If Trump were to be elected President...specifically how would he negatively impact your life and our country...OR how might he help improve your life and our country?

I don’t think he would negatively impact me personally unless he really screwed up diplomatically and we have more people hating us and trying to kill Americans. Part of me thinks he’s educated, does business with people all over the world, the reality probably is he knows how to talk to the people in the ivory towers. Part of me thinks he’ll really screw up in some cultural nuances (many Presidents do though) and it could be a really big deal in a bad way. It’s a scary gamble.

Trump is a bully.
He does not respect other people, he does not respect other countries, and he only cares about what he wants.
He will not care about diplomacy or negotiation among equals.
He will force other countries at gun point to accept “treaties” that only serve “america” and the economic elite (think TTIP, only worse).
He will not respect borders and likely will perform military incursions (see drone strikes) within the territory of not only third world countries, but western countries as well, in the “fight against terrorism”.
Concentration camps will of course become a reality (he already said he would do that).

It won’t make much difference, things are going to basically remain the same. Our system of checks and balances is still somewhat functional for the most part. What could happen is he could screw up diplomacy with other nations but so can any other jackass we elect. At least he is used to making big business deals. Most of the over the top stuff he says is not going to be possible anyway. Surely he knows this, a child would. I think the greater potential for damage on the homefront comes from the far left. Give me a moderate conservative or a blue dog democrat and I’ll throw my vote that way. It’s still up for grabs right now.

As i’ve said before, I genuinely think he’d be assassinated.

@ucme people said that about Obama, Bush jr…..

@ragingloli I can appreciate your assessment of Trump as a bully and can additionally appreciate your comment..“He will force other countries at gun point to accept “treaties”. Had I not gone on a student exchange to your country and witnessed first hand the incredible misconceptions of life in America I would otherwise debate your comment.

Way back in 1977 when I was 17 I went to Ahlen on student exchange and found it both amusing and at first difficult to process that all the kids there were shocked when I told them that no…we do not ride around on horses with six shooters and wearing 10 gallon hats and John Wayne was just an actor. The cultural divide was further exemplified when me and my buddy started throwing a frisbee out on the sports field. None of them had ever seen a frisbee before and the ‘principal’ called a recess so the entire school could come out and watch us.

So I am not surprised you fear that Trump would hold heads of state at gun point during negotiations and is at the same time a sad commentary over your lack of faith and substance of other great leaders of countries like yours to hold their own against the American “bully” Trump.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Trump would surely be the most divisive & hated President making him a far more vulnerable target.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I completely agree. In the heat of the hype people seem to lose sight that Congress makes and passes our policies and laws and the President is the one who gets to take all the praise or blame for what does or doesn’t get done.

@Cruiser
Translation: “Blah blah, you are eurotrash, what do you know, hurr durr”.
Furthermore, the “great leaders” of Europe are already lapdogs of the Yanks, hence their collaboration with the mass espionage of European citizens by the enemy spy organisation NSA, and the underhanded way that TTIP is “negotiated” in secret.

^ Sorry @ragingloli

But you were owned on that one.

Well the one certain effect would be the plummeting of the status of this place in the eyes of the world, which for the most part wrote off the voters here as batshit crazy with the reelection of Bush.

@SecondHandStoke
Just goes to show how disconnected from reality most right wingers are:
Pretend to want “mature discussion”.
Respond to a post with a substanceless insult.
Delude yourselves into thinking you “owned” anyone.

Political orientation aside, as it’s irrelevant to your characterization of me ITT.

You know that I do not always keep my input “mature.” You certainly don’t always either.

But for you benefit I will reword my above comment:

@Cruiser ‘s analogy was spot on.

I don’t claim to know every single thing about Germany. I know it makes quality stuff (BMW piston aircraft engines, V2 rockets, etc).

I know it has the world’s most demanding racecourse, the Nurburgring (that I will be driving in two years).

I also know it has policies that would make “free” Americans very nervous:

Government restriction of business (shops are required to close by a certain hour daily).

Government restriction of individual expression (one can be ticketed for unfriendly gestures aimed at fellow motorists).

So I think we can agree that we both know some of each others nation and government, but not all.

@SecondHandStoke
That “analogy” was the substanceless insult I referred to.
It amounts to nothing more than “you’re a doodie head”.

If Trump were elected, it would take only a few months before he resigned, was impeached, or met a worse fate. But in that short time every American would be negatively impacted for the reasons well stated above.

