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Has Donald Trump ever done anything actually good? For people in general?

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V

Veelk

Banned
Through the RNC, people have mostly listed his positives as being a good businessman.

Good in this way has multiple meanings. One is that he was effective, but another is that he was a boss who his employees liked and admired for his policies. That he ran things based on a meritocracy and he employed women in construction before it was considered 'normal' to do so (I would like to get a fact check on that one, tbh).

So....okay, that's not bad. But in comparison, just to name one example, Hillary Clinton fought legal battles for incarcerated teenagers and disabled children before she ever got into politics. She's fought for women's rights, LGBT rights, helped expand health care....

A lot of this campaign cycle seems like it's about which candidate fucked up the least. It's a very negative and cynical rhetoric that takes away that politics should be about how we can help each other. So I hear a ton about how Hillary Clinton did a lot of good. You can't prove altruism with anyone, sure, but at the same time, it's conspiracy theorist bullshit to suspect that every positive action has an ulterior motive..

So...the RNC. Best thing they said about Donald Trump is that he is a good businessman...except businesses operate in their own self interests. Without wanting to take away from his supposedly meritocracy heirarchy, 'creating jobs' only goes so far when the purpose behind those jobs is to make him more money.

The only other thing I can think of is that his children spoke well of him...and I'm not going to say that they were lying or anything, but you have to try pretty fucking hard to be a bad parent to have your own children not say good things about you in front of your biggest fans.

So.....what? What positive track record does Donald Trump have as evidence of his character that will convince me even if I don't agree with his 'policies', he's not the repugnant piece of shit human being that he seems to be? Are there charities that have made substantial impact somewhere or has he ever made moves to better the lives of some kind of minority groups?
 
SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
That one Comedy Central roast was pretty okay, I guess..

But then again that roast kickstarted this whole mess.
 
V

Veelk

Banned
Jarmel said:
He killed Rubio/Bush/Cruz/Christie's careers.
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True, but like being a businessman, those were done for the benefit of himself.

I want to hear if he ever actually went out and was like "I'm going to do something nice to a community with no benefit for myself". Again, pure altruism isn't provable, but something close would be nice.

EulaCapra said:
He made Ivanka.

And Ivanka brings all the GAF to the yard.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Ivana, her mother, made the majority contributions to that particular project.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
According to Giuliani, he makes all sorts of personal, anonymous donations to those in need!

I mean, that's kind of weird, when he has a charitable organization literally named after himself that he rarely donates to, anymore. And he's an egomaniac who stamps his name on literally everything within arm's reach, so the idea that he would do anything anonymously is kind of ridiculous. And he claims to be a good businessman/incredibly successful, which means he would be in an income bracket where charitable donations would certainly be deductible and smart enough with money that he wouldn't be able to resist having them recorded for the sake of those deductions, but...

Would a shit-tier rat-fink like Giuliani lie to you?
 
D

Dion Blaster

Member
yanipheonu said:
I've never once doubted he believes what he says is true.

Whether or not what he says is actually true however...
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There's no way Trump actually wants to build a wall or believes that it's ever going to happen. He is simply playing to the emotions of his target audience.
 
E

eBay Huckster

Member
I'm genuinely not sure whether he has - everything he's ever done that I'm aware of has been for his own benefit, even championing the federal government's right to eminent domain in one of the GOP debates earlier this year.

Imperfected said:
Would a noun-verb 9/11 like Giuliani lie to you?
Click to expand...

Fixed.
;)
 
V

Veelk

Banned
Dion Blaster said:
There's no way Trump actually wants to build a wall or believes that it's ever going to happen. He is simply playing to the emotions of his target audience.
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I personally just think he's using doublethink. He'll sincerely believe whatever he has to to be true while also believing in the contradictory evidence that makes those claims impossible to be true.
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
RiccochetJ said:
He beat Cruz. I would take Trump any day over that bible thumping zealot.
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KK9F1gv.jpg
 
T

tearsintherain

Member
I found out this week he helped out the UFC by letting it fight at his hotels when it was first starting

Just curious though, isn't answering the question a problem for Hillary as well?
 
P

PsihoPerihelion

Member
He has made things, amazing things! You can't imagine what he has done and I can't wait to show you in the future what other things he's going to do. You won't regret it but you have to wait, but they are amazing things only he can do.
 
V

Veelk

Banned
tearsintherain said:
Just curious though, isn't answering the question a problem for Hillary as well?
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I don't think so. I pretty much covered it in the OP. Hillary has a long history of fighting for what I consider good causes. Now, you could argue that she only does it as a political move, but she's been doing it since before a career in politics and while it's not too bad to suspect one or two things of having an ulterior motive, the idea that every positive action a person takes is actually just an underhanded scheme to further themselves is a bit crazy, which is where Hillary is at.

