John Oliver's Last Week Tonight

Right. Which is why comedians should be banned from politics.

Optimism is a duty.

I wonder if Trump has any real self-awareness. Before he got all political it seemed to me like he had some capacity for self-deprecation, but I wonder if any of that was genuine.

I think the stakes are now too high for him to really do that. Hence why he now resorts to just flatly denying reality and substituting his own.

Optimism is a duty.

Boris has at least been able to use self-deprecation to his advantage throughout his political career, whereas it seems to be like Trump is now incapable of being self-deprecating even if it would help him. Whenever he makes a flub, instead of making fun of himself for it in a way that would make him more appealing, he just flat-out denies it.

One interesting thing about Trump is that, despite his constant lies, he is actually honest about what he believes in, to the point where he has trouble pretending otherwise even when it would benefit him. His biggest scandals are good examples of this: Trump says something outrageous that comes from his heart, then halfheartedly tries to walk it back (often with speeches written for him by others), and then, more often than not, cracks and more or less doubles down on what he truly feels about the matter.

He will lie to reinforce his worldviews, but he doesn't lie about the worldview itself.

This reluctance to lie about his views, incidentally, is perhaps the strongest proof that Trump really is a racist at heart, if not a nascent white supremacist.

Optimism is a duty.

At some point, it doesn't really matter whether you're an arsonist or if you merely pour gasoline everywhere and hand out matches to others.

---

That clip of Boris Johnson giving the reporters tea while declining to answer their questions is really interesting. That guy knows exactly what he's doing, and it's extremely effective.

Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum.

When I heard he was PM, I actually thought it was a joke.

It hit my UK friends like a train.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Trump being a genuine bigot is something that was clear since the seventies, given the way he'd try to deny black people housing.

Disgusted, but not surprised

For a long time I suspected that Trump was actually literally senile, which got him a bit of sympathy from me. Obviously I didn't want him running anything more important than a popsicle stand, but I thought he was largely ill. And then I saw a video of him talking to the EU. He called America great, everyone laughed, and he shrugged it off with a smile.

It was kinda fun and charming, and it proves that he can be perfectly sane and reasonable, at least for a few minutes while standing in front of a crowd, but he chooses not to.

Which is what really clinched it for me. He's not misinformed, he's not crazy, he's not lacking self-control. He is just a giant asshole at best.

I've never once thought he was mentally ill or anything. I've always considered Trump to be an asshole who is a culmination of so many things wrong with the USA. I've called him the Ugly American incarnate many times for a reason.

Disgusted, but not surprised

I mean, obviously I agree with you now, I'm saying that I had my (incorrect) suspicions before.

I disagree with the idea that he doesn't lack self-control, just based on how often he lies even when it doesn't benefit him. I think he really can't help it.

I agree, he clearly can't help himself. That's what I meant when I said he is incapable of saving face in major scandals by going against what he really feels. He just. Can't. Do it.

Donald Trump is not a subtle person. He does not hide behind metaphors or doublespeak or even lies. He is like an open book, he will tell you EXACTLY what he thinks, on Twitter, for all to see.

The irony perhaps is that Trump is incapable of being a politician because he is incapable of hiding his true intentions, a central skill to negotiating. Hence why he is so awful at THAT, too.

Optimism is a duty.

And then he claimed people laughed with him, despite it being fairly obvious that everyone was laughing at him.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Jul 30th 2019 at 4:03:10 PM

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

I think you missed part of the point of Oliver’s bit, it isn’t all calculated, Boris has admired as much himself. Some of it is calculated idiocy, some of it is real idiocy. That’s a big part of Boris’s trick, he fakes being an idiot some of the time so that when he does something stupid people think he’s faking it.

Boris doesn’t just do stupid things because he’s got a persona to maintain, he also does stupid things because he’s stupid. His 5D chess game isn’t every move being perfectly planned, it’s tricking you into thinking that every move is perfectly planned.

I suppose it’s at least somewhat more intelligent than Trump’s blind idiocy.

Oh God! Natural light!

Looks like Boris is already in peril of losing the job.

The British government is starting to crack like an egg...

Optimism is a duty.

Sadly there’s a lot more to it, Boris might be able to survive with a negative majority, because outside the formal groups supporting him (his party and one other) there are individual M Ps who want to keep Boris as PM (well the Tories in power), it’s a very tight situation but with all parties having rebels and an effective 21 non-party M Ps who could go for or against the government the maths are very close.

Edited by Silasw on Aug 2nd 2019 at 8:56:46 AM

At this point, I'm not sure what would be worse, Boris staying, or facing a vote of no confidence and having another general election.

Optimism is a duty.

Out of curiosity, which PM had the shortest time in office?

Oh God! Natural light!

According to my Google-Fu, George Canning, whose tenure in 1827 only lasted 119 days. If we're talking within the last 50 years, then it would be Gordon Brown, whose tenure lasted 2 years and 318 days. Theresa May would follow with 3 years, 11 days.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.

With the added caveat that George Canning's tenure only was so short because he died soon after entering office.

His direct successor, the Viscount Goderich, would be a better candidate at 130 days, if we are looking for shortest tenure for political reasons. He resigned because he was unable to hold Canning's fragile coalition together.

Here is the complete list of prime ministers by tenure.

By the way, can you tell the British government (used to be) highly stratified by class? A lot of these P Ms were upper class, titled men.

Edited by Redmess on Aug 3rd 2019 at 10:31:39 AM

Optimism is a duty.

In which the prison system is basically slavery with extra steps. I think? Not sure if I'm using the Rick and Morty quote right.

Edited by terumokou on Aug 5th 2019 at 12:39:52 PM

Burning love!

"This week on 'The Greatest Country in the World'"...

Optimism is a duty.

While people in prison are doing so to pay a debt to society, it really shouldn't lead to putting them and their families in regular debt.

Disgusted, but not surprised