# Does Trump ever laugh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 25, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072 "2018-04-25T03:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/21 "2018-04-25T20:46:40Z")
He’s a fascinating character to witness, if you can compartmentalize the psychodrama unfolding from its political consequences. I think Trump has a big heart and I think it’s reserved for people very close to him. Underneath Trump’s extremely arrogant and brash persona, I think there’s an insecure guy who only trusts a few people in his inner circle, like a small clique of kids at a high school rejected by the popular crowd. You’re with him or against him. I don’t believe that his personal/family life is, or was, predominantly dysfunctional. I think he’s happiest with his friends and family. It doesn’t make him a “good guy” in general and it doesn’t mean he’s a good leader. He’s sort of like the opposite of Howard Hughes. Hughes was a billionaire with a very debonair, gentlemanly, classy exterior - lots of people greatly admired him and found him to be kind and personable. But under the surface, there was incipient dysfunction, which unfortunately spiraled out of control eventually. Estranged from his family and friends, he died childless and alone. The difference is that Hughes actually invented things that were useful and he aspired to a certain pinnacle of excellence, whether it was entertainment or technology. Trump just built tacky hotels and casinos, and shuffled money from one pile to another. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/22 "2018-04-26T02:14:43Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > He laughed when [someone compared Hillary Clinton to a dog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYux2DBFnoY). That was the anecdote that Comey brought up on CNN’s Town Hall tonight. He said it was the only video he could find on Youtube of Trump laughing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/23 "2018-04-26T02:20:18Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > He’s a fascinating character to witness, if you can compartmentalize the psychodrama unfolding from its political consequences. > > I think Trump has a big heart and I think it’s reserved for people very close to him. Underneath Trump’s extremely arrogant and brash persona, I think there’s an insecure guy who only trusts a few people in his inner circle, like a small clique of kids at a high school rejected by the popular crowd. You’re with him or against him. I don’t believe that his personal/family life is, or was, predominantly dysfunctional. I think he’s happiest with his friends and family. It doesn’t make him a “good guy” in general and it doesn’t mean he’s a good leader. > > He’s sort of like the opposite of Howard Hughes. Hughes was a billionaire with a very debonair, gentlemanly, classy exterior - lots of people greatly admired him and found him to be kind and personable. But under the surface, there was incipient dysfunction, which unfortunately spiraled out of control eventually. Estranged from his family and friends, he died childless and alone. > > The difference is that Hughes actually invented things that were useful and he aspired to a certain pinnacle of excellence, whether it was entertainment or technology. Trump just built tacky hotels and casinos, and shuffled money from one pile to another. Regardless of the cause, Trump is also, at base, predominantly highly dysfunctional. His heart, microscopic as it is, doesn’t extend to Dreamers, or Democrats, or anyone else who doesn’t happen to agree with his loony-toons philosophy or like his perpetual lies and self-aggrandizement, and won’t stroke him for the Great Leader that he clearly isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/24 "2018-04-26T03:14:43Z")
He’s not a big-picture or abstract thinker, at all. I fully believe that when he saw pictures of dead Syrian children, he really did feel bad for them. I believe if he were to SEE the consequences of his bad policies, if he were to literally SEE people suffering, he’d have some sympathy. He seems to be the kind of guy where, if a concept is not personalized for him, he is unable to really comprehend it. It has to be tangible and first-hand. In other words, exactly the WRONG kind of person to be any kind of leader. But I don’t think he’s some kind of evil Grinch-like character. He’s just kind of fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/25 "2018-04-26T04:07:05Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You survived Calvin Coolidge, you can survive this I have to stick up for Silent Cal, here. He was well aware of his taciturn reputation. His wife used to tell a story about a woman who came up to him at a diplomatic function and told him, “I bet my husband I could get more than two words out of you.” Coolidge is said to have replied, “You lose.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/26 "2018-04-26T05:04:23Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > He’s not a big-picture or abstract thinker, at all. I fully believe that when he saw pictures of dead Syrian children, he really did feel bad for them. I believe if he were to SEE the consequences of his bad policies, if he were to literally SEE people suffering, he’d have some sympathy. He seems to be the kind of guy where, if a concept is not personalized for him, he is unable to really comprehend it. It has to be tangible and first-hand. In other words, exactly the WRONG kind of person to be any kind of leader. But I don’t think he’s some kind of evil Grinch-like character. He’s just kind of fucked up. I’m not so sure about that. Did you read the story about when someone fell in front of him and required medical attention? > **[The Time Donald Trump Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-time-donald-trump-turned-away-in-disgust-while-a-man-bled-to-death-in-front-of-him)** > > The most shocking revelation from a recently unearthed trove of interviews between radio host Howard Stern and Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/27 "2018-04-26T05:37:16Z")
Or the one about how he asked why the CIA didn’t kill some guy’s family? > **[Trump asked CIA why they spared family when killing terrorist target](https://nypost.com/2018/04/06/trump-asked-cia-why-they-spared-family-when-killing-terrorist-target/)** > > President Trump reportedly asked the CIA why it waited until a terror target’s family left the building before launching a drone missile strike against him. “Why did you wait?” the president asked,… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/28 "2018-04-26T05:43:25Z")
He said he wanted to have prisoners tortured and their families murdered. He said Nazis are very fine people. He saw to it his own nephew’s son lost his health insurance; said nephew’s son has cerebral palsy. He’s a con artist and a serial sexual predator with the hots for his own daughter. Stop me when I get to something that’s not evil. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/29 "2018-04-26T06:03:15Z")
Well, his daughter IS really fucking hot… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/30 "2018-04-26T06:18:18Z")
