Total speculation here but I have wondered about Trump's seemingly erratic and counterproductive behavior and come to a possible explanation. Trump has always leveraged his low-information MAGA loyalist's outrage, and so jail time would be a highest emotional trigger. I assume that he thinks that if he gets a jail sentence it will only be for a few days, and that is exactly what he wants. What's a few days to lock in their anger and vote and maybe even win over a few on the sidelines Republicans who will fall for the whole "unjust prosecution" propaganda? He is known to be a big reader of Mein Kampf and perhaps he sees himself as a bit of populist Hitler who can rise to power from his arrest and by appealing to working class grievance, authoritarian nationalism, and patriotism in the form of othering the opposition or make-believe existential threats.

It would make sense given the state he is in that he HAS to win the election to escape serious jail time and he thinks he can do that if he cobbles together the votes (and also has his insider operatives and foreign agents work to game the system) through a hodgepodge of:

1) just straight stupid people
2) rich Americans who want their corporations unregulated, the government oversight eradicated, and personal tax benefits
3) religious fanatics who have twisted their version of Christianity to conform to MAGA and a Trump Messiah narrative
4) white supremacists
5) libertarians and conspiracy theorists who see Trump as amusing and like his middle finger to everything
6) the right-wing media consumers who soak in own-the-Libs messaging and are not voting for anything, just against their tribe losing
7) the old and out of touch who think they are still voting for Reagan's GOP
8) those pockets of machismo in Latin/Black/Asian America who see Trump as "strong" and fits into their own cultural patriarchy/misogyny
9) those itching for the exercise of power, violent or political, who want to ramp up their anger and to use a prosecuted or jailed leader as their excuse for whatever havoc they thrill to wreak

I have to believe that while this is Trump's best option, that there are still enough decent Americans and guard rails in the system for this to fail. But this is a very tenuous hope. The above formulation is the same essential composition of those that give rise to authoritarianism and fascism and that tear down democracy. When "true believers" start ignoring the injustice they support and instead believe that they serve a greater good; or that oppressing others is protecting their own liberty or the future of their identity; or when they stop seeing their ideology as an identity (not a choice but a truth that must be defended); or when one looks to rule rather than represent; or one gains the capacity to enter the realm of conspiracy and cult and the cognitive dissonance of bending reality and facts to conform to belief, when these things happen, then there are major problems. And right now, even on these boards for example, we have major problems.

"He is known to be a big reader of Mein Kampf …."

….but only the pop up, scratch and sniff edition.





Some say he will live forever. The fact he may be the Antichrist makes that a real possibility. Others point at his dad, Fred, living to age 93. I discount that since Fred was not 100 pounds overweight. With all the stress he is under, there is a decent chance that his sludge clogged black heart will explode like Letterman tossing a watermelon off a 5 story building. I just hope they deny him a state funeral and just plant him next to Ivana's weed covered grave located a sliced 3 wood from the 1st tee box at Bedminster CC.

concordtom said:

---

The only thing we haven't seen directly is that which he's publicly mused about - public murder, or shooting someone on 5th Avenue...This guy would love a civil war in his name. He is incredibly dangerous.

---

I know sentences like this seem absurd on the face and would get immediate pushback by so-called conservatives or those who throw around stupidity like TDS. But I firmly believe that a second Trump term, or possibly even a contested loss, would push America in a totalitarian direction and we would see shootings on 5th avenue for strictly political reasons and other outcrops of political violence and terrorism committed by the MAGA cult. We would see opposition politically persecuted under the lie that "you did it to us." It's another one of those things that sounds alarmist now, and potentially prescient and obvious two years from now and that current Trump supporters will scoff at and say "never" and then when it happens deny saying that it was ever denied, ever wrong to begin with, and offer up their defense/justification for it then.

It's shocking to look back at BI before Trump was president and the fears of those who voted against him largely come true, and those who supported him plainly saying that those fears were ridiculous and that they too would not support that...and now it's worse and they still support him.

When I used to post these macro looks at Trump or other political issues (attempting to be objective and at a distance), I would get mostly positive feedback from those who agreed and disagreed. They would say I had made fair points and brought a level head to the debate. Now, if I post it's almost 50/50 agreement and disagreement, and the disagreement is adamant, meme-driven, accusatory, unwilling to concede any points, personal, and tribal. I don't think I am the one who changed.

tequila4kapp said:

---

LOL at "the lie" line. That was legitimately funny.

The part that is not funny is that I agree with you that we are headed to civil unrest and violence. Although I disagree that it would be one sided, as you describe. The BLM riots and antisemitic violence we are seeing today demonstrates there are extremists on both sides who are unstable and willing to resort to violence. Part of the danger is people only seeing the other side as evil and capable of such things.

---

I can tell you are primarily a FoxNews viewer because you are imprinted by "BLM riots". They played that stuff on a loop, with outrage. The focus of those days was not on WHY there were protests but the audacity that people could protest and cause damage.

But since I was not so psychologically affected, please recount for me the horror those times - so I can understand you.

Because when I hear "BLM riots" I think of all the black guys killed by police and of that dumbass punk who showed up to resist the protest and ended up shooting others. Rittenwhatever.

I appreciate the honest response.
And that you are from Portland, I have to totally back down on this discussion because I don't know what happened in Portland during those days.

