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I would love to hear from HN republicans why they think this amount of self enrichment and corruption is okay. Add to this all the paid-for pardons, the shady
by spiderfarmer 12d ago
I would love to hear from HN republicans why they think this amount of self enrichment and corruption is okay.
Add to this all the paid-for pardons, the shady stock trades, the never ending vacations at his own properties, the plane deal and much, much more.
No whataboutisms or anonymous downvotes, I’m genuinely curious why people continue to support him.
- sajithdilshan 12d agoLet's say we got rid of Trump, but then who is going to be the alternative in your opinion?
- deleted 12d ago[deleted]
- jansport123 12d agohow about anyone else with an ounce of integrity?
- gadders 12d ago[flagged]
- vincnetas 12d ago*more integrity. that would make anyone i guess more qualified
- throw0101a 12d ago> Who was the last president with integrity? Integrity not to burn down the system and/or enrich themselves? All of them: Biden, Obama, Bush43, Clinton, Bush41, etc (maybe Nixon the least). If Hillary Clinton or Harris would were elected they would have been as well. You may be disagree with their policies, and think perhaps they're helping certain special interest groups, but has anyone tried to enrich themselves while in office (versus book deals and speaking fees once they're out)?
- gadders 12d agoThe question was about integrity, not enrichment.
- throw0101a 12d agoIf those people did not have integrity they could have enriched themselves as much as Trump et al are doing while in office.
- cosmicgadget 12d agoCan you rephrase this to be an honest question?
- andyjohnson0 12d ago> Let's say we got rid of Trump, but then who is going to be the alternative in your opinion? You seem to be using the "they're all as bad as eachother" argument. But previous US presidents haven't used their office for enrichment on this scale - and so it seems likely that there are alternative potential presidents who would behave with integrity and dignity.
- sajithdilshan 12d ago> "they're all as bad as eachother" But isn't that the case? They are all as bad and corrupt in their own merit. Coming back to the original question, do you have anyone concrete in mind that can be the alternative to Trump?
- throw0101a 12d ago> But isn't that the case? No. Has any other president fired the the FBI directory because he wouldn't swear personal loyalty to him (like Trump did Comey)? Did any other president try to do a (self) coup? * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capito... Did any other president receive hundreds of millions of dollars in value as a gift? * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25B_Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25B_Bridge > Coming back to the original question, do you have anyone concrete in mind that can be the alternative to Trump? Any Democratic candidate, including Harris and Clinton. With GOPers: Pence, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, DeSantis, etc. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Republican_Party_presiden... You may disagree with their policies (and even values), but would have anyone else tried to do an end-run around the Constitution? Pence went through with the 2020 election certification even when people were literally calling him for to be lynched.
- sajithdilshan 12d agoExamples where former presidents firing people for lack of loyalty, here is a list of them (https://washingtonian.com/2017/07/03/brief-history-presidents-firing-people/ https://washingtonian.com/2017/07/03/brief-history-president...). Spoiler: Trump is not the only president that did that The Boeing wag given to the US government. Not to Trump personally. It's stated explicitly in the wikipedia link you provided. > Any Democratic candidate, including Harris and Clinton. With GOPers: Pence, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, DeSantis, etc. So you're fine with any other crook, but not Trump. Got it. Further, wikipedia is not a credible source link in-case you didn't know. Anyone can edit the pages there and somethings are verified and sometime once could even make up facts and link to fake articles.
- vincnetas 12d agoanother candidate that has expressed willingness to lead. Kamala Harris for example.
- sajithdilshan 12d agoKamala Harris? you have to be kidding
- nullocator 12d agoWhat bad things has she done? Why is she laughable? Does she show up hundreds of thousands of times in the Epstein files? Does she demonstrate daily corruption and self enrichment openly?
- cosmicgadget 12d agoWhy are you here?
