To feel sorry for Trump?

[tartanti]

I’ve name changed for this as I know I will get completely flamed. But AIBU to secretly feel a little bit sorry for Trump? He campaigned so hard for this election compared to Biden and seemed to put his absolute all into it.

The amount of hate he gets on social media is astounding - I honestly don’t know how one person can handle all that and keep on going. I would have had a nervous breakdown or worse by now if I was on the receiving end of that.

His kids clearly love him and they seem alright - perhaps he’s not so bad behind the scenes? I think losing this election will destroy him as a person and whilst I don’t agree with his political viewpoint, I can’t help but feel slightly sorry for the guy.

AIBU?

The man should be in jail.

I agree, but genuinely worry about what his gun crazy followers will get up to.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I do feel sorry for the small boy 70 years ago who endured a childhood so toxic and damaging that it turned him into... this. I've read Mary Trump's book and it does explain a lot. I can't feel sorry for him now though, because he's had so many opportunities to do the right thing, and each time he's chosen the opposite path.

Is the book worth a read?

I used to have a BIL (no more thankfully!) who endured the most terrible childhood. I have deep sympathy for the little boy that he was. He chose to deal with that by making sure that my sister and their children were made as miserable as he was, it seemed to bring him happiness to crush others as he had been crushed. I don't feel any sympathy for the miserable middle aged man that he is now.

"To know all is to forgive all" CabbageVan but, childhood notwithstanding, I'm not going to be able to do so in this case. The awful truth about Trump and his believers - and they are cult-like believers rather than supporters - is that they also believe that everybody thinks just like them. Bitter, twisted envy and contempt festers in them. They think that we 'liberals' are just disguising our true feelings in order to appear woke, that we are as hate filled and paranoid as them and we are pretending to be 'better' than them. The absence of logic is evident. Trump deserves everything that's coming to him. He's earned it.

@tartanti

How will everyone celebrate?

I won’t be celebrating another person’s downfall. So I’ll be going about my business as usual, hoping tentatively to myself that the world might become a calmer, more stable place!

Me too. It's as if some people are stuck at the belief in fairy tale stage of life. The Big Bad Wolf andThe Wicked Stepmother are vanquished and we all live happily ever after. It's a bit pathetic.

@wellthatsunusual it does help to understand him a bit better.

She doesn't have masses of insider knowledge though, and she does pad it out quite a bit. She's also not especially objective - one of her more incendiary claims is that Trump would have been gutted that he wasn't able to murder George Floyd himself

So a mixed bag.

@derxa I don't think anyone does believe that though? We just believe things will improve significantly - including no more children being taken from their parents and imprisoned, and America rejoining the Paris accord. Some things will get worse for some people, but on balance the world will improve. Which is always a good thing and worth celebrating.

It's as if some people are stuck at the belief in fairy tale stage of life. The Big Bad Wolf andThe Wicked Stepmother are vanquished and we all live happily ever after. It's a bit pathetic.

I really don’t think anyone is expecting that; we know that Covid hasn’t gone away, and jobs won’t miraculously appear overnight.

But a lot of us will be breathing a huge sigh of relief if, as looks likely now, Biden will be declared the winner.

[quote JesusInTheCabbageVan]@derxa I don't think anyone does believe that though? We just believe things will improve significantly - including no more children being taken from their parents and imprisoned, and America rejoining the Paris accord. Some things will get worse for some people, but on balance the world will improve. Which is always a good thing and worth celebrating.[/quote]
I listened to the political commentator P J O'Rourke on TV this morning. His belief was that Trump was allowed in as a great disruptor because government wasn't working in the US. He is not a Trump fan.
After Biden gets in there will still be unexpected world crises to deal with.
We just believe things will improve significantly I really don't believe that at all.

Haha nope. The man is a cunt who can burn in hell for all I care. The bigger the humiliation, the better.

I did feel sorry for Covid-19 when (if) he caught it though.

@derxa the truth is, none of us really know. All we have to go on is Biden's personality, values and goals vs Trump's. If you mostly want what Trump wants, then certainly you will be feeling pretty gloomy right now. If you're on the side of the Democrats but don't think Biden will deliver... well, all we can do is wait and see.

