Someone on Quora 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.
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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.
Strange Bedfellows: Cardinal Dolan, U.S. Catholicism & Donald Trump
Pas De Merde 
The man is certainly a buffoon. BUT there has never, ever been a single press item in the UK, from the moment he announced he was going to run for president, that has, in any way, been anything but a total slur on the man. Relentless one way traffic from the word go. Not even a sporting chance. Liberal (sic) brainwash?
Those with whom he has an axe to grind are those who completely fail to understand the bigger picture in the World, they can’t even see it let alone see their part in it.
As Winston Churchill. wrote:
“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilisation in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”
Actually it wasn’t WC it was DJT. Draining the swamp is seriously misunderstood, he realised that power was stuck within an elite band of brothers – so to speak – controlled by a Civil Service bent and manipulated by a massive global agenda with no real benefit to his own citizens. He at least has the courage to stand up for and understand the importance of the Nation state and the simple truth that all humans are instinctively tribal and within that, individual in those given groups.
Every time he opens his mouth I laugh. It is pure comedy watching him perform and ball breakingly awful most of the time. But I like the rawness and the crassness in direct difference to the dull sweet talking former lawyer/career politician that spins personal advantage at every turn.
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I do think for myself, and I have shared all the feelings of the writer he just beat me and millions other to the punch on writing it down. For the record only an idiot would believe Churchill would say something that boorish, Churchill was far to eloquent to say anything so clunky. We don’t need “pure comedy” from the most powerful job in the world, we need leadership, something trump know nothing about. What’s pure comedy is the fact that so many of you dupes recite that broken trope about drain the swamp even after trump filled his cabinet with people like Mnuchin (a greedy corporate banker), Devose (the brother of Eric prince who is about as ‘deep state’ as it gets), and Stephen Miller (a closet racist who is a long time friend of Richard Spencer a outspoken racist). You idiots need to go back to the comedy club for your kicks, the highest office in the land shouldn’t be the laughing stock of the world.
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Can Miller still qualify as a “closet” racist at this point?
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So unfortunate 75 million “voters” couldn’t see thru the muddled sham of a man who would be king, if we let him. The most damaging affront to his ego, would be if we relegated him to obscurity by no longer mentioning his name, and if we have to, then use trump, not capitalized. Yes, news is somewhat boring now, but who needs adrenaline 24/7? Keep him in the background of history, for it took a worldwide pandemic to release us from his ascending to a throne.
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I haven’t read articles deriving from this particular source. I appreciate the way in which points of view and facts are presented and articulated. I wonder if there has been an article published Or perhaps one in the making with regards to the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?
Justin and Donald have many similarities, I’m sure.
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What absolute twaddle.
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We knew who Trump was loooong before he ran for president. We knew he was an arse waaaaay before he wooed enough intellectual stumps to vote for him. So of course it was one way traffic from the off. He’s just gotten worse since. Hope this helps!
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As an American citizen, I would have to disagree, he even slammed the party he ran under, he said years ago that he would run as a republican because there dumb enough to vote for him, who does that. He should be in prison for what he did to his businesses over the years, taking $20,000,000 salaries, leasing his own private jet to his own Corp for astronomical prices, to fly himself around, he did this until he would file bankruptcy on them, 8 times he screwed the tax payers of the USA.
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HeneverszidthatabouttheGoOPbeingdumb.nosuchinterview afalsereferencettoaniiterviewbthat never happened..a little research,please!AndnoIamNOTasupporterIamaregisteredindependentformerlaswyerranddisabledzarmyveteran.
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The sad part is; all the people with Trump are the same Buffoons!!! And we have tons in USA! I just wish he will not come out for his 2nd termmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! He is not my president!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Anonymous
You can run but you can’t hide. In other words, people are “Irredeemable and deplorable” unless they agree with every stupid thing that falls from your lips? I was a ‘card carrying’ Democrat for over 40 years, voting a straight ticket in every election, if the asshole had a ‘D’ behind their name they got my vote…then my president sexually assaulted 9 women, paid Paula Jones $850,000 and turned the Oval Office into a brothel …I re-registered as an Independent and never looked back…
I did not vote for Trump or Hillary in 2016, but moving aside some of the dumb things Trump says he has created the best economy in our history with the lowest unemployment since the Great Depression… Veterans’ unemployment has reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years, plus Trump made it possible for Veterans to go to ANY DOCTOR if they have been waiting in line too long.
