cwericb

He has probably just been posting out of boredom, now that school is out.

... and “poof”, just like that, Cubsfan rides off into the sunset when he is exposed for the troll he is. Perhaps he will be off to infect another thread for a while now. Anything to avoid having to support his position.

"This is just trolling. You never say anything concrete, contradict any evidence with other evidence. You just assert things and hope nobody notices the tumbleweeds blowing throw the gaps in your logic." Nailed it. Describes Cubsfan to a "T" Now Cubs, if you are so adamant that Trump doesn't have mental issues go back to my last post where I outlined some of his issues and explain where each issue I mentioned doesn't apply. In other words, put up or shut up. "Aside from what some of his followers believe, Trump has serious mental problems. One does not have to do very much research to confirm this. Megalomania - obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others. Narcissism - A personality disorder characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance Sociopath - someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). People with ASPD can't understand others' feelings. They'll often break rules or make impulsive decisions without feeling guilty for the harm they cause. Paranoia - A personality disorder which involve odd or eccentric ways of thinking, an unrelenting mistrust and suspicion of others, even when there is no reason to be suspicious. Delusional - Delusions are the main symptom of delusional disorder. They're unshakable beliefs in something that isn't true or based on reality. Persecution complex - An acute irrational fear that other people are plotting one's downfall and that they are responsible for one's failures."

Aside from what some of his followers believe, Trump has serious mental problems. One does not have to do very much research to confirm this. Megalomania - obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others. Narcissism - A personality disorder characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance Sociopath - someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). People with ASPD can't understand others' feelings. They'll often break rules or make impulsive decisions without feeling guilty for the harm they cause. Paranoia - A personality disorder which involve odd or eccentric ways of thinking, an unrelenting mistrust and suspicion of others, even when there is no reason to be suspicious. Delusional - Delusions are the main symptom of delusional disorder. They're unshakable beliefs in something that isn't true or based on reality. Persecution complex - An acute irrational fear that other people are plotting one's downfall and that they are responsible for one's failures.

"The Democratic playbook does not allow for hiring the "best" people or most qualified, but hiring based on "quotas" and total nonsense." As opposed to Trump hiring his family and buddies?

During WWII there were line ups at the recruiting offices. When the war with Iraq started there were some members of the reserve forces who were crying to get out, “We want out, we never thought we would have to actually go and fight”

Today marked a new record high of COVID-19 cases reported in a day worldwide.

"Can we stop wasting time on someone who can't reason his way out of a paper bag and get back to COVID19." It is hard to ignore the Trump Troll, when he makes so many misinformed statements and ignores all sense and logic. Unfortunately, Trump and his actions has such a major impact on what will happen with with COVID 19 it is hard to separate the two subjects.

Yup. You quote an actor and ignore all the experts that try to tell you the guy is off the rails. Nice. You are delusional if you believe Trump loves America. Trump loves Trump. Period.

No, Cubs was quoting Woods as he was some sort of expert. Great actor, but I don't think he qualifies as an independent expert. And no one here to my knowledge was quoting any of the many actors who don't agree with Trump. Actors are not necessary to quote as there are so many experts available who disagree with Trump

All the best and don't be afraid of expressing your views when the mood hits!

And just imagine if he was on a reality show. It is a wonder some here are not quoting the Kardashians.

And James Woods is an acknowledged expert on the subject how? What specifically are his qualifications. Oh, yes, he is a Trump supporter so he must be right.

Trump ignored WHO’s warnings back in January and is now trying to blame WHO for it. As far as funding WHO is concerned, the US is $200,000,000 in arrears. And yet Cubs complains about NATO members not paying their share? Ironic isn't it. Remember those cult members that Trump said would still vote for him if he shot someone on 5th Ave? He was talking about Cubsfan. According to Cubs, Trump is a very stable genius who is always right. If trump said black was white, Cubs would agree and no amount of logic here would change his mind.

Asked why he [Trump] started taking this drug [hydroxychloroquine], he said he's gotten "so many letters," "a lot of positive letters...” But Don, those letters were all from Democrats. Apparently the drug can be damaging to the heart. Shouldn’t be a problem in this case.

But LC, he has already stated that he knows more than the generals. Reminds me of another guy who knew more than his generals back in the 1940's and we know how that worked out don't we.

"You get the prize for the most idiotic post of the month. "Trump is mentally ill ..." And you don't agree? And where did I say "so is his supporters?"

