Bill Gates Shares His Memories of Donald Trump (cnn.com) 490
MSNBC recently published a video of Bill Gates telling his staff at the Gates Foundation that he had two meetings with Donald Trump since the president was elected. In the video, Gates says Trump doesn't know the difference between two sexually transmitted diseases -- human papillomavirus (HPV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -- and that it was "scary" how much Trump knew about Gates' daughter's appearance. Gates also said he urged Trump to support innovation and technology during those meetings. CNN reports: Taking audience questions about his interactions with Trump at a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation meeting, the former Microsoft honcho said he first met Trump in December 2016. He told the audience that Trump had previously come across his daughter, Jennifer, at a horse show in Florida. "And then about 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place," Gates said, according to video of the event broadcast by MSNBC late Thursday. "So clearly he had been driven away but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter. "Anyway, so when I first talked to him, it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance. Melinda (Gates' wife) didn't like that too well."
Gates also said he discussed science with Trump on two separate occasions, where he says the President questioned him on the difference between HIV and HPV. "In both of those two meetings, he asked me if vaccines weren't a bad thing because he was considering a commission to look into ill-effects of vaccines and somebody -- I think it was Robert Kennedy Jr. -- was advising him that vaccines were causing bad things. And I said no, that's a dead end, that would be a bad thing, don't do that. "Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other," Gates said.
Gates also said he discussed science with Trump on two separate occasions, where he says the President questioned him on the difference between HIV and HPV. "In both of those two meetings, he asked me if vaccines weren't a bad thing because he was considering a commission to look into ill-effects of vaccines and somebody -- I think it was Robert Kennedy Jr. -- was advising him that vaccines were causing bad things. And I said no, that's a dead end, that would be a bad thing, don't do that. "Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other," Gates said.
Wow (Score:4, Funny)
Next you'll be telling us Trump doesn't know the difference between Kerberos and Kubernetes.
Simpsons Comic book guy scoffs at Trump!
As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base.
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
>"Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base."
Maybe, maybe not. I don't believe being "smart" was high on the list of his base's wishes this time- it was mostly that he:
1) Wasn't Hillary
2) Was purporting to be conservative
3) Wasn't an "establishment" politician
I think the vast majority of voters already knew he was a bit of a loud-mouth, bully, buffoon long before the election.... but I believe they very much wanted a shake up and not an Obama sequel. In my mind, there is no question that mission was accomplished. Being smart, charismatic, or well spoken don't necessarily mean having positions that voters will agree with, nor do they necessarily mean the candidate would have a better chance of getting anything accomplished.
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
>"Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base."
Maybe, maybe not. I don't believe being "smart" was high on the list of his base's wishes this time
Maybe, you do hear enough people claim that he's smart in private conversations that I won't discount it. It's possible he's had a mental decline since they knew him, but I think it's more likely that he's legitimately quick-witted, he just doesn't apply himself to learn or analyze anything so those wits go to waste. Either that or he spews out so many facts and pronouncements in private that he sounds like a polymath, they might be complete BS but in a private conversation he ends up sounding smart.
Ultimat
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
I maintain my earlier position that anyone who thinks his responses show intelligence must lack it themselves. You know how ridiculous you sound trying so hard to come up with some way to argue he's not a moron?
Do you have any evidence that shows he's an actual moron, and not someone with zero attention span who says moronic things?
Think back to Trump at the debates, or in his speeches and look past the rambling incoherence. He does a really good job of rolling with the crowd or coming up with rejoinders. Very few people are that good at working a crowd or gaining attention during a debate. He has an easier time because he's so comfortable with lying, but he's still coming up with things to say, that actually take
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
4) Didn't hate them.
4) Pretended not to hate them
5) When choosing sides, picked the American side.
5) When choosing sides, pretended to pick the American side.
6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors.
6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors, but made sure he got a cut from every "deal".
7) Wasn't trying to tell them there are 14 genders and only 12 of them get to decide how everyone must do everything.
7) Which is something no-one has ever done in the history of politics anywhere.
8) Didn’t tell them America was doomed to mediocrity and hopelessness.
Which sounds likely to be a losing strategy, so I'm going to go ahead and assume it's a complete load.
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
4) Didn't hate them.
No, and in fact, he "loves" them ("I love the poorly-educated! [youtube.com]") Just listen to that -- they even cheer when he mocks and insults them to their faces. How awesome is that?
5) When choosing sides, picked the American side.
That's just too hilarious to merit a response, given how much time he spent hanging around with Russians. Clue time: when choosing sides, Trump picks Trump's side. To the extent that benefits America (or Russia for that matter), it's purely by coincidence.
6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors.
Whatever that means...
7) Wasn't trying to tell them there are 14 genders and only 12 of them get to decide how everyone must do everything.
Whatever that means...
