I do agree that he’d welcome a pardon, but I also agree with others who say he’d never trust Vance or anyone else to do it for him. Instead, he’ll pursue all avenues for doing it himself (or rather he’ll task minions to do the actual work for his signature while he watches TV).
As far as the other responsibilities involved in being president, he doesn’t have to quit to pass the burden to Vance. He’ll happily golf and host rallies while others (not limited to Vance, whom, again, he doesn’t trust) do the heavy lifting. He fucked off exactly the same way in his first term, no resignation required, so why expect different the second time around?
He doesn’t have friends (as most people understand it) and doesn’t care about his family (as most people do). He can have the best health care flown to wherever he lives. Wealth, even if fake and dependent on grift, allows you to do anything.
Conan replies to a Mongol General’s question “What is best in life?” with, “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women”. The Mongol General then responds, “That is good!”.
But then Trump would call this weak and that Arnold wasn’t a real man.
Schwarzenegger replaced the president as host of the show, but Trump remained as an executive producer. The president taunted Schwarzenegger for the show’s recent poor performance in the ratings, even mocking him during an address at the National Prayer Breakfast.
Because that’s the Christian thing to do.
'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you"–what beta said that?
As for “enemies”, those seem to be anyone who has even mildly criticized Trump. However, as he becomes more delusional and unhinged, I suspect that will evolve into anyone who has not openly supported him.
I’m sure Trump would have no problem changing the first line of the Pledge of Allegiance from “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America” to “I pledge allegiance to the President of the United States of America” (as long as he’s the President).
ETA: If the pledge change was a story in The Onion that people thought was true, I’m sure his supporters would bend over backwards to defend it.
Did he ever? When he ran in 2016 I was convinced that he was trolling the Republican Party (remember he was accused of being a RINO in the 1980s) and in an example of Poe’s Law the more he trolled the more successful he got.
We since learned that that wasn’t it, that he’s crazy AF but I’m still not convinced he ran in 2016 to become President.
He is running as a front man for Project 2025. It’s the only “real” reason anyone with an actual (mis-guided) brain would support him. He is a useful idiot that can be manipulated to achieve your unpopular goals. He proved his worth by setting up the SCOTUS to overturn Roe.
There was a story that during a phone call with Trump just weeks before he announced his 2016 candidacy, Bill Clinton (jokingly?) suggested to Trump that he should run for president. Boy, did that come around to bite Bill in the ass.
Yeah, we were all enjoying the evisceration of all those wannabe President candidates - the GOP old guard getting their asses handed to them live and on TV. It was great!
LOSER Donald started plotting for re-election in November 2020 as soon as his penetrated his LOSER brain that he had really and truly LOST the Presidency. The wonderful, beautiful greatest presidency of all time in which the entire world lined up to kiss his ass. Who would want to kiss LOSER ass?
Oddly, it turned out that lots of Republicans wanted to kiss LOSER ass. JD Vance did the absolute best job so without knowing anything else about him, Trump made him his VP candidate. But he wasn’t alone. And LOSER Donald took heart from the people - some of their world leaders! - encouraging him.
So LOSER Donald decided he would run again. He would WIN. Because he would deny that he could ever LOSE. Does anything else matter? Sure. All those LOSER ass kissers kept telling him what other wonderful staff he could do as president, like declaring everybody who called him a LOSER an enemy of the state. Nevertheless, turning LOSER Donald into WINNER Donald is the answer you’re looking for. LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER
I will say that one of the things I’ve found most surprising about this whole Trump mess since 2016 is how quickly and thoroughly the Republicans turned themselves into a Trump cult. I really would have thought that if nothing else their leadership would have too much pride to suck up to him the way they have, but they not only showed no spine in the face of his takeover they collapsed quickly and with barely any effort on Trump’s part.
As for losers, well they like Nazi Germany and the Confederacy too; an admiration for evil failures seems like part of their profile.
