Donald Trump is in court again today, facing a civil trial that could cost him his business empire. Trump, his sons, and his company stand accused of falsely inflating property value prices in order to obtain favorable loans.
Ahh right lets make up phrases that in no way resemble anything said and then put quotes around it so I can argue with it and make it look like im arguing with the person I quoted when in reality im just arguing with ghosts my imagination made up....
The reason he's in court is because The Oligarchy doesn't like him. It's been that way since 2016.
Whether you side with him or with them is kind of a personal decision, and who is really in the right or in the wrong is probably something we mere mortals will never know.
But lets not be silly and pretend like all these different court cases are being brought by completely different and unrelated people for entirely different reasons.
I think that to see him as a *particularly* bad guy requires a lot of ignorance to what The Oligarchy does.
They and their little "free trade agreements" turned vast swaths of America into an unlivable hell-scape the likes of which are not seen anywhere else in the world. Then you have 9/11, patriot act, and Bush's forever wars and dumping of heroin on the people, in addition to destroying America's credibility in the world by wanton embrace of torture.
I don't know how you measure "evil" but if it's by the amount of human suffering created, 1000 Trumps couldn't even hold a candle to what the Clinton or Bush families have been capable of.
I didnt say your side points were important.. they may be very important tangents... but they dont change a damn thing about how much Donald is a piece of shit... It just means he is a piece of shit who pissed people off and people are out for blood. It also just means everyone else is also a piece of shit... again not changing the fact that so is Donald.
It is very important, because he and they are in political power competition. If you believe in ethical good/evil, then one of those sides must be less evil than the other and the ethical thing to do is to back that side.
Now maybe your position is that they're all so deeply compromised that you don't really have an opinion about who is worse - and that's a position I can respect.
But when you SPECIFICALLY single out Trump, I can't help but think that you are in fact pro-Clinton/Bush oligarchy so I'm going to make you explain how you square your ethics with their crimes against humanity.
No matter how bad the oliharchy is doesnt change how bad Trump is. Then you go on to talk about Bush and clinton... thats alot of words for "other things suck"... ok.. how does other things sucking have **any relevance to how much Trump sucks?
Thats like asking me who I vote for, a piece of cabbage in a comma, or a wet orange colored turd... Who cares, at that point id be doing a write in if those were my only choices.
Bush isnt quite as bad as Trump or Biden if thats what your asking... But it would be like asking to vote between Hitler and Stallin... like even if i can reason my way that one is a little less bad than the other, neither is someone I would ever vote for.
what does "evil" mean to you? What is one thing Trump has done that makes him "evil"?
I have no problems with a write in myself. I am planning to either abstain or vote for AfroMan in 2024. I just think using adjectives like evil to describe him is caused by brainworms.
So by writing in somebody who is obviously not going to win, you essentially choose to abstain. A LOT of people do this which is why voter turnout is so low.
If you're not willing to make an analysis of which is the lesser of two evils, then in general you will end up with the greater evil.
In the words of Joseph de Maistre, "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." and a lot of what has befallen America over the past 50 years is indeed well deserved.
> So by writing in somebody who is obviously not going to win, you essentially choose to abstain. A LOT of people do this which is why voter turnout is so low.
No not necessarily. If enough people are upset by the choices and enough people write it in, it does become a valid vote (write ins are counted in many countries).
In any sensible country if you had two choices as evil as the ones we have right now everyone woul writein and we would have change... sadly we wont.
But your asking me "Do you choose guy one who will be evil to people or guy two".. yes every time my answer will be "I wont choose evil people, but I will be happy to fight int he civil war. Which is exactly what I'd say if my choice was Stalin or Hitler... if its Bush or Trump .. sadly i doubt there would be a civil war for that, but there should be.
This is the kind of mental gymnastics which people do when they write in Mickey Mouse and then walk away smiling and fancying themselves as "at least not part of the problem".
@cjd@freemo@georgetakei I like AfroMan. I'm not big on his whole platform, but I imagine he'll be no more effective at attaining his goals than any other president with "good intentions". He doesn't have a party afaik, but outside of "reparations" his platform seems mostly libertarian.
