Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[(poco) Sforzando]

I quite enjoyed that week where the media all suggested he pick his daughter.

Not just the media, a bona fide US senator. Who said looks don't matter?

Forget readiness to be commander-in-chief. If beauty were the top job requirement for Vice President of the United States, Sen. Bob Corker and Eric Trump have just the candidate for Donald Trump – his daughter Ivanka.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker – who removed himself from the VP running on Wednesday – suggested that Trump pick his daughter Ivanka Trump as his running mate during an interview with NBC News.

"His best running mate by the way would be Ivanka," Corker advised. "I know that wouldn't pass muster probably but I don't know if I've met a more composed, brilliant, beautiful-in-every-way person."

Ivanka even has the support of her brother Eric, who told Fox & Friends on Thursday that his sister has "certainly got my vote."

"She's got the beautiful looks, she's smart, she's smart, smart, smart," he said, noting that Ivanka would make the constitutional age requirement of 35 by just a few days, as her birthday is Oct. 30. "She's amazing."

See? not only is she smart, she's smart, smart, smart.

http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-vice-president

[Madiel]

Must take after her mother.


Sorry, couldn't resist!

[(poco) Sforzando]

"An insane racist in orange greasepaint."

- Bill Maher, heard on the Chris Matthews show

[The new erato]

A long wait, flushing the soy lecithin out of the system.

he has a system???

[Ken B]

"An insane racist in orange greasepaint."

- Bill Maher, heard on the Chris Matthews show

On a completely different topic, isn't it surprising that political opportunists should appeal to tribalism and identity politics?  What could make them think that even well educated voters really only want that? What I ask, what?

[(poco) Sforzando]

On a completely different topic, isn't it surprising that political opportunists should appeal to tribalism and identity politics?  What could make them think that even well educated voters really only want that? What I ask, what?

What indeed? That was just one quip taken from a 10-minute interview you apparently didn't see, and was inserted merely to show that Sforzando and Company are not the only ones to question Mr. Trump's mental stability. But then, Bill Maher hasn't had the benefit of your "refutation," which is merely a hearsay report of an unnamed source whose "case" is nothing more than off-hand ridicule.

[Ken B]

What indeed? That was just one quip taken from a 10-minute interview you apparently didn't see, and was inserted merely to show that Sforzando and Company are not the only ones to question Mr. Trump's mental stability. But then, Bill Maher hasn't had the benefit of your "refutation," which is merely a hearsay report of an unnamed source whose "case" is nothing more than off-hand ridicule.

You cite a comedian, I cite a head of psychiatry. So hard to choose.

[(poco) Sforzando]

You cite a comedian, I cite a head of psychiatry. So hard to choose.

You've "cited" nothing. Hearsay is hearsay, and your alleged source doesn't even offer an argument. But you take yourself so solemnly, it's such fun to yank your chain.

[Ken B]

You've "cited" nothing. Hearsay is hearsay, and your alleged source doesn't even offer an argument. But you take yourself so solemnly, it's such fun to yank your chain.

You are seriously saying a psychiatrist needs to make an argument that an amateur cannot make a psychiatric diagnosis of someone he has never even met?

[(poco) Sforzando]

You are seriously saying a psychiatrist needs to make an argument that an amateur cannot make a psychiatric diagnosis of someone he has never even met?

You really can't give this up, can you? Of course I know an amateur "diagnosis" counts for nothing. I perfectly well understand the Goldwater rule and standards of professional conduct (which I suspect don't include "derisive laughter" as a means of "refutation"). What I have stated was nothing more than a personal impression, just the same as when Brian states he thinks Trump "mentally ill" but cannot prove as much. But other qualified psychologists have not hidden behind the Goldwater rule for fear of being sued, and have stated what many in the general public already suspect:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/

I can discern little more than narcissistic motivations and a complementary personal narrative about winning at any cost.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/donald-trump-narcissism-therapists

For mental-health professionals, Donald Trump is at once easily diagnosed but slightly confounding. "Remarkably narcissistic," said developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education. "Textbook narcissistic personality disorder," echoed clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis. "He's so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there's no better example of his characteristics," said clinical psychologist George Simon, who conducts lectures and seminars on manipulative behavior. "Otherwise, I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He's like a dream come true."

. . . .

