# What the hell is Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581 "2015-07-30T15:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/461 "2015-09-08T01:50:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I think it’s sad that in the face of families being surrounded on mountaintops and having themselves, their children and even their babies’ heads sawn off, Barak and other first world leaders take the position _“Tough shit, not our problem. They need to fix it themselves.”_ If you can lay out, in advance, specifically what a new war could accomplish, and explain how this new war would not explode into some open-ended region campaign that sucks another trillion dollars out of the public treasury (but into the pockets of the war hawks), maybe then I would support intervention. If the rest of the world were on board, maybe I would support intervention. If it is some cranky old guy pissed off about bullshit on TV, then you can fucking forget it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/462 "2015-09-08T02:02:24Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Why waste all this kerfuffle on someone who is, quite simply, not ever going to be President of the United States? > [@foolsguinea](#): > > Does Trump even know the Yazidi exist?Democracy says you could be wrong. Silly people vote. I’m doubtful _that_ many people are that silly. Or at least I hope there’s not that many. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/463 "2015-09-08T04:43:59Z")
It’s not that ISIS/ISIL whatever aren’t our problem, it’s that (a) they’re not just our problem, and (b) every solution generates is own share of foreseeable problems, nevermind the unforeseeable ones. The argument boils down to debating the merits of each option and arguing over which is “best”, and sometimes we can’t even agree on what best means. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/464 "2015-09-08T09:29:11Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Ah, so the hoardes are already here so there’s nothing to be unhappy about? > > Kind of like how it doesn’t matter that crime skyrocketed starting in the late sixties (and remains twice what it was before) because it’s been going down the last decade or so? > > You guys have a strange idea of what makes a problem no longer a problem. “hoardes”? At least “hoards” is a real world, although it’s the wrong word. The word you’re both trying for is “hordes.” Which is not _factually_ correct, either. Why do the most likely advocates of “English only” tend to lack knowledge on the language? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/465 "2015-09-08T13:53:22Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > You don’t want a high energy and untested [football coach](http://www.vox.com/2015/9/4/9258037/low-energy-trump-bush) running the country. Unlike a sitting US Senator or Representative, Trump hasn’t been exposed to policy on a daily basis. Ok, but name anybody else running on the GOP side and I can make the case that they’d be even worse. Trump may be tapping into chimerical fears about immigrants, but he is appealing directly to Americans. The other candidates are bought, their positions appeal only to the billionaires who bought them because that’s where their positions come from. They’re hoping that people have been propagandized enough about ‘liberals’ that they’ll vote R, no matter what garbage the guy stands for. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/466 "2015-09-08T14:00:00Z")
Just an FYI, but BBC has been saying the last nonpolitician/non-office holder to be nominated by either of the two major parties was Wendell Willkie for the Republicans in 1940. We all know what happened to him. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/467 "2015-09-08T14:25:59Z")
Back to the OP, what the hell is Trump? According to Trump, he sort of has military service. In that, he went to a military boarding school where he spent a lot of time with “those people.” He helpfully notes that his military school had more military training than a lot of Americans who actually went into the military. > **[Trump: 'I always felt that I was in the military'](https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-military-service-213392)** > > Donald Trump said "always felt that I was in the military" because he attended a military boarding school and "dealt with those people." ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/468 "2015-09-08T14:35:46Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > According to Trump, he sort of has military service. In that, he went to a military boarding school where he spent a lot of time with “those people.” He helpfully notes that his military school had more military training than a lot of Americans who actually went into the military. > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-military-service-213392](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-military-service-213392) Had this sort of crap come out of the mouth of anyone else but Trump, it would have been instantly damaging to their standing among Republican voters (many of whom are either veterans themselves, or sympathetic to veterans). Hell, if a Democratic candidate had said it, Fox News would have been beside themselves with glee, as they excoriated said Dem for their words. But, The Donald? If slamming McCain didn’t hurt him among his True Believers, this probably won’t, either. I now suspect that his ridiculous hairstyle is actually Reagan-level Teflon. