Bill Gates Shares His Memories of Donald Trump (cnn.com)

MSNBC recently published a video of Bill Gates telling his staff at the Gates Foundation that he had two meetings with Donald Trump since the president was elected. In the video, Gates says Trump doesn't know the difference between two sexually transmitted diseases -- human papillomavirus (HPV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -- and that it was "scary" how much Trump knew about Gates' daughter's appearance. Gates also said he urged Trump to support innovation and technology during those meetings. CNN reports: Taking audience questions about his interactions with Trump at a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation meeting, the former Microsoft honcho said he first met Trump in December 2016. He told the audience that Trump had previously come across his daughter, Jennifer, at a horse show in Florida. "And then about 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place," Gates said, according to video of the event broadcast by MSNBC late Thursday. "So clearly he had been driven away but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter. "Anyway, so when I first talked to him, it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance. Melinda (Gates' wife) didn't like that too well."

Gates also said he discussed science with Trump on two separate occasions, where he says the President questioned him on the difference between HIV and HPV. "In both of those two meetings, he asked me if vaccines weren't a bad thing because he was considering a commission to look into ill-effects of vaccines and somebody -- I think it was Robert Kennedy Jr. -- was advising him that vaccines were causing bad things. And I said no, that's a dead end, that would be a bad thing, don't do that. "Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other," Gates said.

Comments

Wow

[Kohath]

Next you'll be telling us Trump doesn't know the difference between Kerberos and Kubernetes.

Simpsons Comic book guy scoffs at Trump!

Re:The world wants to know

[Anonymous Coward]

Did Trump try to grab Jennifer Gate's pussy?

He was going to, but was dissuaded by the EULA.

Re:ignorance is bliss

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe he confused H1B with HIV and HPV as well.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[fafalone]

Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job. Surprised you didn't go with "fake news"... is it because Trump himself admitted that what he calls 'fake news' is simply anything that portrays him in a negative light?

Re:Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is

[fafalone]

There's still people out there that believe Trump is making himself look foolish as some sort of 4d chess instead of the much better explanation that he is genuinely ignorant? Sad!

Re:Basically any opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh FFS, get a clue. MicroSoft is one of the largest contributors to open source software and even Bill Gates sings its praises now.

As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[rsilvergun]

Bill Gates has kind of a cult of personality among working class Americans who see him as somebody who came up from nothing to become the richest man on earth. For some reason He's not lumped into the "elites" category like Jobs or Bezos. Not sure why, since he grew up wealthy and used his mom's connections to get an in with IBM and his dad's advice to take advantage of it, but go figure.

Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[markdavis]

>"Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base."

Maybe, maybe not. I don't believe being "smart" was high on the list of his base's wishes this time- it was mostly that he:

1) Wasn't Hillary
2) Was purporting to be conservative
3) Wasn't an "establishment" politician

I think the vast majority of voters already knew he was a bit of a loud-mouth, bully, buffoon long before the election.... but I believe they very much wanted a shake up and not an Obama sequel. In my mind, there is no question that mission was accomplished. Being smart, charismatic, or well spoken don't necessarily mean having positions that voters will agree with, nor do they necessarily mean the candidate would have a better chance of getting anything accomplished.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[quantaman]

Bill Gates has kind of a cult of personality among working class Americans who see him as somebody who came up from nothing to become the richest man on earth. For some reason He's not lumped into the "elites" category like Jobs or Bezos. Not sure why, since he grew up wealthy and used his mom's connections to get an in with IBM and his dad's advice to take advantage of it, but go figure.

Anyway, him saying Trump is a bit of a buffoon is going to resonate with Trump voters. It'll be a significant hit to Trump's reputation with his base.

No one is saying he's not elite, but he's not included with the Silicon Valley elites anymore because he's been semi-retired for 10 years.

People focus on Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, and Jobs (formerly) not because they're rich, but because they have the power to shape the technological future and they're using it.

But back in Microsoft's heyday Gates was easily as big as any of them.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[youngone]

4) Didn't hate them.

4) Pretended not to hate them

5) When choosing sides, picked the American side.

5) When choosing sides, pretended to pick the American side.

6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors.

6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors, but made sure he got a cut from every "deal".

7) Wasn't trying to tell them there are 14 genders and only 12 of them get to decide how everyone must do everything.

7) Which is something no-one has ever done in the history of politics anywhere.

8) Didn’t tell them America was doomed to mediocrity and hopelessness.

Which sounds likely to be a losing strategy, so I'm going to go ahead and assume it's a complete load.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[divide overflow]

I can collapse all your reasons down to one: Trump told his voters what they wanted to hear, regardless of the truth.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[Man On Pink Corner]

4) Didn't hate them.

No, and in fact, he "loves" them ("I love the poorly-educated!") Just listen to that -- they even cheer when he mocks and insults them to their faces. How awesome is that?

5) When choosing sides, picked the American side.

That's just too hilarious to merit a response, given how much time he spent hanging around with Russians. Clue time: when choosing sides, Trump picks Trump's side. To the extent that benefits America (or Russia for that matter), it's purely by coincidence.

6) Didn't bend a knee to the press or the politically correct censors.

Whatever that means...

7) Wasn't trying to tell them there are 14 genders and only 12 of them get to decide how everyone must do everything.

Whatever that means...

8) Didn't tell them America was doomed to mediocrity and hopelessness.

