I think if I were in the House and wanted to undermine the narrative, I wouldn't fact-check or make a scene, I'd just make a point of scrolling my phone, laughing where appropriate, and basically just shrugging when asked what I thought... about what? He didn't really say anything... the kids were cute, the moms were sad, I like fire fighters too.
2025-03-05 13:40:26
I put it on in the background as I was defending Wraeclast from its demonic denizens. On the rhetoric, a few thoughts hit me.
1. He speaks at I dunno, a 5th grade level. I have a 5th grader and he can follow Trump and get his jokes. Though, to be honest, my 5th grader's vocab is bigger and his sense of humor is more ironic -- but he's raised by GenX wordcels.
2. Most people speaking at a 5th grade level would come across as anxious and have an inferiority complex that would make their rhetoric dreadful. Not Trump. He own's his rhetoric... not a care in the world about how simple it is.
3. He's not bright, he's not clever, his content is boring... but dang, is he comfortable doing what he's doing and has the ability to look for opportunities to ad lib, usually to good effect. There's a strange existential *thereness* to his rhetoric... one minute he's making up stuff that isn't true, another he's reading things he has no idea the meaning of, and another he's just saying things he think might be neat.
What I'd call the total falsity of his political existence seems entirely authentic. This is genuinely difficult to replicate, especially for a politician. Politicians are acutely aware they are lying, and it shows. Trump? He believes 100% contingently everything he says, for the length of time it takes to leave his mouth.
His guileless guile is beguiling.
... not to me, but it's fascinating to watch it work.
The commenter archive features may be temporarily disabled at times.
Yeah, that's probably a good comp.
I think if I were in the House and wanted to undermine the narrative, I wouldn't fact-check or make a scene, I'd just make a point of scrolling my phone, laughing where appropriate, and basically just shrugging when asked what I thought... about what? He didn't really say anything... the kids were cute, the moms were sad, I like fire fighters too.
I put it on in the background as I was defending Wraeclast from its demonic denizens. On the rhetoric, a few thoughts hit me.
1. He speaks at I dunno, a 5th grade level. I have a 5th grader and he can follow Trump and get his jokes. Though, to be honest, my 5th grader's vocab is bigger and his sense of humor is more ironic -- but he's raised by GenX wordcels.
2. Most people speaking at a 5th grade level would come across as anxious and have an inferiority complex that would make their rhetoric dreadful. Not Trump. He own's his rhetoric... not a care in the world about how simple it is.
3. He's not bright, he's not clever, his content is boring... but dang, is he comfortable doing what he's doing and has the ability to look for opportunities to ad lib, usually to good effect. There's a strange existential *thereness* to his rhetoric... one minute he's making up stuff that isn't true, another he's reading things he has no idea the meaning of, and another he's just saying things he think might be neat.
What I'd call the total falsity of his political existence seems entirely authentic. This is genuinely difficult to replicate, especially for a politician. Politicians are acutely aware they are lying, and it shows. Trump? He believes 100% contingently everything he says, for the length of time it takes to leave his mouth.
His guileless guile is beguiling.
... not to me, but it's fascinating to watch it work.