United States | News & Politics

Part II

So, trump is a huge asshole to other people about the way they smell. See the clip with Larry King for one example.

. . . Trump is certainly willing to exact vengeance on those who fail to mask native scents that offend him. As he told GQ in 2012, “I have fired people that, and maybe it wasn’t the main reason, didn’t exactly smell good. Maybe that was an early indicator [of their inadequacies].” Is it presuming too much, then, to suppose Trump might fear voters spurning him for the same reason that he’s at times spurned others?

That’s an “other” reason it’s a valid news story to write about. He knows it’s politically damaging to him if it becomes a trending topic.

His germaphobia is discussed here as “cover” for his preoccupation with smells. Several examples of him lashing out at people close to him, such as

Trump was in the midst of an extremely serious conversation with Digital Media Director Brad Parscale, Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie, and Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway when the last of these had the temerity to cough—once.

Trump went “nuts” and stormed off, according to the official.

This is described as “a sort of “two-sizes-fits-all” narcissism, with one rule for the narcissist and another for the rest of the world.”

Is a personality disorder something you’d want to know about a candidate? You really should.

But your question “Who cares? Dumb Americans?” Is then directly addressed. Let’s see:

. . . does smell matter to voters as a matter of political science? And the answer, it turns out, is a qualified yes.

The “yes” here is a “qualified” one because it turns out that one political demographic in particular is likely to refuse to vote for any politician who smells bad.

That demographic is Donald Trump supporters.

Did you catch that? The people most likely to weigh a vote based on how someone smells are his own voters. What a twist! So now he’s not only unable to not talk about how people smell bad, his supporters have to ensure this story of his own bad smell of “feces, armpits, and ketchup” does not reach a repetitive level with his voters.

So there’s a high value on NOT talking about it. Who cares? The MAGAts. The Qanuts. His base cares. They must never know!

And THAT is the real point: Political journalism about trump is already beyond abysmal. But here’s a facet of his political life so banal and yet explosive (pardon the pun) that even those corporate news outlets who DARE to state that trump “falsely claimed” something, not that they can bring themselves to say he lied even, won’t touch this story. It would be too damaging to him to do so, for one.

Additionally, the national conversations, such as they are, about it would be overwhelmingly strident calls that “who cares?!” And “how is this even a topic?!” As your own comments predict.

Well political journalism has failed democracy and America many times before with trump. But never so much as this one particular point demonstrates.

The point is that helping Americans and the world see Donald Trump for what he is, not what his fans wishcast him into being, is the prime directive of all journalists who cover the man and his self-admitted dictatorial ambitions inside the United States. If Trump smells horrific, that’s not only an indication of why he’s hidden so much of his medical record from American voters but could also reveal personal habits that would impact his ability to serve as president. Indeed, they could even explain some of his most destructive conduct during his time in office. That it might also do damage to his reputation as a self-conceived “alpha male” is less of a concern for journalists, of course, but even that potential outcome to reporting on Trump’s odor would at least strike a blow for those in the journalistic establishment who—on matters of war and peace and even matters of personal conduct (like the fact that a federal court has held Trump to be a “rapist”)—have thus far had no luck getting news readers to simply see Trump for who and what he actually is.

So now do you care what a candidate smells like?

Wait- there’s more