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Who would he have to insult?


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Listening day by day as the Donald Trump Insult Candidacy rolls on, I found myself wondering today at so many peoples' apparent acceptance of this behavior in a serious presidential aspirant. I began to think, "Just WHO would he have to insult, at this point in history, to have most folks turn against him?

 

I don't mean this as a serious political inquiry, and certainly have no interest in inflaming the tempers of any among us who support him. Bear that in mind as you attempt an answer.

 

The Donald seems to be a teflon-coated candidate. Can you think of someone (living, please) that Donald couldn't get away with insulting as he has so many other persons, states, organizations, racial groups, etc?

 

After much thought, my daughter and I decided that insulting Bill Nye the Science Guy would make him pretty unpopular. What do you think? Who had he better zip his lip about?

 

Additionally, we wound up discussing who he ought not to praise. That gets a bit easier. Hitler. Bin Laden. If i confine it to living people, hmmm....still a lot of possibilities I suppose.....Charlie Manson, Vladimer Putin, Michael Vick

 

 

Discuss.

:headbonk

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I think he plays to the baser instincts in people and says what will get them frothy and enraged. Right now I think he can insult or demean pretty much anyone who is not white and born in this country, beyond that I don't know who. Individually if he said something that goes against the Reagan myth maybe?

 

Edit: If he insulted gun owners, that might do it.

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He could definitely get away with insulting Bill Nye the Science Guy. He's come out as a pretty outspoken atheist on talk shows, so I'm sure he's on all kinds of Republican shitlists.

 

Maybe if Trump suggested that we should deport white Christian babies with Down Syndrome, that might turn some fans against him?

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That's easy: Jesus.

 

Trump and the other GOP candidates know their base well, and that base is largely comprised of scared, paranoid, primitive bigots who love their holy book. It's a real shame that they can't think for a moment and reflect on how much they have in common with their Daesh counterparts. Their views on women, gays, science, faith (or lack thereof) are almost identical.

 

Sorry if that seem a bit strong, but we've just seen a presidential candidate suggesting registering human beings based on their faith/ethnicity and gaining popularity for it. We've been down this road before and it doesn't end well. I'm shocked at how many Americans forget this, but such is the power of religion.

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John, I think you're right, Reagan is still a god to so many people. I know better...he was such an asshole even back when he was our governor (CA). Nothing improved when he reached the national level, but his good-ol-boy schtick sure charmed (and fooled) a lot of people. He was a cold, mean man and we as a nation are still suffering under policies he brought into being. But this is all just my opinion, and too serious for the topic at hand, so I'll leave off that subject.

 

However, I did specify that the insultee should be someone living...please reassure me that (while Elvis is well and works at a car wash in Alabama) Reagan is really and truly dead?

 

Brian, dissing Jesus would absolutely get The Donald some backlash...but do we count Jesus as living? Because of that whole death and resurrection thing? I'm afraid this question is too metaphysically deep for the likes of me. 

 

And of course, Diane, I think Bill Nye would probably say we couldn't count Jesus. Not that anyone asked that particular question. But here's one....who would you LIKE to see Donald insulting, just because the ridiculous fallout might be entertaining?

 

I'm in favor of one-named people:

Kanye

Cher

Oprah

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I know who twoshedsjackson insulted!..Me....Hi twosheds I am a conservative and your discription really doesn't apply to me and kind a reveals more about you than how much you think you know about Conservatives...but I digress, you like Wilco you are cool with me. Trump is an thin skinned opportunist and I will sit this one out if he is the nominee...he is by nature repugnant and offensive even if he stumbles on something occasionally that might have merit.

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I know who twoshedsjackson insulted!..Me....Hi twosheds I am a conservative and your discription really doesn't apply to me and kind a reveals more about you than how much you think you know about Conservatives...but I digress, you like Wilco you are cool with me. Trump is an thin skinned opportunist and I will sit this one out if he is the nominee...he is by nature repugnant and offensive even if he stumbles on something occasionally that might have merit.

I understand that not every conservative voter is a Trump fan, but a sobering number of them are. To be honest though, when it comes to their ideas, especially on social and human rights issues, I dont see too much difference between Trump and the other GOP candidates. He's just loud about it.

 

My point is that these candidates can and do spout the most hateful or outlandish lies and opinions and justify it by waving a a bible. I'm pretty sure one of them could kick a puppy on live television and get away with it if they quoted a few passages afterwards.

 

Anyway, I should probably save it for the Politics thread.

 

Donna, I can't really think of a living person who'd be off limits. Diane's right about Bill Nye: an atheist liberal who teaches science to children? He's not winning any conservative popularity contests.

