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Donald Trump: Twitter's greatest villain rails against the US election Donald Trump: Twitter's greatest villain rails against the US election
(35 minutes later)
Why is it that even though there are no rules on Twitter, it still feels as though Donald J Trump is breaking them? His boorish ranting started almost immediately after Barack Obama was re-elected on Tuesday night and, a few tweets aside, Trump hasn't really stopped since. It's been a cartoonish display. But, it's tough to dismiss as simply craven rantings of a black-hearted villain from behind the glass of his dark tower as he fades into irrelevancy ("Back to the drawing board!" he tweeted. He'll get us next time). We could probably ignore him if it weren't for two things: how Twitter brings us together, like it or not, and ultimately, what a sad sight he is.Why is it that even though there are no rules on Twitter, it still feels as though Donald J Trump is breaking them? His boorish ranting started almost immediately after Barack Obama was re-elected on Tuesday night and, a few tweets aside, Trump hasn't really stopped since. It's been a cartoonish display. But, it's tough to dismiss as simply craven rantings of a black-hearted villain from behind the glass of his dark tower as he fades into irrelevancy ("Back to the drawing board!" he tweeted. He'll get us next time). We could probably ignore him if it weren't for two things: how Twitter brings us together, like it or not, and ultimately, what a sad sight he is.
No surprise that all the foreign countries are celebrating Obama's win.They love a weak America that they can rip off.No surprise that all the foreign countries are celebrating Obama's win.They love a weak America that they can rip off.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2012

While television at one time was a unifying force that created America's collective living room, it now cedes the bulk of that job more and more to Twitter. Now, it actually feels like you're all together. Twitter's at its best when something big is happening and everyone is watching. It could be a CNN anchor reporting from a Hurricane-addled New Jersey street. Maybe it's the Oscars. Maybe it's just Monday night football. In all cases, it's Twitter that lets us all talk – or snark – about it in real time.
While television at one time was a unifying force that created America's collective living room, it now cedes the bulk of that job more and more to Twitter. Now, it actually feels like you're all together. Twitter's at its best when something big is happening and everyone is watching. It could be a CNN anchor reporting from a Hurricane-addled New Jersey street. Maybe it's the Oscars. Maybe it's just Monday night football. In all cases, it's Twitter that lets us all talk – or snark – about it in real time.
It's freezing and snowing in New York--we need global warming!It's freezing and snowing in New York--we need global warming!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

All of which makes Trump's barkings even tougher to tolerate than if he really were just ranting at us intermittently from his own TV show. At least, then, we can change the channel. On Twitter, it's worse. The element of surprise works in his favour at first. You want to read what it's all about. But very soon it's all oh-you-again eyerolls. Suddenly, he's no longer the man in the dark tower; he's the drunk guy in the corner of the room shouting at the bookshelf for being a foreign socialist bastard. And he thinks he owns the building. Worse yet, because in some ways we're all at least partly responsible for him, none of us are. So, nobody can tell anyone else to just take him home before he breaks something.
All of which makes Trump's barkings even tougher to tolerate than if he really were just ranting at us intermittently from his own TV show. At least, then, we can change the channel. On Twitter, it's worse. The element of surprise works in his favour at first. You want to read what it's all about. But very soon it's all oh-you-again eyerolls. Suddenly, he's no longer the man in the dark tower; he's the drunk guy in the corner of the room shouting at the bookshelf for being a foreign socialist bastard. And he thinks he owns the building. Worse yet, because in some ways we're all at least partly responsible for him, none of us are. So, nobody can tell anyone else to just take him home before he breaks something.
We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

Over at Buzzfeed, McKay Coppins chronicled the Trump intrusion on Mitt Romney's campaign. Trump comes across much the same there as he has since Tuesday night on Twitter – a loudmouth big shot who thinks his money makes him the boss of everything. That it's obvious to everyone but him that he'll never be the boss of either the GOP or the internet makes his bloviating all the more awkward.
Over at Buzzfeed, McKay Coppins chronicled the Trump intrusion on Mitt Romney's campaign. Trump comes across much the same there as he has since Tuesday night on Twitter – a loudmouth big shot who thinks his money makes him the boss of everything. That it's obvious to everyone but him that he'll never be the boss of either the GOP or the internet makes his bloviating all the more awkward.
This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

But maybe we should take it easy on the Donald. He's entitled to his loud opinions, after all. And he's the product of exactly the culture he now so boisterously promotes and the one so many of us jump eagerly into: a universe of overzealous self-branding rooted in nothing more than a motivation to make as much money as possible and, most importantly, to show off while you're doing it. It's the Buddy Krane dictum writ large: "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times."
But maybe we should take it easy on the Donald. He's entitled to his loud opinions, after all. And he's the product of exactly the culture he now so boisterously promotes and the one so many of us jump eagerly into: a universe of overzealous self-branding rooted in nothing more than a motivation to make as much money as possible and, most importantly, to show off while you're doing it. It's the Buddy Krane dictum writ large: "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times."
Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

The problem is that when there's nothing left to success but the image of it, as Christopher Lasch once diagnosed, "men have nothing against which to measure their achievements except the achievements of others." Now, Lasch said, "men seek the kind of approval that applauds not their actions but their attributes. They wish to be not so much esteemed but admired. They crave not fame but the glamour and excitement of celebrity. They want to be envied rather than respected."
The problem is that when there's nothing left to success but the image of it, as Christopher Lasch once diagnosed, "men have nothing against which to measure their achievements except the achievements of others." Now, Lasch said, "men seek the kind of approval that applauds not their actions but their attributes. They wish to be not so much esteemed but admired. They crave not fame but the glamour and excitement of celebrity. They want to be envied rather than respected."
So maybe Trump does deserve our scorn or laughs. But like any good villain, maybe he also deserves our pity.So maybe Trump does deserve our scorn or laughs. But like any good villain, maybe he also deserves our pity.