Donald Trump
Out of context: Reply #2231
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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 shit. 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.
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 clumpfulls of hair and scream in anguish:
'My God... what... have... I... created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."- This is exactly — exactly — how educated American democrats feels about him too.monospaced
- I don't think many people liked him much initially. I still don't think many of his voters really like him (not all of them go to the rallies).Fax_Benson
- they like(d) him more than the alternative. People said as much in all those interviews by bemused liberal news channels circa the election.Fax_Benson
- and he was genuinely, sarcastically funny in that presser when he banned Acosta for being a tit. Otherwise, agree with every word.Fax_Benson
- Oh man, never take what Brits say seriously, not only did they vote Brexit they also voted to keep May. So... Yeah, no.robotron3k
- That's almost as stupid as saying that most american voted for Trump ... ALMOST.monospaced
- But go ahead and say any stupid shit you think of instead of accepting the fact everything this brit said is absolutely true.monospaced
- If you assume the writer is correct, and the public sees this as well and still votes for Trump, the public knows politicians are corrupt.robotron3k
- I'm not assuming this writer is correct, he simply is. It's not a matter of opinion. And yes, the assholes, bigots and idiots still voted for him, regardless.monospaced
- And let's not forget, we've had years of Trump being a trolling buffoon and embarrassment as a president that we didn't have before the election in 2016.monospaced
- We'll see, in the next election, who really still votes for him, despite the fact that the majority of the educated, informed world views him like this.monospaced