8) Didn't tell them America was doomed to mediocrity and hopelessness.
Yeah, I know when I need to be rescued from mediocrity and hopelessness, I always look to the guy with his own reserved parking spot at bankruptcy court.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Bill Gates has kind of a cult of personality among working class Americans who see him as somebody who came up from nothing to become the richest man on earth. For some reason He's not lumped into the "elites" category like Jobs or Bezos. Not sure why, since he grew up wealthy and used his mom's connections to get an in with IBM and his dad's advice to take advantage of it, but go figure.
Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base.
No one is saying he's not elite, but he's not included with the Silicon Valley elites anymore because he's been semi-retired for 10 years.
People focus on Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, and Jobs (formerly) not because they're rich, but because they have the power to shape the technological future and they're using it.
But back in Microsoft's heyday Gates was easily as big as any of them.
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He or somebody close to him probably realized that when it comes to leaving a legacy, owning a basketball team does not cut it.
Normal people have kids, very rich people have kids and leave a legacy.
Unless they piss it all way, of course.
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
The cult developed long before he quit Microsoft and started the benevolence.
Gates has been long celebrated as the epitomy of the American dream. Look, work hard, build a company (erm, and illegally exploit a monopoly, fuck over your customers, damage an industry, cheat on your partners, etc) and you too can become the world's richest man.
The reason he never drew the hatred and ire is because he didn't grandstand, doesn't promote himself in public, doesn't make himself the central focus of everything. He built a brand and a company that was successful, and people associated the shit stuff with the brand and not the person.
Judging this guy on how he acquired DOS and early business practices in the budding PC industry is a joke compared to his overall contributions in life.
No, fuck that. Giving away money you earned through unethical practices and that you don't need to maintain your life of utter luxury does not justify the shit you did to acquire it.
Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Bill was no angel and I think that he has been pretty clear about that in the past.
Let's assume a few things.
1) He has the money now. He has a lot of it. He has massive gobs of money. So much he could fill a swimming pool with chocolate pudding just to swim in his favorite food and he would make the money back in less time than it would take to mix it... even if he was just collecting 0.5% interest.
2) He's grown up and seems to want to make a positive difference in the world
3) He couldn't really give the money back to the people he cheated to get there.
4) Most of the people he "cheated" did just fine anyway. Let's be honest, if you made a product that Microsoft would actively compete with or depended on, you probably the kind of person who wouldn't just sit in a corner and cry about how the big bad Bill took your ice cream. You'll get up and get more ice cream and keep this ice cream away from Bill.
So now, he's spending the vast majority of the money trying to leverage what he's learned in life to make world differences. He's a bit hit and miss on this, but he's making a greater difference in many places than most governments have.
One of the most important differences he's trying to make is to decrease world population through improvements in infant mortality. Around the world, he's hoping to keep families too busy changing diapers to fuck and make more. It works almost everywhere. This is why almost all first world countries have seen negative population growth and some second and third world countries (like the U.S.) are starting to see that too.
He's actively debunking stupid people. Like for example, the anti-vaxxers. They attack him all the time for trying to poison the world. Then he publicly says things like "I'm sorry, can you please go be stupid over there. I'm too busy saving childrens' lives to waste my time with you."
I don't think you have to love the guy and bow down and offer the inside of your right cheek to him. But consider that when someone is out there trying to make a positive difference, we can't forget what they have done in the past. We may not even be able to forgive it. But focus on the now and hope that a little less hate and a little more positive reinforcement will help that person do the right thing.
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Next you'll be telling us Trump doesn't know the difference between Kerberos and Kubernetes.
Simpsons Comic book guy scoffs at Trump!
Because knowing the difference between two computing technologies, either of which would be known by only a minority of IT people, is exactly the same as not knowing the difference between two of the most famous STDs on the planet...
Of course, I'm a little skeptical that Trump doesn't actually know the difference I'd expect him to be familiar with STDs since he considered STDs to be his personal Vietnam [people.com].
I suspect he was trying to say something else and just muddled the words up.
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Next you'll be telling us Trump doesn't know the difference between Kerberos and Kubernetes.
Simpsons Comic book guy scoffs at Trump!
Because knowing the difference between two computing technologies, either of which would be known by only a minority of IT people, is exactly the same as not knowing the difference between two of the most famous STDs on the planet...
If you ask a civilized person about Kerberos without any IT namespace hints, they'll probably answer something about a mythical three-headed guard dog. On Kubernetes, a surprising number of people might recognize the origin of words "government" and "cybernetics". Fleeting IT projects that can't come up with original names are not a part of old-school Bildung (for the lack of a better English word).
But hey, this is the shiny new 21st Century, where "android" is just a phone, instead of a humanoid servant
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He raw-dogged a porn star. Whatever he may have once known about STDs, his dementia has caused him to forget.
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Next you'll be telling us Trump doesn't know the difference between Kerberos and Kubernetes.
