I’ve never understood this assertion, except as a joke. When speaking publicly, there were/are two Trumps: the authoritarian smart ass who’s making it up as he goes. This one goes to rallies and delights his fans, and is the one James Austin Johnson mimics so well on SNL.
Then there’s teleprompter Trump, who listlessly recites what’s in front of him like a moribund Soviet leader. Clearly he could/can read. But his gaffes made me wonder if perhaps he has vision issues and was/is too vain to wear corrective lenses.
But there is zero chance that Trump is a “reader” in any real sense of that word.
I’m not. Not at all. The entire republican party’s whole concept of existence has been “pissing off the libs” for at least the past 13 years now. From the moment Barack Obama was elected to now, every single one of their policies has been “No YOU.” and “Triggering the snowflakes.” And Donald Trump does that better than anyone, because he’s so fucking nonsensical. And the people who are his fans LIKE the fact that he triggers us more than they care about the cognitive dissonance.
They know he’s full of shit. They know he’s a big lying liar. But he’s also saying things that make us angry, and that’s ALL the conservative right cares about anymore. It’s literally all they have.
Well, yes, but aside from anger, gerrymandering, a wildly undemocratic senate, the supreme court, and unfettered political donations from the wealthiest capitalists, what has the Conservative Right ever done for Fascism?
The main reason is to force the person to respond to the accusation. The other reason is that he clearly needs glasses, but his vanity gets in the way, and so he gives the impression that he cannot read as he demands information be given in a way that he doesn’t have to focus, and so on.
It is also a dig on his intelligence, since literacy is so closely tied to the concept of being smart.
And hate. They love hate… they love to hate the most vulnerable groups, because they’re fucking bullies and have been since the “contract with America” bullshit.