Posted on 05/04/2018 7:57:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Which element of Donald Trump do you delight in despising most? Every day brings a fresh example of pugnacious behaviour, another execrable opinion, more insights into his arriviste 24-carat gold tap taste or strutting vanity. We lap up every revelation; his bombast is brilliant clickbait. The Trump Show gains top ratings in our everyday dialogue; his latest tweets are a failsafe conversation starter.
This week alone brought a basketload of delights (he’s the gift that just keeps on giving. No wonder sales of the New York Times are up 10 per cent). Now we know he’s the author of that “astonishingly excellent health” report of 2015 (did we ever doubt it? Who else could have written the line Trump will be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”). Plenty of joyful sniggers about that one — it certainly cheered up my afternoon cup of tea.
Of course he failed to buy a birthday present for his First Lady. And this despite Melania’s composure during “Pussygate” and revelations by porn stars and Playboy bunnies (now Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who joined Trump’s legal team, seems to admit the President did reimburse Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels).
While Trump’s confident riposte — “I’m very busy to be running out looking for presents” — brilliantly fits the caricature of the ultimate male egoistic cad who can’t be bothered by his wife, it has to be scripted?
We’re fascinated and disgusted in equal parts. One-and-a-half years in and I remain hypnotised by those feminine lips, that pout and curl like a cat’s posterior, the comical comb-over, the tiny hands, the piggy eyes… weirdly revelling in the physical revulsion he creates.
And yet… there are sizable achievements, even if we want to ignore them. And it’s starting to disrupt our confident dialogue of disgust. These successes may be momentary but we should not want him to fail on everything. We need him to prove us wrong — remember when “Trump starting World War Three” was freely bandied about?
I am no Kanye West. I won’t be going MAGA on Twitter, ever. But the US economy is booming. And we can’t ignore that it was his corralling of other nations to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea that forced Kim Jong-un to last week’s historic meeting between the two Korean leaders. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said Trump would be a worthy winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in nuclear disarmament.
Trump also took action over President Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria — and while there was typical war-like bluster from the President, the delivery of the warning to Syria was carefully constructed. He’s risking a new trade war — US officials are in China trying to reach compromise — but China did blink after Trump announced $50 billion in tariffs on its products. The outcome could be positive for Americans.
We rightly fear normalising Trump, yet his character is proving an advantage in squaring up to male dictators. And his innate sexism has fuelled an irreversible wave of new feminism. Is it time to let go of the man we love to hate? You don’t have to like him…
My glamazon Aussie au pair couldn’t be more down to earth
For those waiting on tenterhooks (I mean, obviously you are) to see which au pair I finally hired, it was the Australian blogger with the 120,000 Instagram followers.
I had fretted that the beauty with the amazing gym bod and glamorous lifestyle, whose feed was an endless rota of envy-inducing travel hotspots — and outstripped my meagre 18,000 followers — would reject the humdrum of helping corral my two Fortnite-obsessed boys (as an aside, anti-Fortnite measures have been taken, consoles hidden, gaming time banned; Fortnite will not be part of our Bank Holiday weekend, despite the fury).
But it goes to show that the unrealistic disguise social media helps create, is, in many cases, hiding a loveable, normal gem. She couldn’t be more down-to-earth, possessing an everyday girl’s wardrobe and healthy exercised shape. Vanity is not in her lexicon. Thank God Instagram can get it wrong.
Virgil Abloh meets Ikea: the way to a millennial’s heart
How grateful are we that fashion’s love affair with high-street collaborations has not abated? Next is the collection for Ikea by designer Virgil Abloh. As the new head of menswear at Louis Vuitton and creative director of his hip streetwear label, Off-White, many of his creations are unaffordable to his millennial fans.
There are his designs for Nike but he has also now partnered with Ikea to create affordable pieces for a millennial’s first living space. There’s a glass and wood cabinet to showcase your trainers. And a red doorstop. And a three-legged chair that works with said doorstop, entitled Door Stop Interruption. I think that’s for keeping Mum and Dad out.
I wish they would stay the heck out of our business. Don’t they have any news of their own?
Obsession! They are obsessed with Americans. It’s a sickness with them because we overshadowed them in the 20th Century. As well as in the 18th Century.
I stand corrected.
I was thinking of The Observer which is published on Sunday.
So it would seem. All of their media outlets have representatives here and I wonder why? What is the expression? We live rent free on the BBC?
Try that British Expat group again - what a pack of morons and scaredy cats! “Oh, I saw a cop with a gun strapped in his holster! Oh, my, we never had anything like this in London! Where can I buy a cheap English candy bar in godforsaken America, by the way?”
LOL, my favorite: “I know all about America, I have been to Disney World twice.”
Or the British soldier wearing a tee-shirt with a Union Jack and an arrow pointing at our American flag and the caption read: “I’m with stupid.”
