Everything's a con, and everyone's a con man, according to Trump

I found the tweets in this post to provide a very valuable insight into Trump, and it appears to explain a lot of his motivations:


The crux of it is this:

The one thing that you need to understand about Trump is that he is, at his core, a con man with no empathy.

Therefore, he assumes that all other people are also con men with no empathy, and every exchange of goods and services that exists in the world is, on some level, a con.


This explains soooo much. Once you think of it this way, everything falls into place.

You can see the whole post here. The tweets are at the bottom of the post and the above idea gets fleshed out.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/06/03/why-you-dont-elect-stupid-people-part-infinity/



That's a good commentary, and it outlines why we should not pin our happiness on Democratic wins in November.


Here are the tweets:


  1. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    Trump assumes every transaction in the world — between people, businesses, nation-states, even between two different agencies of the same government — has a winner and a loser, a scammer and a sucker. He believes if you're not ripping someone off, you're getting ripped off.

    Jun 1, 2018
  2. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    From an economist's perspective, this is complete nonsense. Unless there are major information asymmetries or distortions of market power, and often even then, most transactions are generally to the mutual benefit of both parties. Otherwise no deals would ever get made.

    Jun 1, 2018
  3. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    It's not simply that Trump *doesn't* think the Paris Climate Agreement, Iran nuclear deal, TPP, NAFTA, or luxury cars from Germany are a good deal for America. It's that he *can't* think that. It's an alien concept to him that a deal other people want with us could also help us.

    Jun 1, 2018
  4. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    To Trump's mind, the mere fact other countries sought out these deals with us, and that their own economies benefit, is unassailable proof we got ripped off. He can't see the evidence they helped us too. His mind will only cherry-pick potential ways it could be bad for us.

    Jun 1, 2018
  5. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    This is why Trump will never, ever, be able to negotiate with the rest of the world. He doesn't believe in mutual benefit. The second anyone tells him "this is your end of the deal" he'll rip it up. He believes only one party can have an end of the deal, and it shouldn't be him.

    Jun 1, 2018
  6. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    And we're not just screwed on foreign policy, but domestic. This explains his behavior over DACA, spiking two bipartisan deals even though they were what he asked for. He assumed if Democrats were willing to talk, his deal wasn't ripping them off, ergo it would rip him off.

    Jun 1, 2018
  7. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    That implies if Democrats win Congress, we are going to enter an all-out legislative standstill like we've never before seen. Our system is entirely reliant on compromise and compromise isn't compatible with Trump's beliefs. We will struggle to pass even basic reauthorizations.

    Jun 1, 2018
  8. Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan Replying to @fawfulfan

    So yeah: our nightmare is not going to end until we get this pathological con man out of office. He is not just bad at being president, he has a defective way of seeing the world that is not compatible with being president. And we will pay for it.




Tom_Reingold said:
That's a good commentary, and it outlines why we should not pin our happiness on Democratic wins in November.

 Yeah, if the Dems take Congress, I'm not expecting very much at all in the way of legislation. I am hoping that the Dems go nuts on oversight investigations and look under every damn rock.


If the Dems get control of Congress or at least one half of Congress, I don't expect much to get done but at least they prevent a lot of terrible legislation from happening.


yahooyahoo said:
If the Dems get control of Congress or at least one half of Congress, I don't expect much to get done but at least they prevent a lot of terrible legislation from happening.

It would be great if the Dems took the Senate. Then they can stop the current corruption of the judiciary.


drummerboy said:


Tom_Reingold said:
That's a good commentary, and it outlines why we should not pin our happiness on Democratic wins in November.
 Yeah, if the Dems take Congress, I'm not expecting very much at all in the way of legislation. I am hoping that the Dems go nuts on oversight investigations and look under every damn rock.

 

yahooyahoo said:
If the Dems get control of Congress or at least one half of Congress, I don't expect much to get done but at least they prevent a lot of terrible legislation from happening.

 Both those things could help Trump's reelection prospects in 2020. However it may be necessary to stop the bleeding and prevent total disaster.

And if the Dems do not win the House Trump may immediately fire Rosenstein, Mueller and maybe Sessions and pardon everyone. 

BG9 said:

It would be great if the Dems took the Senate. Then they can stop the current corruption of the judiciary.

 That is a long-shot


drummerboy said:
I found the tweets in this post to provide a very valuable insight into Trump, and it appears to explain a lot of his motivations:

The crux of it is this:

The one thing that you need to understand about Trump is that he is, at his core, a con man with no empathy.
Therefore, he assumes that all other people are also con men with no empathy, and every exchange of goods and services that exists in the world is, on some level, a con.

This explains soooo much. Once you think of it this way, everything falls into place.

You can see the whole post here. The tweets are at the bottom of the post and the above idea gets fleshed out.
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/06/03/why-you-dont-elect-stupid-people-part-infinity/

 CORRECT. Related is his extreme need for dominance. Because he thinks everyone else is conning him, he needs to assert his dominance to hold others' cons at bay.


shoshannah said:


drummerboy said:
I found the tweets in this post to provide a very valuable insight into Trump, and it appears to explain a lot of his motivations:

The crux of it is this:

The one thing that you need to understand about Trump is that he is, at his core, a con man with no empathy.
Therefore, he assumes that all other people are also con men with no empathy, and every exchange of goods and services that exists in the world is, on some level, a con.

This explains soooo much. Once you think of it this way, everything falls into place.

You can see the whole post here. The tweets are at the bottom of the post and the above idea gets fleshed out.
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/06/03/why-you-dont-elect-stupid-people-part-infinity/
 CORRECT. Related is his extreme need for dominance. Because he thinks everyone else is conning him, he needs to assert his dominance to hold others' cons at bay.

Yeah - I always understood he was a con man, but the insight that he views everyone else as a con man was what I didn't understand before. It's such a flocked up way of looking at the world.


have you noticed how often he claims that other countries are laughing at the U. S.?  The need to humiliate and the fear of being humiliated are pretty strong with Trump. 


ml1 said:
have you noticed how often he claims that other countries are laughing at the U. S.?  The need to humiliate and the fear of being humiliated are pretty strong with Trump. 

Sure, and that ties directly into the topic of this thread. He thinks that every "deal" the US has entered into has been to our disadvantage, and all of the other parties are just laughing at how we've been taken advantage of.



What kind of businessperson doesn't look for a win-win? A win for the customer and a win for the business. Isn't that the way the market is supposed to work?


LOST said:
What kind of businessperson doesn't look for a win-win? A win for the customer and a win for the business. Isn't that the way the market is supposed to work?

 Not sure what you're getting at. Trump assumes every deal is a win-lose.


What I am saying is that he is no businessperson.


He claims to be a "deal maker". To make a deal you have to satisfy both parties. 


LOST said:
He claims to be a "deal maker". To make a deal you have to satisfy both parties. 

 Did you read the tweets I posted?


LOST said:
What kind of businessperson doesn't look for a win-win? 

 I suspect we could start a new thread naming candidates, I’ll go with car dealers. 



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