Give the man a break anonymous, he has accomplished a few things like naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel that was promised to the Jews by the last 4 presidents. He also moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. He did meet with the N. Korean leader and he killed Soleimani.
Household income is the highest in decades. Women unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years—and keep in mind if you insist on dwelling on ‘Equal Rights” women didn’t get the vote until the middle of the 19th century and they are still fighting for equal rights in employment and salaries.
Trump removed the Obamacare individual mandate, that penalty is GONE!…Signed Right-To-Try legislation that has saved lives during a medical crisis….Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic….U. S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957. NATO allies are paying $69 billion more on defense since Trump came into office…. Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA.
It has been said anonymous: “There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.”…seems to me you have to look beyond you obvious malice and hatred to support someone who has continued to make important changes in our society and government not placate to moronic Socialists ideas unless you don’t give a Rat’s Ass about freedom and democracy and wish to be enslaved and made equally poor…
As a first generation American, my father came to this country as a “Displaced Person,” a refugee, in 1918 after WWI…he and his ancestors were Muslim slaves for “400 years in Serbia” where they were denied an education and the right to own property, even denied the right to musical instruments. My Serbian relatives were American allies in WWII and helped to destroy both the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires… I lost 17 relatives in that war and I lost the last 5 relatives to my name in 1995 when Croatia ethnically cleansed 230,000 Serbs, they were too old and sick to flee…I was notified a month later by the Red Cross they were found with their throats slit…I stand alone as the last of my family…you spoiled brat! My father came here at the age of 13 and became a coal miner digging coal for 33 years until he died of black lung disease…So Cry Me A River that you don’t always get what you want…
We are not a perfect country but we rank second to any other “shit hole” in the world…I have therefore decided this time around I will vote for Trump and some of my staunch Democratic friends are feeling that a senile old fart like Biden is the worst of all choices. He was in politics for 4 decades but tells us “it’s all Trumps fault”…what the fuck did Biden do all of those years?…NOTHING. But now he has ideas on how to change everything…Bull Shit! My district in California is run by Congressman Adam Schiff, the nation’s biggest moron, I know we can do better than this…
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I don’t believe this is a popularity contest, just remember that. President Trump has done more for my family than President Obama did, I didn’t get a rise for 4 years but Obama bailed out the big car’s business and he even won the Noble Peace Prize and that’s $1,000,000 he won and didn’t even give a fuck about the Veterans and I’m a fucking Veteran so who cares about what some dumb ass fucker got to say I know I don’t!!! This was fun don’t you think?
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A rise? Yeah we got a rise out of you. I also have a 3rd grader with more useful education than you have.
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Actually, it’s called the Nobel Prize. And to compare a million dollar peace prize award to the hundreds of millions that Trump has taken from others (or given the greediest 1%, of which he is one) in tax breaks, is an argument that doesn’t begin to persuade anyone with a brain. If you look closely, his tax break for the worker amounts to peanuts (and I’m being generous here.) Remember how they claimed the tax break to corporations would increase job growth. Check the statistics. It didn’t. The sad thing is, Trump doesn’t give a sh*t about you, your country, other veterans, or anything else that matters. He is a clueless, hedonistic, narcissistic near moron who doesn’t have the motivation to even begin to understand or even perform his job. My God, the man won’t even open his daily briefing book to find out what threatens the country and its people. Fun? In addition to being uninformed, you have a curious sense of fun.
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Of course it should be clear that Mr. Bone Spurs who doesn’t think his Master, Putin paying bounties on dead American troops is “actionable” could not care less about those who serve.
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Since when have the British had a sense of humor? You are the fullest lot know to man. Oh by the way. What’s the state of your economy? You all haven’t advanced in any area in a million years. And talk about bully’s and control freaks…that’s why we broke away so many years ago. thank God
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Hmmm. I hope you feel better. We noticed you didn’t take the opportunity to seriously refute anything in the article, you simply, (like many Trump supporters) ignored the message and attacked the messenger. Somehow, this seems characteristic of all the people in the states who refuse to believe that public health precautions are too inconvenient for a mere “flu” that is pretty harmless and will disappear. I hope (but don’t expect) you have it within you to fee some compassion for the front line health care workers who are working their tails off in your country treating people because they or others ignored reality. Your values don’t represent the majority. So bugger off.
