Trump Apparently Idolizes Hitler

Bill, I just can't believe any group can be "not bad" in every respect but one. One "badness" needs others for company. Donald Trump? Sooo many!

 

This course looks really interesting. They even offer a Master's and a PhD for individuals who are interested in exploring the intersection of culture and politics. It seems to be an initiative of professor Kaufmann, who recently moved to the University of Buckingham, a decision which he explains here: https://twitter.com/epkaufm/status/1750126306765701518

Course: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/courses/occasional/woke/

This 15-week course presents a theoretical, historical and social scientific analysis of cultural socialism. Uniquely among university courses worldwide, it focuses attention on the western cultural left and its accompanying symbolic system of wokeness – defined as the sacralization of minority identity.

The aim is to assess woke in an empirical and analytical manner rather than from a particular political or normative position.

The course begins by defining terms and setting out competing theories regarding the origin and reproduction of wokeness in the West. Students will obtain a grounding in the history, ideology, organizational dynamics, public opinion, electoral implications, policy aspects and philosophy of this idea. This will involve consideration of how woke interacts with classical liberalism, populism and conservatism to produce a recursive radicalizing pattern, abetting polarization. Woke will also be examined in light of global population shifts and techno-economic developments.

 

Well, I guess I could say the course is uh ...carefully constructed. I like the old original woke - and its definition. Still a fan of that. Not a fan of Prof. Kaufmann, as readers have probably guessed. 15 weeks of him? No thanks.

 

My take: "Woke" has been deliberately re-constructed into a different form, under the same name, so certain groups who were against the original Woke had something easier to demonize. Even MAGA folks, or AfD voting Germans can demonize woke, now.... it doesn't take too many brain cells, with the painted-over version.

 

A solid semester of Right Wing propaganda? Who wouldn't want THAT?

 

Reasonably coherent doesn't mean anywhere NEAR complete or accurate. It's a blanket statement - and to me and my concept of 'woke', unpalatable. The new "extra-demonizable" Woke is a somewhat reasonable-looking edifice, rebuilt with some substandard bricks, by mainly sneaky, oily and highly questionable demagogues, posing as bricklayers. There - that's the blanket statement from me. Done, now.

 

I read a CNN article about Trump. Instead of starting a new thread I thought I'd put it in here.

When Trump gave his deposition for the E. Jean Carroll case, it was in Mar-a-Lago. Roberta Kaplan was E. Jean's lawyer. As is customary, the lawyers had made arrangements to provide lunch to Kaplan. When Trump found out about them providing lunch to her he exploded and threw all the papers off of the table onto the floor. Once again demonstrating he has the temperament of a two-year-old. Then to show more of his broken immature personality, when they were all done with the deposition Trump told Kaplan, "See you next Tuesday". This was confusing to her since they were supposed to met again on Wednesday. When Roberta Kaplan mentioned this to her team they explained. "Trump was insulting you. It means C U Next Tuesday. He was calling you a cunt."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/politics/roberta-kaplan-donald-trump-deposition-maralago/index.html

 

I can sympathize with that. On the other hand to a multi-billionaire $30 would be like a few pennies to you and I.

 

But IS Trump a billionaire? An awful lot of people seem to go unpaid and apparently his campaign cash is going to lawyers and damages. I sure wouldn't loan him ten bucks until payday.

 

You absolutely cannot accept Trump’s word for it. He lies like a cheap rug about everything and anything and he lies ALL THE TIME.

 

The best guesses I've heard for his wealth is around 2 billion dollars. To put that into perspective he was claiming a net worth of 10 billion.

As you alluded to, the point of the story was the temper tantrum.

 

Apparently, it's quite common for the attorney(s) hosting the deposition to provide refreshments (and lunch, if relevant) to everyone on both sides. Professional courtesy. It sounds like they wree caught by surprise by Trump's reaction and tantrum. Not sure why (they were caught by surprise).

 

Sure, but he's very illiquid.

It costs around $12 million per year to live like a billionaire, so it's something he can pull off. But these civil judgments are going demand a lot more from him than he's got laying around. He'll need to either borrow money or liquidate assets.

 

My late Father the Accountant used to say that you can’t tell anything about anyone’s financial condition until you examine the books.

“Class is important. If you’re a phony, it’s essential.”-Paper Moon

 

Depending on how leveraged he is and how you value his properties and the claims against him, Trump could be technically insolvent. He has something like six bankruptcies in his history. He is also notoriously opaque about his own finances. Has he EVER disclosed his tax returns as a candidate?

 

Then there's USA Today that said last August that Trump hired a bail bondsman to post his $200,000 bond to get out of jail. Why would he do that? Bondsman generally charge 10% and $200,000 should be petty cash to a billionaire.

 

As to all those millions in civil damage awards, those judgments are liens against all his real property. If he sells Mar a Lago, his judgment creditors will be paid first and in full. If a judgment is on appeal, Trump would be required to post the full amount plus estimated additional costs and fees in the Court registry until the appeal is decided.