Do you really believe Donald is the engineer of all this mess?

[nebby70]

I'm just struggling to comprehend that he is capable of such long range/deep thought to plan out strategy to all this chaos when he can barely utter a coherent sentence. Someone, Somewhere has his ear and is pointing him.
I hate that this makes me sound like I've left my tin hat on the table; but....

[WarGamer]

1. All this mess meaning multiple wars, inflation, economic woes and a terrorist attack in the ME?

Seriously?

[Jerry2144]

2. If by engineer, you mean train engineer

And if by train engineer, you mean a toddler in need of lunch, a clean diaper, and a nap playing with a Thomas the Tank Engine set, then yes. He’s the engineer.

I think he is somebody’s useful idiot who has been manipulated to achieve an agenda

[redqueen]

3. Not at all, it's a bunch of groups with shared interests

Corporate criminals
Christian nationalists
Weapons manufacturers
Etc etc etc

[Ocelot II]

4. Chaos creates itself. TFG's M.O. has always been to keep throwing shit at the wall

until some of it sticks. His and his minions' "plan" to overturn the election started even before the election; they had already planned to challenge states' election results in court if Biden won. When that failed (60+ times) they went for the fake elector plan. When the states refused to accept the fake electors they hatched the plot for Mike Pence to refuse to certify the elector count. But they knew well before 1/6 that Pence wasn't on board, so they unleashed the MAGAts on the Capitol once it became clear that Congress was going to certify Biden's win. Trump wasn't the engineer - the engineering was done mostly by Steve Bannon and reprobate lawyers like Eastman - but he was the instigator. There are, of course, plenty of people who would have benefited by keeping TFG in power.

[Windicator]

5. "Absolutely. It's all (smirk) the work of the bigly GOP jerk." - Poo Tee Poot

(Wink, wink, nudge, nudge) - The Pootser

[unblock]

6. He's not. He's the logical by-product of 4 decades or so of right-wing propaganda.

He is, in many ways, simply the ultimate fox news viewer. Basically all his political views he get from fox news and similar right-wing propaganda outlets.

The "engineers" are really more the Kochs and the Murdochs. Create an environment where 30% of the people crave a bigoted dictator and eventually, one will emerge to claim that title.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. TFG just made MAGA types comfortable being themselves

[Celerity]

10. +1

[brush]

8. Of course he's not the mastermind. He's just the same spoiled brat, difficult boy who had to be sent...

to military school as a kid because his parents couldn't control him. His parents were rich so he never wanted for anything or was denied anything. He learned the dirty tricks of the real estate game by his father's side, then went through life throwing his inherited money around to sue vendors he wouldn't pay or would under pay. Many of businesses failed (bankruptcy several times running casinos for God's sake. How does that happen in an industry that practically prints money?)

It happens because he's a poor businessman who has turned into just another aggrieved, white male complaining about everything not going his way suddenly. That's somewhat ironic because the whole American system is designed for white, males to succeed, especially ones with money, and now all his criminal corruption has caught up with him near the end of his pampered life...and his befuddled, near-incoherent mind can do anything about hit but complain bitterly as he disobeys his second tier lawyers who can't control him either, just as his parents couldn't.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Of course he is not. He is just the dancing bear performing for his handlers.

[MOMFUDSKI]

11. No. It takes

a village.

[Lonestarblue]

12. I keep thinking about Mitt Romney's statement that Republicans did not convict Trump

in his second impeachment trial because they are afraid of him. That statement could be interpreted in a couple of ways. Romney’s quote seemed to be more that they feared for their safety and that of their families. But it could also mean that they feared he would release information to harm their careers and reputations. I’ve never quite understood how Trump had so much power over them.

He supposedly has close ties to both the New York Mafia and the Russian Mafia, but really are they going to murder a US Senator? If it’s fear of the information he has, there’s probably only one place he could have gotten it, and that’s from Russian intelligence. There has to be a source for his power over Republicans who don’t like him but refuse to speak out against him because he doesn’t seem he type to make friends or generate genuine liking.

[Iggo]

13. It's the people who produced Reagan, and the people who came after them.

[doc03]

14. He isnt smart enough to plan two car funeral. This comes from the rightwing

billionaires Crow, Koch's and others.