# We must thank God he's an idiot **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 6, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901 "2016-08-06T01:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 7, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/21 "2016-08-07T03:40:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > **People have been saying that since he entered the race.** The only thing I can see that would stop him would be his death, or possibly total disability. > > No, I don’t want either to happen to him. My bold. Yes, and it has been happening, and it will continue to happen, stopping short of death or physical disability. Mental disability? That’s another matter… ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/22 "2016-08-07T04:59:06Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Isn’t that \*more \*tiring than simply staying at a nearby hotel? But every time he flies somewhere in his plane, the campaign has to pay him for the use of it. And that pay has to be for more than the cost of the fuel and maintenance. IOW, it is another way to transfer donated money from the campaign to Trump’s pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/23 "2016-08-07T05:51:40Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > One of the things that makes me question the intelligence of people is when they say a businessman would be a good president because of the experience making things financially successful. It fails the slightest bit of logical scrutiny. A business has an entirely different motive. It doesn’t have to supply products for “free.” Police, for instance, will aid anyone, even a foreigner or poor person who pays no taxes. A business would say that if you can’t pay for their service, GTFO. > > A government run like a business would have the motive to raise taxes as much as possible while cutting costs as much as possible. Your model does not explain why so many businesses donate to charity. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/24 "2016-08-07T06:22:31Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Your model does not explain why so many businesses donate to charity. Say what? Don’t see the connection. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/25 "2016-08-07T06:37:03Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But the “Trump wants to intentionally lose” theory just doesn’t hold water. You have an egomaniac who mocks losers, who is thin-skinned, can’t abide any perceived slights, is a bully, wants to be known as a winner whom everyone flocks to, likes this “Nobody thought we could do it but we’re beating all the odds and we did it OUR way” narrative…who secretly \*wants \*to lose and be known as a loser and be mocked as a loser? Doesn’t add up. > Now if he wins the presidency and resigns, OK. He could brag that he left on his own terms. But I don’t think he wants to actually lose the \*election \*itself. > Running for POTUS is absolutely grueling and exhausting. I doubt someone could keep up the energy if deep down they didn’t even \*want \*to win. When he started, I doubted even he thought he was going to get nominated. He loves attention and he is very good at getting it, and what better way of getting free attention than running for president? Do you think Trump is really stupid enough to think that insulting Gold Star parents is a good idea? He is either unhinged enough to not know, or this was one more attempt at saying something so over the edge that his numbers would go down - and this one finally worked. I have no idea if it was intentional or subconscious. I doubt he’d want to quit - look at the crap Palin got for quitting. That is a loser move. He’d love to win if he didn’t have to do the job. But he may not be together enough to know how out of his league he is. It is certainly possible. But that would be an extreme diagnosis. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/26 "2016-08-07T07:04:03Z")
Arguably, if he weren’t an idiot, he wouldn’t be enjoying his current success. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/27 "2016-08-07T07:22:57Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Do you think Trump is really stupid enough to think that insulting Gold Star parents is a good idea? He is either unhinged enough to not know, The reports I’ve read are that he honestly didn’t even understand why people were upset by it, and that he’d still be attacking the Khan’s if he hadn’t been “intervened” with by the RNC bigwigs. So yes I think he’s really that unhinged: Narcissistic Personality Disorder / Sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/28 "2016-08-07T07:56:36Z")
He certainly gives the impression of not knowing what he thinks till he opens his mouth and hears whatever comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/29 "2016-08-07T13:03:36Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > He certainly gives the impression of not knowing what he thinks till he opens his mouth and hears whatever comes out. If you’re constantly improvising bullshit, you don’t stick to a script or a game plan, and you certainly don’t remain consistent with your previous positions. Whatever is convenient for Trump to say in that moment that seals the deal is what he will say. It really does not matter what that thing is. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/30 "2016-08-07T13:19:14Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Your model does not explain why so many businesses donate to charity. One main reason businesses often donate to charity is for public relations. The better they look to the community, the more customers they will get. It’s also a form of advertising. The donating business will be listed as a supporter of the charity in press releases, on T-shirts, on the website, etc. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/31 "2016-08-08T02:52:43Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > One main reason businesses often donate to charity is for public relations. The better they look to the community, the more customers they will get. It’s also a form of advertising. The donating business will be listed as a supporter of the charity in press releases, on T-shirts, on the website, etc. Ever listen to NPR or your local public radio station? They run ads – pardon me; supporting statements – all the time from this or that business person who burbles cheerily about how they’ve supported Station Whatever and golly, it’s just wonderful how many customers come in to tell them how much they appreciate that support! Sales skyrocketed! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/32 "2016-08-08T17:12:57Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The reports I’ve read are that he honestly didn’t even understand why people were upset by it, and that he’d still be attacking the Khan’s if he hadn’t been “intervened” with by the RNC bigwigs. > > So yes I think he’s really that unhinged: Narcissistic Personality Disorder / Sociopath. [Here](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-trump-romance-glanton-20160805-column.html) is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune who agrees with me. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/33 "2016-08-08T18:37:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Say what? Don’t see the connection. 😕 This part– > [@OldOlds](#): > > A business would say that if you can’t pay for their service, GTFO. > > A government run like a business would have the motive to raise taxes as much as possible while cutting costs as much as possible. does not agree with empirical observation. And it’s not advertising, either. A lot of big companies donate in ways that don’t make much in the way of news. Oh sure, once in a while you’ll hear about how Company X has donated water to a disaster area, but that’s about all you hear. For a lot of companies, look at the Press Release section of their website, and you’ll learn about a lot of stuff they do that the media won’t bother to cover. