Nothing about the topic itself is remotely interesting. "Donald Trump Expresses Grandiose Delusion" is the ultimate Dog Bites Man story.
Trump is hugely into trolling. He's a serious provocateur, especially when it comes to aggitating the Left. (I've long regarded him as essentially a media creature, although I have to say I've been surprised by his effectiveness at getting things accomplished in the face of some pretty stiff opposition, so far.) He crosses the line, for sure, and I'm not thrilled with this particular joke. At the same time, having crass humour is probably not a serious flaw in a leader. I doubt Trump has any real Christian convictions in him anyway (though what do I know, for sure) but I haven't seen an American leader in living memory whose moral turpitude of some kind didn't seem obvious to me.Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 2:40 pmI’ve noticed. You consistently take the discussion higher.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 5:00 pmTrolling's not my thing. Even to twit the twits is a "low rent" kind of hobby.
Trump himself is somewhat of a troll. He was trolling the Pope with the picture. For many people The Pope speaks for God, and The Pope was steering out of his lane and into politics by ignoring the mess created by Biden with open borders ((rapes, drugs, criminals, murders, cartel supervision of the border) and criticizing the cleanup crew (Trump's administration).
LOL --- you imagine that "lefties" consider Clinton, Obama, or Biden THEIR leaders? You haven't a clue about whoImmanuel Can wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 4:02 pm I'm not fooled by the Lefties here. ......, but they have zero interest in the rapacious actual behaviour of their own leaders, like Clinton, Obama or Biden. Even funnier, they deny there's such a thing as objective morality,
Well, we're talking American politics only, of course. But if the problem you're naming is "Trump," as above, then what is supposed to be his opposite?MikeNovack wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 7:50 pmLOL --- you imagine that "lefties" consider Clinton, Obama, or Biden THEIR leaders?Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 4:02 pm I'm not fooled by the Lefties here. ......, but they have zero interest in the rapacious actual behaviour of their own leaders, like Clinton, Obama or Biden. Even funnier, they deny there's such a thing as objective morality,
Oh, yeah. He has the same reaction to democrats I do. Did you read any of your posts to me. The mind reading and condescension. They were personal. Is that because you and Flash are on the same team. You could have written on the topic but you opted not to. You could have responded to my posts about Trump on the topic, but you answered about me and democrats for some reason. And then abandoned responding when I pointed out how confused your posts were. You can only think in terms of teams, so criticism of your team, means you can defend your team by attacking the other team. That also puts you in the same box.Walker wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 1:12 pmOh, I already wrote it all out to my satisfaction, but like I said, I'm interested in replies.Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 6:30 amNo, you should go deeper. You went deep, but the next layer is where the deepy deep real meaning is.
Spoken like a true esoteric mage.I have an interesting theory I'll keep to myself for now, because I'm interested in responses and what they reveal.
For instance, you're more concerned about me than the topic, and FlashDangerPants is more concerned with IC than the topic.
Interesting, and consistent.
It's like ... you have a team mentality.
That seems so unfair of me to do all those things,
“Obama is a LightWorker – an Attuned Being with Powerful Luminosity and High-Vibration Integrity who will actually help usher in a New Way of Being.”
Cute, yeah, that must have been what I meant. Anyway, it's all good: your hallucination that SPLC was relevant to my response to FlashdangerPants and your assumption that there are 2 teams, so Trump is ok because some Democrats have done the same things. The most important thing is that you sensed there was something you didn't agree with or someone didn't like your guy. It doesn't matter what junk logic or irrelevance you hurl. You're on the right team, and in a philosophy forum, that's what matters.
But in the end, you have more issues with Biden and Obama, than Trump, is that correct? I noticed a while back that you put Sanders up there as one of the rich "leftie" playboys. It's kind of a strange thing for me to hear. I've always liked Sanders. He seems more of a social democrat than a democratic socialist.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 4:02 pmTrump is hugely into trolling. He's a serious provocateur, especially when it comes to aggitating the Left. (I've long regarded him as essentially a media creature, although I have to say I've been surprised by his effectiveness at getting things accomplished in the face of some pretty stiff opposition, so far.) He crosses the line, for sure, and I'm not thrilled with this particular joke. At the same time, having crass humour is probably not a serious flaw in a leader. I doubt Trump has any real Christian convictions in him anyway (though what do I know, for sure) but I haven't seen an American leader in living memory whose moral turpitude of some kind didn't seem obvious to me.Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 2:40 pmI’ve noticed. You consistently take the discussion higher.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 5:00 pm
Trolling's not my thing. Even to twit the twits is a "low rent" kind of hobby.
