I also didn’t expect

[conuly]

Such an open and bald admission that this is about the oil.

Comments

[topaz_eyes]

Yeah, it was never about the drugs. That was just the excuse.

[jessie_c]

What did you expect from a thief?

[magid]

^ This.

[conuly]

Lies!

[jessie_c]

Those too. That goes without saying.

[calimac]

W. gave a little-noted interview in which he admitted the same thing about Iraq.

[jesuswasbatman]

And the stupid thing is that oil is on its way out and, according to various experts, Venezuelan oil isn't even very good quality.

[conuly]

That’s why all the wind programs are being shut down as fast as his little fingers can manage.

[cellio]

Yeah. It was obvious, but I expected it to take a little longer for him to admit it. Oil and the ego of a conqueror -- the rest was just excuses that don't stand up under even mild scrutiny.

[elf]

Part of the evidence towards FTD - poor judgment, impulsiveness, & lack of empathy, meaning he no longer has an internal censor, and no sense of who is listening or what consequences that might have.

[conuly]

He's had the lack of empathy (both in understanding other people and in feeling compassion for other people) and poor judgment a very long time. I agree that he certainly seems to be getting worse, cognitively - but his character was always crappy.

(There are people who don't understand other people or feel compassion for them who are, nevertheless, able to use their reasoning to emulate that pretty well. As near as I can tell, DT has never even considered it worth trying.)

[mildred_of_midgard]

My sister, age ~25: "Guess what?! Good news: my husband's mother had a heart attack, and had to go to the hospital, and started giving away some of her stuff, and I got some jewelry!"

[conuly]

Um….

[mildred_of_midgard]

Some people can emulate it with reasoning, some people can't/won't.

I'm actually sort of in the former category. I don't really feel empathy as an emotion, but I do my best to abide by a code of ethics that involves individual rights. And sometimes I make the effort to mask and convey emotions I don't feel, in order to make the other person feel better, even if what's going through my head is "People make no sense."

[conuly]

Which speaks to your character - you don’t want to be horrible, so you put in the work.

I don’t think DT has done it even for those he claims to care about, his own family.

[batwrangler]

And yet, he still has not been "invited" to the Hague...

[conuly]

I honestly don’t see that going well for anybody. The USA has spent the past 75 years being the biggest and baddest kid on the playground, by far.

[silveradept]

His brand is about saying the "quiet" part as loud as he can, because it makes him look like he's bucking the system, even when he's trying to create a refinery republic.