I'm sorry, but this man scares the ever-living bejesus out of me.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Last edited Thu Nov 19, 2015, 11:18 AM - Edit history (1)

Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out.

“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/donald-trump-has-big-plans-1303117537878070.html

I mean, checkmate, Mike Godwin. How can you not be tempted to make the allusion in that circumstance?

I was having a discussion with a friend as to which is worse: a true ideologue, like Ted Cruz, or an ideological opportunist like Donald Trump? And I told him I saw absolutely no difference. Donald Trump might not believe everything that comes out of his mouth, but the people who are fueling him and his narcissistic ego do, and that's a very powerful and scary thought.

At this point, I feel almost violated by the notion of Donald Trump being involved in the Presidential political process. I feel as if some sort of loathsome or deadly animal is lodging itself in my house and refusing to leave. And I just want it to be gone.

[FLPanhandle]

1. It's amazing that Donald Trump is the lesser of the Republican evils

I'd rather have Trump than Carson or Cruz but the fact that he is least objectionable Republican candidate says a lot about that party.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. No. He's not the lesser of the Republican evils. Far from it.

He's just every bit as evil as the rest of the lot.

What makes him worse than even the others is that he's never been contained in a political type of environment and he fashions himself a God of sorts. And that, coupled with his extremely dangerous rhetoric, is just a powder keg for national disaster.

[FLPanhandle]

5. Disagree

Trump is all ego and would be a bad president but not leave the country a smoldering wasteland.

Carson is an idiot and a religious loon. The launch codes in his hands are terrifying.

Cruz acutally believes his ultra conservative vision of America.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. Unchecked ego trumps (pardon the pun) ideology in my books.

I'll agree that Trump, Carson and Cruz are the worst of the very awful Republican lot. (Although I'll always have a great distaste for Jeb, but thankfully he's more or less done himself in at this point).

Carson's a complete loon but I don't see him in it for the long run. I'm not exactly sure why he's running for president but I don't see it sustaining him much longer. It's as though he randomly wandered up to microphone with his name on it and started spouting off stuff like a crazy man in Times Square. But as crazy as he is, the temperament's not there to keep him in long term. He's a low key kind of crazy (which might be scarier in the real world but not in a presidential race) and politics is all about high key and high energy. He just doesn't have that.

Cruz is the true believer conservative nut. But he's proven to be containable. He pushed for the shutdown of the government, and I think he thought he'd end up as some sort of folk hero in the process. But people more or less collectively shrugged at that, and he ended up alienating a good chunk of his own party along the way. So while he's scary and crazy, he's also politically mortal.

In terms of formidability as an opponent, Rubio bothers me the most. Not because he's solid but rather because he's the complete opposite of solid. He's pretty much the definition of an empty suit. So he's Mr. Generic GOP Candidate, except he's fairly young, with bland, political good looks, and he gives the GOP an diversity card they'd otherwise be denied that it could sell to gullible independents. True, he's basically the Ron Burgandy of candidates (who will read anything you put before him on the teleprompter....anything) but the GOP can use him to their maximum advantage.

But Trump....Trump. He comes with a built in cult of personality. He'll go off on anyone who even slightly criticizes him. He's convinced himself that he's a highly accomplished person even though his record speaks the opposite. He's obsessed about himself and only himself and "winning". And yet that type of behavior appeals to a significant chunk of people who somehow think it's admirable. But there's a long history of people like that who have ended up leaving countries in ruins. And I don't want to see that befall us.

[Blasphemer]

13. The thing about Trump is that he is desperate to be liked

Right now, he's getting his ego-stroked by crazies on the far right and is happy to say whatever they want to hear in order to revel in the adulation. As GOP nominee (or, God forbid, president) he'd be the same but attempting to be loved by everyone - left and right alike. For this reason, he's the safest GOP nominee. The rest don't care about being liked. Not that the majority of Americans get it right but at least it makes Trump friendlier on at least some issues. I also think he is ego is too big to get involved with vote rigging shenanigans. His personality is obnoxious, for sure, and his skin is too thin for the politics but, I do believe he's the best of a very rotten bunch of apples.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. But when politics gets to the point of a singular personality....

....it lays the seeds for totalitarianism.

And Donald Trump is all about the single personality and himself, moreso that probably any other political figure that I can recall in modern American history.

We've had our share of awful and dysfunctional presidents, but I don't know if we've ever seen a true ego-maniac in the White House.

[KingCharlemagne]

15. LBJ was something of an ego maniac. - nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. To an extent, perhaps.

Although his decision not to run for re-election giving the criticism of him over Vietnam showed a bit of humility on his part.

He was a shrewd political animal and would sometimes do magnanimous things for selfish purposes.

But you take one look at Donald Trump and you just see all the symptoms of Narcisstic Personality Disorder jumping out at you and screaming, much more than even the average politician.

[KingCharlemagne]

20. oh yeah. trump is like LBJ on crack AND steroids - nt

[nruthie]

6. I totally agree. The man is terrifying.

Our country is unhinged and ripe for a disaster. Trump is only playing a game for his own amusement and the brainwashed morons are loving every minute of it. He will destroy the country.

[Phentex]

3. The whole thing feels like a bad dream...

I cannot believe anyone is even listening to him.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. to any of them.

[Punkingal]

4. After yesterday, Ted Cruz is the one who scares me the most...

He is as crazy as it gets...and it's not obvious like it is with Carson. Not as easy to see.

[elias49]

7. I don't believe that Trump wants to be President

He wouldn't have a clue. I predict that he'll bail out before Spring.

[yardwork]

8. He reminds me of Mussolini.

[KingCharlemagne]

16. His campaign slogan indirectly alludes to Il Duce's- nt

[yardwork]

18. Yes, there is a lot of overlap in the rhetoric.

[mountain grammy]

10. Not so much him, as his supporters..

[Tommy_Carcetti]

12. He's exploited the market on crazy and fringe behavior.

And even if he doesn't himself believe some of the things he says, the fact that he says them in order to get support makes him just as culpable as if he were a true believer.

A normal person doesn't actively seek to encourage that stuff. Hence, Donald Trump is highly abnormal, and not in a good way.

[KingCharlemagne]

19. Capitalism + Fascism + Narcissism = the Trifecta! - nt

[Rex]

21. He is a loose cannon and so full of himself I cannot even begin to imagine his level of ego.

He would be a total disaster for if he gets elected. Thankfully I don't think he can beat HRC one on one. I don't think anyone can beat her, but that is just me.

[Avalux]

22. He's a psychopath and would be a great dictator.

I don't think he can beat anyone either, but I think his chances are proportional to how terrified the American people become.

CNN is already saying that the candidate who makes us feel safest will win.

If he's elected, the US will have gone past the point of no return.

[starroute]

23. Even Mike Godwin has never objected to describing real fascists as fascists

I see him commenting on Facebook threads sometimes and he seems uncomfortable with the fact that his law is invoked to head off describing people as what they really are. It was never intended for that purpose.

[moondust]

24. What could go wrong?

Somebody with no self-restraint who thinks he's God's gift to mankind can do whatever he wants, right?