Yeah, I know when I need to be rescued from mediocrity and hopelessness, I always look to the guy with his own reserved parking spot at bankruptcy court.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[fafalone]

Only the syncophants he surrounds himself with claim he's smart, because it strokes his ego, and that's the first and foremost job of anyone he hires. A few foreign government people have done the same, obviously for the same ego stroking. When his own appointees describe him as a 'fucking moron' among countless other behind-his-back reports, you know his IQ is room temperature (or just listen to him speak unscripted for a few minutes, and that's self-evident). But it fools people. Remember that disgusting cabinet meeting where they all took turns lavishing praise on him, calling him the best president ever, nobody has ever done more, and other nonsense? You've gotta be a fool to think they were sincere, but fortunately that's just the kind of person he attracts. Quick-witted? You've got to be kidding, or never even heard him speak. He rambles on with stream of consciousness, half the time changing topics mid-sentence. He's so slow witted he makes Bush Jr look like a master orator.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[Cederic]

The cult developed long before he quit Microsoft and started the benevolence.

Gates has been long celebrated as the epitomy of the American dream. Look, work hard, build a company (erm, and illegally exploit a monopoly, fuck over your customers, damage an industry, cheat on your partners, etc) and you too can become the world's richest man.

The reason he never drew the hatred and ire is because he didn't grandstand, doesn't promote himself in public, doesn't make himself the central focus of everything. He built a brand and a company that was successful, and people associated the shit stuff with the brand and not the person.

Judging this guy on how he acquired DOS and early business practices in the budding PC industry is a joke compared to his overall contributions in life.

No, fuck that. Giving away money you earned through unethical practices and that you don't need to maintain your life of utter luxury does not justify the shit you did to acquire it.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[LostMyBeaver]

I'm going out on a limb here... from what you wrote, I'm not entirely sure whether you like and respect Bill or not and as such, I feel you should really take a good long breath and the take moment to share how you really feel about Bill with us.

Bill was no angel and I think that he has been pretty clear about that in the past.

Let's assume a few things.
    1) He has the money now. He has a lot of it. He has massive gobs of money. So much he could fill a swimming pool with chocolate pudding just to swim in his favorite food and he would make the money back in less time than it would take to mix it... even if he was just collecting 0.5% interest.

    2) He's grown up and seems to want to make a positive difference in the world

    3) He couldn't really give the money back to the people he cheated to get there.

    4) Most of the people he "cheated" did just fine anyway. Let's be honest, if you made a product that Microsoft would actively compete with or depended on, you probably the kind of person who wouldn't just sit in a corner and cry about how the big bad Bill took your ice cream. You'll get up and get more ice cream and keep this ice cream away from Bill.

So now, he's spending the vast majority of the money trying to leverage what he's learned in life to make world differences. He's a bit hit and miss on this, but he's making a greater difference in many places than most governments have.

One of the most important differences he's trying to make is to decrease world population through improvements in infant mortality. Around the world, he's hoping to keep families too busy changing diapers to fuck and make more. It works almost everywhere. This is why almost all first world countries have seen negative population growth and some second and third world countries (like the U.S.) are starting to see that too.

He's actively debunking stupid people. Like for example, the anti-vaxxers. They attack him all the time for trying to poison the world. Then he publicly says things like "I'm sorry, can you please go be stupid over there. I'm too busy saving childrens' lives to waste my time with you."

I don't think you have to love the guy and bow down and offer the inside of your right cheek to him. But consider that when someone is out there trying to make a positive difference, we can't forget what they have done in the past. We may not even be able to forgive it. But focus on the now and hope that a little less hate and a little more positive reinforcement will help that person do the right thing.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[ganjadude]

yeah that isnt accurate at all. but keep on saying it, its stuff like that that caused a large number of people to vote for him.

Re:As silly as it sounds this is a big deal

[quantaman]

I maintain my earlier position that anyone who thinks his responses show intelligence must lack it themselves. You know how ridiculous you sound trying so hard to come up with some way to argue he's not a moron?

Do you have any evidence that shows he's an actual moron, and not someone with zero attention span who says moronic things?

Think back to Trump at the debates, or in his speeches and look past the rambling incoherence. He does a really good job of rolling with the crowd or coming up with rejoinders. Very few people are that good at working a crowd or gaining attention during a debate. He has an easier time because he's so comfortable with lying, but he's still coming up with things to say, that actually takes some intelligence. Very few people can do that stuff effectively.

Similarly, I've listened to a lot of actors and actresses who have reputations for being dumb, and in long form interviews they're actually very intelligent, they might have some dumb ideas, but they're clearly intelligent speakers.

The point is to succeed in those social settings does require intelligence, is doesn't mean he isn't the worst President ever, or even that he knows the difference between HPV and HIV. But I do suspect he's smart enough to appear quick in private conversation.

The worst amongst us.

[RyanFenton]

We are currently ruled by some of the worst people of our nation.

Why? Because of joy.

"What? Joy?" You may ask. Yes - joy, the emotion of joy - that little element of discovering something that pleases you.

Americans discovered that amongst the boring moments of their lives, and amidst the confusing cycles of our politics, the thing that brought them the most joy, was the crude, often cruel mockery of difference.

It's not quite comedy, in the professional sense - even the most crude professional comedians would find this kind of humor career destroying. See Kathy Griffin to see what happens when one wonders into that territory.

But the conservative movement doesn't really have comedians - instead, they have a unique brand of cruelty that takes the place of open comedy.

It's not always about laughing - it's about joy, the joy of knowing how you are treating your enemy, the joy of cruelty, of punishing difference. At all levels, from online sharing, to the highest offices.

This isn't new - there were large amounts of this spread across newspapers in the era of 'yellow journalism' - it's actually kind of shocking to read some of the stuff around the civil war. And we're kind of returning to that state of political cruelty - cruelty ahead of everything else.

And that's what Trump represents more than anything else - cruelty in place of political strategy, cruelty in the guise of comedy, cruelty as the dominant force in a major political party. And cruelty called common sense and wisdom in our popular culture.

Ryan Fenton

Re:The worst amongst us.

