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Seems consistent with the usual pattern of an incompetent executive letting political operatives run the show. Except this generation of political operatives g

Seems consistent with the usual pattern of an incompetent executive letting political operatives run the show. Except this generation of political operatives grew up believing the misinformation spread by the previous ones. Consequently, they are so arrogant and naive as to believe that literally everyone who works in US National Security (and may be expressing concerns over irreplaceable sources and methods) are just "deep state haters."

Fjolsvith 7y ago
More like its consistent with the usual pattern of spreading misinformation by making the public and other nations think he's an incompetent executive, while running strategic circles around his adversaries. Because we can't just argue that he bumbled his way to being a billionaire.
- marshray 7y ago
  There's little evidence that he's some kind of financial genius and a lot to suggest the opposite. What we do know is that he inherited a very large sum of money, has a very long public record of losses and bankruptcies, and overinflating his claimed net worth. This is what happened the time he started a publicly traded corporation, one subject to actual public accounting requirements: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts lost money every single year that Trump ran it as a public company. Net losses of $13 million in 1995 ballooned to $134 million by 1999, and $191 million in 2004. ... In total, from 1995 through 2004, the company booked total losses of $647 million ... Trump had complete control — both as the chairman and as the owner of a special class of stock that carried many more votes than those he sold to the public. He even gave the company his initials, DJT, as its stock ticker symbol. Its debts mounted, the stock collapsed — and in the end, the creditors had had enough. The courts stepped in, the company had to go through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization... By April 2004, someone who had invested a notional $100 in the IPO was left with about $10. Over the same period, investors in competitor Harrah’s Entertainment more than doubled their money. Investors in luxury hotel, casino and resort companies like Starwood and MGM earned returns of more than 400%. Even the plain old stock market index more than doubled. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-market-disaster-2015-07-22 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-m...
  - Fjolsvith 7y ago
    So, you're saying he's an incompetent executive. Which is like saying he doesn't know how to follow organizational policy 25 times.
  - Smithalicious 7y ago
    I wonder how much this matters, though. Regardless of whether he actually is a shrewd businessman or not, he's done a good job of at least keeping up the appearance of being a lot more capable and wealthy than he really is. He's definitely managed to at least convert his resources into being one of the most famous and powerful men in the world. That's not to say that I necessarily think it's all part of some kind of larger master plan, but if you look at it from the point of view of fame and power, Trump has done really well for himself.

Fjolsvith 7y ago

More like its consistent with the usual pattern of spreading misinformation by making the public and other nations think he's an incompetent executive, while running strategic circles around his adversaries. Because we can't just argue that he bumbled his way to being a billionaire.

marshray 7y ago
There's little evidence that he's some kind of financial genius and a lot to suggest the opposite. What we do know is that he inherited a very large sum of money, has a very long public record of losses and bankruptcies, and overinflating his claimed net worth. This is what happened the time he started a publicly traded corporation, one subject to actual public accounting requirements: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts lost money every single year that Trump ran it as a public company. Net losses of $13 million in 1995 ballooned to $134 million by 1999, and $191 million in 2004. ... In total, from 1995 through 2004, the company booked total losses of $647 million ... Trump had complete control — both as the chairman and as the owner of a special class of stock that carried many more votes than those he sold to the public. He even gave the company his initials, DJT, as its stock ticker symbol. Its debts mounted, the stock collapsed — and in the end, the creditors had had enough. The courts stepped in, the company had to go through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization... By April 2004, someone who had invested a notional $100 in the IPO was left with about $10. Over the same period, investors in competitor Harrah’s Entertainment more than doubled their money. Investors in luxury hotel, casino and resort companies like Starwood and MGM earned returns of more than 400%. Even the plain old stock market index more than doubled. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-market-disaster-2015-07-22 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-m...
- Fjolsvith 7y ago
  So, you're saying he's an incompetent executive. Which is like saying he doesn't know how to follow organizational policy 25 times.
- Smithalicious 7y ago
  I wonder how much this matters, though. Regardless of whether he actually is a shrewd businessman or not, he's done a good job of at least keeping up the appearance of being a lot more capable and wealthy than he really is. He's definitely managed to at least convert his resources into being one of the most famous and powerful men in the world. That's not to say that I necessarily think it's all part of some kind of larger master plan, but if you look at it from the point of view of fame and power, Trump has done really well for himself.