It’s amazing (no, it’s entirely to be expected) that ruling “righteously” is indistinguishable from tyranny and kleptocracy.
And so in that, I said, I want to win. I want Christians to have power. And with that power, I want it to be wielded righteously.
What does that mean? It means crushing our enemies and rewarding our friends.
There’s a good reason for that: he has no fucking idea how to do anything other than convince rubes to buy whatever he’s selling. He was the ultimate used car salesman, the guy who, if he wasn’t born into money, would have been scrambling à la Glengarry Glen Ross to move worthless time shares on unsuspecting clients.
He tricked contractors into doing work he couldn’t pay, tricked investors into letting him have casinos he couldn’t run, and tricked voters into electing him into an office he couldn’t do. And now he’s trying one last time.
It’s like one of those cheesy movies, where the old hand con man tries one last coup, one step ahead of the creditors. It’s our job now to deny him his Hollywood ending, his hoped-for season finale.
We’d all be better served if we focused our animosity on him, not each other (we’re all in this together) 
In my anecdotal observances recently I have been hearing a small number of christians saying they won’t vote for trump a second time (they will not vote this election) and part of the reasoning is because they have already gotten some of what they want: a favorable SC and overturned abortion. Now they no longer have to bend the knee to the dictator and feel guilty about voting for a piece of shit.
Then I heard this quote from trump and it sounds like he also knows some christians are less motivated to vote now. He is trying to change the reasoning not to vote into a good reason to vote.
Of course it also works as a fascist dog whistle too… Win win.
Exactly. I knew some folks in 2016 who said they didn’t like him, but always voted for the anti-abortion candidate. Hopefully those people will no longer feel the need to vote this time.
*Insert all the “This” gifs
It’s much more than that, though. It’s not just another con. He means this shit. And he’s pushed out everyone who would try to stop him. There won’t be any John Kellys or Rex Tillersons in any hypothetical 2nd T**** administration.
It is an attempted fascist takeover, plain as day. There is no need for an haruspex to make an appearance and “interpret” his fascist babblings.
We’d all be better served if we focused our animosity on him, not each other (we’re all in this together)
not sure why this post was flagged for moderation, but here’s the reply…
it is important to offer correction rather than hope that things work out. i have no animosity towards folks with opposing opinions! that is what forums are for.
I think this statement distills much of the problem. Your emphasis has been sides and like/dislike. People who’ve been pushing back have been emphasizing evidence.
You’ve spent this thread telling people to ignore evidence, but it’s all OK because we’re on the same side and dislike the same people. You’re making an appeal to tribalism in opposition to a shared reality.
I can work with someone who I disagree with, if we at least agree upon a shared reality. I can’t get past even friends or family who try to tell me that my lived experience is invalid. Why would I let that slide with you?
OK but I am only willing to accept a candidate that is absolutely willing to clearly and consistently communicate that they do not intend to make voting redundant once they occupy the office for whatever unspecified amount of time.
I believe lovely people of this country and the ugly ones too ALL deserve a candidate who is not even going to joke around about becoming a dictator.
I cannot take further blah blah blah about the things Trump openly states in good faith frankly because they are a distraction to this more important underlying fact about the wholly unqualified, morally reprehensible, wannabe dictator that is Donald Trump.
I do not see any point in having any illusions about what he is, what he says, and why he says it and I’m out of patience because we needed to be talking about him this way in 2015.
I truly believe the best thing any of us can do is take him at his ugliest and most uncharitable read and run with it because it is not OUR job to salvage their shitty candidate in public discourse especially since nothing speaks as well to Donald Trump’s ill intentions as much his actions do.
Oh, that I don’t deny. My point is he has no idea how, he’s just a fucking salesman. He’s sure someone else will figure it out, and there will be enough scumbag sycophants willing to use him for their own ends, but the only thing he knows how to do is to hard sell, grind down resistance until he gets what he wants.
He was already president once, and he has essentially taken over the GOP and has the backing of some powerful people. He’s a REAL threat to all of us. This “he’s just a salesman, so we can safely dismiss him” ignores what he has already done and will do again if he gets into power… that is a very REAL possibility…
And he doesn’t need to “know how” because he has a whole bunch of people who have written up that plan for him and are going to put it into action.
So, to echo @DukeTrout - he DOES mean this shit, and he WILL implement this shit if he gets into power. In fact, even if he loses, they are going to try and use force to install him in power.
And that’s what Project 2025 and a handful of think tanks have been doing over the last couple of years. In detail.
The problem is, there is no one true absolute way of knowing anything and yes people do have different opinions and that’s what this is all about. If someone has a different but you say they are not seeing reality because it is different than your opinion that’s not so good.
My point is, it’s all kind of ridiculous to be like, hey, that’s that guy who thinks trump is saying something monstrous, but it is a little bit different than the monstrous thing that we think he’s saying. Get him!
I think I’ve pretty much exhausted everything I can possibly say about this topic. Moving on. I wish all well.
That cuts both ways, you know. If we’re all on the same side why has it been so important to you to keep insisting the rest of us don’t trust our ears?
Oh crap, I didn’t want anyone to think you can safely dismiss a salesman! I mean he’s pouring all of his energy into the sale, into the swindle. And that makes him even more dangerous.
The reason why it makes him even more dangerous is because without having any real plan for afterwards, he’s unfettered in lying, cheating and stealing his way into closing the deal.
So my point is, don’t think too hard about how he’s going to implement it. Stop him before he even gets that far, and turn this election into a landslide for Kamala!
No one is “getting you”… we disagree with your assessment about Trump’s statement.
He DOES have a plan! Again, project 2025 is the plan. It’s a fascist, theocratic plan.
Yes, we should think hard about it and talk about it because that’s how we get the message out about what could happen in another Trump term… That’s how we get the landslide, not by ignoring that stuff, but by educating people about it. That actually is the key to ensuring she wins. Just saying “he’s a salesman” isn’t going to cut it. That happened in 2016, and the danger he posed was not highlighted nearly enough. He poses a larger threat now, and letting people know how much of a threat he poses (like, that he intends to end democracy, as demonstrated by his actual words) is important.
