# Surprises coming for voters for the Leopards-Eating-Faces Party **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 12, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166 "2024-11-12T19:54:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1721 "2025-02-21T21:48:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I beg to differ with you folks who think Trump wasn’t particularly well-known, or was even a Robin-Leach-level celebrity. Trump’s hogging of the limelight guaranteed that he was a very familiar face long before _The Apprentice_ came along . I was born in 1976, and I’m pretty sure I knew who he was by 1987. I saw copies of _Art of the Deal_ at bookstores and by 1989 or 1990 Trump the Game. All I knew was that he was some rich guy who did “business,” maybe something to do with New York, but if I knew about some fuddy duddy businessman when I was eleven it’s probably safe to say Americans were also familiar with him. I don’t think he would have gotten on _The Apprentice_ if Americans weren’t already somewhat familiar with him. I don’t think most Americans grasped what kind of a man he really was. I know I didn’t grasp it even as I voted against him in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1722 "2025-02-21T22:19:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > But not everyone had the same experience as you. Myself, other people in this thread and **a sizeable chunk of the country didn’t/doesn’t know much about him.** There was no reason to know anything about him, at least not for me. Trump Casino, Trump Steaks, Trump College and so on, are things I don’t think I had even heard of until he ran for office and the memes were all over the internet and various trials and stories started making the news. Bolding mine (mods, hope that’s Ok). Disagree. A sizeable chunk of the country knew and knows just exactly what he is (Not necessarily you @Joey_P. ) A sizeable ‘chunk’ voted for him twice. There is NO excuse for not knowing what he represents. What that sizeable chunk did not realize, is that if you drill holes in the boat, you will sink with all those people that you dislike. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1723 "2025-02-21T22:23:29Z")
The big reveal wasn’t about Trump, because you would have to be an idiot not to know what he was about. The big reveal was about the true nature of those who wanted him in power. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1724 "2025-02-21T22:34:14Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I don’t think he would have gotten on _The Apprentice_ if Americans weren’t already somewhat familiar with him. I don’t think most Americans grasped what kind of a man he really was. Being aware of someone, and knowing a lot of details about them, their personal lives, and their business acumen, really aren’t the same. There’s tonnes of celebrities I’ve heard about, but couldn’t tell you much about without googling. The Kardashians? Heard of them, know their weird connection to the O.J. Trial, but beyond that? Not much. We could name dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of others like that. Of course, if the Kardashians started running for President\*, I’d probably do that googling. \*Yes, the entire family all at once. I’m sure there’s no rule against a family being President! Airbud Rules Apply! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1725 "2025-02-21T23:01:00Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > \*Yes, the entire family all at once. I’m sure there’s no rule against a family being President! We had that in his first term. Then the family started to bail on him because SOME of them understand that actions have consequences. Trump, D.J. Is pushing that envelope. Some of his family is smart enough to get out while the goings good. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1726 "2025-02-22T00:37:58Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > And you knew all of that _before_ he ran for president the first time? I did, but then I follow business news and the Georgia Bulldogs, so I knew of Trump in 1982 when he lured Herschel Walker away from his senior year at UGA to go pro for the NJ Genitals, er, Generals of the USFL (which Trump also destroyed). Cites on that last: > **["30 for 30" Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? (TV Episode 2009) ⭐ 7.3 |...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1501756/?ref_=ext_shr)** > > 51m | TV-G > **[The day Donald Trump's narcissism killed the USFL](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/11/the-day-donald-trumps-narcissism-killed-the-usfl)** > > Although the president is a constant critic of the NFL, he unintentionally helped the league during a hapless turn as a witness in a 1986 lawsuit I DID NOT KNOW THAT THE $1 BILL WAS HANDED TO TRUMP, 🤣🤣🤣 > [@](#): > > When the words “one dollar” emerged from Leisure’s lips, the younger Mara pulled out a $1 bill from his wallet and handed it to the Generals’ owner. Trump’s sunken expression was worth the price. (The USFL won an anti-trust case against the NFL, but the jury awarded the USFL 1 whole dollar in damages.) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1727 "2025-02-22T00:54:41Z")
I was born in 1982, and was raised in a fiscally conservative/socially liberal household. Dad actually went out of his way to point out examples of who he thought of as good businesspeople, or - even if they had failed - businesspeople you could learn from. Trump was never held up as an example of either. When I saw him in _Home Alone 2_,\*\* I think I vaguely knew of him as some sort of sleazy New York guy. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I wasn’t aware there was even a question, given how many religion-based charter schools there are in my neck of the woods. In North Carolina, charter schools aren’t supposed to have a religious affiliation. I’ve looked up a few religious schools that I thought were charter, but it turns out they’re private. (These schools are eligible for vouchers, which also use tax dollars…ick.) That said, there are some charter schools that have an akwardly-stated emphasis on “morals,” so I’m guessing that’s where religion gets shoehorned in. > [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > In North Carolina, they probably are really focusing on turning out engineers to run coal fired trains. We’re quite well-prepared if they start building nuclear plants again! 😜 ---
