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[mainiac]

Or he was a middle aged man who aged into a cranky and racist old dude with an ego and vague grievances against the world.  It's so common it's a cliche.

But you don't make a $10 billion fortune by not knowing what you're doing, especially when your strategy revolves mostly around gaming loopholes in bankruptcy law.

1) Trump probably isn't worth 10 billion.
2) Here's a good strategy to make 14 billion dollar.  Inherit 200 million dollars (probably less then what Trump inherited) in 1974.  Invest it for 40 years in safe assets: https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/vanguard-mutual-funds-list .  Curse your bad luck because you only got 7% returns, a pretty crappy return for that time period (high inflation 70s/80s).  Voila, you are richer then Trump by virtue of being born rich and having a pulse.  But if you have a degree from Wharton you can turn that 14 billion into 5 billion!

[Lord Shonus]

At most, Trump is worth $2.5 billion, with federal election auditors putting it at $1.7 billion. He has not only had four corporations go into bankruptcy, but has been on the edge of personal bankruptcy twice. Apart from some choice land that he inherited and made a good bit of money developing, he's lost money on most of his businesses and the only real success he's had is in the book and reality TV markets.

[SirQuiamus]

If you separate what Trump does from what Trump is, you'll have to conclude that he is neither a deep-cover liberal, nor a conservative, and not even a moderate in any meaningful sense of the word. The truth is that deep-down he is utterly apolitical and non-aligned on any ideological axis, for the simple reason that he literally doesn't give a fuck about anything beyond himself, and all political issues are of no bloody concern to him: Evolution or creationism, what's it matter to the Trump? If endorsing communism would win him the election, he would endorse communism. If he became president, he would have no qualms about saying something like "Let's nuke Russia right now!" if it benefited him in any way whatsoever: He's not living in Russia and his presidential bunker is well-stocked, so who cares about irrelevant shit like a nuclear war?

And the funniest thing is how his supporters keep gushing about his honesty and lack of hypocrisy -- and they're absolutely right! He is such a bad actor that hypocrisy is completely beyond his grasp, and even the densest audience can immediately tell how little he actually cares about whatever hot-button issue he is trying to expound. It's not that people are taken in by his act -- they see through that thin veneer of humanity into what lies beneath, and they like what they are seeing.

[Bauglir]

Finally - politics will have the perfectly rational, self-interested actor the scientists have been assuming all these years.

[smjjames]

It's not that people are taken in by his act -- they see through that thin veneer of humanity into what lies beneath, and they like what they are seeing.

Depending on what exactly lies underneath, that is the scary thing about him potentially becoming president.

Also, an upcoming Trump news conference next hour or something where he'll be taking questions.

[SirQuiamus]

Finally - politics will have the perfectly rational, self-interested actor the scientists have been assuming all these years.

Precisely. He is a man without principles and conscience, the most rational being in existence, and a real boon to objectivists and neoliberal economists everywhere. And the general public is also thrilled because they have finally found their ideal politician, because every cartoon villain-politician and TV-drama adversary-politician during the last century or so has been conforming to that ideal of rationality -- an ideal which has only now been realized when the Trump suddenly acquired sentience and discovered his inner politician.

It's only a matter of time before the transhumanists discover Trump's perfect rationality and start endorsing his ascendancy as an immortal, cybernetically enhanced God Trumperor.

[scriver]

Finally - politics will have the perfectly rational, self-interested actor the scientists have been assuming all these years.

*Economists

[Sheb]

1) Donald "Our planet is freezing" Trump probably isn't worth 10 billion.
2) Here's a good strategy to make 14 billion dollar.  Inherit 200 million dollars (probably less then what Donald "Our planet is freezing" Trump inherited) in 1974.  Invest it for 40 years in safe assets: https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/vanguard-mutual-funds-list .  Curse your bad luck because you only got 7% returns, a pretty crappy return for that time period (high inflation 70s/80s).  Voila, you are richer then Donald "Our planet is freezing" Trump by virtue of being born rich and having a pulse.  But if you have a degree from Wharton you can turn that 14 billion into 5 billion!

Your math is off. 7% means you're doubling your assets every 10 years (my favorite rule of thumb in math: the doubling time of something is 70%/(Growth rate in %).) In 40 years, you would get increase your fortune 16 folds, or get about 3.2 billions.

[Descan]

It's only a matter of time before the transhumanists discover Donald "Somebody's doing the raping" Trump's perfect rationality and start endorsing his ascendancy as an immortal, cybernetically enhanced God Trumperor.

Hey, I resemble resent that remark!

Transphobe!

[Frumple]

Hey, if there's anything to be phobic of, it's trump. Someone that can survive that long with that thing chewing on his cranium is probably some kind of lich. Republichan takes disturbingly little modification to work...

[Descan]

Transphobe, not trump-phobe.

He is denigrating my transhuman kin.

Admittedly, I think even Trump would be scared of Trump.

[Bauglir]

Finally - politics will have the perfectly rational, self-interested actor the scientists have been assuming all these years.

*Economists

Oh, no, political scientists are exactly the same. We have this thing called the paradox of voting where it's irrational to vote because your vote is so unlikely to change the outcome that the effort required to vote isn't worth it, but people still clearly vote anyway. As far as I can tell, this was never considered a joke, although it's no longer considered a real problem evidently.

[smjjames]

I think I'm even more convinced that Trump isn't serious at all, in the part of the speech that CNN did show (I can tell that CNN doesn't like him much either, they didn't stay on his speech), he said he was going to appoint Carl Icahn (cue jokes about his last name) to be the ambassador (I think) or something or other of China and Japan (the guy had said 'sure' when Trump asked.

Other than the fact that the guy is 79 years old, it smacks of, I dunno, it just seems like the guy wouldn't be the right choice. Maybe because of potentially shady business pratices and the fact that he has money all over the place.

[penguinofhonor]

I don't think your average American knows what an ambassador does beyond "something with other countries", much less cares about who our various ambassadors are. Trump is probably just cutting shady deals in exchange for the appointments - might piss off people outside the US, but since when did Trump care what they think?

[mainiac]

Oh, no, political scientists are exactly the same. We have this thing called the paradox of voting where it's irrational to vote because your vote is so unlikely to change the outcome that the effort required to vote isn't worth it, but people still clearly vote anyway. As far as I can tell, this was never considered a joke, although it's no longer considered a real problem evidently.

Because altruism doesn't exist?

Suppose I have a 1 in a hundred million chance of influencing an election.  Suppose that making the right candidate win does 100 billion dollars of benefit to Americans.  My personal share of that benefit would be 300 dollars.  So my 1 in a hundred million chance of influencing the election is worth .0001 cents to me personally.  However to my fellow Americans, it's worth $1000.  I dont know what the marginal value of your time is, but that clearly passes the "worth doing" test for me.