Comment on why i love my country
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
I will never understand how one can aquire such an insatiable taste for another man’s boots
Comment on why i love my country
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
I will never understand how one can aquire such an insatiable taste for another man’s boots
YragNitram1956@feddit.uk 1 week ago
Someone asked, “Why do some British people not like Trump?” An articulate and witty writer 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 Obama possessd. So, the stark contrast does 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 do not 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 is a fact. He does not 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 does not just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and automatic nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance, or depth. It is all surface. Some might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we do not. 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 is not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He is 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 and racist. 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 few of us– of 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: You do not 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 hard to miss. After all, it is 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. 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 clumps 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.
Nate Whight
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luciferofastora@feddit.org 1 week ago
While not entirely accurate (there definitely are racist bullies in the UK too), the general perception of Trump being openly racist without even a polite pretence of decorum does fit. It’s not just that he’s all these bad things, it’s that he has nothing of the propriety others try to hide them with.
YragNitram1956@feddit.uk 1 week ago
“In the decades since Nixon’s Southern Strategy, the GOP perfected exploiting racial divisions. Few politicians have embraced this tactic as explicitly or ruthlessly as Donald Trump. By reviving deep-seated racial and cultural grievances, he forged what is now known as Southern Strategy 2.0. While his rise and first term were marked by inflammatory rhetoric and symbolic measures, his second term has taken a far darker turn. Since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has waged a brutal, state-sanctioned war on immigrants combining overt racism with draconian policies that flagrantly disregard due process. In what follows, we trace the evolution of Trump’s strategy from subtle dog whistles to aggressive state violence. Trump has long been known for discarding subtlety in favour of explicit racism. From his 2015 campaign launch speech when he infamously described Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals to his repeated calls for a “Muslim ban,” his rhetoric was always designed to exploit the fears of a segment of white voters. Those early statements served not merely as inflammatory sound bites but as clear signals to voters drawn to a brand of nationalism rooted in racial resentment. Even as he built his image as a defender of traditional American values, his language was steeped in contempt for the nation’s increasing diversity. Claims that immigrants were an existential threat to American economic and social stability became the underpinning of his appeal to white, working-class, and rural communities. Over time, the dog whistles he once used in carefully coded language gave way to a more head-on assault one that leaves little doubt about his priorities. Today, as his second term unfolds, that overt racism is not just rhetoric but now underpins policies that curtail the rights of communities of color and immigrants. Whereas in previous years, his words served as markers of tribal identity, they have now evolved into a legal and institutional program of exclusion. The transformation from talk to action is as clear as it is damaging.cv Throughout his first presidency, Trump implemented policies that pushed the envelope of conservative immigration enforcement The “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S.–Mexico border, with its deeply controversial family separations, became emblematic of his willingness to use state power to satisfy a racially charged agenda. However, these measures pale in comparison to the actions of his current administration. Since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has escalated its assault on immigrants to levels never seen before. Nearly three months into his second term, his government has commandeered the full force of executive power to reshape immigration enforcement. The administration has now implemented a policy that systematically dispossesses potentially innocent immigrants of their legal rights. In an unprecedented move, individuals apprehended on U.S. soil are being removed without the due process guaranteed by the American legal system. Rather than relying on established deportation channels—processes designed to balance security concerns with fairness—Trump’s operatives send these immigrants directly to a notorious detention facility in El Salvador. Critics and human rights advocates have compared this facility to a modern-day gulag. The administration has not hidden behind red tape or excuses; President Trump himself has proudly taken credit for these measures, asserting that they serve the dual purpose of protecting national security and preserving an “authentic” American identity. This is not merely a tweak to existing policies. The new program has involved both the intensification of border enforcement and a broad campaign of interior raids targeting undocumented communities. Sanctuary cities have been red flagged by federal investigators, and large-scale operations have been launched to uproot immigrant populations with little or no connection to criminality. The consequences are severe. Families are being torn apart; vulnerable individuals are detained without a chance to challenge their fate in court. By linking immigrants to crime and portraying them as invaders who threaten public order, the administration has found fertile ground among its core supporters. Fear is being weaponized as a tool of mass mobilization. The narrative is not one of legal reform but of racial dominationa policy calculated to reinforce the notion that non-white immigrants are aliens to the American experiment. This strategy is a deliberate escalation over past measures, marking a profound, state-sanctioned breach of both legal and moral boundaries. Embracing White Nationalism A cornerstone of Trump’s Southern Strategy 2.0 has always been his tacit marriage to extremist elements. Early in his political trajectory, he demonstrated a willingness to embrace far-right nationalist rhetoric. For example, after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville—where white supremacists clashed with counter-protesters, resulting in the death of activist Heather Heyer—Trump’s response claiming there were “very fine people on both sides” was widely interpreted as a vote of confidence in extremist ideologies. Such moments, once dismissed as political missteps or careless remarks, now resonate with renewed significance. The administration’s current policies are a natural evolution of that earlier radicalism. By bypassing due process and deploying aggressive tactics against immigrants, the government validates the extremist perspective that sees racial purity as essential to national identity."