[shanen]

Interesting comment, but I never have the mod points to give. I used to get them from time to time, but that was many years ago. I think I pissed off Taco and and he put me on some kind of no-mod-points-for-you list...

Anyway, I think that's a confusing sense of "joy". My General Theory of Relatively Funny Stuff is that we laugh to learn. Normal people actually enjoy learning new things, and it's deeply linked to humor. So far I haven't been able to find a form of humor that is not linked in some way to learning stuff.

A few examples: Slapstick is funny because you are not the person getting hurt--but you are learning not to do those things by seeing the bad results. Children are always laughing because they are little learning machines, easily amused as they acquire new knowledge. Political humor depends upon knowing the political realities, which also explains why extremist right-wing humorists so often fail. Without reality they can't find the jokes. Since political humor is based on a contrast between the joke and the underlying reality, without the contrast the right-wing humorists can't make anyone laugh (though it is possible for honest conservatives to be funny).

Have you ever seen a video of Trump laughing? I haven't.

Re:The worst amongst us.

[RyanFenton]

That's why it isn't really comedy. The aim isn't the same as the jokes you're used to with openly repeatable comedy. It's closer to the stupidest parts of grade school than proper jokes.

Have you ever listened to Rush Limbaugh? There's some odd sorts of laughs there - but most of the joy intended is not the laughing kind of joy - but the "oh, we really showed those fools what's what" kind of joy.

It's the same kind of joy you might get from hearing an MC really lay into another MC, when it isn't even really laughing material.

That same form of joy has come in the form of cruelty dominating the commenting landscape of Facebook and the like. Of drawing a picture of your opponent being tortured, of denying them a voice, of denying the group they belong to a voice. Of feeling like you're proving you're on the winning side.

It's all endorphins - but in this case, it's different than laughing humor.

Re:The worst amongst us.

[hairyfeet]

Oh Please! A mummifed turd from Richard Nixon could have won against Shillary, as she was arrogant as fuck ("Its her turn"? Really? I didn't know POTUS was a birthright, I guess Shillary thought so), was caught on camera waaaaaaaayyy too many times flipping flopping and just plain old saying truly nasty shit (say what you want about Trump but I don't remembr him ever saying one race's young folks were "apex predators") and then of course there was her obvious brain damage (the woman was falling more than Gerald Ford, constantly choking, hacking, and looked like shit) and then Wikileaks came out and told us what most of us already figured out that she bought the DNC to fuck Bernie out of the running and was selling favors and outright lying to our faces as she told the pople one thing and told the bankers and foreign interests the other...oh and lets not forget taking a hammer to her cell phone, destroying evidence and having servers wiped...yup not suspicious behavior at all, nope. And having the media rush to tell us that none of that matters, just be good sheeple and vote for her or "you be an IST!"? Yeah all that did was make the media about as believable as Pravda.

Trump had no issue beating her because ANYBODY could beat Hillary Clinton, hell you could have propped up the rotting corpse of Ronnie Raygun and he would have beat her by 20 points! the Democrats could NOT have found a worse possible candidate if they had tried, but she was so fucking arrogant and had so much pull with the power brokers (still would like to see a full investigation in the Clinton Foundation, lots of skeletons there I bet) that she was able to buy her way onto the ticket...and everybody knew it. Trump could have came out the day before the election in a Borat mankini and did the "I'm too sexy" dance would have STILL won easily because THAT is how unlikeable Shillary was. Seriously look up her approval ratings before and after the election, even with the media prostrating themselves trying to kiss her ass even all that positive spin couldn't save her, she is Bill with NONE of the personality or charisma.

Re:The worst amongst us.

[ageoffri]

Exactly, the last Presidential election if the DNC and RNC had swapped rules on candidate nominations we would not have had Clinton and Trump. The super delegates directly and indirectly led to the nomination of Clinton, and if the RNC had the super delegate system would have led to the nomination of someone other than Trump. This doesn't mean either party needs to change its system, just that they aren't perfect systems.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[CohibaVancouver]

Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job

To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.

Proud and incurable ignorance, or just stupid?

[shanen]

Trying to figure out what aspect of this story actually merits coverage on Slashdot.

It's the ignorance, stupid!

Kind of hard to tell in Trump's case since he is also quite stupid and has been sheltered and protected from the normal consequences of his stupidity. His father was only the first person to pump in money to cover the losses from Trump's bad decisions.

However I think it is much more significant that Trump doesn't care about what he doesn't know. I insist that Trump regards Bill Gates as admirable, for the money, if nothing else, but Trump still doesn't care enough to listen to him. Any moderately educated person should know the difference between HIV and HPV, but Trump doesn't know and doesn't care. Actually, given Trump's sexual peccadilloes (or perhaps you prefer to describe it as "raging libido"), it would even be normal self-protection to know a LOT about sexually transmitted diseases, but "Trump don't know and Trump don't care."

Not sure of the exact numbers, but there are a lot of proudly ignorant fools in America, and many of them voted for Trump precisely because they felt that Trump's disdainful attitude towards knowing things made him a true representative of their views, the kind of "leader" they wanted to follow. Scare quotes on "leader" because if you're ignorant you can't actually lead since you have no idea where you're going. Normal peasants like you and I would merely fail hard when we stumble blindly into holes, but Trump has always gotten more money to pull him out and hide his failures.

There's another option: Learning from mistakes. I actually think there is a tiny bit of evidence that Trump has learned two things along the way. That's why he doesn't gamble with his own money now. His bankruptcies didn't teach him how to be a better businessman, but they did teach him to take his own cut up front and to make sure the contracts allow him to walk away when projects fail.

Trump has never learned that truth matters.

Re:Proud and incurable ignorance, or just stupid?

