Donald Trump looks Old.

[Tigers!]

My b'day's 9/13. I want it to be bracketed by a good ass-kickin' by our girl on the 10th and a bigass TV sentencing on 3 dozen felonies on the 18th. That, plus the biggest slice of chocolate cake you ever saw.

Can't help with chocolate cake but these Tim Tams are divine.

 

[Politesse]

Well he apparently is bolstering that claim by being seen by fewer people. While the DNC convention is underway in Chicago, Trump has chosen to grace the town of Howell Michigan with his presence. Howell, population 10,000 or so. Now, some media outlets have pointed out that the town has some lingering white supremacist/klan sympathies, but that's a lot of small towns in rural Michigan. The real issue here is that he's not exactly burning up the major markets. He's been on a kick of small events in towns/states where he's got things locked up for the most part, with the only "rally" coming up Friday in Glendale Arizona. It will be interesting to see if he can pack that arena with enthusiastic fans like Harris did, but still...

Is he tired? Lazy. Afraid to go out in front of large crowds since getting nicked by a bullet?

He can't go to the major airports he's already been to. He owes them all money.

In fairness, airport bookings have long been a problem; we lost so many of the major hubs during the Revolutionary War, never quite recovered.

 

[robnisch]

Well he apparently is bolstering that claim by being seen by fewer people. While the DNC convention is underway in Chicago, Trump has chosen to grace the town of Howell Michigan with his presence. Howell, population 10,000 or so. Now, some media outlets have pointed out that the town has some lingering white supremacist/klan sympathies, but that's a lot of small towns in rural Michigan. The real issue here is that he's not exactly burning up the major markets. He's been on a kick of small events in towns/states where he's got things locked up for the most part, with the only "rally" coming up Friday in Glendale Arizona. It will be interesting to see if he can pack that arena with enthusiastic fans like Harris did, but still...

Is he tired? Lazy. Afraid to go out in front of large crowds since getting nicked by a bullet?

He can't go to the major airports he's already been to. He owes them all money.

In fairness, airport bookings have long been a problem; we lost so many of the major hubs during the Revolutionary War, never quite recovered.

Trump's campaign still owes El Paso over $500K for 2019 rally, other cities also unpaid

Donald Trump still owes several cities money from past campaign rallies, including El Paso.Information compiled in 2019 from the Centers for Public Integrity sh

kfoxtv.com

This from a Fox affiliate.

 

[Politesse]

I mean, it's more or less how he and his family made all of his capital and thus became a political figure in the first place. The number of cities, states, contractors, workers, suppliers etc that say they've been screwed over by the Trump Organization is far longer than the company's list of actual completed projects. It turns out that if a person from a certain social class just refuses to pay you the money that you owe them, forcing them to is diffcult and most people and institutions will just give up and let you steal from them rather than spend decades in litigation. White collar grifters make an art out of strategic non-payment or delayed payment, it's called "winning". For the past half century of his life, playing these kinds of games has made Trump wealthy, famous, powerful, and frequently/implausibly laid by beautiful young women. Why would he stop now, just because we made him president as well? Like, send Trump to designer golf jail all you like, El Paso still isn't going to get its money. Bottom line is, they cannot afford to demand it politically or financially. And don't think it's just Trump that does this. The Clinton family in particular amassed quite a collection of late or unpaid bills. But it is unsurprising that Trump, crawling out of the skeevy industry that he did, is especially adept at screwing American taxpayers over. He wins, he always wins, even when he loses. That's why people like him.

 

[Elixir]

He wins, he always wins, even when he loses.

Cheryl Crow comes to mind.
If it makes him happy…
Why the hell is he such a miserable, whiny, sad fuck?

 

[laughing dog]

He wins, he always wins, even when he loses.

Cheryl Crow comes to mind.
If it makes him happy…
Why the hell is he such a miserable, whiny, sad fuck?

Perhaps his obsession with the crowd size suggests the answer.

 

[Politesse]

He wins, he always wins, even when he loses.

Cheryl Crow comes to mind.
If it makes him happy…
Why the hell is he such a miserable, whiny, sad fuck?

Because crony capitalism has, at its very core, an ancient and pernicious lie.

 

[Toni]

I think everyone who is paying attention, without regard to their political leanings, has noticed a definite change in Trump's behavior. We can call it a decline, but it's apparent and quite sudden.

If we take Donald Trump as we know him, and lay a veneer of post traumatic stress syndrome disorder on top of it, the changes in his behavior make sense, at least in medical terms. It would be truly bizarre if getting shot at had no effect at all. I don't know what kind of personality disorder could allow a person to survive that experience and it not show an kind of symptoms.

I honestly mean this - I suspect the media paying more attention to Harris/Walz than him affected him more than the assassination attempt. The attempt was all about him so he's probably coping with that better than being cast aside. He is that broken and has been for years that's probably where his priorities lie.

All of Trump's pathologies have been chronicled for sometime and it's not really possible to say which stimulus makes him flinch more or less.

Without going into details, I've been living with a person who has severe PTSD for about 5 years and I've been able to observe the personality changes. Some are obvious and some are very subtle. I called it a "veneer of post traumatic stress syndrome" because that's what it is. A thin layer over every action and reaction. It's most apparent in reactions to stress and sudden disorder is very stressful. Trump started the race feeling he had a better than even chance at beating Biden. With no warning, Harris is his opponent and every single aspect of his future plans change. Don't forget he has a court date coming up, followed by many court dates yet to be determined. He has a lot on his mind and then someone tries to kill him, for no apparent reason.

