No. of Recommendations: 13
"We are being led right now as a nation by a group of people who have ascended to the pinnacles of American and world power and wealth — and yet couldn’t day-to-day be more miserable, a fact that they all collectively broadcast with every fiber of their being. They’re crushingly insecure, toxic, cruel, angry, nasty, bristle with hostility in public interactions, and have spent the last year in an unprecedented retreat from public life, ensconcing themselves in taxpayer-funded military bases where they can be fully isolated from interacting with the public at all.
This week, Pete Hegseth called a reporter who questioned him “so nasty.” Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt are both so insecure that they pick fights with photographers who take unflattering photos. Donald Trump, in particular, bristles when women ask him questions — take your pick: “Quiet, piggy”; “obnoxious person”; “stupid, nasty”; “ugly both inside and out”; “are you a stupid person?” Marco Rubio hasn’t looked happy in public since noon on January 20th last year. Stephen Miller radiates rage. No one has ever enjoyed the normally joy-filled job of First Lady less than Melania Trump, a fact even reflected in Amazon’s hagiographic biopic.
And then there’s Elon Musk. Joyce Carol Oates’ roast of Musk last fall hit so hard because it captured such a simple truth: “So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates—scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.’”
People notice when others seem incapable or lacking in the simplest of joys." —Garrett Graff