I love the unique way the British make friends.
Yes, Yul Brenner is a better casting of Genghis Khan than Peewee Herman.
Happily, I’ve never seen that disgusting t-shirt.
Did you know that the Brits know more about American slavery than their own hideous acts in the Carribean or, for that matter, throughout their entire empire? That was poll tested! They also don’t appear to know who it was that brought slavery to the Americas - they seem to think it might have been somebody in Russia or somethin’.
And one day, maybe, the media will realize that the foreign interference in our last election came from Great Britain - not from Russia.
Why post this crap?
Well I have it on good authority (Brit’s), that because we are sooo stupid that yes, the average Brit knows far more about this country than we do.
The above does not have to be poll tested, it’s just a British fact.
I have been wondering through this mess why no one has identified the Steele dossier as coming from Britain? I have also wondered why no one saw the famous debate in Parliament as the British attempt to influence our elections? It seems they are given a pass for whatever anti-American nonsense they come up with, wonder why?
I suppose because most Americans never think of the Brits. Only folks like you and me do - we are a rarity. Certainly, you never see much coverage of events in Great Britain on Fox or CNN or any other channel. Only when there is a major terrorist event do we see London in the news.
I do believe that behind Steele is the British government. They did not want Donald Trump as president.
2nd Division is back from a major illness and posting again. I would think we should be grateful rather than nasty.
Then you and I think the same thing. I think there can be little doubt that the British were quietly behind the Steele dossier.
I doubt that they will bring out the welcome mat for Trump as they did for Obama. I think most of them are, including Lizzie, still on their knees worshiping Obama.
I am dead set against the president going to Great Britain. Unlike France, which kept their insane protesters at bay, the Brits will let them get up front and personal. Khan will be on tv every day acting like Prime Minister while God knows what May will be up to. He should think again. They need us far more than we need them. They have alienated the EU (although I support Brexit) and are now alienating us. They’ll have to trade with Grenada if this keeps up.
Once again we totally agree. I don’t trust them to keep the president safe I think they would enjoy allowing the raving mob to “scare” him a bit.
We also know that the queen will not race out to meet Trump’s helicopter the way she did to meet Obama. Will anyone be there to officially greet him or will they attempt to humiliate him?
Remember this little bit? “Conservative?” Doesn’t sound like any conservative I have ever known.
“Conservative former minister Andrew Murrison also said: “We have to be alive to the possibility that this ridiculous individual may be elected as President of the United States,” to roars of laughter. “In that event, would such a ban be overturned? If it was not it would be one almightily snub to the American citizens to which he has been referring.”
What they don’t seem to realize is that they have already crossed that line and have insulted 63 million Americans.
The Queen pretty much has to do what her government tells her, so I don’t predict she’ll do anything differently than she did with the Obamas - unless otherwise instructed. But the government? I suspect anything can happen. I loathe that May! And that Speaker of the Commons, Bercow, or whatever his name is. All bad people. Incompetent people, as well.
I don’t recall the queen rushing to meet anyone before Obama. I do remember former presidents and foreign leaders being brought to her.
May is a ridiculous woman and I loved how it was announced that she was coming to American to “scold” Trump over something that got their noses out of joint. I thought, oh that should go over well.
I laughed out loud when I read that the British were put out that Theresa May was the 11th world leader to speak with Trump after the election. I guess they thought May should have been 1st especially after the “debate” in Parliament.
Yes, they were furious that May was low man on the totem pole! She deserved it.
Just told off the Expats in no uncertain terms since today they are showing a particular ignorance when it comes to American culture - ie, voting patterns. I always insult them by referring to their obsession with finding cheap British chocolate in America. They are completely bored and indifferent to anything worthwhile in America but their fury at not finding Dairy Milk Chocolate cannot be slaked!
Well I don’t know where they are but down here some Publix have an entire section of British “delicacies” such as:
Heinz Tomato Soup (I didn’t even know that Heinz still made soup)
Robinson’s Barley water (I won’t even ask what that is)
Brit chocolate - Aero’s, Lion Bar’s, Terry’s chocolate orange, Malteaser’s, Turkish Delight (What, no Cadbury? Oh that’s right Kraft foods owns Cadbury now)
Wine gums (What??)
Irn-Bru (double what??)
How can they live without their peculiar food, maybe they should go home?
You have far more patience than I do, LOL.
Oh, but my dear Miss Lemon - it costs money to buy them at Publix, don’t you know? Why, at Aldi’s or Tesco’s at home it is much cheaper - and somehow, oh, I don’t know why, it just tastes so much better when overlooking the moors sucking on a Mars Bar rather than in uncultured USA.
They apparently don’t understand, either, that imports are a tad more expensive than home grown. But we are the dumb ones.
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