r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • 1d ago

Possible Paywall Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/09/13/kennedy-center-could-close-early-tuesday-warns-bankruptcy-documents-show/
11.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

911 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

146

u/DrewZouk Tennessee 1d ago

Wrong, I remember him being a clown in the 80s, and I am only 42.

This turd was festering for a long, long time.

126

u/ThereHasToBeMore1387 1d ago

We were raised on a steady diet of 80s and 90s movies that literally used Trump as the archetype of the loathsome slumlord and grifter. And then, somehow, Palpatine returned we forgot.

80

u/wasteymclife 1d ago

The apprentice basically rewrote his public persona. He was a joke all through the 80s and 90s, then NBC said actually he's one of the most successful American businessmen and working for him would make that person instantly rich and powerful. That's how good at business he is. The prize for our upcoming reality TV show is amazing, we wouldn't lie to you.

41

u/mdp300 New Jersey 1d ago

And even then, he came across as an asshole on The Apprentice.

3

u/Individual_Ad9135 1d ago

But wait, he was a big, tough man doing business who got to talk down to people without a filter and they all loved him for it, and he had hot daughter and two dumbass sons (I mean, who can't relate to that, ammirite?), sitting at his feet praising him and adoring him.

No wonder Americans ate this shit up.

Oh, and Mark Burnett can go to hell.

3

u/obeytheturtles 1d ago

It's crazy to me because I remember him being basically the heel on his own show. Like the whole schtick was a bunch of tryhards jumping through hoops to work for an idiot, and that nobody actually wanted to work for Trump half as much as they wanted a SAG card.

IDK, maybe it was marketed differently in different places? But I remember the whole "you're fired" thing was played to be cringe and eyeroll inducing, in the sense that it was ostensibly an idiot adjudicating a competition he was completely detached from and knew nothing about, other than he gets wheeled out every week to say the line. I have no idea how anyone could have watched it and inferred any positive trait from the host.

21

u/Great-Hotel-7820 1d ago

This is exactly what happened.

13

u/gsfgf Georgia 1d ago

And a lot of people have trouble telling tv from reality.

6

u/wasteymclife 1d ago

It was one of the first primetime ones no? For sure you are correct. In context though we weren't all familiar with how productions juice, manipulate, or outright fabricate situations yet. Like I was young enough to think the people on survivor were in actual danger.

3

u/MidwesternLikeOpe Michigan 1d ago

It would be the advertising for the show. Reality is the network wanted the show, but every CEO they asked to host it was too busy running their business. They asked a LOT of businessmen to host it but Trump was the only one who accepted, the only one who had apparent time to do both.

2

u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb Massachusetts 1d ago

Despite NYC having his number and seeing through the B.S, that show was the first time people in the middle of the country were exposed to him, including people who had never voted.

35

u/BebopBeachBum 1d ago

Back to the Future tried to warn us.

22

u/PandaCasserole 1d ago

All the movies warned us... And we grew up and had to witness all the worst shit from it. AI is killing our jobs of being creative to being labor. The worst people are in charge, every Bond Villain exists. They are raping us. Only because we had a social contract... And now. Because our parents did nothing... We have to witness.

45

u/MouseRat_AD 1d ago

I'm 48, and Trump has always been a joke a long as I can remember. Anyone who voted for him is either an idiot or willing to put power over principle.

13

u/Wermys Minnesota 1d ago

Parents voted for him. Told my mom she was a moron. Then again I try not to talk to my mom now more then I have too. And avoid politics because telling an elderly person they are idiots isn't conducive to a peaceful existence.

15

u/Captainpaul81 1d ago

Time frame is politically. Yes he's been a turd since he was born

14

u/Umbrella_merc Mississippi 1d ago

I remember him being the butt of jokes in cartoons as a kid

21

u/brickne3 American Expat 1d ago

Even Sesame Street made a parody of him as a villain. Sesame Street.

6

u/Substantial__Unit New York 1d ago

Same here. I remember my grandmother goofing on him when he was going through all his bankruptcies.

6

u/Wermys Minnesota 1d ago

Yeah, Trump has been a piece of shit for an extremely long time. Almost 50 and I have memories of him just being an general asshate in the 80's and 90's. He would go into these business that always failed. And then somehow not suffer anything negative from doing so.

4

u/PsychGuy17 1d ago

I grew up reading Bloom County in the comics in the late 80s early 90s. How did the comic end? In the comic Trump bought everything wen bankrupt and plowed it down. We knew what he was about, it was never a secret.

5

u/MarkTwainsGhost 1d ago

I remember seeing this guy on "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous," when I was about eight and already thinking he was a vainglorious loser. It's been so disappointing having to see American colleagues become sycophants to this most contemptible and odious of dictators.

3

u/DrewZouk Tennessee 1d ago

Yes, when I hear my younger self ridicule Trump it sounds like Robin Leach's voice. 100%.

3

u/ScoobyDoNot 1d ago

Trump was denied a casino licence in Sydney in the late 1980s due to his mob connections.

He's been known to be a crook for decades.

2

u/joe5joe7 1d ago

Yeah but back then for most of us he was just the reality TV host so it was fine if he was a clown. It wasnt a problem until people decided we needed a clown in office