He's mostly a blank slate (philosophically and intellectually) that the people around him can use to get their agendas enacted. He surrounds himself with sycophants and bootlickers, so as long as they promise him wealth and power, he is content to parrot the talking points he's given.

Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, and all the others...those are the real evil motherfuckers. When Trump is out of the picture, they'll find some other half-wit to puppet. The fight won't end when one figurehead fades in to history.

idk, just one dude's thoughts.

(Just to be clear, none of that absolves him of the real damage he's done. Malicious indifference is still malicious.)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I suspect one of them would directly take his place, actually. Trump is kind of an anomaly in not having redeeming qualities himself, if you look around the world and through history.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They were absolute geniuses compared to Trump, and put on a far more convincing show of honesty - particularly Hitler, with his faux-compassionate warmups and vegetarianism. Mussolini had an actual career as an intellectual before he was famous. Hitler sounds kind of intellectually average.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Mussolini had an actual career as an intellectual

Well, he certainly considered himself to be an intellectual. Whether he actually was one is another matter entirely

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

He made an actual living as a newspaper editor, and got some good reviews according to Wikipedia, so apparently he convinced other people too. At the very least, he could pass.