That said, I strongly predict he will NOT be elected.

THAT said, I predicted he’d never get anywhere this far in the primaries.

That’s ok @ragingloli. It goes both ways. The exchange student from Norway in the USA was asked, ‘Isn’t it frightening living so close to Russia? ’

Imaging things haven’t changed in Europe since 1977 is one perk to being a Yank.

I agree with @Pachy and given that he is such a blow hard egotist, well, we can take heart in the fact that his heart is feeling the strain of all his blow hardiness and maybe he will just collapse at some point of a massive heart attack.
I really think he feels he is invincible, a legend in his own mind and you know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

I predict if he is elected ,wages for low end workers will totally stagnate ,but the cost of living will just keep going up,there will be more and more tax breaks for the wealthy,while the working slobs will have to keep paying all the bills.

Perhaps all the Losers will have to wear a badge of some sort to display publicly. Shaming anyone who depends on any public assistance. Anyone cutting costs in their government departments will be given bonuses CFO style. Reward the winners and bully and shame the losers. That’s his style isn’t it?

I’m truly afraid we would be engaged quickly in even more wars and that “mere anarchy would be loosed upon the world.” He is at best a blowhard and a bully who panders to xenophobia and racism.

FWIW @ragingloli I do not consider you or anyone here “Eurotrash” and if you really believe “the “great leaders” of Europe are already lapdogs of the Yanks” then why would you suggest Trump would then have to hold them at gun point to get them to make deals?? I would think a good scratch behind the ear and a doggie treat would be more in order, don’t you?

@stanleybmanly I will go so far as to draw a red line in the sand and say that even if Trump is elected, we cannot possibly sink any further than what we already are in the eyes of the world right now.

@ragingloli, he very clearly states OUR country, US America. Please don’t disrupt our exceptionalist vibe with your continental sensibilities.~

@Cruiser Why do you say that your country has sunk so far low in the eyes of the world?

@cazzie Because the state of disarray and chaos in Syria, Russia having their way in the Ukraine, the Iran nuclear deal and them taking our sailors hostage and parading them around and humiliating them, Pakistan taking our billions in aid while thumbing their nose at us, N Korea launching rockets at will with no repercussions what so ever…all this and more going on while we sit back and do nothing. This is not just my opinion

@Cruiser A lot of people would argue that America has gained respect from other countries under Obama by not playing cops of the world after the debacle of Iraq.

@Cruiser Not so fast. The second link states that world opinion of the US is at its lowest SINCE Bush, meaning that GW still holds the trophy. And as for Gretchen, it would be VERY interesting to read the results of a poll on world opinions of Fox news.

And to what degree do you suppose Trump’s antics have enhanced world opinion of the United States?

@Cruiser Why on Earth is any of that the current problem of the US? All those things are happening outside of the US and reflect on past decisions. You don’t mention ONE thing that might reflect badly that is actually happening within the US. Why is that? (Quoting fox news and right wing news sources aren’t helping.)

@Cruiser I really do believe you are teasing us. I mean upon encountering the word “statesmanship” is it really the the name Donald Trump that leaps into your mind? Have you considered the challenge in devising an upbeat sentence containing the words Trump and diplomacy? Would any entitity other than Saturday Night Live anticipate with enthusiasm of the thought of Donald Trump addressing the United Nations?

Fair enough @stanleybmanly…I have considered exactly that since this primary circus began and keep falling back on the reality of just how far Obama/Clinton/Kerry style diplomacy has gotten us. In that regard, I honestly have to say these 3 have taken us further back than where we were in the GW Bush years and to me that is not good at all. So that begs the question who of any of the contenders has the smarts, support strategists, who is both cunning, decisive and stead fast that IMO is going to be the minimum required to lift this country out of the international quagmire we are in. This truly becomes of choice of the best of the worst and I am not thrilled by this prospect in the least.

@cazzie I do not have the time to give you a thorough political history lesson but I will give you a short answer. Obama drew not one but two lines in the sand with Syria and failed to follow through. ISIS essentially did not exist back then and opened the door to their genesis and subsequent rise to power in Syria and the Middle east and our own back yard for that matter.

Russia’s unabated incursion into Ukraine is a direct threat to our eastern European allies and our missile defenses there and again we sat on out heels and did nothing.

