Trump has never worked a day in his life, and being the speaker is extremely hard work. It also takes strategy and intelligence that are simply beyond him. I don't think he has any chance of being elected to the position, but if he was, I think it'd be just the thing to end his miserable life.
Question is can he grift off the job, while not doing it and getting endless and free press to run a campaign with no expenditure and use all $ for lawyers.
There was a comment in the NR comments section about all the wondrous things he could get done in the job, including all the usual bits about closing the border and, hilariously, repealing and replacing Obamacare.
It'd be funny if it didn't betray the complete lack of civics education in this country.
For GOP, it is all a performance in front of the Newsmax cameras. They don't really care about legislation, so all your good reasoning is irrelevant here. I honestly think that whoever other than Trump is going to end up with the gavel, will be just a puppet. We know who the puppet master is.
Unsure if the puppet master is Trump or Bannon. Two massive narcissists. Inserting a wedge between those two would be easy; just tell each that the other one is in charge.
He wonтАЩt need to do any work. The presidency requires work as well. Trump came into the office at 11:00am and left by 4:00pm and basically watched cable news and tweeted the entire day. Not to mention, spending more than a year at one of his resorts golfing.
This is why he has Stephen Miller and his other vile advisors. These are the guys that do all the dirty work...:)
The Cabinet and the White House staff will accommodate all of these quirks, but the Speaker enjoys none of these privileges. If the Speaker doesn't show up for work, the people's business simply does not get done, and over 200 people in the Speaker's party are accountable to their constituents for that, and many will lose their seats for it.
Maybe, but they have stated goals-- stunted and offensive as they are --and they campaigned on them. Nobody in the House campaigned on killing the House.
Ha! He doesn't get to live in the White House (though he denigrated it) and he won't have military people snapping salutes as he walks by. He'd be surrounded by a bunch of nobodies in the halls of the Capitol and the office buildings.
It would further expose him as the incompetent moron he is. Just like when he held his Covid press conferences and demonstrated that he didn't give a shit about hundreds of thousands of dead Americans. And lest we not forget his hawking of phony "cures" for Covid such as drinking bleach, Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.
He'd be mystified when he gives orders but they are not magically completed. He'd try writing executive orders. He'll show up once in a while. He'll shoo away the procedural people and commence his rally speeches. I would wait with baited breath for the moment even MTG realizes, after conversation with Trump, that there's nothing going on in Trump's head. That he is merely a symbol that talks and goes potty.
You know what happens. He would refuse to pass any bills unless the special prosecutor is crushed, his indictments go away, and the DOJ starts an investigation into Hillary and others received enemies and threats.
Just more of a shit show, piled higher and deeper. It would be funny, if this wasnтАЩt so serious....:)
I have recently come around to the idea that Trump cannot be contained within the context of our Constitution. Therefore, other solutions must be considered.
I get concerned that it would eventually turn into a Saddam Hussein..."Who supports my leadership?" and then starts pulling out specific people and shooting them if they were found not to have been sufficiently loyal.
And there's no limiting principle at all in scenario like that. "Support", like a lot of things, can be subjective, especially for someone as capricious as Trump. Maybe MTG is more loyal to Trump because she supersized his McDonald's order, while Boebert only got Trump a Big Mac. Ergo, Boebert is not on his team, and has to be dealt with.
He would be the first speaker without an actual clue how government works. I'd bet my paychecks for the rest of the year that Trump couldn't give a five minute talk on what the Speaker of the House actually does.
ThatтАЩs part of why the base loves him, heтАЩs an unpredictable lunatic. So entertaining, better even than The Apprentice, and this isnтАЩt just a set.
He is only unpredictable if you aren't paying attention. He has no actual imagination of creativity (other than coming up with derogatory nicknames, something any elementary school bully can do).
He is lazy and unthoughtful.
He follows the mafioso Don leadership manual reflexively
He will lie rather than tell the truth, even if the truth is actually good
He keeps a close eye on what is trending and then follows the trend
He will ALWAYS pick what appears (to him) to be the most expedient and Trump-serving course of action.
Anyone with half a brain would understand that running for political office invites a LOT of scrutiny. Becoming President invites even more and it creates a group of people that are looking to screw you over.
All Trump saw was a marketing/branding opportunity.
I am STILL convinced that he did not actually expect to win... that he didn't really want to win. All he wanted to do was build his brand and his grift.
Then he won and that victory went to his already over-inflated ego.
The only thing that saved us is that he did not actually understand how things worked and his inherent laziness.
