Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump

[Mark]

Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump

If you haven’t the time or interest to plow through such a long article just read the Introduction and Conclusion.

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Mark,

I read the whole thing, including the footnotes.

I could quibble with a detail here or there, but your essay is the finest moral defense of Donald Trump from a Randian perspective I have read anywhere.

Congratulations on a stellar effort of thinking, sourcing and writing.

If anyone familiar with Rand's ideas is interested in looking at many of the issues surrounding Donald Trump, but suffer from cognitive dissonance due to all the conflicting views in O-Land and confused about ARI attacks on Trump, I cannot recommend your essay highly enough.

There is a lot you present that is simply impossible to refute. Not even Harry Binswanger was able to refute you. Instead, he said you were right.

(For readers who may be curious about this Binswanger thing, it's true. There is a link here on OL that discusses when and where, but I won't give it here. The same Binswanger quote is in the footnotes to the essay, so let that be an enticement to go there and read one fine piece of reasoning.)

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

6 hours ago, Mark said:

Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump

If you haven’t the time or interest to plow through such a long article just read the Introduction and Conclusion.

Trump did not start with a "few million" nor has he ended up with "ten billion."

--Brant

that's when I stopped reading

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

18 minutes ago, Brant Gaede said:

Trump did not start with a "few million" nor has he ended up with "ten billion."

. . .

that's when I stopped reading

Brant,

Bull.

You don't "know" one way or the other. The only thing you know about Trump's wealth and history is what you plop on your plate like the mashed potatoes at a buffet from the mainstream churn. If it sounds good to you, you pour gravy on it. If it doesn't, you take a pass on the steamed veggies.

The truth is, you're just too lazy to read the damn essay because it doesn't bash Trump. 

   

Michael

[Mark]

Certainly don’t want to turn off readers in the very first paragraph.  Trump is now worth “several billion.”  And added to the footnote: Also in dispute [besides how much he inherited to start with] is how much he is worth now.  Estimates range from 4.5 to 10 billion dollars.  Considering that most of it is invested, doubtless the amount depends on how it’s counted and it also fluctuates.  Anyway, he’s rich ...

[PDS]

Okay, I don't really get the Jewish references or the Froggy stuff, but I think this is a pretty strong brief--maybe the strongest I've seen--in favor of Trump, and certainly you've landed a strong series of jabs to the chin of YB.  Maybe YB shouldn't be trying to punch above his weight class.  Or pick a different sport.   

I also appreciate that you appreciate that Trump's demeanor is, at least, a cause for concern.  The stylistic concern is only that,  i.e., a mere concern,  if if is only stylistic.   Unfortunately, I think it's more than a style issue.    Trump seems a little unhinged to me.   I hope I am wrong, or the coming landslide may become a Landslide.  

[BaalChatzaf]

1 hour ago, PDS said:

Okay, I don't really get the Jewish references or the Froggy stuff, but I think this is a pretty strong brief--maybe the strongest I've seen--in favor of Trump, and certainly you've landed a strong series of jabs to the chin of YB.  Maybe YB shouldn't be trying to punch above his weight class.  Or pick a different sport.   

I also appreciate that you appreciate that Trump's demeanor is, at least, a cause for concern.  The stylistic concern is only that,  i.e., a mere concern,  if if is only stylistic.   Unfortunately, I think it's more than a style issue.    Trump seems a little unhinged to me.   I hope I am wrong, or the coming landslide may become a Landslide.  

 Trump is a mannerless boorish lout. What you see is what you will get.

[Brant Gaede]

On 4/26/2016 at 1:50 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Brant,

Bull.

You don't "know" one way or the other. The only thing you know about Trump's wealth and history is what you plop on your plate like the mashed potatoes at a buffet from the mainstream churn. If it sounds good to you, you pour gravy on it. If it doesn't, you take a pass on the steamed veggies.

The truth is, you're just too lazy to read the damn essay because it doesn't bash Trump. 

  [Sic]

Michael

If it had bashed him I wouldn't have read it, with more emphasis on the not reading it. I don't need to be briefed on Trump negatives. They are boring.

His "Trump" brand name is part of his fortune. In accounting that's called "Goodwill." It cuts his so-called 8 - 9 billion fortune by more than half. Since I read financial articles everyday, I'm regularly informed by people trying to make sense of him and his money. His real net worth is somewhere between 1/2 to 4 billion. I discount the low figure much more than the high figure. I've also read he inherited 400 million. That could well be inflated by someone trying to claim he didn't grow all that much off that base.

--Brant

Cruz scares me more than Trump--I only want Cruz to get the nomination to watch Trump go ape shit (not a good enough reason by itself)

I went back and did a quick skip read which was easy as I skipped all the ARI bashing--the one interesting remark was Trump was pulverizing both political parties: WRONGO!--just the Republican (Trump is a crypto-Democrat, but--however--so was Eisenhower: I knew Ike; Ike was a friend of mine [lie alert!]; Donald is no Ike)