Dr Dalrymple, one of today’s finest essayists, rarely enters the fray of political matters. Here, he does, and it is disappointing to say the least.
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What is it exactly that disappoints you about this essay?
I disagree with him about Trump’s speech. I like what Donald Trump says almost always, and have no objection to the unusual ways he says it. I see him as a figure “larger than life” as Gutfeld has said. Trump is a giant among us. An extremely competent administrator. A deeply experienced businessman. A skilful politician, generous and friendly to all except - of course - Lefties (and even to most of them he is courteous). One of history’s heroes. And with it all, a really funny comedian. He is the Man of our age. He is the rightful occupant of the most powerful office in our world.
Apart from that minor disagreement, I don’t think Theodore Dalrymple says anything disappointing. Have I missed something?
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I agree with you that Dr. Dalrymple is “one of today’s finest essayists”.
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The only thing he says that I disagree with is that Trump is too lazy or incapable of organizing his thoughts to give a good speech.
Disorganized or not, his speech is at least not the conventional, predictable string of boring platitudes you hear from most politicians, which makes it a breath of fresh air in comparison!
But I agree with everything else in the article, which makes a very important point about the “will to outrage” that dominates leftist thinking - that it is really the “will to power”, and the goal is ultimately totalitarian control.
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Dalrymple says: “Whether he is too lazy to organize his thoughts, or simply incapable of doing so, I cannot say; I can say only that if I were in his audience, I should be furious at his apparent failure to prepare anything in advance. I should regard it as an insult that he deemed that I and all the people around me were not worth the effort.”
This is clearly a slap in the face to Trump and to us, his admirers.
What does he mean by this? "…indeed may have been fantastically unattractive—as to me is Mr. Trump (this is not the same as saying that he is the worst candidate for the presidency in a severely limited field).
Is he saying Donald Trump is physically or intellectually unattractive to him? Is the parenthetical comment meant to be tongue in cheek or does he truly believe that Trump is, indeed, the worst candidate?
I completely agree with your asessment of Trump, of course. I doubt that Dr Dalrymple would.
Having said that, I know I will continue to relish his erudtion and eloquence.
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My guess is that Dr. Dalrymple has not heard any of Donald Trump’s great formal speeches, all very well prepared.
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