Posted on 10/14/2018 6:34:19 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
The New York billionaire seems unable to comfort the nation in times of tragedy or celebrate its moments of triumph.
It is a poignant paradox of Donald Trump’s ubiquitous presidency—all tweets, all the time—that a leader who prides himself as omnipresent in digital public discourse is so often absent from national life in the hundred human ways in which the country has come to expect its presidents to perform.
Latest case in point: After Hurricane Michael devastated parts of Florida’s Panhandle, Trump played host at the White House to Kanye West, who—in a ten-minute monologue in the Oval Office—dropped the F-bomb and praised Trump’s “Make American Great Again” cap as a hyper-masculine talisman that made him feel “like a guy that could play catch with his son.”
But think about it: Have we ever seen Trump play catch with his own 12-year-old son, Barron? Without question, the president dotes on his children, especially his daughter, Ivanka. But he's an absentee father to the nation, or at least a majority of the nation. There have been no warm and fuzzy photos of Trump shopping for books or gifts, as Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did with their daughters. No images of him poring over a photo album, as Abraham Lincoln famously did with his son Tad, or tending his stamp collection, as FDR did. No visible evidence of the easy relaxation with friends and family that has become a standard part of presidential iconography.
(snip) Trump can’t readily cheer the nation in moments of triumph (championship sports teams boycott his White House). He doesn’t tenderly comfort the nation in times of tragedy (he tosses paper towels to hurricane victims, and does a double fist pump on the anniversary of 9-11). He doesn’t read books, talk movies or go to the theater, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Author Todd S. Purdum is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of "Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution".
“he’s an absentee father to the nation, or at least a majority of the nation”
That was George Washington, idiot!
Looks like the folks at The Atlantic have a chip on their shoulder.
For the love of Mike....
L
Translation: “Trump should be like Bush...”. IOW a punching bag.
Apparently, this was written for the inhabitants of Earth 2 where Hillary is now president.
Mummy, where's daddy, I'm scared.
He's off fixing the country, honey.
But mommy, I need him here. There's an orange monster under my bed.
So basically the author is lamenting the fact that Trump doesn't do phony photo ops.
This is classic Dis-associative Disorder.
How predictable. Please don’t click on their idiotic website because it will reward them.
Today’s left, grasping at straws in piles of bullsh**
Projection is what Rats always do. The truth is that the muslim usurper was the absentee POTUS. President Trump gets more done for America every week than the Kenyan could ever hope to do in a year. This author is delusional.
Yeah, but did we ever see Obama teaching his daughters to take "roof hits" with their girl friends in The Choom Bus? I don't recall Obama taking them to Man's Country for an introduction to various worldly delights, either. Was dog ever served at the White House? When, exactly, did Obama pass down family knowledge like dropping the bomb on Hawaii, speaking Austrian, and talking about our hero corpse-men? Then there were the many times he demonstrated to his daughters how important integrity and honesty are: "you can keep your doctor," "you will save $1,500," and a video by some shady character caused the Moslem hordes to overrun the outpost in Benghazi."
He was a fine and strong example of our nation's finest.
Maybe the Atlantic can go on stage with the Clintons...
Yeah, maybe he’s kinda busy - DOING THE JOB instead of cheap photo-ops for the media to pick apart like the vultures they are.
The lefties are children.
What planet do the Atlantic writers live on?
Each and every day we realize the results of that “Anyone can be a journalist. Send in your application now.” advert on the back of the local marijuana journal.
I have to laugh at such nonsense. Trump is a leader not a baby sitter or daddy figure for the nation....and we don’t need one.
I am listening to the audiobook version of “The Art of the Deal”, and even in 1987 Trump admitted he didn’t like to share his private life with the general public, but acquiesces here and there out of necessity. Other than praising Mario the Pious and Baba Wawa, he’s pretty much the same guy then.
Todd S. Per-dumb is trolling POTUS?
Good luck with that. As a liberal shit-bag, Per-dumb will eventually find himself alone in the woodshed with POTUS for a few.
President Trump has certainly not been an absentee president, he just happens to work an 18 hour day and connects with the people very thoroughly in his own way and in his own timing, not in the traditional whining liberal way.
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