Joke's on you. Trump doesn't even drink Kombucha [wikipedia.org].
Trolling Gates? (Score:2, Flamebait)
The worst amongst us. (Score:5, Interesting)
We are currently ruled by some of the worst people of our nation.
Why? Because of joy.
"What? Joy?" You may ask. Yes - joy, the emotion of joy - that little element of discovering something that pleases you.
Americans discovered that amongst the boring moments of their lives, and amidst the confusing cycles of our politics, the thing that brought them the most joy, was the crude, often cruel mockery of difference.
It's not quite comedy, in the professional sense - even the most crude professional comedians would find this kind of humor career destroying. See Kathy Griffin to see what happens when one wonders into that territory.
But the conservative movement doesn't really have comedians - instead, they have a unique brand of cruelty that takes the place of open comedy.
It's not always about laughing - it's about joy, the joy of knowing how you are treating your enemy, the joy of cruelty, of punishing difference. At all levels, from online sharing, to the highest offices.
This isn't new - there were large amounts of this spread across newspapers in the era of 'yellow journalism' - it's actually kind of shocking to read some of the stuff around the civil war. And we're kind of returning to that state of political cruelty - cruelty ahead of everything else.
And that's what Trump represents more than anything else - cruelty in place of political strategy, cruelty in the guise of comedy, cruelty as the dominant force in a major political party. And cruelty called common sense and wisdom in our popular culture.
Ryan Fenton
Re:The worst amongst us. (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting comment, but I never have the mod points to give. I used to get them from time to time, but that was many years ago. I think I pissed off Taco and and he put me on some kind of no-mod-points-for-you list...
Anyway, I think that's a confusing sense of "joy". My General Theory of Relatively Funny Stuff is that we laugh to learn. Normal people actually enjoy learning new things, and it's deeply linked to humor. So far I haven't been able to find a form of humor that is not linked in some way to learning stuff.
A few examples: Slapstick is funny because you are not the person getting hurt--but you are learning not to do those things by seeing the bad results. Children are always laughing because they are little learning machines, easily amused as they acquire new knowledge. Political humor depends upon knowing the political realities, which also explains why extremist right-wing humorists so often fail. Without reality they can't find the jokes. Since political humor is based on a contrast between the joke and the underlying reality, without the contrast the right-wing humorists can't make anyone laugh (though it is possible for honest conservatives to be funny).
Have you ever seen a video of Trump laughing? I haven't.
Re:The worst amongst us. (Score:4, Interesting)
That's why it isn't really comedy. The aim isn't the same as the jokes you're used to with openly repeatable comedy. It's closer to the stupidest parts of grade school than proper jokes.
Have you ever listened to Rush Limbaugh? There's some odd sorts of laughs there - but most of the joy intended is not the laughing kind of joy - but the "oh, we really showed those fools what's what" kind of joy.
It's the same kind of joy you might get from hearing an MC really lay into another MC, when it isn't even really laughing material.
That same form of joy has come in the form of cruelty dominating the commenting landscape of Facebook and the like. Of drawing a picture of your opponent being tortured, of denying them a voice, of denying the group they belong to a voice. Of feeling like you're proving you're on the winning side.
It's all endorphins - but in this case, it's different than laughing humor.
Re: (Score:2)
I still can't figure out your intended sense of "joy". In some places you make it sound more like schadenfreude, but in other places it sounds more like a vegetative state.
Maybe I'm just repulsed too quickly to experience the emotion in question, even vicariously? For example, you mentioned Rushbaugh, but I can't tolerate more than a second or two of him before losing all joy or any semblance thereof.
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>Are you talking about the alt+Left or Right ? 'Because when I read "..denying them a voice..", my thoughts turn to what happens when a conservative is booked to speak at a university. Perhaps you are speaking generally?
Yeah - I'm speaking generally. It can theoretically apply on the left just as well on the right. It just happens to be easier to find in the right in our culture and recent history. That's also why I mentioned the era of 'yellow journalism' - yes, most of the insanity was on the newspa
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Spot on.
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Re:The worst amongst us. (Score:4, Insightful)
Proud and incurable ignorance, or just stupid? (Score:5, Insightful)
Trying to figure out what aspect of this story actually merits coverage on Slashdot.
It's the ignorance, stupid!
Kind of hard to tell in Trump's case since he is also quite stupid and has been sheltered and protected from the normal consequences of his stupidity. His father was only the first person to pump in money to cover the losses from Trump's bad decisions.
However I think it is much more significant that Trump doesn't care about what he doesn't know. I insist that Trump regards Bill Gates as admirable, for the money, if nothing else, but Trump still doesn't care enough to listen to him. Any moderately educated person should know the difference between HIV and HPV, but Trump doesn't know and doesn't care. Actually, given Trump's sexual peccadilloes (or perhaps you prefer to describe it as "raging libido"), it would even be normal self-protection to know a LOT about sexually transmitted diseases, but "Trump don't know and Trump don't care."
