A BRITISH WORD ON DONALD TRUMP

A Raging President

I’ve ranted a great deal over the last four years about Donald Trump’s disdain for democracy, his incompetence, racism, misogyny, crudeness, and fundamental indecency. He is the standard bearer for ignominious—a downright evil person. My biggest worry is that the legacy of his wholesale attack on our democracy will endure long past the orangutan’s ultimate departure from the political scene.

Trump epitomizes what our Founding Fathers feared most: an authoritarian figure who would violate the most sacred principles of democratic rule. Intolerant of anyone who opposed him, Trump intimidated and even called for the arrest of his political opponents (and even some allies who had the audacity to disagree with him). He has attacked the free press and threatened journalists. Disdainful of the rule of law, he has run a criminal fiefdom and obstructed justice when his actions came under scrutiny. He implemented nepotism and appointed people to key administrative posts whose only qualifications were to be loyal ass-kissers. The Donald claimed unbridled executive power and ran the White House as his own private duchy, making a mockery of the emolument clause. He has emboldened far right extremists to acts of violence and encouraged white supremacists to act out their hate. Abroad, he insulted some of out closest allies while embracing autocrats and despots, and, abandoned time-honored multilateral institutions the U.S. was instrumental in constructing.  His most dangerous anti-democratic legacy may be his attacks on the right to vote and the legitimacy of our elections.

Looking back on my years of venting on Trump, I realize I may have been guilty of overkill, much like the so-called liberal press which never missed an opportunity for an anti-Trump diatribe. What is left to say that hasn’t been said? What good is there is whipping a dead horse? Well, maybe one more time is permissible, not from me, but from Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England. White gives you a good feel for how Donald Trump is viewed from a European lens. I include his comments below:

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 sniveling 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."

Few have said it better.

                                                                        

     Trumpsolini