True, but that doesn’t make her dad less evil! ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/31 "2018-04-26T06:18:39Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Well, his daughter IS really fucking hot… Yeah but, what if your dad said that about You? On TV? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/32 "2018-04-26T06:21:14Z")
I don’t disagree. It’s pretty much the only thing he and I have in common. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/33 "2018-04-26T06:25:49Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Yeah but, what if your dad said that about You? On TV? 1. my dad’s been dead since 2001, and B) my dad never told any of us that he loved us, let alone want to sleep with us. I take your point, though. I’m not trying to excuse his (Trump’s) behavior ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/34 "2018-04-26T06:29:10Z")
Could it be that he avoids laughing – especially in front of cameras – because he’s afraid his dentures might fall out? ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/35 "2018-04-26T06:59:26Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > He said he wanted to have prisoners tortured and their families murdered. He said Nazis are very fine people. He saw to it his own nephew’s son lost his health insurance; said nephew’s son has cerebral palsy. He’s a con artist and a serial sexual predator with the hots for his own daughter. Stop me when I get to something that’s not evil. There is no way in hell that Donald Trump has it in him to personally witness and oversee the torture or murder of anyone. He is saying this hyperbolic shit to get attention and maybe he _thinks_ he wants it, but he doesn’t have the capability to ever do anything like that himself. He’d never get his hands dirty. He delegates everything to his lackeys. He is a selfish, greedy buffoon who’s politically incompetent, talks tough, and basically enables the very powerful corporate interests to do their thing, who have been doing their thing since forever. He is not a “psychopath”, he is not like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, he’s not like Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, I’m really starting to tire of the over the top proclamations about him like he’s some kind of fascist dictator. He is not a dictator. He is also not some kind of inhuman monster who lacks a “normal” sense of humor…he is eminently human, with all of the good and bad that go along with it; and he is not particularly special in any way, other than having a lot of money and being good at shuffling it from one pile to another. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/36 "2018-04-26T11:15:49Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > He’s a con artist and a serial sexual predator with the hots for his own daughter. I think the “hots for his own daughter” thing has nothing to do with pedophiliac/incestuous urges. A genetic child is, in some ways, your reflection. If that child is successful/attractive, it is a reflection you will welcome. Trump loves himself so much that there is no one he’d rather make love to than himself. I think that’s what is at the heart of his inappropriate comments about how hot his daughter is. Is it creepy? Yeah, it is. But not necessarily in the way a lot of people make it out to be. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/37 "2018-04-26T12:11:03Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > He is a selfish, greedy buffoon who’s politically incompetent, talks tough, and basically enables the very powerful corporate interests to do their thing, who have been doing their thing since forever. He is not a “psychopath”, he is not like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, he’s not like Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, I’m really starting to tire of the over the top proclamations about him like he’s some kind of fascist dictator. He is not a dictator. He is also not some kind of inhuman monster who lacks a “normal” sense of humor…he is eminently human, with all of the good and bad that go along with it; and he is not particularly special in any way, other than having a lot of money and being good at shuffling it from one pile to another. This is just pure grade, absolute bullshit. Everything about Trump screams a distinct lack of normal human empathy. He is entirely about himself. I know a lot of people, both in real life and online, and I don’t know any who are as morally bankrupt as Trump. Yes, he’s not a mass murderer. That doesn’t make him a normal human, or even not a psychopath. I tend to think he’s more narcissistic than sociopathic, but he is not normal. He clearly only cares about himself. He acts like a worse version of my sister’s boss, who had Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He very much has tried to run things like a dictator. When he got into power, he tried to directly control those under him. He fired someone investigating him, thinking it would fix everything. He ran on the idea that he would shut down freedom of speech because people were saying bad thing about him, and is still at every opportunity trying to undermine the free press. If he could control everything, every sign shows that he would do all these things. He is also a pathological liar. He doesn’t even seem to comprehend the idea of truth. He just says what he thinks will get him what he wants. He’s contradicted himself so, so many times. He’s paranoid and a conspiracy nut, and thinks everyone is out to get him. What bothers me is people downplaying all this, acting like he’s perfectly normal. It actually is the main reason I got depressed around the time he was elected. Seeing people I thought I knew seeing someone so clearly being evil and still voting for him and defending him? It was heartbreaking. I don’t know if he ever finds things funny. Even monsters often can find something amusing. But he is a monster. He is very clearly evil. I didn’t even scratch the surface. Did you forget his “superior genetics” comment? His racism towards immigrants? His sexual harassment, that he even joked about? The list goes on. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/38 "2018-04-26T15:43:24Z")
> [@2nd\_Law](#): > > Could it be that he avoids laughing – especially in front of cameras – because he’s afraid his dentures might fall out? No, he doesn’t wear dentures. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/39 "2018-04-26T15:48:30Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > No, he doesn’t wear dentures. So says his drunken doctor who thinks the scale read 239 when Donnie stepped on it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072/40 "2018-04-26T15:50:36Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I think the “hots for his own daughter” thing has nothing to do with pedophiliac/incestuous urges. A genetic child is, in some ways, your reflection. If that child is successful/attractive, it is a reflection you will welcome. I think otherwise. > [@](#): > > Trump loves himself so much that there is no one he’d rather make love to than himself. I think that’s what is at the heart of his inappropriate comments about how hot his daughter is. I don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-trump-ever-laugh/813072.md?page=3)