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Unfortunately, you offer not a scintilla of information on why you take exception to the characterization of the “leader” you apparently support. Somehow, your debate teacher forgot to teach you that attacking the messenger without providing a credible argument in rebuttal is useless and not helpful to others who may interested in how you arrived at your point of view.
Refute these point to make amends: The “economy” of which you speak only works for the top 2-3% of entitled Americans. There is abundant data to support this. The jobs to be created by the massive tax cuts to the rich and corporations signed into law was “sold” on the benefits it would provide: More jobs, more spendable income for the blue collar worker. But look beyond the rhetoric to see that jobs were not created by the tax cuts, and the average “Joe” takes home an additional $12 per pay period. This is not even enough to keep up with the low inflation being held down by massive borrowing. Our children and grandchildren will have to pay that bill. Perhaps that does not concern you.
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All you said was what he said But his actions show different Why is His administration FULL of the swamp Goldman Sachs and The Same old Garbage So that’s a lie
Yet with all that he is just what he is a NYC construction worker but without the skill to build anything If you take the worst of all construction workers their crudeness their vulgarity that’s Trump But at least they can build you a house He can’t do that
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Please tell us nice things about Trump! I’ll wait.
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Dear Forlorn Ennui
Ummm, he’s really really, good, I mean in a greater superbeing kind of way, he’s the bestest in the universe, umm that’s really really good isn’t it? Umm he knows everything about everything, that’s really really good too isn’t it? Umm he had a message from God to take over the country, that’s also a really real good thing isn’t it, I mean if you believe in God and he reaaaly really does, I know this cause I saw him like, hold a bible right, he even had the cops beat down a bunch of rowdy peaceniks to cross the road to the church for a picture, don’t know if he’s ever read it but holding it was really really good right? And for the record he and Epstein didn’t really know each other right? And his lackey Barr? Well he’s reaally really good at hushing things up for Trump, reaally really good!
God, I think I’m going to be ill!
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The writer of the article got it right. DJT is an ill-informed, immature, amoral, sexist, selfish, narcissistic, greedy bully, not unlike the spoiled brat I once punched out in 4th grade. That kid deserved, so does Trump. Put a dunce cap on him and make him sit in the corner for a very long time
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I live in America. Trump is the swamp. A total embarrassment.
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So much has been written about the current President that I believe it is important to understand who he is. I believe that The President is at heart “..a well intentioned man…”.
While he does not have the depth of a Frederick-like Anti-Machiavellian, neither is he inherently dangerous, as say Richard M Nixon ( whose deeper intelligence, benign appearance, and profoundly devious nature made him significantly more threatening ).
This President honestly believes in his intent to make things better according to his best understanding of what that “better” is, but this desire emerges more from an arrogance born of un-recognized insecurity, and a deep need for attention than from say real wisdom, humility, or selflessness.
This President does not have the life experiences, nor the depth of personality that formed a Lincoln, a FDR, a Kennedy, or even a Regan, instead his prior experience was based within a wealthy American Family, and later a hierarchical corporate environment where his voice was the dominant one, all problems could be solved by decrees that a loyal and subservient staff were required to implement.
This President is principally a narcissist egoically incapable of accepting any vision of himself that contains failure, combined with an overcompensated belief in his own abilities, creating a profound disconnect between himself and others.
This President is a man of “Vision” ( he is a romantic in the jejune sense ), a large idea thinker, easily influenced by those he believes are “authorities”, and who endures short-attention-spans with little impulse control, and is unable to consider very complex subjects.
In almost a vain and childlike fashion he lives with the expectation of others to implement his vision, a vision that is communicated via hyperbole, flattery, or an intimidatory anger, and should his design fail it becomes the responsibility of others to explain or “massage” actuality, or at worst he blames and excludes those around him ( aka campaign advisors, ex-wives, current advisors ).
He confuses his own superficial knowledge with real wisdom, and whose self-absorption allows for only “transactional” relationships incapable of real intimacy and who has no close friends.
