US election 2020

[David]

Is this fake news to garner a sympathy vote. To not actually have it, to say he has, but is not unwell & shows everyone he can beat it?

Hmmmm. Has this been independently verified?

I think he should be placed in an induced Coma for the next 6 weeks.

I don’t get all this scepticism (been seeing a lot of this on social media, too). Has everyone gone full InfoWars now??

[pietillidie]

[David]

I don’t pretend to be the Trump Whisperer or anything, but we know enough about the man by now to be able to have a rough clue about when he’s lying and when he isn’t. He lies out of convenience and in the moment when confronted over something he’s said or done; the idea that he’s even capable of competently pulling a long-game ruse like this is tin-foil hat stuff that fails its own internal logic, the mirror image of the "Trump is playing 5D chess" rhetoric from the Qanon crowd (somehow he gets to be both a moron and an evil genius). Why waste your time even entertaining such a silly conspiracy theory?

Anyway, if nothing else, this does lend weight to my suspicion that disconnection with reality has become a thoroughly bipartisan phenomenon in the US. I think everyone needs to take a break and switch off from the 24/7 news media / social media churn, me included!

[pietillidie]

He lies out of convenience and in the moment when confronted over something he’s said or done; the idea that he’s even capable of competently pulling a long-game ruse like this is tin-foil hat stuff that fails its own internal logic, the mirror image of the "Trump is playing 5D chess" rhetoric from the Qanon crowd (somehow he gets to be both a moron and an evil genius). Why waste your time even entertaining such a silly conspiracy theory?

Is that a joke? A bloke who has deceived people into paying his debts for decades and conned his way into the most powerful position on earth isn't able to arrange half a dozen people to say he has Covid-19? This is not a major ruse to pull off given the people around him are professional, full-time liars, frauds and con artists. It's not about genius here; it's about motivation.

Some of us just don't read this internet garbage which seems to influence you so much; rather, we observe this nutcase's rhetoric and psychology and don't forget it. Right after his longstanding and long-maintained financial lies were revealed, as if to underscore the point. Really, this is you being naive about his psychiatric condition and how simple it would be to pull this off, particularly because it means withdrawing from public.

As I said, pin the tail on the right donkey. The incredulity is the psychopath's fault, and the fault of the deranged cult that worships him.

To repeat: has always been a malignant narcissist and compulsive liar, will always be a malignant narcissist and compulsive liar. That's a solid starting point. The only safe assumption is he's lying much of the time generally, and most of the time when he's feeling challenged. The questions to consider concern just how motivated is he right now, and how exposed he his feeling. What the internet thinks has no bearing on that.

Frankly, I also don't think he particularly looks like he's lying in this case, but I'm not relying on that given his track record combined with the strength of his motivation. Go watch some interviews with notorious psychopathic liars; when there's motivation enough, they can pull off virtually deceit. You underestimate both the illness and the motivation.

Sure, he might be telling the truth. It might not be just another Trump fraud. But more importantly, once again, truth and falsehood are an academic question at this dangerous level of mental illness because the sole intent is to confuse to maintain control. Sometimes, telling the truth can be a good way of regaining control, because the instance of truth can be used to garner sympathy and trust, and can be used as a basis for months of fresh deceit thereafter.

That's the psychopath causing the confusion here, not the internet; again, pin the tail on the right donkey. The thing to get is this: at this level of illness the matter of whether he's telling the truth or not in any particular instance is neither here nor there. To simply entertain the uncertainty he purposefully creates is to fall prey to the manipulation. This very sort of discussion is precisely the intended outcome, a tactic he has clearly honed from early childhood.

The question of the absolute morons out there who worship this tool, or nutters who dwell inside layers of conspiracy theory left and right, has nothing at all whatsoever to do with Trump's clear track record and evident mental illness, and the things that a narcissism-driven psychopath can achieve to avoid being exposed. You're conflating two different problems altogether.

[Tannin]

Is this fake news to garner a sympathy vote. To not actually have it, to say he has, but is not unwell & shows everyone he can beat it?

Hmmmm. Has this been independently verified?

I think he should be placed in an induced Coma for the next 6 weeks.

I don’t get all this scepticism (been seeing a lot of this on social media, too). Has everyone gone full InfoWars now??

Because he is a serial liar.

Because he desperately needs a distraction from his awful performance on the debate.

Because Trump lies. Constantly and habitually.

Because this is his very best possible tactic to defuse the hatred and contempt he gets over his mishandling of the Covid crises.

Because of his history of telling massive lies.

