Or karma is real and that's why Trump is president... [ducks and runs]
It may be collective karma for not learning the lessons of GW Bush. Or not learning the collective karma about racism and too many blindly ran the wrong direction when a racist ran after the first black president?
Whether Russia is doing this or not, it seems the electorate doesn't rank the Russia story very high at all.
Immigration Surges to Top of Most Important Problem List
The "Situation with Russia" doesn't even rank above 1%.
One of the problems with these sorts of questions is few polls ask follow up questions with the "why". For years the ACA/Obamacare polled below 50% approval and the Republicans thought the public was on their side when they got the reigns of power only to find out that a fair chunk of those who did not approve of the ACA didn't think it went far enough.
I feel more comfortable socializing here than I did with colleagues when a full-time teacher. Part of that is because teaching about foreign governments and international relations is usually a multi-disciplinary enterprise. I learned more from historians, philosophers, economists, geographers, etc., than fellow teachers of government. Hence I am pleasantly surprised by the enlightened discourse here, but I shouldn't be. It is possible my prejudice that the wealthy are insulated from Christian concern for the poor is misplaced. (I assume, and hope, you are all wealthier than we.)
Probably not I. I make a reasonable living, but I'm far from rich. From observation I've seen different types of rich people. There are two types of self made wealthy, those who happened to get wealthy doing something to create something new and has some benefit for the world, and those who got rich ripping people off (including those who found a legal loophole to do it). The latter tend to be all about themselves and the former tend to still have middle class values. Most came from the middle class and still see them as their peers.
Inherited wealthy can go either way. Some are entitled twits who think the world should bow down to them because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth and others learned somewhere along the way that they were born with a gift and it's their duty, not their privilege. The latter are more likely to do good with their wealth.
Also there are different flavors of Christianity who choose to believe different things. Calvanism took the idea in a very different direction from the Catholics and the Protestants who didn't move as far from Catholicism in their practices (mostly Church of England and Martin Luther's branch).
I'm not at all convinced Trump is successful in any way. He was successful in having a wealthy father. In manhood (and I use the term loosely) he darkens everything he touches. Where would he be without bankruptcy laws? Signs of success? His electoral success depends on the weakness of others, both his supporters, his opponents, ignorance of voters, lazy reporters, venal business tycoons, and the list goes on.
Karma implies consequences for one's actions. What is it Jefferson said, "I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just?" My wife prays for the benefit of others and thus earns possible credit toward her sins in past lives. I can't imagine Trump praying; that would acknowledge existence of a higher power. That's really sad. We must pray for him, non-believers as well. Who is it who said "they know not what they do?"
To get somewhere in the same universe as investing, pray for the shorts too. Other losers.
Trump has one and only one talent. He can convince a certain demographic of people to buy whatever he's selling. At absolutely everything else he's a compete idiot. If he hadn't been born rich, he probably would have been a successful used car dealer at one of those places that advertises financing for those who struggle to afford a car.
I forced myself to really listen to him talk a few weeks ago. First I listened to the words and it was incomprehensible word salad. Some people have transcribed his speeches and his incoherence is really on display if you read it. But then I tuned out the words and listened to his cadence.
When someone like Barack Obama speaks, he's either reading from a teleprompter where he keeps up his cadence because the words are in front of him, or he speaks like Elon Musk often does with a lot of pauses, "ums" and such. Both Elon and Obama do it because they are actually trying to think and talk at the same time.
When Trump reads off a teleprompter, he's boring as watching grass grow because he's not in his element. When he's freewheeling, his cadence is that of someone who is supremely confident in what he's saying. He never pauses for words. He mispeaks all the time, but covers it by saying "and
the right term" or doesn't bother to correct at all. He projects the air of someone who knows what he's talking about even when it's obviously utter horse pucky.
At this point its a pretty sure bet he's a Malignant Narcissist (the worst form of Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Giving someone like that power is like feeding a mogwai after midnight (the movie Gremlins), but a narcissist that far gone is absolutely sure of themselves. At this point I would not be surprised if Trump thinks of himself as a god. Literally.
I have had a brush with a personality disorder and my SO has had a couple of family members (one blood the other by marriage) with them. They are rare which hides their danger because they do not think like "normal" people. Their personality disorder warps their universe around the filters of their condition and they act on these weird perceptions.
Rick Wilson says, "remember everything Trump touches dies!"
Correct, except for 21 states who have not bound electors.
FairVote - States that bind electors
I hate the idea of binding electors. It's a corruption of the intent of the body in the first place. They have become a rubber stamp of the general election result. Originally the president was not elected by popular vote because the framers of the constitution thought the general public were idiots. But while I do like the popular vote, the electoral college should serve as a backstop to prevent a nut job from becoming president.
After this mess is over it will be time for some new laws and a constitutional amendment with some new requirements for being president. I think there should be two more requirements:
1) To become president a person must obtain the highest level of security clearance, and they must maintain it. If they do anything that would cause any other federal employee to lose their clearance, they are out.
2) Public service: to be president a person must have held for at least x years one or a combination of: elected office with a constituency at least as large as the smallest congressional district in the country, a high level appointed office (cabinet post), or served as flag rank in the military.
Some of the powers of the president need to be reigned in by statute. Right now the president is allowed to declassify anything at any time. They should still have broad powers to do so, but must do it in writing ahead of time and a reason must be given for the change. The Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate can review them at any time for any reason and if they feel its invalid, they can send it to a judge to determine if the president's security clearance should be lifted.
If Trump had held any kind of public office before running for president, he probably would have gotten nowhere because all his opponents could point to the poor job he did. He was able to sluff off a lot of the criticisms because he had no record in office.
