(Well, besides the fact that one of them is zoomed in to about twice the magnification of the other so that it’s possible to make out any crowd at all…)
I didn’t expect this to happen: I’m actually feeling sorry for Trump.
Clearly he is a man who cares about his image. He wants approval, admiration. Here he has achieved something that is really remarkable. How many people get voted President, after all?
And in return, he receives heaping servings of contempt and disapproval. Day after day of mockery and scorn.
Humans are social animals. It matters to us how our fellows react to us. Yes, yes, I’m sure he does his best to discount it, ignore it, deny it. But it has to hurt. And on-going psychological trauma can have bad effects, all the way up to madness and suicide.
Understand: I didn’t, and don’t, want Trump as our President. I sincerely hope we can somehow prevent him from carrying out virtually all of the goals promised during his campaign.
But the idea of watching anyone be emotionally tortured day after day for years? Are you really up for that?
He thrives on attention, and now he’ll get his fill. Any mockery and scorn he gets he brought upon himself. He’s had every opportunity to present his positive side. I don’t think he has one.
If I’d ever seen him show an ounce of genuine compassion or empathy to anyone who he wasn’t try to manipulate or exploit, maybe. But he never ever has. If, with all that money and privilege he has, the entire bedrock of your personality is still a compulsive need for validation and approval at the expense of everyone else, then that’s your own psychological house of cards. Outside of the death of one of his children (which I obviously hope doesn’t happen, no matter how detestable he is), I can’t imagine ever having an iota of sympathy for him after everything he’s said and done.
Suppose for a moment that he wasn’t a sexist pig, a pathological liar, an immature brat who would take to Twitter to say Einstein was overrated if he thought Einstein had insulted him, a chiseler and cheat in business deals, a shameless panderer to the lowest instincts of the mob, and not only a complete ignoramus on almost any subject he’s supposed to make policy on, but too lazy to even attend briefings to help alleviate that ignorance. Suppose he started his term with a completely clean slate.
He would still merit heaping servings of contempt and disapproval, and day after day of mockery and scorn, just for what he is doing right now — appointing people to cabinet-level positions whose main qualification seems to be their antipathy, if not hostility, to their department’s or agency’s mission; and refusing to divest his business interests, even those directly dependent on the good will of foreign governments. I could list more, but he’s not worth the effort.
But: I have spend the last half year or so reading reports about what he said. (Haven’t actually sat through an entire speech of his.)
I have read many stories about his less than honest business dealings.
I have read about ways he has treated those he regards as less worthy.
I’m not at all arguing he is an admirable man. But I still don’t find it in me to relish the idea of watching him being the target of unending blows for the next years.
Yes. You can argue he deserves what he is getting. That is not the same as to say it is good for us to dish it out or relish it happening.
Suppose it was physical instead of psychological punishment? Would you be okay if each blow landed on his body instead of his psyche? If each impact caused physical, measurable damage, no matter how small?
The only way I could justify this is if I thought that the punishment would have a beneficial effect. If his hunger for admiration is great enough that he will change his course to pursuing goals we agree with or at least abandoning the ones we abhor – then maybe it’s necessary and ultimately for a greater good.
But I don’t see that as happening. He’s long set in his ways and beliefs.
What I imagine happening is him hunkering down, withdrawing, becoming more extreme.
Well, gee whiz, what do you think Obama has had to sit through for the last eight years? Never ending praise, lauded far and wide by every man, woman and child in this great nation? I don’t friggin’ think so. He seems to have come out on top of it. What is Trump? Some special snowflake or something?
You got to get real. donnie might have a breakdown, but it is all that he asked for. He begged for it. You can’t save someone from themselves. God should help us from him. Feeling sorry for him? OMG.
I would go so far as to say that his fans actually want him to fail deep down inside: In the terminology of pro wrestling he is the “heel.” He created so much bad karma that there will be a real deficit until he is brought down. And his voters know this unconsciously.
The blows that you are referring to are the democracy trying to save itself.
Unless you don’t want that.
Would you prefer that he not be questioned on anything so that he is not upset? Is that beneficial to the country? That’s why we have a free fucking press, and we got to hope they learn to deal with this situation better than during the campaign, because I’m much more worried about the mental stability of the electorate if they just go along with this clown show anymore. Jeeezuz.
Every president gets flack. If Trump can’t psychologically handle someone pointing out – factually – that his inauguration got a fraction of Obama’s inauguration, then he better resign now.
I’d need to see time stamps. Pretty sure I saw a similar set and the Trump one was taken an hour before the Inauguration started, and the Obama one as it was happening. It wouldn’t surprise me that Obama had a larger crowd, but the picture proves nothing.
There’s a pair(Obama, Trump) taken at the same time. There’s another one taken about 45 min earlier (Trump) but the crowd is almost the same size (98%-illustrative, not a measured amount) You can see the difference but you have to know where to look. Vox-25 minutes apart.
I think the pair I’ve seen the most often were maybe 30min apart. Unless Trump’s crowd grew 8x in a half hour, it’s grasping at straws to pretend it made a difference.
It’s not that we want the plane to crash. It’s more that we’re sitting in our seats and realizing that our new pilot has a souvenir Junior Air Captain’s certificate from Joe-Bob’s Flyin’ Machine Museum ‘n’ Bait Shop.
