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neogodless 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think many who dislike Trump (myself included) don't really want to think of him as having skills of any sort.

But I think it's more so that he does absolutely have certain skills such as persuasion or, some argue, charisma. He just doesn't have any of that pesky morality or sense of responsibility to the greater good, the entire citizenship, etc. that often gets in the way of such ambitions.

So we're left with a master manipulator who will hurt a great number of people, maybe benefit a few if necessary, but ultimately a subset of people think he's genius and a net positive. And I can't help but think that the only ones who think he's a "net positive" are either personally benefiting, or have been persuaded to believe it, despite reality painting a different picture.

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randallsquared 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I dunno if the "just paraphrasing [...] Fox" works as an explanation for success. It sounds like you believe he just keeps unaccountably stumbling into piles of cash and power?

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ZeroGravitas 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Have we given up on him being a master persuader already?

He was literally born into wealth before he could even stumble.

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terminalshort 39 minutes ago | parent [-]

As were many hundreds of thousands of other men, and yet Trump is in the Oval office and they are not.

	▲	notahacker 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		An ageing Biden and Dubya have also occupied that office and they don't exactly strike me as "master persuader" types either. Nobody is accusing Trump of lacking ambition or charisma, and there's also no doubt the party machine that backed him is pretty sophisticated. But there's a difference between being a "master persuader" able to convince almost anyone of almost anything and being a shameless braggart in front of an electorate that's unusually impressed by a celebrity's overconfidence and wealth and is a lot less shameless about appealing to their chauvinistic attitudes than predecessors.

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paulryanrogers 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Trump was born rich to a father who taught him cruelty and insulated him from consequences. It was a golden ticket.

He still managed to go bankrupt 6 times, and couldn't get financing. He had to resort to selling his name or getting money from one of the most corrupt banks in the world.

He's rumored to have been despised in the NY social scene since his youth and up to the present.

He's been accused of rape by his own ex-wife and SA by more than 20 others. He bought pageants so beautiful women would have to interact with him. His longest relationship is with an illegal migrant (possibly trafficked) escort whose visa he had to pay for.

He gained no following during his time at the head of the Reform party.

Since 2015 his political base, like Nixon's, is largely built on white grievance and fear. It's incapable of building much once in power.

Now the Trump family accumulates money by selling power, hot air, and fleecing fools.