His vicious, childish nicknames for those he dislikes are calculated to demonize enemies and divide people

By Michael O’Looney

President Donald Trump’s relentless name-calling of those he regards as his adversaries in politics and the media has become something more than a feeble attempt at conjuring up innocuous nicknames. Besides being childish and unimaginative, his slurs have become methodically vicious.

Methodical because there’s a purpose behind his demeaning slurs. It’s to cast his critics in a negative light so that we begin to subconsciously associate the negative descriptor with the person the Trumpster is trying to vilify.

Case(s) in point. If you suffer from short-term memory and can’t recall who Hillary Clinton is, the sobriquet Crooked Hillary should ring a bell. Let’s not forget either when Don the Con called Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas, disloyal Liz Cheney a Low IQ War Hawk. Then there’s Slimeball James Comey, Comrade Kamala, Cocaine Mitch, Slimy Newscum, Fake Tears Chuck Schumer, Crazy Bernie and Shifty and/or Pencil Neck Adam Schiff.

The Prince of Prevarication has been merciless when it comes to slurring his predecessor calling former President Biden Crooked Joe, Slow Joe, Sleepy Joe. Perhaps the most derogatory slur of all is when Putin’s Pet referred to Joe as the “head of the Biden crime family.” Where’s the folksy good humor in that?

People in the media haven’t been spared either. The Great White Dope called MSNBC’s co-host Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe” Psycho Joe, a clever rhyme. Then there’s Allison Cooper for Anderson Cooper, and “fake” news shows such as Deface the Nation and Meet the Fake Press.

Having a reputation for being overly fond of women, the Golden Groper seems contrarily to have little respect for female reporters. Recently, Dumpty Trumpty told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey to be “quiet, piggy.” And the disrespect continued when he asked CBS’s Nancy Cordes, “Are you a stupid person?” Our Fondling Father recently confronted ABC’s Mary Bruce, saying, “You are a terrible person and a terrible reporter.” Now is that nice?

Putin’s Puppet may seem overly fond of the descriptor “lyin’,” a word he has repeatedly attached to his enemies such as  Lyin’ Jim Comey, Lyin’ Ted Cruz,and Lyin’ Kamala. A serial liar himself, Donald the Menace would do well to refrain from using this particular adjective, so that people are not reminded of the 30,000 plus lies attributed to him in his first term (as reported by New York Times fact checkers).

As for the coterie of late-night comics — Steven Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel — the Tweeting Twit has repeatedly called them “untalented,” “no talent,” “zero talented” “bums,” who should be taken off the air.

When we recall the nicknames people have given other politicians, namely, some of our past presidents, they seem comparatively innocent, folksy, sometimes clever without being mean. There’s Honest Abe, the Ole Rail Splitter, the Great Emancipator. Surprisingly, these names aren’t too bad, considering a considerable number of Southerners hated the man.  

Then there’s Useless Grant, an unfair sobriquet to be sure but a clever substitute for Ulysses. Thomas Jefferson was the Moonshine Philosopher of Monticello, rotund Grover Cleveland was Uncle Jumbo, James Buchanan was Ten-Cent Jimmy (a reference to his remark that 10 cents an hour is decent pay for workers); Teddy Roosevelt was the Trust Buster. Things got a bit nasty in the late ’60s, when everyone thought “Tricky” was Richard Nixon’s first name.

They called President Barack Obama No Drama Obama for his patient, relaxed demeanor. I’m sure in racist redneck bars he was called other things. But the Great White Dope (Trump) took every opportunity he could to remind people that, according to him, the “Great Imposter” (Obama) was not born in America.

And so, what’s the point of all this name-calling? When taken as a whole, the names our Climate-Denier-in-Chief has used to insult his critics are, well, no other word comes to mind than mean-spirited. We might recall Rousseau, who once said, “Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.” Name-calling when it’s meant to ridicule others can belittle and demonize people, reinforce the messaging that individuals lack either competence, honesty, morals or intelligence.

Obama made this reflection: “ We got to stop the name-calling and we got to stop looking at the next election. We’ve got to be focused on figuring out what we’re doing for the next generation.”

But that doesn’t seem to be Carrot Top’s main concern. If Daffy Donald Duck could spend less time labeling his opponents, perhaps we could make some progress in making America less polarized, more accepting of diverse viewpoints, less intolerant, more tolerant. I’ll give it a try myself.

Michael O’Looney lives in Talent.

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