[_Sharp'r_]

Let me summarize for you why this "news article" is stupid:

Gossip != news

Gates statements != much evidence about Trump

The only reason anyone has even heard about this is because of Gate's accomplishments in areas not related to Trump, nor politics. This is the /. equivalent of actors testifying in front of Congress about medical matters because they played one on TV. Who cares?

Re: The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astoundin

[nehumanuscrede]

âoe That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job. âoe

I have some bad news for you. The vast majority of our elected Presidents are all on equal footing with regards to intelligence and knowledge about the â wide range of issues â you speak of.

The only difference is some of them knew to keep their mouth shut until their â advisors â told them what to say. Trump didâ(TM)t get that memo apparently.

Why the hell do you think pre-selected / screened questions are even a thing ?

Two models of Trump

[Okian Warrior]

Sorry, just because something makes Trump look stupid doesn't mean it's biased against him. That he lacks basic knowledge on a wide range of issues is simply a fact, and a very big problem considering his job. Surprised you didn't go with "fake news"... is it because Trump himself admitted that what he calls 'fake news' is simply anything that portrays him in a negative light?

Scott Adams has an interesting insight on the two views of Donald Trump: one view has him as stupid and incompetent, and the other one has him as brilliant and capable.

His point being: each of these is a model of reality, so which is the better predictor?

Look at the predictions made about Trump using the "stupid incompetent" model:

Trump will never win the presidency
The economy will tank if Trump wins
Trump will get us into a nuclear war
Trump will start WWIII
End of the world
Numerous Hitler-like situations

There are even specific things that people have said about Trump:

"Every taunt back and forth between Trump and Kim Jong Un maked deescalation and diplomacy less possible" -- Ben Rhodes, via twitter

"Poll: What one thing will work with North Korea? a) Military strike (9%), b) Embargo or blockade (1%) c) A grand bargain w/China (4%) d) Trump has no idea (86%)" -- Bill Kristol, via twitter

So we're scientists here, we know that science works by making models and predicting outcomes, and when we have two models we throw one out and keep the one with the better predictions.

Which model is the better predictor for Trump?

If you still believe in the "stupid and incompetent" model, what future predictions can you make based on that model? And what specific criteria can we agree on to determine when those predictions have failed or succeeded?

Re:Two models of Trump

[fibonacci8]

Write-in option C: Like Reagan demonstrated previously, an actor just has to be good at distracting attention from Congress. He doesn't need to be either particularly stupid nor brilliant. He just has to be entertaining.
panem et circenses - Bread and Circuitry ( the "circus" has been phased out for the TV, gaming consoles, smart phones, etc. )

Re:Two models of Trump

[Halo1]

There are even specific things that people have said about Trump:

"Every taunt back and forth between Trump and Kim Jong Un maked deescalation and diplomacy less possible" -- Ben Rhodes, via twitter

"Poll: What one thing will work with North Korea? a) Military strike (9%), b) Embargo or blockade (1%) c) A grand bargain w/China (4%) d) Trump has no idea (86%)" -- Bill Kristol, via twitter

So we're scientists here, we know that science works by making models and predicting outcomes, and when we have two models we throw one out and keep the one with the better predictions.

What indications do you have that both of the above statements/sentiments are/were wrong? I.e., that with less taunts, the negotiations wouldn't be further along, or any indication that Trump knew what he was doing with his taunts?

North Korea came to the table after they finally demonstrated that they can hit Japan with a nuclear bomb, and possibly even the US. Additionally, their testing mountain complex has become very unstable with the latest tests, so they're abandoning it (presenting that move as a token of goodwill). In other words, there is little they can gain with further "tests" and they now have what they wanted: they're a nuclear power and hence have to be treated as one at the negotiation table. Unlike Iran, for that matter.

Re:Two models of Trump

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a fallacy there. It's not an A/B proposition. Every one of those propositions could have different bases than brilliant/incompetent. And multiple can be operating at once. You can add in:

1) Trump is just lucky.
2) Tump is elected by meddling with election.
3) Fame is more important than brilliance or incompetence.
4) North Korea is playing the same game it had before (threaten, and pull back for economic consideration -- Trump is out of the loop for that one)

It can go on. The point is, all those propositions could (and likely do) have difference causes.So as a predictor model, it will lead you into false confidence.

Re:Two models of Trump

[rahvin112]

The economy will tank if Trump wins

Don't worry it's coming, no one expected him to hold off on his economic and trade polices for over a year and a quarter. The peak was in Jan, and the slide started about 3 months ago and it's accelerating. The foolish tax policy will deepen the bottom.

Re:Two models of Trump

[Lord_Jeremy]

From my perspective, Scott Adams is the epitome of the smart but selfish and self-righteous attitude that libertarian technocrats tend to favor. He (and the general class of technocrat) likes to pretend that all of his arguments are based in logic and natural law. While some of the arguments make sense from an objective point of view, many of them don't make any logical sense and are probably coming from an emotional attitude. I haven't read this book, but I've read enough of Adams' recent public writing to decide that it's impossible to get any useful analysis or ideas out of it, because it has been so corrupted by emotional arguments and feelings.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[iMadeGhostzilla]

That's right. I'd rather have a well-read, informed and intellectual President with whom I can have a good conversation than an anti-intellectual womanizing loudmouth who brings the country to peace and prosperity by however incomprehensible means. ... is what I believe most educated liberals think these days. Their biggest fear seems to be Trump ending up being right about things because how he gets there does not seem to make sense.

Rather well

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see you want to ralk about Obama to change the subject, but doesn't that just show the problem? Fair enough. Obama left the USA as the worlds biggest trading block with a stable economy and lower deficit than now and better healthcare and a dead Bin Laden. Trumps has helped Chniese companies evade a trade war he has created (ZTE) and received over millions in kickbacks so far some of which have gone to pay off hookers and hackers via Cohen.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not OK for anyone in a position of authority to be that stupid. I want to agree with you, but it's just too much.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[Anonymous Coward]

Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it.

