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Has the Trump Meltdown Begun?
Many pundits wondered what would happen if Trump fell behind in the polls. Would he mellow a bit, lash out, or meltdown completely. Now that Dr. Ben Carson is running neck-and-neck with The Donald and has led in several surveys, we’re beginning to see what a desperate Trump looks like. According to Washington Post reporter Jenna Johnson, the marathon speech he gave in Fort Dodge, IA, Thursday night was something to behold.
Donald Trump looks and sounds exhausted tonight. Voice is scratchy. This is his fourth state in four days.
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
At the last few rallies, Donald Trump has been more controlled and composed. Not so tonight. He’s on a tear — one angry rant after another.
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Donald Trump in Iowa: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Here’s how Donald Trump says he would fight the Islamic State: “I would bomb the [expletive] out of them.” Then he would take their oil. [unredacted link]
More foreign policy: Donald Trump says if he is president no one will dare touch the United States “because I’m so unpredictable.”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Trump debates aloud if he should share more complaints about his rivals. Crowd cheers him on. First up: Marco Rubio, “weak like a baby.”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Hour and 20 minutes into Trump’s speech, stage audience gives up and sits down on risers: pic.twitter.com/eV8zQD7cs3
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Trump moves onto Ben Carson: “If you’re pathological, there’s no cure for that.” Then compares being pathological to being a child molester.
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Donald Trump says Ben Carson’s story about a belt buckle stopping a knife he stabbed at a friend doesn’t make sense. He then acts it out.
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Donald Trump acts out Ben Carson’s alleged stabbing: “Anybody have a knife and want to try it on me?”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Trump on Carson’s changing stories: “How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of this country to believe this crap?”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Hour and 35 minutes after starting, Donald Trump is done. He promises to visit again soon. That was like sitting through a therapy session.
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 13, 2015
Either Trump was having an off night, he popped an Ambien before the speech, or the meltdown several people predicted has begun.
The question is, do his polls shoot up five points or 10?
Published in General
You do realize that if they never do buy anything with those pieces of paper that means we got billions of dollars worth of valuable goods that they labored to make for us in exchange for nothing. A good deal for us, it would seem.
You remind me of how Gold Meir famously said that the Palestinians could make peace when they decide they love their children more than they hate the Israeli children. Some Trump supporters seem to hate the GOP establishment more than they love the country. To wish Trump on us all to spite them seems wildly inappropriate. But maybe I’m misinterpreting your remark there.
There is a gap between “never says…” and “always says…” For example, how is he supposed to negotiate with congress after he has alienated them? One of Obama’s many failings is that he would insult people with whom he later had to deal, and then wonder why they wouldn’t compromise with him. And Obama was seldom as crude as Trump has been.
One last point: If Trump is elected and accomplishes what he promises to do about immigration, than it ceases to be the issue. Other issues come to the fore, and that is where confidence in Trump is going to be sorely tested.
The US dollar is presently the world’s reserve currency, which means that various other nations with dollars can use them to buy goods from places other than the United States. Plus, it seems a necessary corollary to your argument that that the Chinese and others are simply stupid to be willing to give us valuable goods in exchange for essentially nothing. I do not believe the Chinese are stupid, btw.
Shrug. I don’t owe the GOP a thing, and I see no reason to pretend the party establishment cares about my interests, economic or otherwise.
Wait- you’re saying Trump won’t be able to handle a negotiation? Really?
Anyway, I note Trump suggested Rick Perry take an IQ before he was allowed to participate in a debate- then Trump tweeted something nice about Perry after he left the race. The time be magnanimous is after you win, not before.
Too bad Romney never figured that out in 2012.
Point taken, but if Trump can solve the immigration question successfully then he’ll have already accomplished a great deal, and I’ll take my chances with the rest.
So the Chinese use the dollars we send them for all that stuff and use it to buy stuff from other countries. What do those countries do with the dollars? Don’t they eventually end up being used to buy stuff from us, and if not, why should we care? We still got the Chinese stuff for nothing.
I know, he makes great deals and everyone else is stupid. Evidently you find that attitude charming. I wonder if the people he’s calling stupid agree.
