this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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[–] PolarKraken@programming.dev 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I've always been disturbed by the descriptions of his inability to enjoy humor and music. Those are like core to humanity, in my estimation.

I've known at least one legitimate dangerous psychopath, knew him quite well. He had a rich (if dark) sense of humor and legitimately interesting, opinionated taste in music. And he was the kind of person it was unsafe to be near if he was merely bored (to say nothing of angry/frustrated or worse), and you were sufficiently weaker and isolated (I never was, to be clear). He also was barely literate and mischaracterized by lots of people as profoundly unintelligent.

I've known other interesting individuals damaged in different unrecoverable ways, and everyone I've known (that remains able to interact even somewhat smoothly with others at least) has those core human pieces intact.

Trump is truly a bizarre human being, and not in one single way I can call positive. I wonder if there are others in history who were notably "deaf" to the emotional meanings of music and humor (minds structurally incapable of empathy, I'm guessing) yet still adept at social interactions and even possessing a strange almost bewitching quality among the general populace.

Even cult leaders, known for that latter quality and also lack of empathy, they tend to understand music and humor and even use them for effect in their abuses. Trump alllllmost gets there with humor, but not quite, to him it seems like just a way of attacking people that is somehow more publicly tolerated, he doesn't ever seem to find it funny himself - just another weapon/tool to use. Weird fuckin brain on this guy (very weirdly damaged/malformed, I suspect).