I just had a fleeting thought about our former president...

[PCIntern]

I was reading one of the posts here quoting a reporter who stated that Trump’s attention span was very short, that he was prone to blaming others for his failures, that he had grandiose ideas which never really came to fruition because of his inattention, such as this new platform for social media.

It occurred to me that over the nearly 50 years I’ve been involved in dentistry and medicine, I have known a number of practitioners who by a combination of bloviating, fraud, theft, and other moral and professional failings, rose to positions of “power“ within their professions. What wound up stymieing them for the most part were the exact qualities that Trump exhibits as listed above.

I myself was tapped by one of these gentlemen to become a significant executive back in the 1980s of a dental concern which would service airline personnel who would be either passing through Philadelphia or stationed/residing here. It was going to be a gigantic proposition relatively speaking, and funded by a number of the airlines working in concert. Just as things were coming to fruition, the guy involved with this stopped paying attention to it since he figured it was a done deal, and it fell apart for a variety of reasons emanating from his inattention. When confronted by those of us who saw our large incomes vanish before our eyes, he blamed the airlines for conspiring against him/us but in conversations with knowledgeable people involved in the deal, it turned out that they shied away from him because he did not possess the wherewithal to properly perform his part of the deal and they nixed it just before the real estate was purchased. You have to understand that they were already drawings of a 40 chair dental office, laboratory, and radiology space and the dental suppliers were already beginning to work on processing the orders for the instruments and units. For The retailers, it was equivalent of a new dental school being built in the region, in practicality, a fortune.

I estimate my losses from this failed approach to be upwards of $7 million in lost income. No mention was ever made of this again, but I have never forgotten how close I came to financial independence and a terrific work life balance which I have never been able to achieve. In the beginning, everyone had touted this guy as a great businessman, but we soon found out that it was just all smoke and mirrors. The difference between him and Trump is not simply on scale, but anyone in the no a priori knew that Trump was a fraud prior to his so-called election to the presidency of the most powerful country in the world.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Your excellent post brings this fact into sharp focus, my dear PCIntern! Thank you. n/t

[Walleye]

2. Dr. Fauci said that trumps attention span was measured in negative numbers. Biden can concentrate

[FakeNoose]

4. Biden can listen, remember things, connect the dots, and empathize with another person's feelings

Chump does NONE of these, and as far as I know he never has done them. I don't know whether it's a result of terrible uncaring parents, or maybe he's just a warped human being. Either way the result is the same: a continuing disaster for our country.

Every day I thank the Lord in heaven that Joe Biden is the exact opposite of Chump.

[Walleye]

7. 👍👆

[Quakerfriend]

3. It's amazing when you look back just how many

very intelligent people ‘fall for’ the stuff these people put out there.

Often times those with different types of mental illness are high achievers and this can be deceiving- especially if they also happen to be very good looking. And, they often end up in positions of power.

I once worked for an MD who was director of our research center- thick head of white hair, big brown eyes, beautiful smile & Brookes Brothers suits, Harvard grad etc.
He was bat s@!!$t crazy!! And, it only got worse as he got older

Somehow he got it in his head that after 40 yrs. he needed and deserved to be chief of medicine at another hospital. He eventually got what he wanted & we were all so relieved to see him go!

He sent his new ‘team’ down to Philadelphia so that they could learn ‘how to do research properly’ from us. They were all so baffled and couldn’t understand what his expectations were. I remember telling one of them, “You’ve inherited a total nut job”. He only lasted in that position for 2 years.

He once punched someone from HR and was ‘suspended’ for 2 weeks- could not come to the hospital.
Once when I was in his office with him discussing our work he started to cry…telling me how much he loved everyone in the office.

Somehow people bought into this guy for decades!!
Many despised him along the way but, he was in a position of power.

[PCIntern]

13. I think I might have known of your boss....

[UTUSN]

5. 1- In Drumpf's case, the country & the world are the damaged ones. And,

2- Re, the unfit one doing the damage by lack of "attention," their focusing their attention to the enterprise would probably be even worse, driving it in nefarious directions.

My local radio wingnut, who is of the traditional Repuke camp, has disapproved of Drumpf's package of deficiencies but remains a staunch apologist for him, on the basis of: If he would only shut up and stop tweeting he would be fine - iow, the Repukes are willing to ignore all ethics, convictions, public service for the sake of their keeping power and "his policies" (like he knows what "policy" means).

Drumpf not giving "attention" got him out, but a wingnut who is more intelligent and gives more attention will do even more damage and be even more dangerous.

[leftieNanner]

6. This - exactly!

A Hawley, Cotton, DeSantis kind of person could do a great deal of damage indeed.

[monkeyman1]

8. the 3 stooges was a genius compared to these 3 clown's !!

[Delmette2.0]

22. +1

[erronis]

24. It sounds like you're describing a vacuous figurehead fronting for some "interests"

I have never thought that trump had the ability to put together any of his schemes - except perhaps getting two scoops after a double-cheese budger.

Anything that the (r)s can crow about such as tax cuts for the wealthy had to have been put together by other groups - vested interests.

