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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTwitter thread of the year! "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
"Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
Link to tweet
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1148681544338432000.html
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,
(4) 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.
(5) 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.
(6) 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.
(7) 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.
(8) 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.
(9) That is, except when's 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
(10) 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
(11)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
(12) 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
(13) 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
(14) 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
(15) 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."
(16) In other words, from me, as an American, even in Alabama, @realDonaldTrump is an embarrassment to humanity.
Floyd R. Turbo
(26,545 posts)Bleacher Creature
(11,253 posts)That was a true masterpiece and way more articulate, comprehensive, and spot of than anything I've ever said. I usually just freeze up in light of the overwhelming amount of awfulness Trump exudes and his endless string of flaws.
Takket
(21,529 posts)Absolutely spot on. Great read
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)this is bang on.
The lack of any sort of sense of humor is truly jarring to the British.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)I can't even repeat what was said to me about him..
Quite a few told me, they don't typically follow politics, but they wanted to his demise...but not that polite...and if he gets elected again... ##!!%%^!!
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)I don't think many Americans fully grasp how loathed he is over in Europe. I was in Scandinavia/Baltics in June. No one I spoke to was shy about their distaste and distrust of Trump. Unfortunately, it spills over into how these folks are beginning to think of Americans in general. A fair number incredulously asked me if the majority of Americans really admired someone so obviously flawed and stupid. They are struggling to wrap their brains around how so many people could have voted for him or still support him when his overwhelmingly hideous personality and behavior are as plain as the nose as anyone's face. I sympathized and assured them the majority of Americans are asking the same question! A couple of older Estonians who still remember the Soviet era drew parallels I don't even want to think about.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)The Leave Campaign was a lot like the Trump campaign relied on racism & lies. Cambridge Analytica was involved in that mess and also in our mess as well.
AllyCat
(16,152 posts)Over the winter. A lovely woman from Britain was at the bus stop with us and we struck up a conversation. She made no delay in bringing up the sad state of affairs in the US. We assured her we are resisting and that most people we know did NOT vote for this horror of a human being
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Well done!
Martin Eden
(12,847 posts)Can't remember when I first saw it, but wasn't too long ago.
Butterflylady
(3,537 posts)He hit the nail on the head in every way possible. I'm going to keep this bookmarked.
pazzyanne
(6,543 posts)lame54
(35,264 posts)They are incapable of learning from our fuck up
Myrddin
(327 posts)The Conservative Party Membership of approx 170,000 (comprised overwhelmingly of affluent, septuagenarian, white, right-wingers) are electing a replacement party leader. Unfortunately, in the highly likely event that 'BoJo the Clown' is elected their new leader, this will de-facto install him as the new PM. A constitutional auto-fuck that the electorate has no say-so in.
However, in support of your assertion, BoJo actually might win an election, by virtue of a sufficient number Brits who would vote for him, ably assisted by our ridiculous 'First Past The Post' voting system, which consistently installs parties of government with less than 45% of the vote.
So we are not actually putting BoJo in charge, but were we given the opportunity, we likely would - I'm sorry to say?
Personally, I reckon a majority of Brits have learned? Sadly, that's still not enough to stop the gobshite minority from strapping on their Union-Jack suicide vests, and taking us all out with them!
lame54
(35,264 posts)Karadeniz
(22,474 posts)Letting us again enjoy it...maybe you could post it weekly until we've memorized it like a catechism!❤
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)WINNER - in all categories!
Timmygoat
(779 posts)My feelings exactly.
bringthePaine
(1,727 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,774 posts)yonder
(9,657 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,955 posts)Duppers
(28,117 posts)Along with that other Twitter thread listing all the things he's done that are reasons he shouldn't be president.
If Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.
shanti
(21,675 posts)"The Shakespeare of Shit" describes him perfectly! And this: "If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."
sellitman
(11,605 posts)Book marking.
RainCaster
(10,842 posts)That's the bottom line
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)his illegal immigrant mother's homeland
That twitter thread was so British