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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"A Jabba the Hutt of privilege."
Stolen from a friend who stole it from a friend on FB...
Stolen from a friend of a friend. The best description of Trump I have ever read, from a Brit.
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.
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 Trumps 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 dont 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, its a fact. He doesnt 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 doesnt 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. Its all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we dont. 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.
Hes not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
Hes 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, its 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.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,110 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)But Trump's fucking earned it a thousand-times over.
SWBTATTReg
(22,176 posts)unblock
(52,387 posts)that's donnie, to a "t".
Kali
(55,026 posts)Hekate
(90,867 posts)Thanks, babylonsister.
Caliman73
(11,752 posts)Americans I think, have been viewed by Europeans as "upstarts" youthfully exuberant and naive, but with pluck and determination at best, and as dangerous children at worst.
There is the stereotype of the ugly American, the brash, vulgar, ignorant, and ethnocentric.
Trump embodies all of the negative qualities of the ugly American with none of the redeeming qualities of hopefulness, ingenuity, grit, and loyalty that have defined Americans over the two centuries, despite our many flaws. Trump as stated is like a monster made up of the worst parts of American history.
Talitha
(6,625 posts)Shitler should see this - - problem is, he wouldn't know it's insulting.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)TheCatQueen
(27 posts)Love the Brits!
peggysue2
(10,844 posts)a great description of the Trumpster. Over-weight, over-indulged and over-rated.
Sums it up quite nicely!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It describes him perfectly. "A monster assembled entirely from human flaws."
Thank you Nate White!
Bookmarking.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)it to circle the planet, the first time? Thanks, Babylon.
babylonsister
(171,102 posts)unless my memory is failing. You're welcome.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)speeding and spreading geometrically to nth power. I haven't read how long it typically takes an item of interest to essentially circle the planet now, but seems like a good one like this would spread wide and fast.