Not sure of the exact numbers, but there are a lot of proudly ignorant fools in America, and many of them voted for Trump precisely because they felt that Trump's disdainful attitude towards knowing things made him a true representative of their views, the kind of "leader" they wanted to follow. Scare quotes on "leader" because if you're ignorant you can't actually lead since you have no idea where you're going. Normal peasants like you and I would merely fail hard when we stumble blindly into holes, but Trump has always gotten more money to pull him out and hide his failures.
There's another option: Learning from mistakes. I actually think there is a tiny bit of evidence that Trump has learned two things along the way. That's why he doesn't gamble with his own money now. His bankruptcies didn't teach him how to be a better businessman, but they did teach him to take his own cut up front and to make sure the contracts allow him to walk away when projects fail.
Trump has never learned that truth matters.
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That's why he doesn't gamble with his own money now. His bankruptcies didn't teach him how to be a better businessman, but they did teach him to take his own cut up front and to make sure the contracts allow him to walk away when projects fail.
That's no different among any other public company, especially GM: They gamble with investors' money. If a public company fails, the investors lose out. If GM fails again, the taxpayers lose out, because the government will have to bail them out again, because they are "too big to fail".
When they were "Government Motors", the government should have broken them up into three or more small companies, each being small enough to fail. This would ensure that the executive really do their job, and avoid bank
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Let me summarize for you why this "news article" is stupid:
Gossip != news
Gates statements != much evidence about Trump
The only reason anyone has even heard about this is because of Gate's accomplishments in areas not related to Trump, nor politics. This is the /. equivalent of actors testifying in front of Congress about medical matters because they played one on TV. Who cares?
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Listen to the "Trump Inc." podcast. The latest one pointed out something very unusual about Trump's more recent real estate investments: they have used Trump money exclusively. This isn't just unusual for Trump, it's unusual in the field of real estate development.
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Trying to figure out what aspect of this story actually merits coverage on Slashdot.
The story was worth posting because the comments demonstrate that Bill Gates is no longer the most hated man on slashdot.
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"Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other," Gates said.
Any moderately educated person should know the difference between HIV and HPV, ...
If for no other reason than they're spelled differently.
Trump 'n Gates (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The world wants to know (Score:5, Funny)
Did Trump try to grab Jennifer Gate's pussy?
He was going to, but was dissuaded by the EULA.
Re:ignorance is bliss (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ignorance is bliss (Score:5, Insightful)
There is an obscene amount of H1-B visa abuse. But for any country to develop, it absolutely has to have open doors to skilled foreigners. Patriotism and all that crap is great for people who have nothing else to make them special. But for people who define themselves as engineers or scientists for example, the world needs to be globalist.
I moved to Norway from America 20 years ago... and I took on of their jobs. I took one of their women. I spread my seed in the country. I have worked 6 years as an IT instructor to make some extra money and have heavily influenced society and culture here. I often during breaks or to lighten the mood share more than just IT knowledge, but also things like what a Turducken is or what Bacon Explosion is. Many of my students have tried both. I work longer hours than the locals, I work harder than they do (almost universally), I produce more and I take more. In 20 years, while I'm fully functional in their language and by American standards am fluent at this point, I never speak their language to them except in rare cases. I work purely in English... though I leave them the option as to what language to speak to me in or send me e-mails in.
The only thing which differentiates me from what you see as an H1-B worker is my skin color. There are cultural differences, I directly "corrupt society" here. I change peoples habits, behavior, etc... but they also change mine and over time I've become much more like them. And because my skin is almost light enough to be Norwegian, I am welcomed and embraced. When I choose to change jobs, I insight bidding and package battles between companies... though to be fair, I rarely choose the best package in lieu of the best coworkers.
Understand than in 99% of all cases, immigrants imported in the spirit of the H1-B as opposed to the abuse of the H1-B are almost always the best and highest performing workers. They are the people most interested in being part of your society as well. They will hopefully bring the best parts of their culture and improve yours in the same way that a new spice will help your pasta sauce recipe.
H1-B is a really really really good thing if it can ever be brought under control.
I was just at Microsoft Build to update my knowledge "of the enemy" and learned a great deal and looking at the people I spoke with, I think America would be a much poorer place if the H1-Bs working at MS weren't there.
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job
To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.
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That's right. I'd rather have a well-read, informed and intellectual President with whom I can have a good conversation than an anti-intellectual womanizing loudmouth who brings the country to peace and prosperity by however incomprehensible means. ... is what I believe most educated liberals think these days. Their biggest fear seems to be Trump ending up being right about things because how he gets there does not seem to make sense.
