British Writer Nails Donald Trump, Who is Described as a "Jabba the Hut of Privilege"

Until very recently, I felt that one foreigner, a journalist from New Zealand, had nailed the essence of Donald Trump better than any other description that I had heard of. That would be Paul Thomas of the New Zealand Herald and here is what he said back in 2015, well before Trump's rise to the presidency was a reality, and looked anything but a foregone conclusion:

“Trump personifies everything the rest of the world despises about America: casual racism, crass materialism, relentless self-aggrandizement, vulgarity on an epic scale. He is the Ugly American in excelsis.”

Since first encountering it some time in 2015, that was, without a doubt,  the best description that I had heard about Donald Trump. 

But that changed this weekend, when I read something that a British writer said about Trump. Yes, Nate White had a most hilarious response to the question, "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"

It goes on, and is fairly lengthy. It is not a quick two or three line read, like that quote from Thomas. But here are some short quotes of White's description of Trump (my personal favorite, that Trump is a "Jabba the Hut of privilege," was something that I already used in the title of this particular blog entry):

"He is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit." 

Yup. And here's White describing how the British cannot appreciate what passes as Trump's humour (had to use the British spelling):

"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."

White goes on:

"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." 

Pretty much right on target, eh?

Here is the full piece, including the link from Quora below:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” 

Nate White, a witty writer from England wrote the perfect 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.”

Wow! Another foreigner nails the essence of Donald Trump far better than Americans seem able to do. They see him for what he is far more than the vast majority of Americans - particularly those who support this pathetic man. 

The quote about Trump from Paul Thomas of the New Zealand Herald was taken from this article (click on link below):

Trump is Global Journalism’s American Junk Food August 26, 2015 by Christian Christensen

http://billmoyers.com/2015/08/26/trump-is-global-journalisms-american-junk-food/

And here is the source from where I got Nate White's rather incredible, spot-on description of Trump:

#Quora: Nate White Hilariously Answers the Query –”Why Do British People NOT Like Trump?” BY TREY SPEEGLE ON FEBRUARY 13, 2019:

https://worldofwonder.net/quora-nate-white-hilariously-answers-the-query-why-do-british-people-not-like-trump/