I voted for Obama and used to think that was a good thing. But what has it gotten us? Executive overreach,

That one is arguable. He saw the problems of the world and so how impossible it was to work with congress and just did the best he could. Did he overreach a few areas? Probably, but of course nothing compared to the Trump crime family.

"deteriorating race relations"

I think you are confusing cause and effect. Race relations didn't deteriorate, if they did really deteriorate, because of Obama. They deteriorated because of Obama's political opponents used race as a vile weapon to go after him with.

", increasing inequality,"

Been happening for ages. It is not new. Obama did the single most important thing to address it, by taking a stab at health care, and his approach while hardly perfect was "better". It was also all he could get done in that environment.

Yes, there are many other reasons. The absolutely fucking insane tax cut we just put in is going to make income inequality worse, since most of the money goes to those who already make a lot of money. Its also completely irresponsible, but that is another topic. Of course republicans would argue that income inequality in itself isn't bad. I tend to disagree. Past a certain point it distorts things too much and the markets basically fail.

" a stuttering recovery,"

Seems similar to the last one really from what I vaguely recall. There is no magic. People someone expect because something happened in the past under a vastly different set of circumstances that you can expect the same outcomes. Either way, the president doesn't have that much control there. The economy did well under Obama and I see no particularly sign that it will be magical under Trump. We are just feeling the effects of the heroin he pumped in (tax cuts), but the crash and burn will come eventually. The bills must be paid.

" a missed opportunity on health care reform"

Now here is where you are flat out lying. I watched the entire process. They got done what they could get done. It was amazingly close to failing. You think you can do better, maybe you should run for office?

", political polarization,"

Again, your confusing cause and effect here. Obama isn't a particularly polarizing guy. He is actually pretty much a centrist. the hate and polarization was ginned up by the right, including Fox news and all the rest. The polarization came because the right decided, one way and another to do anything to get rid of him. They stirred up the primary forces of hatred and bigotry and out came Trump out of their unholy cauldron of crap.

"and foreign policy disasters."

The biggest one I saw was making a promise on a reprisal that he decided not to do. Yah, wasn't a fan of that one, since the world must believe us, but then you bring in Mr. lying sack of shit with his 3000 plus lies and i'm like, really, we are still comparing that? I hate to break it to you, but the rest of the world, with the exception of I think Isreal and Russia saw us far better pre Trump.

"And the problem was exactly that Obama was really smart, wanted to do everything himself, and ended up micromanaging."

He did probably control more militarily than was a good idea, but Trump is the opposite, and seems to not do much at all. Neither are great solutions. Thankfully Trump isn't trying to control much since he is so ill informed and not interested in being informed that if he were to attempt it it would be an unmitigated disaster.

"Obama represents the hubris of technocrats, progressives, and intellectuals."

There is nothing wrong with being intelligent or educated, no matter how much the right pushes this drivel. I also never saw arrogance in his being.

"And it's Obama's miserable performance as president that paved the way for Trump." And yet histor

Re:Basically any opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

Right. With a summary like that, who needs more than one political party. Eh, comrade?

Re:Challenge accepted

[Anonymous Coward]

> ISIS - No longer a major threat.

This is the closest thing you're correct on. And it was done by mostly a continuation of the military strategies implemented under the Obama administration. Thanks Obama!

> US economy - Heading back in the right direction.

Thanks Obama!

> N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.

Thanks China and South Korea. You know, if it actually happens and they aren't playing games just like *every other time this has happened in the last 50 years*.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[Boronx]

There's stupid and then there's stupid:

"The GOP front-runner asserted that the U.S. also "cannot be the policeman of the world" when it comes to allies in the Asia Pacific region, suggesting he would like to see Japan and South Korea develop nuclear weaponry in order to combat North Korea."

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[thomst]

CohibaVancouver opined:

To me, the biggest condemnation of Trump is not that he's ill-informed - Lots of people are ill-informed on lots of things - It's that he has little interest in actually becoming informed. Obama read for hours each night - Briefing papers, books - You name it. Trump reads nothing.

Sadly, it's actually worse than that.

It is quite clear that not only does Trump have, as you put it, "little interest" in becoming informed, but, instead, that he actively resists any attempt to provide him with information on subjects that trigger him.

It's also why he labells as "fake news" anything that displeases him. It's not that those things are factually inaccurate. It's that he just doesn't want to hear them ...

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[Boronx]

He hasn't got there. Yeah, racial unity through bigotry, prosperity through corruption, progress through ignorance, world leadership though jingoism does not make sense. But worse, they've been tried throughout history over and over, and they don't work. How many chances are *you* going to give them?

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[fafalone]

I'd agree, except Trump is a disaster for peace and prosperity. China and South Korea are primarily responsible for NK, not because Trump made threats and insults on Twitter, and his actions with Iran and Israel are extremely terrible for peace. Prosperity? Sure, if you're the 1%. His massive giveaway to them gave some crumbs to the middle class, at the expense of massive debt. I could list a bunch of policies from healthcare to education that are appallingly awful for the prosperity of the poor.
Trump supporters live in a fantasy world thinking his propaganda about things improving for everyone is true.

Re:Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is

[fahrbot-bot]

There's still people out there that believe Trump is making himself look foolish as some sort of 4d chess instead of the much better explanation that he is genuinely ignorant?

Applying Occam's Razor... I would imagine Trump being ignorant is a simpler explanation than him playing 4d chess (or 4d checkers).

Fun Fact: Trump, and many of his supporters, believe Occam's Razor has 2 blades and comes in a 5-pack.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

That is one of the most naive and fallacious things I have ever read. Gates isn't that smart, just wealthy, and he got that way by stealing and then abusing the resulting monopoly. There is no one to praise in this piece.

