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Whither Trump?

Started by Jacob, December 07, 2015, 07:31:19 PM

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Come the 2016 Presidential Elections in the US, where will Trump be?

Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party
18 (40.9%)
Presidential Candidate in an Independent/ Third Party run?
9 (20.5%)
Not a presidential candidate at all.
16 (36.4%)
Some other scenario...
1 (2.3%)

Total Members Voted: 44

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crazy canuck

#150
December 15, 2015, 03:30:44 PM
I see.  A protest vote with no real risk because the mayor couldn't really do anything anyway - except make headlines for extra-office activities.  :lol:

Malthus

#151
December 15, 2015, 03:43:30 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on December 15, 2015, 03:30:44 PM
I see.  A protest vote with no real risk because the mayor couldn't really do anything anyway - except make headlines for extra-office activities.  :lol:

Pretty much. His astonishing capacity for drinking and drugging weren't such common knowledge until he was actually elected, though.  ;)

Now, Ford did push through some spending cuts and the like, so the office isn't totally powerless - but they were small change sort of stuff. He did not have the power to push through major changes without council approval.

What made him truly memorable wasn't his antics, but his adamant refusal to do the decent thing and resign when his antics came to light - as any half-decent politico of the old school would have done. Then (and only then) was it discovered that there was, literally, no legal mechanism to dispose of a serving mayor aside from some narrow grounds that didn't apply.  :lol: Apparently, no-one had ever considered that a mayor wouldn't resign if he got caught (say) smoking crack.

They almost got him on some murky conflict of interest, but only because 'being a big, boorish, drunken embarrassment' wasn't an available ground - but he survived. So council basically cut him out of influence entirely, in effect creating a Ford "sandbox office" where he could play without doing any harm (except to our collective dignity, of course).  ;)
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

Jacob

#152
December 15, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
Quote from: Malthus on December 15, 2015, 02:39:07 PMNaturally, this creates resentment, which Ford was able to capitalize on. His one-note message was intended to 'send a message' to council to take the burbs more seriously.

This is where I see the similarities between Trump and Ford - they're capitalizing on resentment and the desire to 'send a message' to the people with power to take their concerns more seriously. The personal foibles and danger signs of the candidate are secondary to that; they're either embraced as part of the message, or simply rationalized away.

Malthus

#153
December 15, 2015, 04:12:02 PM
Quote from: Jacob on December 15, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
Quote from: Malthus on December 15, 2015, 02:39:07 PMNaturally, this creates resentment, which Ford was able to capitalize on. His one-note message was intended to 'send a message' to council to take the burbs more seriously.

This is where I see the similarities between Trump and Ford - they're capitalizing on resentment and the desire to 'send a message' to the people with power to take their concerns more seriously. The personal foibles and danger signs of the candidate are secondary to that; they're either embraced as part of the message, or simply rationalized away.

There is a certain resemblance there.

Unfortunately, it is the differences that are likely to be more important - namely, the resentments in the case of Toronto (suburbs vs. city) were nowhere as poisonous as the resentments Trump is exploiting. Moreover, there is no comparing the power of the offices being sought.

Ford musing openly about putting those fat cats in downtown Toronto into concentration camps would have been funny ...  ;)
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

Admiral Yi

#154
December 15, 2015, 04:12:45 PM
Quote from: Jacob on December 15, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
This is where I see the similarities between Trump and Ford - they're capitalizing on resentment and the desire to 'send a message' to the people with power to take their concerns more seriously. The personal foibles and danger signs of the candidate are secondary to that; they're either embraced as part of the message, or simply rationalized away.

I'm trying to think of a politician that would *not* fit that description.

Norgy

#155
December 15, 2015, 04:21:03 PM
Western society is basically throwing itself at fascism as we speak, so I guess the Donald and Marine le Pen will decide to invade Russia in 2016.

Barrister

#156
December 15, 2015, 04:44:47 PM
Conrad Black on Donald Trump

QuoteTrump Is the Good Guy

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428506/donald-trump-good-guy

Blah - it just came out as an enormous wall of text.  But anyways, an interesting read.  I have a lot of time for Conrad Black, but do not always agree with his views.

And I don't think I agree with this one.

:hmm:
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Savonarola

#157
December 15, 2015, 05:16:26 PM
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Liep

#158
December 15, 2015, 05:22:30 PM
"Af alle latterlige Ting forekommer det mig at være det allerlatterligste at have travlt" - Kierkegaard

"JamenajmenømahrmDÆ!DÆ! Æhvnårvaæhvadlelæh! Hvor er det crazy, det her, mand!" - Uffe Elbæk

PRC

#159
December 15, 2015, 05:50:56 PM
Quote from: Liep on December 15, 2015, 05:22:30 PM
On the front page, no scrolling, on the international edition right now he has 5 stories including both the headlines. He's good.

Meanwhile he's there, but relatively low profile on foxnews.com (at the time of hitting submit).

Monoriu

#160
December 15, 2015, 09:12:40 PM
I suddenly remember that any person elected to the White House will have access to the nuclear weapon launch codes.  Maybe I am paranoid, but somehow the thought of Mr Donald Trump putting his fingers on the buttons/briefcase/codes or whatever that is makes me a bit uncomfortable  :ph34r:

Eddie Teach

#161
December 15, 2015, 09:28:05 PM
All fun and games until someone loses a city.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Razgovory

#162
December 15, 2015, 10:59:07 PM
Quote from: Barrister on December 15, 2015, 04:44:47 PM
Conrad Black on Donald Trump

QuoteTrump Is the Good Guy

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428506/donald-trump-good-guy

Blah - it just came out as an enormous wall of text.  But anyways, an interesting read.  I have a lot of time for Conrad Black, but do not always agree with his views.

And I don't think I agree with this one.

:hmm:

Wait, I thought he was in jail for Fraud.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Caliga

#163
December 15, 2015, 11:25:44 PM
Quote from: Monoriu on December 15, 2015, 09:12:40 PM
I suddenly remember that any person elected to the White House will have access to the nuclear weapon launch codes.  Maybe I am paranoid, but somehow the thought of Mr Donald Trump putting his fingers on the buttons/briefcase/codes or whatever that is makes me a bit uncomfortable  :ph34r:
yeah but he could say 'you're fired, China' right before pressing the button and at least we'd have a little humor before nuclear annihilation, so there's that.
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Barrister

#164
December 15, 2015, 11:29:00 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on December 15, 2015, 10:59:07 PM
Quote from: Barrister on December 15, 2015, 04:44:47 PM
Conrad Black on Donald Trump

QuoteTrump Is the Good Guy

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428506/donald-trump-good-guy

Blah - it just came out as an enormous wall of text.  But anyways, an interesting read.  I have a lot of time for Conrad Black, but do not always agree with his views.

And I don't think I agree with this one.

:hmm:

Wait, I thought he was in jail for Fraud.

He got out.  Several years ago.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.
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