Secret CIA source claims Russia rigged 2016 election

This is true, but it doesn’t remotely explain how other (often bigger and better) billionaires are ignored and hand-waved aside, while Trump is worshiped like the (nearly literal) golden calf that he is.

Most billionaires don’t crave the spotlight the way Trump does. Indeed, a lot of billionaires actively avoid it.

Yeah, the above. There are a few billionaires that actively crave the spotlight, like Cuban, Musk, and maybe Buffet. Most others seem to reluctantly put themselves out there only when necessary (c.f., Gates, Jobs, Murdoch), and the vast majority jealously guard their privacy.

Trump seems to be largely unique in that he just can’t live without being in the papers.

Sure, but my point was: why are these other billionaire’s stances ignored? Cuban turns against Trump and everyone just shrugs… even though Cuban is far more successful than Trump.

People like Trump not just because he’s rich but because he’s a rich asshole. His obnoxiousness is a feature, not a bug, and can be parsed as any number of things: “Making America tough,” “Sticking it to liberal snowflakes,” “Shaking up the establishment elites,” “Standing up to radical Islam,” “Fighting for the common man,” whatever. I think underneath all of that there is some beta-dog shit going on whereby pure inarticulate aggression is perceived as strength.

To Trump’s fans, it doesn’t matter that Obama actually killed thousands of ISIS and terrorist types. Because his demeanor was calm and at times conciliatory, he came across as appeaser/egghead/milquetoast at best (traitor/closet muslim at worst). When Trump said “we’re gonna bomb the shit out of ISIS,” his base cheered, ignoring the fact that Obama was actually doing precisely that. Hell, they were probably mainly tickled just by his saying “shit.”

Sorry to Godwin yet again, but people didn’t go for A.H. because he was a nice guy. They went for him because he was a pitbull. He was their pitbull. (Or so they thought.)

I think mostly because they are not “out” there like Trump is. And remember that Trump is a TV star. I’ve never watched a single episode of the The Apprentice, but at one point in time it was one of the most watched shows on TV, and in it Trump was set up to look like an all-powerful, wise, and decisive father-figure who sat on his Boardroom Throne and dispensed rewards or retribution before retiring to his gold-plated home to (presumably) have wild sex with his gorgeous model wife.

That image is pressed into a LOT of American’s brains, while Mark Cuban is just… I dunno, he owns a sports team, right?

Bingo. I think you nailed it. I mean, the most vociferous support for Trump comes from a group that sees itself as disempowered, disenfranchised, and just overall dissed. No one on either side has really reached out in the past to help this group develop the tools or outlook to translate disaffection into productive political energy, so, yeah, you get this. The same dynamic explains why people look up to pimps, drug dealers, and thugs of all sorts I suppose.

I have a friend on Facebook who confirms this literally. She’s never worked a day in her life, Trust fund baby I believe. Stayed in school til she was 30, has been skiing since. When the subject of Trump came up and I asked him if she wasn’t a little concerned about the things he was saying she said, “He’s a very successful business man who has made billions of dollars in his life.”

As hilariously disgraceful and tone deaf as that is, his Twitter feed takes an interesting turn in the hours that follow.

https://twitter.com/jasoninthehouse/status/832654986907512834

https://twitter.com/jasoninthehouse/status/832658601483186177

https://twitter.com/jasoninthehouse/status/832700766389297152

The biggest rat in the ship is starting to eye the mooring ropes.

So latest in twitterland is that Trump told KT McFarland to pick her new and she is choosing John Bolton. Just who we need to run the NSC in this fucking circus.

Still waiting for Papa John to get his cabinet appointment.

Petraeus has now refused the offer to be NSA.
So lol.

Alex Jones is getting ready to rip his shirt off.

To be fair, I’m sure a term of his probation was that he wouldn’t hang out with felons.

Zing. /thread

In before he just has his son in law do it.

I hear Baron is good at the cyber.

How much do you think NSA pays? I still need a job



Hmm…

http://www.irsn.fr/EN/newsroom/News/Pages/20170213_Detection-of-radioactive-iodine-at-trace-levels-in-Europe-in-January-2017.aspx