Re:Challenge accepted

[aquacrayfish]

ISIS - No longer a major threat.

Listening to his generals, that's really brilliant. This is putting aside they were never a threat once our military got involved.

US economy - Heading back in the right direction.

Please describe, in detail, Trump's economic plan that caused a turnaround... and what the major turnaround has been since the administration change. Of course, this is all based on the idea that the President can have a major impact on the economy, but for now for the sake of argument claim that's true.

N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.

You haven't watched any news this past week, have you? I'd like it to be true, that we get something done here, but right now I'm seeing two leaders play a game of chicken where they both want out of the talk but don't want to be the first to say it.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[ooloorie]

Your comments come down to saying "if Obama had only been totalitarian ruler of the country without opposition, then he could have done all these wonderful things for the country that he promised during his campaign".

Well, sorry, that's not the way the US works. When Obama promised something (improved race relations, more privacy, lower health care costs, etc.), he needed to take into account what opposition he would face and moderate his promises accordingly. He didn't do that, and that is exactly the kind of hubris that intellectuals often suffer from.

As for harnessing "disgusting and loathsome forces", that's how I and many others have come to view the Democratic party.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Gates? Don't make me laugh. Bill is the incarnate of evil. Microsoft is the same as ever. Open Source is meaningless to oppose because they can't win, so they focus on monopolization of hardware (DRM) instead. Is free software a thing yet? No, it's not.

Re:Basically any opportunity

[h33t l4x0r]

This is a guy who raw-dogs porn stars. So his life *literally* depends on knowing something that everybody else knows - and yet a total fucking face-palm.

Duh, what would you expect Bill to say

[p51d007]

After all, he's so heavily invested in the democratic socialist machine, you think he would say anything nice about Trump? And get thrown out of the club?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[Kohath]

....his actions with Iran and Israel are extremely terrible for peace.

You mean the long history of peace between Iran and Israel is over?

His massive giveaway to them gave some crumbs to the middle class,

Keep telling middle class people that the extra money in their paycheck is "crumbs".

Trump supporters live in a fantasy world thinking his propaganda about things improving for everyone is true.

Maybe not everyone, but individuals know whether things are improving for them or not. Unemployed people see the help wanted signs. Middle class people see the extra money in their paycheck. Investors see their 401k balance.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[Boronx]

Saying "Black LIves Matter" isn't exclusionary of other races, it's just pointing out a fact, or at least a near universally held opinion. It's hard to believe you feel excluded by the concept that black lives might matter. Did some BLM protestor tell you that or something?

If you think all lives matter then there's no way BLM should be offensive or controversial to you.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[Boronx]

It's completely irrational to support the spread of nuclear weapons. It's much better for all concerned if Japan never needs a nuclear program.

Re:Challenge accepted

[Boronx]

> ISIS - No longer a major threat.

Trump deserves credit for abandoning his secret plan and just finishing the Obama plan.

> US economy - Heading back in the right direction.

As before it has been. We'll see whether massive tax cuts for the rich help. They usually don't.

> N. Korea - Coming to the negotiating table.

NK always wants to meet with US presidents. It's a victory for them to even get a summit. So far we've got nothing in return. I hope all goes well, but NK has never given anything up with out enormous bribes and serious threats issued at the same time. Meanwhile, Trump just unilaterally caved to another NK demand.

Re:Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is

[Voyager529]

There's still people out there that believe Trump is making himself look foolish as some sort of 4d chess instead of the much better explanation that he is genuinely ignorant? Sad!

My theory goes a bit more like this:

According to virtually every non-advertising minute of Fox News between 2009 and 2016, Obama could do no right. It didn't matter how a given situation was approached. Try to find common ground with Republicans? "Obama compromises his beliefs!" or "Obama plan retains worst parts of Democratic and Republican ideals!". Push it through when Democrats had majorities in both houses? "Obama is imposing tyrrany of the majority!" Ram it through with an executive order? "He's not going through Congress like he's supposed to!" Decide to say "screw it" until Congress stops acting like children? "Government Shutdown - and it's Obama's fault!" I certainly didn't agree with a number of his policies, but Fox never met a story they couldn't spin as a negative and then pin on Obama, and I always believed that was patently unfair.

Trump is no Steven Hawking, but I do think he was smart enough to realize that if he ran on the Republican ticket, CNN, MSNBC, Twitter, Tumblr, and most of Facebook would do the exact same thing to him. His options would be to either discuss actual legislation (and let the talking heads argue that), or say some outlandish things on Twitter and let those talking heads spend all day discussing Trump's Mean Tweets. Obama proved it's impossible to do anything right in the mind of a media circus that will take statements out of context and endlessly loop them. By going to the other extreme, Trump gives mass media their ratings fodder and he can deal with the issues on his own terms.

Now, I obviously have no evidence of this, but you don't have to be skilled at four dimensional chess to realize that "doing what Obama did" had its issues and decide to do the polar opposite with a clear level of success.

Re:ignorance is bliss

[LostMyBeaver]

While I smile about the joke, I disagree with the statement.

There is an obscene amount of H1-B visa abuse. But for any country to develop, it absolutely has to have open doors to skilled foreigners. Patriotism and all that crap is great for people who have nothing else to make them special. But for people who define themselves as engineers or scientists for example, the world needs to be globalist.

I moved to Norway from America 20 years ago... and I took on of their jobs. I took one of their women. I spread my seed in the country. I have worked 6 years as an IT instructor to make some extra money and have heavily influenced society and culture here. I often during breaks or to lighten the mood share more than just IT knowledge, but also things like what a Turducken is or what Bacon Explosion is. Many of my students have tried both. I work longer hours than the locals, I work harder than they do (almost universally), I produce more and I take more. In 20 years, while I'm fully functional in their language and by American standards am fluent at this point, I never speak their language to them except in rare cases. I work purely in English... though I leave them the option as to what language to speak to me in or send me e-mails in.

