Could be a case of TFG swallowing Russian propaganda, but it could also be a case of him being stuck to the eighties, either never progressing past that period, or (I think more likely) sinking back into his “golden years” as his mind withers.
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Yeah, I doubt he could articulate it as well as you have… but more or less, a whole life having not faced consequences, his natural reaction is “was that wrong”?
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Or it could be a case of him having financial ties to Russia that would destabilize his entire businesses were he to lose them?
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Also entirely possible! Or, quite likely, a combination of all three.
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I didn’t get the “we shouldn’t worry” vibe from this post, just an assertion that he’s a stupid man. Perhaps not the stupidest man on earth, but definitely stupid.
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Hmmm… again, though, I don’t think it’s him thinking he did anything wrong, hence naivete… it’s him believing he’s in the right no matter what he does. Because of WHO he is, he’s always in the right. Because he sees that society is built on those parameters, and he’s not entirely wrong about that. Part of the reason he has thrown in his lot with the far right, is because they agree on that point - that this society we live in has historically protected rich white men at all of our expenses, and that the shift to change that since the late 19th century is viewed (by them, by him) as violating the “natural” order of the world.
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Maybe, but I don’t get a vibe that we should be worried about him either? I think that most of us probably believe that “stupidity” means someone can be easily outwitted and is less of a threat than a smart villain… But that’s not really how fascism functions. It’s about force and building up an alternative narrative based on beliefs that contradict reality/expertise/etc.
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As the Italians say, “you’re kicking down an open door”
There’s probably a better word for it, privilege only kinda works, for why he’s surprised to face consequences.
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Hmmm… I’m not sure I agree. There might be other reasons, but the fact that he’s using the exact same tactics he’s used for years to get out of trouble of any kind, and it’s all of a sudden not working for him speaks to his privilege more than any other reason I’d argue. If the entire system has been supporting him until now, and suddenly it’s not (in part because he’s going up against NY State, Fulton Co., and the US government, not contractors or tenants), I think that leans towards him expecting special treatment, because he’s gotten it in the past (for, literally his entire life).
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If many are falling for it, doesn’t that by definition make him a good con artist?
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There’s all those people who think that he’s worth voting for. Who think he’s a iconic servant, who think he stands up for the little guy,
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Do they though? I think a lot of Trump’s base find him amusing, even pretty stupid. But that’s not the point. They’re not identifying with him as a person (he’s an orange buffoon, and they can see that - didn’t Tucker Calrson say he couldn’t stand Trump?). Instead they like him because he represents a wrecking ball, or a way in. He has the capacity to do things they would want to do were they in his position: ban things they don’t like and attack things they don’t understand. Because generations of politicians have not done those things, and they believe it’s high time they did.
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I came here to say just this ^^^
The voters. It’s the voters.
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Thanks for nothing.
This evoked in my mind the picture of a scantly clad TFG swinging on a wrecking ball Miley Cyrus style…
Excuse me while I go to inject bleach in my brain, I’ve heard it might be effective.
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He’s stupid yes, but a privileged stupid, not fundamentally disabled in any way, just intellectually lazy, in a way only the very privileged can be.
But make no mistake, he is surrounded by very smart and capable political operatives who know how to manipulate him.
Unfortunately one of the inherent qualities of democracy is that everyone (who is an adult and not a felon) gets the same vote, regardless of how stupid they are.
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Yes he has no conception that he has (ever) done anything wrong. Although I suspect that you have put more thought into his motivations than he has.
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Probably better to over think him than all the people who don’t put any thought into Trump, who he’s aligned with, and what they’d like to do this country, which is pretty fucking obvious from the time he started running for office in 2015. The assumption that he’s “too stupid” to do any real damage is how we got here. The idea that there is some kind of nth level chess that needs to make a fascist take over possible just doesn’t stand up to historical scrutiny. It’s just another “well, it can’t happen here” way of thinking, and it’s already getting a lot of people hurt…
So… maybe I “over think” it, but at least I’m not dismissing what he’s already done and could do again like some seem to be… I’m really sick of that, given the destruction that’s already happened, and that could be made worse. 
[ETA]
In other words “ha ha, he’s dumb, he couldn’t possibly do a fascism here” is not a great way to think about the actual threat he poses.
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