The Iranian nuclear deal was a complete bend over and grab our ankles by the Obama administration. We had Iran over a barrel with the international sanctions and they were at the breaking point and Iran was ready to oust then president Ahmadinejad because he was failing miserably. Iran got everything they wanted and we got promises from the most vicious thugs in the middle east to let us come in and inspect their nuclear facilities only after we give them plenty of advanced notice. So why we gave away the store like we did when we had the upper hand eludes me.

@Cruiser, I don’t have the time to give you a lesson in international politics. I will give you a short lesson. Wrong, wrong and wrong. Try again. Try domestically, within your own boarders this time. That might be easier.

Seriously @cazzie I took the time to present my thoughts to answer your question of me so could you be so kind to enlighten me as to how/why you think my statements are wrong, wrong, wrong? I am always eager to learn new things.

The international crises is not the current US administrations doing. Please point in another direction for your choice of weaknesses. The rest of the world has a better sense of history and remembers what Bush/Cheney did.

@cazzie You have got to be kidding! Bush ceased to be our President 7 years ago and all 3 of these international issues I put forth are current and happened during Obama’s tenure as President. Bush had zero to do with any of the three and again it was Obama who drew the two red lines in the sand with Syria…not Bush…it was John Kerry who was chief negotiator with Iran and it was Obama who sat on his hand while Russia invaded Ukraine. ISIS did not exist when Bush was President and it was Obama who made nice nice with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Trump has no interest in being President.
He is on a political ego trip, plus more.
The more outrageous things he comes up with, the more hard-core groups and their members have and will ‘come out, come out wherever you are’ and register to vote. Be accounted for.
Easy way to keep track of people if you are in the government, don’t you think?
Seriously.
Shooting people?
A giant wall?
Refusing entry and rights to religious groups?
Get a grip and step back to look at the big picture, please.
Not all zealots showed up to take over a national park’s station.
Where and whom did the Pied Piper lead to the river to be drowned?
The rats.

Because then I’d live in a country with an orange president. AN ORANGE PRESIDENT!

Not to mention he is an overtly racist blow hard who thinks we can deal with North Korea by having the Chinese make him disappear. WTF? I

^Orange President?

I’m more concerned with the content of one’s character…

Really? Trying to be what you are not is the ultimate lie. Why would anyone trust a man whose basic persona is spray tanned? That’s such a beautiful metaphor; it belongs in a great novel.

@janbb is correct. He is the rough beast, slouching towards Bethlehem to be born. You cannot predict the forms of harm and damage he would inflict but the people who support him are authoritarian types and will applaud every atrocity. Their failure to recognize the signs of his vicious child type narcissism would pave the way to an exceedingly dark chapter in the history of the states.

I give up….. the USA is a lost cause in my opinion and will disregard and fight against any stupid or pathetic choice given in future.

-Thank god scalia is dead. Me and my minions have been waiting….. so happy.

He and Cruz are extreme narcissist, so my question is what can go right with having a mentally ill person at the helm?
The following is an excerpt on narcissistic disorder from the Mayo Clinic and Trump fills every single description.
***DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:

Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Exaggerating your achievements and talents
Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
Requiring constant admiration
Having a sense of entitlement
Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
Taking advantage of others to get what you want
Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
Being envious of others and believing others envy you
Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner
Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.***

From Trumps many tweets, where he has a temper tantrum, to his over exaggeration of his qualifications, to his dismissal and contempt of those who do not bend at the knee and kiss his arse.
He has lost respect from our allies. Negotiations will either become void or almost non existent until he is out of office. His personality is similar to Kim Jong-un and that doesn’t seem to be working out for North Korea. I don’t want to be North Korea or the Soviet Union.
If I wanted that, I would’ve moved there. People who crave power and position like he does and Cruz, don’t do it for the people. They do it for their ego and don’t care how many bodies they have to bury to get there. NO F’ing THANKS!

I mean, who would be proud to say that the people who follow him wouldn’t care two cents if he went out and shot some random person dead. Normal people crave admiration but not to the extent that they are happy that homicidal maniacs follow them. That is not a healthy mind.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts….that said, I did ask for specifics and the ad hominem attacks were expected, though I held hope that some would actually back up their epithets with actual reasons for their thoughts of the how and why Trump would be good or bad for America as a whole. (one actually did…ty)

I am genuinely curious about how regular folk view this potential of Trump possibly leading our country…so again I ask why does the thought of this notion of Trump potentially being President make you want to vomit or why might it actually be a good thing if Trump had a go at making America Great Again? What specifically makes you think and feel this way?????

