Why the British dislike Trump

Why the British dislike Trump

Someone on Quora asked" “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." ??

Riley Geddings

Owner at The Good Ebooks & Books Company

4 年

Probably for the same reason some Americans don't !

Patrick Owen-Meehan

Freelance Photographer

4 年

Even before his presidency people knew he was a problem

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Iain Merchant的更多文章

  • 1 World - 1 Race - 1 Future

    1 World - 1 Race - 1 Future

    Let me state one thing right up front – “I DETEST PREJUDICE” and I want to call it that because that’s what it is…

  • After Lockdown!

    After Lockdown!

    Just a few thoughts and/or suggestions for how I truly hope that people around the world will change when Covid 19…

  • Virtually Going Out

    Virtually Going Out

    The World is being dreadfully impacted by Covid 19 and there are many people suffering as a result. Not only those that…

  • Taking it to the Streets

    Taking it to the Streets

    I thought it might be fun to do something a bit different with this post so, a little cheesy though it may be, I have…

    1 条评论
  • I believe

    I believe

    I Believe Creating Memories, capturing moments, making statements and telling stories is what Art is really about. It’s…

  • Resolution 2020

    Resolution 2020

    You know that drawer you’ve got… you know the one I mean, the messy one that is full of stuff you need, but never gets…

    1 条评论
  • Make a 'To Be' List

    Make a 'To Be' List

    Just another ‘cheesy’ positive thinking cliché right? I don’t think that the problem we have is with the validity of a…

  • The Sad Truth About Politics!

    The Sad Truth About Politics!

    We should all face the truth… They all knowingly Lie; Misinform; Mislead; Use statistics disingenuously in order to…

  • DIGITAL REALITY!

    DIGITAL REALITY!

    Keeping it as real as possible… During a discussion about art the other day somebody asked this question: “Isn’t…

    4 条评论
  • The Monkey in the Mix

    The Monkey in the Mix

    Getting literal with the abstract! Although I used to paint a few years ago, since getting into photography I have…

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了