This was written during Trump's previous period as POTUS, and I think it sums up, eloquently, just what it is that Brits ( and presumably other nationalities) dislike about him. It is worth a read.
Nate White
“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.
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.
#Donald Trump
* "you believe that if you want to".*
This is how he gets away with things isn't it, by creating a hazy reality built on lies. He's like an abuser gaslighting his victim whilst casting doubt on the truth so his supporters will believe his version of the story.
HousePlantQueen
I agree it is rather long, and I did hesitate about posting it, but I just think it sums Trump up perfectly. We never hear of his listening to music, or reading a book, or appreciating art, or having a pet, all the little things which make people what they are, the things that identify them as people, not just politicians.
This is spot on and actually not particularly long, but then I like to read things more than a sentence or two long occasionally.
Here we go again. Don’t you ever tire of Trump bashing?
Nope. Trump is affecting the lives of millions of people across the world. If you don't understand this, Artols then I can only assume you don't follow the news. If you do understand it but disagree that he is creating instability and chaos to some of the most vulnerable people in the world, then come out and acknowledge it. Argue your case, stand up for your opinion but fgs don't just try to put people down who have taken the time to write proper posts based on what they know and think.
Arto1s
Here we go again. Don’t you ever tire of Trump bashing?
Silly comment.
Trump is the newly elected president of a super-power which has a very long reach, so to simply sit on our hands and stay quiet is really not the way it works, there is a lot at risk, domestically in the US, and abroad, here as well as in Europe, and especially Ukraine.
So as long as Trump keeps behaving like a first class bully people will keep bashing him, because most people won't stand for it.
Surely Trump is just a frontman? a cariacature? What is pulling those string?
So if he's a "frontman" for whom is he "fronting"?
glasshalffullagain
Surely Trump is just a frontman? a cariacature? What is pulling those string?
Maybe Peter Thiel.
Definitely The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025.
Probably Putin
Anyone who can give Trump power and wealth
Thanks for mentioning the name Peter Thiel, he's an interesting character isn't he?
The BBC is suggesting that USA and Ukraine are about to agree a deal on minerals so let’s hope it works out for all the parties involved and that the killing stops very soon.
dragonfly46
nanna8
I would like to hear from an American based Trump supporter because there just has to be some positives. We only ever hear negatives and anti Trump comments. Not just here but almost everywhere.
I wonder why that is - it could be that there aren't any positives!
There are lots of comments by his supporters online, but they tend toward very short ones of the "He is the best prsident ever!" or the "F**k what YOU think!" type. Sometimes someone asks these posters to tell them what they admire about him, but they don't seem to have any coherent answers.
The only vaguely positive thing I have heard ( not here) is that he does what he says he will do and is extremely energetic. Could also be taken as a negative of course. I suppose none of his supporters are on gransnet.
fancythat
I agree with most of what is in the op.
But..I think what he does have[or to me and perhaps some others] is that he may care about the Country.
I couldnt say he cares about every individual[pretty sure he doesnt].
I feel personally, in say the last 10 years, I would struggle to say any Uk Leader cared about the Uk. Not really.
He cares NOTHING about the USA or its people. The current word used about him is ‘transactional’ … which is too nice a word to describe that he cares about one person only …HIMSELF. Everything, people, country, relationships, etc, etc,are used in service of making HIM the ( as he would say)
“ The Biggest and Best at everything ever in History “ . You can tell he doesn’t even care for his children or wife…they all serve a purpose FOR HIM.
Nantotwo
HousePlantQueen
I agree it is rather long, and I did hesitate about posting it, but I just think it sums Trump up perfectly. We never hear of his listening to music, or reading a book, or appreciating art, or having a pet, all the little things which make people what they are, the things that identify them as people, not just politicians.
This is spot on and actually not particularly long, but then I like to read things more than a sentence or two long occasionally.
Hear hear! I often wonder why people never mention the lack of a pet. Most former Presidents and amass of the human race own dogs ( or dogs own them!)… it might have shown he cares about something other than himself… but No!
