Whatever you think about the criminal charges and state „civil“ lawsuits against Donald Trump (and there are good reasons to question many aspects of them), these are things he denies, except perhaps in the occasional incoherent baby-talk. It does not represent a powerful nation. As long as he does it. And when he runs this kind of country, there's something special about the way he sells it to his supporters. America was in terminal decline before him, but in four years he's made it great again, it's not great anymore after the election was stolen, but if the election wasn't rigged he'd be right there. will be great again.
Just as he views elections, he will consider a trial jury to be fair only if it returns the correct verdict. Apparently he's not shy about saying that („Donald Trump's hush money trial jury forms: oncology nurse, software engineer, teacher,” wall street journalApril 16, 2024):
After court, Trump headed to a Harlem wine farm for a campaign event. Asked by reporters about the jurors chosen, the Republican candidate said, „We'll let you know in about two months.''
Politicians and rulers are usually ordinary Joes I would not suggest anything else as a platonic model, as it involves more dangerous incentives. But when it comes to probability distributions, there's something special about Trump's personality and the way he deals with truth and reality, says an article in the latest issue. economist Suggest (“Truth Social is a shocking victory for Donald Trump, April 18, 2024). The artwork in this article (much better than my artwork with DALL-E) alone is worth the detour. Three excerpts from the article:
Shares in Donald Trump's media company have lost more than half their value since they began public trading on March 26. …
So far, the performance of Trump's (media company) stocks is the purest demonstration of his power not just to bend reality, but to turn fantasy into reality — and perhaps the most important thing Americans have ever seen in this world. It also shows how the two are becoming confused. …
What Trump calls „exaggerations of the truth“ and others call lies have been central to his success. When he built Trump Tower, it had 58 floors, but he skipped the 10th floor when numbering it and instead claimed the 68th floor. The tactic has sometimes caught up with Trump, with a New York judge in February ruling out that Trump lied for years to secure loans and make deals (such as tripling the size of his penthouse apartment). The heaviest was the $355 million fine imposed on him after finding that he had been followed. And although he valued the Mar-a-Lago property in Florida based on its potential for residential development, he waived the right to develop it as anything other than a club.
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Written by Pierre Lemieux and DALL-E