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He hasn't got there. Yeah, racial unity through bigotry, prosperity through corruption, progress through ignorance, world leadership though jingoism does not make sense. But worse, they've been tried throughout history over and over, and they don't work. How many chances are *you* going to give them?
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Trump s
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....his actions with Iran and Israel are extremely terrible for peace.
You mean the long history of peace between Iran and Israel is over?
His massive giveaway to them gave some crumbs to the middle class,
Keep telling middle class people that the extra money in their paycheck is "crumbs".
Trump supporters live in a fantasy world thinking his propaganda about things improving for everyone is true.
Maybe not everyone, but individuals know whether things are improving for them or not. Unemployed people see the help wanted signs. Middle class people see the extra money in their paycheck. Investors see their 401k balance.
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean the long history of peace between Iran and Israel is over?
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a major setback in that conflict, and pulling out of the Iran deal is a risk for our peace with them, not to mention destroying our credibility for other such arrangements. Then there's the little matter of appointing a notorious extreme warmonger named John Bolton.
Keep telling middle class people that the extra money in their paycheck is "crumbs".
Since the average amount they'll see is $20 [itep.org], I absolutely will.
Maybe not everyone, but individuals know whether things are improving for them or not. Unemployed people see the help wanted signs. Middle class people see the extra money in their paycheck. Investors see their 401k balance.
Plenty of people recognize things are not actually improving for them. Aside from the question of how much credit Trump deserves for unemployment, which is a whole debate in itself, of the other two things you've mentioned one is propaganda unless you think $20 is significant. The other is mostly a benefit for the wealthy; and if you really want to claim the gains the part of middle class with 401k holdings have seen is worth everything Trump has done, especially looking at the net after accelerated health insurance cost increases due to repealing the mandate without implementing any other cost control measures, that's kind of a weak argument for all the harm he's done to the poor, to our credibility, to our reputation, to our environment, to minorities, to immigrants including some legal ones, to civil rights in his Sessions appointment... and on and on.
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Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a major setback in that conflict
But it was literally law since the 90's that our embassy would be in Jerusalem. Trump followed the law and a campaign promise unlike every other president before that made that promise and lied. You may not like it but following the law and a promise is a mark of good character for a president. Hamas and Iran will use anything as an excuse for violence especially if they can get a good photo-up western media will lap up. "protestors" killed that just so happen to be mostly Hamas.
pulling out of the Iran deal is a risk for our peace with them, not to mention destroying our credibility for other such arrangements.
The US never agreed to the I
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provided any proof that Obama couldn't make the deal,
Proof? Like Iran not signing on the deal because "not a treaty" [nationalreview.com]? I am sorry but this doesn't make any sense. Sure, Obama can promise things that Obama can fulfill like "political commitments" but when it comes to promises of the United States the Senate must approve precisely because of shit like this. Obama set the Iran deal up for failure by ignoring the Congress. That is not how the US operates and Obama should have known better instead of trying to create a legacy built on lies and executive overreach.
What really makes Trump make US look like shit is how it's going against it's allies on these deals.
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To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump....
You value condemnation? Why?
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
CohibaVancouver opined:
To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.
Sadly, it's actually worse than that.
It is quite clear that not only does Trump have, as you put it, "little interest" in becoming informed, but, instead, that he actively resists any attempt to provide him with information on subjects that trigger him [businessinsider.com].
It's also why he labells as "fake news" anything that displeases him [twitter.com]. It's not that those things are factually inaccurate. It's that he just doesn't want to hear them ...
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Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job
To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.
Even worse, he believes he is the smartest person in the room, and thus acts based on his opinion with little consideration of what others have to say.
The biggest problem I have with Trump (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The biggest problem I have with Trump (Score:4, Informative)
They're still human beings (Score:3)
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THAT is your biggest issue with trump
In other words, you dont have any issue with him
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To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.
What are you talking about? He subscribes to Playboy for the articles! Not the pictures. He reads. You must be Melania's friend.
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
I voted for Obama and used to think that was a good thing. But what has it gotten us? Executive overreach,
That one is arguable. He saw the problems of the world and so how impossible it was to work with congress and just did the best he could. Did he overreach a few areas? Probably, but of course nothing compared to the Trump crime family.
"deteriorating race relations"
I think you are confusing cause and effect. Race relations didn't deteriorate, if they did really deteriorate, because of Obama. They deteriorated because of Obama's political opponents used race as a vile weapon to go after him with.
", increasing inequality,"
Been happening for ages. It is not new. Obama did the single most important thing to address it, by taking a stab at health care, and his approach while hardly perfect was "better". It was also all he could get done in that environment.
Yes, there are many other reasons. The absolutely fucking insane tax cut we just put in is going to make income inequality worse, since most of the money goes to those who already make a lot of money. Its also completely irresponsible, but that is another topic. Of course republicans would argue that income inequality in itself isn't bad. I tend to disagree. Past a certain point it distorts things too much and the markets basically fail.
