Article showing a photo of Elvis, "The King", absolutely looking like a king, shaking hands with some ugly loser in a business suit named Nixon.
Who is president in 1985?Ronald ReaganThe ACTOR?
The US seems to largely miss the significant impact Reagan's acting career had -- and still has -- on the presidential image. His presidency marked a sea change in how our presidents get depicted in photos and video clips because Reagan was always keenly aware of what was behind him and how that would impact the impression made upon the public.
Historically, nobles, celebrities and others in the public eye had a more curated public image than they do today. Trump looks like such an idiot so much of the time because that's no longer true and he obviously doesn't know how to effectively navigate that issue.
I imagine his "just plain folks" schtick goes over well in person and then bombs much of the time in the media.
I'm twice exceptional. I have an impressive academic record but I'm also seriously medically handicapped and the result is I frequently sound like an idiot in public for various reasons and this has not been kind to my career aspirations or bank balance.
I have had the extraordinary opportunity to get clear perspective on myself in ways people rarely do. I've written about that in a piece called This is Real. That's Not.
I'm currently contemplating the possibility of leaving the US and that has very little to do with Trump.
I'm a former military wife from a multicultural household and I get along well with people associated with American military culture but I've never in my life really fit in with American civilians. My friends tend to be foreign and I feel like I can't make my life work here in the US post divorce and that's been true for a good two decades and not budging as an issue.
I actually wanted to leave the US something like a decade ago but my sons were strongly opposed and were nursing me back to health after the rest of the world wrote me off for dead, so walking away on my own wasn't a realistic option. My sons have recently changed their tune and my options are potentially opening up for that reason.
I am increasingly concerned that my flippant remarks about global thermonuclear war being the only fix for this planet may end up being prophetic, not because anyone gives a flying fuck what I want -- they don't -- but because Trump is falling on his face in public, seems to KNOW he's not ACTUALLY the idiot people say he is and rather than figure out how to better navigate that, he is doing two things most people do:
1. Doubling down on stupid shit to try to save face.
2. Defaulting to his "strengths" which are a poor fit for his role as president.
Trump is an American billionaire who inherited wealth and American wealthionaires trend towards "I'm rich! I can do any damn thing I want!" In contrast, wealthionaires in other countries seem much more aware that wealth of that order comes from OTHER people and can disappear if you are enough of an asshole and feel more like "I'm rich, ergo I need to mind my Ps and Qs lest I suffer the consequences."
As a private businessman who grew up with money, it likely works pretty well for Trump to be pushy and threaten people and that kind of shit. This does NOT fly when negotiating with leaders of other sovereign nations who ARE NOT your servants and WILL NOT kiss your ass lest you fire them or some shit.
One thing that might help this ongoing debacle -- other than divest himself of Elon Musk -- is for him to do what I've spent decades doing and try to become more controlling about when, where and how he interacts with the public to mitigate his tendency to look stupid when he knows he's not.
I'm not on track to EVER have money or fame. I'm also not seeing the kind of stupid online drama so many other women endure and which was an issue for me at one time.
I believe Trump sees a need for world government and is trying to force it, perhaps because he's scared what will happen if we don't develop a world government. I don't think it's inherently wrong and stupid for him to conclude that Earth is at some point where we get it done or things get worse but I don't agree with HOW he is trying to make it happen and I don't think he is likely to succeed.
But he is painting himself into a corner with this PR debacle and THAT could lead to WW3, regardless of how Zelenskyy, Trudeau and other world leaders react.