Coarsener-in-Chief (Donald Trump)

City Journal ^ | January 28, 2016 | Heather Mac Donald

[reaganaut1]

...

Trump is the most gratuitously nasty public figure that this country has seen in living memory. He is the very definition of a bully: at every opportunity to kick someone when he's down, Trump takes it, while shamelessly trumpeting his own dominance. Long after former Texas governor Rick Perry had withdrawn from the primary race, Trump was still sneering at Perry's glasses and intelligence during campaign rallies and gloating about how he had forced Perry's withdrawal. New York governor George Pataki held out longer in the campaign, but he was never a threat to Trump. Yet nearly every Trump stump speech still includes a mean-spirited reference to this nonentity. Trump followers defend his penchant for ceaseless, obsessive attack on the ground that he lashes out only when he has himself been criticized. But there is virtue in proportionality. Trump escalates a conventional campaign sally into the excuse for nonstop, self-aggrandizing war.

Trump is the embodiment of what the Italians call "maleducato"--poorly raised, ill-bred. Indeed, judging by the results, his upbringing seems to have involved no check whatsoever on the crudest male instincts for aggression and humiliation. Trump is unfailingly personal in his attacks. Nor is his comportment merely a refusal to be politically correct. Trump was on solid ground when he responded to Fox News's Megyn Kelly during the first Republican debate that he had no time for political correctness. A repudiation of political correctness means truth-telling, however. Trump's personal sneers are not truth-telling but merely the self-indulgent gestures of someone who makes no effort to control his desire to humiliate.

[huldah1776]

I was surprised at the very good replies at the source. Very informed and even tilted me back to towards thinking Trump might work out (my hand is not heading for a lever soon, so relax).

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Yeah. Not so much.

We’ll have to disagree.

[huldah1776]

Got a question for you. More of a request. After Clinton was elected I moved to MO and talked to an older woman from Little Rock who was very familiar with the Clintons and said that if anyone had asked the locals their opinion, the Bill would never have been elected. Your post caught my attention because you have a different POV from another Freeper who is also from NY, but wants a NYer in the WH.

Off the top of your head, what is your impression of DT and where did you get the info for that impression? The woman I talked to in Arkansas lived in an apartment complex that had an apartment rented...someone found out and dumped all his stuff out on the lawn.

[Alberta's Child]

My impression of Trump is that he's not a politician and he probably even has no interest in being the President of the United States. Living in the White House is probably a step down for that guy. He's a New Yorker through-and-through, and I think he's very uncomfortable when he's outside New York City.

But I also think he's an entertainer at heart, enjoys the limelight, and sees the U.S. presidency as an opportunity to live out a reality TV show before an audience of 300+ million people every day. I couldn't see him staying committed to the job for eight years. Heck -- I can't even see him staying interested in it after eight months. He's probably more interested in seeing his face in the gossip or entertainment section of a newspaper than under the main headlines or in the business pages.

I never considered him a serious candidate until the last few months, and I strongly suspect he didn't either. If he wasn't doing so well in the polls I'm sure he would have dropped out a long time ago -- because I can assure you that he would never allow himself to lose on such a major public stage.

In short, I think the guy is erratic, unpredictable, and unprincipled ... a guy who is smart/savvy and knows how to get things done -- while at the same time having no patience for anything that involves a legislative process or a legal case in the Federal courts. In other words, I think he's actually a far bigger threat to government by executive/dictatorial fiat than Obama is. He'll be completely untrustworthy in office -- not because he's dishonest by nature, but because he really doesn't give a sh!t about most of the things you hear from him in his campaign rants.

I base this on my years of seeing how he operates in the real estate business and in the media here in the New York area. You actually find a lot of people like Donald Trump in real estate and entertainment circles here, and I usually find them very tiresome, difficult people to deal with.

[caww]

Thank you for writing that.....I agree.... I have said Trump won’t last in Washington because you’re not going to get hi out of NY for long.....he even flies back when campaigning rather than stay on the states he’s in.....

I also found it interesting how pretty much from the beginning Trup mentioning his “smart friends” he’s done business with, and that he’d get them to do deals etc......at his Vets rally he introduced one of the millionares who donated....but why? ..and why would the guy go along with it?

Could it be Trumps going to “hire/appoint” his wealthy friends and business associates on supposedly behave of this nation when in fact it would be like Ukraine, and Russia with their Oligarchs making billions......I would not put it past this as Trumps and their agenda.......because once he “wins” his latest challenge he always hands it off to other people to operate for him.

I do think he’s seeking now the power of the office but I also think he’s getting quite tired of running for President....I have wondered if he might drop out along the way because he’s simply fed up with the process he’s unwilling to do...(thus leaving the debate)

He also has Jeff Sessions staff now working with him...because Trump really doesn’t know what he’s claiming he knows so he has to have “script” writers to teach him...

It’s going to be one heck of a disaster if he wins the Presidency..if he lasts that long....can you even imagine his wife and Trump actually living in the Whitehouse under all the guards etc. watching every move they make...tracking who he sees....who comes in and out.... After all this is a guy who rode down his own elevator to his lobby to announce his presidency! He never left his home!

It’s all just such a show and something Trump knows he can already put a notch under his belt.....he has nothing at all to loose running or dropping out.

[Milhous]

Anyone who doesn’t love and worship Donald THE ONE Trump is a socialist or a liberal or hates Americq.

Donald Trump is the most conservative person who ever lived.

