About Me

My photo
I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

"The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration - and a very effective form of promotion."

Donald Trump: The Art of the Deal, 1987.

7 comments:

RTD said...

Important insight!

CyberKitten said...

Apparently his book, along with 1984, Brave New World and It' Can't Happen Here are all rising in the Amazon sales charts... [lol]

RTD said...

Not surprised. Readers react. But will there be reasonable thought, action, and reaction or more fear mongering.

CyberKitten said...

Probably a bit of both - as always. It's a turbulent and rather sad (to say nothing of frightening) time that we're living through right now.

Mudpuddle said...

so the attainment of power is the sole object of man...? oh, and money... adornments on the path to extinction...

Stephen said...

Here's the thing with Trump: he has two years. After that we have the midterm elections and his power will most likely be curbed by the inevitable reaction -- Republicans will lose a few seats, Dems will pick them up. It happens every presidency: Clinton in 1994, Bush in 2006, Obama in 2010. Take 2010: the Republicans gained 6 seats in the Senate, 63 in the House, and 6 governorships. Ordinarily two years is not a long time, but Trump has been extraordinarily busy the last week.

My only real fear in regards to Trump is his angering China. For me, amicable relations with Russia and China are priority one when it comes to foreign policy. There is nothing more important than keeping the world's foremost nuclear powers from destroying THE ENTIRE PLANET -- period. (Britain and France have more nuclear missiles than China, but who is more likely to use them?) I also wish he'd be better about Iran, but there seems to be something in the Potomac water that makes people crazy about them.

I am not concerned about Trump's domestic policies: the Wall is a waste of money and the tariff will most likely hurt the economy, as will a trade war with China. Those can be survived, and if he's serious about laying waste to small business regulation, the American economy might maintain itself despite the tariffs. There will be no persecution of gays, blacks, etc. People who believe that watch far too much television. He's by far the most socially liberal man to ever be in the office, even if his populist-nationalist politics have made his power base a "conservative" one. Did Obama and Clinton support gay marriage going in? Nope Obama didn't say anything until Biden's enthusiasm forced his hand. Trump, on the other hand, has been a supporter of gay marriage for I don't know how long. It should be noted that Obama voted for a Mexican wall while a senator, and he's also the one who drew up the list of countries donating problematic migrants. I think that ban should have been focused more against single males rather than everybody: a refugee family is OK, a man on a mission is not.

One thing's for sure, people are a lot more interested in politics now.

CyberKitten said...

Stephen said: One thing's for sure, people are a lot more interested in politics now.

Now that's something that *everyone* can agree with!