Bon Shepherd posted this explanation of why the British don’t like Trump: character counts.
Someone on Quora 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 clumpfuls 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.”
The other day, I watched a number of clips where the leaders of the EU gathered to discuss the Brexit dilemma, and as I listened to these erudite, intelligent people, who lead their people, I compared them to the ignorant mongrel who makes decisions fo bus, and represents us in a world that go tHIS number after the first moment they met him!
I wonder how long Mr White has known President Trump and if he has spent any time with him. Bob, why don’t you ask the president the next time you have lunch with him?
You don’t have to have a face-to-meeting a sewer rat to know what to expect from a sewer rat. Trump’s pedigree speaks for itself. His grandfather was a draft dodger and a brothel owner. His father was a slumlord and a tax cheat — and the Donald is sleazier than both of them. Admittedly, he doesn’t own any brothels but he’s well acquainted with their services.
Walter, youleft Out That his father marched in a KKK parade in NYC and refused to rent apartments to black people
It’s very easy to see why the British don’t think much of Trump. Why is it so hard for people in the US to realize that he is an ignorant blowhard.
Give economic help to central America instead of cutting aid. Schiff has more intelligence in his R small toe that the empty brain of the Orange Dufus. Trump and Pence want the US to…”be the first nation to send astronauts to the moon in the 21st Century.” I thought they wanted a huge Space Force to stop aliens from entering from outer space. Maybe Mexicans from Fox’s four Mexicos have figured out how to enter from outer space?
Here is the ‘grate wisdom’ coming from the WH. “And our administration will do whatever it takes to succeed.” Loaded BS.
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West Wing Reads
The Border Asylum Crisis
“A genuine crisis is building at the southern border as the perverse incentives of U.S. asylum law invite a surge of migrants that is overwhelming border security,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes.
“Immigration has picked up over the last year as word has spread that parents with children who claim asylum can stay for years and perhaps forever . . . At the current rate, border apprehensions will exceed one million this year—the most since 2006—as human smugglers become more ambitious and reduce prices to entice more migrants.”
“The job of newspapers was once to ‘comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’ Today, that job seems to be to give voice to liars and shout down the truth,” Charles Hurt writes in The Washington Times. “No one has been given more airtime and ink to spread his lies than Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and chief prevaricator. That anyone this dishonest is allowed to hold a position of such importance and power in Congress tells you all you need to know about Washington these days.”
In Fox News, Vice President Mike Pence writes that President Trump’s mission for NASA to return to the moon in five years is a worthy goal for America. “The president believes that, to be worthy of our great nation, our space program must pursue great things, including, above all, being the first nation to send astronauts to the moon in the 21st Century. And our administration will do whatever it takes to succeed.”
And Woody Guthrie held him in conrempt: https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/25/woody-guthrie-sang-of-his-contempt-for-his-landlord-donald-trumps-father/
Yes, indeed. The Brits showed us how to oppress the world with the proper decorum and style. It is shameful that we are forgetting our manners while we bomb the snot out of the world and impose brutal dictators.
Which countries do you admire? Russia? North Korea? Russia only oppressed all of its neighbors.
You seriously want to compare the Russian empire to either the U.S. or the British empire? Careful. The sun regularly sets on the former.
BTW, Diane, I’ve said this before, but you really are smart enough to understand the logical fallacy when you pretend that criticizing the U.S. must mean that I like Russia.
I like living here, though if Trump is re-elected I may have to reconsider.
Eight years of this man will destroy the environment, roll back civil rights, and undermine our democracy.
As far as what countries I admire, I admire those who take care of their own people without oppressing other countries or giving into U.S./worldwide banking/corporate neoliberalism. Very few of those left these days. The Scandanavian countries, sort of, but they benefit from being part of the EU, which takes care of the neoliberalism for them. Most of the other countries that have tried to stay out of neoliberalism have been destroyed and/or U.S. citizens have been so propagandized that we believe they are terrible places with evil dictators, which then gives us license to destroy them (Libya, for instance, which had the highest literacy rate in Africa and now has literal slavery, or Cuba which had such a good national healthcare system that even rich Americans would go there).
I visited Cuba in 2013. The poverty there isprofound. Some of the poverty can be blamed on the American embargo. I returneda foe of the embargo. I would like to see full relations restored but Trump wants to go backwards.
