Miscellaneous News

steemdrice said:

I think the reality is that Trump may not be that intelligent in the academic sense, however, he has fantastic political instincts and is able to "read the room" in context of the US's political system. He is conniving, wily, and "simple" in his thinking, but in a way that allows him to position for maximum political effect. However, he lacks the ability to actually govern the country.

The closest person I can think of to him in China's history is Emperess Dowager Cixi.

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In today's American political context, that only translates into acting like an idiot because most of the voters are idiots who identify with a big honcho idiot. How much of it is acting and how much of it is real? Does long term acting become permanence?

Interesting story: my cousin had a boyfriend who was a PhD in botanical compounds; he was hired by the fashion industry to research botanically-derived innovative dyes for mostly for denim. As he got into fashion, he came to realize that every male who was highly regarded in the fashion world exhibited a homosexual or homosexual-leaning phenotype. So to further his own career, he began to act gay. At first, it was just at work and he turned it off when off site, but then it became more and more dominant and he just acted gay as hell all the time. He was never actually homosexual (according to my cousin) or interested in engaging in homosexual activities with men but it just became a part of his personality that he could not really turn off anymore.

manqiangrexue said:

In today's American political context, that only translates into acting like an idiot because most of the voters are idiots who identify with a big honcho idiot. How much of it is acting and how much of it is real? Does long term acting become permanence?

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With the caveat that I agree with you, it is still more than the Democrats and his enemies within the Republican Party can do. He is able to credibly position himself as anti-establishment while simultaneously being the embodiment of the modern day establishment. That requires some political skill that is beyond his opponents' capabilities.

We can see from Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral primary and the general popularity of Sanders that there is serious anti-establishment fervour within the American electoral system, and Trump is seemingly uniquely capable of tapping into it in the current era (though to be honest part of that is because the Democrats seemingly are trying to lose).

steemdrice said:

With the caveat that I agree with you, it is still more than the Democrats and his enemies within the Republican Party can do. He is able to credibly position himself as anti-establishment while simultaneously being the embodiment of the modern day establishment. That requires some political skill that is beyond his opponents' capabilities.

We can see from Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral primary and the general popularity of Sanders that there is serious anti-establishment fervour within the American electoral system, and Trump is seemingly uniquely capable of tapping into it in the current era (though to be honest part of that is because the Democrats seemingly are trying to lose).

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That seems to be just him. He's anti-establishment because everyone in the establishment regarded him as an idiot and a loose nut and it was very offensive to him. They later had to give him some form of respect because they realized that this big idiot was very popular with the little idiots who were probably also fed up with being desrespected and regarded as stupid by the establishment. I wouldn't be so sure that this isn't just dumb luck for his natural personality.

manqiangrexue said:

That seems to be just him. He's anti-establishment because everyone in the establishment regarded him as an idiot and a loose nut and it was very offensive to him. They later had to give him some form of respect because they realized that this big idiot was very popular with the little idiots who were probably also fed up with being regarded as stupid by the establishment. I wouldn't be so sure that this isn't just dumb luck for his natural personality.

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Once it's dumb luck - twice it's knowing the general direction for the electorate and being able to manipulate it. I think he is driven by political instinct, and that his political instincts serve him very well in the current political situation in the US.

I don't think he's book smart, I do think he is cunning.

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New narrative?
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steemdrice said:

Once it's dumb luck - twice it's knowing the general direction for the electorate and being able to manipulate it. I think he is driven by political instinct, and that his political instincts serve him very well in the current political situation in the US.

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Once, twice? It's the same person appealing to the exact same audience with the same strategy. He never had to do anything different; he won because the democratic candidate (Hillary, Kamala) he faced was too unlikable even though they could dominate him effortlessly in intellectual debate. He lost to Biden because his audience was basically racist and could come to their senses when 2 white men were competing with each other.

steemdrice said:

I don't think he's book smart,

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That's for sure.

steemdrice said:

I do think he is cunning.

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In what sense? What behavior of his would be considered impressive manipulation? At this point, if he does something that's not tremendously stupid, people are clapping. If he exhibits cunning akin to what a bunch of children would be expected to exhibit when forming groups on a playground, that's above par for him and worth celebrating.

What kind of "realism" is she saying?
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Australia tested a "unmanned stealth "f35" "?

manqiangrexue said:

Interesting story: my cousin had a boyfriend who was a PhD in botanical compounds; he was hired by the fashion industry to research botanically-derived innovative dyes for mostly for denim. As he got into fashion, he came to realize that every male who was highly regarded in the fashion world exhibited a homosexual or homosexual-leaning phenotype. So to further his own career, he began to act gay. At first, it was just at work and he turned it off when off site, but then it became more and more dominant and he just acted gay as hell all the time. He was never actually homosexual (according to my cousin) or interested in engaging in homosexual activities with men but it just became a part of his personality that he could not really turn off anymore.

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My condolences

manqiangrexue said:

Once, twice? It's the same person appealing to the exact same audience with the same strategy. He never had to do anything different; he won because the democratic candidate (Hillary, Kamala) he faced was too unlikable even though they could dominate him effortlessly in intellectual debate. He lost to Biden because his audience was basically racist and could come to their senses when 2 white men were competing with each other.

In what sense? What behavior of his would be considered impressive manipulation? At this point, if he does something that's not tremendously stupid, people are clapping. If he exhibits cunning akin to what a bunch of children would be expected to exhibit when forming groups on a playground, that's above par for him and worth celebrating.

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Re: Biden. I actually don't think that he would have lost were it not for COVID. If COVID had not forced such a rupture on the American body politic in 2019/2020, I think that he would have won that election. That's like the Eight Nation Alliance forcing the Imperial Court out of Beijing - no amount of petty political maneuvering can save you when your incompetence at governing results in external events that causes reality to set in.

Re: cunning. Perhaps I am so jaded by Americans politics at this point that a leader who is able to see which way the wind is blowing and actually get in front of it and exploit it for electoral victory reads as cunning to me, because if he is not cunning then all other American politicians are even more retarded.

If you play chess while everyone else plays checkers, you're not a genius, you're a retard cause you're not playing by the rules of the game.

steemdrice said:

Re: Biden. I actually don't think that he would have lost were it not for COVID. If COVID had not forced such a rupture on the American body politic in 2019/2020, I think that he would have won that election. That's like the Eight Nation Alliance forcing the Imperial Court out of Beijing - no amount of petty political maneuvering can save you when your incompetence at governing results in external events that causes reality to set in.

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Fucking up COVID management to the degree Trump did despite having the CDC recommendations at his fingertips is insanely incompetent and stupid. It's all him; everything is a chance to shine or flop.

steemdrice said:

Re: cunning. Perhaps I am so jaded by Americans politics at this point that a leader who is able to see which way the wind is blowing and actually get in front of it and exploit it for electoral victory reads as cunning to me,

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Yes; it's mostly common sense.

steemdrice said:

because if he is not cunning then all other American politicians are even more retarded.

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No. Nobody else would have thought, "Hmmm, we lost the first trade war we started with China so the second time around, let's start a trade war with everyone including China." Trump is outstandingly stupid even in American politics.

steemdrice said:

If you play chess while everyone else plays checkers, you're not a genius, you're a retard cause you're not playing by the rules of the game.

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China's playing chess. America's playing checkers. Trump is playing some shit he invented where he attacks his own pieces and causes problems for himself. Trump is the only person who would have taken Biden's economy growing at 2.4% and literally forced it into contraction while attacking everyone America was supposed to lean on for help with China.