((Round 2))

I think that businessmen who become politicians can be a breath of fresh air, as career politicians get used to “politics as usual” and the slow pace of progress when it comes to all things government. Conversely, businessmen who become politicians may not realize that, unlike in business where the CEO gives an order and everyone jumps to make that command happen, in politics, the wheels grind very slowly, and they may not be accustomed to the pace.

Businessmen who become politicians may bring their own talent with them, which can be a good thing. I am thinking of our local example, Bloomberg, who I thought was a good mayor in NYC.

For Trump, I think he may lead us into some major international conflicts very quickly, due to his inability to be diplomatic.

In the end, despite the obvious endless mischief and opportunites for embarassment one might predict for a Trump Presidency, the chances are that the country would survive it more or less intact. And who knows? Miracles can happen. Trump is a successful (I suppose) businessman, and we may well prefer crass and brash to slick and underhanded. There’s one prediction I will make and that is that if he receives the nomination, voter turnout will set all time records. The same holds true for Sanders and if the 2 of them are facing one another in November, nobody’s staying home on election day!

My life:

Trump has said, “I would end Obamacare and replace it with something terrific, for far less money for the country and for the people.”

“Obamacare” has been the most important governmental change of my lifetime. When I had to quit college to get surgery, I was a legal adult and no longer a full-time student. Before ACA, this could have resulted in me getting kicked off my parents’ health insurance just when I needed it the most. The bill for my surgeries in the end has to have been at least high hundreds of thousands if not millions (my parents shielded me from that kind of thing). My parents would have been choosing between keeping our home versus getting me the medical care I needed. With surgery, I was able to finish my degree and join the workforce and become a useful member of society. I couldn’t have done that without surgeries, and therefore without ACA.

“Something terrific” is terribly vague. It seems the only plan he really has in place is to repeal ACA. I cannot reiterate enough how horrible this would be for me or for other sick people who find themselves in similar situations through no fault of their own. We didn’t ask to be sick. The least a civilized nation can do is care for its downtrodden. We will pay the nation back by becoming the productive members of society that we want, but are otherwise unable, to be.

Our country:

Minorities of all kinds would feel unwelcome in what is supposed to be a melting pot of a nation. Trump has already expressed his views that Latinos are all rapists. He wants to deport innocent Muslims. He has said he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the recent ruling making same-sex marriage legal in the whole country. Land of the free, my ass.

The rest of the world would lose what little respect they may still have for us. They see Trump for what he is: a hateful clown, a buffoon who has no place in politics whatsoever.

I fear his hotheadedness and careless disrespect for people of all walks of life would get us into new wars.

Cruiser I did answer your question. You want specifics as to what his promises or plans are and he is really an unknown. He has no political back ground that one can research to figure what he brings to the table. So he’s a businessman who went bankrupt 4 times and lives in denial about it. There are no hard core facts so everyone has to basically chose him for the words he says. And if he isn’t lying he’s spreading hate. So no. He is not someone who should run our country and he doesn’t even have a law degree and he wants to basically wants the public to trust that he will hire people who will tell him what he can and can’t do. Sure the whitehouse has its own lawyers but the public didn’t vote for them and it’s best to have a President who would know when he is being misguided, and he has zero experience. As I posted above, he shows every signs of having a narcissistic disorder. When will a mentally ill person be good for the country?

@Mariah The main thing bothering me most about Trump is the absurdity of most of the vague and tactless wrecking ball promises he hurls about that leave his fans so enthralled. The more impossible and ridiculous the claim, the bigger his following and the faster he rises in the polls. I’ve heard talk (mostly from conservatives) that voters are angry and merely venting by pushing him along, but will act sensibly when it’s time to vote.

But just listen to the stuff that rolls out of his possum topped head. Consider that Southern wall financed by Mexico. That threat to abolish the ACA is right up there on the list of things much easier said than done. As Obama and the insurance companies fully appreciate, too many people now are critically vested in the program, and simply dumping it is politically impossible. As it stands, it’s a terribly complicated hodge podge of restrictions and regulations, the basic function of which is to guarantee lucrative revenues for insurance companies. But despite all the howling, things are marginally better for the bulk of us as we struggle toward government financed universal health care. Meanwhile I’m waiting for Trump’s announcement that he plans to wrestle Putin on the White House lawn. That’s all that’s needed to sew up the nomination.