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I know who twoshedsjackson insulted!..Me....Hi twosheds I am a conservative and your discription really doesn't apply to me and kind a reveals more about you than how much you think you know about Conservatives...

 

Ugh.  The majority of the the Republican Party now supports two candidates who have said hateful things against, Muslims, African Americans, gays, Immigrants, Latinos and many others.  And this hateful rhetoric is has also been said by the other candidates as well.  Really by saying something against anyone who is not a straight White American will get you cheered and probably a bump in the polls.  

 

Now, you profess your conservatism, which is fine.  I don't know what side of conservatism you lie, economic (lower taxes less government, etc.), social (traditional marriage, family values, etc.) or a mix of both.  And I am not going to profess I can tell and this may not be directly pointed at you.    

 

But for the rest of this post I want to talk about the Economic Conservatives out there.  Those that vote Republican because of their economic policy.  I want to say to these people, you are cowards.  You have let the far right social conservatives run the Republican Party, just because you don't want to pay more in taxes.  You are saying your money is worth more the respect and dignity of millions of people in this country and around the world.  You let people like Trump or Carson spread hateful lies with no consequence.  You let them propose policies that clearly anti-American just because you want more money in your paycheck.  Really Economic Conservatives are selfish.  Not because they don't want to share their money with the poor of become a socialist state, they are selfish because the would rather get a slightly bigger paycheck on the backs of hateful speech and rhetoric.  You are just sitting there allowing Trump and Carson to be the voice of your party.         

 

You may have been insulted by this and what twosheadjackson has said, but look at the all of the candidates out there.  Can anyone of them really be called a true conservative?  With the horrible things they have said, do they really show your values as a person and as an American.  If you truly care about conservatism you need not only sit out of an election, you need to support a true conservative, show that people like Trump and Carson have no place in the Republican party or American politics.  

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The bottom line is he is a presidential candidate who is not debating via cue card. What's coming out of his mouth is what he believes...good, bad, indifferent or ignorant and people find it refreshing. I'm not personally a supporter but I am enjoying the ride. The fact that he is this far and relevant having said what he has said tells me he's going to keep on speaking with the same tact or lack there of. I'm kind of enjoying watching the career politicians squirm a little. He is basically Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack disrupting the country club, its not quite as funny but to me its really close. Some people think he is compromising the continuity of the electoral process...well he's not because there is none and if there was he would be making it stronger. The fact he is still there tells you how jacked this system really is. 

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His numbers might slip a little if he insulted Dolly Parton.  Everyone loves Dolly.

 

Ooh, good choice. It's hard to think of anyone who really has "mass appeal" as a personality these days, I suppose because we are pretty splintered off as a society. No one figure really emerges.

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His success so far is really not that surprising to me.  This is America and most people are so deadened by the shit they watch, the advertising they endure every minute, the food they eat, generations of familial trauma, horrid jobs etc...all they really can do is be reactionary.  The polarization and scapegoating that has just been increasing since the '00 election and 9/11 is so powerful.  The one issue infuriating me now is the middle class blaming poor folks for their decline while at the same time protecting, coveting and serving those who put them in this situation in the first place. 

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He's an asshat who will not be the Republican nominee and gives us all an opportunity to feel morally superior. He's eminently quotable I the worst way possible, so the media bites. I'm fairly certain he doesn't believe half the shit he says but knows it will get him more of the attention he so desperately craves. We're helping feed the beast.

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^^^^I'm with you - it appears to be about the attention, not about being President, for Trump. I wonder if he is actually serious at all about being President, or if he is just having a great time saying ridiculous things. He may be on the same wavelength as this thread title - how many people/groups can I offend before my "support" starts to erode? Can I get seemingly every interest group mad at me (except maybe white, native-born Christian males), and still poll at 25%? Either way, Nate Silver tells us not to worry.

 

I vote for Dolly Parton. Or maybe veterans.

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Ugh.  The majority of the the Republican Party now supports two candidates who have said hateful things against, Muslims, African Americans, gays, Immigrants, Latinos and many others.  And this hateful rhetoric is has also been said by the other candidates as well.  Really by saying something against anyone who is not a straight White American will get you cheered and probably a bump in the polls.  

 

Now, you profess your conservatism, which is fine.  I don't know what side of conservatism you lie, economic (lower taxes less government, etc.), social (traditional marriage, family values, etc.) or a mix of both.  And I am not going to profess I can tell and this may not be directly pointed at you.    

