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Trump: The Art of Laziness

Incirlik Air Base in Turkey houses NATO's largest storage of nuclear weapons.

According to Hans M. Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, underground vaults at Incirlik hold about fifty B-61 hydrogen bombs—more than twenty-five per cent of the nuclear weapons in the nato stockpile. The nuclear yield of the B-61 can be adjusted to suit a particular mission. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima had an explosive force equivalent to about fifteen kilotons of TNT. In comparison, the “dial-a-yield” of the B-61 bombs at Incirlik can be adjusted from 0.3 kilotons to as many as a hundred and seventy kilotons.

In the face of current world problems, the prospect of a Trump presidency becomes almost a nightmare scenario. The New York Times has published the transcript of its interview with Trump on Turkey and NATO. Matt Yglesias at Vox explains why he's so dangerous, starting with his laziness. [More...]

Not too lazy in the sense of sleeps in too much — he’s clearly happy to maintain a frenetic pace of activity when doing things that engage him like tweeting or doing television phone interviews — but too lazy in the sense of being unwilling to put in the time and reps necessary to master new things.

Ezra Klein follows up saying this is not about politics, but ".... about Trump’s character, his temperament, his impulsiveness, his basic decency."

He pairs terrible ideas with an alarming temperament; he's a racist, a sexist, and a demagogue, but he's also a narcissist, a bully, and a dilettante. He lies so constantly and so fluently that it's hard to know if he even realizes he's lying. He delights in schoolyard taunts and luxuriates in backlash.

He has had plenty of time to prove me, and everyone else, wrong. But he hasn’t. He has not become more responsible or more sober, more decent or more generous, more considered or more informed, more careful or more kind. He has continued to retweet white supremacists, make racist comments, pick unnecessary fights, contradict himself on the stump and show an almost gleeful disinterest in building a real campaign or learning about policy.

Trump will be the President Who Can't Be Bothered. His son Eric last night pointed out he certainly doesn't need the job. What he seems to mean is his father doesn't want or care about the job. This campaign is about the art of the win, not the art of governing, of which Donald Trump has no clue and no interest in learning.

< Michelle Obama Rocks it Out With James Corden | Reading Too Much Into ISIS Losses, Too Little Into Turkey >
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  • Display: Sort:
    If you want to (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 03:57:45 PM EST
    watch something funny on all this It's 3:00 a.m.

    I can't add much to (none / 0) (#1)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 03:32:58 PM EST
    you and Ezra. We have known all along that he wants nothing to do with doing the actual job. That was verified by the story quoted yesterday of Eric Trump's VP pitch to Kasich - where Kasich would do the actual governing and Trump would 'make America great again'. Pence probably got the same deal.

    Kagro had a really good talk about it in his Kos podcast yesterday. Trump basically wants to float around being rich and all-powerful, giving commands for things that help him, and vetoing anything he doesn't like. He is a bully and a menace.

    Last night on Maher (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 03:40:16 PM EST
    They discussed the conversation with Trumps son, I can't remember if it was Uday or Qusay, had with Kasich when he was offered the VP job.  Which was really, you would be president.   You would be in charge of domestic policy and foreign policy.  So what, Kasich reportedly asked, would Donald do?

    The answer, seriously and no sh!t was "why, he'll be making America great again"!

    CNN (none / 0) (#3)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 03:44:26 PM EST
    Actually (none / 0) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 03:48:38 PM EST
    Trumps speech for tonight (none / 0) (#6)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 04:09:12 PM EST
    Has, as just reported on TeeVee, been put through a "plagiarism checker".

    That's what they said.

    Is that an app?

    Copyscape, among other apps (none / 0) (#7)
    by The Addams Family on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 04:39:39 PM EST
    yup - my brother the professor (none / 0) (#9)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 04:49:57 PM EST
    uses one of those regularly, to the chagrin of his students.

    Parent
    No (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 04:39:52 PM EST
    but there is an app called Trump Yourself.

    Parent
    Soem of the pro speech writers int he last few (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 04:53:30 PM EST
    days - I'm sure you have seen this too - have said they routinely do that on their speeches since even the experienced writers don't know when some remembered favorite text will sneak into their brain and into the speech, even unintentionally. Even from one of the speeches they themselves have written.

    That's why this was such a stupid mistake to make.

    Parent

    Word is (none / 0) (#11)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 05:01:42 PM EST
    Trumps speech is vary dark.  Less morning in America than mourning in America.

    The crowd will (none / 0) (#12)
    by KeysDan on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 05:45:07 PM EST
    love it. Trump's very own death to America.

    Parent
    I would (none / 0) (#13)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 06:16:10 PM EST
    be surprised if it wasn't. The GOP is all about how it's the end of the country and everything is so terrible etc.

    Parent
    Joe Arapaio was there as a speaker (none / 0) (#14)
    by jbindc on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 07:23:44 PM EST
    Crowd loved it.

    Parent
    I (none / 0) (#16)
    by FlJoe on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 07:53:46 PM EST
    caught Falwell Jr, told some yo momma joke about Clinton, amidst the usual pious claptrap. Classy start.

    Parent
    Just did my obligatory 20 seconds (none / 0) (#15)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 07:47:17 PM EST
    of convention viewing check in. Mary Fallon lamenting the dispiritedness of America.

    Yep, 8 years of a black president sure took all the wind out of their sails.

    Parent

    Even on mute (none / 0) (#17)
    by sallywally on Thu Jul 21, 2016 at 08:23:57 PM EST
    I found her too much to take.

    Parent