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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel sorry for Trump?

826 replies

tartanti · 04/11/2020 21:27

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Yoffel · 07/11/2020 21:12

No. He is stress testing the infrastructure of democracy in the world’s most powerful nation. He is a madman with currently more power than any ‘ordinary’ person can imagine and needs to be locked up.

Duggeehugs82 · 07/11/2020 22:19

@tartanti

Hope you're doing ok OP

I’m well thanks @JesusInTheCabbageVan - thank you for asking! Grin

I’d like to leave this thread with five positive things that Trump achieved as president:

www.houstonpress.com/news/5-objectively-good-things-trump-has-done-11286106

Best of luck to the Bidens! Grin

But conveniently leave out all the awful disgusting things hes done
Original poster
tartanti · 07/11/2020 22:55

But conveniently leave out all the awful disgusting things hes done

What’s the point when 750 plus posts on this thread have already done just that? I’d only be repeating what everyone else has said.

OP posts:
Duggeehugs82 · 07/11/2020 23:02

@tartanti

But conveniently leave out all the awful disgusting things hes done

What’s the point when 750 plus posts on this thread have already done just that? I’d only be repeating what everyone else has said.

What got my back up was the way u was like well im going now but ill leave the positive things trump has done like thats what hes good to be remembered as, he wont be remembered as a president who has made a good impact on the world , the opposite and rightly so.
RockingMyFiftiesNot · 07/11/2020 23:04

Trump is still claiming on Twitter that he had more 'legal' votes and that there was lots of dodgy goings on. Delusional til the end.
I do have it in me to feel sorry for people I don't like or don't agree with because everyone is human. But not a single drop of pity for Trump. Vile, vile man.

GADDay · 08/11/2020 02:41

@longwayoff

He's not a politician. He's a charlatan, a chancer, a conman, a poltroon, a dodgy salesman whose day is not complete unless he's pulled a fast one so he can feel like a WINNER! A stranger to dignity.
Perfect description^
Idunnoyou · 08/11/2020 04:47

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
tartanti · 08/11/2020 08:17

What got my back up was the way u was like well im going now but ill leave the positive things trump has done like thats what hes good to be remembered as

I didn’t mean it like that - all I’m saying is yes he’s been mostly bad, but he has done a few good things too. I would add meeting Kim Jong-un to that list as well personally - unfortunately it didn’t seem to achieve much in the end, but I thought the sentiment was right.

OP posts:
DrDavidBanner · 08/11/2020 09:14

Hes caused huge division within America and called the democratic process into dispute, all for his own cause. As President that is unforgiveable.

ElliePhillips · 08/11/2020 09:16

Threads like this are why I left Mumsnet for a while.

He is clearly a horrible human being and if you can't see that OP I feel genuinely sorry for you.

wellthatsunusual · 08/11/2020 09:22

@ElliePhillips

Threads like this are why I left Mumsnet for a while.

He is clearly a horrible human being and if you can't see that OP I feel genuinely sorry for you.

This thread actually reminds me a bit of the threads where people say they don't mind giving money to scammers because there is a tiny chance they might be real and giving them the benefit of the doubt is the kind thing to do. When in reality, giving scammers the benefit of the doubt is what encourages them to continue and produces future victims. Which is about as far from being kind as I can imagine.
Duggeehugs82 · 08/11/2020 10:52

@tartanti

What got my back up was the way u was like well im going now but ill leave the positive things trump has done like thats what hes good to be remembered as

I didn’t mean it like that - all I’m saying is yes he’s been mostly bad, but he has done a few good things too. I would add meeting Kim Jong-un to that list as well personally - unfortunately it didn’t seem to achieve much in the end, but I thought the sentiment was right.

I dont believe for a second or im guessing a lot of people would agree, trump meet kim jong un for his own benifit, and not for americas benifit at all, it was for a photo opportunity, wasnt he saying what a wonderful man he was ignoring the horrendous human rights violations he commits
Mintjulia · 08/11/2020 11:18

Let's be honest, the only reason DT did anything, was for the benefit of DT.

I'm just so relieved he's gone.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:22

I'm going to give OP the benefit of the doubt here, and she can tell me if I'm wrong.

Right now, and for a while, Trump has been visibly, viscerally broken in a way that's completely out of character for him. I think it's an instinctive human reaction to feel a twitch of empathy in response - just as you might feel the instinct to yawn if you saw him yawning.

For some people, that becomes, 'I still feel sorry for him despite everything', because that's genuinely how it feels. It's hard to just rationalise empathy away.

The people who say they don't feel sorry for him (me included) may also experience that 'twitch', but it's far more quickly overridden by all the other competing thoughts and emotions on display in this thread. That's my two penn'orth of armchair psychology, anyway.

switswooo · 08/11/2020 11:30

How is he visibly, viscerally broken? Just goes to show that some people will always feel sorry for a rich, old, white man.

Mrsjayy · 08/11/2020 11:33

Of course he is "Broken" he is beyond furious he didn't get his way he is a privileged deluded man he can't fathom he lost ! Fuck him

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:34

To add to that - another factor may be that he seems unable to consciously acknowledge his own feelings, so he can't reach out to anyone for comfort and probably never will. From a psychological perspective this is an utter car crash, and it will resonate with almost everyone in different ways and for different reasons.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:35

@switswooo

How is he visibly, viscerally broken? Just goes to show that some people will always feel sorry for a rich, old, white man.
Where on this thread have I said I feel sorry for him!? Good grief.
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:36

@switswooo did you even read as far as the third paragraph of my post, out of interest?

Mittens030869 · 08/11/2020 11:37

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I think you have a point there. It's why I genuinely felt sympathy for BoJo when he went into intensive care. But, as I said earlier, I was very unwell myself at the time, and I literally wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemy.

In DT's case, I think he's seriously mentally unwell and he could end up having to be sectioned in order to remove him from the White House. But I'll save my sympathy for the 230k Americans who have died of COVID this year and their families.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:41

For the further benefit of the hard of thinking - I do disagree with the OP on this, and if you think I feel sorry for DT you can do an Advance Search on threads I've posted recently. That should clarify things for you.

I just think that MN would be a better place if we debated things calmly rather than screaming into the electronic void

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 08/11/2020 11:42

@Mittens030869 absolutely, me too! Hope you're doing ok now.

Jammysod · 08/11/2020 11:45

If he'd conducted himself with any dignity or thought for the people he's supposed to serve then I may just have an ounce of compassion, but he didn't. His actions have been purely selfish and he's just acted like a petulant child with his tantrums and bare faced lies. I'm embarrassed for him and his family.

Mittens030869 · 08/11/2020 11:50

@JesusInTheCabbageVan No, sadly I've ended up with long Covid. The symptoms have mostly disappeared apart from occasional coughing fits, breathlessness and dizzy spells, as well as total exhaustion. Sad

psychomath · 08/11/2020 11:59

I understand where you're coming from OP because being humiliated in the international press would be one of my worst nightmares, and as Jesus says it's hard not to feel an automatic twinge when you see someone in that position - I'd describe it more as second-hand embarrassment than empathy, though. But at the same time, I don't feel bad for Trump because he sought out all the attention and controversy himself, and is still doing so even now. If he were just some random nobody who'd found themselves in a similar position then I would probably feel a bit sorry for them, even if they were a terrible person who deserved to be disgraced.