The only thing which differentiates me from what you see as an H1-B worker is my skin color. There are cultural differences, I directly "corrupt society" here. I change peoples habits, behavior, etc... but they also change mine and over time I've become much more like them. And because my skin is almost light enough to be Norwegian, I am welcomed and embraced. When I choose to change jobs, I insight bidding and package battles between companies... though to be fair, I rarely choose the best package in lieu of the best coworkers.

Understand than in 99% of all cases, immigrants imported in the spirit of the H1-B as opposed to the abuse of the H1-B are almost always the best and highest performing workers. They are the people most interested in being part of your society as well. They will hopefully bring the best parts of their culture and improve yours in the same way that a new spice will help your pasta sauce recipe.

H1-B is a really really really good thing if it can ever be brought under control.

I was just at Microsoft Build to update my knowledge "of the enemy" and learned a great deal and looking at the people I spoke with, I think America would be a much poorer place if the H1-Bs working at MS weren't there.

Re:Kim Jong Don Absolutely Knows What HIV Is

[LostMyBeaver]

1999, Trump takes a stab at presidential politics, he finds out people received him negatively and that he polled slightly better with Republicans than with Democrats

In 2004, Donald establishes a TV series based on presenting himself as a competent leader with companions to oversee competing groups of people of different walks of life vying to become business leaders themselves. Though he experiments for years before he identifies how to achieve ratings through placing himself above the bickering of those beneath him. He popularizes the term "Your Fired" as a trademark of his no-nonsense business tactics. He also earns the trust of many people who choose not to waste their time fact checking what they read.

In the 2008 election, Trump picks a battle with Obama and needles him and attacks him publicly to test the waters with voters to see how he would fair against Obama. A guy who literally invented the crowd-funded campaign. He basically chose a line "Change!!!" and stuck to it and raised a lot of money through micro-donations online.

By attacking Obama as opposed to adopting party standpoints, Trump began moving himself into a position of influence in the Republican party. His perpetual needling and elevating attacks of Obama and more importantly, the generally overly intellectualized return attacks towards Trump established Trump as the common "red blooded American" being attacked by this 'not-even-American" black snob looking down his nose at him.

All this time, Trump kept his different pursuits separate from one another and aimed at focus groups and aimed at polling. While running the apprentice, he made sure that week after week for 7 years, he would do one thing or another to increase his approval ratings.

Trump systematically through the primaries picked target after target and weakened them and eventually forced them out of the primaries. In addition, he even made most of them publicly support him... though sometimes with really funny coerced looks on their faces.

When it came to the election, he focused on all the little places one by one which would get him most of the small town and small state votes. He earned loyalty and town by town won the love of people who generally don't respond well to politicians that sound condescending when talking to "country folk"... in other words, the democrats... Hillary was just a nasty ass snot... especially to the country folk.

Trump then work up enough votes in the right voting districts that while he could never win popular vote, he could win loyal voters who would show up and vote for him even if it were a lost cause.

By the time election day came around, he had earned vote by vote enough loyal voters that they all showed up and Hillary spent the last few weeks bragging about how much of a land slide it would be and how people didn't even have to show up and she'd still beat him.... and he let her do that and even helped her do that. The result being that while she would have nailed the vote, she was the hair who lost to the tortoise because she was an absolute frigging moron.

Donald since he's been in office has worked almost entirely through trial and error. He throws out a proposal as if it were a law and then reads the polls to see how people respond. He then backs out on it if runs the risk of costing him political capitol working towards his one and only goal.

Every decisions he makes one by one all go back to a single solitary thing. The great wall of Trump. He builds and uses political capital little by little to earn a little more wall. Look around NYC for the name Edison and you'll understand what he's trying to accomplish. Now that he's president, it's possible that when he dies, there will be high schools names for him. He's probably hoping for a monument of some type. There will be a presidential library... probably in NYC... and he wants a big ass wall... so big it could never be practically taken down completely. 500-1000 years from now, there will be a stone gate somewhere as a monument

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[fafalone]

You mean the long history of peace between Iran and Israel is over?

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a major setback in that conflict, and pulling out of the Iran deal is a risk for our peace with them, not to mention destroying our credibility for other such arrangements. Then there's the little matter of appointing a notorious extreme warmonger named John Bolton.

Keep telling middle class people that the extra money in their paycheck is "crumbs".

Since the average amount they'll see is $20, I absolutely will.

Maybe not everyone, but individuals know whether things are improving for them or not. Unemployed people see the help wanted signs. Middle class people see the extra money in their paycheck. Investors see their 401k balance.

Plenty of people recognize things are not actually improving for them. Aside from the question of how much credit Trump deserves for unemployment, which is a whole debate in itself, of the other two things you've mentioned one is propaganda unless you think $20 is significant. The other is mostly a benefit for the wealthy; and if you really want to claim the gains the part of middle class with 401k holdings have seen is worth everything Trump has done, especially looking at the net after accelerated health insurance cost increases due to repealing the mandate without implementing any other cost control measures, that's kind of a weak argument for all the harm he's done to the poor, to our credibility, to our reputation, to our environment, to minorities, to immigrants including some legal ones, to civil rights in his Sessions appointment... and on and on.