Gosh, @cazzie, I hope YOUR eventual passing garners kinder comments than your “thank goodness” about Justice Scalia’s. I didn’t agree with most of his positions either but I would have been happier with his resignation than his sudden death.

What is the problem? People were dancing in the streets when Bin Laden was murdered.

@Pachy agreed some things are better left unsaid. Personally I’ll take the tack that Reagan’s handlers took after many of his pronouncements during the gipper’s “fuzzy” or “cloudy” times. What @cazzie meant to say was “I’m glad Scalia can no longer render opinions.” It isn’t the reason for it (I don’t think) that makes her happy.

It would be a nice experiment if a billionaire can run the government better than a regular person.

the billionaires ARE running the toadies running the regular persons running the government.

@stanleybmanly, I’ll buy that interpretation. Thanks for the comment.

@Cruiser Those current events with which you’re beating Cazzie over the head are the direct consequence of what the guy who left 7 years ago regrettably decided to attempt 13 years ago. I know I myself rag this issue to death, but the enormity of the consequences from that decision will become ever more apparent with the passage of time. It’s easy to fault Obama for allowing Assad and his cronies to cross that “line in the sand”. But the mistake wasn’t in tolerance of the crossing. The error was in the bluff to begin with. The big problem with representative government is that foreign policy along with everything else is hostage to political feasibility here at home. Obama extracted what he could from the Iranians, but he was FORCED to deal by his European as well as Asian allies in the sanctions who threatened to pull out had he not agreed to terms. Then there is the fact that “I’m adinnerjacket’ might be the elected leader of Iran, but his so called leadership is meaningless due to one of our other ambitious fkups some 60 years back resulting in religious fanatics at the helm of the most advanced and formerly secular state in the region. Minus the option of bombing anyplace in the region to hell, Obama’s hands are pretty much tied. His allies are terrified at the prospect of driving Iran economically into the toilet, and the consequences of that place joining in the great unraveling currently underway. The growing recognition that the primary need in the region isn’t the pipe dream of representative or even reasonable government becomes more apparent daily. Stability is now the great quest for those former dreamers in the West now pushed into the arms of pragmatism. And that stability if it ever comes about will depend significantly on enforcement by IRAN, which thanks to GW is now by default the preeminent and DOMINANT power in the region and there will be NO stability minus its participation. And as for Russia and Ukraine, it is unfortunate that the breakup of the Soviet Union left the bulk of the Russian fleet stranded there, but there it is and the Russians are compelled to act accordingly. Ukraine is NOT going to be independent of Soviet tune calling, and we (just like everyone else) have done well to “look the other way”.

I wonder at his effectiveness as Prez. Disliked by the majority of Reps. he will have to depend on Dems. for support and backing of any policies he wishes to implement. This will cause an even broader rift in the Republican Party with lots of “I told you so” type comments and further gridlock will ensue, at least on the domestic front.
Foreign policy will really depend on who he chooses to be his advisors, Sec of State, etc. but even there I wonder if Trumpism will not overrule competency and ability of the underlings. Does he have the wherewithall to listen to someone who has a greater grasp of the facts when it flies in the face of his personal ideological wants and beliefs? I question his ability to do so.

Best case scenario, he is totally ineffective, subverted and marginalized.

Worst case scenario, WWIII either by inability to stop it or belligerently starting it.

Either way, still better than Cruz. With Cruz:

Best Case Scenario: WWIII caused by him.

Worst Case Scenario: End Times/Rapture. Pretty sure he will be one of the ones left behind.

This Q popped up for me again, and as I read the newer answers I feel compelled to say I secretly am curious at this point to see what would happen if Trump were president. Not enough to vote for him, but enough to understand why people want to take a gamble on him. Certain skills he brings to the table are interesting.

I was watching some “news” thing where the journalists were talking about how Trump is not a true conservative, blah blah. I don’t know if the person talking had a left or right bias, but just the fact Trump isn’s sucked in, and by the religious right extremists, and trying to over please them (he does a little BS for them) is a feather in his cap in my opinion. Mitt Romney fell down in my opinion when he started catering to those people too much. As a governor he didn’t do it, then he switched his stick when he tried on the national level.

@JLeslie I felt about McCain the way you feel about Romney; he went from someone I admired and thought had some personal integrity to a butt licking sycophant kowtowing to those who will not consider voting for a person unless he wears his religion on his sleeve.

McCain too. No doubt.

Who you choose to represent you is important and it says something about you. That’s one reason not to choose a buffoon.