Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Former WH staffer uncloaks the kryptonite that will take Trump down

alternet.org · 4h · first reportShare

Many of President Donald Trump’s supporters don’t care how corrupt and stupid he is — which gives him a layer of Teflon that other politicians don’t enjoy. However, after serving in Trump’s first term as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whistleblower Miles Taylor says he knows exactly what kind of blows land on Trump. The Achilles’ heel of autocrats is mockery, said Taylor. And Trump and his feather-thin skin is particularly sensitive to it. “Strongmen can handle all the hatred because, weirdly (and this is Trump’s long-standing view), the hatred confirms their power,” said Taylor. “What they actually have such a hard time with is laughter. When people point and laugh, they cower and quiver. The tactic is as old as time.” Taylor references historian Will Durant’s Heroes of History , where Durant notes how the earliest comedians worked their art tearing down political monsters in ancient Athens, wielding humor as a powerful weapon to expose corruption a