sees EVERYTHING through a filter of how it makes him look good or bad. If it doesn't relate to him, he's not interested. He is as shallow as a spill of water on a table. He likely doesn't care about anything he talked about in his convention speech--because these things aren't about him. They're all words this salesman does know how to use to manipulate his chosen targets, "cards to play."

That's why this 70-year-old with an emotional age arrested some time in childhood is astonishingly ignorant. It's not that he can't learn, it's that he is usually unable to understand the significance of knowledge and care enough to bother. He doesn't know the difference between our president's powers and Putin's in his developing autocracy. He had no idea what Congress did; Ryan and others had to try to explain it. With limited success because of his very limited attention span from lack of interest. He didn't know what NATO was before he had to talk about it, and demonstrably still really, really doesn't understand or care, probably literally couldn't find most NATO nations on a well-labeled map because he doesn't have to do that on a stage. The man who wrote his first book for him says he really doubts Trump would be able to pay attention to a national security briefing, again unless he decided problems between China and Japan were somehow all about him.

As for what he believes, he thinks more nations should have nuclear bombs. Or does he? He must have thought that would make him sound strong when he said it. Now, when he realizes that it makes him sound stupid (or however he interprets that since he's far too superior to be or appear stupid), what does he think?

Yardwork, my question is, why on earth would anyone believe a person with a serious disabling personality disorder, a full basket of strong cluster B traits, would necessarily mean what he said ten minutes later? I suspect you're vastly underestimating just what a shocking, unbelievable thing America has done in nominating this dangerous, dysfunctional clown, cheering it for god's sake, with the whole world watching in horror and/or glee.

yardwork

(61,588 posts)

22. We're on the same page. I see him exactly the same way.

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #21)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 03:22 PM

Jul 2016

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

23. Oh, gotcha and sorry. :) Many Americans seem to be

Reply to yardwork (Reply #22)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 03:27 PM

Jul 2016

way too slowly coming to realize, and others not at all. I know a bunch of people who really have no idea about personality disorders, so your question activated what's obviously become a hair trigger.

yardwork

(61,588 posts)

24. I misunderstood your earlier post.

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #23)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 03:30 PM

Jul 2016

I've heard people say that they think Trump is secretly progressive and doesn't really mean the things he says.

He is far, far more dangerous than they know.

Some historians think that George Custer had narcissistic personality disorder.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

25. Leading to his incomprehensible behavior and tactics.

Reply to yardwork (Reply #24)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 03:36 PM

Jul 2016

I can see that. Personality disorders and strong traits of aren't uncommon, of course. With advances of knowledge in so many diverse fields, this must be a great time for historians.

Doodley

(9,088 posts)

28. They believe him because he is the Republican ticket.

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #21)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:17 PM

Jul 2016

They believe him because he is (in their opinion, not mine) a very successful businessman.
They believe him because he is (in their opinion, not mine) looking out for them and he wants to protect them.
They believe him because he is (in their opinion, not mine) an outsider and not a corrupt politician.

It doesn't matter what the Clinton side say, they have made up their minds, and this accounts for maybe 40% of the electorate already in the bag.

As Nate Silver says, he has a real chance of winning the election. IMO, he is the biggest threat to world security, since the dawn of mankind. Only when I see an average ten point Clinton lead am I going to breathe a sigh of relief, and I expect that in the next few weeks.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

30. The press has been incredibly irresponsible. They

Reply to Doodley (Reply #28)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:29 PM

Jul 2016

know what he is and cooperated entirely in creating the Trump phenomenon. The wheel seems to be turning now, though, with the Republican convention, and it they'll be helping grind Trump up, while at the same time also promoting their horse race excitement based on false equivalency.

But don't forget, most conservatives do not like Trump. It's just that so far they dislike Democrats so much more that they've felt forced to support him. That's going to change for some of them. A young conservative answer when I asked if she'd watched the convention and Trump's speech, "If he's elected we're going to die." This was quite a change from before.

Btw, did you hear about today's unprecedented Washington Post condemnation of Trump? It includes a 5-minute video distillation of his 75-minute acceptance speech.

The Post's View: Donald Trump is a unique threat to American democracy

DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America’s problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump’s politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation’s two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew.

Any one of these characteristics would be disqualifying; together, they make Mr. Trump a peril. We recognize that this is not the usual moment to make such a statement. In an ordinary election year, we would acknowledge the Republican nominee, move on to the Democratic convention and spend the following months, like other voters, evaluating the candidates’ performance in debates, on the stump and in position papers. This year we will follow the campaign as always, offering honest views on all the candidates. But we cannot salute the Republican nominee or pretend that we might endorse him this fall. A Trump presidency would be dangerous for the nation and the world. ...

The party’s failure of judgment leaves the nation’s future where it belongs, in the hands of voters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-is-a-unique-threat-to-american-democracy/2016/07/22/a6d823cc-4f4f-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html

Doodley

(9,088 posts)

33. As a nail bitter, my fingers will be hurting from now to election day. I hope the majority of

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #30)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 08:10 PM

Jul 2016

newspapers and televised media do the right thing, along with a bigger spend by Democrats to ensure our nightmare never happens and for once and for all, the Republican party is reduced to ruins.

yardwork

(61,588 posts)

31. I agree with everything you said.

Reply to Doodley (Reply #28)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:55 PM

Jul 2016

A lot of people have made up their minds and no facts will change them. That's what we're up against.

yardwork

(61,588 posts)

19. Trump is hypocritical all day long.

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #12)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 02:26 PM

Jul 2016

He went after the Clintons over "family values."

HockeyMom

(14,337 posts)

17. "She can raise the kids"

Reply to JaneyVee (Original post)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 01:47 PM

Jul 2016

Not ME. Married women love Trump because their husbands do not make enough money (like Trump) to for them to "raise the kids" and they HAVE to work. Wanna buy a bridge as we say around The Donald's neck of the woods.

I do not have amnesia and can remember Ivana halking her wares on QVC and HSN. Guess her husband did not make enough money so she had to work.