Originally shared by John Baez
Thin-skinned
By now you’ve probably heard: Trump said he’d given $1 million of his own money to veterans groups, but he actually hadn’t. His campaign manager, too, falsely claimed he had given this money.
4 months later, the Washington Post and other papers started investigating. They contacted Trump and asked what was up. On May 24th, feeling the heat, he broke down and handed over the million bucks.
Other donors had also given money to the Donald J. Trump Foundation on the promise that Trump would then give it to veterans. And he did – after he was caught. The Associated Press found that many of his checks were dated May 24, after the Washington Post story came out.
That’s bad enough, but the really interesting part is the temper tantrum that Trump threw at a press conference where he publicly announced that he’d finally given the promised money.
He blasted the media for making him “look bad” by insisting that he account for $6 million. He called them “dishonest” and “not good people”, without giving any example of dishonesty. And he personally attacked ABC reporter Tom Llamas.
“I’m not looking for credit,” Trump insisted, contrary to all appearances. “But what I don’t want is when I raise millions of dollars have people say — like this sleazy guy over here from ABC. He’s a sleaze in my book.”
“Why am I a sleaze?” Llamas shot back.
“You’re a sleaze!” Trump shouted. “Because you know the facts and you know the facts well.” Llamas, you see, had just asked a question about this issue. He also had a history of asking Trump tough questions about his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
It’s shocking for a US presidential candidate to act this way. This is what a Chicago gangster or tinpot dictator would do.
“Is this what it’s going to be like covering you if you’re president?” one reporter asked.
Trump’s reply: “Yeah, it is. I’m going to continue to attack the press.”
And indeed, Trump has said that if he becomes president, he will “open up” the libel laws to make it easier to sue people who say things he doesn’t like. This is exactly what dictators do.
In 2005, Timothy O’Brien wrote a book TrumpNation: The Art Of Being The Donald. He raised questions about Trump’s claims of vast wealth. Trump promptly sued O’Brien for $5 billion. It was the largest libel lawsuit in U.S. history. Maybe Trump was trying to gain the wealth he didn’t actually have. But the lawsuit was dismissed, because of course it’s not libel to report that someone is not as rich as they claim.
It’s tough to take public criticism. Hillary Clinton knows this well. But Clinton is not thin-skinned like Trump. I don’t want a president who throws hissy fits at press conferences, yells at reporters, and threatens writers with lawsuits.
The Washington Post article about Trump on May 24:
A video of Trump’s press conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ5kNEL0KzI
On Trump wanting to “open up” libel laws, and suing O’Brien:
Never Stop Posting 
He’s so disgusting. I really hope he doesn’t become another Sarah Palin. Once he loses the election I never want to hear or see him again.
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As much as I despise the idea of Trump, he would need to suffer a truamatic brain injury to become Sarah Palin.
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Eric Sagel — can a traumatic brain injury make you smarter? After all, for all her problems, Gov Palin (somehow) managed not to bankrupt Alaska during her term in office, while Mr Trump couldn’t even avoid bankrupting his investors with a casino in Atlantic City.
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Her 1/2 term. Now realize I am making comparisons at the bottom end of the spectrum. But like most sociopaths Trump actually is somewhat intelligent
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It’s probably time to start supporting Ms Clinton as enthusiastically as we can manage.
We still need to start by acknowledging that she supports the same neo-con foreign policies that have killed (at least) hundreds of thousands of civilians under presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush too, and Obama, and not give her a free pass on that; but Sen Sanders is all but mathematically eliminated now, and imagine how dangerous the world would be with that same military power in the hands of a thin-skinned narcissist.
What would happen the first time a Middle Eastern newspaper ran an unflattering caricature of a President Trump, for example?
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Eric Sagel I’m looking for evidence of superior intelligence in Mr Trump (relatively speaking), but not seeing it.
Gov Palin could see Russia from her house in Alaska; Mr Trump saw imaginary Muslims celebrating in NJ after 9/11. Gov Palin thought Africa was a country; Mr Trump thinks Paris is in Germany, and confuses Mexico with Morocco. Gov Palin put her daughter on a reality TV show; Mr Trump starred on a reality TV show himself.
I don’t think Gov Palin has ever pretended she was her own personal assistant, admitted it, then denied it again.
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