 

But for the rest of this post I want to talk about the Economic Conservatives out there.  Those that vote Republican because of their economic policy.  I want to say to these people, you are cowards.  You have let the far right social conservatives run the Republican Party, just because you don't want to pay more in taxes.  You are saying your money is worth more the respect and dignity of millions of people in this country and around the world.  You let people like Trump or Carson spread hateful lies with no consequence.  You let them propose policies that clearly anti-American just because you want more money in your paycheck.  Really Economic Conservatives are selfish.  Not because they don't want to share their money with the poor of become a socialist state, they are selfish because the would rather get a slightly bigger paycheck on the backs of hateful speech and rhetoric.  You are just sitting there allowing Trump and Carson to be the voice of your party.         

 

You may have been insulted by this and what twosheadjackson has said, but look at the all of the candidates out there.  Can anyone of them really be called a true conservative?  With the horrible things they have said, do they really show your values as a person and as an American.  If you truly care about conservatism you need not only sit out of an election, you need to support a true conservative, show that people like Trump and Carson have no place in the Republican party or American politics.  

 

Ironically, lowering taxes really wouldn't help either and would never happen in our capitalist society.  Just another smoke screen issue that continues to hypnotize people.  In reality, Democrats (classic liberals) would tax rich people more and take the burden off the middle and lower classes.  So, it's the Democrats who would actually lower taxes, decrease the dumb shit taxes are used for (defense) and actually strengthen the middle class.  The reactionary subjects of our day can't even see this benign solution.

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Ironically, lowering taxes really wouldn't help either and would never happen in our capitalist society.  Just another smoke screen issue that continues to hypnotize people.  In reality, Democrats (classic liberals) would tax rich people more and take the burden off the middle and lower classes.  So, it's the Democrats who would actually lower taxes, decrease the dumb shit taxes are used for (defense) and actually strengthen the middle class.  The reactionary subjects of our day can't even see this benign solution.

 

Economic policy is a debate we should be having in this country.  As wrong as you may think the conservative policy may be it is a substantive debate based in reality.  What both Trump and Carson have done (especially in the last couple of days) have presented a fantasy (Muslims in NJ cheering the Twin Towers collapse) as reality.  You can't debate that because it is so wrong and stupid.

 

What we have here is a real lack of leadership by the GOP.  Someone needs to come out and say, to these guys that what they are doing is wrong.  And publicly admonish them and demand the leave the presidential race.  But in truth they are scared.  Scared of alienating the base which over 50% support these clowns.  And that is where the problem lies.  We have a base that has been fooled with these xenophobic lies, and if someone where to speak the rational truth they would be quickly ostracized from the GOP.    

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With all due respect, folks, this thread really isn't intended as a serious political thread, just a bemused look at how far The Donald can apparently go without turning away his fan base. It really has, and does, amaze(d) me that he can say the things he says, as a genuine (?) candidate.

 

Anyway, please keep your deeper political thoughts over in the political thread...they are an interesting debate in themselves and deserve to be read in a more serious context. Thanks. :thumbup

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^^^^I'm with you - it appears to be about the attention, not about being President, for Trump. I wonder if he is actually serious at all about being President, or if he is just having a great time saying ridiculous things. He may be on the same wavelength as this thread title - how many people/groups can I offend before my "support" starts to erode? Can I get seemingly every interest group mad at me (except maybe white, native-born Christian males), and still poll at 25%? Either way, Nate Silver tells us not to worry.

 

I vote for Dolly Parton. Or maybe veterans.

he's already crossed that one off his list.

 

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I find it interesting that you use the word "fans" to describe Trumps supporters. He used the word recently too. In politics the word supporters is, or has been the norm. I think calling his supporters fans says a lot about this process these days. I see Trimp, Carson and Huck as having fans while the other guys have supporters. It might just be me and how I view it though.

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I find it interesting that you use the word "fans" to describe Trumps supporters. He used the word recently too. In politics the word supporters is, or has been the norm. I think calling his supporters fans says a lot about this process these days. I see Trimp, Carson and Huck as having fans while the other guys have supporters. It might just be me and how I view it though.

 

Interesting...I didn't even think about my choice of that word, but it does seem to fit his case. Yes, "supporters" would be the more traditional term for those backing a serious candidate. Trump seems to be taking part in his own little reality show, oriented toward a tv audience.

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With all due respect, folks, this thread really isn't intended as a serious political thread, just a bemused look at how far The Donald can apparently go without turning away his fan base. It really has, and does, amaze(d) me that he can say the things he says, as a genuine (?) candidate.

 

Anyway, please keep your deeper political thoughts over in the political thread...they are an interesting debate in themselves and deserve to be read in a more serious context. Thanks. :thumbup

You're no fun!!! Everybody knows all political threads must contain polarizing views, extremely long posts and our very best vocabulary.

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