Do you like negotiating with people you hate? In his private businesses Trump has money to offer. If it’s enough people will take it even if they have reason to despise him personally. What he has to give away as president is the people’s interest.
Won’t better deals be made between people who have mutual respect rather than disdain?
The time to be magnanimous is always. His being a jerk 90% of the time is half the reason why I couldn’t support Trump even if he made good on his promises to learn something between now and the election, for which I’m not holding my breath.
That’s like P. Diddy/Puff Daddy suggesting that Tony Bennett prove he can sing before being allowed to participate in a concert with him.
Bennett may be shaky, but he’s a much better singer than P.D., who can barely carry a tune.
Xennady: Wait- you’re saying Trump won’t be able to handle a negotiation? Really?
Man With the Axe:
I know, he makes great deals and everyone else is stupid. Evidently you find that attitude charming. I wonder if the people he’s calling stupid agree.
Me: I often wonder whether the admirers of Trump’s negotiating skills can name a single business negotiation of his that was exceptional and extraordinary.
Trump started his career on third base. Imagine how much farther he could have gotten if he hadn’t been a jerk. Also, it doesn’t take that much intelligence to make money from NYC real estate. It’s mostly a matter of having large amounts of capital to invest (thanks, Dad) and exerting brute force. It requires a form of animal savvy and cunning that does not necessarily translate into statesmanship at the international level.
I wouldn’t want as president someone whose only claim to fame was building a chain of car dealerships, even though he may be as “smart” and as tough a “negotiator” as Trump allegedly is.
I have been living in and around NYC for 30 years. Trump has been a constant presence in the life of the city before he attained his current level of national fame and well before his reality TV stardom. We here are quite familiar with him. Trust us, he is not that impressive. He has far more in common with Al Sharpton than with Ronald Reagan.
Well no, unless you believe dollars don’t represent a store of value. In reality the endless trade deficit and the endless parade of economic activity leaving the United States is a grim problem for the country, which the political class doesn’t appear to notice or understand. Trump at least notices, so kudos for him.
That’s worked really well for various Republicans attempting to negotiate with Democrats, hasn’t it? I further note that Barry plainly despises Republicans yet they are always puppy-dog eager to sign another bad deal with him.
I suggest a new approach is needed.
I don’t agree. I’ve watched the GOP’s endless clumsy attempts at negotiation- I presume that they were attempting to be magnanimous- and I think they’ve confused “magnanimous” with “failure.”
I’m tired of this. Ymmv, of course.
I’ll care about that when Jeb Bush’s rich friends apologize for attempting to buy him the Republican nomination.
Show me a guy worth billions of dollars who built a yuuge car dealership chain and who went on to become nationally famous and took a stand on important issues that the usual suspects completely ignore or lie about relentlessly. He might be doing as well Trump.
Alas, we have no Reagan. I’ll take someone who might manage to be a Republican version of Al Sharpton, because I’m tired of the endless failure of the GOP- including its endless failure to rabble-rouse against people like Sharpton.
What good is a store of value to the Chinese if they never spend it? And I mean that literally, what if they never spend it.
How does that cost us anything? If we knew they were never going to spend the dollars we could print trillions of dollars, buy everything the Chinese produce and live like millionaires without having to work.
But of course, as you’ve said, the Chinese aren’t stupid. They intend to spend the dollars, and when they do we will make stuff and ship it to them.
We don’t need economic activity. We need goods and services. It doesn’t matter where goods are made if we get to consume them.
The US GDP has been growing during all the years of our large trade deficits except for the during the financial crisis. Meanwhile, Japan, who has a huge trade surplus with us, has a shrinking economy and is in recession.
I will bet you a large sum of money that Trump will not solve the immigration problem if he’s elected. He does not have the desire or the capability to do so. He is only telling you that to get your vote.
And people say he is not a true Republican.
So, why you think he is vying for the Presidency? Most I know are doing it for power or money, but Trump would seem to have some immunity from these since he has had plenty of both.
Vanity project. The guy has an ego as big as one of his huuuge buildings.
And if he got there, wouldn’t it really hurt his vanity if he didn’t do everything possible to follow through on his promises?
Heaven’s no! The guy’s in his own world where he is right and everybody else is wrong. Whatever he does will be the best ever and obvious to anyone who’s not a moron.