I mean honestly if someone watched/listened to Trump when he did the Theo Vaugn podcast this wouldn’t be a surprising take away. I think Trump is aware of how likable he can come off in small interactions; and it helps that he plays the extreme everywhere else because it sets the bar rather low. If Bill Maher thought he was a somewhat normal approachable guy he wouldn’t be so flabbergasted that he is an approachable guy.
Now the Bannon portion of this episode was fucking wild and I want to hear viewpoints on that.
Squirrel and Hedgehog also has an episode where the brigandish imperialist challenges our hero to PRO WRESTLING. like "blooganongochongbingPROWRESTLINGglobkoghomg" and then a wrasslin ring appears and elbow drops from the top turnbuckle
Roald Dahl, who flew combat missions for the RAF in WWII, had a story of flying one against a Vichy French airfield, where they surprised the pilots with their planes still on the ground and could have destroyed them with minimal danger; but as it happened, the French were showing off their planes to local women, putting them in danger, so Dahl and his squad did not fire on their first pass out of chivalry. As a result the planes made it off the ground, and not all of his wingmen made it back that day. Dahl always held a special place of contempt in his heart for the French collaborators.
You know a substanial number of these misanthropic nihlists didn't even really give a shit about that. They just loved being able to "work" by occasionally wiggling their mouse to keep their Microsoft Teams from switching to Away mode while they jerked off in their pajamas for weeks on end.
I'd much rather be right and alone than to go along with any of the wacko shit the left enforces. This is no different than what employers would say during covid "would you rather be wrong and employed or right and destitute?"
It is a much better thread if you just ignore the doomposting retards. Once you read a couple hundred pages you get a feel for who's actually doomposting and who's just concerned. The worst thing you can do though is to engage with the same dude that has been doomposting for months, it derails the thread and that's their goal.
Big difference from folks being really pissed at something trump did, the Gaza plan shit was one time the thread was rightfully pissed.
I mean honestly if someone watched/listened to Trump when he did the Theo Vaugn podcast this wouldn’t be a surprising take away. I think Trump is aware of how likable he can come off in small interactions; and it helps that he plays the extreme everywhere else because it sets the bar rather low. If Bill Maher thought he was a somewhat normal approachable guy he wouldn’t be so flabbergasted that he is an approachable guy.
One thing that frustrated me so much about trump when I was still a raging liberal in 2015, and that i've slowly come to almost admire about him is this: He treats personal interaction very differently than business/political interactions, almost as if they're too seperate people stuck in one body. And the older I get the more I realize they kind of are. I think he understands the age old trope that the human brain/soul is a choir and not a solo artist. It's this unusual respect for the "human behind the person" if that makes sense?
He fights like hell and will insult anybody, shit all over people who square up to him, anybody who gets in the way of his vision is fair game. But he is actually very willing to make amends, he doesn't kick people much once they're down. The only analogy I can think of is two boxers who talk mad shit leading up to the fight, beat the fuck out of each other, but hug afterwards and you can see that moment of genuine respect, maybe not for everything about them but something about them. This is something "clean" politicians just won't do.
A perfect example is when he and Clinton were asked to say something nice about the other. https://youtu.be/pJlnxbO5N2g
She says "well not him but his kids are alright" while he gives her a genuine compliment. This is after he viciously attacked her and threatened to jail her.
There's also the McDonalds and garbage truck thing which were obviously election stunts, but you can tell he like being there.
Other things that come to mind: Walking across the border with kim jong un, having a "great relationship" with xi then trying to crash his economy... the seesawing between Putin and Zelensky.
There is something fundamentally Amercian about this kind of bipolarism, for all its good and bad. We're a country who's very existence is based on rebelling against England, then formed our strongest military bond with them and became obsessed with their culture. We fought a brutal war with Japan, then within a year of essentially "conquering" them started to form an alliance. We went from isolationist to wanting to be involved in the entire world.
Does it make sense that a reality tv star can get Putin and Zelensky to get along after shitting on both? No. Does it make sense that he could win a trade war acting like a mad man? No.
But the USA is a country that wins by doing crazy shit that doesn't make sense.
It didn't make sense to hop onto boats and risk your life in a frozen wasteland.
It didn't make sense to throw tea into the river in a chimpout.
It didn't make sense to go through with the Doolittle raid
It didn't make sense to become allies with Japan after ww2.
It didn't make sense that a bunch of hippies would grow up to be staunch conservatives.
It doesn't make sense to build an entire culture around hating our own government and nation.
...to automize farming.
...to build a bunch of trains that operated at a loss for 50 years.
...to try to land on the moon in a dick wagging competition.
...to make computers
Life works this way as well, think about your accomplishments.
Did it make sense you landed that first job?
Scored with that girl?
Won that game of soccer?
Stood up to your bully and won?
And Trump just fits this.
It didn't make sense for trump to win the first election.
It didn't make sense that he could pull off the Abraham Accords.
It didn't make sense that he could win again.
...to do rallies days after being shot
...to say they're eating our pets
...to shack up with musk
It doesn't need to make sense if it works.
I read the other day that leaks indicate (grain of salt obviously) that for the past few years the Chinese state has been baffled as to how the USA hasn't eaten ourselves alive yet after all the social chaos. Apparently when the 2020 riots were going on and they were seeing how vicious we were to each other on social media they were drinking champagne and predicting we would balkanize within the year. After all it doesn't make sense that a country with so many gun owners and viciously differing views and economic turmoil wouldn't be in a full blown civil war by now!! Normal countries, especially Asian ones it seems, just can't fathom our tolerance for being able to survive and even thrive in situations that don't make sense.
A lot of that is due to our willingness to go from punching to hugging, or at least reluctant tolerance, and trump embodies that.