Trump himself is somewhat of a troll. He was trolling the Pope with the picture. For many people The Pope speaks for God, and The Pope was steering out of his lane and into politics by ignoring the mess created by Biden with open borders ((rapes, drugs, criminals, murders, cartel supervision of the border) and criticizing the cleanup crew (Trump's administration).
I don't think that many of us in the West choose our leaders by checking their moral fibre, so all the howls of moral indignation about Trump fail to impress me much (thank you, Shania).
I'm not fooled by the Lefties here. They get all high and moralizing when it comes to Trump's memes or his coarse words, but they have zero interest in the rapacious actual behaviour of their own leaders, like Clinton, Obama or Biden. Even funnier, they deny there's such a thing as objective morality, and then want to tell me what objective moral stance I should take with regard to Trump. If it wasn't so brainless, it would be hypocritical.
Anyway, I have no need to roll in the mud with the silly set. So I prefer to ignore them.
I'm not American, Gary. Seeing the corruption in the Democrats does not, for me, entail loving anybody else. Only an American, bi-partisan as they always seem to be, could imagine that disliking one has to entail liking the other. That they can't get their heads out of the Republican-Democrat / Good-Bad dichotomy does not mean everybody else has to think that way, or does. And I don't.Gary Childress wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2026 12:59 pm But in the end, you have more issues with Biden and Obama, than Trump, is that correct?
If we need to be transformed, how does that happen? When do we know we've been "transformed"? When do we know a particular leader is better or worse than another? Or, if they're all bad, then what can we realistically hope for in this world, other than chaos and catastrophe? How does one know when to resist something and when not to?Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2026 2:19 pmI'm not American, Gary. Seeing the corruption in the Democrats does not, for me, entail loving anybody else. Only an American, bi-partisan as they always seem to be, could imagine that disliking one has to entail liking the other. That they can't get their heads out of the Republican-Democrat / Good-Bad dichotomy does not mean everybody else has to think that way, or does. And I don't.Gary Childress wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2026 12:59 pm But in the end, you have more issues with Biden and Obama, than Trump, is that correct?
Truth be told, I wouldn't choose ANY of our present leaders. So far as I'm concerned, they're all different degrees of bad. I don't see one whose morals and character I admire, or one I would have agreed should be allowed to run a pig farm, let alone the world's most powerful nation. And I would say the same about the politicians in my own country. In short, there are no ultimate answers in politics.
But Socialism is a particular plague upon humankind. Statistically, it's done more damage -- by orders of magnitude -- than any other ideology or force in history. Recognizing that means having special concern about all politicians who lean that way. Historically, they've all proved treacherous.
Christians also expect this. They know that human beings are not merely flawed, but many are often gleefully wicked, too. The old axiom about power corrupting is not pointless: give any man power, and the temptations increase accordingly. Where can we find the man who can be trusted with such power as rests in the hands of the American president? I do not think we have an answer to that.
I can think of nobody...just degrees of danger. But I can see that Socialism, historically, is the most dangerous lever a wicked and tyrannically-ambitious man can pull on. So I think we need special skepticism for all such big-government, collectivist and utopian projects. They kill people.
The only real answers are personal and spiritual. We cannot rely on politics, because politics is peopled by the corrupt, greedy and power-hungry. This is one small area in which Communists got one idea right: unless we have a new kind of man, all our political aspirations will turn to nightmares. You can't make good things out of corrupt people -- or as Jesus said, "...each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush." (Luke 6:44) Thus, you can't make good politics from wicked men.
This is why we need to be saved, Gary...from ourselves, first, and then from the consequences of our bad decisions. We need personal transformation. What we are is not good enough. Political projects of all kinds are too often nothing more than strenuous human attempts to live in denial of this unassailable fact. And that's why they fail.