Personally I would support pretty much *anyone* who is not of the Clinton/Bush/Obama power structure, be they Trump, DeSantis, RFK, Ramaswamy, or anyone else like them.
Whoever they are, there's very little chance that they'll be able to be MORE harmful than a Party Man because as outsiders they don't have the connections/power.
Which one should be supported is simply a practical matter of whose most likely to win.
P.S. Don't get me wrong, I don't LIKE any of them.
@freemo@cjd@georgetakei > explicityly trying to deny people access to his businesses for the color of their skin
:doubt:
> mocking disabled people
you talking about the meme where he mocked Hillary or something making a funny face?
> lying
Everybody lies or has lied.
I think a lot of what he's said has been sensationalized (and often taken out of context) in media reports. Everyone clutching their pearls because he said "You can grab them by the pussy" are suffering a mental disorder (possible brain worms). It was important that Clinton didn't inhale and of course Obama did because "that's the point" (isn't he cool). The fact that you fall for the framing is kind of.... shocking
Trump has done a very many things that are evil... lying, explicitly trying to deny people access to his businesses for the color of their skin, mocking disabled people... The fact that you dont think he has ever been evil publicly (let alone non publicly) is shocking to say the least.
Mocking somebody on stage might be rude, it might be in bad taste, it might be offensive, but it's not evil.
When you begin instinctively reaching for the most extreme word you can find to describe everything you don't like, your words cease to mean anything at all.
This is endemic of the period we are living in, modern language is collapsing down into Nazis, and Literally Hitler, and Worst Thing Ever. As art becomes paint splatters, food becomes slop and academia becomes GPT-generated drivel.
If you think making fun of a crippled person in a public setting when acting as president is "childish" to see as a form of evil then we are done talking.. I dont want to interact with anyone who thinks that is a morally good, rather than evil, expression.
I mean sure... he raped a few people, mocked a disabled person for being disabled, specifically denied work to people for being black... but you know, he didnt murder **everyone** he met, and some people do, so calling him evil would be devaluing the word evil....
Right, cause how biden is around kids has anything at all to do with if Trump raped a woman or not... Even if Biden literally had an orgy with little kids it still would not have one iota of relevance to if Trump is an evil person or not.... get this Biden is evil too, doesnt change a damn thing about Trump.
@deavmi@cjd@freemo@thatguyoverthere@georgetakei free trade is good but 'free trade agreements' are a different beast. if i want to trade with you, i don't need a 3000 page document that says 'yeah ok you can do it'.
@freemo@cjd@georgetakei I just think you hold him to a higher standard and all the "other people being evil doesn't mean he's not" stuff is just cope because he actually doesn't have a long list of evil deeds, but nearly everyone in congress does.
> I don't think trump has raped anyone. The era of me too has really lowered the bar for necessary evidence.
The reason i didnt list rape in my original examples isnt because it is less evil, but because the evidence is less direct and undeniable.. I mean he did rape that woman most likely, but i didnt want to waste time debating evidence.
The point is, you hardly need to recognize his rape to know he is evil.
@cjd@freemo@thatguyoverthere@georgetakei It's the classic case of people being more upset about Trump's mean tweets than about Obama destroying Libya and bringing back slavery there.
@freemo@admitsWrongIfProven@cjd@georgetakei dude I wasn't even trying to defend trump. I asked why he's "evil" and you brought a bunch of nonsense. At the end you threw in rape allegations that didn't stick anywhere else. I don't care if you vote for him, but calling him evil just sounds like brain worms. He's started no wars. He hasn't had anyone killed. He was accused of rape decades after it supposedly happened. Accused of racism according to you more than half a century late. His worst crime according to you was making fun of someone who likely belittled him in some way. Considering how many people mock his appearance I don't see a problem with him returning fire, even if it might be a little mean.
I said before it seems more appropriate to just say you think he's dumb. I think when you use words like evil to describe trump you sound like a main stream media spokes hole.
I have seen many photos and videos of creepy uncle Joe (or as his son apparently calls him pedo Pete) sniffing little girls and being generally inappropriate around women in very public settings. Then you have Ashley Biden's diary where she talks about showers and other creepy shit.
