Democratic Nominee in 2020

Quote: Evenbob

Good thing Trump is the polar opposite
of an empty suit.

empty suit: n - a prominent person regarded as lacking substance, personality, or ability.

His "substance" is that of Being Famous. He got famous by prominence in NY real estate, and achieved mega stardom via reality TV. A man moving Old Money around the Big City and going on TV are not substantial in my eyes.

His personality has the same positives and negatives as anyone else, but for me, it's his insecurity that stands out the most. This is mostly because it is my personal least favorite, both to have and to deal with in others.

He's able to draw attention, sure. Tried and tested. Run a business? Some yes, some no, just like everyone else. Make a deal? Same ol political decisions as anyone else. Keep a promise? Here and there, just like all the rest.

Put away the love for his rootin', tootin' "tell it like it is" ways, and stuff the "he's a fascist dictator" hyperbole, and just (try to) look at it objectively. What you're left with is a guy that got a few pieces of his promises settled, told a few whoppers, dropped a few balls here and there and picked some up hither and yon. And we're still pretty much exactly where we were, on our slight downward slope into oblivion. Healthcare still a mess. Cops still militarizing. Education still sub par. Fetal/maternal mortality still shocking. Infrastructure still crumbling.

If the world's most powerful man was also known as one of the most savvy businessmen in the world, and he couldn't prevent a 1,600% increase in a product that increased for no other reason than expiration of patent and yay capitalism, would he really be all that powerful or all that good at business?

Quote: Face

empty suit: n - a prominent person regarded as lacking substance, personality, or ability.

His "substance" is that of Being Famous. He got famous by prominence in NY real estate, and achieved mega stardom via reality TV. A man moving Old Money around the Big City and going on TV are not substantial in my eyes.

Not substantial? I must ask what is your standard? The guy took a small real estate business and made it an international empire. He built a casino empire. He started an airline. He built the “Trump” brand all on his own. He had a successful TV show built around him for 10 years. How many people that have been put on their own show do that? His POTUS was not given media push like Obama or Hillary. His own party was against him. He got publicity because he took virtually every interview request. And while anyone can do that you have to have the personality to get people to tune in.

He is no Paris Hilton famous for being famous because her granddad started the hotel. He is famous because he got things done. If one wants to say he had business failures fine. So did Men like Ford and Lincoln among many others we call successes.

He didn’t hide in academia or government like almost every other candidate in either side. He has not lived a rich life but called the wealthy evil (see sig below.).

Like him or don’t like him, an empty suit he ain’t.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-12/why-iraq-war-veteran-has-created-panic-democratic-party Cool, Tulsi

"She's identified the primary impetus for her 2020 candidacy as follows:

There is one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace.

No doubt, this alone will send the beltway zero skin-in-the-game armchair hawks and theorists into foaming at the mouth rants of Gabbard "endangering our national security" should she ever get anywhere close to clinching the Democratic nomination.

The neocon smear machine has already revved into high gear - something consistent on both sides of the aisle:"

Quote: petroglyph

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-12/why-iraq-war-veteran-has-created-panic-democratic-party Cool, Tulsi

"She's identified the primary impetus for her 2020 candidacy as follows:

There is one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace.

No doubt, this alone will send the beltway zero skin-in-the-game armchair hawks and theorists into foaming at the mouth rants of Gabbard "endangering our national security" should she ever get anywhere close to clinching the Democratic nomination.

The neocon smear machine has already revved into high gear - something consistent on both sides of the aisle:"

So I assume, unlike mainstream Dems who used to be anti-war (until POTUS Trump withdrew troops from Syria when they became pro-war), she supported POTUS Trump withdrawing troops from Syria?

Quote: aceofspades

So I assume, unlike mainstream Dems who used to be anti-war (until POTUS Trump withdrew troops from Syria when they became pro-war), she supported POTUS Trump withdrawing troops from Syria?

IDK if she supported Trump saying he would remove troops? Maybe?

The media doesn't even notice the war going on in Yemen. It is a tragedy for that country. "O" campaigned on bringing our troops home, so did Trump, yet here we are with close to a trillion dollar defense budget if we include DOE, Nafta etc. that are little disguised military.

Trump may have some soldiers leave Syria, but he never said if he would remove contractors like Blackwater. Trump also mentioned privatizing our warriors in Afg..

