Donald Trump and Boris Johnson
Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall when these two get together in private?
Whatever else you might say about them—their similarities and their differences—one thing they share is that both are highly entertaining.
Not to their enemies, of course, at least not when either man is doing well. But Trump has always been an entertainer, among his other traits, and apparently so has Johnson.
Even their names are kind of entertaining. “Trump” has a built-in humor (at least to me; it sounds like “Hrumph!”), and a lot of people riff off of it. As for Johnson, I think the name speaks for itself: Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Both are outsize, colorful personalities. Both are somewhat heavy-ish guys physically, too, although Trump is considerably taller (either 6′ 2″ or 6′ 3″ to Johnson’s 5′ 9″). Prior to becoming PM, Johnson served an apprenticeship (to coin a Trumpian phrase) in politics for many years, unlike Trump who did not. Before that, Johnson had been a journalist.
Johnson has a more eclectic genealogy than Trump: one great-grandfather who was a “Circassian-Turkish journalist…[and] secular Muslim,” one great-grandfather who was a Russian Jewish immigrant to the US, and various others of English, German and French heritage.
In a coincidence I find very curious, both were men born in New York City—Johnson in Manhattan and Trump in Queens. Their birthdays aren’t far apart, either, although Trump is much older: Trump’s is June 14, 1946 and Johnson’s is June 19, 1964. They also share the fact that they sport unusual hairstyles for men their age and station, with Johnson’s down-do almost the reverse of Trump’s upsweep, and each a sort of trademark.
Both came from rich families, but Johnson had a very patrician education and by all accounts was a brilliant student. No one would ever have called Trump the latter, but he was a brilliant student of what he was interested in—which was business and making deals and money. Both have been married and divorced two times (for Johnson, he is actually in the process of divorce number two). Trump was one of five children growing up, and Johnson one of four. Trump has five children of his own, and Johnson four plus one out of wedlock.
Their enemies (and some of their admirers) describe them similarly. Here are some quotes from Johnson’s Wiki page:
Sonia Purnell described Johnson as “the most unconventional, yet compelling politician of the post-Blair era” in British politics…Giles Edwards and Jonathan Isaby commented that Johnson appealed to “a broad cross-section of the public”, with his friends characterising him as a “Heineken Tory” who can appeal to voters that other Conservatives cannot. Gimson expressed the view that “people love him because he makes them laugh”…
Purnell recognised that during the 2008 mayoral election, he was “polarising opinions to the extreme”, with critics viewing him as “variously evil, a clown, a racist and a bigot”. Writing in The Guardian, journalist Polly Toynbee for instance referred to him as “jester, toff, self-absorbed sociopath and serial liar”, while Labour politician Hazel Blears called him “a nasty right-wing elitist, with odious views and criminal friends”
But my very favorite is this: Johnson’s “like Donald Trump with a thesaurus.”
There’s a nice short video interview of Johnson making the rounds, it’s from a few years back I think. Johnson discusses and demonstrates a handful of the finer points of rhetoric in a couple of W. Churchill’s WWII speeches. It’s clear Johnson loves to play well with language.
Here it is: https://youtu.be/FLak2IzIv7U
I like him!
> Their birthdays aren’t far apart, either, although Trump is much older: Trump’s is June 14, 1946 and Johnson’s is June 19, 1064
Given his age was Johnson put into Carbonite at some point?
Check that birth date. 1064?
Boris just wanted to be around before the Normans came.
avi; expat; sdferr:
Yes, don’t you know that Boris starred in the movie “Highlander”?
Thanks, will fix.
Don’t knock it. In 2 years William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, would invade England, and the rest, as they say is history.
Besides Johnson looks good for his age.
We have the makings of a great Buddy Movie here.
Waiting for Brexdot?
They’ll have to write it themselves though. Ain’t anybody else on scene up to the task.
…there can be only one.
[sigh]. I’ve already seen Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum memes going around.
Boring is not in either’s make-up. Given England is no longer a major player on the world stage, Johnson’s potential for harm is minimal.
Don’t knock it. In 2 years William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, would invade England, and the rest, as they say is history
T: “1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates” is the authoritative parody of English history. Not to be missed.
huxley – I read the book, it’s very good, but is it reallyeven possible to parody </emEnglish history??
That's kind of like fact-checking the B-Bee.
HTML fail & no edit in sight!
AesopFan: You may have a point. When I started “1066 and All That” I realized I didn’t know English history well enough to reliably tell the parody from reality.
I worried about it a little bit, but that’s all.
Donald Trump has said he and Boris Johnson have already started working on a free trade deal between the US and the UK.
https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-and-boris-johnson-already-working-on-uk-us-free-trade-deal-11771336
Fantastic! This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship…
Was he? How do we know this?
We know from recent reporting that he went to pains to hide his grades. We know he tried to claim his father’s wealth as his own to Forbes. Then came a series of bankruptcies.
Then he made a comeback, according to him. But how? The only bank that would lend to him was Deutsche. You have a series of low-level ventures: Trump Steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump University…
He’s like a reverse Warren Buffet. Almost everyone who has gone into business with him seems to have lost.
Time to leave. EU like it or not.
Was he? How do we know this?
Manju: Are you a troll? How do we know you’re not? You behave as a troll.
To say nothing about the laughably bitter churlish boor.
Manju (Jiminy Cricket):
And yet Hillary is still not the POTUS, the Meuller probe/circus was a disaster for your fine fellow fascists, and you have the Gang of Four to defend.
You said something about President Trump? Whatever.
Trump holds an economics degree from the Wharton School, a pretty elite place; Manju likely holds a gender studies or black studies degree from some trivial place. His is a warped mind that plays fast and loose with the truth.
huxley:
Of course manju is a troll.
But I allow him to continue to post here because he’s an intermittently interesting troll who raises intermittently interesting points at times. He also tends (most of the time, anyway) to be polite.
His patience is legendary. I haven’t figured out whether he’s paid for this and just does it through love 🙂 .
huxley:
And in this thread manju indulges in his intense interest in epistemology.
Neo, I think your comment re Manju is very, very good. (I also like the remark to huxley. *g*)