could Trump or Sanders handle a situation like the WTC attack?

okay, a thought experiment NON PARTISAN thank you very much. So I'm watching a National Geographic show (very extensive & detailed) about the chaos & confusion of the Sept 11 attacks on the WTC & Pentagon & crash in the field in Pennsylvania and the subsequent holy shit stressful days immediately following the attacks. Whether you approve of Bush's responses or not is a moot point. My point is Bush was in his mid 50's and in above average shape when the shit hit the fan, and he had to deal with the immediate aftermath of the attack and the early years of deploying thousands of troops to the sandbox. All that pressure, all that responsibility, all the life changing decisions in his hands.

My point is could senior citizens Trump, Sanders or Biden handle a similar situation without totally imploding/exploding from a heart attack, stroke or mental breakdown? Obama or Bill Clinton could weather the storm no fucking doubt about it.

Being a wartime president is challenging enough when the war is already started and you are handed the baton. But when you are on the starting line when race starts that's a whole different breed of cat.
It's incredibly draining on their physical and mental health. If Bush were his current age of 73 when Sept 11 occurred would he have been able to handle it short term & long term? We'll never know I guess but it really got me to thinking about a senior citizen HMIC during a "make or break" situation. Discuss!

I think that's Eric Andre - but I don't get the joke. Sike? Explain please.

What do you call handling it? Are you asking whether they would be able to stay calm enough that they don't die?

Trump? No.
Sanders? Yes.

It comes down less to the individual and more to the people they have in place. Just from seeing his campaign, Bernie has a hell of a capable organization. He tends to pick really good people who excel at their jobs. That's where it really counts. Bernie's team could do what needed to be done to maintain order, execute plans designed for emergencies, explore the possibilities of retaliation if necessary, etc.

Trump? Well he claims to pick the best people, but his track record shows a different story. He's also a narcissist who wants to make the 'big' decisions himself, and ends up fucking them up so badly people have to try and repair the damage before it affects everyone else.

Bush was a jackass, but at least he tamped down the bigots.

Trump would hand out rifles, and "I took out a sandnigger for liberty", t-shirts.

Trump's problem is even if he had great people he might not listen to them or follow their advice. When the shit hits the fan your ego should be on the back burner.

Stay classy Diacanu. Amaris posted right before you and actually brought something to the table with a coherent statement rather than just rote Trump insults.

Trump is so ridiculous, simply stating the truth about his shortcomings comes across as a one liner in an SNL skit.
It can't be helped.

In one of the debates, Sanders was asked about having to order a drone strike to take out someone. His response was a calm, measured one, in which he said that it is one of the unfortunate things that a President has to do at times.

This is the famous pic of the Situation Room during the raid that took out OBL.



Biden looks like he's taking things almost as seriously as Obama was.

On 9/11, Cheney is rumored to have been losing his shit over events. W, of course, kept reading "My Pet Goat" to the kids before leaving.

There is no way to tell how anyone will react under real pressure until it happens to them. If you had asked me on 9/10 if W could deal with something like 9/11, I'd have said "No." On 9/11, I was in a restaurant with a friend when W came on TV to give his address to the nation about what happened. Everybody STFU and watched him talk. He gave a good speech, not a great one, but it was far better than I would have given him credit for a few days before. Do I think that Trump could give such a speech? No. It's absolutely not his style. Sanders? I don't know. Even if he gave a good or great speech, I'm not sure that his is the voice or face that I'd want to see at that moment. The same is true of Biden. Warren? Again, I don't know. The same is true of Buttigieg and the others running.

Honestly, either one of them would handle it better than Bush did.

Trump would be too incompetent to engage into the Forever War that Bush did.

And Sanders would be too competent to engage in a war against someone who never attacked us.

So I guess the best compliment I could pay Trump is that he is dumber than Bush.

Trump is a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. You don't get to be a con artist of his caliber to fuck over 90 percent of your business partners by complete accident.

Bush was a human being with some sense of decency and a respect for the office, no matter how he came by it the first time. I can absolutely buy that some wool got into his eyes more than once. Trump is a straight up huskter who's had yes men around him since he popped out his momma's cooter with a silver spoon in his mouth. He's never had to care about others beyond what he profited and it shows.

OK Ellen.

Ssss, yeeaaah, about that...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-08-12-9908120344-story.html

Relevant bit...

(Mocking Karla Faye Tucker who he denied a stay of execution to)

" 'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.' "

And remember, Bush is a Christian.
Or, he at least put a big fat show on of being one.

I always get a morbid chuckle at pro death penalty Christians.

Um, hello?
Jesus died from unjust capital punishment!

I wouldn’t trust either of them to fold my laundry

I'm not sure it's possible to fold your laundry.

Responses in this thread:

1. My guy would swing into action like Batman.

2. Your guy would (a) melt into a puddle and beg al-Qaida for forgiveness; or (b) nuke the whole planet just to make sure.

The truth? In the short-term, much the same. In the longer term? Who knows?

You mom does. Btw she just liked my Instagram post from two years ago in Puerto Vallarta. Tell her I'll put my swimming trunks on for her anytime she likes

Trump is a narcissistic sociopath. He'd be ok with it.

The world? Not sure.

Bernie might have another heart attack.

wasn't Soleimani being assassinated supposed to be the "ridiculous option"? and Donny took it anyway?

I mean, the fact that we're looking back at GWB as statesman like and competent alone says volumes... but yeah, when he was over his head, he listened to more informed advisers. Donny would go full War Measures Act and seize the opportunity to stay in office for the duration.

Sanders? I honestly don't think you'd wind up with foreign terrorism-at least not anywhere close to that scale. Even with a 9-11 type event I suspect he'd opt for diplomacy/phony war until a UN or at least NATO response was on the table.

She always was good with detergent.

And fond of cetaceans.

A UN or NATO response to another 9-11 type event in the U.S? They wouldn't respond to jack shit on their own without our promting. If they did they'd fuck it up anyway. Here's an example of the U.N. inaction. Not a typo, I mean "inaction" not in action:

https://www.hrw.org/report/1995/10/...ailure-un-peacekeeping/bosnia-and-herzegovina

Oh, no need to remind me of that era...

but "prompting"?
that's a nice euphemism for demanding and sense of entitlement.

No matter, the point is someone like Sanders would have the sense to confer with advisers... Trump would be launching cruise missiles at everything in sight without knowing the actual source of attack.

Ohhhh!!
I should have said "next time, I'll wrap myself in photos of Mexican internment camps, and I'll become invisible to you, and 'classy', won't even be a consideration".
Dammit!

you missed my point! By "prompting" I meant the U.S. can't depend on them to initiate any action to help us under their own initiative. They don't have our six! If we don't get the ball rolling they will generally

so, ungrateful too? I mean, we had first responders and such heading for NYC before tower 2 crumbled while providing a safe port for hundreds of diverted flights.
Besides, when America wants to get a ball rolling, it almost inevitably rolls somewhere resource rich... :/

by "we" do you mean Canada the country or Canada representing the U.N? Canada the country is okay - the U.N. as an entity is basically worthless as tits on a pipe wrench.

If you think the UN is worthless because they get in the way of military action easily starting I think you fundamentally misunderstand the purpose of the UN.

actually I think the U.N. is worthless because they get in the way of pretty much every action. I hope I cleared that up!