La Dolce Donald Trump...Frank Bruni

[mystery-ak]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-la-dolce-donald-trump.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

La Dolce Donald Trump

JULY 18, 2015

IN Rome about a dozen years ago, I had a long dinner with Donald Trump.

Only his name was Silvio Berlusconi.

Aren’t they essentially the same man? The same myth?

They have the same obsession with their wealth. Same need to crow about it. Same belief that it’s the irrefutable measure of their genius. Same come-on to countrymen: If I enriched myself, I can enrich you.

They’re priapic twins, identical in their insistence on being seen as paragons of irresistible lust. If hideously sexist utterances ensue, so be it. Loins before decency. Pheromones over good sense.

And the vanity. Oh, the vanity. During my meal with Berlusconi, who was then the prime minister of Italy, he grew most animated when complaining about Italian journalists’ put-downs of him as a dwarf.

A dwarf! He stressed to me that he was taller than José María Aznar, Spain’s leader at the time. A few years later, on a television talk show, he informed Italians that he was “definitely taller” than Napoleon. And a few years after that, at a political rally, he proclaimed: “I am taller than Putin and Sarkozy,” referring to his Russian and French counterparts. “I don’t understand why all the caricaturists portray me as a dwarf, whereas the others are allowed a normal height.”

We give in, Silvio. You’re a mountain among midgets.

And we admit it, Donald. No one’s hair sweeps the heavens like yours.

You two are the biggest, the best, shaming all the rest.

Now will you please just let us be?

Trump shows no signs of doing that. Last week he made a new bid to be envied, once again unzipping his accounts and flashing the world his finances. This time he claimed to be worth about $10 billion, which is almost certainly a gross exaggeration. His assets expand with his ego.

His popularity with voters does, too, according to recent polls, which showed him at or near the head of the pack for the Republican presidential nomination. I don’t expect this to last, but it probably means that we’re stuck with him through at least a few debates.

So it’s time to search for solace, and perhaps there’s some in knowing that he’s not a peculiarly American creation, nor is he a particular indictment of our political culture and electorate.

continued

[bkepley]

Well it's at least some comfort to know that among major countries we aren't alone in considering on a jack-ass.

[Paladin]

Well it's at least some comfort to know that among major countries we aren't alone in considering on a jack-ass.

Possibly,  bkepley, but the piece is from the NYT which is little more than a Leftist rag whose word cannot be trusted on anything.

[bkepley]

Possibly,  bkepley, but the piece is from the NYT which is little more than a Leftist rag whose word cannot be trusted on anything.

So you believe this man Berusconi (sorry if the spelling is wrong) was treated unfairly here?  You're complaint is more than blaming the messenger?

[Paladin]

bkepley, I don't know enough about Berlusconi to make an informed decision. However, I do know enough about the NYT to distrust all of its political coverage. It might get the baseball scores correct, and maybe the weather, but not much else.

[sinkspur]

bkepley, I don't know enough about Berlusconi to make an informed decision. However, I do know enough about the NYT to distrust all of its political coverage. It might get the baseball scores correct, and maybe the weather, but not much else.

It's an opinion piece. In almost every case, I believe Frank Bruni to be a fey leftist with ridiculous opinions.

In this case, however, he is right on target. Trump is a self-absorbed egomaniac, indulging his priapic fantasies on a national stage.

Just how long a segment of the population lets him get away with it is an open question.