Vanity Fair Editor: Why Donald Trump Will Always Be a “Short-Fingered Vulgarian”

[kpete]

Like so many bullies, Trump has skin of gossamer. He thinks nothing of saying the most hurtful thing about someone else, but when he hears a whisper that runs counter to his own vainglorious self-image, he coils like a caged ferret. Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him—generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby. The most recent offering arrived earlier this year, before his decision to go after the Republican presidential nomination. Like the other packages, this one included a circled hand and the words, also written in gold Sharpie: “See, not so short!” I sent the picture back by return mail with a note attached, saying, “Actually, quite short.” Which I can only assume gave him fits.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/graydon-carter-donald-trump

[Phentex]

1. Loved Spy magazine! Here's another article about the war with Trump...

The pictures are great!


http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-11/how-the-original-insult-war-with-donald-trump-was-waged

[DetlefK]

2. A british documentary on social issues showcased to me what "class" is.

It was a fairly simple premise: Two working-class siblings get thrown into an upper-class society and have to stay undercover there. One gilded upper-class guy in his 20s has to go undercover in the street-artist scene.

The working-class kids had the problem of lacking the proper education: They didn't know some words and social customs that are expected in the upper-class.

The upper-class guy tried to pass for a street-artist, but he always seemed a bit stiff and heady. (His artist-name was "Bacchus" for f**k's sake.) He took part in a spraypainting-tournament, but made lots of tiny stylistic mistakes. His mentor got angry with him and lambasted him for not taking the passions of others seriously.



My point is: Class is the willingness to learn, the willingness to try, the ability to take yourself not too seriously. The ability to get a pie smacked into your face and then compliment on its taste.
(The british movie "Kingsmen" made the same point: "Class" is the ability to learn and about doing the right thing. It's not about being rich or being from the right family or wearing expensive suits.)

Trump refuses to listen, Trump takes himself too seriously. Trump has no class.

[NCjack]

9. My view of world-class behavior is to elevate everyone to the highest level in

giving respect and civility in all aspects. Not all, but many presidents, governors, senators, judges, CEOs, etc., and countless millions of people of lesser public responsibilities have achieved world-class behavior. Clearly, by both of our definitions, Mr. Trump has no class and would leave a shit stain in the Oval Office left by President Obama.

[femmocrat]

3. And he has small feet! :rofl:

See this post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7324712

[jalan48]

4. I've heard that the length of a man's fingers are related to the length of another body part....

[PosterChild]

7. Your not referring today's his....

.... BRAIN are you?

[jalan48]

10. Ha! In Donald's case probably two other body parts for sure.

[2naSalit]

5. Thanks!

Well world, we've been shown the Achilles Heel... you know what to do.

[GoneOffShore]

6. Excellent article - "Short fingered vulgarian" - perfect!

And because it's Graydon Carter he does (quite rightly) take a not so subtle swipe at Hilary.

Hillary Clinton has been embattled ever since she entered public life, sometimes for reasons of her own making (and sometimes not). The wall around her is now high and thick. As Ellison notes, this wall creates its own set of problems—it’s like the Maginot Line. The State Department e-mail scandal is Exhibit A—the Clintonian zest for prophylactic secrecy is the root cause of the issue that has mired her campaign in the muck of the recent past. The wall also keeps information from getting in. During the dark days of the Whitewater investigation, one adviser told Hillary to stop reading the newspapers—her aides would tell her what she needed to know. How isolated is Clinton? Most of us would find a single day of full-time Secret Service protection to be intolerable. Hillary, Ellison writes, has had it for 23 years. No other recent presidential candidate—not Obama, not Bush, not even Nixon—has been as inaccessible as Hillary has been from day one of her campaign.

[hifiguy]

13. Her complete and total isolation and disconnect from

the Real World could hardly be more obvious or apparent.

[Tipperary]

8. I read that a few weeks ago and found it hilarious.

[Retrograde]

11. Hey! Some of us short-fingered folk resent the comparison

We can't control our genes - don't lump us in with that blowhard!

[hifiguy]

12. That is a perfectly glorious phrase.

It HAS to be British.

[cali]

14. This, more than anything else I've seen, reflects how truly fucking insane trump is.

Can you imagine obsessing over such a negligible slight for 25 years?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Mansion trash.