" a stuttering recovery,"
Seems similar to the last one really from what I vaguely recall. There is no magic. People someone expect because something happened in the past under a vastly different set of circumstances that you can expect the same outcomes. Either way, the president doesn't have that much control there. The economy did well under Obama and I see no particularly sign that it will be magical under Trump. We are just feeling the effects of the heroin he pumped in (tax cuts), but the crash and burn will come eventually. The bills must be paid.
" a missed opportunity on health care reform"
Now here is where you are flat out lying. I watched the entire process. They got done what they could get done. It was amazingly close to failing. You think you can do better, maybe you should run for office?
", political polarization,"
Again, your confusing cause and effect here. Obama isn't a particularly polarizing guy. He is actually pretty much a centrist. the hate and polarization was ginned up by the right, including Fox news and all the rest. The polarization came because the right decided, one way and another to do anything to get rid of him. They stirred up the primary forces of hatred and bigotry and out came Trump out of their unholy cauldron of crap.
"and foreign policy disasters."
The biggest one I saw was making a promise on a reprisal that he decided not to do. Yah, wasn't a fan of that one, since the world must believe us, but then you bring in Mr. lying sack of shit with his 3000 plus lies and i'm like, really, we are still comparing that? I hate to break it to you, but the rest of the world, with the exception of I think Isreal and Russia saw us far better pre Trump.
"And the problem was exactly that Obama was really smart, wanted to do everything himself, and ended up micromanaging."
He did probably control more militarily than was a good idea, but Trump is the opposite, and seems to not do much at all. Neither are great solutions. Thankfully Trump isn't trying to control much since he is so ill informed and not interested in being informed that if he were to attempt it it would be an unmitigated disaster.
"Obama represents the hubris of technocrats, progressives, and intellectuals."
There is nothing wrong with being intelligent or educated, no matter how much the right pushes this drivel. I also never saw arrogance in his being.
"And it's Obama's miserable performance as president that paved the way for Trump." And yet histor
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Your comments come down to saying "if Obama had only been totalitarian ruler of the country without opposition, then he could have done all these wonderful things for the country that he promised during his campaign".
Well, sorry, that's not the way the US works. When Obama promised something (improved race relations, more privacy, lower health care costs, etc.), he needed to take into account what opposition he would face and moderate his promises accordingly. He didn't do that, and that is exactly the kind
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How does the Republican position ("fetuses are human beings and deserving of the same protections as children") contradict "freedom of association, private property, free markets, and freedom of speech"? Where do you see the "hypocrisy"?
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
. And it's Obama's miserable performance
Miserable performance in what? By all accounts and looking at it from a different country's perspective (i.e. I don't have skin in the game of your silly politics), he seemed to leave the country better in every way than he found it despite being mostly hamstrung in many key areas where he wanted to make a difference.
Your "missed opportunity on healthcare" is especially interesting on this given what he initially proposed and what the republicans who's support it needed eventually watered it down to.
Obama represents the hubris of technocrats, progressives, and intellectuals.
Reminds me of the Farage comments "people are sick of experts". That's Anti-intellectualism at its finest. A great way to run politics if your idea of politics is people bashing each other with sticks, and the muscliest man gets to impregnate all the women.
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What's wrong with BLM? It's only divides away those who think black lives don't matter.
> with the exponentially increasing premiums of the ACA.
You can always tell when someone doesn't remember life before the ACA. We got the same increases for insurance that didn't cover anything, if we were insured.
> nor was Syria
ISIS was a disaster created indirectly by Bush and contained by Obama. Syria as a whole is going more or less the way Obama wanted: It's been soaking up Iranian and Russian defense spend
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But the ACA promised to fix this, and it failed to deliver.
It is not, however, what voters wanted when they elected Obama.
Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding (Score:5, Interesting)
Saying "Black LIves Matter" isn't exclusionary of other races, it's just pointing out a fact, or at least a near universally held opinion. It's hard to believe you feel excluded by the concept that black lives might matter. Did some BLM protestor tell you that or something?
If you think all lives matter then there's no way BLM should be offensive or controversial to you.
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I'm neither a Trump voter nor a GOP "operative". But given the increasing idiocy of the American left, I may well become one in the future.
Re: The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astoundin (Score:3)
âoe That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job. âoe
I have some bad news for you. The vast majority of our elected Presidents are all on equal footing with regards to intelligence and knowledge about the â wide range of issues â you speak of.
The only difference is some of them knew to keep their mouth shut until their â advisors â told them what to say. Trump didâ(TM)t get that memo apparently.
Why t
Two models of Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job. Surprised you didn't go with "fake news"... is it because Trump himself admitted that what he calls 'fake news' is simply anything that portrays him in a negative light?
