing else, this is going to be an amazing four years for comedy. > Or until the Gulag is up and running. No shit. Were I Garry Trudeau, I’d be chumming up with the Trudeaus up in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/113 "2017-01-03T00:47:55Z")
Honestly, I think Trump loves it when the press digs at him. Sure he’ll go on a midnight tweet storm, but don’t be fooled – the sonofabugger loves free press, be it good or bad. NYTimes and Wa-Po op-eds are probably erotic poetry as far as he’s concerned. The rude awakening will come in the form of job approval ratings and if (hopefully when) he loses the mid-term congressional elections and control of congress. Those are popularity contests that can’t be ignored so easily. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/114 "2017-01-03T01:12:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Trump has had no business successes, and his net worth is probably negative. I’m a better businessman than Trump is, as are most of the other members of this board. We’d all be able to at least invest our money in a nice index fund, which would have given a better return on investment than Trump’s thievery. > **[What's More Lucrative: "The Apprentice" or the S&P 500?](https://fortune.com/2015/08/20/donald-trump-index-funds/)** > > The S&P 500 has grown much more than Donald Trump's wealth. Yep. If Trump had just taken his daddy’s loan and invested it, he’d be worth a lot more. He has negative money-making acumen. But Trump is all about his vanity, ego, and celebrity. He needs to slap his name on things. Attention is his oxygen. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/115 "2017-01-03T01:15:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There is always a reason beneficial to Trump as to why he does the things he does. Are we _really_ still going with “Trump is playing 4-dimensional chess”? Really? Never mind that we have extensive evidence of his extremely thin skin, never mind that any rational profile of his psychology based on his public statements and the statements of his ghost writers and personal aides paints him as a thin-skinned narcissist, the reason he’s going after these people is because… > [@](#): > > In this case he complains about people mocking him because it: a) delegitimizes his attackers because it presents them as acting out of malice rather than substance; and b) it energizes his base against the mockers. …Riiiight. His press secretary telling people to leave him alone is a _great_ move for him and his candidacy. I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. > [@](#): > > I actually laughed out loud when someone called **aldibronti** delusional over his claim that Trump wasn’t bothered by being mocked. Trump has the toughest skin and the least concern over what people think of him as anyone I’ve ever seen. Need I reiterate my list? While none of the things on it cost him the election (obviously), you _cannot_ act like his attacks on the Khan family were good for him. And you can’t pretend it wasn’t an obvious misstep that pretty much no other politician would have made - it was clear from the start what a terrible idea that was, and how petty and vindictive it would make him look. Because only someone incredibly petty and vindictive would do that. Why did Trump do it? Because he’s _incredibly petty and vindictive_. Not because he’s playing 4D chess. Not because he’s some genius mastermind of a politician. Not because there was some secret endgame that was somehow achieved by mocking the family of a dead iraqi veteran. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/116 "2017-01-03T01:15:49Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I didn’t say it was to his own personal benefit, I said it was to benefit the goals he has in mind. That might have made sense if his “goals” were not actually limited to those things that are of personal benefit to him. He has no other goals than to be praised (and funded). ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/117 "2017-01-03T01:17:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I’d be OK with somebody else seeing it, and telling me about it. Especially if it were something impeachable, like an unauthorized blowjob. > > Me, I’d bet that if Trump sex tape exists that shows him to be a sexual Tyrannosaurus with a dick like the Hammer of Thor…we’d already have it. He ain’t shy. He’s probably more likely hung like a seahorse. He told us at the debate there was no problem there, but I think he’s hiding something not yuuuge. He wouldn’t release a sex tape for the same reasons he won’t release his taxes. They would both be evidence of underperformance. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/118 "2017-01-03T01:19:15Z")
BYW, after Sunday’s little whine fest, is it OK to begin referring to Sean Spicer as _Mouth of Sauron_? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/119 "2017-01-03T01:24:39Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Are we _really_ still going with “Trump is playing 4-dimensional chess”? Really? Never mind that we have extensive evidence of his extremely thin skin, never mind that any rational profile of his psychology based on his public statements and the statements of his ghost writers and personal aides paints him as a thin-skinned narcissist, the reason he’s going after these people is because… > > …Riiiight. His press secretary telling people to leave him alone is a _great_ move for him and his candidacy. I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. > > Need I reiterate my list? While none of the things on it cost him the election (obviously), you _cannot_ act like his attacks on the Khan family were good for him. And you can’t pretend it wasn’t an obvious misstep that pretty much no other politician would have made - it was clear from the start what a terrible idea that was, and how petty and vindictive it would make him look. Because only someone incredibly petty and vindictive would do that. Why did Trump do it? Because he’s _incredibly petty and vindictive_. Not because he’s playing 4D chess. Not because he’s some genius mastermind of a politician. Not because there was some secret endgame that was somehow achieved by mocking the family of a dead iraqi veteran. I think Trump does indeed have thin skin, but I think a part of him loves to enter the arena and fight people he perceives as his fellow gladiators, be they people in the press, other entertainers, journalists, or even other political candidates. I can’t tell whether he’s thin-skinned or whether he just genuinely loves a good fight – or maybe it’s both. It’s weird how he went after all sorts of celebrities who trashed him during the campaign yet hardly said a negative word about Michelle Obama even after she publicly rebuked him on multiple occasions. When mainstream celebrities go after him I think it almost sort of arouses him – gets his competitive juices flowing. The real pain would be in the form of knowing that his fans don’t like him anymore. He lives for adulation. Take it away, and I think he’s a broken man. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/120 "2017-01-03T01:24:55Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > BYW, after Sunday’s little whine fest, is it OK to begin referring to Sean Spicer as _Mouth of Sauron_? You might want to check with **[Sauron.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php)** ETA: I would go with Spewmeister. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=7)