“The election of Donald Trump is, to me, this very clownish personality with no political experience, who had literally been using fascist slogans in his campaign. It had seemed so impossible. Even after he was elected, and even now, it still feels impossible. It felt like we had fallen into this wormhole of history.” FeelsStillsPoliticalFeltImpossiblePersonalityTrumpElectionCampaignsFallenSlogansFascistsWormholes Author:Ben H. Winters
“One thing we've learned about Donald Trump - this candidate first, president-elect, and now president - is that he has this sort of reptilian instinct for rooting out supposed enemies and finding people he can whip up distrust into rage.” PeopleFirstsPresidentEnemyOne ThingTrumpFindingsInstinctRageCandidatesDistrustWhips Author:Ben H. Winters
“I think it's a very stark marker of what kind of president we have that, from all available evidence, Donald Trump has not read a book, as an adult. This is not someone who sits down in the evening to consider the latest bestseller, let alone Tolstoy - but who is very very active on this medium that requires no discipline and no attention and no empathy. It is all about retweeting praise of oneself or very quickly or poorly considered, ill-typed, misspelled diatribes against other people.” PeopleThinkingKindBookPresidentAttentionTrumpDisciplineEmpathyEvidenceAdultsPraiseIllOneselfAvailableActiveMediumsEveningStarksMarkersNo Empathy Author:Ben H. Winters
“Here in America we have a man [Donald Trump] who is a master of a medium that is all about self-aggrandizement and/or cruelty to others. I have been off Twitter lately because I had this sudden sort of feeling of, this man is the president of this club and it's not a club that I want to be in. Sometimes I feel like, well, perhaps it's not right because as a political activist, this is where politics is happening right now. This is where the conversation is going on, but at the same time, I think there is something corrosive about it.” ThinkingMenWantFeelsWellsHas BeensSelfSometimesFeelingsAmericaPoliticalPresidentMastersTrumpRight NowConversationHappeningsClubsCrueltyMediumsActivist Author:Ben H. Winters
“The membrane between where we are right now and a very different reality, is so much thinner than we like to think. Things can go back, and things can go to the side, and things can go to places where we might not even have been on guard that they might go. I think that if there is a great gift that this [Donald Trump] election gave us, is this sort of sense of vigilance, the sense that we have to remain on guard. We have to support our free press.” IfsThinkingHas BeensDifferentRealityMightSidesSupportTrumpRight NowElectionPressesVigilanceGreat GiftsFree PressMembranesDifferent Realities Author:Ben H. Winters
