No. of Recommendations: 5
The truth is, that's not only entertaining, but endearing in a way. We love the boorish character who punctures the self-importance of the oppressive snobs and scolds, the heedless chaos agent who upstages the Brahmins and Elites, the charming rogue of low morals but vast appetites and lust. I've mentioned Rodney Dangerfield's character in Caddyshack from time to time, but that archetype is almost always a popular one - whether it's Dangerfield or Bugs Bunny or Falstaff or whomever.
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Presidents might have done a lot of bad things when I was a kid but I know my parents never had to reference pornography and genitalia while I watched the evening news. Sure, maybe the "mistress" word came up about Kennedy after the fact or with FDR. Maybe oral sex by the late 1990s courtesy of Bill Clinton. But the candidate wasn't bringing up the exact words in public discourse while acting in the role or trying to re-win it.
As you state, this is not entirely new for Trump. Remember the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree appearance he made during his first term? While trying to relate a possibly bogus story to provide some advice to keeping one's momentum, Trump managed to reference a story of rich men having sex parties aboard yachts, Jeffrey Epstein-style. And his reference seemed to convey not disgust but a certain politically-corrected admiration. Parents were outranged.
Trump's behavior over the last few months may very well be reflecting two opposite sides of the same cognitive coin. On one hand, his directionless "weaves" and profane comments directly reflect his declining cognitive state. He has no ability to filter thoughts entering his head and focus on more appropriate topics and he has no insight in those topics to convey. But his behavior also likely reflects his recognition that this "shock and disgust" strategy DOES actually work. By continuing to "flood the zone with ****", he knows he is saturating the "shock nerves" of the public and as long as those nerves are being CONTINUALLY stimulated by the next NEW shock, information doesn't progress further into more deliberate processes that should be telling citizens this man has no business being in charge of anything affecting their life.
Go back and watch his appearance in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Amid the 40 and 50 year old men and women in the audience, there was at least one girl who appeared to be around 7-9 years old. She stood there with her mom, listening to a former President wax poetic about someone else's ____ and hearing the adults around her laugh. But they weren't laughing hysterically... I think even the people in that audience were in a cringey twilight zone of confusion. They obviously thought they support Trump, they spent time and effort to attend that rally, they volunteered to sit behind him in camera view and the guy is talking _____ while running for President?
Did even a SINGLE Trump support, either in that audience or watching it on TV later, wake up while watching that unfold, convert that cognitive dissonance to THOUGHT and ask themselves "how did I get HERE supporting someone THIS vile?"
WTH
