1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

I would not say Australia is the healthiest nation on the planet.

Take a look at Russell Crowe. He put on a fair amount of weight.

He used to be ripped.

Or maybe it was intentional for recent acting roles, but not even sure it's healthy to do that.

13 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Take a look at Russell Crowe. He put on a fair amount of weight.

He used to be ripped.

Or maybe it was intentional for recent acting roles, but not even sure it's healthy to do that.

He is a Kiwi and too rich to care.

Must just be me, but, hard to lable the only president that went from bankruptcy to Billionaire, as the dumbest.

Any billionaires or millionaires on AN. Any not retired yet, who wish they were. Or can't afford to retire to TH, or elswhere, or maybe did, but now would like to return to, but can't afford to return to home country.

Now ... who is calling who dumb ???

1 hour ago, save the frogs said:

I was overweight for a while.

I honestly just thought it was a normal part of aging to have a belly, since practically everyone starts getting a belly after a certain age.

After much research and discipline, I worked on it.

But it's hard work as the body becomes increasingly insulin resistant as you age, your metabolism slows down, if you work out it takes longer to recover, etc ...

And there are so many temptations.

If you have a big family, there will be many parties and therefore cakes and all sorts of fattening foods at celebrations.

Most socializing takes place in bars. And people use alcohol to unwind. Beer = liquid bread = carbs = useless calories

When you're 20, the body is resilient.

After a certain age, you practically have to be a monk or a zen master or a hermit to keep the weight down. Everyone around you will think you're nuts for turning down birthday cake, pizza and wings and chips during the football match.

The world is conspiring to keep you fat with abundance of food everywhere.

Also, there are some genetics at play and some people remain thin with the same food intake as fat guys. The fat guys just got the crappier genes. A lot of the genes come from our ancestors, who to varying degrees, had to fight off famine and starvation ... which is what stored fat is in the first place. The body preparing for famine, which doesn't exist in today's world.

I just had a slice of pizza, but I never do a whole pizza anymore. Those were wild times.

In Australia, I tipped the scales at 100 kg. Retiring to Thailand, I got down to 93 kg. I am now 75 kg, normal BMI.

I discovered it's not how much you eat, it is what you eat. I still eat heaps of protein, cheese, fruit and yoghurt.

OTOH, sugar is banned. So is alcohol. I will have a small pizza once a week. Apart from that, the only carbs I eat are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and almonds.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Must just be me, but, hard to lable the only president that went from bankruptcy to Billionaire, as the dumbest.

Any billionaires or millionaires on AN. Any not retired yet, who wish they were. Or can't afford to retire to TH, or elswhere, or maybe did, but now would like to return to, but can't afford to return to home country.

Now ... who is calling who dumb ???

It takes a real genius to bankrupt three casinos, where people line up to give you money at an average house edge of 15%.

Nobody knows how much Trump really has, and how much of it is debt. The only known figure is $400 million, given to him by his father.

I'd say it is beyond dumb when people buy gold sneakers and Bibles made in China from him. Ditto people who donate to his political campaigns.

No, I am not a millionaire. IMO anyone who measures a person's worth by their bank balance is shallower than a mud puddle.

9 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

o, I am not a millionaire. IMO anyone who measures a person's worth by their bank balance is shallower than a mud puddle.

It does take intelligence to amass a lot of money.

But that doesn't mean it should be the only criteria to measure a person's worth.

Trump was born in a rich family.

But not everyone who is born in a rich family continues the legacy and continues to build more wealth. Some kids from rich families don't do much except spend their father's money. His brother wanted to be an airline pilot (fairly normal job).

And it's not only to do with IQ. It has to do with willpower, tenacity, drive ... there's a whole host of characteristics that determine what a person will do with their life.

I do not have enough tenacity or the personality to become a tycoon. I simply don't have it in me. It takes a certain kind of person.

To think Trump is just an ordinary or below average human being is foolish. He climbed to the highest ranks in real estate and got himself into a leadership role in politics.

Trump is an over-achiever compared to most mere mortals.

24 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

No, I am not a millionaire. IMO anyone who measures a person's worth by their bank balance is shallower than a mud puddle.

Slight deflection, as not exactly what I commented on. Simply stated it does take quite a bit of intelligence, to go from bankruptcy, to multi millionaire or billionaire status.

Makes him far from the dumbest anything. Especially if compared to AN folks posting silliness about him.

Nobody disputed his billionaire status when running for president, after he filed his finances, so assume his filings were fairly accurate, since every aspect of his life has been scutinized.

2 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Slight deflection, as not exactly what I commented on. Simply stated it does take quite a bit of intelligence, to go from bankruptcy, to multi millionaire or billionaire status.