She has always said she wanted to stop foreign entanglements. I want that to. A lot of human migration is due to our part in de stabilizing governments that aren't fundamentalist, and leaving a scorched earth like we have in Libya.

Somebody get in there [POTUS] and stop the killing. I think if they do that, we can work on other stuff, like healthcare, social security, education etc. I don't care what party they side with.

Funny, neocon democrats don't like her either. That's a big plus.

Quote: AZDuffman

Not substantial? I must ask what is your standard? The guy took a small real estate business and made it an international empire. He built a casino empire. He started an airline. He built the “Trump” brand all on his own. He had a successful TV show built around him for 10 years. How many people that have been put on their own show do that? .

I saw Trump a hundred times over the
last 30 years. Was he booked on all
those talk shows over and over because
he was an ubsubstantial empty suit?
Did NBC renew the contract on his hit
show for 10 years because there was
nobody in his suit?

He gets elected and overnight he has
accomplished nothing in his life. He's
a nobody empty suit that people line
up by the 10's of thousands to see.
You want a real example, just look at
teleprompter Obama. Sounds good,
looks good, nobody home..

Quote: Evenbob

I saw Trump a hundred times over the
last 30 years. Was he booked on all
those talk shows over and over because
he was an ubsubstantial empty suit?
Did NBC renew the contract on his hit
show for 10 years because there was
nobody in his suit?

He gets elected and overnight he has
accomplished nothing in his life. He's
a nobody empty suit that people line
up by the 10's of thousands to see.
You want a real example, just look at
teleprompter Obama. Sounds good,
looks good, nobody home..

The push Obama was given was on par with what a new star in pro wrestling gets. Nobody dare questioned him. Not even McCain. Just a common Senator. Never understood how he filled an autobiography. Yet Trump is the empty suit now?

Quote: AZDuffman

Like him or don’t like him, an empty suit he ain’t.

It's subjective.

I don't criticize his failures out of hand. Failure is a facet of any project, and many (maybe a majority) don't even have the balls to try. That's a *gasp* genuine positive about the man. And he does have several others, if one can cease being blinded by their hate.

But "making money" and "being famous" aren't laudable in my eyes in and of themselves. It very much matters how you came about it, and what you did with it once acquired. Turning any investment into a real reward is a positive in any light, surely. And he did so, obviously. I just don't marvel at his success like I do a Gates because it was already imparted. I do not get at all your repeated claims of being "self made". Dad gave him forty mil. Good job on not blowing it, even better job at making something of it. But this is very much a case of, as Buzz was wont to say, being born on third and thinking you hit a triple. His "dynasty" wasn't handed to him; he did build what he has. I just find the way he built it to be not all that impressive, what with being handed more many than perhaps all of us together will see in a lifetime. And of course, once you start into how many of them were borderline if not outright fraudulent, his "business acumen" starts to edge into negative territory.

And I'll agree he got famous for getting things done. That's where it started, NY real estate, making a name by getting things done. But his mega stardom came by way of reality TV, and he got that precisely by being a Paris Hilton, Kim K type personality. He was in no uncertain terms a game show host, an American Simon Cowell. This isn't a "bad" thing; he didn't kill nobody, no wars were started because of the Apprentice. But again, this kind of fame does not impress me, nor do I think it imparts any sort of value outside of empty calorie entertainment.

And once fame and fortune were found, what did he do? Did he cast it aside to serve a la Pat Tillman? Did he go on a world tour on a humanitarian effort a la Bono ? Did he prop up a Bill and Melinda Gates-esque foundation? Seems to me all his fame and power has served was to gain himself more fame and more power. Suppose that's all well and good and as fair as it gets, but again, it's not anything in which I'd be impressed about.

You wanna talk land development, networking, creating a brand, he's your guy. But diplomacy? Security? Healthcare? Dude's out to lunch.

Quote: aceofspades

So I assume, unlike mainstream Dems who used to be anti-war (until POTUS Trump withdrew troops from Syria when they became pro-war), she supported POTUS Trump withdrawing troops from Syria?

Doesn't appear she agrees with Trump on much : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/tulsi-gabbard/

Quote: Face

But "making money" and "being famous" aren't laudable in my eyes in and of themselves.

And he started with around 400 million.

Quote:

Trump was earning $200,000 a year from his father's empire by the age 3.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-father-gave-his-son-at-least-413-million-new-york-times-2018-10-02