Jeezus H. Christ on a hockey stick. This is the FIRST time I've ever tried to listen to a Trump

[Surya Gayatri]

speech from beginning to end. He's spewing his stream-of-consciousness crazy in Dallas right now, and my head is spinning around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.

IT IS STARTLING THAT 40% OF ANY MAJOR AMERICAN POLITICAL FORMATION WOULD EVEN ENTERTAIN THE IDEA OF THIS HALF-MAD MEGALOMANIAC AS PRESIDENT.

What in god's name has happened to the country I left 30+ years ago?

Astonishing, disquieting, utterly incomprehensible.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. When it comes to Trump, when he does free association,

it's considered profound revelation.

Sort of The Emperor's New Clothes.

[Surya Gayatri]

3. What? You mean they think they're hearing divine revelation or something?

Damn! FAUX Noise and the RW echo chamber have really done a number on the collective IQ of their faithful followers.

[LiberalElite]

9. I don't think it's literally divine revelation

to Trump's fans but they really REALLY like the racist and sexist things he says and how he doesn't give a crap who he antagonizes with his insults. This is seen as a good thing. He's just like them but several million dollars richer. And the fact that he's a businessman who hasn't done a damn bit of public service in politics in his 69 years is just what the country needs - according to them.

[Surya Gayatri]

34. Bingo!

"He's just like them but several million dollars richer."

[spanone]

2. it's depressing as hell. a certain element has become deeply stupid and hateful in this country.

that element includes our media.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. Deeply, profoundly IQ impoverished. Frightening to see...

[LiberalElite]

10. America does have a history of anti-intellectualism -

this is just it on steroids and maybe a dash of meth.

[Marie Marie]

42. Yeah, to bad his Intellignce Quotient Numbers can't

switch places with his Ego Quotient Numbers. The man can't go more than a sentence without mentioning his greatness. How can anyone listen to this blowhard go on and on about himself. It is just plain nauseating.

[Surya Gayatri]

51. Ego-maniacal personality disorder on display. Nauseating and very, very alarming.

[underpants]

5. Shiny things

He's famous. Famous for being famous.

He is also belligerent. Conservatives crave authority and belligerence.

Free publicity. We've seen almost nothing of his infrastructure. You can split up the air and ground offensive but you have to have a ground game.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. Triumph Trump, the insult comic dog. About on the same intellectual level.

[annabanana]

11. Triumph is much, MUCH smarter

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
... ... ... ... and funny too.

[Surya Gayatri]

12. Point taken...certainly much funnier. And, for a dog, pretty damn smart.

[underpants]

13. Yes

[TreasonousBastard]

7. It has been observed that many people...

when faced with the choice of a leader, tend to prefer one who is sure of himself. Even if they don't particularly agree with his goals or solutions, they prefer the stronger leader.

Or, the one who appears stronger. This very neatly explains the clown Reagan wiping out the far more intelligent and capable Carter.

This may have something to do with evolution-- just as animals end up with the strongest as leaders, we may have chosen the strongest in prehistoric days for protection.

Besides, the stronger beat up the weaker and take charge, so why not befriend with the stronger?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

40. I agree. And, to me, everyone who says he has no concrete plans, I say -- so what?

the only thing concrete plans are good for are to prove you have done your homework. No one in the world reads position papers or stays awake while you "blah, blah, blah." They are of zero use after that - with all the acrimony and special interests out there.

I happen to think someone running for president should simply say what they care about and show that they care SO much that people believe they will follow that at every turn.

Given the fact no one running knows what the conditions and opposition will be like when they get in - it makes more sense to exude as much confidence as you can display and utter over and over again that you will do everything in your power, at every turn, to say, "Help the poor" (on our side of course).

[OffWithTheirHeads]

8. All that was missing were the white hoods.

This man is truely dangerous. The fact that corporate media is giving this madman 24/7 free commercials is even more dangerous.

If these people prevail in 2016, this Democracy is over.

[Surya Gayatri]

14. Dangerous as all hell. He is the face of 'folksy' evil. Talking like a vaguely

eccentric wealthy uncle, delivering insidiously divisive dogma with avuncular abandon.

[Blus4u]

15. I have been listening for..

...a plan, a solution, a hint of an idea.

There is absolutely eff'n NOTHING there!

He tells stories, name drops, brags, and puts down his competition in a completely childish fashion!

That's all there is to him.