It is extremely naive just to assume the US would prevail over China in any type of war. The US has not a very good track record - Afghanistan - Vietnam - Korea. Those were tiny, undeveloped countries compared to China.

It is quite obvious to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of psychology that Trump is mentally ill. So what does that say about those who continue to support him and may vote for him again? It is not much wonder that the “make America great again” has been such a dismal failure. So that is fine from their point of view, but the real problem is that these people are going to take a lot of others down with them.

What scared me was that he was in charge of POLICY and didn't even realize that the gold standard had been abandoned decades ago.

Paul, I have a true story for you. A few years ago I sat beside a retired senior federal civil servant on a long trans Atlantic flight. My seatmate had been in charge of policy for a major federal government financial institution. He was telling me about the sleepless nights and decisions he had to make during the meltdown in 2008-9. So I mentioned my concern that we no longer followed the gold standard and that it really concerned me. So now are you ready for this... He laughed and said “Oh no, you don't need to worry about that. We're still on the gold standard. What made you think we weren’t?” Wellllll... I'm just a nobody and he was a nice guy and an expert in the finance field with all sort of degrees and no doubt years of experience and with a yearly retirement income probably bigger than I would make in 10 years. So I was really rather dumbfounded and at a loss for words. I told him that as far as I knew, it had been many, many years since we dropped the gold standard and now governments basically just printed money as they needed it. He kind of laughed and politely assured me that I was mistaken and as far as he knew we still followed the gold standard. Now I am sitting beside this guy for 6 or 7 hours so I kinda had to behave myself so I politely, but firmly told him that I believed he was wrong. He assured me that he would certainly be checking my story out shortly after we landed. Wish I could have been around to see if he did.

As Liberty quoted... Trump: Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of the sudden today she tested positive... This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great And if you still don’t think this guy is nuts he went on to say.. “Today, for some reason, she tested positive...: For some reason?? Well DUH!

Thanks, caught the last half of that. I must say he seemed quite reasonable compared to what we have seen over this past winter. "Margaret: What do you think is most important in a leader during this pandemic? Rudy: Truthfulness & discretion." Honest and good answer - but is that not the exact opposite of what we have been seeing?

On the subject of sociopathic narcissists ... with a very condescending look, Pence delaired that he didn’t need to wear a mask because he tested negative recently. Aside from being disrespectful, aside from setting a poor example, and aside from the fact he could have contracted the virus - or something else - since his test, I believe the tests are only about 85% accurate. So that excuse was about a truthful as his suggestion that he couldn’t look people in the eye with a mask on. His supporters must be so proud.

