Trump has a dangerous disability

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-a-dangerous-disability/2017/05/03/56ca6118-2f6b-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.9cef184bd492#comments


By George F. Will Opinion writer May 3


"It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump’s inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence..."

Floridatexan wrote:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-a-dangerous-disability/2017/05/03/56ca6118-2f6b-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.9cef184bd492#comments


By George F. Will Opinion writer May 3


"It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump’s inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence..."

He needs professional help.

Floridatexan wrote:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-a-dangerous-disability/2017/05/03/56ca6118-2f6b-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.9cef184bd492#comments


By George F. Will Opinion writer May 3


"It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump’s inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence..."

Funny you didn't notice this link when I posted it two days ago!

There's a lot of things about Trump's mental illness that are incredibly dangerous -- his inability to (or at least hardcore disinterest in) process information that's not about himself not being the least of 'em -- but one that doesn't get mentioned much really bugs me, and it's this:

I don't think there's ever been anyone in the White House so easily manipulated. Vladimir Putin definitely has this guy's number, and he's using it. All you have to do is say "nice things" about Trump and he'll give you whatever you want just so you'll keep saying them. If you like him -- or at least pretend you do -- he'll grant you genius status and he'll be your puppet. If you're a news source friendly to him, everything you say will be taken as gospel, no matter how absurd. If you criticize him, then you're "fake news."

He's surrounded by people who play him like a fiddle, and they don't have this country's best interests at heart. Steve Bannon was probably the worst of them, and the only reason he's out of favor with Trump now is because it hurt Trump's Faberge-egg-fragile ego that people were calling him "President Bannon."

Trump can be provoked with a statement, or he can be turned into a puppet with a statement, and it's painfully obvious. That makes him prey to any foreign power that feels like making him dance.

Are people who hate Trump just snobs?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39849073

Do you mean people who can actually read and write?

zsomething wrote:Trump can be provoked with a statement, or he can be turned into a puppet with a statement, and it's painfully obvious.  That makes him prey to any foreign power that feels like making him dance.

All very well said, z -- and only too true -- but whatever in the world can we do about it?? So disheartening.

Have you ever considered writing/editorializing for a living? You're a talent and a half. Hope you'll keep posting.

Floridatexan wrote:
Do you mean people who can actually read and write?

I think what the article is saying is that Trump supporters hate "the intellectual elite" not because they CAN read and write, but because they DO read and write instead of act. I don't personally agree hold that view but I can understand why they feel that way.

Part of their resentment may be that they feel looked-down upon by "intellectuals" and I can empathize with that. Is the work of a sewer worker or a roofer somehow less important to society than that of an academic or theorist?

I think Trump will do so much damage to the social fabric that his supporters may gain a new respect for the so-called intellectual elites. They will come to realize the ignorance is NOT bliss.

The problem is where the rubber meets the road.

It's the belief that their subjective ideas be forced upon others.

RealLindaL wrote:

All very well said, z -- and only too true -- but whatever in the world can we do about it??  So disheartening.

Have you ever considered writing/editorializing for a living?   You're a talent and a half.  Hope you'll keep posting.

Thanks!

I write short stories sometimes (horror stuff) but am too lazy to go through the hurdles of trying to get them published. I have gotten a letter to the editor published in my local paper once, though. It ticked a lot of people off... I pointed out that for decades states like Mississippi have elected conservatives more consistently than most other states, and consistently get the worst results in the country. And other deep-red states get similar results... we're last in all the good stuff and first in all the bad, and take in far more federal money per tax dollars collected than the blue states. Conservatives hate having to face that. So, I figured out I better not try to get an editorial job unless I want to get shot at...

zsomething wrote:

RealLindaL wrote:

All very well said, z -- and only too true -- but whatever in the world can we do about it??  So disheartening.

Have you ever considered writing/editorializing for a living?   You're a talent and a half.  Hope you'll keep posting.

Thanks!  

I write short stories sometimes (horror stuff) but am too lazy to go through the  hurdles of trying to get them published.   I have gotten a letter to the editor published in my local paper once, though.  It ticked a lot of people off... I pointed out that for decades states like Mississippi have elected conservatives more consistently than most other states, and consistently get the worst results in the country.  And other deep-red states get similar results... we're last in all the good stuff and first in all the bad, and take in far more federal money per tax dollars collected than the blue states.   Conservatives hate having to face that.   So, I figured out I better not try to get an editorial job unless I want to get shot at...

Anywhere near Hattiesburg Miss? Didn't they blast a nuke there in 1964? Ever post on any of the Mississippi forums? Some of the Mississippi deplorables make the p-cooters look like Abby Hoffman in comparison. Horror stories, that's neat. I tried submitting a couple of stories but they stunk. I did get a couple of my cartoons published in a horror magazine and the publisher called me a primitive genius but that's as far as that went.

Telstar wrote:





Anywhere near Hattiesburg Miss? Didn't they blast a nuke there in 1964? Ever post on any of the Mississippi forums? Some of the Mississippi deplorables make the p-cooters look like Abby Hoffman in comparison. Horror stories, that's neat. I tried submitting a couple of stories but they stunk. I did get a couple of my cartoons published in a horror magazine and the publisher called me a primitive genius but that's as far as that went.

Nope, not Hattiesburg... but I've got some friends there.

Every Mississippi forum I've seen has been a lot of "Dang ol' Obummer secret-Muzlum stole mah pituitary gland!" kind of craziness. I don't even try to deal with 'em.

Yeah, I still work on the horror stuff. It's fun. I've been writing 'em since I was about five. Hopefully I've improved since then!