The web of influence is amazing.
0. magats that worship something and hate many things
1. influencers - in it for the name recog and perhaps a nice job
2. (r) politicians - in it for the $$$ (roubles not so much anymore). Please add those weird libertarian (Paul)
3. mainly US-based oligarchs/plutocrats - in it to make even more $$$$
4. foreign interferencers - putin, bojo, normal cast of of greedsters
5. worldwide kleptomaniacs. Can be oligarchs, off-shore tax havens, bankers, law firms, accountants, consultants, lobbyists

[Snackshack]

9. The GOP

Knew everything about DT. That he was corrupt, incompetent, very very close to Russia, friends with a known pedophile etc, etc, etc. Remember the faces of the congress people who came out of the meeting about DT/Russia? Remember what GOP Senators were saying about candidate trump?

GOP knew everything…

…and they still nominated him and supported him for President then took active measures to cover for him when he was President. They did zero oversight of DT and still sat silent as DT through criminal incompetence killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. All so they could appoint Supreme Court Justices and some 200 lower court judges. Most of these judges even the ABA came out and said were unfit/unqualified for a bench seat.

Almost 1 Million Americans have died and not a word from the GOP even after they lost their 💩 about 4 Americans tragically dying in Benghazi… but hey the GOP owns The Supreme Court now so…

[KS Toronado]

12. Well said !

The GQP knew he was incompetent and didn't care because their deplorables loved him.

[XacerbatedDem]

19. And it looks like they're gonna nominate him again in 2024.

The only reason they do that is because they're all, or most, in on the grift. The Grand Old Party has now become the Gifting Old Party.

IAATB

[KS Toronado]

10. I worked with a guy like that once

As a new hire everybody seemed to like him, I did also at first. About 6 months in he requested that I should be
fired, management looked at the situation and turned over his project & helpers to me and gave him a broom.
Was the beginning of his downfall which lasted about 10 years.

[usaf-vet]

11. "Peter Principle?"

Pe·ter Prin·ci·ple

/ˈpēdər ˈprinsəpəl/ Learn to pronounce

noun: Peter Principle

.... the principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent.

[brush]

16. Great book/theory. And it plays out in life. trump is a good example...

who should've been jettisoned by the repug party way before he got to the WH.

[plimsoll]

17. What about the ones who start out above the level of their competence.

The Peter Principle fails to account for people who are probably not competent at any level but are given a position because they are somehow in the right circle of people to propel them forward.

[Mr.Bill]

14. Being successful in business requires two things.

Say what you do and do what you say.

Trump does neither.

[gratuitous]

15. Observed a similar situation with developers

I was working at a law firm that did condo work, and there were developers who paid attention to a new project right down the last handle attached to the last kitchen drawer. Then there were others who got to a certain point and then hared off after the next project. We made a lot of money off those developers, defending construction defect claims.

Then the real estate bubble burst in 2008, and those fly-by-night developers went out of business when they couldn't finish their in-process projects by using money from their new project. The conscientious developers took a hit, too, but mostly stayed open because they were responsible businessmen.

[Aristus]

18. A "fleeting thought" How appropriate.

A fleeting thought is probably all he's ever had about anything.

[efhmc]

20. That was quite some "fleeting thought".

Didn't think I would read it all but did and recommended.

[Aristus]

23. I agree.

To this day, I'm astonished at the "Trump is a genius businessman" crap that was deliberately built up around his name, as if his business failures and fuck-ups weren't all very public, and as if bankruptcy filings weren't public proceedings.

Truly successful businessmen don't have to call themselves 'geniuses'. They just go on making spectacular amounts of money, instead of accruing soul-crushing amounts of debt.

[tiredtoo]

21. Your story reminds me of two series on tv

The Dropout and Inventing Amy. Both true stories about folks like this.

[Tadpole Raisin]

25. I've worked with people like that and my radar has become quite sensitive as a result.

They can be charismatic and complimentary but a little bit too much. Talking with you they will say exactly what you want to hear, talk about your qualities and how valuable you are.

Danger danger Will Robinson!

Their plans are grand and often seem prescient, and of course you will be a leader in the team. But there is nothing behind it - no support, no nothing. Funds are right around the corner, but as the cracks begin to appear the blame game starts and you are in the crosshairs. They take credit for everything you do and blame you for their failures.

Every time.

At work many of us were shocked when someone like this made it to a senior position and couldn’t believe how easily they could fool management. “They promoted her?!”

You could see TFG was like this a mile away.

I joked with someone and said TFG is the affable person who moves into your neighborhood and seems to be a great guy but 6 months later everyone’s at each other’s throat and betrayal seems to be all over the neighborhood until finally someone says “Hey we always got along until he moved in.”

He sits back and enjoys the chaos he created. That’s TFG.

[XacerbatedDem]

26. Gone are the days when Repugs wanted a president to be an outstanding member of society.

Now they'll just throw anybody into the job, the crasser the better. If That Flushing Guy doesn't run in 2024, looks like DeSatan will be their prick, oh I mean pick, and WTF!?!? The guy's an idiot showboater that wants power for power's sake. He couldn't even hold himself back for a moment, telling those kids to "take off your mask," without a single thought for their health. And for what? So he could look better on TV? That train's already left the station, jack. And, he's a hypocrite! I've seen pictures of him wearing a mask! He doesn't care who dies in his state, case in point, letting that moron become surgeon's general just because he's an anti-masker yes man who can't even think for himself. It just makes me sick.

Sorry, just had to get that rant out, you know.

[quakerboy]

27. 100%

They lack follow through on anything that involves actual work.

I had a former employer who thought he was trump. It was one of the ways that I easily recognized trump for what he was when he came center stage.