Makes him far from the dumbest anything. Especially if compared to AN folks posting silliness about him.

Nobody disputed his billionaire status when running for president, after he filed his finances, so assume his filings were fairly accurate, since every aspect of his life has been scutinized.

Not the most "interesting" part, due to the fact that his personal lawyer is running the DOJ and is preventing the release of the juiciest parts of the Epstein files from being published.

Because he knows that if that happens, even some of the spineless maggots in the GOP would be forced to rediscover their spine.

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Take a look at Russell Crowe. He put on a fair amount of weight.

He used to be ripped.

Or maybe it was intentional for recent acting roles, but not even sure it's healthy to do that.

Check him out in Unhinged. The changes Christian Bale in the Machinist and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club were also extreme, and not healthy, but that's being a good actor fitting into a part.

32 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

It does take intelligence to amass a lot of money.

But that doesn't mean it should be the only criteria to measure a person's worth.

Trump was born in a rich family.

But not everyone who is born in a rich family continues the legacy and continues to build more wealth. Some kids from rich families don't do much except spend their father's money. His brother wanted to be an airline pilot (fairly normal job).

And it's not only to do with IQ. It has to do with willpower, tenacity, drive ... there's a whole host of characteristics that determine what a person will do with their life.

I do not have enough tenacity or the personality to become a tycoon. I simply don't have it in me. It takes a certain kind of person.

To think Trump is just an ordinary or below average human being is foolish. He climbed to the highest ranks in real estate and got himself into a leadership role in politics.

Trump is an over-achiever compared to most mere mortals.

Others had a huge part in helping Trump make millions more, including his father, investors and partners. If someone gives you many millions to start, going into real estate with good partners can easily make you more. Greed helps millionaires become multi millionaires. Good partners with real estate sense for the market can help immeasurably.

3 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Others had a huge part in helping Trump make millions more, including his father, investors and partners. If someone gives you many millions to start, going into real estate with good partners can easily make you more. Greed helps millionaires become multi millionaires. Good partners with real estate sense for the market can help immeasurably.

That's why I stated, 'from bankruptcy to ..." as anyone starting out with 1M, pretty hard to state, you're a self made milliionaire. Managing your finances from bankruptcy (a few), to billionaire, takes a wee bit of intelligence.

Flip coin, plenly of folks have been given, earned or won millions, and still lost it all, and remained poor. It takes more than just money.

Edited Monday at 07:51 AM3 days by KhunLA

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

That's why I stated, 'from bankruptcy to ..." as anyone starting out with 1M, pretty hard to state, you're a self made milliionaire. Managing your finances from bankruptcy (a few), to billionaire, takes a wee bit of intelligence.

Flip coin, plenly of folks have been given, earned or won millions, and still lost it all, and remained poor. It takes more than just money.

Help, especially smart partners and investors with a proven track record, can make anyone who invests cash more money. Trump started out with millions and was given more. Only a complete moron could possibly burn through what he was given, especially if you purchase real estate.

People who aren't frugal to start with are more likely to burn through money than those who are. Some who win lotteries do waste cash on frivolous things, like parties, drugs and too many boats or cars.

Trump has never shown real intelligence when he talks over many years, but he's likely learned things along the way that have made him money, along with losing a lot along the way. If he started with much less, he might not be where he is today with those losses adding up.

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Must just be me, but, hard to lable the only president that went from bankruptcy to Billionaire, as the dumbest.

Any billionaires or millionaires on AN. Any not retired yet, who wish they were. Or can't afford to retire to TH, or elswhere, or maybe did, but now would like to return to, but can't afford to return to home country.

Now ... who is calling who dumb ???

It not a mark of intelligence to be able to accumulate money. Thieves and cheats can do it with alarming regularity.

Kind of sad when you praise that kind of person for their intelligence. In that case, pickpockets must rate highly on your list.

I could have made a lot more money, had I the tendency to lie or to behave unethically or even merely to be greedy.

Looking at the commercials on US TV growing up, gave me a good idea of what the US was about. Never give a sucker an even break.

I'm more into spreading it around a bit, than keeping everything for myself. DJ Trump is an unethical, narcissistic scammer. The fact that so many admire such a character, speaks ill of the country.

10 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

That's why I stated, 'from bankruptcy to ..." as anyone starting out with 1M, pretty hard to state, you're a self made milliionaire. Managing you finances from bankruptcy, to billionaire, takes a wee bit of intelligence.

Flip coin, plenly of folks have been given, earned or won millions, and still lost it all, and remained poor. It takes more than just money.

Are you still banging on about this one?

He's a lying scumbag.

Almost everything he does is a scam. The people who benefit from it are happy to go along with his schemes.

