• Trump the Bully

    From Lee Lofaso@2:203/2 to All on Wed Jun 5 07:59:03 2019
    Hello Everybody,

    How do the Brits (and the rest of the world) view
    the US President?

    Nate White, UK writer, responded brilliantly when asked, "Why do the
    British people despise Donald Trump?"

    "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 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."

    -- Nate White

    Need more be said?

    --Lee

    --
    It Ain't Payday If It Ain't Nuts In Your Mouth

    --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb
    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)
  • From Paul Quinn@3:640/1384.125 to Lee Lofaso on Wed Jun 5 17:29:19 2019
    Hi! Lee,

    On 06/05/2019 03:59 PM, you wrote to All:

    If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

    -- Nate White

    Need more be said?

    That was refreshing, and a joy to read. Actual well-constructed British prose, that drew on my own thoughts about the subjest.

    Thank you.

    Cheers,
    Paul.

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.4.0
    * Origin: If it's not on fire, it's a software problem. (3:640/1384.125)
  • From Kees van Eeten@2:280/5003.4 to Paul Quinn on Wed Jun 5 12:07:20 2019
    Hello Paul!

    05 Jun 19 17:29, you wrote to Lee Lofaso:

    That was refreshing, and a joy to read. Actual well-constructed British prose, that drew on my own thoughts about the subjest.

    I always enjoy the British choise of words, if you are aware of what is said.

    Things like: "That is an interesting proposition" == "That is shit and don't
    come back", but such rude words are never used.

    Kees

    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5--b20180707
    * Origin: As for me, all I know is that, I know nothing. (2:280/5003.4)
  • From Paul Quinn@3:640/1384 to Kees van Eeten on Wed Jun 5 22:10:42 2019
    Hi! Kees,

    On 05 Jun 19 12:07, you wrote to me:

    I always enjoy the British choise of words, if you are aware of what
    is said.

    Yes. Good wordsmiths are a rarity these days.

    Cheers,
    Paul.

    ... Blind people don't bungee jump; it scares the dog too much.
    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20130515
    * Origin: Quinn's Rock - Live from Paul's Xubuntu desktop! (3:640/1384)
  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Paul Quinn on Wed Jun 5 15:52:22 2019
    I always enjoy the British choise of words, if you are aware of what
    is said.

    Yes. Good wordsmiths are a rarity these days.

    Amen to that. Various bastardized versions of Her Majesty's Language seem to be the norm online nowadays.



    ..

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; sv-SE; rv:1.9.1.16) Gecko/20101125
    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)
  • From David Drummond@3:640/305 to Paul Quinn on Thu Jun 6 08:04:04 2019
    On 5/06/2019 17:29, Paul Quinn -> Lee Lofaso wrote:

    If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

    -- Nate White

    Need more be said?

    That was refreshing, and a joy to read. Actual well-constructed British prose, that drew on my own thoughts about the subject.

    Fuck the ABC, the Feds will be raiding you real soon now.

    With Australia's government being so far up the USA's arse you cannot go saying such things about Aussie's "greatest ally".

    --

    Gang warily
    David

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.8.0
    * Origin: Bucca, Qld, Australia (3:640/305)
  • From David Drummond@3:640/305 to Björn Felten on Thu Jun 6 08:08:22 2019
    On 5/06/2019 23:52, 2:203/2 wrote:
    I always enjoy the British choise of words, if you are aware of what
    is said.

    Yes. Good wordsmiths are a rarity these days.

    Amen to that.

    Various bastardized versions of Her Majesty's Language
    seem to be the norm online nowadays.

    ROFL - You're telling that to an Australian. They use bastardised (with an "s") in their day to day oral communications (and yes, after nearly 40 years here I tend to use the local vernacular too).

    --

    Gang warily
    David

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.8.0
    * Origin: Bucca, Qld, Australia (3:640/305)
  • From Paul Quinn@3:640/1384.125 to David Drummond on Thu Jun 6 09:16:21 2019
    Hi! David,

    On 06/06/2019 08:04 AM, you wrote:

    Fuck the ABC, the Feds will be raiding you real soon now.

    Impossible. I don't frequent FaceBook, so they can't find me. Besides, my birds will protect me IAC.

    Cheers,
    Paul.

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.4.0
    * Origin: A day for firm decisions! Or is it? (3:640/1384.125)
  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Paul Quinn on Thu Jun 6 12:13:33 2019
    Besides, my birds will protect me IAC.

    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular Aussie kangaroos?



    ..

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    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)
  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Paul Quinn on Thu Jun 6 12:38:35 2019
    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular Aussie kangaroos?

    Yikes! To little coffee. Kangaroos? I meant of course ostriches...



    ..

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    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)
  • From Paul Quinn@3:640/1384 to Björn Felten on Thu Jun 6 20:41:11 2019
    Hi! Björn,

    On 06 Jun 19 12:38, Bj”rn Felten wrote to me:

    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular
    Aussie kangaroos?

    Yikes! To little coffee. Kangaroos? I meant of course ostriches...

    :) No, I have one devoted schizoid (native Aussie) Lorikeet (here's a mob of 'em):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWfBsZtNoVs

    and one gnarly (south American) Sun Conure (...the golden one in this vid):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3r2fvRZmLg

    They would rip evil strangers to itty bits, with much noise & glee.

    Cheers,
    Paul.

    ... I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!
    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20130515
    * Origin: Quinn's Rock - Live from Paul's Xubuntu desktop! (3:640/1384)
  • From Lee Lofaso@2:203/2 to Björn Felten on Fri Jun 7 03:17:45 2019
    Hello Bj”rn,

    Besides, my birds will protect me IAC.

    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular Aussie kangaroos?

    When I see an elephant fly ...

    --Lee

    --
    Get Her Wet Here

    --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb
    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)
  • From David Drummond@3:640/305 to Björn Felten on Fri Jun 7 12:48:24 2019
    On 6/06/2019 20:38, 2:203/2 wrote:
    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular Aussie
    kangaroos?

    Yikes! To little coffee. Kangaroos? I meant of course ostriches...

    More coffee required. Ostriches are African - Australia has emus and cassowaries (larger birds). I guess wedge tailed eagles could be considered large too.

    --

    Gang warily
    David

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.8.0
    * Origin: Bucca, Qld, Australia (3:640/305)
  • From David Drummond@3:640/305 to Lee Lofaso on Fri Jun 7 12:53:47 2019
    On 7/06/2019 11:17, 2:203/2 wrote:
    Hello Bj�rn,

    Besides, my birds will protect me IAC.

    Are those birds kiwis imported by David, or are they regular Aussie
    kangaroos?

    When I see an elephant fly ...

    Is an elephant fly larger than a blow fly?
    --

    Gang warily
    David

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.8.0
    * Origin: Bucca, Qld, Australia (3:640/305)