I think that most things that people do, aside for reasons of survival, are to gain in social status and to avoid humiliation.<\/p>\n
Tom Wolfe is the master of chronicling social striving.<\/p>\n
The following article sounded like a cheap shot against Trump but it turned out to be a compelling read. <\/p>\n
New York Times reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n Donald J. Trump arrived at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner in April 2011, reveling in the moment as he mingled with the political luminaries who gathered at the Washington Hilton. He made his way to his seat beside his host, Lally Weymouth, the journalist and socialite daughter of Katharine Graham, longtime publisher of The Washington Post.<\/p>\n A short while later, the humiliation started.<\/p>\n The annual dinner features a lighthearted speech from the president; that year, President Obama chose Mr. Trump, then flirting with his own presidential bid, as a punch line.<\/p>\n He lampooned Mr. Trump\u2019s gaudy taste in d\u00e9cor. He ridiculed his fixation on false rumors that the president had been born in Kenya. He belittled his reality show, \u201cThe Celebrity Apprentice.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Trump at first offered a drawn smile, then a game wave of the hand. But as the president\u2019s mocking of him continued and people at other tables craned their necks to gauge his reaction, Mr. Trump hunched forward with a frozen grimace.<\/p>\n After the dinner ended, Mr. Trump quickly left, appearing bruised. He was \u201cincredibly gracious and engaged on the way in,\u201d recalled Marcus Brauchli, then the executive editor of The Washington Post, but departed \u201cwith maximum efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world. And it captured the degree to which Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign is driven by a deep yearning sometimes obscured by his bluster and bragging: a desire to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n That desire has played out over the last several years within a Republican Party that placated and indulged him, and accepted his money and support, seemingly not grasping how fervently determined he was to become a major force in American politics. In the process, the party bestowed upon Mr. Trump the kind of legitimacy that he craved, which has helped him pursue a credible bid for the presidency.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody has a little regret there, and everybody read it wrong,\u201d said David Keene, a former chairman of the American Conservative Union, an activist group Mr. Trump cultivated. Of Mr. Trump\u2019s rise, Mr. Keene said, \u201cIt\u2019s almost comical, except it\u2019s liable to end up with him as the nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think that most things that people do, aside for reasons of survival, are to gain in social status and to avoid humiliation. Tom Wolfe is the master of chronicling social striving. The following article sounded like a cheap shot … Continue reading