Sometimes he tell the truth: . At a speech in Iowa on Sunday, he blurted out the truth. тАЬWhen you hear these lunatics back there,тАЭ he said, pointing at the news media, тАЬsay, тАШTrump didnтАЩt get anything from Mexico,тАЩ well, you know, there was no legal mechanism. I said theyтАЩre going to help fund this wall, but there was no legal mechanism. How do you go to a country, you say, тАШBy the way IтАЩm building a wall, hand us a lot of money.тАЩтАЭ
he sometimes tells the truth by accident or, if pressed to defend something else he said or did--like your example.
What he basically said there is that I lied about Mexico funding the wall and you people were stupid enough to believe me, so it's YOUR fault (not mine).
For example, trashing the judge in what amounts to the penalty phase of the trial. It was a question of if he'd be cognizant of the inevitable consequences enough to take the cowardly route, or dumb enough to pull the trigger. He chose dumb.
I agree with all you said. But I still believe he is unpredictable to his base. He does sleight of hand misdirection of attention. We are seeing what he does with BOTH hands.
I think it's his predictability that helps bind him to the base. The base knows, for example, that Trump will take the most morally reprehensible position on a given issue. That's because the base is morally reprehensible. Rinse, lather, repeat.
This is what I've been saying for 8 years. The comment above about lying even when telling the truth would be beneficial to him is similar. In any given situation or decision, he instinctively and purposefully will say or do the meanest, falsest, worst, cruelest, most reprehensible and dumbest thing. But we're the "deranged" ones.
They do not know what the most morally reprehensible position is on an issue until he shows it to them, and then, like trained seals taking a thrown fish, they gulp it down with joy.
It would certainly be that. There just aren't enough hours in the day to campaign for President and sit forty seven trials. Yet he and others think he can pile on leading the House of Representatives.
I believe that is exactly what MAGA is hoping their politicians will do. The government is the enemy so anything that makes the government stop governing can be the highest good. They want everything to blow up.
Probably not. But we need some cultural touchstones all our own ... and the fact we can recall them becomes not only increasingly unreliable but nonetheless impressive at the same time.
The series was adapted from the "Dobie Gillis" short stories written by Max Shulman since 1945, and first collected in 1951 under the same title as the subsequent TV series
My parents told us five kids that the TV didnтАЩt work. Oddly we believed them . . . Until one day I tried it and was elated, but it didnтАЩt change anything.
Trump has never worked a day in his life, and being the speaker is extremely hard work. It also takes strategy and intelligence that are simply beyond him. I don't think he has any chance of being elected to the position, but if he was, I think it'd be just the thing to end his miserable life.
Question is can he grift off the job, while not doing it and getting endless and free press to run a campaign with no expenditure and use all $ for lawyers.
There was a comment in the NR comments section about all the wondrous things he could get done in the job, including all the usual bits about closing the border and, hilariously, repealing and replacing Obamacare.
It'd be funny if it didn't betray the complete lack of civics education in this country.
"It'd be funny if it didn't betray the complete lack of civics education in this country."
Exactly. Don't they know that VP Harris could just refuse to certify the speaker vote? Duh.
For GOP, it is all a performance in front of the Newsmax cameras. They don't really care about legislation, so all your good reasoning is irrelevant here. I honestly think that whoever other than Trump is going to end up with the gavel, will be just a puppet. We know who the puppet master is.
They exist to self propagate.
Unsure if the puppet master is Trump or Bannon. Two massive narcissists. Inserting a wedge between those two would be easy; just tell each that the other one is in charge.
He wonтАЩt need to do any work. The presidency requires work as well. Trump came into the office at 11:00am and left by 4:00pm and basically watched cable news and tweeted the entire day. Not to mention, spending more than a year at one of his resorts golfing.
This is why he has Stephen Miller and his other vile advisors. These are the guys that do all the dirty work...:)
The Cabinet and the White House staff will accommodate all of these quirks, but the Speaker enjoys none of these privileges. If the Speaker doesn't show up for work, the people's business simply does not get done, and over 200 people in the Speaker's party are accountable to their constituents for that, and many will lose their seats for it.
Fair enough, but when you say, тАЬnothing gets done,тАЭ isnтАЩt that the goal?...:)
Maybe, but they have stated goals-- stunted and offensive as they are --and they campaigned on them. Nobody in the House campaigned on killing the House.
That's just it, the Speaker has to preside over all kinds of things. As President, he could go through the motions and have aides cover for him.
As opposed to how efficient and effective the house was under McCarthy?...:)
At least under McCarthy they can(and do) blame the democrats for their problems. They can't do that in this case.