And Italians, for crucifying Jesus Christ. And Belgians, for Prince Leopold. And Germans, for, you know, everything. As Spaniards, for Franco. And the French, for foie gras. And Egyptians, for being mean to Moses. And Lichtensteiners, for exploiting cows to make cheese and chocolate. And…
Greg, see my earlier comment about our debt to the English. Founding fathers, language, Magna Carta, Common Law, Shakespeare.
I am in full agreement with you. I would also add intelligent humorists, musicians and composers, writers, philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, etc, etc. We should be thankful for the good and not selectively snipe or condemn wholesale. Whatever bad there may be will never eclipse what we should celebrate nor lose sight of the good all cultures contribute to our humanity. The most recent that comes to mind is Ricky Gervais’s After Life.
Downtown Abbey, Sherlock Holmes, Call the Midwife, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters.
England has given us much to be grateful for.
Benjamin Britten, Pink Floyd, Monty Python, and fish and chips is all I need to know!
GregB: I LOVE British fish and chips. I visited a friend in GB a number of years ago and he and his family took me to an authentic fish and chips place. Add a little vinegar and it is fantastic stuff.
It’s much better than the french fries that Trump consumes. May he continue to eat LOADS of french fries, chocolate cake, McDonald’s big macs, Oreos, Doritos chips and not exercise. Ohhh. I’m bad.
imagining that suddenly unexpected and massive stroke squatting there, right behind his left shoulder
Monty Python, yes!
Also Henry Purcell and Handel.
Handel was an immigrant from Germany, where he was Händel. But he’s a great example of one who absorbed the culture of his new home, much like Karl Marx, V.S. Naipaul and, for a short period Haydn.
Got it.
Monty Python andHenry Purcell.
Agatha Christie.
George Eliot.
King George III also gave us much to be grateful for.
The grateful dead, for example.
“Cuba which had such a good national healthcare system that even rich Americans would go there).”
You are kidding, right? Have you ever been to Cuba? I think of a fellow teacher whose nephew died in their “first rate” prison system. He unfortunately was a little too vocal in his disagreement with the government. Human history is a tapestry of us vs. them conflicts if not outright atrocities and yet you will condemn even good efforts when they are supported by someone who has been associated with a less than noble effort in the past. Give it a break on occasion. We are all flawed. If you can praise Cuba’s health system, you ought to be able to cut some slack for the Brits.
I can easily understand why the British dislike Trump. I have a difficult time understanding why so many Americans are still wearing MAGA hats and supporting this repulsive, corrupt opportunist.
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
What the British think of Donald Trump.
I find myself at a loss to understand what the appeal of this buffoon is. Worse really. He’s dangerous to the world.
I like your description of the slug! And the Frankenstein Monster. My GOD! What have l created? And set loose on the world?
The majority of Brits. The whole Brexit saga has exposed their own problems with reactionary politics and personalities. Which is why I think more Americans should pay much more attention to it. My weekly dose of Jonathan Pie helps me cope and realize we are not alone.
And remember, in British English, twat is pronounced like “at.” Just so you know. 🧐
Wow! Thanks, Greg.
Dear Diane, There is so much I admire and love about the British and Britain, but this post is colossally smug. It’s too much that anyone from the nation that produced Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, to say nothing of a very long line of racist imperialists should go on about decency and siding with the Davids of the world and not the Goliaths. Tell that to the Africans, the Indians, and the Irish. Britain has plenty of Oxford and Cambridge educated versions of Trump—just look at the back benches of the Tory right. Some might argue that the British ruling elite’s many versions of Trump are the real source of the Brexit mess. Pankaj Mishra made this point in a recent NYT piece on the historic and blundering and malicious ignorance of rule by what he termed the British “chumocracy. ” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/sunday/brexit-ireland-empire.html jf >
Speaking of Jacob Rees-Mogg, here are two clips that should be watched consecutively for a great laugh:
Britain has done some terrible things to other nations and peoples but it did give us the Magna Carta, Common Law, and our Founding Father’s. That’s something.
Also our language. And Shakespeare.
Trump works to create chaos for political gain…not to solve any problems.
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The Worse Things Are, the Better They Are for Trump
The president’s latest moves on immigration and health care suggest his goal is not to fix the system, but to exacerbate turmoil for political gain.