Plus, I made it clear not to really discredit Trump's supposed good qualities mentioned at the RNC. If he actually polices his business as a meritocracy, that's great...but the fact that it's set in a setting that is designed to maximize profits for him, while conflicting with comments he's made in various other locations means that suspicion of an ulterior motive, especially when lacking more substantial evidence of his positive character, is more appropriate than with Clinton.

So, I'll acknowledge that a meritocracy is a good thing even if he's doing it for himself, but I find it more likely he's doing it for himself than the idea that Clinton helped disabled children as a coldly calculated move to make her look better for her future run as a politician. And her helping disabled children has a far more reaching positive effect on society as a whole than Trump deciding to give a lady a job at his company.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
eBay Huckster said:
Not really, because she has (at minimum) CHIP and her time at the Children's Defense Fund as actual, positive, tangible improvements to people's quality of life.
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Not to mention that First Lady is one of the cushiest "put in face-time for charities and generally just be well-liked" jobs in the entire world. Even Martha Bush is relatively well-liked, and she gave birth to both Jeb! and GW.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Anecdotal, but I presume he takes care of people who work with and for him. The appeal who seem to resonate with him may feel they're part of that "family", hence why they like him "being like me" and "telling it like it is".

Decades ago, when my dad worked on construction, he worked on one of the projects related to Trump. Trump personally greeted all of the workers and gave them all $100 each in addition to what they were making. This is one of the reasons my dad deeply respects the man, for he's out there "for the little guy".

So to be honest, we cannot say he's never done anything good. The problem he has is he is far too egocentric and simple-minded to deal with the complexities of problems this country faces for the level of office he's aspiring for. To look this back to my dad, he too is a racist, an uneducated person, someone who doesn't understand climate change, believes immigrants are issue number one to jobs in America, and believes automation is a zero non-issue-will-never-be-an-issue kind of cat. Neither one is ready or aware of issues, but the difference is one thinks they can be president with this valley of ignore-ance. That makes Trump the dangerous person he actually is.
 
C

commedieu

Banned
Foffy said:
Anecdotal, but I presume he takes care of people who work with and for him. The appeal who seem to resonate with him may feel they're part of that "family", hence why they like him "being like me" and "telling it like it is".

Decades ago, when my dad worked on construction, he worked on one of the projects related to Trump. Trump personally greeted all of the workers and gave them all $100 each in addition to what they were making. This is one of the reasons my dad deeply respects the man, for he's out there "for the little guy".

So to be honest, we cannot say he's never done anything good. The problem he has is he is far too egocentric and simple-minded to deal with the complexities of problems this country faces for the level of office he's aspiring for. To look this back to my dad, he too is a racist, an uneducated person, someone who doesn't understand climate change, believes immigrants are issue number one to jobs in America, and believes automation is a zero non-issue-will-never-be-an-issue kind of cat. Neither one is ready or aware of issues, but the difference is one thinks they can be president with this valley of ignore-ance. That makes Trump the dangerous person he actually is.
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No foffy. You can never make ultimate statements about anything.

For every person who got a 100 dollar tip, there's plenty of people he's just flat out ripped off. Including people going to his college.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
commedieu said:
No foffy. You can never make ultimate statements about anything.

For every person who got a 100 dollar tip, there's plenty of people he's just flat out ripped off. Including people going to his college.
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True, but the claim to fame and 'respect' he has amongst people probably links to the views I showcased, not the other side of the coin as you showcase.

Even a tyrant has a family which he loves.
 
P

platakul

Banned
Every story about him helping the common man was a lie, but i laughed more at Jason Collins claiming he came out to the Clintons first
 
D

dr_mario

Member
He built the German Autobah--- oh no, that was Hitler*.Welp, little difference.


*Yes, I know it was not really Hitler. It's a joke based on a common misunderstanding.
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
I'll list 2 things I think are actually not complete trash ideas and restrain myself from contextualizing it with all the crap that I hate(which is mostly everything else):

1.) Destroying the Carried Interest Tax Loophole

2.) Allowing people to buy prescription drugs outside the country*

*Really depends on the details(which Trump is not exactly keen on) but its not the worst idea I have heard when it comes to drug reform. Ideal? No. But it has some merit. I would take it over the status quo.
 
D

DeathyBoy

Banned
Can I ask what you define as "anything good?" Because the vast majority of people don't do anything to change or drastically improve the world. And when Obama tried, it got fucked into submission.

So the lesson is, never try.
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Some people feel like he's been of good. So, since feeling is the same thing as actually doing something...
 
B

Brakke

Banned
Veelk said:
cynical rhetoric that takes away that politics should be about how we can help each other
Click to expand...

This claim is way more complicated than you give it credit for by just taking it as given. A core tenant of the Republican Party is that government intervention, even done with good intentions, often introduces perverse incentives and unexpected consequences that end up hurting people. We can debate the merit of that belief but it's obviously true sometimes and anyway a bunch of Republicans believe it. If you believe that expansion of government is bad, then Hillary's campaign is basically her promising to do a bunch of damage to the country.
 
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