July 24, 2021

"For Democrats, who see him exiled to Mar-a-Lago, stripped of his key social media platforms and facing determined prosecutors, his future seems risible if not pathetic."

"But this is Donald Trump, always ready to strike back harder than he has been struck, to blame anyone but himself, to silence any doubts with the sound of his own voice, to take what he believes is his and, most of all, to seize all available attention. Sound the alarm."

From "Why I’m Sure Trump Will Run for President in 2024" by Michael Wolff (NYT). The highest-rated comment over there — with over 1600 recommendations and full of typos — is: 

What else is he goingt to do? He doesnt' read. He has no interest in music, dance, movies, TV, theater, or art. He could care less about science. He doesnt' like to travel. He has no firends. He's not interested in helping people. He's not religious. He has no sense of humor. He's not loyal to any sport teams. He has no imagination, no curiosity. He craves junk food. He's the most boring person on the planet. of course, he's going to run. It's all he has left.

So many wacky propositions there! The one I find the funniest is that he can be disparaged for his lack of interest in dance. Has anyone else ever been disparaged for lack of interest in dance? In any case, we've seen him dance and he seems to love it!

 

It was a whole dance craze! On TikTok!

But the least true statement in that comment is... oh, I don't know. It's a competition between "He has no sense of humor" and "He's the most boring person on the planet."

Maybe people have to lie to themselves about how entertaining Trump is so that can resist rooting for him simply because it's so fun and funny. You know, like they did last time:

 

Yes, the "future seems risible," but which way is it risible?

ADDED: Trump danced — with a sense of humor and unboringly — on "Saturday Night Live":

Of course, when that NYT commenter faulted Trump for his lack of interest in dance, he meant dance as something that fits in set of things he listed — "music, dance, movies, TV, theater, or art." Smell the elitism. He meant ballet and the kind of modern dance that you watch with quiet awe from a cushy seat.

AND: It's absurd to say he's not interested in TV, when he starred in a TV show for 14 years.

9 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

J writes:

"What an excellent post. I love it.

"I don’t watch SNL or any mainstream American TV – it’s progressive hack-pap-trap. It’s fun to see Trump back when he wasn’t maligned and hated by the left.

"The left teach people to hate. Dance? Forget Dance – the left worship their learned hatreds."

Ann Althouse said...

Bob Boyd writes:

"Despite having taken control in Washington, Democrats want Trump exiled, stripped of his social media platforms and facing determined prosecutors. Their vindictive obsession seems risible if not pathetic. But these are Democrats, always ready to strike back harder than than they have been struck, to blame anyone but themselves, to silence any dissenting voices, to take what they believe is theirs and, most of all, to seize all available power and hold it unopposed. Sound the alarm."

Ann Althouse said...

Aggie writes:

"The most boring person ever!

"I was never a Trump fan, but isn’t it slightly odd to call the man boring? Gauche, yes. Crass, yes. But boring? How many distinct careers has this man had? New York real estate and building. Gambling casinos in different countries. Miss Universe underwriter. A hugely successful television career, that defined a genre. The Presidency. How is this not entrepreneurial at its foundation? How many distinct careers does the average person have? How many people fly around in their own Boeing 757? And how many of his detractors owe their lifestyles to some kind of ‘charitable foundations’ grift that wouldn’t survive even the lightest scrutiny?

"What I really find confusing is how many of these detractors thought The Donald was pretty OK before he announced his Presidential run. None of them has yet explained their change of heart, their overnight sudden polarization to be so profoundly triggered by anything Trump-related. What’s behind it? If he was OK beforehand, what changed? Or were all of the detractors just complete phonies to begin with?"

Ann Althouse said...

Bill writes:

"I"m surprised you did not say more about Trump being accused of being boring."

I'll say:

Too boring.

Ann Althouse said...

MJB Wolf writes:

"If you read that list as if written about the current president it works better. I love the fast food dig the most, as if this nation isn’t leading the world in fast food production! And isn’t Joe’s favorite food a huge ice cream cone? Yes. Yes it is."

Ann Althouse said...

Lloyd writes:

"Dance: Yosemite Sam shooting at Bugs Bunny's feet: "Dance, rabbit!"

"Humor: I love many of Trump's jokes. Probably my favorite: Jeb had already been pretty much vaporized by Trump's coining of "low-energy Jeb." This pointed directly to the stupid exclamation mark in the official Jeb! logo. What a maroon, to borrow again from my favorite rabbit. But then Jeb foolishly starts to say in a debate that the woman he admires the most is his mother. Trump: "Maybe she should be running." Jeb is instantly vapor as a candidate. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Maybe Muskie's tears/melting snow.

"Whenever I think about this joke I think: for those of us who remember various Bushes, wasn't there always a sense that "old lady" Barbara was the most impressive of them all? Kind of sums them up, in a funny way."

Ann Althouse said...

Alex writes:

"What I find funny is that in my experience that whole description applies to most progressives. They are the ultimate consumers of popular culture, but without any real substance or depth. Their music consists of a mixture of manufactured pop stars and "indie" bands, but they'd be hard pressed to produce a Tom Waits or Astor Piazolla album. Their knowledge of literature and the arts revolves around Harry Potter and whatever Netflix series is currently hot. And while they travel, it's always to the same cheap third-world tourist traps where they can get pictures of themselves for instagram. I doubt many could tell you about praying at mass in Jerusalem, or walking the Afghan mountains, or spending a couple weeks on a wine tour of Tuscany. They work crappy, soul-sucking jobs, consume mindless content, and pretend that their lives are somehow fulfilling. Meanwhile, Trump loves working on some new project, some new venture. You can tell the man isn't happy unless he's taking a risk and working some angle. I've grown up around guys like that, and they were always the happiest and most interesting people, because they always saw the world in a way that others didn't."

Ann Althouse said...

portly pirate writes:

""He's not interested in helping people."

"Trump's random acts of kindness, if mentioned by the MSM at all, would generally appear on page A37 below the fold in a single-paragraph that might be mistaken for an advertisement. Do you remember that he once stopped his limo to prevent a NYC citizen from being mugged? How about the examples in this story?

"Trump has performed many acts of kindness | Letter https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/2020/10/trump-has-performed-many-acts-of-kindness-letter.html

"He may be quick with a tweet and fast with the lip, but he has a big heart and the character to lead this nation.

"And Snopes does fact-checks:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-quiet-acts-kindness/"

Ann Althouse said...

Temujin writes:

"His presence didn't make them crazy. They were already there. But it brought it out into the sunshine where it would be on display in various ways, at various levels, day after day, for years. His very existence continues to make them crazy and while their insanity is not as out there in the volume it was when he was in office, we still get constant reminders that it's there, just under the surface. Though they may try to get on with their lives, the very existence of Trump, and people who voted for him, are a relentless assault on their beings. They cannot live with it. And so, their insanity oozes out of their pores and comes out in different ways. Some of it tries to be 'highbrow' but in the end it's just sophomoric shit. It ends up as name-calling. "He doesn't read. He doesn't like to travel. He has no imagination." Yes, of course. Continue.

"We see it daily. It's bizarre, and mostly I feel bad for them. But also, I wonder if they shouldn't be in a doctor's care. But then how do you put 100 million people into intensive psychological care? Maybe start with Journalists? Just spitballing here."