Re:The biggest problem I have with Trump

[fafalone]

I've been extremely harsh on Trump in this thread, but on this one, the reporting didn't reflect that he was specifically referring to MS-13 members, and I can't disagree with that assessment. Now I'll stand up for every bit of civil rights and due process they're entitled to, but let's not kid ourselves about one of the most violent gangs in the country who do things like have their members beat and rob old ladies for initiation, if not randomly execute someone.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[fafalone]

The biggest problem I have with the movement is that it's viewing police civil rights abuses through the lens of race. Police abuse all races. They shoot unarmed members of all races. They illegally search members of all races. They fabricate evidence and testimony against all races (including against me, a middle class white dude). We don't need to end police abuse of black people, we need to end police abuse. That these abuses occur more frequently against black people is terrible (although sorry, they do have more interactions with police for a reason, that is purposefully ignored; and unarmed shooting fatalities after considering threat model don't even show bias), but the whole premise of confining the movement to a single race trivializes our problems with police as a whole, as if abusing/shooting more white people (which a lot of them see as a good idea), or abusing/shooting black people at the same rate as white people, would resolve the issue.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[NettiWelho]

It's completely irrational to support the spread of nuclear weapons. It's much better for all concerned if Japan never needs a nuclear program.

Can you really trust other countries to protect your sovereignty? (I wouldn't; See WW2 and allied guarantees and promises and how they were all broken, see current situation in Ukraine) Have you ever heard of "salami-tactics"?

Re: Basically any opportunity

[famebait]

You misspelled Trump.

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[Anonymous Coward]

He doesn't want to be informed you say but he asked Gates for clarification on HPV vs HIV and you're mocking him. Makes no sense. Plus he's a 70+ year old repeatedly married man to whom HPV would be "noise" at best. It isn't relevant to his lifestyle and when he was reaching adulthood there was some awareness of "VD" and not a lot of differentiation like this is today in education. As your friends, see how high is awareness of HPV. I'm aware of the cancer links for certain strains, Gardasil, etc. but I'm a geek who has sex with other men so there's more pressure to have awareness of these things in that community.

Re: Basically any opportunity

[ganjadude]

since when does the left, who is currently trying to spin a trump comment about MS-13 into a comment about illegal aliens (nancy pelosi herself is involved in the spin no less) care about spin?

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[thegarbz]

. And it's Obama's miserable performance

Miserable performance in what? By all accounts and looking at it from a different country's perspective (i.e. I don't have skin in the game of your silly politics), he seemed to leave the country better in every way than he found it despite being mostly hamstrung in many key areas where he wanted to make a difference.

Your "missed opportunity on healthcare" is especially interesting on this given what he initially proposed and what the republicans who's support it needed eventually watered it down to.

Obama represents the hubris of technocrats, progressives, and intellectuals.

Reminds me of the Farage comments "people are sick of experts". That's Anti-intellectualism at its finest. A great way to run politics if your idea of politics is people bashing each other with sticks, and the muscliest man gets to impregnate all the women.

Re:The biggest problem I have with Trump

[ganjadude]

so your biggest issue with trump is a comment taken out of context by the media and the democrats calling MS-13 animals, which they went and applied that to mean all immigrants?

THAT is your biggest issue with trump

In other words, you dont have any issue with him

Re:The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astounding

[penandpaper]

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a major setback in that conflict

But it was literally law since the 90's that our embassy would be in Jerusalem. Trump followed the law and a campaign promise unlike every other president before that made that promise and lied. You may not like it but following the law and a promise is a mark of good character for a president. Hamas and Iran will use anything as an excuse for violence especially if they can get a good photo-up western media will lap up. "protestors" killed that just so happen to be mostly Hamas.

pulling out of the Iran deal is a risk for our peace with them, not to mention destroying our credibility for other such arrangements.

The US never agreed to the Iran deal. Full stop. Obama made a promise he couldn't keep. Obama didn't have authority to make such a deal binding to other administrations. Obama made a promise and kept it for as long as he was in office. The US did not break any promise or deal. Not following the law to get what you want and lying about the pretenses is the mark of a bad character for a president.

I am sorry but the damage to US credibility is because of a president making promises without consent of the Senate expecting "not a treaty" to be treated as law by the rest of the government. There is no defending the Iran deal as struck by Obama and friends. He created a quagmire the moment he went around Congress.

Re: The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astoundin

[penandpaper]

provided any proof that Obama couldn't make the deal,

Proof? Like Iran not signing on the deal because "not a treaty"? I am sorry but this doesn't make any sense. Sure, Obama can promise things that Obama can fulfill like "political commitments" but when it comes to promises of the United States the Senate must approve precisely because of shit like this. Obama set the Iran deal up for failure by ignoring the Congress. That is not how the US operates and Obama should have known better instead of trying to create a legacy built on lies and executive overreach.

What really makes Trump make US look like shit is how it's going against it's allies on these deals.

Because our Allies were fed the same bullshit lies that Obama could keep his political commitments after his term ended. Absolutely it causes problems and it makes our government look retarded. Because the United States did not agree to anything and this is exactly why the Senate must approve deals and treaties and that they have the same effect as law when approved properly. You want a treaty to be taken seriously in the US and not subject to the whims of the president? Follow that damn law and have the Senate approve. Obama was a damned fool and his "legacy" will be one of overreach, failure, and lies.

Re: The Anti-Trump Drivel on Slashdot is Astoundin

[ooloorie]

Are you high? None of that is true, thinking of abortions and hypocrisy off the top of my head.

How does the Republican position ("fetuses are human beings and deserving of the same protections as children") contradict "freedom of association, private property, free markets, and freedom of speech"? Where do you see the "hypocrisy"?

They're still human beings

[rsilvergun]

and calling them animals is still a problem. Did you know there were death squads set up in parts of South America to kill street urchins like rats because they were a nuisance to the tourist industry? This is a real thing that happened in the 20th century. No human being should ever be called an animal. Ever. That will always end the same way. Concentration camps and death squads. Because once you get folks thinking that a person isn't a person then you can kill with impunity. And they will _always_ come for you when you become inconvenient.