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/469 "2015-09-08T14:43:44Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Just an FYI, but BBC has been saying the last nonpolitician/non-office holder to be nominated by either of the two major parties was Wendell Willkie for the Republicans in 1940. We all know what happened to him. Murdered in cold blood on a pier by an illegal-immigrant rapist bimbo on her period, as I remember. Actually, it was even worse. Went from being a social conservative and foreign-policy internationalist (the latter bringing him closer to FDR) to compromising on the latter issue for the sake of keeping “the base,” which backfired and lost even the possibility of a close election in 1940. After losing, he neither retired from public life nor used his public identity to bad-mouth the administration: FDR appointed him to follow his original ideals as basically a roving ambassador, and his diplomatic efforts in the USSR and China especially helped to win WWII. This produced a still-readable book, _One World_, and the enmity of his own party. He also compared opposition to black Americans’ civil rights to fascism, which confounded white Americans of both parties. When he discovered that respect for all people at home and abroad led to political insignificance, he dropped out of the 1944 election, declined to endorse the Republican candidate, and died. I don’t know, something about the humanity, principles and goodwill of the man keep me from seeing any real similarity with anybody recently. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/470 "2015-09-08T15:23:30Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > “hoardes”? At least “hoards” is a real world, although it’s the wrong word. The word you’re both trying for is “hordes.” Which is not _factually_ correct, either. > > Why do the most likely advocates of “English only” tend to lack knowledge on the language? Le snore. (Pardon my French) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/471 "2015-09-08T16:09:27Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > “hoardes”? At least “hoards” is a real world, although it’s the wrong word. The word you’re both trying for is “hordes.” Which is not _factually_ correct, either. > > Why do the most likely advocates of “English only” tend to lack knowledge on the language? Yep, the point stands still as others (like SA) are \*\*sleep \*\*about the plight of the refugees. [QUOTE=Casablanca] Rick: If it’s December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York? Sam: What? My watch stopped. Rick: I’d bet they’re asleep in New York. I’d bet they’re asleep all over America. [/QUOTE] As it turns out Trump does cares about refugees, but only the ones that are Christian, but even there Trump can not help but to lie to keep the support of the nativists and bigots. > **[Donald Trump says if you're from Syria and a Christian, you can't come to the...](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/jul/20/donald-trump/donald-trump-says-if-youre-syria-and-christianyou-/)** > > Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been making many bold statements recently, but one that caught a Poli > [@](#): > > Donald Trump says if you’re from Syria and a Christian, you can’t come to the U.S. as a refugee > [@](#): > > “While there may be higher numbers of Muslims from Syria who have come to the U.S. than Christians, this is not reflective of any policy making it easier for Muslims and harder for Christians,” said Shaina Ward, associate director of Refugee Council USA. > > Ward noted that the the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees does most of the initial screening of refugees seeking resettlement. UNHCR, she said, “identifies and refers the most vulnerable, whoever they are,” using a variety of criteria in addition to religion > > More importantly, there is no evidence whatsoever for the most explosive element of Trump’s charge – that the U.S. government is discriminating against Christians as a matter of official policy. > [@](#): > > Trump said that “if you’re from Syria and you’re a Christian, you cannot come into this country” as a refugee. This is wrong on its face – a small number of Syrian Christians been admitted as refugees over the past nine months – and also false in spirit, since there is nothing in the United States’ laws or regulations that discriminates against Christian refugees. We rate the claim False. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/472 "2015-09-08T16:29:45Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m betting much of the 21st century seems strange to you. Hell, the same could be said about the last half of the 20th century. WRT the crime rate, **SA** , here’s [a little chart from the FBI](https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1994-2013.xls). Consider the columns showing murders and non-negligent homicides, 1994-2013. The murder rate _dropped in half_ during that period, from 9.0 to 4.5 per 100,000. The rate’s gone down fast enough that the absolute **number** of murders has gone down by nearly 40%. So you can’t even say, “well, the _rate_’s gone down, but there are actually more murders.” There aren’t. And for your additional edification, between 1994 and 2000, the number of murders dropped from 23,326 to 15,586, dropping by 1/3 in just six years. Must’ve been the good moral influence of the Clinton Administration, because by 2008 murders had increased to 16,465. But by 2013, thanks to the more morally healthy climate fostered by President Obama, murders had dropped again, to 14,196. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/473 "2015-09-08T17:11:23Z")
