Tag Archives: election

Trumpf the Insult Candidate

According to Trump, women are either fat pigs, horse-faced, ugly, dogs, crazy as a bedbug, nasty, birdbrains, whack jobs, or else can only succeed 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 America. 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)

Out of Balance

It’s the fall equinox today. Day and night are balanced. California and Oregon are burning. The earth is out of balance, and so is the United States.

The Awesome and Notorious RBG finally died, 45 days before the election. Trump will ram through some anti-abortion right-wing nutjob for the Supreme Court, and McConnell will rush them through the Senate confirmation.

Some people are still holding out hope that Susan Collins will vote no. They always hope she’ll do the right thing, and she never does.

There’s a reason people are almost as angry with establishment Democrats as with the completely corrupted and spineless GOP. Neither party has done much for working people in the last 40 years. Obamacare helped; but Obama was a negotiator, not a warrior. The Republicans stopped him cold two years in.

Meanwhile the rich have kept getting richer, and the rest of us have gotten poorer. The USA’s record concentration of wealth has been stolen from ordinary workers. We need a wealth tax to get it back.

Don’t expect Biden to give us what we need, if we’re lucky enough to have him win the election. The only way we’ll get health care, affordable housing, student debt forgiveness, a Green New Deal, and significant change to our policing and prison systems is if we insist on it. The American people must lead.

Make a sign. Write an email. Tweet your legislator. The real struggle starts after the election.