Donald Trump pulls a Vic Toews: Limbic Limbic Laissez-Faire UPDATED

"He's not a war her," said Trump.  "He was a war hero because he was captured.  I like people who weren't captured."

That's what Trump said first.  Then he said this:

At a press availability following his remarks, Trump denied saying that McCain isn't a war hero and said, "If somebody's a prisoner, I consider them a war hero."

Sound at all familiar?  Say something belligerent while talking tough, then forcefully deny having said what you're on record as saying.

Vic Toews did that this one time.

What was said first is what was emotionally true for the individual; what was second was a forceful defence of character through an attach on someone else's facts.

Now, go back to Trump's original comment.  He got captured, i.e. he got defeated.  How can losing make you a hero?  It's a bit like giving money to the poor - why would you want to reward failure?

GSElevator @GSElevator

#1: I never give money to homeless people. I can't reward failure in good conscience.

8:51 AM - 8 Aug 2012

Or how about this one?

GSElevator @GSElevator

#1: You don't feed wild animals b/c they become dependent and can't fend for themselves. How's it different for poor people?

10:10 PM - 16 Mar 2013

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Both quotes taken from here.  It's worth reading through the list just to see the pattern of thought behind it.

If life is a race, then only the first one across the line is the winner.  After a couple runner-ups, nobody cares any more and there's no reward, so you want to be at the front.

And if you aren't, your nothing.

That's the mentality of people like Donald Trump - it's psychopathic, true, but it's worked out pretty well for them.  

Why?  Because not everyone is a psychopath.  Most people aren't willing to steal ideas or money from others, belittle their peers or employees so as to weaken their self-esteem and make credit-taking easier.  Most people don't undercut good ideas out of spite or dedicate massive amounts of money for character assassinations, either.  

It takes a special kind of person to be willing to burn down the nation if they can be king of the ashes.

Of course the Donald Trumps of the world aren't successful because of their individual merit; they're successful largely because of their comfort and ability at abusing others.  

We have a habit of rewarding confidence.  In times past, this made sense; whoever was strongest was best able to fight off wild animals or competing tribes.  What strengths does not help with, mind you, is policy.  Policy is about collective understanding of the needs of all people within a system so as to design sustainable programs, services and infrastructure. 

If you are incapable of empathy - as psychopaths aren't - then you can't do any of this.

To Donald Trump, John McCain is a failure because he got caught.  Tough guys don't get caught, and they don't lose.

Which means Trump will have some significant cognitive dissonance to deal with when he gets his ass handed to him.

In democracy, don't you know, it's the people who are always right.

UPDATE 19/7/15:

But in seeking to downplay that exemption as "minor" and "short-term," Trump's campaign raises more questions than it answers as to how he sidestepped military service during the war.

You could almost see it coming.

War, of course, is a risky proposition.  Smart people don't take risks themselves - they offload risk to suckers dumb or weak enough (ie, not them) to pick it up.  It's like jury duty, or military service.  The only people who partake are those not smart enough to get themselves out of it - right?

Trump is successfully positioning himself as the poster-boy for laissez-faire capitalist success - and at the same time, demonstrating painfully how it is contributing to societal collapse.  And causing the need for something different.

So naturally, I'm really starting to enjoy his campaign.