Getting cartoons published is cool. Congrats! The only things I ever submitted were a story to Twilight Zone magazine short-story contest when I was about fourteen. The thing I sent in was awful, and the guy who won was a then-unknown writer named... Dan Simmons. So, I don't feel too bad about it. Then a friend of mine whose husband is a noted author of young adult novels started telling an editor at Tor Books about a novel I'd e-mailed her. The editor got excited about it and asked her to send it in... but, he was the sci-fi editor, and o' course we had to send it in to the horror editor, and never heard anything back from 'em. That happens...

Anyway, I just kind of stockpile them in case I ever want to try going through the circus of trying to get them published. O' course, now you can dump anything onto a Kindle, but I don't want to go that route. I've seen too much terrible self-published stuff that mine might be as bad as those...

del.capslock wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:
Do you mean people who can actually read and write?

I think what the article is saying is that Trump supporters hate "the intellectual elite" not because they CAN read and write, but because they DO read and write instead of act. I don't personally agree hold that view but I can understand why they feel that way.

Part of their resentment may be that they feel looked-down upon by "intellectuals" and I can empathize with that. Is the work of a sewer worker or a roofer somehow less important to society than that of an academic or theorist?

I think Trump will do so much damage to the social fabric that his supporters may gain a new respect for the so-called intellectual elites. They will come to realize the ignorance is NOT bliss.

I will never look down upon anyone who's doing a job, no matter what the job, but I can't stand outright ignorance. Just yesterday (which happened to be my husband's birthday), a friend of ours stopped by. I have known him for 40 years, and he and my husband go back to high school days. I told him several times that I didn't want to talk politics, but he steered the conversation in that direction until I walked in the house and left him sitting on the back porch.

Floridatexan wrote:

del.capslock wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:
Do you mean people who can actually read and write?

I think what the article is saying is that Trump supporters hate "the intellectual elite" not because they CAN read and write, but because they DO read and write instead of act. I don't personally agree hold that view but I can understand why they feel that way.

Part of their resentment may be that they feel looked-down upon by "intellectuals" and I can empathize with that. Is the work of a sewer worker or a roofer somehow less important to society than that of an academic or theorist?

I think Trump will do so much damage to the social fabric that his supporters may gain a new respect for the so-called intellectual elites. They will come to realize the ignorance is NOT bliss.

I will never look down upon anyone who's doing a job, no matter what the job, but I can't stand outright ignorance.  Just yesterday (which happened to be my husband's birthday), a friend of ours stopped by.  I have known him for 40 years, and he and my husband go back to high school days.  I told him several times that I didn't want to talk politics, but he steered the conversation in that direction until I walked in the house and left him sitting on the back porch.  

Happy Birthday to your husband FT.

zsomething wrote:

Telstar wrote:





Anywhere near Hattiesburg Miss? Didn't they blast a nuke there in 1964? Ever post on any of the Mississippi forums? Some of the Mississippi deplorables make the p-cooters look like Abby Hoffman in comparison. Horror stories, that's neat. I tried submitting a couple of stories but they stunk. I did get a couple of my cartoons published in a horror magazine and the publisher called me a primitive genius but that's as far as that went.

Nope, not Hattiesburg... but I've got some friends there.

Every Mississippi forum I've seen has been a lot of "Dang ol' Obummer secret-Muzlum stole mah pituitary gland!" kind of craziness.  I don't even try to deal with 'em.

Yeah, I still work on the horror stuff.  It's fun.  I've been writing 'em since I was about five.  Hopefully I've improved since then!  

Getting cartoons published is cool.  Congrats!  The only things I ever submitted were a story to Twilight Zone magazine short-story contest when I was about fourteen.   The thing I sent in was awful, and the guy who won was a then-unknown writer named... Dan Simmons.  So, I don't feel too bad about it.   Then a friend of mine whose husband is a noted author of young adult novels started telling an editor at Tor Books about a novel I'd e-mailed her.  The editor got excited about it and asked her to send it in... but, he was the sci-fi editor, and o' course we had to send it in to the horror editor, and never heard anything back from 'em.  That happens...

Anyway, I just kind of stockpile them in case I ever want to try going through the circus of trying to get them published.  O' course, now you can dump anything onto a Kindle, but I don't want to go that route.  I've seen too much terrible self-published stuff that mine might be as bad as those...

The longest running thread on any Gannett News forum that I've ever seen was in Mississippi and it ran over a hundred pages. The title was Is Obama Honest Or Just Well Spoken so you know the territory. I did enjoy reading about deep fried turkeys and bottle trees in that state. I remember the Twilight Zone magazine back in the eighties. That's where I first read Stephen King's short story The Jaunt. Did you know that tomorrow, May 11 is National Twilight Zone Day? Really, you can google it. BTW, Wikpedia says Dan Simmons had help from Harlan Ellison with getting his story published in the magazine.

Telstar wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:

del.capslock wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:
Do you mean people who can actually read and write?

I think what the article is saying is that Trump supporters hate "the intellectual elite" not because they CAN read and write, but because they DO read and write instead of act. I don't personally agree hold that view but I can understand why they feel that way.

Part of their resentment may be that they feel looked-down upon by "intellectuals" and I can empathize with that. Is the work of a sewer worker or a roofer somehow less important to society than that of an academic or theorist?

I think Trump will do so much damage to the social fabric that his supporters may gain a new respect for the so-called intellectual elites. They will come to realize the ignorance is NOT bliss.

I will never look down upon anyone who's doing a job, no matter what the job, but I can't stand outright ignorance.  Just yesterday (which happened to be my husband's birthday), a friend of ours stopped by.  I have known him for 40 years, and he and my husband go back to high school days.  I told him several times that I didn't want to talk politics, but he steered the conversation in that direction until I walked in the house and left him sitting on the back porch.  

Happy Birthday to your husband FT.

Thank you.

del.capslock wrote:

Look at how short that tie was? LOL! It looks like a miniature one.