Are you sure? Trump blamed Obama when the markets crashed during COVID and his cult bought it hook, line and sinker....:)
Trump never mowed a lawn, never helped a buddy move house, never even screwed in a light bulb. IN HIS LIFE. I think about that.
Or even grocery shopped in a store I bet...at least not as a grown adult.
What kinda life is that? IтАЩd rather be poor.
Or closed an umbrella, apparently.
Ha! He doesn't get to live in the White House (though he denigrated it) and he won't have military people snapping salutes as he walks by. He'd be surrounded by a bunch of nobodies in the halls of the Capitol and the office buildings.
I don't think there's a rule prohibiting the Speaker from being indicted.
But then he has to step aside, according to their rule 26.
Part me of thinks it would be darkly funny to see Trump as speaker, just to see the ensuing shitshow.
It would further expose him as the incompetent moron he is. Just like when he held his Covid press conferences and demonstrated that he didn't give a shit about hundreds of thousands of dead Americans. And lest we not forget his hawking of phony "cures" for Covid such as drinking bleach, Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.
He'd be mystified when he gives orders but they are not magically completed. He'd try writing executive orders. He'll show up once in a while. He'll shoo away the procedural people and commence his rally speeches. I would wait with baited breath for the moment even MTG realizes, after conversation with Trump, that there's nothing going on in Trump's head. That he is merely a symbol that talks and goes potty.
I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew this... and didn't care or actually saw it as an advantage.
Or as President, no, waitтАж.
You know what happens. He would refuse to pass any bills unless the special prosecutor is crushed, his indictments go away, and the DOJ starts an investigation into Hillary and others received enemies and threats.
Just more of a shit show, piled higher and deeper. It would be funny, if this wasnтАЩt so serious....:)
I have recently come around to the idea that Trump cannot be contained within the context of our Constitution. Therefore, other solutions must be considered.
тАЬLock him upтАЭ.
I get concerned that it would eventually turn into a Saddam Hussein..."Who supports my leadership?" and then starts pulling out specific people and shooting them if they were found not to have been sufficiently loyal.
And there's no limiting principle at all in scenario like that. "Support", like a lot of things, can be subjective, especially for someone as capricious as Trump. Maybe MTG is more loyal to Trump because she supersized his McDonald's order, while Boebert only got Trump a Big Mac. Ergo, Boebert is not on his team, and has to be dealt with.
He would be the first speaker without an actual clue how government works. I'd bet my paychecks for the rest of the year that Trump couldn't give a five minute talk on what the Speaker of the House actually does.
Give me a bucket of popcorn and a front row seat.
ThatтАЩs part of why the base loves him, heтАЩs an unpredictable lunatic. So entertaining, better even than The Apprentice, and this isnтАЩt just a set.
He is only unpredictable if you aren't paying attention. He has no actual imagination of creativity (other than coming up with derogatory nicknames, something any elementary school bully can do).
He is lazy and unthoughtful.
He follows the mafioso Don leadership manual reflexively
He will lie rather than tell the truth, even if the truth is actually good
He keeps a close eye on what is trending and then follows the trend
He will ALWAYS pick what appears (to him) to be the most expedient and Trump-serving course of action.
Anyone with half a brain would understand that running for political office invites a LOT of scrutiny. Becoming President invites even more and it creates a group of people that are looking to screw you over.
All Trump saw was a marketing/branding opportunity.
I am STILL convinced that he did not actually expect to win... that he didn't really want to win. All he wanted to do was build his brand and his grift.
Then he won and that victory went to his already over-inflated ego.
The only thing that saved us is that he did not actually understand how things worked and his inherent laziness.
He has a clue now, and motivation.
This is so true. He had gotten away with grift for decades. Then he became President and questions about his businesses became front and center.
Sometimes he tell the truth: . At a speech in Iowa on Sunday, he blurted out the truth. тАЬWhen you hear these lunatics back there,тАЭ he said, pointing at the news media, тАЬsay, тАШTrump didnтАЩt get anything from Mexico,тАЩ well, you know, there was no legal mechanism. I said theyтАЩre going to help fund this wall, but there was no legal mechanism. How do you go to a country, you say, тАШBy the way IтАЩm building a wall, hand us a lot of money.тАЩтАЭ
How indeed.
he sometimes tells the truth by accident or, if pressed to defend something else he said or did--like your example.
What he basically said there is that I lied about Mexico funding the wall and you people were stupid enough to believe me, so it's YOUR fault (not mine).
