I reflexively want to be generous in my assessment of what the post-election Trump Grill says about the Trump presidency. Perhaps it’s a sign that Trump is in over his head, and a shallow, mediocre man who runs a shallow, mediocre business empire (and restaurant) would sink and implode, crushing the expectations of millions of his hopeful supporters.

What green-eyed street punks these prog losers are! I already knew that, but it's joyous to watch Vanity Fair (or is that Faire?) dump the slop bucket of their plebeian partisanship.

Can't wait for him to Lie® about Obamacare, lie about being shot at in Bosnia, call half the nation "deplorable" or bitter people clinging to their guns and religion, blame {select scapegoat here} others for election results, take two Air Force jets on vacation, play ~400 rounds of golf...
You know, the things "adults" do.

What a disappointment that he hasn't received a Nobel for what he intends.

Nah. Let's write about a business with his name on it whose actual manager is failing. Yeah, I get that his name is on it. You DO know that if he paid attention to that right now, he'd be blamed for not concentrating on taking office, right? Whiners are already mad he's still apparently on Twitter.

Somebody else is complaining that the people he's selected for the Cabinet aren't "educated" enough. Like they have a clue.

Still crying "wolf!"

Trump, in the eyes of leftists, has never, and will never do anything good.

So, instead of seeing that their delusions/lies helped give rise to Trump and, thereby, change their ways the left has decided that their bubble isn't thick enough; so, they double down and wrap themselves even tighter into their own little cocoons.

They are beyond pity at this point - mock them, mock them with all we have. And then mock them even more. The left will, hopefully, become nothing more than a good laugh for the next 8 years!

Nobody liked Hillary, Radwaste. But that doesn't mean Trump is a good businessman, hasn't cheated contractors, etc.

I'm not a "leftist," Charles.

I still don't think Trump is a good businessman. I think he had enough money and a big enough line of bullshit to cover for being a bad one, and eventually, a persona that did well on TV.

Oh for Pete's sake. Do you think Trump orders the food for that restaurant? Or hired the cooks? You can love Hillary and hate Trump all you want, but I know you can find better reasons to try to swing us to your way of thinking than this.

So part of what makes a successful business person is how you deal with failures. Trump certainly has had failures in his career. But he didn't let that discourage him from trying new ideas. It comes with the territory. My stepfather recently retired from a successful business that he has owned for the past 30 years. I recall one episode where he purchased a factory right before world events caused a downturn in business, and he and my mom had to ante up a six-figure number to get out from under it. (Not to mention the pain of having to lay off the employees, in an economically disadvantaged area.)

Lebowitz' statement about "a poor person's idea of a rich person" comes across to me as rather condescending: "You may have made a lot of money, but you'll never have the cool that us political elites have." I've seen a reminder recently, in a column that IIRC was from the New York Post, that in the U.S., most poor people do not resent wealth per se, because they aspire to be wealthy themselves. Trump does a good job of presenting an image as a self-made man (even though he really isn't), so the fact that he is wealthy is actually a plus with his less wealthy supporters. What those supporters resent are people who appear to have unearned status (the column mentioned professionals, because such people are often the managers and hence the bosses at the places where a lot of Trump supporters work). That describes a whole lot of the ruling class, and it is probably the #1 thing that the ruling class doesn't get about Trump's support.

We've talked here the last couple of years about the new political alignment of the productive vs. the entitled, and how you can't tell just by looking at wealth, or lack of it, which group someone belongs to. Trump's election appears to be the first shot fired across the entitled's bow by the productive. So far the entitled haven't mounted an effective response. But they will eventually. A lot will then depend on how much effort the productive class is willing and able to put in, because they have to find time to do it while still working their jobs, whereas the entitled have time on their hands to engage in 24/7 politics.

It is too late for the pebbles to vote. The avalanche has already started.

Look at his cabinet. Not to many "yes men" in the bunch. That's a promising sign.

So, one person's opinion of the food served at a restaurant bearing his name and in his building is a fair assessment of Trump's skills as a businessman?

Not whether the restaurant attracts customers, provides value for the price, or makes a profit. But what one person, already opposed to Trump, thinks of the food.

This is what passes for a critique of Trump with the Left? Seriously?

Then what are we to make of Hillary's skills when judging her by the phone system her eponymous foundation established in Haiti? Or the paperboard shacks passed off as emergency housing by the same foundation? Do we hold her to the same standards?

Why are people always so triggered when you criticize their shitty guy?

I can't turn anywhere and read anything without "But Hilary did this" or "But Obama did that".

If I go to a leftist site, which I often do, it's always "But Trump", "But Bush".

Every place I go it's always an echo chamber. Its like that in these comments. You guys are real nasty to Amy and accuse her of being a leftist. LMAO..

It's like you can't criticize anyone on their own shit, because all you get is "well the other side has stinky shit too!''

This restaurant blows and it blows even more that my president is throwing a shit fit on twitter over it and is more obsessed with meeting with Ye than getting intelligence briefings.

One thing I am loving though is how suddenly conservatives love "Bush doesn't care about black people" Kanye West because he is on their side-- little realizing this dude just had a psychotic break and is generally a pretty die hard sjw. But again he is pro Trump right now so it's all water under the bridge.

It looks like Trump is completely uninterested in the presidency which makes me happy.

By the way they are mocking the restaurant because its good for business. Their sales just went up.

Conservative rags do this with Obama too. How he's the literal devil when he's just a charming good looking dude that paved the way for a Trump presidency.

People just like to hear their own opinion reaffirmed and pay good money for it.

