Oh, FFS.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Well the New York Times says she is real, if you can trust the liberal press 

A ghost writer or a ghost?

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
I have to say that I agree with these positions (with just a little dash of number 1 and a pinch of number 2) and if these things happen so be it, I submit that we have done more damage with our nation building (CIA meddling closely followed by bombs and drone strikes) than good and perhaps the world would be a little better place without our "help" and lecturing.  Which is just another reason that I refuse to vote for either Trump or Clinton.

Well, just read through his latest statements on the direction US foreign policy would be headed under his leadership.

1. A clear return to isolationism
2. Much more lax attitude to human rights abuses in other countries (who are we to lecture?)
3. Reneging on the all for one and one for all policy underlying NATO and only responding on a "what have they done for us basis"
4. Pursing US economic interests first and putting other interests (political, ideals, human rights, etc.) down a notch
This is all kind of interesting and is going to leave a pretty big power vacuum in many regions. China will take the South China Sea,
Russia will start eyeing the Baltics and its other satellites, like Belarus and the Ukraine. The EU is going to have to remilitarise to match Russia rather than rely on the US.

Secondly, I still can't help the feeling that these strong dictatorial macho type of leaders have some sort of instinctive bond with each other.
Erdogan, Putin, Trump, and possibly Xi Jinping, etc. Divvying the world up into their own little kingdoms and fiefdoms which they can screw over at whim.
I see a huge risk for human rights, freedom of speech, religion, etc. in favour of mob rule. And lord help us if these types get dissatisfied with what they have and start fighting each other.

Then we will all be toast. 

But what worries me most, idealist that I am, is that suddenly ideals have been eroded and benchmarked to their pragmatic value. Good to have if you have the luxury but something you can toss out when times get tough. Just think of the stance these authoritarian leaders (Putin, Trump, Erdogan, etc.) take on various issues:
Hispanics? Build a wall. Muslims? out with them. Refugees? back to the war zone. Journalists? put em in prison. Opposition? Just murder the bastards and be done with it. 

If that doesn't make you Trump supporters start to think, then our ideals are already toast. 

 VV wrote: 
You including Meliana in the "Trump" category?

I think there's a significant possibility that she'll realize she's in over her head and start slipping her dress off her shoulder. 

Over / Under on amount of stupid things Trump says tonight (44)

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
New Topic: Fun things to do in other threads while avoiding the Trump thread.

 VV wrote: 
Don't stir 'em up!

Or do... they're all over having fun in the Hillary thread. 

No post to the Trump thread since 6/28?

 
Looks like even his online supporters are starting to abandon him.  

 muzik wrote: 
Nnnnope! 

 kcar wrote: 
AND I BET YOU'RE NOT JUST TALKING HANDS!  

 R_P wrote: 



For those who must see the ad in all its glory, here 'tis. Apparently the wonderful late Phil Hartman of SNL fame does a cameo—I think about 4-5 seconds in: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz7GRRvwCso

This version has much worse quality video but it does have the "proceeds donated to charity" add-on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdY31mDsBmU

I chuckled at this bit from the Post article:

"From 1987 to 1991, Trump gave away $1.9 million of his money through the Donald J. Trump Foundation.

He gave $101,000 to veterans, according to a Post analysis of tax records from that time. 

He gave $26,000 to the homeless.

He gave $12, 450 to AIDS charities. 

He gave $4,250 to multiple-sclerosis research. 

The amount for those categories was $143,700 or nearly 8 percent of the total. 

Much of the rest went to charities tied to Trump's life: society galas, his high school, a foundation for indigent real estate brokers. The School of American Ballet, where Ivanka Trump studied from 1989 to 1991, got $16,750. 

A private school that educated Trump's son Eric got $40,000—more than the homeless and AIDS contributions combined."


The piece also reminds readers that at the beginning of Trump's campaign, Trump claimed that he'd donated $102 over the previous five years. Those donations large took the form of land-use agreements and free rounds of golf at Trump-owned courses. 

The more you learn about this man, the smaller he becomes.  

Trump promised millions to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years. - The Washington Post

(...) These promises seemed designed to reassure potential customers and voters and to reconcile two sides of Trump’s public persona. On one hand, Trump said he had so much money that he didn’t need more. But on the other hand, he was always selling something.

The explanation was that the money Trump was making wasn’t for him to keep.

“I am acting as an agent for charities,” Trump said in 1989 at the unveiling of Trump: The Game. In news accounts, he estimated the board game alone would bring in $20 million for charity.

Milton Bradley, which made the game, saw the need for such a promise firsthand. After the company released the game — a Monopoly-like board game with Trump branding — it didn’t sell.

“The game was just nailed to the shelf,” said George DiTomassi, who was president of Milton Bradley at the time. One problem, he said, was that customers were not told about Trump’s pledge to give proceeds to charity. “They felt perhaps this was going to be something that a millionaire would make some money on,” DiTomassi said.

The TV commercial for the product was changed. “Mr. Trump’s proceeds from Trump: The Game will be donated to charity,” a new voice-over said at the end.

It still didn’t work. The game tanked.

Still, Trump said he made $880,000 from it, and even more from “The Art of the Deal.” In 1987, the mogul started the Donald J. Trump Foundation to donate his royalties.

But the proceeds didn’t go straight to charity. They went straight into Trump’s bank account.

“Are you asking me whether or not I took the check . . . and endorsed it over to a charity?” Trump said on the witness stand in a 1991 New York state court case, brought by a man who accused him of stealing the idea for Trump: The Game. “Who would ever do that?”

Trump said he did eventually pass money to his foundation, which gave it away to charities. He said he had given away even more than he had earned.

But when Trump ran into financial troubles in the middle of 1990, records show that his giving to the foundation slowed — then stopped. In 1991, he gave no money to the foundation. If book and game royalties came in that year, Trump apparently found another use for them. (...)

Trump’s Bid to Become Born-Again Fails as Jesus Turns Down Friend Request

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—The billionaire Donald J. Trump’s bid to become a born-again Christian failed over the weekend after Jesus Christ turned down his friend request, campaign officials have acknowledged.

Jesus, who has not generally been active on Facebook, made a rare appearance on the social network on Monday to announce His decision to ignore the presumptive Republican nominee’s request for a personal relationship with Him.

In a brief post, Jesus offered the following explanation: “Just everything.”

The turndown from Jesus Christ, the inspiration behind one of the world’s most prominent religions, caps what has been a tough month for the Trump campaign.

Privately, campaign staffers fretted that the candidate would pen a disparaging tweet about Jesus, which might alienate evangelical voters in key battleground states.

But, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump made no reference to Jesus, and instead touted endorsements he had received from Gary Busey, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher.

 ScottN wrote: 
There's also this well-known thread.

 ScottN wrote: 
Despite pointed attempts.