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/34 "2016-08-08T18:38:50Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > And that’s when I thought about Adolf Hitler, whom we all love and admire. Sure, we [make fun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAMgT8LuZaw) of him speaking in that silly way, etc., being a foreigner, but the guy in the context, in that particular historical situation, he was brilliant. He picked up the feelings of a nation and screamed it out for the world. “Yes, yes, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnpTWKKWQ1o) is what I feel, this is what I want.” > > Imagine Trump wasn’t an idiot. Imagine he had that gift, that even you and I… > With all them nukes and shit. Thank God he is an idiot. How is Trump not like Hitler in that respect? This is where a Hitler-Trump comparison makes perfect sense. They are both preaching a populist message about bad deals with foreign government and “the other” in our culture damaging the success of everyone else. They both appeal to people suffering from an economic collapse. They both have an agenda that is essentially incoherent, but makes people think “He is strong and he echoes my ideas.” Both of them have similar levels of popular support (which is to say, something like 30%-40% - a sizable minority, but only a minority). Even for the people who think a Trump Presidency would be a good thing, it should be obvious that he and Hitler campaign the same. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/35 "2016-08-08T22:05:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > When he started, I doubted even he thought he was going to get nominated. He loves attention and he is very good at getting it, and what better way of getting free attention than running for president? > Do you think Trump is really stupid enough to think that insulting Gold Star parents is a good idea? He is either unhinged enough to not know, or this was one more attempt at saying something so over the edge that his numbers would go down - and this one finally worked. I have no idea if it was intentional or subconscious. > I doubt he’d want to quit - look at the crap Palin got for quitting. That is a loser move. He’d love to win if he didn’t have to do the job. > But he may not be together enough to know how out of his league he is. It is certainly possible. But that would be an extreme diagnosis. This is what I’ve been saying all along. What’s horridly pathetic isn’t the Trump, _but his supporters_. No idiocy is too much for them. Betfair and Predictwise still show a 23% chance of GOP White House(_) and other prediction markets show even larger chance. Maybe Trump will need to literally shoot a man in broad daylight on 2nd Avenue if he doesn’t want to be Prez. :eek: (_ - I’m careful to write “GOP White House” rather than Trump White House. There’s still a 1% chance some GOP “Sanity trumps Trump” end-run will form.) ---
**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:** [August 8, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/36 "2016-08-08T22:31:38Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > This is what I’ve been saying all along. > > What’s horridly pathetic isn’t the Trump, _but his supporters_. No idiocy is too much for them. Betfair and Predictwise still show a 23% chance of GOP White House(_) and other prediction markets show even larger chance. \*\* Maybe Trump will need to literally shoot a man in broad daylight on 2nd Avenue if he doesn’t want to be Prez. :eek:\*\* > (_ - I’m careful to write “GOP White House” rather than Trump White House. There’s still a 1% chance some GOP “Sanity trumps Trump” end-run will form.) That just might do it. [On _5th_ Avenue, he’s immune.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/23/politics/donald-trump-shoot-somebody-support/) > [@](#): > > “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Trump said at a campaign rally here. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/37 "2016-08-08T22:49:47Z")
\*Of course \*Trump wants to win the Presidency. He wants it totally and completely–no subconscious doubts at all. How else is he going to “Show” Obama? How else is he going to prove himself to Putin? How else is he going to be a Winner instead of a Loser? Trump can’t abide being labelled a loser. He wants to win. (And not incidentally, his kids want the White House for the family, too. What else have they got? The minute Trump dies, the value of his name dies. No more “Apprentice” dollars coming in; no more naming rights cash coming in. They _need_ that hereditary Presidency.\* What else are they going to do? Try to live off the revenues of those golf courses? Please.) All the head-scratchers Trump commits–attacking the Gold Star family, displaying puppy-love for Putin, revealing he’s eager to give nukes to several nations that don’t yet have them–ALL of it–prove not that he’s trying to self-sabotage. What they prove is that _he really thinks these are good ideas_. He really thinks they’ll increase the applause levels at his rallies and the chances that he’ll win in November. Because _he wants to win_. \*It will become hereditary only after the massive terrorist attacks that make permanent martial law a ‘sad’ necessity, of course. My guesses for the cities to be taken out, by cooperative ISIS sympathizers: Salt Lake City at a time when Mitt is in residence and Chicago during an Obama visit. Maybe throw in Coral Gables, Florida, at a time when Jeb is there but George Prescott Bush is away–after all, George P. just recently gave Trump his endorsement, despite his father’s opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/38 "2016-08-08T23:50:46Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > Whatever is convenient for Trump to say in that moment that seals the deal is what he will say. It really does not matter what that thing is. And the thing is… Trump will absolutely believe what he says in that moment. It does not matter if it contradicts what he said yesterday. At THAT MOMENT, he thinks he is saying God’s Own Truth. And he is puzzled, and yes, INSULTED if someone contradicts him. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/39 "2016-08-09T00:20:33Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > And the thing is… Trump will absolutely believe what he says in that moment. It does not matter if it contradicts what he said yesterday. At THAT MOMENT, he thinks he is saying God’s Own Truth. > > And he is puzzled, and yes, INSULTED if someone contradicts him. Or even **questions** him. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901/40 "2016-08-09T04:40:56Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > This part– > does not agree with empirical observation. > > And it’s not advertising, either. A lot of big companies donate in ways that don’t make much in the way of news. Oh sure, once in a while you’ll hear about how Company X has donated water to a disaster area, but that’s about all you hear. For a lot of companies, look at the Press Release section of their website, and you’ll learn about a lot of stuff they do that the media won’t bother to cover. You do realize, even if they don’t publicize it, corporations get lots of tax breaks for donating things to Tibbs like charities, PBS, NPR, foundations, etc… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-must-thank-god-hes-an-idiot/761901.md?page=3)