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Thread: Todays rant

  1. #1
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    Todays rant

    What I find most difficult to understand is the fact that those of us who think Trump did a good job as President are considered " cultists ". The mere fact that we agree with him on the major issues does not mean that everything he said or did is golden.
    Someone please tell me why putting America [ as in the U.S. first is such a bad thing . You could also tell me why letting thousands of ILLEGAL ALIENS , rather than those who follow the rules , into the Country is a good thing.
    Explain why 63 or so Presidential edicts is the correct way to run the Country rather than legislative action.
    It's been a good run for 240 something years BUT , looking at what is happening to my Country at this time tells me I'm glad to be 77 with the chance of seeing the Country totally destroyed is getting slimmer. Abolish the death penalty but kill babies after they are partially born . Convince eight year olds they can change their gender on a whim. Fire workers because they call a man a man rather than a woman . Allow men to compete in sports as a woman . Let men who feel like a woman into the bath with girls . [I'm sure that all y'all are thinking that's just fine and dandy ] . Restrict free speech and remove the 2nd amendment.

    I could continue but , I don't have the time left to put down everything I consider wrong with the direction we are headed.
    Individual rights are protected only as long as they don't conflict with the desires of the state .

  2. #2
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    I don't think finding some good in Trump's tenure as president makes anyone a cultist. I find a lot of good in what he did. I also find a lot of bad in what he did. I certainly hope that doesn't make me a cultist.

    As for the rest of your rant, I think we are mostly on the same page.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  3. #3
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    Because to many, Trump is so awful that the only way they can understand support for him is that it is a cult.

    I'd like to ask you a question in return - what will it take for his supporters to reject him? I see him as supporting and being supported by bigots, white supremacists, anti-Semites, misogynists, homophobes, transphobes, xenophobes. He had his Attorney General implement a deliberate policy of terrorization of asylum seekers by separating parents from children, to drive down numbers. He lies incessantly, about matters great and small. He is cruel, petty, vicious and vengeful. He degraded the office he occupies through these character blemishes.

    He mocks our war heroes, including those wounded by our enemies. He abandoned allies that fought with us in Syria. He refused to face down a country that interfered with the 2016 election. He weakened domestic environmental protections signed into law by previous Republicans. He weakened an alliance that served to corral Russia for the last 70 years.

    He tried his best to win in court an election that he lost at the ballot box. What do you think would have happened if he had been successful? He successfully sold a lie that an election was stolen and his supporters STILL believe this despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He expressed sympathy and affection for a violent mob that set out to overthrow our government, install him as President, and murder our legislators.

    He pays hush money to porn stars and mocks children for their physical appearance, the handicapped for their disability, his opponent's wives for their supposed homeliness.

    So it is no wonder that a person can be this awful and still retain such loyalty causes many to believe that those supporters are members of a cult. There seems to be nothing this man can do to lose support from many.

  4. #4
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    And no, Mike, I don't think you are a cultist. Being able to see the flaws tells me you just have a different calculus about what you see as important.

  5. #5
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    This might explain the whole "cult" thing. I found this definition:

    Sociologists define a cult as a group:

    (1) whose beliefs are seen by most of society as being "strange" or unorthodox. (2) whose members show unusual or excessive devotion to some person, idea, or thing.

    I see many of his supporters fitting the second part of the definition.

    After all, the Republican Party platform for the general election last year was basically "whatever Trump says". They abdicated any separate identity beyond Trump when they said that Republicans support Trump's America First policy. They didn't say what that meant, they just expressed support for whatever Trump decided it meant.

    That is the institutional embodiment of excessive devotion to one person.

  6. #6
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    I do denounce him. He lost his mind. To your point, that isn’t enough for some people.

    Figure out what want you want from me for reparations so we can get on with it.
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  7. #7
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    IV, I have no desire to offend you when I use the term of cultist for the blind followers of trump. It will defer to you if you choose to take offense. The devotion of trump's cult is to trump, not to this country, not to our institutions, not to the Constitution (as much as they would like everyone to believe) but to trump and blind obedience to his sickness. Those who attacked the Capital were not patriots---they were anarchists---blind devotees of a sick leader.

    ...and for the record---trump did some good things while in office.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by CactusCurt View Post
    I do denounce him. He lost his mind. To your point, that isn’t enough for some people.

    Figure out what want you want from me for reparations so we can get on with it.
    Just a promise to vote for someone not in the same vein in 2024.

    To be fair, those of us in NY had cottoned onto his schtick long before he ran. We had an advantage the rest of the country did not and many of his flaws were revealed to others only after he was in office.

    Choosing four more years of that in 2020 was harder for me to understand but again, as Mike shows, people have different political calculus. My only hope is that people NOW see the danger of Trumpism in general and do not vote for him ever again. Populism is fine, conservatism is fine. Attempted authoritarian takeovers are not. Trump is not.

  9. #9
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    And to be even clearer, not everyone who supported him is a bigot/racist/cultist/whateverist. But they are a significant portion of his base. When you see who you have to associate with, I think some re-evaluation is in order. There's a reason these types of people are supporting him. To me, those reasons outweigh the good Trump did, and he did do some objective good.

    Just ask Joe Biden. He hasn't really changed policies towards China. Trump recognized a major danger there. And I don't think the issue of border security will be secondary again. So he did do some good.

  10. #10
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    To clarify, Kevin, I detest Trump. But I do give him credit where it is due.

    I think it's a pretty good bet that those worshiping a golden Trump idol at CPAC are cultists.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  11. #11
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    Kinda what Mike said.. Detest is a little stronger language than I use.. it there is no love lost with me.. and a golden idol is just too biblical for me, should be an SNL sketch..

    IV.. it isn’t what he did.. it’s how he did it.. his actions were unpresidential, he embarrassed us in front of the world.

    The cruel jokes and childish name calling are not traits that I admire.

    The paranoia, inability to accept an election defeat and continued lies about being defeated and not fulfilling the implied responsibility to properly transition to the election winner are signs to me of a deeper, more serious issue.

    Just my opinion, I could be wrong..

  12. #12
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    I didn't think he was the right person for the job, period. Now that said did he do some things right yes and a hell of a lot of things wrong. But those are my observations and opinions.
    Fred

    "Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've
    stayed alive."

    'Take care of yourself, and each other.'

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike View Post
    To clarify, Kevin, I detest Trump. But I do give him credit where it is due.

    I think it's a pretty good bet that those worshiping a golden Trump idol at CPAC are cultists.
    Well sir---that right there put a bow on exactly how I feel---I'm all in with that
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  14. #14
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    Ok, Dave Grubb in a bow? I don't know how I feel about that. It is a bit disturbing, at least at first blush. Maybe I will get used to it...

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin View Post
    Ok, Dave Grubb in a bow? I don't know how I feel about that. It is a bit disturbing, at least at first blush. Maybe I will get used to it...
    Well it is a manly blue bow my friend
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

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