Trump holds you in contempt.

Trump dishes out insults. Can he take them?

Maybe a better question to consider is what is wrong with a person who insults nearly everyone.

Trump's use of demeaning language makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but it doesn't mean it isn't effective. When he calls Kamala Harris a low-IQ slut, it positions him as the dominant one, the person in power, making adverse judgments on a person he humiliates. His MAGA voters cheer him on.

Maybe it was time for turnabout, I wrote last week. Trump presents himself as a sexual Superman. Not only could Trump shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose votes, he could sexually assault someone, defame her, lose in court and be ordered to pay $80 million in damages, and not lose votes. Trump felt it appropriate to assert he has "no problem" in the size department. Not so fast. Two can play the humiliation game. Stormy Daniels testified under oath to the contrary. He is small and weird down there.

College classmate Jane Collins read my post and wanted to add her perspective. It was different from mine. Hers was less about humiliating Trump in turnabout than it was recognizing that Trump's use of insults reflects so badly on his character. Something is deeply flawed in him. 

She says she is okay with Trump including her in the list of targets. She reminded me that she is very short. She said she resents Trump using "little" as an insult. She said she is pretty sure Trump would call her a "communist" because her politics are Bernie Sanders-adjacent. He would call her a "moron" because she has no money. He would say she is a "dog" because she never was beautiful. 

Collins

Guest Post by Jane Collins

                                      Trump, the Insult Candidate  

According to Trump, women are fat pigs, horse-faced, ugly, dogs, crazy as a bedbug, nasty, birdbrains, whack jobs, or else can succeed only because they are beautiful or give blowjobs to the right people. But of course, he doesn’t just pick on women. After the latest round of Trump campaign slut-shaming, I tried to think of any group Trump hasn’t insulted. Black people are low-IQ. Muslims hate Americans. Jews who vote Democratic should have their heads examined. Reporters are public enemies.

 

Trump has mocked people with disabilities, Gold Star families, soldiers who died in war. Straight white Christian male Republicans are safe -- unless they dare to cross him. African countries are "shitholes." Immigrants are criminals, rapists, drug dealers, disease carriers. Poor people are morons. Anyone who believes in climate change, or that the last presidential election was free and fair, is a sucker who has fallen for a hoax.

 

What lies behind such relentless disrespect? Once upon a time, Trump was a handsome young prince, the scion of a racist real estate mogul who made him a millionaire by the age of eight. He learned all the skills a con man needs, including how to respond if anyone called him a fraud, a thief, or a sexual opportunist: “I know you are, but what am I?”

 

Owing to a lifetime of getting away with countless financial and sexual misdeeds, surrounded by sycophants, and protected by revolving squads of conscience-free lawyers, Trump is convinced he is invulnerable. He believes he is still young, strong, and handsome. His mind is clearly in tatters, but he continues to think he’s the smartest person in the room.

 

Who does get Trump’s respect? Tyrants. He makes puppy dog eyes at Putin and cherishes love letters from Kim Jong Un. He envies their ability to kill their enemies. Trump can only insult his.

 

I am proud to be part of some of the communities for which he has shown so much contempt. They comprise most of the United States, and really most of the world. If you haven’t been insulted by Trump yet, you’re just not trying.

 

 

(For a comprehensive list of Trump insults on Twitter, see:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html)

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