Sorry, Amy. I wasn't referring to you as the leftist. I was referring to the author of that Vanity Fair hit piece.

My apologies since I didn't make that clear.

For the next 4-8 years we will see a lot, and I mean a lot, of hit pieces passing themselves off as news about the "real" Donald Trump.

We saw this crap with Palin and Romney; and now we will see them do it to Trump.

They also spread fake news about the "wonderfulness" of Obama and Hillary.

I just wish the news media would be, well, the news media.

Not that "Vanity Fair" was ever "news."

I just wish I could go to a site that isn't an echo chamber of similar beliefs about political figures and people could criticize their own guy as well as the other sides.

Most of y'all hate Obama and Hilary. I got it. You're speaking to the choir here. We need more liberal commentators it might spruce up the place.

Is there a way for me to diversify the place? Can I get some affirmative action programs up in here?

The article comes across as petty. Plenty of reasons to criticize the guy but relentlessly criticizing everything tends to devalue the important and substantive discussions that should be had. But let's talk about this crummy restaurant, right?

Petty sells. We just elected a guy cuz he is petty af.

Lebowitz' statement about "a poor person's idea of a rich person" comes across to me as rather condescending: "You may have made a lot of money, but you'll never have the cool that us political elites have."

It's ironic that she said it at something called "the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit" (?), but it's also got the ring of truth to it. That penthouse looks like Liberace's bidet.

I tend to think we elected him despite his pettiness. Which only undescores how disastrous a candidate HRC was. Only among his most diehard fans does it seem to be a plus.

Nah. Not in spite of, but because.

People love pettiness. They tell you they don't. They will tell you in spite of it they like Trump because they are better than that. But the moment he rants against someone they hate they eat it up protesting the whole way through of course.

Obama is equally petty but he does it in a classy way that Hilary could never pull off. Hence why people just thought she was an unlikable turd.

Trump's bankruptcies -- banks only take all when you have just a little to take. There's suddenly leeway when they're owed millions or billions.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-filed-bankruptcy-times/story?id=13419250

The election is over and Trump won. He hasn't yet taken office. This criticism is both petty and irrelevant. I will save mine for when he actually does something as president that merits it. He will. But not today.

I was in a McDonald's a couple of days ago and my fries weren't hot, the Quarter Pounder™ was dry.

Gee, they must suck at business.

Lebowitz' statement about "a poor person's idea of a rich person" comes across to me as rather condescending: "You may have made a lot of money, but you'll never have the cool that us political elites have."
_____________________________________

She's a humorist and journalist. (Not a political elite, per se.) She's always been known for being snarky. People don't really think of her as condescending. They just learn the rules of conversing with her and don't take anything personally.

Here's a quotation of hers from years ago, which may help explain what she meant:

"Prior to the Reagan era, the newly rich aped the old rich. But that isn't true any longer. Donald Trump is making no effort to behave like Eleanor Roosevelt as far as I can see."

*When the steak came out wrong I blamed the owner, who did not order or cook the food.*

The next four years are going to be very entertaining.

Petty sells. We just elected a guy cuz he is petty af.

No.

We elected this guy because a lot of us in flyover country are fucking sick and tired of having people who have no clue what our lives are like preaching sermons to us on stupid shit because they think we're too stupid to live without their help.

Trump is the great big poke in the eye business as usual in DC.

So exact same reason Obama was elected?

Geez arent people predictable.

All you have to do is tell them you'll change Washington DC and be really good on tv.p

"So exact same reason Obama was elected?"

Where do you get that? Did you really believe that "Hope and Change" BS?

Because, unlike Teh Donald, Mr. Obama actually had this thing called a voting record, that would tell anyone who looked at it he was a steaming pile.

Fraid you are out there Ppen. You don't get why Trump got elected. He certainly isn't the right wing Obama.

As for Trump being a good businessman, not really. He is fairly average. All the bankruptcy stuff is pretty normal if you know anything about the real estate business. And the cheated contractors stuff is the same. He isn't a great business man. After all, as Crid endlessly points out if he had just put his inheritance in a S&P500 index fund he would have a lot more money. But he is actually doing a lot better than something like 80% of people who inherit like that. So he isn't a bad business man either.

As for the "a poor person's idea of a rich person" line, yeah that's about right. But that is also Ppen's snarky echo chamber at work. Only it's the MSM snarky echo chamber.

Trump won. Get over it.

And that S&P trope doesn't wash because sitting around on your pile of cash like Scrooge McDuck creates (nearly) zero jobs. How many poeple earn paychecks and pay taxes due to Trump's "horrible" business acumen?

That is a different metric Seppo. A businessman's success isn't measured by how many people he employs. It is measured by how much money he makes. Business isn't a charity.

But I understand what you are saying.

(Not directed at you Seppo) I've kinda hit Trump bitchfest saturation. My first reaction to any negative Trump piece is, 'Oh, another stupid whiner. Whatever.' There just have been too many pointless and stupid hit pieces so I've maxed out my care-o-meter. Which isn't a good thing. But I don't see the MSM or the far left media slowing down on the ineffective snarky bullshit any time soon.

I've kinda hit Trump bitchfest saturation. ~ Ben at December 24, 2016 5:53 AM

What's even more annoying is how every liberal in town is going full-blown public tantrum and expects that everyone will go along and feels the same way. Just because you're having a public temper tantrum over Trump's election doesn't mean I'm gonna join your angst fest.

I didn't vote for Obama and was upset he won ... twice. Yet, I didn't pitch temper tantrum and expect my liberal friends to go along with me. I got on with my life. Please get on with yours.