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Trump I suspect will be very similar to George W Bush.

From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina to handle the rigours of the job. And I don't mean that in a negative way he is just more of a hands on, energetic, get shit done sort of guy. So in order to survive he is going to delegate to people like Guilani, Christie, Gingrich, Carson etc. Some of the most shameless, self serving and unethical people around in politics.




Apparently because they supported his campaign too.. Man, it's hard to watch. I see evidence and hope very much that the pivot people thought would happen when he got the GOP nomination has happened now that he has won the White House and everything is sinking in.

I didn't support Trump for prez, but I really hope he is successful and was a little excited shortly after the shock wore off. Excited for the unknown and the prospect that he might shake up the establishment. But reading all the news about him just surrounding himself with people who took a long shot on him pre-pivot; really eating away at my silver lining.

It was clear during the debates he had little substance in the way of issue and policy awareness. He deflected, quipped and barbed to appeal to people's emotions. He needs to be surrounding himself with the best advisors and tapping the best from either side on the shoulder.


> Excited for the unknown and the prospect that he might shake up the establishment.

A lot of people say he isn't part of the establishment. The idea that someone who is rich and embedded in the media for the entire professional life is not part of the establishment is really confusing to me. Why do you have this perception? I am honestly curious.


> The idea that someone who is rich and embedded in the media for the entire professional life is not part of the establishment is really confusing to me.

People usually mean "political establishment" as "people who entered their party's youth org at 14 and since then never left working for their party". Which is bad because a politician who never had to do a real-world job in his life can neither understand nor empathize with the problems of the average population.


I find this point of view to be a bit of hogwash, being a politician _is_ a real life job, it's not just some part time doing-it-for-fun thing.


The realities of a politician job are wildly disconnected from a "real world" job, though. No "fire/hire at will", for example - once a politician is elected, he/she can serve the term without having to fear unemployment on the next day. No matter how he/she performs, the only way to get rid of an elected politician is criminal behaviour (and as seen with Arpaio, sometimes even openly defying judges is not a reason to be forced to quit).

In Germany, all members of parliament also get a pretty pension package - minimum of 1.682€ per month, which is FAR more than many old people ever get.

Politicians NEVER have to experience the worries of "normal people" like "how am I going to survive as a pensioner?", "how do I feed my kids when I don't have any money left?" or "how am I going to pay rent this month?" - and with a greater and greater rate of "working poor" or unemployed people, the disconnect will rise accordingly.


If being part of the 'establishment' means that you never had to worry about being fired, never had to worry about money, never had to worry about feeding your kids or paying rent -- then Trump is part of the establishment.


No, x -> y does not imply y -> x


Being rich doesn't automatically make you part of the establishment. Leaders of the establishment are often rich as a result of their connections, but the two things are not synonymous.


Coming as someone who lived through Reagan and both Bushes, I can state with a reasonable degree of certainty that you don't know how the world works, and you're about to get a lesson. I'm not even certain you understand how the government works, since it is going to be the Republican House and Senate who are going to be drafting and sending bills for him to sign.


Well I'm relieved to hear that at least someone among us knows exactly how the world works.


I think George W Bush would be quite happy that he will no longer be considered the worst president in recent history.


Maybe the Civilization game will remove Dan Quayle as the leader you get characterized as when you finish the game with the least points.


> From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina

Can you elaborate on what accounts these are? The only estimate I've seen of his intelligence was based the school he graduated from.


Tony Schwartz who ghost wrote " The art of the deal" spent 18 months following trump around.

http://jpupdates.com/2016/07/19/art-of-the-deal-ghostwriter-...


Wow this is fucking terrifying


Simple example Obama thinks single payer health care would be the best thing. But to that they would have to almost destroy a trillion dollar industry and millions will loose jobs. So has to move with smaller steps. Trump thinks Illegal immigrants from Mexico are taking American jobs. So he just ships them all back and closes the border(builds the wall) in one go. I don't think he will consider the fact that would destroy a lot of farms in the Midwest who are surviving because of cheap Mexican labour. And if he really wants to do something about he should go gradually about it and not put a blanket stop on it. Some of his trade ideas are actually good will cause inflation but would probably also bring more jobs to the US.


Take a look sometime at the executive compensation that Obama's "smaller steps" provided for the insurance industry. They're definitely not lobbying against Obamacare.


Intellectual stamina != Intelligence.

I am referring to the fact that the Presidency has been described as far more an exercise in patience, absorbing information and careful deliberation than say running a typical business especially a dynamic one like Trump used to. He is by all accounts a very smart guy. But by all accounts he isn't a particularly patient one.


by all accounts

I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm just asking you to cite one or more of these accounts describing his lack of intellectual stamina.


"1986 memo I wrote re: Art of the Deal. Trump couldn't focus for interviews. Can't focus now for debate prep" - Tony Schwartz (who wrote Art of the Deal)

And we all saw through the 3 debates that Trump started off well and then really struggled towards the end e.g.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/clint...


I wonder whether you are getting voted down because you're suggesting Trump is smart, or because you're saying he's impatient.

This account [1] by the ghostwriter who wrote 'Art of the deal', who spent months with him, suggests that he is neither smart nor patient. Over his long life, starting with a very silver spoon that he wasn't able to destroy, he effectively focussed most of his energy to coming up with a couple of heuristics for making deals and communication. I get the impression he spent most of his life's effort on something that might be called 'social hacking' here.

[1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-g...


They said much the same of Ronald Reagan. I'm no fan of either Reagan or Trump - but I think they both had the stamina for the office.


Dunno, were you around when Reagan was in office? He nodded off in public frequently, once famously in a meeting with the Pope.


Counterpoint to Bush's implied lack of intellect:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/25/george_...


Last time I read the constitution there was no "intellectual stamina" requirement to become the President. Also if Hillary was elected would she have surrounded herself by Gandhi-like selfless advisors?


Last time I read the constitution there was no "intellectual stamina" requirement to become the President.

Nobody said it was a requirement to be a President. Just to be a decent one.




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