Really the only time he surprises me is when he does something even stupider than I expected.
For example, trashing the judge in what amounts to the penalty phase of the trial. It was a question of if he'd be cognizant of the inevitable consequences enough to take the cowardly route, or dumb enough to pull the trigger. He chose dumb.
He almost always goes dumb.... because he is.
I agree with all you said. But I still believe he is unpredictable to his base. He does sleight of hand misdirection of attention. We are seeing what he does with BOTH hands.
They are easy to fool, it is why he loves the uneducated.
Exactly.
Oh, I think he's extremely predictable, Linda. He's incredibly transparent and incredibly simple. He tells us who he is consistently.
HeтАЩs predictable to us, not to them. They even think heтАЩs a very stable genius.
I think it's his predictability that helps bind him to the base. The base knows, for example, that Trump will take the most morally reprehensible position on a given issue. That's because the base is morally reprehensible. Rinse, lather, repeat.
This is what I've been saying for 8 years. The comment above about lying even when telling the truth would be beneficial to him is similar. In any given situation or decision, he instinctively and purposefully will say or do the meanest, falsest, worst, cruelest, most reprehensible and dumbest thing. But we're the "deranged" ones.
They do not know what the most morally reprehensible position is on an issue until he shows it to them, and then, like trained seals taking a thrown fish, they gulp it down with joy.
He won't do it unless he can run his office from a golf course.
Exactly. The only job he wants is as a golf playing, social media troll.
Anyone know can you be speaker of the house from jail?!
Or Mara Logo.
It would certainly be that. There just aren't enough hours in the day to campaign for President and sit forty seven trials. Yet he and others think he can pile on leading the House of Representatives.
Oh well he was the greatest president of our time doncha know! It should be a piece of cake to juggle all those things and golf every day.
I don't think the goal is to "lead" the House. The goal is to prevent the House from performing its Constitutional duties.
I just intentionally ground the House to a standstill! Put me in the White House!
I believe that is exactly what MAGA is hoping their politicians will do. The government is the enemy so anything that makes the government stop governing can be the highest good. They want everything to blow up.
And the MAGA base would comply.
I know, right?
That's just it, being Speaker is actual WORK. The former president makes Dobie Gillis look industrious.
That is the best thing I have heard in quite awhile!! Nice job!
They would have to change the title of the office to тАЬRanter of the House.тАЭ
You win, there's no point in trying to top this comment!
Wonder if he can find the time between all his court appearances.
Except thatтАЩs what everyone said about the presidency pre-Trump.
Dobie Gillis... does anyone under 65 get the reference?
Work!!! In the long run, I prefer Engineer Bill. "Green Light, drink your milk".
I'm 54 and I get the reference. Then again, I was in the first generation of Nick at Night college students.
Probably not. But we need some cultural touchstones all our own ... and the fact we can recall them becomes not only increasingly unreliable but nonetheless impressive at the same time.
'Now just hang on there, Barney!'
Probably not,But I'm 69.
Yes, I remember--I am 70. Loved Dobie, Maynard and the тАЬThe Thinker!тАЭ
It was Maynard G. Krebs, who had the aversion to "work."
Dobie had to work in his father's grocery store, where only dreamt of Thalia Menninger.ЁЯШЙ
I mean, Maynard G. Krebs AND Gilligan -- Bob Denver was an icon!
Indeed. In watching reruns of Dobie, I thought Maynard was cooler than "Little Buddy".
Same here. Bob Denver's Maynard was the primary reason I tuned into Dobie Gillis.
The original "beatnik"? :-)
I am 62 and yes I got it ;)
I'm 45, and old enough to have seen Dobie Gillis on Nick at Nite, roughly 35 years after it actually aired.
Never thought of Nick at Night. My son is 45, I need to ask him if he's ever seen the show. It must seem archaic.
Yes!
I'm 54. :)
Quick,every commenter give your age!
I guess Dobie Gillis remained in reruns longer. I am 72 and viewed it in its initial phase.
The series was adapted from the "Dobie Gillis" short stories written by Max Shulman since 1945, and first collected in 1951 under the same title as the subsequent TV series
"The Dobie Gillis Show," featuring beatnik Maynard G. Krebs.
Ah, good memories!
in 1959-63 we have only 3 networks so... a show on TV would be seen my most.
My parents told us five kids that the TV didnтАЩt work. Oddly we believed them . . . Until one day I tried it and was elated, but it didnтАЩt change anything.
He might be the only person the RтАЩs could nominate who could get 218 without D support.
Yes, I thought that too.