The amazing thing to me is the focus of Trump’s supporters on his past “success.” Never mind that it was mostly given to him, and the rest of it seemed always to come at someone else’s expense (multiple bankruptcies and construction projects that never come off after the investment money clears escrow don’t make you a job creator, but they can leave you pretty well off if you do it right), and most of the growth mirrors the economy, sluggishly, and in the next few years that you’re looking at enough lawsuits to bankrupt you unless you can gain immunity by becoming president or something. That’s all wave-awayable, and we see that happening in this thread. What I don’t understand, though, given Trump’s supporters’ belief in a man with bizarre political and personal views with respect to immigrants and women, a connsummate outsider with no political experience and who is in no way beholden to the Republican party, because they really, really like a man who can through his own effort and nothing more, improve himself to the degree that he is now well-off, mainstream, and on top of it all, intellectually unassailable (no, he’s not a rocket scientist), is this: why doesn’t anybody promoting Donald Trump promote Ben Carson (who _really_ created success out of nothing) instead? It must be they think the presidency is just beneath him. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/474 "2015-09-08T17:20:17Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > why doesn’t anybody promoting Donald Trump promote Ben Carson (who _really_ created success out of nothing) instead? Carson’s up to 18% in the latest Monmouth poll. Looks like he’s doing pretty well without any promoting. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/475 "2015-09-08T17:28:03Z")
He \*is \*doing okay, but that’s explainable largely because he’s an admirable man (who does say what are to me some ignorant and repugnant things, and is in any event unqualified for high political office). But the question is, why is he not doing much better than Trump? What, besides gross wealth, is the difference Republicans see in them? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/476 "2015-09-08T17:32:11Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > He \*is \*doing okay, but that’s explainable largely because he’s an admirable man (who does say what are to me some ignorant and repugnant things, and is in any event unqualified for high political office). But the question is, why is he not doing much better than Trump? What, besides gross wealth, is the difference Republicans see in them? He’s not batshit crazy enough. Pardon me; obviously I meant, he’s not a rude arrogant jackwagon. Goodness! I mean, “He’s not being enough of a straight shooter.” That’s what they say they like about the short-fingered vulgarian. All sound and fury, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/477 "2015-09-08T17:48:23Z")
More directly, he’s not getting as many headlines. I imagine among the Republican electorate there are still a large number of people who have no idea who Carson is, the same can’t be said from Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/478 "2015-09-08T18:00:06Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > He \*is \*doing okay, but that’s explainable largely because he’s an admirable man (who does say what are to me some ignorant and repugnant things, and is in any event unqualified for high political office). But the question is, why is he not doing much better than Trump? What, besides gross wealth, is the difference Republicans see in them? Yes, what could that difference possibly be? ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/479 "2015-09-08T18:02:47Z")
**GrumpyBunny** and **Buck Godot** , with respect, I don’t think you are isolating the salient difference seen by Trump supporters between the supposed self-made man and the real one. Doesn’t seem to be a matter of style or substance, so far as I can see. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/480 "2015-09-08T18:53:31Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Back to the OP, what the hell is Trump? > > According to Trump, he sort of has military service. In that, he went to a military boarding school where he spent a lot of time with “those people.” He helpfully notes that his military school had more military training than a lot of Americans who actually went into the military. > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-military-service-213392](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-military-service-213392) Poor guy probably has PTSD…he should go see the VA about getting medical disability. And he obviously knows what it’s like leading “those people”, so he would be a perfect Commander-in-Chief. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581.md?page=25)