Scott Adams has an interesting insight [dilbert.com] on the two views of Donald Trump: one view has him as stupid and incompetent, and the other one has him as brilliant and capable.
His point being: each of these is a model of reality, so which is the better predictor?
Look at the predictions made about Trump using the "stupid incompetent" model:
Trump will never win the presidency
The economy will tank if Trump wins
Trump will get us into a nuclear war
Trump will start WWIII
End of the world
Numerous Hitler-like situations
There are even specific things that people have said about Trump:
"Every taunt back and forth between Trump and Kim Jong Un maked deescalation and diplomacy less possible" -- Ben Rhodes, via twitter
"Poll: What one thing will work with North Korea? a) Military strike (9%), b) Embargo or blockade (1%) c) A grand bargain w/China (4%) d) Trump has no idea (86%)" -- Bill Kristol, via twitter
So we're scientists here, we know that science works by making models and predicting outcomes, and when we have two models we throw one out and keep the one with the better predictions.
Which model is the better predictor for Trump?
If you still believe in the "stupid and incompetent" model, what future predictions can you make based on that model? And what specific criteria can we agree on to determine when those predictions have failed or succeeded?
Re:Two models of Trump (Score:4, Interesting)
panem et circenses - Bread and Circuitry ( the "circus" has been phased out for the TV, gaming consoles, smart phones, etc. )
Re:Two models of Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
There are even specific things that people have said about Trump:
"Every taunt back and forth between Trump and Kim Jong Un maked deescalation and diplomacy less possible" -- Ben Rhodes, via twitter
"Poll: What one thing will work with North Korea? a) Military strike (9%), b) Embargo or blockade (1%) c) A grand bargain w/China (4%) d) Trump has no idea (86%)" -- Bill Kristol, via twitter
So we're scientists here, we know that science works by making models and predicting outcomes, and when we have two models we throw one out and keep the one with the better predictions.
What indications do you have that both of the above statements/sentiments are/were wrong? I.e., that with less taunts, the negotiations wouldn't be further along, or any indication that Trump knew what he was doing with his taunts?
North Korea came to the table after they finally demonstrated that they can hit Japan with a nuclear bomb, and possibly even the US. Additionally, their testing mountain complex has become very unstable with the latest tests, so they're abandoning it (presenting that move as a token of goodwill). In other words, there is little they can gain with further "tests" and they now have what they wanted: they're a nuclear power and hence have to be treated as one at the negotiation table. Unlike Iran, for that matter.
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There's a fallacy there. It's not an A/B proposition. Every one of those propositions could have different bases than brilliant/incompetent. And multiple can be operating at once. You can add in:
1) Trump is just lucky.
2) Tump is elected by meddling with election.
3) Fame is more important than brilliance or incompetence.
4) North Korea is playing the same game it had before (threaten, and pull back for economic consideration -- Trump is out of the loop for that one)
It can go on. The point is, all those propos
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Don't worry it's coming, no one expected him to hold off on his economic and trade polices for over a year and a quarter. The peak was in Jan, and the slide started about 3 months ago and it's accelerating. The foolish tax policy will deepen the bottom.
Re:Two models of Trump (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do people feed the trolls? (Score:2)
I don't see what the "insightful" mod was for, though the mod did get me to look at the troll's comment. Lowest form of lie, Level 0 self-contradiction. Don't need to check anything to know that there's at least one lie there, though the example here was a case of two lies. (The impossible case is multiple true statements that are in contradiction.)
One of the things that is interesting about Trump is that he is a low-level liar. He often contradicts himself, sometimes within the same tweet. He frequently li
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Don't forget the millions of workers who got bonus checks when the tax cuts were passed. Many of those workers won't forget.
Re:Challenge accepted (Score:5, Interesting)
> ISIS - No longer a major threat.
This is the closest thing you're correct on. And it was done by mostly a continuation of the military strategies implemented under the Obama administration. Thanks Obama!
> US economy - Heading back in the right direction.
Thanks Obama!
> N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.
Thanks China and South Korea. You know, if it actually happens and they aren't playing games just like *every other time this has happened in the last 50 years*.
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ISIS - No longer a major threat.
Listening to his generals, that's really brilliant. This is putting aside they were never a threat once our military got involved.
US economy - Heading back in the right direction.
Please describe, in detail, Trump's economic plan that caused a turnaround... and what the major turnaround has been since the administration change. Of course, this is all based on the idea that the President can have a major impact on the economy, but for now for the sake of argument claim that's true.
N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.
You haven't watched any news this past week, have you? I'd like it to be t
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> ISIS - No longer a major threat.
Trump deserves credit for abandoning his secret plan and just finishing the Obama plan.
> US economy - Heading back in the right direction.
As before it has been. We'll see whether massive tax cuts for the rich help. They usually don't.
> N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.