I am finding that Trump supporters fall mostly into a few groups. Of course this is anctedotal and is not one size fits all.
1. Regular republican voters. These people have checked the R box their entire lives and will never check anything other than the R. They don't keep up on politics really and probably have no clue what is about to hit them. They may be starting to wake up.
2. The people who were charmed by him and believed his lies that he was going to help them. They voted for one thing, the economy. These are the people you are now seeing at atown Halls and online pushing back against what he and the Rs are doing
3. The people who knew exactly what he was and was planning on doing. These are the people who want to have the "permission" to be the worst version of themselves. They might be racist, misogynistic and homophobic. Some are in neo-nazi groups like The Proud Boys.
4. Christian Nationalists. These are the people who want the Bible in everything. No abortion, no no fault divorce, church in schools, women are submissive. These people will not stop until Christianity is the only religion in the US.
The last 2 groups may not be mutually exclusive.
In my opinion, groups 1 and 2 are starting to wake up and push back. But we need some of the other 2 to wake up and push back in order to successfully stop this coup.
76% of the American people support DOGE. It is a wonderful endeavour. Everything he has proposed so far is met with overwhelming approval by the public. The numbers don’t lie. All the protests so far have been proven to be funded and organised by “professional” protestors.
Not even 78% of Americans voted for Trump. Please turn off the Press Secretary, she is lying to you.
Here are some real polling numbers on Trumps popularity. Only 28% of respondents said they believe Musk's role is a good thing.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25539589/cnn-poll-on-trumps-performance-so-far.pdf
Here is the YouGov poll that shoes DOGE approval rating at 42%.
d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_nyOrDiw.pdf
Trafalgar survey showed DOGE at 49% approval.
All of those rates have started slipping what with Musk doing g illegal and unconstitutional things and losing multiple court cases daily.
Also, I went to a protest. I am still waiting for my check from Soros or whoever they are blaming today.
Why does everyone seem to think that Trump is running the country alone?
Karoline Leavitt (27) White House Press Secretary
Marco Rubio (53) US Secretary of State
Pam Bondi (59) Attorney General (former Democrat)
Doug Burgum (68) Secretary of the Interior
Dr. Marty Makary (born in England) FDA Commissioner, and the youngest endowed chair recipient at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Doug Collins (58) Director of US Office of Government Ethics former in the US Air Force
Kristi Noem (53) Secretary of Homeland Security
Sean Duffy (53) Transportation Secretary
Chris Wright (60) Energy Secretary
Tulsi Gabbard (43) Director of National Intelligence, former Democrat
Robert Kennedy (71) Health Secretary, former Democrat
Kash Patel (45) FBI Director, attended University College London
Tom Homan (63) Director for ERO, formerly worked for Barack Obama
Pete Hegseth (44) Defense Secretary, attended Princeton and Harvard. Retired US Army Major
Howard Lutnick (63) Commerce Secretary
Linda McMahon (76) Education
Scott Bessent (62) Treasury
Lori Chavez-DeRemer (56) Labour
Scott Turner (52) Housing and Urban Development, ex professional American Footballer
Brooke Rollins (52) Agriculture
8 highly educated and respected women
12 highly educated and respected men
They are all helping to run the country in these highly important jobs.
Was that an actual question? Im not sure what any of these peole have to do with our discussion on Trump.
The people you mentioned work for Trump. They follow his orders. Foot soldiers at best.
How condescending you are. You stick to your opinions and I’ll stick to mine.
Correcting the misinformation you are putting out there is not condescending.
I will continue to correct misinformation you post. It doesn't matter to me what your opinion is, you are welcome to it of course. But other posters who are invested in this conversation deserve to see the truth so they can make their own decisions.
Some of the people who go to the church I used to go to are Trump supporters mainly because he supports the biblical teachings in the Bible. Not saying he follows them himself but he supports anti abortion stances and doesn’t seem to support many of the ‘woke’ ideas originating in the US. He also thinks God saved him to be a leader when the gunshot happened and I am sure many agree with him.
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