Robert Rotchell

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@Rawdogg15 They shouldn’t be on the pitch ! Entitled prat’s !

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following 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.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@HillF1 F1 used to be about fastest car and driver, now it’s about who spent more time on a Formula E simulator 🙄

[Baroness Patricia of Plague Island @Patrici89225734]

A list of everything they did to make sure harm was done to us all!

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@LibDems Anyone who has actually been involved in the healthcare system knows that unless you sort out Social Care first the rest of the system will fail !

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@Charles83230639 He should be behind bars.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@SilverstoneUK Not overrated Raye !

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@CornwallCouncil So now the real work begins. How do we solve the problems that haven’t gone away ?

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@LibDems This is the price to be paid for having people in charge ( Ministers) who don’t have a clue. Fix Social Care FIRST ! Anyone involved in the Care System knows this is the only way to begin to solve the problem.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@LeeTrewhela Well done Leigh !👍

[Just Dave now @justdavenow89]

Recently elected Reform councillors, resigning, has now hit 22.

Each by-election will cost £10,000 of taxpayers money.

What a waste of cash..

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Matt Hancock described his infidelity and corruption as impeccable behaviour.

What a disgusting worm that 'man' is.

He and Boris Johnson should be on trial for Murder x 40,000 for all the Care Home residents they killed.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@implausibleblog I’m available ! Massive experience in health and social care and I’m not tied to any particular political dogma.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@plymouthcc Respectfully mind your own business ! Cornwall does not want to be a subsidiary of power hungry Devon councillors.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@BenMaguireNC Same applies to Camelford, delay after delay for 15 years !!!

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@LeeTrewhela I thought so, in the private sector the responsible individual would be out on their ear. But sadly in Local Authorities no one is held accountable for their actions.

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@Britain_People @MattHancock He should be in prison !

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@CornwallCouncil Meanwhile uncollected black bags full of rubbish are piling up on the streets. Saying you should have read the leaflet is no answer !

[Robert Rotchell @robrotchell]

@CornwallLive That’s a bit rich considering the previous Government turned a deaf ear to Cornwall’s request for fairer funding for over a decade !