Peace

[Surya Gayatri]

17. "That's all there is to him." END OF STORY. And, they want him to lead them...WTF????

[Laura PourMeADrink]

41. People don't care. They want big picture ideas of what he cares about. And, because he

repeats himself constantly - at the end everyone will know what he cares about. It is an excellent lesson for our side to learn. Get the big picture ideas out there - about how we care about the middle class, the poor, peace, helping the sick. And say them over and over again.

[Omaha Steve]

16. He must be saying what they want to hear

[Surya Gayatri]

19. But what, Steve? Aside from his self-aggrandizement and race-baiting, there's no there there.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. You are exactly right. I have heard every word he has said because he has nothing

new ...just repeats.

He believes he can accomplish anything he sets his mind to. Off the chart self-confidence. And...he backs that up with something incredibly powerful....that he is beholden to no one because he takes no money and would owe no favors.

So..this group of supporters has figured out that no one can do anything in Washington. But, maybe Trump can - because he will make it happen.

[Old Crow]

18. I'm intrigued by your observation.

If I may ask, are you still outside the U.S. now? Or just returned? What other country have you been residing in? (I see France in your profile; there?)

I think the observations of those who've left the country and are seeing it from abroad--or who've recently returned after a long absence--are invaluable.

I attribute this dumbing down that you've observed primarily to two things:

(1) The all-pervading influence of conservative propaganda, most particularly Fox News.
Like a steady drip wears away a rock, the nonstop propaganda had slowly but relentlessly pushed the country further and further to the right.

(2) The withering away of the humanities.
In the '60s and '70s, critical thinking skills and the liberal arts were still revered as knowledge for knowledge's sake. Now it seems the humanities are derided, partly because of conservative influence (see #1), but also because the disparity of wealth means that the 99% have to make money immediately upon graduation to pay back college loans and have any chance of economic survival. Consequently, all the emphasis is placed on vocational education or: "How to Be a Good Corporate Cog" (free-thinkers need not apply).

[Surya Gayatri]

22. You most certainly may ask! LOL! I'm a Franco-American expatriot still

residing in my beloved Paris, after retiring from a 30-year + TOESL teaching career here.

Absolutely on-point observations about what's happened to the America I left all those years ago.

(1) The all-pervading influence of conservative propaganda, most particularly Fox News.

(2) The withering away of the humanities.

See what I had to say here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027170373#post8

[Old Crow]

24. Wow.

I didn't know that about the European education systems. How wonderful and wise.

Lucky, lucky you in Paris! My sister and her family spent several days in Paris last month. I've visited a few times, long ago, and miss it still. Back when I was first there, the youth hostels served a breakfast consisting of bowls of cocoa and baguettes with butter and strawberry jam. I'm not sure if that's still done, but it was a wonderful tradition back in the 80s. Paris is also where I stumbled upon a used copy of Don Quixote, a book that was life-changing and still love.

You've got me reminiscing here.

[Surya Gayatri]

25. Paris is always here when you decide to come back for one of those

continental breakfasts that are still standard fare! Either baguettes or croissants.



Did you see this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027165433

FRENCH BREAD--the world's favorite!

[Old Crow]

27. I missed that! How cool.

Okay, I can't take it. Off to the grocery store for some cocoa and a baguette. I already have the strawberry jam and butter. It won't hold a candle to Parisian fare, but it's better than nothing.

Hope to see you more in the threads. It was a pleasure meeting you. There are some really great people on here, you know?

[Surya Gayatri]

29. Yeah, great place to hang out--primary pressure notwithstanding.

Glad to meet you and hope to see you around more, too, Old Crow.

Enjoy that improvised continental breakfast or afternoon goûter (four o'clock snack)!

[madokie]

20. palin on steroids

scary that the 'CONs are even considering him.

[Surya Gayatri]

23. Hey, you! He sounds like he graduated magna cum laude from the Palin School of Public Speaking.

[hibbing]

21. President George W. Bush

Let that name sink into your head for a minute if you can stand it. After him, I feel any idiot can become president.

Peace

[Surya Gayatri]

26. I swear, when I consider the nightmare prospect of President Trump, I'm SO glad

to be an expatriot, living abroad.

[Facility Inspector]

59. Nope

Go back to St. Ronaldus of Raygun.

That set the bar low forever.

[Warpy]

28. I understand he makes a lot more sense

if you've got a room temperature IQ and you're shitfaced drunk.