Perhaps more likely is that increasing push factors is the point. Many of Trump’s decisions on border issues seem designed not to solve any problem. This includes Trump’s standing threat to close the border with Mexico; his decision to end DACA, a program that he has said achieves goals he favors; and most prominently, his decision to separate unauthorized immigrant families arriving at the border. None of these do anything to solve or reduce what Trump has called a crisis at the border. In fact, they are likely to only worsen the crisis. Separations, for example, became a costly and distracting circus, taking up already short space in detention centers and then necessitating a major effort to reunite families and restore the status quo ante when courts predictably rejected the policy.
Along similar lines, it’s more politically useful for Trump to be in a lengthy fight about building a border wall than it is to have actually built it. If and when the wall is built, it will become clear that it isn’t a panacea for immigration, but in the meantime, it’s a useful political wedge. The more migrants are coming toward the United States, the more Trump can warn of an “invasion” and inflame nativist fears that he thinks will help him win reelection. Trump isn’t really interested in solving immigration. A permanent crisis is more useful to him…
None of these steps would make any sense if Trump’s goal was to improve health care, just as cutting aid to the Northern Triangle would make no sense if the president wanted to reduce immigration. But increasing turmoil is the point, since the worse things are, the better things are. For Donald Trump, at least.
Read More:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/trumps-cynical-approach-immigration-and-health-care/586249/?utm_source=atl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share
Chaos, or as I call it, collective exhaustion, distracts. And his minions and the ratings-driven media are easily distracted. The more distraction, the more mischief and malfeasance in departments and issues people aren’t paying attention to, and that creates more profit and cornering-the-market opportunities for himself and his benefactors. For pertinent examples for readers of this blog, see DeVos. If you care about the environment, see Department of Interior and EPA. If you care about health care, see Medicare, Affordable Care Act, CDC, and NIH. And so on.
The conversation turned to a discussion above about what there is to admire in one country or another. As a historian, I would be remiss if I did not point out that to roundly condemn or heartily endorse any group is to go down a path to symbolic thinking. It strikes me that we should praise the British for producing thinkers as disparate as Locke, Marx, and Newton, but condemn them for their imperialism. Looking at history as a place to find villains and heroes will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that any people you view are either villains or heroes, depending what you want to find. History is a mirror, but we often think it is a searchlight.
We should view history as a story of people doing harm with good intentions, doing good despite their worst intentions, or, more often, blindly wondering if their ideas had any effect at all. Real history gives us humility, for we see the best of intentions fall victim to the weaknesses of human desire. We see the cracking of the feet of clay as our monuments crumble, bowing to the baseless of our inability to predict the future.
Man is certainly capable of doing heroic things. He is also capable of terribly selfish or positively inane acts. Either can come from the same man, contradictory performances by the actors on the stage of life.
What you said, RT.
👍👍
Blast from the Past
Reminders of past
Are destined to last
Denial is strong
But past, it is long
Other than these simple human flaws, he’s a great guy.
Just ask him.
RC: I especially like the baby Trump balloon. It proves the British are wise. Look at how many signed a petition not wanting him to enter their country.
Good one, RC.
Trump is playing his favorite bullying card again. “If we don’t make a deal with Congress, the border’s going to be closed. 100 percent.”
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Trump: I Will 100% Close Border if No Deal With Congress
President Trump told reporters Tuesday that a complete shutdown of the U.S.-Mexico border would have a “negative impact” on the U.S. economy—but insisted that U.S. security is his priority. “Sure, it’s going to have a negative impact on the economy. It’s one of the biggest trade deals in the world… It’s a very big trading parter,“ Trump said. “But to me—trading is very important, the borders are very important, but security is what is most important to me.” The president continued, stating that security is non-negotiable for him and “more important than trade.” “If we don’t make a deal with Congress, the border’s going to be closed. 100 percent,” Trump said. Earlier this week, Trump threatened to completely shut down the southern border if Mexico does not stop undocumented immigrants from coming into the U.S.
I find myself at a loss to understand what the appeal of this buffoon is. Worse really. He’s dangerous to the world.
I like your description of the slug! And the Frankenstein Monster. My GOD! What have l created? And set loose on the world?
Trump the IDIO/MORON now is saying that wind farms cause cancer.
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Twitter Erupts Over Donald Trump’s Latest Wild Conspiracy Theory About Wind Farm Noise
The president drew backlash after he linked the sound to cancer.
By Lee Moran
President Donald Trump sparked ire on Tuesday after he spread yet another conspiracy theory, this time about wind farms.
Twitter users berated Trump after he claimed at a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner that “they say the noise” from the turbines causes cancer.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4789848/trump-windmills-cancer