Gentlemen and gentlewomen vs. Trump
One of the things that often strikes me is that Trump is no gentleman.
Oh, he can be a gentleman. When he wants to, he can act as graciously as anyone and exhibit excellent manners. But that’s not his usual mode, particularly with people in US politics whom he disdains or considers to be outright enemies or rivals.
Other presidents have behaved that way, too – in private. LBJ comes immediately to mind, as well as Nixon. In fact, it may be somewhat true of all presidents. But they have generally been careful – at least, the ones who have been president during my lifetime – not to display that particular side of themselves to the public at large (although Obama exhibited it once or twice in gestures for the cognoscenti to interpret).
One of the hallmarks of this lack of gentlemanly behavior on the part of the public Trump is his tendency to give people nasty nicknames. Nasty and yet effective, for the most part. These nicknames often involve a level of taunting reminiscent of the schoolyard, the locker room, or the pro wrestling circuit, and involve (among many many other things) insults regarding diminutive size.
That sort of ungentlemanly behavior as well as other examples in that vein drives Trump-haters on the right nearly crazy. The left hates him for that reason, too, but they hate so much else about him that their hatred about his lack of gentlemanliness is mostly because of its effectiveness. If he fought on behalf of their side, they’d love it.
Whereas those on the right who hate Trump for his lack of gentlemanliness hate it because they don’t want his déclassé ways to rub off on them. They don’t care that he has fought for policies and judges they profess to admire. Simply put, they consider him embarrassing riffraff and they don’t want to be tainted by association.
Many Trump supporters like him because he fights. He fights for them and he fights for America. And some of the time he doesn’t fight like a gentleman. That’s the same thing that a lot of Republicans who detest Trump really really really dislike.
I’ve probably written over a hundred posts on the topic of “why they hate Trump.” I may write a great many more. It’s an almost inexhaustible topic, isn’t it?
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