A lot of it is just the way he says things. Look, he's not wrong about Maxine Waters being a "low-IQ individual." But he's utterly incapable of being an agent of elevation. There is no high road with the Very Stable Genius.
Or consider his remarks about the Democratic opponent of the candidate he was rallying for:
Trump called Saccone's Democratic opponent Conor Lamb 'Lamb the Sham' for acting like a Republican to get elected.Which is it? If you don't know him - if your only understanding about his appearance, let alone any other traits, is what you've heard - how can you be sure he wouldn't give you one vote? Especially since you like to pander to Pennsylvanians with the protectionist stuff.
"Conor Lamb, Lamb the Sham, right? Lamb the Sham," Trump said. "He's trying to act like a Republican so he can get [elected]. He won't give me one vote."
"Look, I don't know him. He looks like a nice guy. I hear he's nice looking. I think I'm better looking than him. I do. I do. I do! And he's slightly younger than me. Slightly. No, I heard that. He's okay," Trump said of Lamb.
Then there's taking a moment of great historic import - this Kim meeting that's in the works - and making it all about himself and how much more courage an vision he has than any of his predecessors of either party. Oh, and getting in an insult of Chuck Todd while he's at it:
And, of course, the crowd ate this stuff up.Trump spoke at length about his recent decision to accept a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which garnered some praise in the media — but also criticism over the seemingly ad-hoc nature of its planning.Trump blasted the media for the cautious reception to what the White House is touting as a diplomatic breakthrough, slamming the usual suspects — CNN and MSNBC — while hailing Fox News.“They are saying well, Obama could have done that,” Trump said. “Trust me, he wouldn’t have did that. And neither would Bush and neither would Clinton. And they had their shot. And all they did was nothing.”Trump also boasted that he has long been hawkish on North Korea, referencing an interview he did about North Korea on NBC’s Meet the Press back in 1999 — before taking aim at the show’s current host.“Meet the Press, a show now headed by sleepy-eyes Chuck Todd,” Trump told the rapturous crowd. “He is a sleepy son of a bitch, I’ll tell you.”
And his shills in the pundit world will once again assert that only this kind of boorishness is effective in battling the Left. That anybody whose polemical tone isn't savage and crude is an effete little dweeb.
The damage that LITD was warning about as far back as mid-2015 is on full display every time this guy gets in front of a crowd of his slavish devotees.
UPDATE: Just came across several more rally nuggets:
- On Washington: "There's a lot of evil out there, but we're getting it out, step by step."
- On the Olympics: "Well, I'll tell you we did a great job in the Olympics. President Moon of South Korea said 'without Donald Trump Olympics would have been a total failure. It's true. It's true. Might as well say it."
- Calls CNN "fake as hell."
- Doubles down on advocating tariffs.
- Calls for executing drug dealers.
But Gorsuch!
Oh the damage you warned about. Such a visionary!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Savage, Michael on the radio the other day was enumerating the ways Trump is the last of the alpha males. This chimp ain't following him across the street, nor would I walk there to hear him pontificate.
ReplyDeleteMichael Savage has always struck me as a little underbaked.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't deny LITD was warning about it that far back.
Gary Trudeau told it all back in the 90s
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Savage is way under baked. Says Uncle Donnie loves him and listens to him. Trudeau "imagined" Trump as the disaster he is as Prexy way back in '87 which is what convinced me all along. There's even a book out: 30 years of Dunesbury & Trump.
ReplyDeleteJust came across several more tidbits from the rally. Am about to update this post.
ReplyDeleteYou righties are called that now because you detest Trump for all the right reasons.
ReplyDeleteGorsuch is fine. Says he'll call it as he sees the law sees it and that is all we can ask of a Supreme.
ReplyDeleteOf course Gorsuch is fine. The point is that Trumpists throw that up as a smokescreen whenever their hero's plethora of shortcomings is the topic of discussion.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yup, we know why he's detestable. Are your reasons really much different?
ReplyDeletethe problem is the distinctly non-Christian substance of his values. Trump’s unapologetic materialism—his equation of financial and social success with human achievement and worth—is a negation of Christian teaching. His tribalism and hatred for “the other” stand in direct opposition to Jesus’s radical ethic of neighbor love. Trump’s strength-worship and contempt for “losers” smack more of Nietzsche than of Christ. Blessed are the proud. Blessed are the ruthless. Blessed are the shameless. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after fame.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/the-last-temptation/554066/?utm_source=polfb
I'd have preferred your own words, but if this speaks for your position, I would say that I can't see any significant daylight between the reason someone such as me and someone such as you finds Trump objectionable.
ReplyDeleteI'm full of words too and now you say you prefer them. Even Hemingway said "I write one page of masterpiece to 99 pages of shit." I've written plenty about why I detest Trump such that you've said it adds nothing to the conversation." The linked article reveals all about the sham that is religious fundamentalism now in this land, such that it will become digitally dog eared from my repeated reference. Almost poetic...
ReplyDeleteLet's just say that Trump is the sad exponent of success in America for enough people, especially fundamentalists and that, like it is said of Satan, he brings out the worst in just about everybody. I rue the day he was elected.
ReplyDeleteAnd to repeat something I've often said here, our choices in the last presidential election were to jump out the 70th-floor window or burn to death.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next stab at the ballot box to personally repudiate everything and everyone Trump stands for.
ReplyDeleteHere's some more words not my own, but boy do they ring true for me, at least:
ReplyDeleteIt is remarkable to hear religious leaders defend profanity, ridicule, and cruelty as hallmarks of authenticity and dismiss decency as a dead language. Whatever Trump’s policy legacy ends up being, his presidency has been a disaster in the realm of norms. It has coarsened our culture, given permission for bullying, complicated the moral formation of children, undermined standards of public integrity, and encouraged cynicism about the political enterprise. Falwell, Graham, and others are providing religious cover for moral squalor—winking at trashy behavior and encouraging the unraveling of social restraints. Instead of defending their convictions, they are providing preemptive absolution for their political favorites. And this, even by purely political standards, undermines the causes they embrace. Turning a blind eye to the exploitation of women certainly doesn’t help in making pro-life arguments. It materially undermines the movement, which must ultimately change not only the composition of the courts but the views of the public. Having given politics pride of place, these evangelical leaders have ceased to be moral leaders in any meaningful sense.
Ibid
Exactly the LITD position. See recent post on Robert Jeffress.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't follow any of these "leaders" across the street. nor would I cross the street to hear them "preach." I do have ears for the message of love when I hear it though.
ReplyDelete