2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Tonitrus]

No kidding. Trump is a blowhard, and comes across like the kind of guy who has to be the center of attention. He strikes me as completely unlikable, and I thought that was true before he was ever a Presidential candidate.

He seems like an asshole, really.

There's a New York/New Jersey brash arrogance that Trump exudes, which I'm guessing might be appealing to people that don't encounter the type on a regular basis.

I actually think the "two Donald Trumps" that Ben Carson talked about is probably legit.  I'd bet he's a really smart, interesting person to talk to on a personal, intimate level.  But yes, his public, politicking persona is over-the-top buffoonery.

I saw an old appearance by Trump on the old NBC David Letterman show, and he actually came across as very humble, grounded, and interesting.

[The Minsky Moment]

I think he is just likeable. I like him. He would be a horrible president but definitely the only candidate I'd actually chat with.

As a TV persona, he is entertaining, but as an actual person, he is a complete and utter bore. 

[Tonitrus]

No kidding. Trump is a blowhard, and comes across like the kind of guy who has to be the center of attention. He strikes me as completely unlikable, and I thought that was true before he was ever a Presidential candidate.

He seems like an asshole, really.

There's a New York/New Jersey brash arrogance that Trump exudes, which I'm guessing might be appealing to people that don't encounter the type on a regular basis.

I actually think the "two Donald Trumps" that Ben Carson talked about is probably legit.  I'd bet he's a really smart, interesting person to talk to on a personal, intimate level.  But yes, his public, politicking persona is over-the-top buffoonery.

I saw an old appearance by Trump on the old NBC David Letterman show, and he actually came across as very humble, grounded, and interesting.

This is the Letterman interview...interesting in that his rhetoric on trade/Japan/defense, is not new at all....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmNN2MCJ-7U

[Malthus]

I think he is just likeable. I like him. He would be a horrible president but definitely the only candidate I'd actually chat with.

Likable? He looks and acts like a caricature of a nasty, arrogant, loudmouthed lout. What is there to like about him?

Maybe in person he's nice and interesting, but his public "persona" ... ugg.

[Admiral Yi]

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/17/470806232/opening-the-books-on-donald-trumps-business-deals-in-atlantic-city

Long ass NPR piece about The Donald's experience with the Taj.

I didn't listen to the whole thing, but I did pick up that it went belly up a year after he bought it, and that he personally guaranteed 1.3 billion of the financing for the Taj and his other two AC casinos.

[Tonitrus]

He is also just about 70...probably a lot of Ed Anger, old curmudgeon, get off my lawn, fuck-these-youngsters-and-their-hippie-shit going on. 

[Barrister]

I used to find him entertaining on The Apprentice, but yeah, he doesn't even register on the "like to have a beer with" meter.

Someone said Sanders would be - I disagree.  He seems like the type that would give you a big long lecture on politics all night long while you just nod and try to change the subject.

[Valmy]

Even as a non-American I've known him for a while, no idea how or why. Certainly longer than any of his competitors except Hillary Clinton.

As I said he was a big celebrity during the 80s and I thought kind of a symbol of the excesses of the age. Then he came back with the Apprentice in the 2000s. I do not really recall what he was initially famous for.

[Admiral Yi]

As I said he was a big celebrity during the 80s and I thought kind of a symbol of the excesses of the age. Then he came back with the Apprentice in the 2000s. I do not really recall what he was initially famous for.

He was famous for putting his name on every building he built, for marrying and divorcing a succession of trophy wives, the combover, and giving Hershel Walker a billion dollars.

[The Brain]

I think he is just likeable. I like him. He would be a horrible president but definitely the only candidate I'd actually chat with.

As a TV persona, he is entertaining, but as an actual person, he is a complete and utter bore.

OK Martim.

[Razgovory]

Meh.  I hope that one of Trump's legacies won't be the idea that he was a clown who managed to shove aside respectable politicians and turned a dignified affair into a circus.  Fearmongering, intolerance, utter disregard for facts, engineered disasters presented as policy, all that was still going to be there better than ever.  When the insults stopped at the last debate, there wasn't much substance to take their place.

I was talking about Trump with a friend, and the spat with Fox News came up. I thought I came up with a good analogy, which was:

"If you make your living selling sheets and gasoline, don't act shocked when a crowd of people wearing sheets and burning crosses shows up".

Wow, that's a shitty analogy even by my standards.

This goes to show that you can't tell a good analogy from a bad one.

[DGuller]

I used to find him entertaining on The Apprentice, but yeah, he doesn't even register on the "like to have a beer with" meter.

Someone said Sanders would be - I disagree.  He seems like the type that would give you a big long lecture on politics all night long while you just nod and try to change the subject.

[Berkut]

I used to find him entertaining on The Apprentice, but yeah, he doesn't even register on the "like to have a beer with" meter.

Someone said Sanders would be - I disagree.  He seems like the type that would give you a big long lecture on politics all night long while you just nod and try to change the subject.

Hehe, I guess I would actually enjoy a long discussion on politics. I know I've spent an evening with friends arguing about politics before, so doing that with someone like Sanders actually sounds kind of interesting...

[Barrister]

I used to find him entertaining on The Apprentice, but yeah, he doesn't even register on the "like to have a beer with" meter.

Someone said Sanders would be - I disagree.  He seems like the type that would give you a big long lecture on politics all night long while you just nod and try to change the subject.

Hehe, I guess I would actually enjoy a long discussion on politics. I know I've spent an evening with friends arguing about politics before, so doing that with someone like Sanders actually sounds kind of interesting...

I *love* me a long discussion on politics over a beer.  But you have to be amongst people who will listen as well as talk.  Sanders doesn't give me that vibe.

[Martinus]

Which POTUS candidate (including the drop outs) would you like most to have a chat with, Beeb?