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Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Trump may be a laughing-stock but he is no joke

27 September 2018

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Something unusual happened at the United Nations General Assembly of 25 September 2018. It wasn’t the fact that Trump arrived 30 minutes late for his speech and that Ecuador’s president took his place (eg, QZ). It also wasn’t Trump’s reaction to his audience: “I didn’t expect that reaction……..”. It was the moment before that.

On 9 August 2014, Trump tweeted a remark that has now come to haunt him. Probably, that remark referred to Obama, who was quite good in cracking a joke (YouTube).

Within 1 minute after his opening words, the UNGA starts laughing at his – indeed ridiculous – claims in which he brags on his Administration’s achievements.

The problem with laughing at someone is that you do not take that person serious. Hence, you tend to underestimate that person. There lies our danger with Trump. Trump may be the world’s laughing-stock but he is certainly no joke.

Nowadays, Trump is viewed as a compulsive and/or pathological liar (eg, WaPo). Often, his lies are easily to detect (eg, bragging). His very many falsehoods are being counted by Washington Post’s Fact Checker. I think, feel and believe that it’s more relevant to count Trump’s relevant truths from his many claims because these should reveal his true agenda.

Trumps is also seen as “chronically ignorant and obscenely intellectually lazy” (Independent) or even as “stupid” (Guardian). In my concept of the 7 Belief systems, this would, however, be viewed as having extreme beliefs. Also see my 2016 blog: Why are opinions stronger than facts?

Interestingly, extreme beliefs tend to invoke extreme devotion (Psychology Today-2017). This should be true for all of the 7 Belief systems: Love, Money, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science, and the Truth. However, I prefer to leave relevant names to your own imagination.

If only “given their extreme devotion and unwavering admiration for their highly unpredictable and often inflammatory leader” (PT), neither Trump nor his followers can be considered a joke. Note: italic markings by LO.

It’s our responsibility to keep on listening to the “jester” of today’s world. Sometimes he will make us laugh, and sometimes he will make us cry. Often, we will loathe him. Stop listening to him might be the most dangerous of all.

Script for a Jester’s Tear (1983) by Marillion

artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

Too late to say I love you

Too late to restage the play

The game is over

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless stated otherwise 

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