Because he has to do something to make up for never feeling sorry for 200,000 dead Americans on his watch: he thinks that maybe now America will feel sorry for him.

Because he never tells the truth. Look at his record.

Because he has tried every other way of winning the election and none of them worked. His desperate, angry TV explosion last week only made things worse for him. Re really, really needs this circuit breaker.

Because he lies.

On the balance of probabilities, I recon he probably has it. But it would be naked insanity to simply take his word for it. We need actual evidence. Trump's word counts for nothing. Nothing.

[Tannin]

OK, the fact of a lie from Trump shouldn't surprise anyone. But as you say, David, the style of the lie is a bit odd. (Or it might actually be truth, which would also be a bit odd.)

Now, consider the peculiar sequence of events. First, his flunky announced that she had it. Then - only hours afterwards - Trump owns up to it, with the unspoken implication that he caught it from her.

In reality, we know that Covid typically takes several days or a week to go from one person to another. (The tiny first virus load has to breed up to a more substantial amount before the person becomes infectious.)

So try it this way around. Trump, the least responsible, most ignorant person in the entourage, catches Covid. He infects others around him (his wife, his valet, his other flunkies). Realising that announcing these facts would look very, very bad, Trump's campaign managers get one of the people he infected (senior flunky Hope Hicks) to go first and take the heat.

That is a much more typical Trump lie. I'm not saying that's the real lie here - we may never know the truth - but it is a very typical style of Trumpian lie.

[watt price tully]

If it is true that Trump has Coronavirus then this aptly described as shaudenfreude unmasked

[Pies4shaw]

It would be terrible if Trump and Pence both became incapacitated. If you've watched your West Wing, Season 4 closely, you'll know that Nancy Pelosi (or John Goodman) is next in the chain of command.

Looking further ahead, if Trump and Pence were both to die (and we do, of course, all pray for their speedy recovery), perhaps Arnie Vinick will step up and contest the election.

[stui magpie]

Loving all the conspiracy theories and comments, truly hilarious, I'm only surprised that more hasn't been made of The Donald being infected by Hope.

[David]

To simply entertain the uncertainty he purposefully creates is to fall prey to the manipulation. This very sort of discussion is precisely the intended outcome, a tactic he has clearly honed from early childhood.

Exactly. So why voluntarily walk into that trap, even when your better senses are already telling you not to indulge it?

Also, when you refer to "internet garbage", I’m not sure why you would think that what you’re posting here is necessarily on a different plane to the other stuff I see or engage with on social media or other forums. We’re all just putting in our two cents from the peanut gallery. But what’s clear to me is that hysteria is becoming the dominant mode of public and media political discourse, and I don’t think that really helps us deal with this moment constructively.

[watt price tully]

Perhaps it’s his way of avoiding another debate which was about to have rules for grown-ups.

I still maintain an induced coma for 6 weeks as an excellent treatment regime for Trump’s narcissistic and sociopathic personality disorder.

[Jezza]

Perhaps it’s his way of avoiding another debate which was about to have rules for grown-ups.

[watt price tully]

Perhaps it’s his way of avoiding another debate which was about to have rules for grown-ups.

We are talking about Donald Trump having to abide by rules for grown-ups. Sometimes one needs a bit of crazy to treat a lot of crazy

BTW, how did you get my private video?

[pietillidie]

To simply entertain the uncertainty he purposefully creates is to fall prey to the manipulation. This very sort of discussion is precisely the intended outcome, a tactic he has clearly honed from early childhood.

Exactly. So why voluntarily walk into that trap, even when your better senses are already telling you not to indulge it?

Also, when you refer to "internet garbage", I’m not sure why you would think that what you’re posting here is necessarily on a different plane to the other stuff I see or engage with on social media or other forums.

Because dim-witted people elected a narcissism-driven psychopath and put us all in this position. We are forced into the trap by virtue of absolute rock apes electing a sick mental case to the most powerful position on earth.

Again, pin the tail on the right donkey. This Orwellian state was not my doing.

At some point you have to sift through opinions with a bit more discernment. Find me the bit where I've been wrong about this moron based on adherence to his clear public history and textbook illness. If you disagree with those, then say it. If I've got him wrong before, then point out where.

Again, I never said he's not telling the truth. I said nothing he says or does can be assumed to be truthful based on his history and illness. Nothing. Only a fool would believe otherwise.

[Pies4shaw]

Yes, that’s my position. I expect that he’s actually got COVID - but he is an habitual liar, so it’s a bit like the Tale of Peter and the Wolf, really.