He's not stupid enough to pay for speechwriters. He knows he could recite the phone book and the morons would cheer, as long as he throws in a buzzword or catch phrase now and then.

Palin showed him the way.

[Surya Gayatri]

33. Or doing meth. Speechwriters? I don't need no steeenking speechwriters. I'm riiiiich! I'm greeeat!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. Can you picture this guy sealing a deal with a nuke launch?

[Surya Gayatri]

36. I can picture this scene from Dr. Strangelove:

[Spitfire of ATJ]

46. Reagan actually believed the missiles could be recalled.

[Surya Gayatri]

49. Well, duh...they can, CAN'T THEY?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

50. Ou sure, they'll just turn around and land back in their silos.

[Surya Gayatri]

52. And, stow themselves in an orderly way ready for the next sortie. Elementary, my dear Spitfire!

[libodem]

31. And the pubs that don't love Trump

Are batshit for Ben Carson, who is a religious fundimentalist. Freaking crazytown fundy.

Not a medical intellectual. Sorry. He's just not.

[Surya Gayatri]

38. Oh, god. My RW doctor brother sent me a Carson fund-raising mailer.

Needless to say, my family ties have become very frayed.

[libodem]

53. Yikes!

[DonCoquixote]

32. It boild down to a sad but telling Bill Clinton quote

"it is better to be strong and wrong than light and right."

[Surya Gayatri]

45. Bluster, bombast and bullshit. It's the RW modus operandi.

[neverforget]

37. Trump is America's wannabe version of Benito Mussolini. nt

[oldandhappy]

39. Did not see it at the time but I think starting with Reagan

this country has been hijacked. Trump is the next step on a continuum. I find it disturbing.

[Surya Gayatri]

47. I did intuit the looming disaster back in the day. It was beyond my imagining

that the US would elect such an empty, hollywood invention as Raygun.

[lunasun]

43. And.... He is a ceriified birther too ... so he has that going for him too

Back in 2011, when Donald Trump was flirting with a possible presidential bid, he appealed to conservative audiences by questioning, over and over, whether or not Barack Obama was actually born in the United States. At one point, the loudmouthed millionaire even said that he dispatched investigators to Obama’s (actual) native Hawaii to see what they could dig up.

Mainstream Republicans seethed, fearful that Trump's shenanigans were off-putting to moderates and a distraction from issues like the economy that could actually unseat an incumbent president.

Three years later, Obama has released his long-form birth certificate, proving beyond any doubt that he was born in Hawaii as he says, and Trump is once again making the rounds at Republican conferences.

And as for that whole birther controversy, he says he regrets none of it.

“I don’t think it was a distraction. A lot of people love me for it. I got him to produce his so-called birth certificate, or whatever it was,” Trump said at a news conference this afternoon. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/30/donald-trump-is-still-a-birther.html

[lovemydog]

44. Serious question Surya.

Do you find him entertaining?

I wouldn't vote for him in a million years. I think he's a narcissistic, egotistical hyper-materialistic jerk.

But I find him more entertaining than the boring tools who are the rest of the republican clown car. Like, I just can't believe the nonsense coming out of his big mouth.

I laugh at him, not with him. The other clowns I can't even laugh. To me they're like watching paint dry.

[Surya Gayatri]

48. "I laugh at him, not with him. The other clowns I can't even laugh."

Let's say I laugh at his tone-deaf chutzpah and shudder simultaneously at the mere idea of this character getting within spitting distance of the Oval Office.

He's a reality showman--it's what he does.

[lovemydog]

54. Yes, I shudder too.

He reminds me of what I've seen & read of Mussolini. An entertaining doofus. Promises to get the trains running on time. Jingoistic. But unless you're fascistic you wouldn't want him running the country.

[Gothmog]

55. I agree

Trump's speech are strange and he is so full of himself that it is sad

[yuiyoshida]

56. If he wins, we will be in a world of sh

...yes, you know the rest!

[harun]

57. Greed is Good Happened

[Avalux]

58. "When I'm president, you'll be so happy, this country will be so much better".

I heard him say that and I cringed....it's mind-numbing to listen to his self-aggrandized sound bytes and try to make any sense of it. Everything he says leads back to him. I've said this before and I don't care if people don't like it. His speaking style is quite similar to Hitler's. Crazy talk, but with heavy emotional triggers to hook people.

[Surya Gayatri]

60. Dangerous as all hell. Hypnosis of the malleable masses by a half-mad megalomaniac.