Interview · moment 3 of 23
Why Trump Was So Destabilizing to the Establishment
from #259 - Independence Day with Glenn Greenwald | The Tim Dillon Show · #259
4 min
Guest
Greenwald argues Trump was uniquely upsetting because he refused to play the role of a 'deceitful prettifying symbol' for American power, citing his Bill O'Reilly 'we kill people too' interview, and Tim jokes about why the CIA didn't just assassinate him like past figures.
- Trump was a radical deviation from expected presidential decorum, but his actual policies weren't far outside American political tradition.
- The U.S. government functions outside democratic accountability and insulates itself from elections regardless of who wins.
- Presidents are supposed to be deceitful, prettifying symbols for American power, capitalism, and imperialism—figures like Obama and Bush who put a respectable face on it.
- Trump was incapable of playing that role and had no desire to; he's a thrice-married gambling tycoon, not presidential material.
- When Bill O'Reilly challenged Trump on Putin, Trump responded by noting that America kills people too—stating the forbidden truth.
- The establishment was upset because Trump essentially defecated on the White House and vandalized the corridors of power representing American exceptionalism.
- Trump was an unpredictable tornado sweeping through Washington, destabilizing the certainty, money, and livelihoods of the establishment based there.
- The establishment didn't kill Trump the way they killed JFK, because controlling him was more useful than eliminating him.
Donald TrumpBill O'ReillyTrump administrationHillary ClintonVladimir PutinBarack ObamaGeorge W. BushJohn F. Kennedy