You can argue your graphs, studies, and statistics all you want, but when you have a mentally ill lunatic in charge of the country all those facts mean little. A few days ago I wrote here that the United States had become the laughing stock of the world. Here is what Ireland’s most respected mainstream political writer says... Irish Times April 25, 2020 By Fintan O’Toole THE WORLD HAS LOVED, HATED AND ENVIED THE U.S. NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE PITY IT Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity. However bad things are for most other rich democracies, it is hard not to feel sorry for Americans. Most of them did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Yet they are locked down with a malignant narcissist who, instead of protecting his people from Covid-19, has amplified its lethality. The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pitiful. Will American prestige ever recover from this shameful episode? The US went into the coronavirus crisis with immense advantages: precious weeks of warning about what was coming, the world’s best concentration of medical and scientific expertise, effectively limitless financial resources, a military complex with stunning logistical capacity and most of the world’s leading technology corporations. Yet it managed to make itself the global epicentre of the pandemic. As the American writer George Packer puts it in the current edition of the Atlantic, “The United States reacted ... like Pakistan or Belarus – like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.” It is one thing to be powerless in the face of a natural disaster, quite another to watch vast power being squandered in real time – wilfully, malevolently, vindictively. It is one thing for governments to fail (as, in one degree or another, most governments did), quite another to watch a ruler and his supporters actively spread a deadly virus. Trump, his party and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News became vectors of the pestilence. The grotesque spectacle of the president openly inciting people (some of them armed) to take to the streets to oppose the restrictions that save lives is the manifestation of a political death wish. What are supposed to be daily briefings on the crisis, demonstrative of national unity in the face of a shared challenge, have been used by Trump merely to sow confusion and division. They provide a recurring horror show in which all the neuroses that haunt the American subconscious dance naked on live TV. If the plague is a test, its ruling political nexus ensured that the US would fail it at a terrible cost in human lives. In the process, the idea of the US as the world’s leading nation – an idea that has shaped the past century – has all but evaporated. Other than the Trump impersonator Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, who is now looking to the US as the exemplar of anything other than what not to do? How many people in Düsseldorf or Dublin are wishing they lived in Detroit or Dallas? It is hard to remember now but, even in 2017, when Trump took office, the conventional wisdom in the US was that the Republican Party and the broader framework of US political institutions would prevent him from doing too much damage. This was always a delusion, but the pandemic has exposed it in the most savage ways. Abject surrender What used to be called mainstream conservatism has not absorbed Trump – he has absorbed it. Almost the entire right-wing half of American politics has surrendered abjectly to him. It has sacrificed on the altar of wanton stupidity the most basic ideas of responsibility, care and even safety. Thus, even at the very end of March, 15 Republican governors had failed to order people to stay at home or to close non-essential businesses. In Alabama, for example, it was not until April 3rd that governor Kay Ivey finally issued a stay-at-home order. In Florida, the state with the highest concentration of elderly people with underlying conditions, governor Ron DeSantis, a Trump mini-me, kept the beach resorts open to students travelling from all over the US for spring break parties. Even on April 1st, when he issued restrictions, DeSantis exempted religious services and “recreational activities”. Georgia governor Brian Kemp, when he finally issued a stay-at-home order on April 1st, explained: “We didn’t know that [the virus can be spread by people without symptoms] until the last 24 hours.” This is not mere ignorance – it is deliberate and homicidal stupidity. There is, as the demonstrations this week in US cities have shown, plenty of political mileage in denying the reality of the pandemic. It is fuelled by Fox News and far-right internet sites, and it reaps for these politicians millions of dollars in donations, mostly (in an ugly irony) from older people who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus. It draws on a concoction of conspiracy theories, hatred of science, paranoia about the “deep state” and religious providentialism (God will protect the good folks) that is now very deeply infused in the mindset of the American right. Trump embodies and enacts this mindset, but he did not invent it. The US response to the coronavirus crisis has been paralysed by a contradiction that the Republicans have inserted into the heart of US democracy. On the one hand, they want to control all the levers of governmental power. On the other they have created a popular base by playing on the notion that government is innately evil and must not be trusted. The contradiction was made manifest in two of Trump’s statements on the pandemic: on the one hand that he has “total authority”, and on the other that “I don’t take responsibility at all”. Caught between authoritarian and anarchic impulses, he is incapable of coherence. Fertile ground But this is not just Donald Trump. The crisis has shown definitively that Trump’s presidency is not an aberration. It has grown on soil long prepared to receive it. The monstrous blossoming of misrule has structure and purpose and strategy behind it. There are very powerful interests who demand “freedom” in order to do as they like with the environment, society and the economy. They have infused a very large part of American culture with the belief that “freedom” is literally more important than life. My freedom to own assault weapons trumps your right not to get shot at school. Now, my freedom to go to the barber (“I Need a Haircut” read one banner this week in St Paul, Minnesota) trumps your need to avoid infection. Usually when this kind of outlandish idiocy is displaying itself, there is the comforting thought that, if things were really serious, it would all stop. People would sober up. Instead, a large part of the US has hit the bottle even harder. And the president, his party and their media allies keep supplying the drinks. There has been no moment of truth, no shock of realisation that the antics have to end. No one of any substance on the US right has stepped in to say: get a grip, people are dying here. That is the mark of how deep the trouble is for the US – it is not just that Trump has treated the crisis merely as a way to feed tribal hatreds but that this behaviour has become normalised. When the freak show is live on TV every evening, and the star is boasting about his ratings, it is not really a freak show any more. For a very large and solid bloc of Americans, it is reality. And this will get worse before it gets better. Trump has at least eight more months in power. In his inaugural address in 2017, he evoked “American carnage” and promised to make it stop. But now that the real carnage has arrived, he is revelling in it. He is in his element. As things get worse, he will pump more hatred and falsehood, more death-wish defiance of reason and decency, into the groundwater. If a new administration succeeds him in 2021, it will have to clean up the toxic dump he leaves behind. If he is re-elected, toxicity will have become the lifeblood of American politics. Either way, it will be a long time before the rest of the world can imagine America being great again.