How Donald Trump picked his running mate

[SimpleDon]

How Donald Trump picked his running mate

I found this hiding in the Magazine section of yesterday's NY Times, a section that I don't visit very often.

What do you make of this?

Apparently Trump wants to win the election and to live in the White House but he may not want to be President

One day this past May, Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., reached out to a senior adviser to Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who left the presidential race just a few weeks before. As a candidate, Kasich declared in March that Trump was “really not prepared to be president of the United States,” and the following month he took the highly unusual step of coordinating with his rival Senator Ted Cruz in an effort to deny Trump the nomination. But according to the Kasich adviser (who spoke only under the condition that he not be named), Donald Jr. wanted to make him an offer nonetheless: Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?

When Kasich’s adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father’s vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.

Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?

“Making America great again” was the casual reply.

This is beginning to reach uncharted levels of craziness.

 

[RavenSky]

I read that yesterday or the day before, too. Trump Jr denied it this morning.

 

[marc]

Two months ago one of his advisors said in an interview:

The vice presidential pick will also be part of the process of proving he’s ready for the White House, Manafort said.

“He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn’t want to do. He seems himself more as the chairman of the board, than even the CEO, let alone the COO.”

So this is just confirmation that Trump aspires to be a figurehead.


... funny thing... I'm a long time comic book reader, and have long thought of villains in any genre who want to 'conquer the world' are being delusional in that they seem to have visions of sitting on a throne, surrounded by servants, piles of treasure, and probably a harem. They seem to not realize ruling the world would involve actually running the world, and dealing with all it's problems. (check out the classic "Emperor Doom" to see this pointed out) So they can either actually run things, which most would-be conquerors would hate, or they delegate all the responsibilities to someone else, in which case that person actually rules the world, and the conqueror is just a figurehead that the true ruler needs to keep appeases and distracted, so they don't mess stuff up.

So we are looking at a Pence presidency, with an orange clown being put in front of the news crews to keep both of them distracted, and us uninformed.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

How would this be different from Bush/Cheney in terms of actual decision-making?

 

[RavenSky]

So we are looking at a Pence presidency, with an orange clown being put in front of the news crews to keep both of them distracted, and us uninformed.

Yep.

Not too different than what we had with Bush-Cheney.

With Cheney we got a war-monger
With Pence we would get a religious dominionist

 

[SimpleDon]

I read that yesterday or the day before, too. Trump Jr denied it this morning.

What did he deny? That he contacted one of Kasich about the vice president spot on the ticket or that Trump's Vice President would be the most powerful in history handling domestic and foreign policy while Trump makes America great again?

Comcast decided that I didn't need my internet service for two days starting right after I posted this thread. A service disruption due to construction by Atlanta Gas Light. I am catching up.

 

[Bronzeage]

A thousand pages can be written about how Trump chose his running mate, but it can be summed up in eight words, he chose the guy who would take the gig.

This is not to say there weren't other willing applicants, but Trump had a list and somewhere around 134, someone returned the call.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

When I first saw this thread start, my immediate reacion was "How did Trump pick up his running mate? With snake handler's tongs. The problem now is to keep Pence from saying stupid things.

 

[Bronzeage]

When I first saw this thread start, my immediate reacion was "How did Trump pick up his running mate? With snake handler's tongs. The problem now is to keep Pence from saying stupid things.

Good luck with that, but it's not as if saying stupid things will be an issue in this race.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

When I first saw this thread start, my immediate reacion was "How did Trump pick up his running mate? With snake handler's tongs. The problem now is to keep Pence from saying stupid things.

I think Trump has desensitized the electorate with stupid shit. Short of bringing up rape, I don't see what Pence could actually say that could hurt.

 

[SimpleDon]

Two months ago one of his advisors said in an interview:

The vice presidential pick will also be part of the process of proving he’s ready for the White House, Manafort said.

“He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn’t want to do. He seems himself more as the chairman of the board, than even the CEO, let alone the COO.”

So this is just confirmation that Trump aspires to be a figurehead.

I would define Trump as being a pseudo-fascist. He sounds like a fascist, uber nationalism, blaming our problems on an enemy or an internal minority group, disdain for human rights, sexism, the use of crime and threats to national security to generate fear, preaching morality for others while avoiding it for themselves, etc. But he doesn't want to put in the work required of a fascist, organizing a paramilitary force, i.e. black or brown shirts, to organize solid support within sectors of the society, e.g. corporations or religions or the military, etc., to inspire a cadre of dedicated followers, and others.

... funny thing... I'm a long time comic book reader, and have long thought of villains in any genre who want to 'conquer the world' are being delusional in that they seem to have visions of sitting on a throne, surrounded by servants, piles of treasure, and probably a harem. They seem to not realize ruling the world would involve actually running the world, and dealing with all it's problems. (check out the classic "Emperor Doom" to see this pointed out) So they can either actually run things, which most would-be conquerors would hate, or they delegate all the responsibilities to someone else, in which case that person actually rules the world, and the conqueror is just a figurehead that the true ruler needs to keep appeases and distracted, so they don't mess stuff up.

So we are looking at a Pence presidency, with an orange clown being put in front of the news crews to keep both of them distracted, and us uninformed.

I have nothing for this.

 

[SimpleDon]

How would this be different from Bush/Cheney in terms of actual decision-making?

It wouldn't. The Bush/Chaney surrogacy didn't work out so well for the nation.

 

[RavenSky]

I read that yesterday or the day before, too. Trump Jr denied it this morning.

What did he deny? That he contacted one of Kasich about the vice president spot on the ticket or that Trump's Vice President would be the most powerful in history handling domestic and foreign policy while Trump makes America great again?

Comcast decided that I didn't need my internet service for two days starting right after I posted this thread. A service disruption due to construction by Atlanta Gas Light. I am catching up.

He denied he said the "Trump's Vice President would be the most powerful in history handling domestic and foreign policy while Trump makes America great again" part. (Not suggesting I believe him on that. Just reporting his denial)

 

[Bronzeage]

What did he deny? That he contacted one of Kasich about the vice president spot on the ticket or that Trump's Vice President would be the most powerful in history handling domestic and foreign policy while Trump makes America great again?

Comcast decided that I didn't need my internet service for two days starting right after I posted this thread. A service disruption due to construction by Atlanta Gas Light. I am catching up.

He denied he said the "Trump's Vice President would be the most powerful in history handling domestic and foreign policy while Trump makes America great again" part. (Not suggesting I believe him on that. Just reporting his denial)

If you were trying to get a man/woman to take the job which is best described as "this time's Sara Palin," what sort of sales pitch would you use? An ambitious politician wants a position with authority and visibility. The Veep is visible, but nearly impotent. This means the only way to sweeten the deal is to offer power.

Trump jr may not have used those exact words, but we can all bet our electoral votes, that was what he meant.