Opinions
The king of insults can’t handle the truth about himself
By Jennifer Rubin
August 13 at 7:15 AM PT
President Trump talks to members of the media outside the White House last week in Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President Trump has made more than 12,000 false or misleading statements during fewer than 1,000 days in office and has insulted hundreds of people, entire countries and our collective intelligence. When confronted with unpleasant truths about himself, however, he wigs out, according to The Post’s reporting.
Trump said there were “very fine” people on both sides in Charlottesville, accused a judge of Mexican heritage of being unable to do his job, calls African and Caribbean nations “shithole countries” and says he prefers immigrants from lily-white Norway. He told four nonwhite congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, regularly insults the intelligence of African Americans and has parroted white nationalist rhetoric (“invasion”). But he is upset that people (51 percent, according to one poll) think he is a racist.
Don’t tell him, but the president who has racked up a deficit of “$119.7 billion, good for a 27% increase over a year ago, according to government figures released Monday,” might be called “fiscally irresponsible” (oh my!) by some.
Trump might be troubled to know that after years of excusing Russia’s attack on our democracy and those of other Western countries, and after taking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word over that of the U.S. intelligence community, people are calling him a “patsy” or a “poodle” for Putin. The nerve!
There seems to be no end to the habit of calling Trump names for things he actually does. Insulting women, intimating that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) would trade sex for campaign contributions, and accumulating allegations of sexual assault? Darn if people don’t call Trump a “misogynist.”
Trump brags that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un likes him and sends him beautiful letters. And people call him “gullible”?!
Trump denies climate change, and people go and call him “anti-science” or an “ignoramus.” He takes hours of “executive time,” has made about 200 trips to his golf properties since taking office, has days on end with no public events and doesn’t read his intelligence briefing (or much of anything else), only to have people call him “lazy.” He refuses to dissolve his business holdings, enriches himself in office and receives foreign emoluments, yet people have the nerve to call him “corrupt.”
Trump attacks the rule of law, the First Amendment, the separation of powers and the courts; meanies accuse him of being “anti-democratic” or “authoritarian.” Trump hires a slew of incompetent and ethically challenged advisers, many of whom he has to fire; the media have the gall to say his presidency is “chaotic.”
Trump changes policy by tweet and gets dubbed “impulsive,” reverses himself and gets called “erratic.” He approves a family separation policy and refuses to provide safe and sanitary conditions for asylum seekers, only to be called “cruel” or “inhumane.” Will the attacks on Trump never cease?!
Trump, commander in chief and president of the world’s only superpower, thinks he is the world’s most picked-upon person. The man who victimizes others insists that he is the biggest victim of all. And the greatest indignity? His critics (sometimes a majority of Americans) keep calling him racist and misogynistic, fiscally irresponsible, lazy, corrupt, authoritarian, impulsive and erratic based on his racist and misogynistic, fiscally irresponsible, lazy, corrupt, authoritarian, impulsive and erratic rhetoric and actions. The unfairness of it all!
Read more:
Paul Waldman: What Trump doesn’t understand about culture war politics
Erik Wemple: Fox News has no comment on its venomous rhetoric
Catherine Rampell: The Scaramucci story ends like all the others: With a Trump tweetstorm
Jonathan Capehart: What I learned about the Democrats at a family barbecue in North Carolina
Fred Hiatt: There’s never been a president like Trump. Just look at his gun-control record.
Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
The king of insults can’t handle the truth about himself
By Jennifer Rubin
August 13 at 7:15 AM PT
President Trump talks to members of the media outside the White House last week in Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President Trump has made more than 12,000 false or misleading statements during fewer than 1,000 days in office and has insulted hundreds of people, entire countries and our collective intelligence. When confronted with unpleasant truths about himself, however, he wigs out, according to The Post’s reporting.
Trump said there were “very fine” people on both sides in Charlottesville, accused a judge of Mexican heritage of being unable to do his job, calls African and Caribbean nations “shithole countries” and says he prefers immigrants from lily-white Norway. He told four nonwhite congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, regularly insults the intelligence of African Americans and has parroted white nationalist rhetoric (“invasion”). But he is upset that people (51 percent, according to one poll) think he is a racist.
Don’t tell him, but the president who has racked up a deficit of “$119.7 billion, good for a 27% increase over a year ago, according to government figures released Monday,” might be called “fiscally irresponsible” (oh my!) by some.
Trump might be troubled to know that after years of excusing Russia’s attack on our democracy and those of other Western countries, and after taking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word over that of the U.S. intelligence community, people are calling him a “patsy” or a “poodle” for Putin. The nerve!
There seems to be no end to the habit of calling Trump names for things he actually does. Insulting women, intimating that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) would trade sex for campaign contributions, and accumulating allegations of sexual assault? Darn if people don’t call Trump a “misogynist.”
Trump brags that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un likes him and sends him beautiful letters. And people call him “gullible”?!
Trump denies climate change, and people go and call him “anti-science” or an “ignoramus.” He takes hours of “executive time,” has made about 200 trips to his golf properties since taking office, has days on end with no public events and doesn’t read his intelligence briefing (or much of anything else), only to have people call him “lazy.” He refuses to dissolve his business holdings, enriches himself in office and receives foreign emoluments, yet people have the nerve to call him “corrupt.”
Trump attacks the rule of law, the First Amendment, the separation of powers and the courts; meanies accuse him of being “anti-democratic” or “authoritarian.” Trump hires a slew of incompetent and ethically challenged advisers, many of whom he has to fire; the media have the gall to say his presidency is “chaotic.”
Trump changes policy by tweet and gets dubbed “impulsive,” reverses himself and gets called “erratic.” He approves a family separation policy and refuses to provide safe and sanitary conditions for asylum seekers, only to be called “cruel” or “inhumane.” Will the attacks on Trump never cease?!
Trump, commander in chief and president of the world’s only superpower, thinks he is the world’s most picked-upon person. The man who victimizes others insists that he is the biggest victim of all. And the greatest indignity? His critics (sometimes a majority of Americans) keep calling him racist and misogynistic, fiscally irresponsible, lazy, corrupt, authoritarian, impulsive and erratic based on his racist and misogynistic, fiscally irresponsible, lazy, corrupt, authoritarian, impulsive and erratic rhetoric and actions. The unfairness of it all!
Read more:
Paul Waldman: What Trump doesn’t understand about culture war politics
Erik Wemple: Fox News has no comment on its venomous rhetoric
Catherine Rampell: The Scaramucci story ends like all the others: With a Trump tweetstorm
Jonathan Capehart: What I learned about the Democrats at a family barbecue in North Carolina
Fred Hiatt: There’s never been a president like Trump. Just look at his gun-control record.
Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
