No Mercy / No Malice: Role Models

Hi. This is Bella Freud. I'm the host of Fashion Neurosis. This week on the show, Esther Perel is on my couch. Erotic recovery is part of trauma healing. God. That's interesting. It's not the reward at the end. Yeah. That's the difference. And I think we both, come together around that construct. Yeah. Find Fashion Neurosis on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Ninety percent of Americans believe it's important for the president to be a good role model. For all but the most diehard MAG occultists, Donald Trump is the furthest thing imaginable from a role model. The consequences of his deficiencies are creating lasting damage to future generations of Americans. Role Models, as read by George Hahn. Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they'll never sit under. There's an inverse to that wisdom. Great societies decline when old men chop down forests meant to provide shade and oxygen for future generations. Donald Trump isn't making America great again. He's clear cutting American values. Late last Thursday night, the president posted a video promoting his debunked twenty twenty election conspiracy theories. The clip includes images of Michelle and Barack Obama as apes. The following morning, the video drew widespread backlash, including from senator Tim Scott, a Trump ally and the only black Republican in the senate, who called it the most racist thing he's seen out of this White House. Note the implication. Trump has provided other examples of racism for senator Scott to benchmark against. Initially, press secretary Caroline Leavitt dismissed the criticism as fake outrage. Insisting he hadn't made a mistake, Trump doubled down, calling the video very strong in terms of voter fraud and adding that he was the least racist president you've had in a long time. Trump's crisis management role model remains Roy Cohn, the lawyer who served as senator McCarthy's attack dog. Cohn taught Trump to respond to criticism immediately using asymmetrical force. Admit nothing, deny everything, and always claim victory no matter the actual outcome. I teach a session on crisis communications in my brand strategy course at Stern. The scale of a crisis isn't a function of the mistake, but how you react to it. The better playbook, acknowledge the issue in plain language, take responsibility, and don't just fix the problem, Overcorrect with force disproportionate to the mistake. As criticism of Trump's video continued to mount, he moved on to other targets, calling an American Olympic skier who criticized his policies a loser. Next, he attacked Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance, writing on Truth Social, nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children watching. Not to worry. Kid Rock performed at an alternate halftime show, which felt like watching a Ford Pinto compete at f one Monaco. Supposedly, the criteria for entrance to Kid Rock's performance was knowing the purchase limits on Sudafed or wearing an ankle monitor. Trump's performative concern over bad role …