"He's very easy to diagnose," said psychotherapist Charlotte Prozan. "In the first debate, he talked over people and was domineering. He'll do anything to demean others, like tell Carly Fiorina he doesn't like her looks. 'You're fired!' would certainly come under lack of empathy. And he wants to deport immigrants, but [two of] his wives have been immigrants." Michaelis took a slightly different twist on Trump's desire to deport immigrants: "This man is known for his golf courses, but, with due respect, who does he think works on these golf courses?"

Mr. Trump's bullying nature—taunting Senator John McCain for being captured in Vietnam, or saying Jeb Bush has "low energy"—is in keeping with the narcissistic profile. "In the field we use clusters of personality disorders," Michaelis said. "Narcissism is in cluster B, which means it has similarities with histrionic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. There are similarities between them. Regardless of how you feel about John McCain, the man served—and suffered. Narcissism is an extreme ...defense against one's own feelings of worthlessness. To degrade people is really part of a cluster-B personality disorder: it's antisocial and shows a lack of remorse for other people. The way to make it O.K. to attack someone verbally, psychologically, or physically is to lower them. That's what he's doing."

Why should I find these statements any less credible than your hearsay report from an unnamed source?

[Ken B]

You really can't give this up, can you? Of course I know an amateur "diagnosis" counts for nothing. I perfectly well understand the Goldwater rule and standards of professional conduct (which I suspect don't include "derisive laughter" as a means of "refutation"). What I have stated was nothing more than a personal impression, just the same as when Brian states he thinks Trump "mentally ill" but cannot prove as much. But other qualified psychologists have not hidden behind the Goldwater rule for fear of being sued, and have stated what many in the general public already suspect:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/donald-trump-narcissism-therapists
Why should I find these statements any less credible than your hearsay report from an unnamed source?

We were never arguing about Trump. You asserted he was sociopathic, and claimed certainty. You made several long detailed posts about it. I, and another poster,disputed that you could do this. That is what I asked my friend about, could you do this.
PM me for his name if it matters.

[(poco) Sforzando]

We were never arguing about Trump. You asserted he was sociopathic, and claimed certainty. You made several long detailed posts about it. I, and another poster,disputed that you could do this. That is what I asked my friend about, could you do this.
PM me for his name if it matters.

As you wish. Your assumptions about my claim of "certainty" show me only that you don't know me at all.

[Brian]

Mike Pence is from my hometown of Columbus, Indiana, and went to the high school I would have gone to if I had stayed in Columbus through the rest of childhood. In fact, Columbus North High School is where I went to my first classical music concert(s), put on by the local orchestra, which is mostly a bunch of Indiana University conservatory students collecting extra (tiny) paychecks. (CNHS is also regularly visited by André Watts, because he had the dubious taste to marry a Columbus girl, so he frequently visited to do concerts at well below his usual fee.)

My mother worked for many, many years with Gov. Pence's brother Greg, and they served on a local community's board of directors together. Greg Pence ran a small oil company which ultimately went bankrupt, owing $9 million to the state his brother would later run. Asked for comment, my mom only said that the brothers looked the same, and that the whole family was rabidly Catholic.

[Karl Henning]

As a Catholic, I wince at the adverb.  But in fairness, I decline to protest formally 

[(poco) Sforzando]

As a Catholic, I wince at the adverb.  But in fairness, I decline to protest formally 

I am certain^* that one can be rabid without being a Catholic.

^* (ahem, for KenB's benefit)

[Karl Henning]

I am certain^* that one can be rabid without being a Catholic.

^* (ahem, for KenB's benefit)

I will speculatively agree with you.

[Brian]

I will speculatively agree with you.

I suspect that in all ideologies, faiths, creeds, cults, and philosophies, one may find a degree of rabidity, in a certain class of its believers.

[Brian]

paging Dr. Freud

[(poco) Sforzando]

paging Dr. Freud

Nothing like selecting a coin of no economic value.

[Ken B]

I suspect that in all ideologies, faiths, creeds, cults, and philosophies, one may find a degree of rabidity, in a certain class of its believers.

Not all equally, and not all equally perniciously.

I know little about Pence. He seems to shore up Trump with the pro lifers. That probably played a large role. It seems like a "just don't lose it for me" pick: His choice seems like one a man confident he will win if he keeps most of his base might make.