That said, I can add that I record all the daily and weekly news shows via YouTubeTV's unlimited DVR (thank you, Okaydo!) and I scan how the various networks present the news.

And during the George Floyd era, all the networks (cnn, msnbc, abc, cbs, nbc, pbs) were active in dialogue about subconscious bias and how this type of thing (cops wrongfully killing blacks) has been happening over and over and over again.

As a white guy, I actually spent a good amount of time reviewing myself: my life, my interactions with blacks, and subconscious journey. And I thought a lot of America did and found it instructive!

Yet, when I shifted over to review Fox, or read my cousin from TX's texts to me, the focus was totally different. Rather than hear BLM as a call for "hey, stop shooting us, we matter, too", these channels were all:

"Oh my God, what about White Lives?!"
Or
"If your lives matter so much, then why do you shoot each other so often?"

I have a step brother in VA who I actually got into an argument with over BLM and inner city black on black crime. That was upsetting!!

The Foxnews talking heads equated BLM to a threat on white lives, twisted it to become an opportunity to criticize all things black, never once stopping to understand generational wealth, the historic destruction of black individuals, black families, and black communities.

As if the institution of slavery wasn't enough, we brought in Jim Crow laws, and all these 60 years since the civil rights movement we still bask in insults when we/they get a shot.

I have found all that to be pretty disgusting.

Tell me, did you follow the Ahmaud Arbery case? That was pretty damned amazing!!!

All white people should be forced to watch that case.

It's sad, not only because a man was hunted down and killed, but because we could see white people making snap mental mistakes, repeatedly - based on subconscious racism.

Thus, indeed, I say:
BLACK
LIVES
MATTER
!!!!!!!!!!!

But, tell me, what happened in Portland?
Why did we start talking about BLM riots???

concordtom said:

---

I appreciate the honest response.
And that you are from Portland, I have to totally back down on this discussion because I don't know what happened in Portland during those days.

That said, I can add that I record all the daily and weekly news shows via YouTubeTV's unlimited DVR (thank you, Okaydo!) and I scan how the various networks present the news.

And during the George Floyd era, all the networks (cnn, msnbc, abc, cbs, nbc, pbs) were active in dialogue about subconscious bias and how this type of thing (cops wrongfully killing blacks) has been happening over and over and over again.

As a white guy, I actually spent a good amount of time reviewing myself: my life, my interactions with blacks, and subconscious journey. And I thought a lot of America did and found it instructive!

Yet, when I shifted over to review Fox, or read my cousin from TX's texts to me, the focus was totally different. Rather than hear BLM as a call for "hey, stop shooting us, we matter, too", these channels were all:

"Oh my God, what about White Lives?!"
Or
"If your lives matter so much, then why do you shoot each other so often?"

I have a step brother in VA who I actually got into an argument with over BLM and inner city black on black crime. That was upsetting!!

The Foxnews talking heads equated BLM to a threat on white lives, twisted it to become an opportunity to criticize all things black, never once stopping to understand generational wealth, the historic destruction of black individuals, black families, and black communities.

As if the institution of slavery wasn't enough, we brought in Jim Crow laws, and all these 60 years since the civil rights movement we still bask in insults when we/they get a shot.

I have found all that to be pretty disgusting.

Tell me, did you follow the Ahmaud Arbery case? That was pretty damned amazing!!!

All white people should be forced to watch that case.

It's sad, not only because a man was hunted down and killed, but because we could see white people making snap mental mistakes, repeatedly - based on subconscious racism.

Thus, indeed, I say:
BLACK
LIVES
MATTER
!!!!!!!!!!!

But, tell me, what happened in Portland?
Why did we start talking about BLM riots???

---

Maybe you have too much time on your hands? People who watch/read news and scan social media all the time are doing massive damage to their mental health.

You want to understand people? Associate with them as humans do. Go on a road trip across the country and meet real people and not the one dimensional caricatures here or on the news for tribalism leading to anger leading to clicks. Volunteer at a homeless shelter and serve them food, eat lunch with them. Want to learn about inner city kids? Volunteer at the nearby Boys and Girls club.

Talk to someone other than you cousin in TX as a representative of a conservative voter.

Do life. Don't just observe it. And you will find that people in real life dealings are not nearly as warped or hateful as they are here or in the news.

The tRumps have a litigation playbook. They are experienced white collar criminals, although decidedly ones lacking in intellect:

54 things Donald Trump Jr. couldn't 'recall' or 'remember' in his testimony - The Washington Post


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/05/16/54-things-donald-trump-jr-couldnt-recall-or-remember-in-his-testimony/

Can you avoid a perjury charge by saying you don't recall? | Mitchell DeClerck, PLLC


https://www.mitchelldeclerck.com/blog/2023/01/can-you-avoid-a-perjury-charge-by-saying-you-dont-recall/

To the American public: "We are business genius who should be trusted with your future, running the economy, and the only ones able to keep you safe. Everyone else is an idiot."

Under oath: "We are idiots. We don't know anything. We have no knowledge of business. We don't even run our own companies."

The facts: Bankruptcies, fraud, increased deficit, exaggerated wealth, lies, nepotism, incompetence, and embezzlement. Hmmm, seems like the facts are pretty much in line with the testimony.