# Trump and his rallies **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 21, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188 "2022-01-21T19:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 31, 2022, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/41 "2022-01-31T18:41:05Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > And **Mussolini made the trains run on time.** Look where _he_ wound up. - And despite that, he’s known as the _late_ Benito Mussolini. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/42 "2022-01-31T20:39:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And despite that, he’s known as the _late_ Benito Mussolini. Very good. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/43 "2022-01-31T20:58:28Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > And Mussolini made the trains run on time. Look where _he_ wound up. - I heard Mussolini’s whole world turned upside down at that gas station. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/44 "2022-01-31T22:28:02Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > Mussolini Speaking of Mussolini, I recall seeing a clip of him making a speech, and he’s doing the extreme chest puffery and chin juts that he did, and the guy standing behind him was cracking up. So it made me wonder how much was just theater. And at least one guy got it. Then look at CFSG, and…where’s the entertainment value of attending his rallies? Does that asshole even have a semblance of a sense of humor? Sarcasm in lieu of humor is his thing I think. Other than that, Happy Easter. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/45 "2022-02-01T02:03:54Z")
@Son_of_a_Rich No, it appears he doesn’t have a sense of humor. I have read or heard multiple individuals discuss the fact they have never heard him tell a joke or laugh at one. For those who want a cite the easiest one I can offer is Penn Jillette mentioning this multiple times on his podcast based on being around DJT when they were filming Celebrity Apprentice. I seem to remember Arsenio confirming same. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/46 "2022-02-01T02:17:32Z")
Here’s a Trump joke. John Oliver is amused. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DnpO_RTSNmQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Donald Trump: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpO_RTSNmQ) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/47 "2022-02-01T17:08:57Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Speaking of Mussolini, I recall seeing a clip of him making a speech, and he’s doing the extreme chest puffery and chin juts that he did When people were comparing T\*\*\*\* to Hitler I found a YouTube clip of about a minute’s worth of a Mussolini speech and I was struck not only by the similarities in gestures between the two but also the crowd’s adulation. Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/48 "2022-02-01T21:05:47Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > No, it appears he doesn’t have a sense of humor. I have read or heard multiple individuals discuss the fact they have never heard him tell a joke or laugh at one. Not true. Here’s a Trump statement that I actually thought was funny as hell. > **[Trump jokes that North Korea's 'Christmas gift' may be a 'beautiful vase,' not...](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/24/trump-north-koreas-christmas-gift-may-be-vase-not-missile-test.html)** > > Trump made the apparent joke about North Korea's rhetoric even as some experts fear the "gift" could be a weapons test. > “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said when asked what he would do if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un does decide to test a new long-range projectile. > > “Maybe it’s a nice present. Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test,” he said. “I may get a vase. I may get a nice present from him. You don’t know. You never know.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/49 "2022-02-02T02:59:32Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. “History repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce.”     – Karl Marx (somewhat paraphrased)        ([cite.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Bonaparte#First_as_tragedy,_then_as_farce)) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/50 "2022-02-02T05:22:13Z")
He DOES believe, as do a lot of other people, that he won despite the current POTUS having received 10 million more votes than he did. Some areas where he did win have even ordered recounts because they didn’t think the margin was wide enough. When is this going to end? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/51 "2022-02-02T05:36:57Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > He DOES believe, as do a lot of other people, that he won despite the current POTUS having received 10 million more votes than he did. I disagree he believes this. He wants everyone else to believe it, but he doesn’t. We know this because yesterday, he said Pence should have _overturned_ the election. [https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/30/politics/trump-pence-2020-election/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/30/politics/trump-pence-2020-election/index.html) No one needs to “overturn” an election he won. In his own words from the article: > “Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!” Trump wrote. He has always known he lost. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/52 "2022-02-02T05:55:44Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > When is this going to end? About the same time as the Kennedy conspiracy theories. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/53 "2022-02-02T06:03:34Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I disagree he believes this. He wants everyone else to believe it, but he doesn’t. Of course he believes he won. He is a total narcissist. He thinks he is the best at everything, and that his greatness is obvious to everybody. He is unable to accept that anyone would disagree with him. Every negative vote is a conspiracy. They don’t really oppose him, they are out to deliberately destroy the country. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > We know this because yesterday, he said Pence should have _overturned_ the election. You’re reading too much into this. Trump has a limited vocabulary, and is generally poor at speaking. He is prone to slips of the tongue, malapropisms, anacoluthon, etc. He hasn’t deliberately chosen a word showing what he really thinks, he just made a verbal gaffe. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/54 "2022-02-02T07:14:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You’re reading too much into this. Trump has a limited vocabulary, and is generally poor at speaking. He is prone to slips of the tongue, malapropisms, anacoluthon, etc. He hasn’t deliberately chosen a word showing what he really thinks, he just made a verbal gaffe. I tend to agree. I don’t know what the hell Trump actually thinks. But what he’ll say he meant was that Pence could have corrected the “fraudulent” election result in favour of the “correct” result. And he may even believe that. I think at most it was a somewhat Freudian slip in the sense that he said something compatible with what he kinda knows deep down subconsciously to be true, while meaning to say something compatible with what he pretends to himself is true. As to the OP, IMHO you are overthinking it @StraightTalk. Trump may or may not know that his rallies aren’t actually an indication of his popularity. But either way what he says at the rallies is not intended to be factual - it’s just rhetorical, boosterish crowd-pumping designed to make his people feel good so they’ll cheer, to feed the yawning maw of his narcissism. It’s about as meaningful as the chairperson of a sports club that has just finished the season dead last standing up and saying “Deep down we all know we are the greatest! Yeah! Woooh!”. It’s not intended as a rationally analyse-able recitation of facts. ---
**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 2, 2022, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/55 "2022-02-02T10:04:43Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I disagree he believes this. He wants everyone else to believe it, but he doesn’t. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Of course he believes he won. He is a total narcissist. We’ve been through this before on the Dope – you’re _both_ wrong. Trump is a bullshitter. He doesn’t put much thought into what is actually true. More important is what story he _likes_ and what the crowd will cheer for. This also frees him up to hold contradictory “beliefs”, or say the opposite of what he said 5 minutes ago…It would be terribly restrictive to try to ground his stories to a consistent reality all the time. ---
**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 2, 2022, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/56 "2022-02-02T12:23:14Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > About the same time as the Kennedy conspiracy theories. About them being alive or being dead? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/57 "2022-02-02T12:50:21Z")
yes - its kinda like a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/58 "2022-02-02T13:36:25Z")
I agree with you insofar as Trump sees no need for there to be any connection between what he says and what is true. But I don’t know that there is any evidence he doesn’t _have_ beliefs. ---
**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 2, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/59 "2022-02-02T14:50:47Z")
Trump believes in Trump. If he were a fairy he’d never lose his wings. ---
**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 2, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188/60 "2022-02-02T15:49:08Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > But I don’t know that there is any evidence he doesn’t _have_ beliefs. True. He has certain beliefs that white people are better than black people and that the Trump family in particular are the chosen ones. In terms of political stuff though I think he generally rolls with whatever. The alternate universe where he is still a Democrat would be interesting. In that universe, would he have had a chance to mold his message to the audience or would he never have had a platform in the first place? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-his-rallies/958188.md?page=4)