And I don't pray...

the man is a SUPREME NARCISSIST and he and his supporters are DEADLY SERIOUS, no how matter how RIDICULOUS they look to critical thinkers

Even a lot of the religious right are supporting Trump. When I talk to some of the people here who are for Trump I ask them why? They tell me he's a successful business man and he can't possibly do worse than what we've had. His followers are just proving to the Washington idiots how wrong they've been in understanding what their constituents want. They've missed it completely!

That's why, no matter what he says or does, they overlook it. When you ask them how they feel about some of the radical things he's said, they say "Awe, he doesn't mean that. He's just saying stuff to get elected."

If we think otherwise. we may get our arses handed to us in November.

If you watch his interviews...he knows a lot more than he lets on in his speeches. Not much gets past him. And being a narcissist, he keeps score as well. Being a sociopath, he's very good at reading people and telling them what they want to hear. He's also really good at acting 'authentic' which is something Hillary has a tough time with. Yes, his speaking skills are a little lacking...but that just endears him to the people who will be voting for him - people will point to that as proof he's not being 'handled'. And he's a 'businessman' which is what all right wingers think government should be modeled after.

Yes, if Democrats aren't careful, they will get their arses handed to them. It's never good to underestimate your opponents - just ask Stephen Harper up here in Canada about how he underestimated a certain Justin Trudeau, lol.

Have come to the conclusion that this guy knows exactly what he is doing, and thinking three steps ahead. We underestimate at our own peril with a handfull of arse!

and if he does get elected, he's gonna do a Palin and quit as soon as he figures it out.

I don't get how people are buying his message. He's managed to offend everyone, yet still coming out on top. It's utterly embarrassing and disgusting at the same time.

that's why Goebbels and Rove both studied Bernays.

I'm guessing the author knows his Ellul, as well, who wrote a book with the same title as Bernays.

if you liked that, check this out:

.....In the early 20th Century, the public came to associate the words "propaganda" and "war" with one another. This was no accident. Bernays wrote in Propaganda: "It was, of course, the astounding success of propaganda during the [First World] war that opened the eyes of the intelligent few in all departments of life to the possibilities of regimenting the public mind."

Bernays is here referring to the "idealistic" Wilson administration's Committee on Public Information (CPI), a massive propaganda ministry set up shortly after America's entry into the First World War in April of 1917. The CPI was headed up by George Creel, a progressive journalist, who once remarked that "people do not live by bread alone; they also live by catch-phrases." Bernays was an advisor to the CPI. So was Walter Lippmann, a former socialist turned liberal who would become the dean of mid-20th Century American journalism.

These revolutionary psychological insights had actually been percolating in France and Great Britain since the first years of the 20th Century. They were duly appropriated by Hitler, who wrote in Mein Kampf (1925): "But it was not until the [First World] War that it became evident what immense results could be obtained by a correct application of propaganda. Here again, unfortunately, all our studying had to be done on the enemy side…" In Bernays's 1965 memoir Biography of an Idea, he acknowledged that Crystallizing Public Opinion significantly influenced Josef Goebbels.

In post-World War II America, Bernays provided his services to the United Fruit Company and the Eisenhower administration. In 1954, the democratically elected New Deal-style Arbenz government in Guatemala began expropriating – with compensation – some of that corporation's largely fallow lands. In due time, Bernays launched a media blitz which made palatable the (clandestine CIA-backed) coup which would overthrow the "communist" government.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2005/02/stephen-bender/karl-rove-the-spectre-of-freudsnephew/

the puppet master will then take charge. never forget bush.

it is one of those things that are so ugly you want to go modify your search settings.

and Andy Kaufman will be under it.

This is a guy who is gaining support by people who hate established politicians. And politicians, on both sides, are not a very popular breed in America right now. Approval of Congress is in the toilet. And Obama's approval is stuck below 50%.

They hate the parties, they hate the partisanship in Washington. People are sick and tired of being lied to during campaigns being told one thing and then the candidate does something different when they win. Republicans have been even worse doing that than the Democrats.

These people like Trump for one reason....they think he's real. He's unscripted. He says whatever is on his mind. He's not trying to separate the electorate into groups and pander to every one of them like a checklist. You can tell during his speeches they aren't prepared....he just goes out and wings it.

And in an environment like this that we have now....that's a dangerous candidate. There are LOTS of voters out there who want someone different who will go to D.C. and cause a political earthquake. They don't want the status quo.

I think he has no interest in either moving to Washington or in even pretending to govern. I think he will gin up some excuse to take offense, will insult us all, and then quit...while threatening an independent run just to be sure he keeps our attention.

But I figured this would have happened many months ago, because he always quits.

He is mixing populist xenophobia together with an economic stance that is to the LEFT of Clinton. This makes him really dangerous, especially as Clinton tries to inflame racial division to scare Blacks away from Sanders, and alienating working class white voters.

Trump knows EXACTLY what he is doing and people laugh at him at their peril.

Probably the same reason he got on a reality show: attention.

As it is now, it's like he's now running a more popular reality show than he ever had before. He's on international news daily, is surrounded by sycophants, and had thousands screaming for him every night.

So no, he's not playing a joke, he's just pathologically selfish. Now that I think about it, maybe the reason he's running and doing so well is because he perfectly embodies Republican values: anti-intellectual, xenophobic, racist, white, male, etc.

He's so caught up in himself and glorifying himself that all consequences be damned, and he'll say and do whatever he needs to get attention. It's like a drug.

He's not doing this magnanimously to teach the GOP a lesson or to subvertly help the Democrats.

He's doing this because he is batshit crazy and craves attention, and what better way is there to get attention than to be elected President of the United States.

It's extremely scary, and I don't think everyone here is grasping the gravity of the situation.

Some Republican presidents (Nixon, Reagan, Dubya) have had policies that effectively said that to large parts of the world, but they did try to make it look like reasoned geopolitics, with alliances elsewhere. There are now enough Republicans who yearn for those days, but don't care about the appearance - in fact, the explicit "fuck you!" is a bonus for them, because it makes them feel good. And they don't care about alliances any more - the only world leader who can stand Trump is Putin.

That would be amazeballs! Just to dump all over that godforsaken wasteland of party. He'd be the only one who could manage that. If only wishes were horses... But, yeah, I don't get it (or want to) either.

It initially sounds 100% maximum mental, but after reading a few of entries in the link below it begins to seem a bit more plausible.

The Trump Master Persuader Index and Reading List

The American people are ignorant and brain-washed. Perfect conditions for fascism.

Albeit, not all of them, but the problem is very real.

White hot blazing anger about whats happening in our country.
The difference with the Trump supporters is in who deserves the blame.
Our country has been taken over by the wealthy and corporations.
It is easier though to hate those you feel superior to than it is to hate the entire power structure of our country.
Even for Republicans who get that it is the corporate power structure Trump offers hope and rhetoric that he will bring the American Jobs back.
The Anger is entirely deserved it is just some what misplaced by many.