NK always wants to meet with US presidents. It's a victory for them to even get a summit. So far we've got nothing in return. I hope all goes well, but NK has never given anything up wi
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to show how much is able to trash hum self every day !
Re: Basically any opportunity (Score:2, Insightful)
That is one of the most naive and fallacious things I have ever read. Gates isn't that smart, just wealthy, and he got that way by stealing and then abusing the resulting monopoly. There is no one to praise in this piece.
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Oh FFS, get a clue. MicroSoft is one of the largest contributors to open source software [businessinsider.com] and even Bill Gates sings its praises now. [infoworld.com]
Rather well (Score:2, Interesting)
I can see you want to ralk about Obama to change the subject, but doesn't that just show the problem? Fair enough. Obama left the USA as the worlds biggest trading block with a stable economy and lower deficit than now and better healthcare and a dead Bin Laden. Trumps has helped Chniese companies evade a trade war he has created (ZTE) and received over millions in kickbacks so far some of which have gone to pay off hookers and hackers via Cohen.
Re: Basically any opportunity (Score:3, Insightful)
You misspelled Trump.
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Right. With a summary like that, who needs more than one political party. Eh, comrade?
Re: Basically any opportunity (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not OK for anyone in a position of authority to be that stupid. I want to agree with you, but it's just too much.
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There's stupid and then there's stupid:
"The GOP front-runner asserted that the U.S. also "cannot be the policeman of the world" when it comes to allies in the Asia Pacific region, suggesting he would like to see Japan and South Korea develop nuclear weaponry in order to combat North Korea."
Re: Basically any opportunity (Score:5, Insightful)
It's completely irrational to support the spread of nuclear weapons. It's much better for all concerned if Japan never needs a nuclear program.
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It's completely irrational to support the spread of nuclear weapons. It's much better for all concerned if Japan never needs a nuclear program.
Can you really trust other countries to protect your sovereignty? (I wouldn't; See WW2 and allied guarantees and promises and how they were all broken, see current situation in Ukraine) Have you ever heard of "salami-tactics"?
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I bet she could come up with some political jargon that you wouldn't get but every politician in the room would know what she was talking about.
Re: Basically any opportunity (Score:2)
It's interesting that you think "Like with a cloth" was serious when it's obvious from the context that it was a joke: https://abcnews.go.com/Politic... [go.com]
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Re:Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is (Score:4, Insightful)
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There's still people out there that believe Trump is making himself look foolish as some sort of 4d chess instead of the much better explanation that he is genuinely ignorant?
Applying Occam's Razor [wikipedia.org]... I would imagine Trump being ignorant is a simpler explanation than him playing 4d chess (or 4d checkers).
Fun Fact: Trump, and many of his supporters, believe Occam's Razor has 2 blades and comes in a 5-pack.
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There's still people out there that believe Trump is making himself look foolish as some sort of 4d chess instead of the much better explanation that he is genuinely ignorant? Sad!
My theory goes a bit more like this:
According to virtually every non-advertising minute of Fox News between 2009 and 2016, Obama could do no right. It didn't matter how a given situation was approached. Try to find common ground with Republicans? "Obama compromises his beliefs!" or "Obama plan retains worst parts of Democratic and Republican ideals!". Push it through when Democrats had majorities in both houses? "Obama is imposing tyrrany of the majority!" Ram it through with an executive order? "He's not g
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In 2004, Donald establishes a TV series based on presenting himself as a competent leader with companions to oversee competing groups of people of different walks of life vying to become business leaders themselves. Though he experiments for years before he identifies how to achieve ratings through placing himself above the bickering of those b
Re: Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is (Score:2)
Or, Trump actually has dementia, and there are things that he used to know, that he now doesn't.
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Except that people thinking he's stupid, if it's a widespread belief, will affect his legacy. I think it's highly likely that upon leaving office he's going to be ranked in the bottom 5 of US presidents in history. A wide spread belief that you're stupid and don't know what you're doing is what helps land you at the very bottom of that list.
He obviously cares what people think about him - that's why he's defined "fake news" to be any reporting on him that is negative, and why he re-tweeted a poll early on i
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He just doesn't give a shit if people think he's stupid
I'm not sure about that.
If that were true then it would be much harder to manipulate Mr. Trump by appealing to his ego, as that nice M. Macron did not so long ago.
I wonder if it might be a combination of being none too bright and a weakening of his faculties because he is an old man.
Electing people in their 70's is a bad idea, as Mr. Reagan's second term shows.
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You've got me curious about your "one thing", but I don't think any of them can get that upset with him so as to bother Trump. At some level they have to notice Trump is constantly contradicting himself, and whatever he promised them, he also promised some contradictory thing to someone else. They have to start from the state of denial and believe that he's lying to everyone else. Also, they have to believe he's just waiting for the right time to fulfill his only sincere promises, which must be the ones he