Proposition 1. The presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, is not even remotely qualified to carry out the duties of the presidency of the United States of America.Tao usually proves his propositions, but this time he shows no evidence that he knows much about Trump or has even met a Trump supporter. The only reasons given are that Trump was denounced by Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and a British comedian.
Proposition 1 is a statement which I think is approaching the level of mutual knowledge amongst the US population (and probably a large proportion of people following US politics overseas): even many of Trump’s nominal supporters secretly suspect that this proposition is true, even if they are hesitant to say it out loud.
As a comment also pointed out, Clinton also said in 2008 that Barack Obama was unfit to be President. But Tao endorsed Obama anyway, with the only reason given being that some other black dude endorsed him. Otherwise, Tao stays out of politics.
Czech physicist Lubos Motl responds:
But what's amazing is that Tao isn't discussing – and maybe, he isn't even willing to discuss – any of the political issues at all. He doesn't want to care whether Trump is right or whether most people in the U.S. agree with Trump or not. Tao seems to think that a few cheap insults such as "unqualified" and "petty" combined with some would-be mathematical jargon are more important than the actual political and personality issues and values and dreams. Sorry but it is not more important.Yes, Tao is clueless about politics, and just parroting propaganda from other white-hating America-hating leftists.
Terry Tao is absolutely detached from the issues that matter to the American voters, he is detached from politics, he is largely detached from America's life. But he's still arrogant enough to think that with some would-be mathematical terminology, his cluelessness may be sold as a superior analysis of the U.S. politics. I think that the comment section at Tao's blog shows that it can't. Almost everyone sees how deeply flawed Tao's attempts to axiomatize politics are, how shallow his insults are, how he has nothing to do with and nothing to say about the values and political issues that matter.
I believe that many opponents of Trump must start to see how incredibly empty most of these attacks against Trump are.
One comment says:
Here are a bunch of arguments that Trump is qualified:By contrast, Hillary Clinton has a terrible track record, is widely hated by people who know her, and is lousy at persuasion. Trump talks to the press every day, and Clinton has not has a press conference in over a year.
1. He’s a billionaire. He had a reputation as a businessman for getting a lot of things done. His properties are run very smoothly. Conclusion: He’s good at getting things done.
2. He has many children and grandchildren. So he doesn’t want the world to go to hell. Conclusion: He has skin in the game.
3. His wife loves him. He sells many books. He’s very skilled at persuading people (e.g. in rallies). He’s a skilled talker in interviewers. Conclusion: He’s sharp and good with people.
4. His family members endorse him, including ex-wife. Contestants on the Apprentice who’ve worked for him like him. Golfers like Natalie Gulbis like him. Conclusion: He’s honest and has worked to keep a good reputation all his life.
Most of all, Trump has competently addressed the important issues of the day, and that got him the nomination. Clinton has not yet done that, even tho she just had token opposition.
Since Tao does not give any logical argument, and only relies on what he thinks is conventional wisdom, then what is his real reason for hating Trump?
Maybe he is foolish enuf to believe his fellow leftists. This is possible.
Maybe he has some underlying animus or agenda that he is unwilling to spell out. I think this is more likely.
8 comments:
You might enjoy this Roger. Humorous but also likely partly serious.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/145456082991/my-endorsement-for-president-of-the-united-states
I was agreeing with you that Tao's critique of Trump was foolish but, this set of reasons to support Trump is just as ridiculous.
Here are a bunch of arguments that Trump is qualified:
1. He’s a billionaire. He had a reputation as a businessman for getting a lot of things done. His properties are run very smoothly. Conclusion: He’s good at getting things done.
He's a billionaire because he inherited a fortune and would have just as much or more money had he just stuck his inheritance in an index fund. He's had a lot of businesses fail, and screwed over a lot of people along the way.
2. He has many children and grandchildren. So he doesn’t want the world to go to hell. Conclusion: He has skin in the game.
I think all or nearly all of the candidates have children. Do they have any less skin in the game than Trump ?
3. His wife loves him. He sells many books. He’s very skilled at persuading people (e.g. in rallies). He’s a skilled talker in interviewers. Conclusion: He’s sharp and good with people.