What we can be sure of is that Biden will listen to his advisors and act on their advice far, far more than Trump ever did.

*Surely to god you can’t still feel this way with the way he is carrying on OP?

@MadameBlobby I actually feel a bit more sorry for him if anything, because he’s unravelling so spectacularly on a global stage and it’s excruciating to watch. If only he would just go quietly and with dignity, for his own sake!

I do feel sorry for the small boy 70 years ago who endured a childhood so toxic and damaging that it turned him into... this.

What was so bad about his childhood @JesusInTheCabbageVan?

he's had so many opportunities to do the right thing

I remember reading a hopeful newspaper article when Trump got elected in 2016, saying that he now had a unique chance to do some good in the world, prove people wrong and be a great president - something along those lines anyway. And sadly of course, he went the opposite way. Sad.

Compassion is good, but don't let it interfere with reality.

Thanks @FastMovingLuxuryGoods.

I don't really believe things will get significantly better. I think they might get a little tiny bit better in terms of having someone more professional in charge.

[quote JesusInTheCabbageVan]@derxa the truth is, none of us really know. All we have to go on is Biden's personality, values and goals vs Trump's. If you mostly want what Trump wants, then certainly you will be feeling pretty gloomy right now. If you're on the side of the Democrats but don't think Biden will deliver... well, all we can do is wait and see.

What we can be sure of is that Biden will listen to his advisors and act on their advice far, far more than Trump ever did.[/quote]
I'm not on any side. I'm a citizen of the UK and am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Why on earth would I want what 'Trump wants'? That's the bit I don't get. I'm hoping the USA settles down and people don't get hurt.

@tartanti too much to list here!

From memory, his mum had a long hospital stay when he was about 2 and her severe health problems meant that she basically checked out of family life after that. His dad was extremely toxic and parented through shaming, contempt and creating rivalry. No affection whatsoever. Every single influence in his childhood seems to have been a negative one.

Not trying to drum up sympathy for the man, as I've said, but I do feel sorry for the child.

l'm not on any side. I'm a citizen of the UK and am neither a Republican nor a Democrat

Nobody is forcing you to take an interest in global affairs, but if you're going to post on a thread about it....

Thanks @JesusInTheCabbageVan - an interesting insight.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

l'm not on any side. I'm a citizen of the UK and am neither a Republican nor a Democrat

Nobody is forcing you to take an interest in global affairs, but if you're going to post on a thread about it....

The point is that I am interested in global affairs not a partisan cheer leader.

To be honest I'm not following the fine detail either. My interest/knowledge starts and ends with the climate and human/civil rights. On that basis alone, I don't agree with this view that there's not much between them.

Time will tell, though.

Yes, anyone who's themselves experienced any kind of loss really ought to feel at least a little sympathy for someone who's effectively just lost the best job in the world.

But, as already pointed out, he's led such a pampered, privileged, cosseted life in pretty much all other respects that it's very much time for him to count his blessings and move on with some dignity.

@rattusrattus20 with luck the only place he will be moving on to us jail. I think he knows that as do his sons which will be on did many reasons for the desperate outbursts from all of them.

Surely Trump won’t actually be going to jail... will he?

Surely Trump won’t actually be going to jail... will he?

Oh please! Oh please! Oh please!

He's been indicted, a large number of people are involved in shady dealings including whoever's organising the 'Stop the Steal' mobs outside polling stations and he's used his position to line his own pockets.

Every time he (and his substantial entourage) wound up a Mar-A-Lago (his resort), the resort would charge the State Department top dollar.

Everyone got first class accomodation so that's massive sums of money keeping the resort afloat.

When people suffer serious injury and probably die as result of the predicable actions taken following his ongoing lies about the election being stolen will that dent your sorrow?

I think deep down you probably feel a little bit sorry for Hitler, after all his dog died.

I don't get 'stop the steal' they are stealing the election. Who does he think are stealing votes? Does he literally mean they have physically stolen a load of votes or is he referring to the mailed votes he sees as 'illegal'? It's hilarious though, as if he was winning right now or went onto win, would these stolen votes suddenly not be stolen and would postal votes suddenly be amazing? I think so.