veganfan21 wrote:
I don't think we'll ever find common ground on this. I think you're asking me to feel sorry for an arsonist who smells like gasoline, or for a swimmer who smells like chlorine. Not going to happen. If you don't want to be under siege then don't be a crass piece of shit who invites criticism and scrutiny, who goes out of his way to attract publicity. Virtually every single critique of Trump is based on measurably objective grounds.
I'm not asking you to feel sorry for anyone. But I will say that there's a big difference between critiquing a president and trying to run one out of office from Day 1 because your preferred candidate lost. I assume most people don't like the opposing candidate. That's why they voted for the other guy. Unless we want to trash the whole system we have to accept the results when the guy we voted for loses.
veganfan21 wrote:
So I think you're basically saying he's a snowflake who is triggered at the slightest provocation, even if such provocations are not actually provocations. I'm not sure what collude means here. Flynn and Paige have been red flagged.
I don't use the term "snowflake" to refer to people, but of course Trump is thin-skinned. I don't think even those who voted for him would disagree with that. And what does "red flagged" mean? That they had some business ties in Russia? That they made some phone calls there? It's a big leap from there to saying that they sat down with foreign operatives to figure out how to steal a U.S. election.
veganfan21 wrote:
I just care about the investigation committees. I think you have to believe in our institutions - once public trust erodes in those institutions then this all goes to shit. Trump is placing himself above our institutions, and we knew that would happen.
That's just it. I don't think Trump is placing himself above institutions any more than Obama did. Obama actually ordered his Justice Department to ignore laws he didn't like. Trump has a grating personality. He's an asshole. A lot of people thought Clinton "deserved" to be president. These are all reasons why Trump is taking the heat he is when Bush and Obama did not, at least not to anywhere near the same degree. The presidency is an institution too. It shouldn't be denigrated by congressmen screaming "RESIST!" because they're angry that Hillary Clinton lost.
Trump openly declared war on the media because they had the audacity to suggest that he wouldn't win. Mind you every poll known to man suggested the same thing. Hell City of Fools only posted the same thing for about 6 months.
I don't know if there was collusion and frankly I don't care. I don't think it affected the the outcome of the election. Trump isn't under siege. He along with his chief advisor have attempted to discredit leading institutions and when you do that you should expect pushback.
He is the President but he isn't a dictator. He seeks to be an autocrat and it's obvious that he has a problem with being challenged. That's not going to change and it's not media created either.