this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2026
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[–] FergleFFergleson@infosec.pub 203 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

That moment you're reminded that, oh yeah, this guy was a comedian back in simpler times.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 108 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Its not even his comedic acting background.

Zelenskyy has charisma. Contrast that with a senile lunatic who almost definitely had shit his pants by this point in the interview and...

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 23 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Trump is crazy charismatic; that’s a big part of the problem. I don’t get it, but clearly tens of millions of people do, a whole fucking lot.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 7 hours ago

Other people are disagreeing, since he's not really smooth the way the term implies. But, maybe he has a different kind. Charisma is hard to define.

Trumpism predated Trump, though. He was just the first rich guy willing to openly say horrible things in the primary.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 27 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

He REALLY isn't. He can barely speak a coherent sentence and somehow the party of homophobia is cool with a guy who can only dance by miming a blowbang.

There are two big keys to his success and they are true of many populist leaders:

  1. His support base know they are as dumb as he is, if not dumber, and are glad they have a leader who won't use big words like "because".
  2. The vast majority of people never see him. They see a highly edited clip on tiktok or just hear that he said they should beat a trans person on Facebook and so forth.

Contrast that with someone like Big Daddy Z. "I would love to visit but we are too busy destroying it" really isn't anything new and there are countless quotes along those lines from WW2 and the like. But he has basic people skills, a great smile, and knows how to sound like a human being where "I might not always agree with you but I would totally share a drink". And it works. It belittles the opposition, reminds people of Ukraine's current accomplishments, and makes you like the guy.

That is charisma.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world -3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

They’re both charismatic and if you can’t see that you aren’t equipped to confront reality and the problems we face.

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 hours ago

Trump had charisma, but it's lost in a sea of dementia now.

[–] starik@lemmy.today 0 points 2 hours ago

You’re getting downvoted, but you’re absolutely right. For a certain type of American, he is magnetic. It’s the same type who goes to megachurches. Those preachers are obvious charlatans to you and me, but in white trash culture, they are top-of-the-heap alpha male leaders with all the answers.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 10 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

It isn't charisma, it is convenience. The convenience to be an asshole without repercussion, is what Trump promises. His backers want to become Trump.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world -3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No my dude. It’s charisma. It’s Perón and Putin and Bonaparte. It’s not the same charisma as Obama or Mamdani, but it’s charisma nonetheless.

[–] outerspace@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Charisma at home.

Charisma for dummies.

Is this charisma? 🦋

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 3 points 13 hours ago

I reckon there's correlation there, but causation is inverse of what the the parent comment suggested:

He was a pretty good (from what I've seen) comedian because he was charismatic, not charismatic because he was a comedian

Of course I personally still can't get over the penis piano playing lmao. I wish more countries had the balls to vote for someone like that.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 15 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

His face says "why do I have to sit here and listen to this raving lunatic"

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago

he sat like this in 2019, when he was threatening him if he dint "make up an investigation" into the bidens.

[–] abc@suppo.fi 11 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

I imagine he had to unlearn the Biden years when he was dealing with actual world leaders. He clearly went in that mode to the first Trump meetings which didn't quite work.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 48 points 16 hours ago

He had some side splitters in his interview with Letterman as well, you know someone's witty as fuck when they can make jokes not in their native language