Leadership? Who’s that? Once Trump sealed-up the nomination he became the leader of the party - there was no one to oppose him or otherwise reign him in. One would have hoped rank-and-file Republicans would have rejected him but the promise of defeating Hilary was just too tantalizing, and by the time of the inauguration they all just bowed down to their new overlord - everyone just fell in line. His grip on the party has only strengthened since then, win or lose (at the polls and in court). The very few that have spoken out in opposition are quickly shoved out and/or silenced. As long as he’s alive he’ll control the party.
I agree. I’m pretty sure Occam’s Razor applies here, and the simplest explanation of why he’s running again is that he got beat in 2020, and can’t stand it. And especially so considering he’s getting older and probably isn’t likely to live much past his term if he does get elected.
I’m sure in his mind, his historical legacy would be perfect if he wins in 2024, does whatever he’s going to do, and dies, leaving a win in 2016, a “stolen” election in 2020 (which to him doesn’t count), and a win in 2024, along with whatever changes he’s made.
The idea that he won in 2016, lost in 2020 and gave up isn’t something he’s going to entertain.
Trump ran in 2016 because his stupid “The apprentice” show got canceled. Nobody does that to HIM. And he needs TV time like a heroin addict needs the needle. The world must pay attention to HIM.
He assumed as we all did that he would lose to Clinton. He would then have made the Anti-Hillary network that would make FOX look fair and balanced.
But he won. And the moron that is now under a microscope continued to commit crimes.
And NOW he’s running to get the adulation of his idiot supporters, and try to stay out of prison.
One does wonder, if someone had assured him he would be totally protected from consequences, that he would NOT have to face any charges or suits for anything he did if he justcwalked away… what am I saying, of course it would not satisfy him, he wanted to keep grifting.
He is a SALESMAN. (We’ve all encountered this personality type in our professional and private lives. And, conclude or dispute as you will, there’s never been a prominent SDMB member who was one)
He was raised in a RACIST household. (Many people are; many reason themselves out of it; he didn’t.)
2008: A Black man is elected president. He smells opportunity in the racist resentment. (from the Apprentice, you’d expect him to do like Blackrock and buy up distressed real estate in the Great Recession, but nobody would bankroll him. So demagoguery it shall be!)
He looks at the Electoral map the way a sales manager looks at a market district map. Sell one car in Montana and you cover your nut for the month. You have to sell ten times more cars in NY, in a more expensive and competitive market.
As explained in the posts above, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, especially to those with addict-level aphrodisiac receptors in their brains. And it provides cover for a lot of sins, even in the USA. It opens doors and wallets. Opening vulvas and wallets are the only skills Donald Trump respects. Everything else is for the suckers.
The Times had an interesting article yesterday. They interviewed a bunch of people who said they were voting for Trump. It turns out that a bunch of them don’t believe what Trump says about arresting his enemies, putting on big tariffs, deporting millions of people, etc. They said he is just saying those things to get elected, but don’t expect him to do it. Maybe they think saner heads will restrain him, just like they did for Hitler.
I am utterly bewildered by both. Which self respecting woman would allow him access (I cannot imagine anyone finding anything attractive about Chump except his purported wealth, which in itself is a character flaw), and who would open their wallets for this failure of a man?
I mean, we Zimbabweans ‘elected’ Robert Mugabe several times, and he was a truely evil man, well worse than Trump. But we didn’t have much choice, the elections were extremely rigged. USA elections seem impossible to rig, despite Trump’s whining about it.
Not saying the US system is in any way ‘democracy’ in the “one person, one vote, winner takes all” way but Mugabe regularly won with landslide “victories”. Trump barely squeezed past the post the first time. (And even that is debatable)
He would be well advised to STFU and retire from politics, and just milk his bizarre popularity with the idiot half of the USA. He’s not going to prison, to my regret, his illusion of wealth and rubes willing to donate to him will keep justice faraway until he dies.
And then - possibly the most insulting thing to the USA, he will have “huge” public funeral, and worse, be buried at Arlington.
I imagine he will have a huge funeral, an event that will unite the nation. It truely may be the biggest funeral ever, between the mourners and the festivities.
But not at Arlington because he never served in the military.