- sph 12d agoI read you argue in favour of far-right German anti-immigration politics a few days ago, in which you admitted living in .de, now you're saying that there is no one better than Trump for US citizens? How would you know and why would you have such a strong opinion? Do you also happen to astroturf rightoid politics on Twitter by any chance? I heard it's a common pastime.
- sajithdilshan 12d ago[flagged]
- spiderfarmer 12d agoI specifically requested no whataboutisms.
- sajithdilshan 12d agoThere is no whataboutisms in my reply
- sph 12d agoAntifa is an American political construct to rally the neofascists behind. In Europe it just means ‘antifascist’, and is still something to be proud of.
- spiderfarmer 12d agoAs a European, I’d say Bernie Sanders would be your best candidate. But anyone with a decent amount of dignity, humility, empathy and confidence will do.
- sajithdilshan 12d ago> But anyone with a decent amount of dignity, humility, empathy and confidence will do. Is that enough though? That's more like saying running a country based on vibes. One could argue that a person needs strong leadership, someone putting national interest above else and work for the interest of the people that elected the person. If you think about it the president or any other elected person, their whole job is to serve people. Do what the people voted that person to do by putting aside all personal preferences, belief and ideologies. In that regards, I wonder dignity, humility, empathy would have anything to do with governing
- cosmicgadget 12d agoYes, Bernie Sanders, the alternative with just morals and vibes. No experience whatsoever.
- mplanchard 12d agoSorry, do you know what words mean? > […] the president or any other elected person, their whole job is to serve people. Do what the people voted that person to do by putting aside all personal preferences, belief and ideologies. I don’t see how you can say that, and then: > In that regards, I wonder dignity, humility, empathy would have anything to do with governing Like, those are the traits required to unselfishly serve others. See literally any religion or framework of ethics.
- KellyCriterion 12d ago+1 for Bernie Sanders!
- deleted 12d ago[deleted]
- 16000198 12d agowhat's wrong with that if he's making America strong? well-deserved I guess?
- jameskilton 12d agoPlease explain / define how America is "strong" today?
- arscan 12d agoI think fundamentally there is a difference in the definition of “America” at play here too.
- atwrk 12d agoHe has certainly made gas prices stronger
- infinitezest 12d agoAnd US lack of munitions stronger.
- grim_io 12d agoI wonder if you are, maybe accidentally, implying that any president before has made America weaker? I'd argue that actively trying to make enemies out of friends is in no way going to make America stronger. Quite the opposite.
- infinitezest 12d agoYou're going to have a very uphill battle making a case that he's making America stronger in any commonly held definition of the word. Partisanship is a hell of a drug, man...
- cosmicgadget 12d agoThis reads like Putin fandom.
- schnika 12d agoYou forgot to mention the Epstein files
- KellyCriterion 12d agoIts really interesting how he was able NOT to stumble upon these! My high-stake bet still is: All of the "major people around a distinct circle" are highly involved, meaning: Lot of politicians/gov people etc. They will try to resist until last breath to not disclose them. Why more Gov people and not Billionaires: While a few Bilns maybe amongst there, the thing is as Billionaire you can already affort anything everybody wants, but a Gov person cant do that, even if the person is rich/wealthy
- spiderfarmer 12d agoPeople like to forget that Elon Musk also wanted to party on the island. And that he lied about that before the email came out. These people have enablers everywhere. It’s exactly like the abuse in the catholic church. The people in power can’t do without the enablers that make excuses for them.
- rplnt 12d agoPeople are really bad at acknowledging a mistake so they rather double down. It's way past anything rational, it's a cult. Doesn't matter what the leader/party does, it's always okay.
- Abekkus 12d agoApe-brained tribalism. Apparently many humans just operate without standards & principles, whether from incompetence or personal benefit. Good luck fixing that.
- peder 12d agoWhy are you assuming this is corruption?
- gadders 12d ago[flagged]
- drcongo 12d ago> No whataboutisms Couldn't even follow the ask in your first sentence.