**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:** [February 22, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1728 "2025-02-22T00:55:39Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > > > Time to update [this](https://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/2009/10/of-sparrows-and-curtain-rods.html), > > “The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will volunteer to have their faces eaten, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, gets their faces eaten too.” > > Ah, the eternally relevant Davis Ex Machina quote. I wonder where he is these days. [Googles] Hey, I think this is him at Instagram: [Ali Davis on Instagram: “He did it. He knows he did it. He’s not sorry. Link to my latest newsletter in the coments.”](https://www.instagram.com/davis.ex.machina/p/DFIx7sZSfrU/) > > ETA: Found same dude on Threads, and here: [https://davis-ex-machina.beehiiv.com/](https://davis-ex-machina.beehiiv.com/) > > Can’t be sure, but the content seems in his wheelhouse. Hey, the guy i found on Instagram isn’t the right one, but I found the real Davis X. Machina, and [he’s on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ckexagqmozbpafsfnajishc6) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1729 "2025-02-22T01:09:38Z")
Can we include Democrats who suck up to the leopards in this thread? Because if so, here’s a doozy; [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2llcscocbfrj3qnzvsjemdw/bafkreid2t6vpk7qbv6te4pj4pkoep3xbez5o76o2nnnuhs3ysakbdqf4b4@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2llcscocbfrj3qnzvsjemdw/bafkreid2t6vpk7qbv6te4pj4pkoep3xbez5o76o2nnnuhs3ysakbdqf4b4@jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1730 "2025-02-22T01:12:32Z")
Hey Senator Kelly, Elmo just called one of your ISS colleagues a slur. What kind of accomplishment is that??? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1731 "2025-02-22T01:30:13Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > On X, well-known conservative British historian Niall Ferguson begs JD Vance to explain Trump’s “peace plan I know most people won’t know Niall but he’s a historian who has been a professor at Oxford and Harvard and has been Knighted. I knew he was conservative but didn’t know to what extent he’s sympathetic to trump’s views. And, on googling, he has pretty far right views on things like colonialism, Islam, whether Britain should have resisted the Germans… This is one of the weird aspects of this era. It’s not just seeing lots of bigots around. It’s seeing people you thought of as bright, or decent, turn out to be, well, “ultra Maga”. It feels like I’m in a bodysnatchers movie. (Sorry for hijacking a bit; these threads are kinda blurring together) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1732 "2025-02-22T01:36:45Z")
He and Fetterman can cuddle up. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1733 "2025-02-22T02:27:49Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > We’re quite well-prepared if they start building nuclear plants again! 😜 NC State does (or did) have a very good nukular engineering department. The high schools are still of a distinctly lesser quality. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1734 "2025-02-22T02:46:48Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Can we include Democrats who suck up to the leopards in this thread? Absent more context, I wouldn’t automatically assume sucking up. Could easily just be sarcastic bemusement. Not that I would be shocked if he was being a suck-ass, but I really can’t tell from just that. There are certainly Tesla-owning SpaceX fans out there that now nonetheless despise Musk. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1735 "2025-02-22T10:59:00Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > NC State does (or did) have a very good nukular engineering department. They still do! I think it’s the only engineering department still located on the main campus, since they would pretty much have to decomission the reactor in order to relocate. And I agree with you about the public high schools in the state, since I graduated from one. 😕 No physics, not much in the way of math, and I was headed into a college engineering program. I did have amazing teachers for history and English/composition though. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1736 "2025-02-22T12:19:13Z")
The surprises now arriving for the LEF party are only surprises because of an unfathomable degree of willful ignorance. I spent as much time on Trump as I did on the Kardashians before he ran for office, which is to say zero. Once he declared his candidacy it took me between five and ten seconds to understand he was a colossal liar and gold plated jerk ass. I also, of course, thought his run for office was a joke. The surprise is like the surprise of someone standing on train tracks watching the locomotive heading toward them. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1737 "2025-02-22T12:33:48Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > As someone who grew up in Michigan, Trump was just always this symbol of 80s wealth and glitz. No more than Robin Leach or _Miami Vice_ or Tammy Faye Bakker or Leona Helmsley. Tammy Faye Bakker was not an example “80’s wealth and glitz”. Robin Leach, Leona Helmsley and the exteriors shown in _Miami Vice_ I’ll happily grant you. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1738 "2025-02-22T12:43:22Z")
Until he started getting into politics, I always saw Trump as New York local color - tacky and a bit of a buffoon, but essentially harmless. In other words, just another Manhattan weirdo among many. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1739 "2025-02-22T13:06:36Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The surprise is like the surprise of someone standing on train tracks watching the locomotive heading toward them. Very well said. And all they had to do to avoid certain death, was to step off the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/1740 "2025-02-22T14:01:30Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The surprises now arriving for the LEF party are only surprises because of an unfathomable degree of willful ignorance. I spent as much time on Trump as I did on the Kardashians before he ran for office, which is to say zero. Once he declared his candidacy it took me between five and ten seconds to understand he was a colossal liar and gold plated jerk ass. I also, of course, thought his run for office was a joke. > > The surprise is like the surprise of someone standing on train tracks watching the locomotive heading toward them. Yeah. It’s why I have zero sympathy for them; it’s not like the awful qualities of Trump and company _weren’t_ obvious, or that we hadn’t _already_ had him inflicted on us as President once. But they decided they wanted to deny reality and walked in front of that train. I’m only sorry that they’ve dragged the rest of us there with them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166.md?page=88)