Donald Trump's New York Times interview reveals a dangerously lazy mind at work

[babylonsister]

http://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12245562/donald-trump-new-york-times-interview-full-transcript


Donald Trump's New York Times interview reveals a dangerously lazy mind at work

Updated by Matthew Yglesias on July 21, 2016, 11:30 a.m. ET @mattyglesias [e-mail]



Being president of the United States is hard work, it’s important work, and Donald Trump has proven time and again he’s much too lazy to do the job. Not too lazy in the sense of sleeps in too much — he’s clearly happy to maintain a frenetic pace of activity when doing things that engage him like tweeting or doing television phone interviews — but too lazy in the sense of being unwilling to put in the time and reps necessary to master new things.

That is the unescapable message of the interview he conducted with David Sanger and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times that’s published today on their website. It’s an interview that demands to be read in full, because the full context is much more horrifying than the one headline feature where Trump suggests he would unilaterally abrogate America’s NATO commitments to the Baltic countries and possibly spark a third world war.

The problem with Trump is not just the specific things he says but the casual way in which he says them and the comical “logic” that ties them together. Most of all, it’s the repetition — the fact that it keeps happening without Trump showing any capacity for growth or any interest in doing the work that would make him better at answering questions. For better or worse, Trump is now the GOP nominee and there are hundreds of professional Republican Party politicians and operatives around the country who would gladly help him become a sharper, better-informed candidate.

It doesn’t happen because he can’t be bothered. It’s terrifying.

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http://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12245562/donald-trump-new-york-times-interview-full-transcript

[apcalc]

1. No , he can't be bothered.

He knows nothing, and doesn't care to learn.

[wryter2000]

2. Exactly like W

And we all know how that presidency worked out.

[ffr]

21. It wasn't that bad, from what I remember

Yes, we lost a lot of innocent lives right off the bat, changed the government's tax policy and set us on path to record $12T in debt by 2009, when the GAO forecast that Bill Clinton's tax policies would pay off then entire debt of the U.S. treasury by 2009 and we'd all have lower taxes since then, without the burden of trillions of dollars of public debt. And we had unfunded wars and entitlement programs that added to our debt. And we had an additional 2 million unqualified homeowners added to W's 2003 or 2004 home ownership program. And we had the deregulation of the financial markets and the market collapse of both them and the housing market, which caused trillions and trillions of dollars in losses to average Americans. And we had a war without end in Iraq that decapitated a functioning government that was by far more stable than how it is today. And we had the outing of at least one CIA operative for purely political reasons and hundreds of thousands of brave lives lost, maimed or injured unnecessarily in our preemptive war, without any idea of what to do about nation building or how to care for those injured when they returned.

I could go on, but I think that other than that, it wasn't that bad. Really!

[Mister K]

3. He makes Palin look smart and its scary to think he could be the next president

[bjobotts]

5. Expect WWIII and Marshall Law if his mob takes over

"...not only torture them, but kill their families too". Make no mistake he will blunder us into war.

[No Vested Interest]

8. I suspect you were referring to "martial" law.

And, yes, that is a distinct possibility.

[lunatica]

4. Tony Schwartz, author of Trump's The Art of The Deal says

in an interview I saw on CNN, and I believe is also in the New Yorker saying Trump is intellectually lazy and has the attention span of only a few minutes. Probably has the attention span of a pre-schooler.

He said he couldn't get Trump to answer his questions without Trump just hopping around on any subject or tangent that occurred to him. He said he actually went to the publisher and quit in frustration, but then he found a way by asking Trump to let him listen in on his dealing and wheeling business calls where he was able to get the information about how Trump works.

[ancianita]

7. Yes. He also said that Trump could never sit through a major crisis in the WH Situation Room.

[TryLogic]

11. He also said, if I remember correctly, the book name should have been, "Sociopath".

[KingCharlemagne]

12. Suggests that a President Trump would govern much as his Nazi predecessor did, by

pitting bureaucratic rivals against one another to see which one could out-do the next in brutality and savagery, meanwhile relying on a small circle of trusted family and friends to look out for his best interests.