The only reason I even bring it up is because it's more believable evidence of his perverse behavior than anything used to make trump out to be a sexual predator.
Really you can ignore all the sex stuff, and indication of bidens evil can be found in his Senate career. He is still proud to this day to have had a hand in the PATRIOT Act. That alone says he's a worse pick than Trump.
@thatguyoverthere@freemo Hmm, thinking around it, what he said sounded a lot more like following biden and his daughter around, ignoring trump.
Disinformation Purveyor: Who exactly do you view with your own eyes, and what is your exact fetish? Old grey dudes, old orange dudes, or do you look for the daughters?
@admitsWrongIfProven@cjd@freemo@georgetakei it's not a defense of trump beyond simply not falling for the tropes. I don't think he is perfect, but I don't think he qualifies as evil any more than you or me. I don't have anything but geography in common with anyone in public office. I just think all the "trump is evil" talk is brain worms. Many much worse people hold office in DC. The establishment wants you to think of trump as evil. It's easier to believe he tried to take over the country if you think he's evil. It's easy to imagine some violent sequel to j6 if he's evil. Thank goodness that the good and righteous intelligence community had their agents out there making trouble so the real move couldn't be executed. It's nonsense all of it.
@thatguyoverthere@cjd@freemo@georgetakei Higher standard? How many people have you raped? If the number is lower than one (without going to jail), maybe you should not try to play in this kind of game. Sexual rape, murder by starvation, one of those for sure.. i agree on the "nearly everyone in congress", but why defend that orange thing you have nothing in common with? Or do you?
@freemo@georgetakei Interesting. I’m a bit surprised that you fell for the “mocking a crippled person” claim. The others I’m not familiar with except for the lying, which I agree with you on, though likely not to the same degree as you.
Evil people who are cruel and abusive to other deserve to loose everything.
Trump is a man who has used his power to mock a crippled person, deny black people homes specifically and explicitly for being black, lied and stolen and cheated. When bad people loose it reminds me there is fairness in the world and that makes me happy.
When i saw the video he seemed to make motions that mocked the man and his specific disability (his motions were similar to that of the disabled man)... and it isnt motions he makes when he mocks or talks about other people...
Whats the counter argument?
Bear in mind even if we find excuses for 20% of what he does that still leaves the other 80% so I dont needt o rely on any one thing being true as long as most or some is true its enough for me to dislike him as a president and a business man.
@admitsWrongIfProven@cjd@freemo@georgetakei here's the thing. Ibjust don't believe the hype. There are 2 realities (more really but for simplicity sake). In one version everything the media reports about trump is true and not political. In the other the media is part of the establishment and hates anything that threatens established power (in spite of attempts to appear revolutionary). Much of what they say is politically motivated and steeped in misinformation.
You can be mad that he says things out loud, but let's not pretend it isn't the same things many people think quietly to themselves or say to their friends when the camera isn't running. Personally I'd rather know the people in power are being honest about their beliefs (not saying trump is always honest just that complaining he is brash seems like you prefer the friendly lie over the painful truth). As far as crime goes I don't think he has been convicted of any crimes and I'm fairly any crimes he's been accused of in the media are hot air. Meanwhile our current president has conflicts of interest regarding Ukraine and China. He used his position to extort control over another country and bragged about it to the media. Everyone cheered. He has been lying to the public since the 80s when he claimed to have been much higher educated than he is. He is proud of his involvement in the PATRIOT ACT. The media is very careful to avoid the many land mines that biden had around him, but let's all talk about how trump allegedly said the n word in the 60s or 70s.
@thatguyoverthere@cjd@freemo@georgetakei Sorry for the long wait, here's my take: While most politicians on a country level seem to be corrupt without fail in most countries, at least most try to hide it, indicating some sense of wrongdoing. Trump specifically seemed very open, in sexist comments and quite open with his scams.
While criminal politicians are a danger, i find open lawlessness without punishment even more dangerous - it establishes that they can do whatever they want.
I notice similar here in germany, where they increasingly just shrug and go on when caught.