Those who have worked with this President have voiced concerns that the White House will represent a difficult challenge he will find painful ( if not impossible ) to adjust to. “…His drug is attention. He’s so ego-driven…,” as someone noted.
The possibility exists that this President will see that the onerous responsibilities and demands of this office will far outweigh any assumed awards, and he will become bored and while blaming others and then claiming success, he will resign.
What is perhaps even more important than the situational-ideolog nature of this President, is the deep sociopolitical forces that brought him to power. As someone once noted “…Donald Trump is a “brick” thrown through the plate glass window of the American established social and political order….”, as such he is a representation of a larger dynamism that exists and with the potential to re-elect him, or someone worse.
“Trumpism” ( or perhaps more accurately Bannonism ) is a methodology that receives it’s power from a populist political bedrock, and a substantial portion of this bedrock is a socio-economic disenfranchised America that is, in my view, justifiably angry ( and more disturbingly for our political landscape ) afraid.
This President, in the long run of history, is merely a temporary aberration. In the next 20 years the entire Republican voting demographic that brought him to power will be aging and diminishing, and replaced by a significantly more educated, younger, less conservative, wealthier, and less “White” demographic, as a result the Republican Party will have to re-define itself to stay valid.
As Americans we look at each other across a seemingly vast socioeconomic and cultural divide and ask ourselves “….how could they possibly vote for such a person….”, without understanding who “the other” is.
It is incumbent upon those of us who have the capacity to understand those voters who put this individual into office, as JFK once said so aptly…, “….Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal….”.
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The voters did not put him into office. He LOST the popular vote. Our antiquated Electoral College system put him into office.
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Nice addendum. Although I would suggest the roots of the “drain the swamp” trope can more simply be traced to the remnants of the Confederacy’s struggle for relevance and representation. It is evident that white supremacy is still alive and well, and there is arguably no better representative for that cause than a man who can at once declare his supremacy over everyone and everything, while denouncing all criticism as conspiracy.
This descriptive character piece is more comic relief for the frustrated intellectual; unfortunately, I’m not sure that it’s helping us find a solution to the very dangerous situation he has revived.
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Excellent post.
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This is spot on. Thank you for saying “some Americans”. I am not one of them.
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Very nice, accurate, and fair analysis. Thank you.
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Thank you for this very special gift of Knowledge Mr.
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Perfect analysis of an imperfect person.
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I like the ‘Shakespeare of shit’ comment. Fits perfectly except it’s a slur on Shakespeare.
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I can’t comment as all the words have been said. The words that I would be allowed to use anyway Xxx
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While I agree with all of your points and am horrified at what this man has done to our country and our standing in the world, you folks across the pond DID elect Boris Johnson, so there’s that.
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Hi. Boris was elected because the alternative was the nasty cult of Corbyn. Now that bunch has hopefully disappeared, next election will be different. Clinton was a poor choice as clearly is Biden. It’s as if Democrats have a self-harm streak of sorts. What a weird weird time.
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Funny how the Swamp got filled up to overflowing after it was supposedly drained, bad smell coming from it too!
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Simply put, that is why we fought the British for our freedom, you wouldn’t understand as you did not understand then !
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How do you like your freedom now with the Twathead In Chief sending Storm Troopers and Militia around the country placing illegal and phony Ballot Boxes around California, his followers attempting to kidnap and overthrow Michigan State Government…..YOU PEOPLE REALLY MAKE ME AND OTHER SANE AMERICANS SICK! Go crawl into whatever hole you came from and stay there. Your time is almost over in Landslide manner!
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As a Britisher who is supportive of Trump, at least this article has the saving grace of not calling Trump a fascist, a dictator, or the man out to end democracy, which is the tiresome and false conclusion of 99% of what passes for analysis on the man since 2015.
What the author – and many people – forget is that Trump is in the game of politics, and politics should be about measures, not men. Trump may be a bully or a cruel man, but as long as I broadly agree with his platform and broadly disagree with the left’s, why should I allow his personal flaws to lead me to vote for policies I think are destructive? Even with the result of the recent election (I write this as Biden has been declared the winner) this question has never been answered. To that extent, the case against Trump amounts to “Orange man bad” and no deeper.
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