[Fast Walker 52]

15. yep... he's a spoiled manchild... just who we want in charge of the world's most powerful military

[tclambert]

30. On Real Time with Bill Maher, Schwartz said Trump has not read a book in his entire adult life.

At least Dubya read "The Pet Goat." Wait, I forget, he didn't get to finish that one. Something interrupted him.

[napkinz]

6. K&R

[gratuitous]

9. Donald's not really a detail man

He just pops off with whatever sounds good at the moment, and there's no thought given to what it might take or how it's going to happen. That's for his underlings to take care of, and don't bother him with your problems, just make it happen. All that matters is his vision of what he wants to accomplish. If you're luckless enough to be in the position of keeping all these dishes spinning on the tops of poles, your job security is measured in minutes.

[Nevernose]

16. Except he doesn't seem to have a vision, either

There's this:
RUMP: I don’t want to tell you what I’d do because I don’t want Putin to know what I’d do. I have a serious chance of becoming president and I’m not like Obama, that every time they send some troops into Iraq or anyplace else, he has a news conference to announce it.

And this:
David, I have statisticians, and I know, like if I went to Pennsylvania, I say, “Give me the statistics on what is going on with respect to manufacturing.” Numbers — 45, 55, 65, I have states that are so bad. New England.

[gratuitous]

19. Well, that's sort of the underling's job, too

So that when everything doesn't work out just right, Trump can complain about that and then fire the underling. If you've seen "Swimming with Sharks," you get the gist of it.

[Ilsa]

10. This is why I expect he'll agree to only one debate.

He'll use the time for smearing, not discussing substantive issues. The average listener to see their IQ drop listening only to him and not Sec. Clinton.

[lark]

13. He is totally terrifying.

He's ignorant and doesn't care and won't change. He wants his VP to run things because he's too lazy, just wants to be the barn burner who blows up the structure. GW blew up the economy purposefully so his friends could steal our $$, Trump wants to blow it up so he can steal it all for himself and disappear into the sunset, laughing his ass off.

[mgardener]

14. Anybody?

Ask him how he will remove himself from his business empire if elected?
Who will run that?

Where are his tax returns? Did Mike Pence have to submit them to Trump? If so, then why can't we see Trumps?

Why would anybody support this orange buffoon?

[tanyev]

24. Oh, but that's how he'll make America great again.

By making Trump Inc. the greatest company of all time. And the kids will handle the running of it and in their spare time serve as members of his cabinet. USA! USA!

[Chicago1980]

17. The bigger problem is the dangerously lazy electorate.

[tom_kelly]

25. +1

[4lbs]

18. The Dumpster probably thinks books are those things you are supposed to burn.

n/t

[Fast Walker 52]

20. he's REALLY REALLY dangerous

http://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12247074/donald-trump-nato-war

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. All about the bucks. Notice he talks about defence alliances in terms of dollars and payments. . .nt

[napkinz]

23. kick

[Oneironaut]

26. Trump is a lot like Putin.

Corrupt to the core, values strength over principles (might = right), and wants to create an elite inner circle of yes-men. I imagine the two would get along quite well. On the other hand, the world will suffer (especially Americans). Trump is a dangerous sociopath who has values more like a dictator than a President.

[nruthie]

27. The acquisition of money is his sole value. He has no moral core.

[Oneironaut]

29. A true sociopath.

I've met multiple people who worked with or talked to Trump or his kids. They never had anything good to say about any of them except Ivanka.

[zentrum]

28. It's a symptom of his sociopathy

Really doesn't give a damn about America, people who are not his family, effects of policy on real lives, the suffering of others or any of it.

He knows his wealth protects him, cushions him, privileges him.

His laziness is a sign of supreme, ice cold, indifference.

[malaise]

31. He knows nothing about anything