Being presidential

[matt819]

Point one. See Being There with Peter Sellers. A simple, mentally challenged gardener is believed to be a great philosopher because of his demeanor. Sound familiar?

Point two. Someone should write a truly insane speech, a la any generic fascist leader. And then have someone deliver that speech in a "presidential" manner. Or, skip the writing and take a Hitler speech and deliver it in a "presidential" manner. Maybe ask Morgan Freeman to reprise his presidential role. Or Martin Sheen. You see, even someone sounding presidential can be a madman. What will the people and the media accept if it sounds somehow okay?

[gopiscrap]

1. just because cheeto face can read off of a prompter

it doesn't make him presidential

[matt819]

2. Exactly

And yet that seems to be where the bar is set. Americans need to know that sounding presidential while printing fascist ideology is dangerous. I won't ask if they are they stupid. We know the answer.

[unblock]

3. donnie is not, fundamentally, the problem.

the problem is our institutions and other people in powerful positions who couldn't and can't and won't figure a way to curtail his power.


the media sees only increased eyeballs, republicans in congress see only a signature for their laws, etc.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. His behavior has often been so weird, inappropriate and downright deranged

that when he manages to act like a relatively normal person - that is, he doesn't yell or insult anybody and manages to read a prepared speech without going off-script and ranting about something irrelevant - the talking heads fall all over themselves talking about how he's "presidential." No, the delivery of his speech was just kind of normal.

What does "presidential" mean anyhow, except maybe reasonably dignified and rational? He sort of pulled that off for an hour because he probably was told by his handlers (maybe after they laced his Ovaltine with a little Haldol) that if he didn't stick to the script President Bannon wouldn't let him sit at the big desk any more, and the White House cook would serve him medium rare steaks with no ketchup.