The dumbest thing donjohn ever did was run for president. How many lives has he destroyed because of it, including his?

If nothing else, he has provided an enormous amount of material for the late night comedians and Saturday Night Live.  He has also provided plenty of fodder for the opinion columnists in the media.  I think he has contributed more to keeping these people employed than any other president since Nixon with the possible exception of Bush who got us into an unnecessary war.

In one of his (ghostwritten) books, Trump made the claim “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. I wonder if he still feels that way. 

Another thought: Trump has thrown so many people under the bus; crapped upon, belittled and insulted everyone and everything for years (and continues to do so), could it really have eluded him that they might eventually return the feeling?

Of course his books are ghostwritten - the man can hardly put two coherent sentences together.  Hard to write a whole book using crayons.  

Trump, I suspect, has never considered that those who have been loyal would at any time be disloyal to him no matter what he does to them or calls them because he believes it's his due to command loyalty.  Look at what he said about why he gave Sessions the job - his loyalty (or more accurately, fealty) to Trump.  You just have to look at all the appointments he's made to important posts with people who have absolutely no experience in those fields.  

Reminiscent of Warren G Harding, generally regarded as one of the worst Presidents of all time. Will His Royal Orangeness also succumb to a fatal heart attack?

My cronies and I have a pool going on that. 

:):):)

I dunno DonB. Fast backward (the opposite of fast forward) several years. Had trump continued to live the life he had and not dipped his toe into politics would any of the investigations for the convicted criminals have materialized? Probably not. So the bank fraud and tax fraud and who knows how many other crimes would probably have continued. The list of names of disgraced folks gets larger each day.  Michael Cohen, Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort , James Comey, Sally Yates, Jeff  Sessions, RudyG,Sean Hannity, Faux news, the trump "kids" and trump hisself wouldn't be in the news 24/7. . FAKE NEWS NO COLLUSION WITCH HUNT would not be part of our lexicon I agree with thee each day is like Christmas in a manner of speaking. What new "gift"(sarcasm intended) will trump present us inadvertently accidentally obliviously obtusely?  Congress perhaps wouldn't have become the languid and slothlike  entity it is as well as deaf dumb and blind.. The Justice Department wouldn't be a constant target for attack. Our allies would not have been so maligned. We'd still be in the agreements we'd made. Our environment wouldn't be back to killing us again. Our national forests would still be protected. We wouldn't have the humongous additional debt brought on by the massive tax cuts. Expenses alone for the trump family are horrendous. The corruption and graft of those  trump appointed to office are staggering. I could go on but you get the point. Sigh. Thank you for your thoughtful reply and Happy Saturday to thee! :)

Your points are well taken, Rosie, but that said, Trump would be eligible for indictment already (and maybe staring at a costly divorce) for what we know now if he’d not become President. He is paying a heavy price (as in damage to his precious brand) as are we all in areas you mention, but the Trump stench will be hard to wash off of those who have stood with him and gone down. Even those who aren’t subsequently prosecuted, like Sarah Sanders and Cory Lewandowski, will be virtually unemployable. Too bad. 

We can’t really say what our situation would be had Hillary or one of the others won, but safe to assume the narrative would be much different. I will liken Trump’s assault upon the Presidency to Napoleon’s attack on Russia, an act of unbounded hubris.  This post was edited by Don Barzini at August 26, 2018 3:27 AM MDT

I am ignorant about the Napoleon/Russia situation to which you allude DB. I expect you are far more knowledgeable about history than I am. What I shall NEVER UNDERSTAND is how he (you know of whom I speak) got this far? Somewhere along the line among all the illegal.CRIMINAL things he has done or allowed to be done under his imprimatur the folks with the power should have risen up and STOPPED HIM cold. But nary a sign of that happening. That is what is so puzzling. Not that he has so far overstepped the lines of appropriate and legal behavior but that so far he is getting away with everything! Thank you for your thoughtful reply and Happy Sunday to thee! So you think eventually he would have been caught, charged, tried and convicted? SIGH. This post was edited by RosieG at August 26, 2018 7:10 AM MDT

Caught, yes, that is ongoing. Trump‘s —shall we say— improprieties are coming to light every day and I expect the pace of his exposures to accelerate. 

Charged, in the court of public opinion, yes, even Trump knows this. Will the powers within the gov’t charge him? It becomes a possibility if Dems overtake the House. Or if he goes so far off the deep end as to be unequivocally unfit for office.

Convicted? If the scenarios I mentioned bear sufficient fruit, it could happen; perhaps after he’s out of office, but Trump will not do any prison time. 

I’d just be happy if his brand (value) plummets and his heirs become pariahs, as he will be, regardless. 

What happens to his devoted base? Go underground and join militias or cabals that are trump-based? They have been indulged for so long how do they go back to being whatever they were before? Will there be war? How else do they vent their rage and fury and hostility and anger?  I wonder if his ending as prez will be the ending of our society after the riots begin and the wars take place? I believe the folks are not emotionally equipped to take such a hit without hitting back and doubling down like the guy in the White House does each time. SIGH. Time will tell. Thank you for your reply DB!  :)