General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Feinstein: "Trump is right" [View all]JCanete
(5,272 posts)what we are supposed to take now as hyperbolic examples of misrepresentation. (as if there was no outrage of the sort coming from DUers at the time over words he never said-as if any of us really believes the OP here doesn't really believe their own bullshit and is just trying to make a point about smear jobs.)
But absolutely, there IS a difference between saying If something, then he can, and saying, he can. "Can" is hardly a certainty in itself, so out of context, its not so different, BUT the initial "if" qualifications do serve as an additional remove from this being a possible outcome. However, as soon as she said we have to have patience, this put her earlier words into an entirely different context, suggesting that this actually is a reasonable possibility for which the verdict is still out, and one which we just need to give the man in office a little more time. In that light, the OP isn't really off at all. She IS saying Trump CAN be a good President, and MIGHT be, and that we are the ones who have to have reasonable expectations, and have to have a reasonable time-frame in which to expect him to start behaving Presidentially.