If that is admirable intelligence for you, then I have nothing more to add.

26 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Others had a huge part in helping Trump make millions more, including his father, investors and partners. If someone gives you many millions to start, going into real estate with good partners can easily make you more. Greed helps millionaires become multi millionaires. Good partners with real estate sense for the market can help immeasurably.

The man is a confidence trickster. Nothing more.

46 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Nobody disputed his billionaire status when running for president, after he filed his finances, so assume his filings were fairly accurate,

When did he "file his finances"? He scammed his way through that process too.

He was taking money from the Russians and Saudis, because he'd run out of thread in the USA.

That's why he's 'friends' with the Saudis now.

1 hour ago, save the frogs said:

It does take intelligence to amass a lot of money.

But that doesn't mean it should be the only criteria to measure a person's worth.

Trump was born in a rich family.

But not everyone who is born in a rich family continues the legacy and continues to build more wealth. Some kids from rich families don't do much except spend their father's money. His brother wanted to be an airline pilot (fairly normal job).

And it's not only to do with IQ. It has to do with willpower, tenacity, drive ... there's a whole host of characteristics that determine what a person will do with their life.

I do not have enough tenacity or the personality to become a tycoon. I simply don't have it in me. It takes a certain kind of person.

To think Trump is just an ordinary or below average human being is foolish. He climbed to the highest ranks in real estate and got himself into a leadership role in politics.

Trump is an over-achiever compared to most mere mortals.

Rubbish. Trump was a failed businessman his whole life. Always going bankrupt due to his lack of foresight and planning. Kind of like his presidency. If his father hadn't continually bailed him out he would have been penniless. Now his corruption is making him and his crime family wealthy. Hardly something to be proud of.

1 minute ago, gargamon said:

Trump was a failed businessman his whole life.

I was a failed businessman my whole life too.

I never started a business.

At least he tried.

Yes. He is not only the dumbest by a long shot, he's also one of the most poorly educated, one of the least literate, one of the least articulate, one of the most dishonest, and one of the creepiest presidents America has ever had.

Something that seems to pass people by is that the man has absolutely no class. He is an ignorant (comparing himself to Nelson Mandela is a recent that reveals his lack of self awareness) loud-mouthed tasteless American, who is interested only in himself and no-one and nothing. 

This sums him up perfectly:

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

"A few things spring to mind. 

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. 

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. 

There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of BS and untruth. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W. look smart and articulate. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: 'My God… what… have… I… created?

Unappealing, unattractive, idiotic, incompetent, hateful, hurtful, abrasive, rude, blowhard, liar, cheater, thief, infantile, failure, loser, fraud, sexual abuser, incestuous, tax cheat, insurrectionist, un-American, dictator-loving dictator wannabe, out of control, sociopathic, convicted felon, toxic narcissist & brutish A-hole.

I think that one of the aspects that kind of solves the riddle of Trump, is his toxic mind and consciousness. I truly believe that within that inner cauldron that some would refer to as his mind exists a state of bitterness, hatred, disillusionment, racism, utter nastiness, the pathological desire for revenge against any orecrovrd slight, an incredible lack of fulfillment, loneliness and true despair. Of course much of that is masked by his bluster and his bragadachio, but we all know where that comes from. 

 

Everything about the con-man referred to as Trump is unlikeable. He's everything wrong with the human animal, all stuffed into one specimen.

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Per capita of population, Australia takes in 3 times as many immigrants as America does. And I don't want to live in Australia, either. I have a much better standard of living in Thailand.

Well its a good thing we weren't talking about per capita but rather total amount.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Slight deflection, as not exactly what I commented on. Simply stated it does take quite a bit of intelligence, to go from bankruptcy, to multi millionaire or billionaire status.

Makes him far from the dumbest anything. Especially if compared to AN folks posting silliness about him.

Nobody disputed his billionaire status when running for president, after he filed his finances, so assume his filings were fairly accurate, since every aspect of his life has been scutinized.

IIRC the starting point of this thread was Trump stating he believed the assurances of Putin and Xi they were not assisting Iran.

Trump is smart at swindling people, so what? Does that make him any less dumb in attacking Iran, predicting a four day war, then making a statement like that?

Every aspect of his life has been scrutinized? I guess the Epstein files pass your BS filters, redactions are immaterial.

Sounds to me like you are giving Trump a free pass purely on the basis of wealth. That says a lot about you.

24 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

IIRC the starting point of this thread was Trump stating he believed the assurances of Putin and Xi they were not assisting Iran.

Trump is smart at swindling people, so what? Does that make him any less dumb in attacking Iran, predicting a four day war, then making a statement like that?

