This is horribly naive thinking that is prevalent and pervasive in the Trump base camp. He’s not a Bezos, or a Buffett, or a Gates. He’s a guy that was born rich and has increased his and his family’s wealth through a variety of channels and practices. We’re now finding out (with proof - while most of us suspected it all along) many of his closest business associates are dirty players and that he threatens mafia-style those that aren’t supremely “loyal” to him. That’s a problem, Crazy, and it’s extremely disappointing that an intelligent fellow like you can’t see it. It’s not the porn star stuff, it’s the decades of likely illegal activity and practices that disqualify him from office.
You can talk all you want about “the dirty elites” and “the swamp.” But Trump is the king of the NYC swamp and is quite possibly dirtier than all of them combined. It’s ludicrous to think that he has anybody but his own best interests in mind.
I do not disagree with any of that. I was not voting to "clean the swamp". I wanted to pump the breaks on some of Obama's stuff. I did not want Hillary Clinton picking a couple of Supreme Court justices (or any Democrat for that matter).
Also, I am of the opinion that the stuff swirling around Trump is the same stuff we would see if any deep dive was done on most of the people at the top end of our government. And I know the reaction to that but Paul Manafort is not new to the program. He goes back to the 1980's.
Yeah, Trump is involved in sleazy stuff but he was welcome at the table with all of those people when they felt they were in charge of him. You can find plenty of pictures of he, Bill, and Hillary hobknobbing together. I feel Hillary was every bit a part of the same swamp that Trump is. I am willing to bet that if we had a special prosecutor look into the Clinton Foundation, we would find all sorts of interesting things. Trump's biggest sin was not what he was doing, it was the idea that he was outside the regular "elite" group that runs this country. He was the drunken uncle with a big pocket book who crashed the party. And so he must be squashed.
The Democrats have been lurching more and more left. Trump is not a conservative, he is more of an old style Democrat. He would not be my normal choice in an election but none of my normal choices made it out of the primary because they cannibalized each other and were ineffective in their messaging. It also does not help when the establishment gets in power and never delivers on promises (see Rand Paul's Planned Parenthood amendment that was shot down because of Collins and Murkowski). My uber conservative religious parents were asking why they vote for these guys today, I told them to not vote for anyone if you want to send a message.
I am pissed at the GOP. Trump was my initial shot across the bow. At a certain point I just stop showing up and I leave them to the mercy of the Ocasio's of the world.