Donald Trump is the reincarnation of George Washington.

Donald Trump will save America.

Donald Trump is THE ONE.

If you don’t love Donald THE ONE Trump, you HATE America.

Get with the program.

Get on the Bandwagon.

All kneel before Trump!

To an insignificant Trumpet such as me, it's awesome to see what a big brass band you are!

[altura]

Heather totally gets this man.

[altura]

Trump is the kardashian of the business world. A relentless self-promoter, narcissist, grievance collecter and petty human being, he has managed to form and lead a cult of such devoted followers that they have lost their reason and common sense.

I try in vain to see the qualities in him that created such devotion.

He’s not a moral leader with core values and sound programs.

He’s a blow-hard who makes big promises and probably won’t keep any.

[Albion Wilde]

It doesn't make any of them ideal candidates for public office, does it?

Exactly my point. There is no such thing. It is humanly impossible to begin with.

But it's also a practical impossibilty in the age of digital communications where every mistake anyone has ever made since 1985 is on the web, and it is demographically impossible in the new, multicultural U.S. where Christians aren't particularly welcome (and in many cases are now legally persecuted) that has been created by 60 years of liberal policiies. This is the reality of our situation. Hearts have grown cold. It will take a very tough person to deal with the inevitable clash of civilizations that is taking place here and around the world.

[caww]

Trump and Sanders are simply reflect how easily people in society today can be and are willingly manipulated by deception.

‘Urban ghetto and attitude’ are already in mainstream life and growing.....and that is going to continue to enlarge.

[caww]

.....”It will take a very tough person to deal with the inevitable clash of civilizations that is taking place here and around the world.”........

You can know with certainty that man will one day arrive..and be accepted exactly as we've seen Obama and Trump gather around themselves their followers, and with the same enthusiasm and adoration......only the whole world will see him as their hero of the hour.

[Sun]

“..He shows little sign of growing up, ..”

Grown-ups don’t make fun of disabled people. In fact, even most teenagers aren’t that cruel.

[Luircin]

Unfortunately, he has brought all of us down to his level, myself included. It’s hard not to once it’s started.

When you have a man who wants to be president calling a woman he doesn’t like a bimbo, and all his supporters agreeing with him, nothing is off limits.

***

AND ABOUT FRIGGING TIME SAYS I.

[Luircin]

And is there any reason that we shouldn’t mock someone who is a jackass just because he happens to be disabled?

Talk about patronizing. I’m right on the edge of disabled and if people started treating me like my shit don’t stink because of it, I’d be really offended.

[Sun]

Mock what he has to say, NOT his disability. Trump is pushing 70, and he acts like a spoiled 12-year old punk.

I mock you for believing Trump, even though he broke promises to two of his wives, when he left them to marry his mistress(es).

But I would never mock any disability you have.

I have a disability, and would feel hurt if people mocked that. However, people tell me I know how to “take it” when it comes to good-natured teasing.

Anything Trump does is OK with the Trump-cult, because it’s Trump doing it. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

[Campion]

But given your incessant vitriol against Trump, the months ahead will be quite disappointing to you.

And the years after that will be quite disappointing to you.

Whether Trump or a Democrat wins will make no difference, because there is no difference.

[Campion]

Trump is the “strong delusion” of 2 Thess 2, now available in a Republican flavor.

[gbscott1954]

I'll tell you this. Trump has the capacity to be a great president. But with his thin skin and vindictiveness he has the potential to be a dictator. You won't want to hear this, but Hitler came to power legally pledging to make the nation secure. And he did, with the Gestapo and SS. Am I saying that Trump will be another Hitler? No, but his very makeup as a man leads to the danger of him grabbing too much power. He has an incredibly thin skin, worse than Nixon. He is a man who always wants to get even, like Obama. And he is a man with a short temper who will bring that bad temper into the White House and have his finger on the nuclear button. I know that you and most of the Trump people won't want to hear these words but you know it is true.

From what you said, you think that no one else running wants to make our nation safe. Not is simply not true.

We are simply shooting craps with Trump. Maybe he will do just fine. But pretending that there is not the risk of the other is simply blinding your eyes to the danger. BTW, the word is coarse!

[Albion Wilde]

The last time I heard that kind of take on public virtue and vice in elected officials, I was listening to a Clinton apologist back in the late 1990s.

There is a difference between someone accused of immorality with a young intern in the Oval Office while President (and who also had a track record of actual predation and abuse) and someone who admitted to fooling around with willing fully adult partners 18 years ago. Meanwhile, our borders are porous, our deficit threatens to depress the entire world economy, we have sworn deadly enemies abroad while this administration vows to slash our military and fill it with pansexual anarchists, our ghettoes are full of youths who have been denied any chance of a viable job in industry to work their way up, Christianity and Christians are under attack -- and people are upset about a few rolls in the hay nearly 20 years ago and a bad hairstyle. That's priorities for you.

There's something to be said for that attitude, though. But if that's how you set your standards, maybe we should just throw it all to sh!t and support Idi Amin as the GOP nominee.

A welcome change from the hackneyed Hitler accusations, church lady.

[Albion Wilde]

You can know with certainty that man will one day arrive..and be accepted exactly as we've seen Obama and Trump gather around themselves their followers, and with the same enthusiasm and adoration......only the whole world will see him as their hero of the hour.

I've been an editor for four decades. I've reread your post several times. Quite honestly, your thoughts as expressed here are unintelligible. I have no idea what you mean.