Quote Originally Posted by Philippus Flavius Homovallumus View Post
I meant, unlike Obama he's found a way to fit Churchill and MLK into the Oval Office - which apparently Obama was unable to do.



Not at all

As I understand it prior to running the US the only thing Obama had run was the Harvard Law Review (was that the one?) as a student. I recall Obama's first election when it was him against John McCain and an American friend here at the time observed that people who have only been Senators, as opposed to Governors, make bad Presidents.

Being a Legislator is rather different to being the Chief Executive of the United States Corporation.

Has Trump been an unmitigated success?

No - but he has had successes as an Executive and he worked out, unlike Clinton, how to appeal to the broadest possible coalition of American voters. He shattered the "Democratic Firewall" that' was supposed to give them an in-built advantage.

Does he say some off - colour things?

Yes.

However, if you look at what he says on torture, what he actually said is Intelligence Chiefs tell him they think it's effective and therefore he thinks it should be available. As opposed to former US Presidents who would swear the US NEVER uses torture whilst in a langley basement somewhere someone is having his fingers broken.

At least he's honest.

He's also demonstrating a number of things by following the advice of his spooks:

1. Delegation of responsibility to experts.

2. Backing up your subordinates, in public.

These are usually considered positive qualities in a leader - except in this case the issue is the use of torture.

Overall, I see no evidence he's "stupid", more that he just doesn't care what he detractors think and he gives unfiltered opinions.

You know a Liberal Comedian recently said she didn't want to interview Melania Trump because she can barely speak English? She apparently speaks six languages, but she's Slovenian and therefore clearly Euro-trash.

There's a word for that sort of opinion... can't put my finger on it, though...
You're thinking of the R-word, but I'd attribute it more to pseudo-HIGNFY "wit", that affects some kind of supposedly intelligent world weariness and cynicism, and dismisses people with one liners. The difference is, the HIGNFY crew do their research. These would be political wits don't, yet dismiss expert opinions with a single line, usually in the format: "They [insert activity here]. How can we take them seriously?". The peak of this isn't some liberal comedian, but that Tory politician, Michael Gove.

"People in this country have had enough of experts."

The problem is liberal democracy at its extreme. People assert their rights (liberalism), but accept no responsibility. They rest on the knowledge that their vote is worth as much as any expert's with decades of experience in their field (democracy). The problem isn't solely confined to the Left or the Right.