Every aspect of his life has been scrutinized? I guess the Epstein files pass your BS filters, redactions are immaterial.

Sounds to me like you are giving Trump a free pass purely on the basis of wealth. That says a lot about you.

TBH, I don't think I even read the OP, as I usually ignore your postings. I was just addressing the title. Not even making reference to the OP, Putin, Xi or Iran, in my replies.

I find it futile and boring to try to have a conversation about politics on AN, as don't find many with the intelligence to engage in a real conversation.

Really hard to when their vocabulary is filled with: dumbest, Hitler, dictator, nazi, fascist, rapist, fat, orange man, etc etc etc.

My dog is more intersting to have a conversation with. For the record, many things I don't like about Trump, and probably more than things I like about him. Doesn't get a pass from me, I prefer not to live in the negative. Living is a positive experience for me.

That his existence is a trigger to so many, is the best thing about him.

Edited Monday at 09:47 AM3 days by KhunLA

43 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

TBH, I don't think I even read the OP, as I usually ignore your postings. I was just addressing the title. Not even making reference to the OP, Putin, Xi or Iran, in my replies.

I find it futile and boring to try to have a conversation about politics on AN, as don't find many with the intelligence to engage in a real conversation.

Really hard to when their vocabulary is filled with: dumbest, Hitler, dictator, nazi, fascist, rapist, fat, orange man, etc etc etc.

My dog is more intersting to have a conversation with. For the record, many things I don't like about Trump, and probably more than things I like about him. Doesn't get a pass from me, I prefer not to live in the negative. Living is a positive experience for me.

That his existence is a trigger to so many, is the best thing about him.

Thanks for the confirmation. That's the thing about Americans, up themselves so far they are looking at the world via their molars.

Edited Monday at 10:33 AM3 days by Lacessit

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

TBH, I don't think I even read the OP, as I usually ignore your postings. I was just addressing the title. Not even making reference to the OP, Putin, Xi or Iran, in my replies.

I find it futile and boring to try to have a conversation about politics on AN, as don't find many with the intelligence to engage in a real conversation.

Really hard to when their vocabulary is filled with: dumbest, Hitler, dictator, nazi, fascist, rapist, fat, orange man, etc etc etc.

My dog is more intersting to have a conversation with. For the record, many things I don't like about Trump, and probably more than things I like about him. Doesn't get a pass from me, I prefer not to live in the negative. Living is a positive experience for me.

That his existence is a trigger to so many, is the best thing about him.

You:

"Doesn't get a pass from me, I prefer not to live in the negative. Living is a positive experience for me."

Also you:

"That his existence is a trigger to so many, is the best thing about him."

So just another "stick it to the lib", cut off your nose to spite your face kind of a guy. Yep, really positive.

I would rather say more of a corrupt, a bully and totally unaware of the consequences in his decisions. This added to his arrogant american ego...well we all see the diaster of the Gulf war and the humiliation America is taking. But have those in office before Trump been all that better ? Sure, they all had the absurd talk that politicians are trained for...but their decisions were as harmful as what Trump is now making even worse. Sorry, no offence please to my american friends. 🙏

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

No, I am not a millionaire. IMO anyone who measures a person's worth by their bank balance is shallower than a mud puddle

spoken by someone who has nothing and spews hate at those who have something

Edited Monday at 12:02 PM3 days by Yagoda

7 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

spoken by someone who has nothing and spews hate at those who have something

Prejudice rears it's head from ignorance. Lumping all into one is prejudice and ignorance. Very easy to be lazy without understanding the whole truth. Some take individuality out of a person and put all of a nationality, creed or race into one box.  Their knowledge is insufficient and they tend to use shallow reasoning.

Edited Monday at 12:20 PM3 days by fredwiggy

5 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Prejudice rears it's head from ignorance. Lumping all into one is prejudice and ignorance. Very easy to be lazy without understanding the whole truth. Some take individuality out of a person and put all of a nationality, creed or race into one box.  Their knowledge is insufficient and they tend to use shallow reasoning.

because they are envious and bitter. so easy to diagnose.

Trump is massively stupid about most things, but in his areas of talent he is truly remarkable.

Arguably he is the most brilliant propagandist in the the history of the world.

On 7/25/2026 at 10:26 PM, Lacessit said:

Trump is a billionaire because he is smarter than a lot of Americans. What does that say about their critical thinking skills?

I last owed money for anything more than 50 years ago. Unlike Trump, I made my money without swindling people.

I give trump credit for being a great conman that knows how to refuse to pay his bills and tell lie after lie and still have 30 million cult members who cheer him on , buy his crypto crap, bibles, watches, superhero mems and vote for him if he sent them a shxt sandwich.