He shares this disability [the inability to run a whelk stand] with BoJo, Dubya, Trump, and sundry other politicians.
I think Dubya might have managed it. Certainly he would have been far happier trying to run a whelk stand than he was being President.
Of course, the job he actually wanted was Commissioner of Baseball. Pity he didn't manage to get it instead.
2025-12-06 05:18:14
But in politicians, and especially those who aspire to lead the country, with all the enormous complications and problems that involves, I feel intelligence (or at least the lack of stupidity) are a necessity.
I think lack of stupidity is closer. The US Presidency has metastasized to the point that one critical skill combines knowing what you don't know, being able (and willing!) to select staff who collectively do know about those things, and then being able to take their advice. That's by no means everything the job requires. But lack of that skill is a recipe for disaster. As we are seeing.
2025-12-05 03:23:42
I find it more likely that it will motivate flag officers to leave the military, to be replaced by officers who will have no problem when Trump/Vance declare martial law and order them to halt the 2028 federal elections.
I'mthinking that, to prove their bona fides loyalty, they would be told to do something sketchy outside the US -- no doubt they can find another war crime somewhere. Might start with the scenario you give, given how dumb they all are. But something more like the military equivalent of his cabinet meetings seems likely.
Whichever way it goes, they discover, when there is a big negative reaction, that Trump loyalty goes one way. Meaning they get thrown under the bus, too.
2025-12-04 21:15:36
On the war crimes in the Caribbean, I note that Hegseth seems to have decided to throw the admiral, who he ordered to kill the survivors, under the bus. Perhaps this will motivate those folks in the military to not obey illegal orders. If not just because they are illegal, then to avoid being scapegoated for following those illegal orders.
2025-12-04 16:46:56
So I’m asking the UKians if the whole thing is a farce or reflects stubborn attitudes to anything on the left. Or both.
Or, just for completeness, stubborn attitudes of anyone on the left. Not saying that the left is particularly inflexible. Just that, given how far away we are, that's also a possibility.
I think Dubya might have managed it. Certainly he would have been far happier trying to run a whelk stand than he was being President.
Of course, the job he actually wanted was Commissioner of Baseball. Pity he didn't manage to get it instead.
I think lack of stupidity is closer. The US Presidency has metastasized to the point that one critical skill combines knowing what you don't know, being able (and willing!) to select staff who collectively do know about those things, and then being able to take their advice. That's by no means everything the job requires. But lack of that skill is a recipe for disaster. As we are seeing.
I'mthinking that, to prove their
bona fidesloyalty, they would be told to do something sketchy outside the US -- no doubt they can find another war crime somewhere. Might start with the scenario you give, given how dumb they all are. But something more like the military equivalent of his cabinet meetings seems likely.Whichever way it goes, they discover, when there is a big negative reaction, that Trump loyalty goes one way. Meaning they get thrown under the bus, too.
On the war crimes in the Caribbean, I note that Hegseth seems to have decided to throw the admiral, who he ordered to kill the survivors, under the bus. Perhaps this will motivate those folks in the military to not obey illegal orders. If not just because they are illegal, then to avoid being scapegoated for following those illegal orders.
So I’m asking the UKians if the whole thing is a farce or reflects stubborn attitudes to anything on the left. Or both.
Or, just for completeness, stubborn attitudes of anyone on the left. Not saying that the left is particularly inflexible. Just that, given how far away we are, that's also a possibility.