Thought Experiment: What do you tell Trump?

[ProfessorPlum]

Imagine you are an aide to Trump going into a G8 summit or some other gathering of world leaders.

Do you tell him he is the dumbest person in the room, and warn him not to get played by the other world leaders?

Or do you keep that information a secret from him?

His behavior seems to indicate that deep down he knows he is a stupid ass clown who is deeply insecure and has to act like alpha chimp to shore up his fragile ego. Would warning him that he is too dumb to function in a room full of other leaders activate this bravado in him, or does it cause him to sensibly hang back and keep his fool mouth shut?

[lunatica]

1. Trump has no sense and his mouth is always a fool

I'd let him show his ignorance and hope someone would impeach him.

[rickford66]

2. I guess we'll find out, unfortunately.

[metroins]

3. You don't warn him

You want to keep your job, Trump doesn't listen to anybody.

I'd become a "yes man" just to collect my paycheck and go home. The world leaders are going to think he's weak in the next 4 years.....because he's all talk. Trump doesn't want a war and they know that. He ran a populist campaign and a war would be bad for his legacy. The world is going to walk over us these next 4 years.

[ProfessorPlum]

5. Trump doesn't want a war? Where do you get that from?

A war would create the "rally round the flag" and "wartime president" unity that W. enjoyed, and Trump will want that for the same reason. Plus, a war further enables the kleptocracy steal from both our coffers and those of whomever we are warring with.

Then there was the disturbing stories about all of the military leaders who were completely freaked out by the way that Trump kept asking them about using nuclear weapons before the election.

I'm afraid Trump very much wants a war, as do the people who are smarter than him and directing his decisions.

[metroins]

8. I disagree

Trump isn't smart enough for that.

He knows the American citizens do not want a war and all Trump cares about is being popular. He wants to go down as a Domestic President, not a foreign one.

[ProfessorPlum]

11. You sure seem to know quite a lot, an impossible amount, really, about what Trump "wants"

and you seem to be forgetting that what he wants is easily changed by his handlers. He wanted Chris Christie for vice president, for example, until the actual people in charge of him lied to him and manipulated Pence into that position.

But, let's hope your analysis is correct.

[Solly Mack]

4. Imagine I was an oozing wart on the ass of America

I'd be Trump.

If I was his aide, with me being me?

I'd do whatever it took to help him help himself look like the idiot he is.

I'm sorry, but I suspended belief as far as I could.

I am a failure at your thought experiment.

[ProfessorPlum]

6. Fail. Sad!

[Solly Mack]

9. Oddly enough, I'm OK with that. :)

[ProfessorPlum]

10. :)

[hamsterjill]

7. I'd ask to be alone with him.

Back his ass into a corner and slap the ever loving shit outta him. Then I'd tell him if he told anyone that I'd deny it and say he had a tiny-hands complex about being hit by a woman!

Yeah, I know...a girl can dream...

[MFM008]

14. im dreaming for you to have a crow bar in that meeting.

[Silent3]

12. It's not imagining what I'd say to Trump that is difficult...

...but finding anything that would make a damned bit of difference to him unless it was a very credible threat (like, say, actually having something on him that would definitely bankrupt him, and the ability to protect yourself from retaliation). There is no empathy or sympathy in the man to connect with to morally persuade Trump to do a right thing simply because it's the right thing.

Imagine you start out with Trump's narcissism, which was already overblown a year and a half ago, then doing practically everything most people were screaming at you was wrong to win the presidency, and you still win, shocking the world with your success.

If you aren't a billionaire (or capable of fooling people that you're one) and not in a position of great power yourself, Trump will consider you beneath contempt, a loser who's not worth listening to when he's got his own "great mind" and "the best people" telling him things he likes and things that he wants to believe.

If I did have that hypothetical credible threat? I'd tell him to announce that he's decided not to take office and to instruct (paying off, in necessary) his own electors to vote for Clinton on the 19th.

[11 Bravo]

13. Pull your head out of your ass and at least try and PRETEND ...

that you're a fucking adult.

(Most 70-year olds have already mastered that skill, but he appear to require quite a bit of remediation.)