- optimisticedits 12d agoWhat about, how the ask is completely nonsensical and incoherent? It also came with a request for no-downvotes... What's next? A request for only responses that agree with me? Here's my request: Upvotes only. Please don't respond.
- drcongo 12d agoIt wasn't my post, but I read it as "please don't downvote the answers"
- bogwog 12d agoWhataboutism is what's known as a "fallacy" in debate. Wikipedia has a nice list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean it's "nonsensical and incoherent"
- gadders 12d agoThat's only the last sentence, and I've deleted it for you. Why not engage with the thrust of the argument?
- tzs 12d ago> I don't think it's OK, but it's semi-understandable given the lawfare undertaken by Democrats after his first term Examples? > when he leaves office he will be spending the rest of his life fighting spurious court case after court case, none of which will be cheap. Uhm...have you mixed Trump up with someone else. It is Trump who loves to bring spurious lawsuits. When Trump is on the receiving end it is almost always not a spurious lawsuit.
- dmm 12d ago> whataboutisms Not a Trump supporter but from the ones I've spoken to it's mostly this. Something like, "They all do it, he's just honest about it."
- cosmicgadget 12d agoThey'll screech about Pelosi and give it zero additional thought.
- hermannj314 12d agoI living in a Republican part of the country, I think they believe power is its own morality. A God that murders people because his feelings got hurt while demanding no one murder, a husband beats his wife and kids because he wasn't respected - these are valid in their moral framework, cruel asymmetrical power structures. There is a dominant race, a dominant gender, and a dominant country in their view. Laws exist only to control the weak. These people love Trump because he represents the slave owning, male-dominated, terrorist rebels that form the myth of who we are as a nation. His corruption and enrichment is why they love him.
- StevePrefontain 12d agoTrump is almost amoral. It’s why he can’t understand at a basic level why his corruption would even be considered a scandal at all. In his mind, of course I’m using the presidency to enrich myself, my family, and my friends; that’s the whole point of gaining power. Of course I’m selling presidential pardons for cash, what’s the point of getting access to that power if I don’t sell my access to it.
- cosmicgadget 12d agoIn his mind the American people endorsed this behavior at the ballot box. And he is right.
- spiderfarmer 12d agoI noticed the same patterns in my religious family. I live in a largely secular country, and the only people I know who talk down on “other people” all claim to be religious.
- exceptione 12d agoI think any HN'er who previously voted republican has experienced enough disappointment; I doubt there would be anyone left. The most important point for every political faction however is to realize that the problems aren't solved when the current president steps down. The real power that pushes the agenda rest in the hands of a loosely connected network of 'think tanks', religious organizations, tech billionaires and media moguls. They are hidden from the public discourse, simply because they are able to manage it, and as such are a formidable opponent.
- tstrimple 12d agoThere's this weird thing where HN users seem to think for some reason they are better than other people and users of this site wouldn't do X. It all seems incredibly silly with zero foundation in reality. This site has tons of morons. Just like every other publicly accessible website with free sign ups. You can see examples of this spread all throughout the comments on this post as an easy example.
- K0balt 12d agoUltimately, in a democracy, legitimacy really boils down to how much people are willing to tolerate, and that’s a very malleable metric, adjusted through fear, greed, hope, and all of the deceptions as well as legitimate plans that contribute to those motivations. The people that I know that support him tend to have simplistic worldviews, and largely see him as a wrecking ball destroying what they were previously dissatisfied with. I suppose that’s not too far off, actually. It’s kind of like “giant meteorite for 2028” vibes, except they mean it. Notably, the only people who wish for a political devolution are ones who haven’t lived through one. This doesn’t end well.
- throw0101a 12d ago[flagged]
- avidruntime 12d agoThey don't think its okay, as evidenced by this submission predictably being flagged. Also predictably, they will not be here to defend or explain, either.
- cosmicgadget 12d agoThey'd also flag it if they thought it was okay but "a bad look". Most of the Trump voter cope I read starts with, "I agree with him on a lot of things but..."