He is very persuasive and sold a lot of books I'll grant you that. Let's see if his current marriage ends as poorly as all of his other marriages. I'd bet every other married candidate has a wife that says that they love their husband, too. Skilled in interviews ? Like when he promised to turn over his tax returns then reneged and when asked what his tax bracket was, said "None of your business". He's been caught in numerous lies in many of those interviews. Good with people ? As long as they agree with him, otherwise he's extremely, thin-skinned and engages in the most pettiest of exchanges imaginable. We have to listen to him defend the size of his hands...and he has to pretend to be John Miller to boost his coverage in the press. that really speaks to his "honesty".
4. His family members endorse him, including ex-wife. Contestants on the Apprentice who’ve worked for him like him. Golfers like Natalie Gulbis like him. Conclusion: He’s honest and has worked to keep a good reputation all his life.
Every or nearly every candidate's family members endorse their family member who's running for office. Who cares what some golfers think of him ? You sound like Tao, or worse. What are you talking about, honest and keeping a good reputation all his life ? Have you not read what so many people close tho him have said ?
Conclusion: This is a joke.
Whatever Trump's faults, being thin-skinned is not one of them. He has thicker skin that anyone I have ever seen. If he had thin skin, he would not be running for President.
You're allowed to run for president with thin skin. The way I see it, people with thick skin don't let petty comments get to them. Trump can't let anything slide. I don't see that as a virtue, I see that as a fault
Trump does not let petty comments get to him. If he did, he would not be running for President. You probably think that Mohammad Ali had thin skin also.
Of course, he lets petty comments get to him." Anyone who's criticised Trump has faced some sort of personal attack from him. "If he did, he would not be running for President." Where's the logic in that ? You're allowed to run for President when petty comments get to you. Ali spent most of his time clowning around when he was in front of a camera. Do you really think that he was upset with Howard Cosell when he was trying to take off Cosell's toupee ?
Trump has changed his party affiliation at least, 5 times since the late 1980's. He switched his positions on abortion gun control and immigration. Who knows what sort of President will show up at the White House if he''s elected ? You may be supporting someone who holds the opposite views as you. Given his track record, how would you know ? Add to those all of the lying and you're really in trouble. Clinton is lying about the past too but at least she's been predictable. Voters will soon get sick of him going out on a limb one day, just to be told by his advisors that he has to walk back what he said the next day.
Trump regularly says and does things that invite personal abuse from his enemies. That is not the behavior of a thin-skinned man.
Trump's philosophy has been remarkably consistent. Watch the old interviews, and it is the same Trump.
That behavior you're referring to IS of a thin skinned person.
Does Trump illicit personal abuse ? Sure, he does. That has nothing to do with him being thin skinned. That's what NARCISSISTS DO ! They say inflammatory things. People jump all over it and then he plays the victim card. "Everybody is beating up on me." " Let's change the first amendment." " It's not fair what the press or anyone says about me" " I'll sue Bill Maher because he said that my father was an orangutan." HE ACTUALLY SUED HIM OVER THAT !! He's an orange public figure and comedians can make jokes about him, but Trump is the only one who sues over petty crap like that. You didn't see Obama suing Trump over Trump insisting that he wasn't born in the U.S. did you ? And please don't go off on Obama, I don't like Obama either and it's not what I'm talking about. Cruz didn't sue Trump because he said that he wasn't able to run for Pres. but Trump threatened to sue Cruz ! Cruz didn't sue Trump for saying citing the Enquirer about his father being in on the Kennedy assination. Clinton didn't threaten to sue Trump because he suggested that she was involved in Vince foster's "murder" He even mocked the disabled guy !- NO CLASS! passive aggresive- Constantly saying things about people then the next statement is something like " but I wouldn't say that about him" right after he says it. Narcissists like Trump are all VERY thin skinned, always.
There's no such thing as a narcissistic thick skinned person and you can't deny that the guy is a narcissist, both he AND John Miller, the "publicist" that sounds just like Trump on the phone, You know, the John Miller that Trump admitted to posing as on tape then denied being John Miller on tape. Trump has to spread his own rumors about his own sex life by calling around pretending to be someone else ! That's not NUTS ? Yeah, Clinton is terrible and a liar and everything else you want to call her. Fine. She's not absolutely crazy. Or, He can't be crazy, he's running for president " This lunatic did win the primary, but he's also nuts.
He's consistently all over the place. I've seen the old interviews and sometimes he takes the same position twice but, then there's another a year or two later that he's switched positions and then yet another where's he's switched back to his original position, so you're right, you can splice together some that would make him appear consistent, but if you break them down chronilogically, you'll see that he's constantly changing his stances.
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