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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate "The Slow-Motion Humiliation of an Empty Demagogue" (meaning trump - good read)
The presidents sadism ends in his own agony.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
NOV 06, 20208:58 PM
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/trump-election-results-humiliation.html
Donald Trump is a sadist. In 2016, after winning his partys presidential nomination, he bragged for months about all the Republican candidates he had beaten. As president-elect, he toured the country, boasting about the emotional pain he had inflicted on Democrats and others who had stood in his way. Throughout his presidency, he gloated that just by occupying the White House, he was infuriating his critics. And this year on the campaign trail, he reveled in recounting the anguish of his opponents on election night 2016.
Now Trumps reign of cruelty is ending where it began: in defeat, disbelief, and agony. But this time, the agony is his.
Every president-elect before Trump made at least a token effort to unite the country. The victor would reach out to heal the wounds of those who had lost. But Trump never tried. In December 2016, he went on a bizarre victory tour, staging rallies to celebrate his defeat of the 54 percent of Americans who had voted against him. He savaged Hillary Clinton and her supporters, calling the election a slaughter. He recalled every detail of election night, especially the TV reporters who, in Trumps retelling, were devastated and throwing up.
As president, Trump constantly pitted red America against blue America. He scorned Democrat-run cities and states, targeting them for tax increases as he cut taxes for his wealthy supporters. He treated his impeachment not as a rebuke but as a triumph over his enemies. He tried to expunge, out of pure spite, every program and policy enacted by President Barack Obama. As COVID-19 killed tens of thousands of Americans, Trump blamed Democratic governors and threatened to withhold aid from them. He gloated that he was sitting in the White House, and his enemies werent.
In this years campaign, Trump tried to humiliate his opponents once more. He called former Vice President Joe Biden a dummy and a corpse. In front of white crowds, he mocked Obamas middle name (Hussein) and the first name of Sen. Kamala Harris If you dont pronounce her name exactly right, she gets very angry). He told audiences how much he enjoyed watching the National Guard invade cities after George Floyds death (That was a beautiful sight
They walked down that street with pepper spray and tear gas, and it was pow, pow) and how disappointed he was when these invasions were averted. He threatened to punish states whose governors displeased him. He demanded that the Department of Justice prosecute his political enemies. He said Clinton, Biden, and other Democrats should be locked up.
But Trumps favorite riff was reliving the night of the 2016 election. It was the greatest night in the history of television, he told a crowd in Wisconsin three weeks ago. We had so much fun, the tears that were flowing
Remember the tears? On Oct. 25, at a rally in New Hampshire, he claimed that as one state after another fell into his column that nightGeorgia, Michigan, PennsylvaniaTV reporters had wept on air. Theyre crying, they crying, he exulted, recalling the scene. It was beautiful
You saw these very unbiased anchors with the tears coming down. In every retelling, Trump boasted that his tally that night, 306 electoral votes, had traumatized the opposition. Were going to have an even more amazing evening on Nov. 3, he promised.
For a few hours on Tuesday night, it looked that way. Then states began to count the millions of ballots mailed in by people whod had enough of Trump. By Wednesday morning, he was in shock. They are finding Biden votes all over the place, he protested. First he issued a preposterous monarchic decree that we have claimed Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Then he demanded that election workers STOP THE COUNT! On Thursday, he went to the White House podium and ranted, I won Pennsylvania by a lot
In Georgia, I won by a lot
We were way up in Michigan, won the state. By Friday, he was pleading, I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear
Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!
What were watching now, as the ballots pile up against Trump, and as he vows to fight on in the courts, is the slow-motion humiliation of an empty demagogue. The man who mocked Sen. John McCains heroism and called former Sen. Jeff Flake stupid is trailing in their state, Arizona, thanks to 100,000 Republicans who, at the urging of Flake and of McCains widow, voted for Biden. And the rebuke is personal: Republicans held the Senate and won lots of races down the ballot, often beating the presidents margins. Now, as his party slinks away from him, Trump faces the prospect of surrendering the White House to the man he belittled, in every speech, as the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics. Its such a shame.
niyad
(113,778 posts)cilla4progress
(24,791 posts)the entire article
LuckyCharms
(17,471 posts)ZZenith
(4,133 posts)~Gilmour/Waters
Amen and amen.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,766 posts)It's very satisfying to see this monster falling and failing!
crickets
(25,989 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(33,544 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Cats dont like used receptacles. Everybody knows that.