Those who knew Donald Trump as a kid remember him as a classic bully. One person remembers a five-year-old Trump throwing rocks at a toddler, another that he threatened to call the police when a ball bounced into his garden, and Steven Nachtigall, now a 66-year-old doctor, dubbed Trump a “loudmouth bully” who he once saw assaulting another boy.
In the seven decades that have passed, not much has changed. Trump has just expanded his bullying scope to the rest of the world, apparently delighting in humiliating other world leaders. His main source of amusement at the moment is making people beg for the tariffs to be lifted from their countries and avoid economic doom.
Speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening he chuckled: “These countries are calling us up, kissing my a**” to negotiate deals on tariffs”. He mocked them as “dying to make a deal”, and then put on a mocking voice to say: “Please, Sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, Sir.”
Trump: "These countries are calling us up. Kissing my ass." pic.twitter.com/a52SfBnsf8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 9, 2025
Now, this will be music to the ears of the MAGA crowd and other assorted Republicans, who will get a naughty little tingle at the thought of Daddy Trump wilfully humiliating our erstwhile allies. But – and you don’t have to be a master diplomat to figure this out – forcing people to demean themselves rarely fosters a sense of trust.
Unfortunately for Trump, while he may be willing to shove around smaller countries to his heart’s content, other superpowers aren’t budging. It seems he figured China would simply roll over like the rest of the world, though they’ve stood firm even as he applied an eye-watering 104% tariff and have vowed to “fight to the end”. It seems we’re at deadlock, not helped by JD Vance calling Chinese people “peasants”. The consequence? Massive price rises across the board for American consumers.
Not that any of this seemed to bother Trump, who can rest easy in his newly gilded Oval Office and guzzle Diet Coke and McDonald’s to his heart’s content. Nope, he has bigger things on his mind. Later in the speech, he returned to the real question that matters: Is Hannibal Lecter a real person?
“They used to go crazy when I talked about… The late, great Hannibal Lecter. Right? Why does he talk about that? He’s a fictional character.” He’s not. We have many of them that came across the border. He’s actually not.”
Sage words, Mr President. We’ll be sure to file them alongside “ask not what your country can do for you”, “Four score and seven years ago”, and “we shall overcome” in the big file of timeless Presidential quotes.
Published: Apr 9, 2025 06:39 am