*BRITISH WRITER PENS THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF TRUMP*
Someone asked "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 or female – 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 most 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.
@katiemaeUSA The reason American press always has been notorious for bad coverage of foreign news is that American viewers mostly aren't much interested in foreign news. One may also argue that UK police isn't Americans' first responsibility.
@C_3C_3 The murder took place in Southampton UK, not the US. US media (and viewers) are not most renowned for following foreign news. The footage was released yesterday after the trial (earlier not possible, because evidence in a murder trial), too soon to evaluate news coverage.
@GijsvanLoef De grondwet als een boek om mee te slaan of zelfs als suggestie van een "strafwet". Dat is het tegendeel van wat een grondwet bedoelt te zijn. En waarom dan slechts één artikel eruit gepikt, de rest van de grondwet doet er niet toe?
@Lakeliving09 The fact that you weren't interested, doesn't mean it wasn't reported. The law case was this week, which brought it back more prominent in the news.
@JDSnel Misschien een wekelijks debat over de peilingen voeren? Voor wetgeving en beleid is dan geen tijd meer, maar ik heb ook niet de indruk dat daar zijn belangstelling naar uitgaat.
Wegen einer Versammlung auf der Brennerautobahn wurden heute (30. Mai) aufgrund umfangreicher Verkehrssperrungen lange Staus und Beeinträchtigungen auf den Straßen erwartet. Erfreulicherweise kam es zu keinerlei nennenswerten Störungen.
🔗https://t.co/J7GcNMcixb
Reports of an explosion hears around Boston I believe are going to be a rather significant bolide/meteor entering the atmosphere. Very large "flash" detected by GOES-19 GLM that does not correlate with active thunderstorms. #MAwx
@Europia77225516 I read you are an ethnic American and also a white man. So you have a mix of genes of both, and probably aspects of both cultures as well. Making the best of it.
@fr0hickey The danger of obduction or abuse is much higher in the homes than in the street (appr. 80% it's family). In the streets the risk of traffic is far far higher (appr. 80%) than abuse. [In the US there's also a risk of guns that is without comparison with other countries.]
@SimPilot945069 Would you care to share what these kids were doing that stood out? In most countries children head to school, so there was something special about it that you observed in Okinawa.
Ik heb even gewacht met een reactie op het vonnis vd Hoge Raad (https://t.co/Yv1BADGqR2) mbt thuisonderwijs obv geloofsovertuiging. Er is wel aandacht voor geweest, vandaag in ND nog een achtergrondverhaal, maar toch... Ik vraag me af of mensen beseffen welke wissel is omgezet.1/
@vandal_muldoon@RealShahir It was wise of Shahir to immediately correct the assertion (perhaps a joke) that the Nazis were "left-wing", because some people might ignorantly think it is true, but the Nazis were far-right and aggressively anti-socialist.
@RonaldGAdams@jwhaifa Nato-member Portugal facilitated the US airlift. The Netherlands delivered weapons, ammunition and spare parts (by ship and El Al flights). European continental airspace indeed stayed closed, leaving only a small corridor through the Mediterranean.