The result is, a man with little empathy has even less empathy, and his narcissism becomes more self centered. One of the most common symptoms of PTSD is second guessing every decision. It's a natural reaction, like the person who gets hit by a car crossing the street. Their mind keeps going back to every step of the day, wondering if they had paused here, or walked faster there, would they have been somewhere else when the car went by. For a person like Trump, who has always believed his judgment is superior to all other people, that is a crippling handicap. Recovery is a very slow process and I don't think he has that much time.

I’m also not certain he is capable of that much introspection. He does not strike me as someone who would ever question whether he should have done anything differently. It’s always someone else’s fault for cheating and being unfair. Regardless of how untrue that is by any objective measure.

 

[Elixir]

Recent poll shows Trump 48%...Harris 46% when obviously, in a world of common sense, it would be Trump 3%, Harris 96%, 1% brain-addled and undecided.
WTF is wrong with us? How can this be close? Do half of us have rock salt for brains? These people never discussed propaganda and demagoguery in school?

At this point, in the 2016 election cycle, Clinton had a 90+% chance of winning.
I pay little attention to polling numbers and more to trends in those numbers.
Tom

The trend is clear at the moment. If it doesn’t stop or at least slow down, Trump might be in for a drubbing. Not that it matters. Whether he loses by one electoral vote or 300 electoral votes, the aftermath would be the same. But still … USA Today, today;

Vice President Kamala Harris is within “striking distance” of former President Donald Trump in Florida, according to the pollster behind a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV survey of 500 likely voters released Tuesday.

Imagine him losing FL and TX.
I hear Caracas isn’t too bad in November.

And NC ?
Guy might croak on the spot.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I’m also not certain he is capable of that much introspection. He does not strike me as someone who would ever question whether he should have done anything differently. It’s always someone else’s fault for cheating and being unfair. Regardless of how untrue that is by any objective measure.

Go look up his answer to the question asked of him: "do you ever ask God for forgiveness?"

 

[ideologyhunter]

Why the hell is he such a miserable, whiny, sad fuck?

Diaper rash. He had it starting in '46, then was toilet trained by 1952. When he started wearing Kimberly-Clark Sani-Buckets in 2005, the problem resurfaced. Sad.

 

[Bronzeage]

I think everyone who is paying attention, without regard to their political leanings, has noticed a definite change in Trump's behavior. We can call it a decline, but it's apparent and quite sudden.

If we take Donald Trump as we know him, and lay a veneer of post traumatic stress syndrome disorder on top of it, the changes in his behavior make sense, at least in medical terms. It would be truly bizarre if getting shot at had no effect at all. I don't know what kind of personality disorder could allow a person to survive that experience and it not show an kind of symptoms.

I honestly mean this - I suspect the media paying more attention to Harris/Walz than him affected him more than the assassination attempt. The attempt was all about him so he's probably coping with that better than being cast aside. He is that broken and has been for years that's probably where his priorities lie.

All of Trump's pathologies have been chronicled for sometime and it's not really possible to say which stimulus makes him flinch more or less.

Without going into details, I've been living with a person who has severe PTSD for about 5 years and I've been able to observe the personality changes. Some are obvious and some are very subtle. I called it a "veneer of post traumatic stress syndrome" because that's what it is. A thin layer over every action and reaction. It's most apparent in reactions to stress and sudden disorder is very stressful. Trump started the race feeling he had a better than even chance at beating Biden. With no warning, Harris is his opponent and every single aspect of his future plans change. Don't forget he has a court date coming up, followed by many court dates yet to be determined. He has a lot on his mind and then someone tries to kill him, for no apparent reason.

The result is, a man with little empathy has even less empathy, and his narcissism becomes more self centered. One of the most common symptoms of PTSD is second guessing every decision. It's a natural reaction, like the person who gets hit by a car crossing the street. Their mind keeps going back to every step of the day, wondering if they had paused here, or walked faster there, would they have been somewhere else when the car went by. For a person like Trump, who has always believed his judgment is superior to all other people, that is a crippling handicap. Recovery is a very slow process and I don't think he has that much time.

I’m also not certain he is capable of that much introspection. He does not strike me as someone who would ever question whether he should have done anything differently. It’s always someone else’s fault for cheating and being unfair. Regardless of how untrue that is by any objective measure.

For most people, introspection leads to some degree of improvement, or at the least, comfort. While Trump spends a lot of time wondering what went wrong, which is a form of introspection, I don't believe Trump is capable of improvement, and certainly will never be comfortable.

 

[ideologyhunter]

His craziness stems from his inability to concede any fault, any loss, any sign of ignorance, any humiliation, any act that is improper, let alone illegal. It's got to be someone else's fault, loss, ignorance, loss of face, venality. He's both America's greatest hero and America's greatest victim. Sheer madness.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

His craziness stems from his inability to concede any fault, any loss, any sign of ignorance, any humiliation, any act that is improper, let alone illegal. It's got to be someone else's fault, loss, ignorance, loss of face, venality. He's both America's greatest hero and America's greatest victim. Sheer madness.

You've perfectly described his base. I've talked to lots of them and they're always right about everything, especially how they've all been so terribly wronged and now are entitled.