From Arlington to a Trump rally to fresh news of Russian interference, Americans should recognize that the last thing we need is four more years of bullying behavior
I think you nailed it with the bully description and Kamala from a very young age has had a special gift for dealing with bullies and protecting everyone from those bullies throughout her life from childhood to the Whitehouse.
Steven, I’d like to add to your adjectives of trump, misogynistic rapist and traitor. I know some people think calling him a traitor is a little harsh. I believe it’s appropriate as he retained classified documents. I have no doubt he shared some with others who have no business seeing or having them.
As far as bullying, let’s not forget his poor business dealings. He bankrupted small businesses that he signed contracts with to build his failed Atlantic City casinos. He forces them to take less than the agreed upon price, claiming flaws in workmanship. If they don’t agree he refuses to pay and says take me to court. Small businesses can’t afford lawyers who can go up against his, so they settle and wind up filing for bankruptcy.
I don’t think traitor is too harsh. One issue though, he loves to take the most searing descriptions of himself and apply them to others with threats (often couched as suggestions) of tribunals, execution, prosecution …
When everyone is tossing a word like that back & forth he knows it dilutes its impact — except to the kooks who love him and only listen to him. Weirdly he/the GOP has not been able to figure out how to do it with “bully” and “weird.”
I have more choice words than bully, which seems too benign a moniker for this stupid, vain, malign, and nasty man. He is a clear and ever-present danger to us all.
True, but "bully" is like "weird" in that are everyday words people think they know the meaning of. Notice the GOP has objected to "weird", but can't seem to deal with it. I think "bully" will be the same.
Expectations for Harris in the debate are way too high. It’s impossible to “debate” someone who tells wild lies constantly without consequence. The moderators are not going to call out Trump on his lies because they have been bullied into appearing “even handed” between the candidates. I see little upside and potential downside for Democrats in this debate. Among other risks it legitimizes Trump as an appropriate major party nominee for US President, which Trump is definitely not.
Bullies are ridiculous. They're fearful, sad people trying to prop up themselves at the expense of the rest of us. And they act like we don't see them for what they are. Why "weird" is a winner and so is laughter. Onward and upward! 🌊🌊🌊❤️
Bully, amen. I agree 100%. Trump picked Vance as a mini-me bully with less practiced skills, if you will. But why has the main stream media, by and large, sold out to enabling the bully? They report his actions as if they minor personality quirks, not a pathological needs to see people hurt and often succeeding. And always by proxy. The bully must retain the option of deniability. (It is that denying that reveals that Trump does know what he is doing.) How can we the people also hold the media accountable to doing accurate journalism? The media's corporate overlords have failed this test in the name of money. Bullies need enablers and Trump has had them. Thank you for this piece.
I agree. However not all mainstream media is the same. MSNBC has reported on trump’s obvious unfitness and continued decline. Hour after hour in the evening & first thing in the morning, their commentators ask why this is not reported more widely.
Recently perhaps although complaining that it is not reported more widely is not the same as drilling down and reporting his cognitive declines. When Biden was running they were mute except Lawrence O'Donnell. But I am thinking more of the skewed headlines of the NYT and WaPo. I don't have a TV so I don't know about "nightly news." I am still waiting from some journalistic reporting on his bullying. The PA incident Steven reported should have taken over a news cycle.
I’ll try to be more clear. Currently MSNBC — First they report what DJT said. They discuss & then ask why is this not being reported more widely? Why was a group of the richest people in NY applauding this nonsense? And so on. In the past Lawrence O’Donnell was the most blunt, but not the only one pointing out the inordinate amount of attention on Biden’s gaffes and inappropriate / inaccurate reports on Biden while giving DJT a free pass.
I confess to being partial to MSNBC because their commentators (and Chuck Todd) stood up to NBC and beat back the plan by NBC to add Sarah Huckabee Sanders as a paid “analyst”, while the budget for experts & journalism was being cut.
In 2017 and 2018 psychologists were breaking with their ethical code to appear on TV and in print media to give their opinion of DJT’s mental health and cognitive state. It apparently didn’t stick. We got double haters who disliked both candidates.
I think the entertainment conglomerates were not built to deliver news and they keep proving it. Maybe they are getting worried about their own futures. An heir to the Murdoch empire has was among the CEOs who said they are backing Harris.
Well, MSM is still LATE to the party with only incremental improvements as Harris has become a source of clicks and money. And they still enable the bully by normalizing his truly outrageous comments either by neglect or insufficient coverage. Right now the drumbeat is that nobody knows what Kamala stands for or has done. And whose fault is that, MSM? She has been an active part of this administration for nearly 4 years. This is malpractice, this investigative laziness. I cannot debate on particular programs or events. Very tight finances mean that I cobble together a variety of perspectives for free and have the cheapest subscriptions possible to NYT and WaPo. I joined America America out in a desperate need to engage with intelligent informed people and discuss the state of the nation, even though I really couldn't afford it. Being here strengthens me so I can stand to look at the media voices.
As I said: I think the entertainment conglomerates were not built to deliver news and they keep proving it. Maybe they are getting worried about their own futures. An heir to the Murdoch empire has was among the CEOs who said they are backing Harris.
I suspect in large part that’s why you, I and thousands of others are seeking out other information and conversations. (Dan Rather’s “Steady” here on Substack has a similar community of readers & does not require a subscription.)
I had subscribed when I could but now I ignore WaPo. I don’t believe Bezos has any interest in ethical journalism. He brought a guy I consider on a real loser lacking in ethics who ran off or dumped quality people. Will Lewis.
— Bezos was also involved with a Post project to reach out to a broader audience. The Amazon founder had long pushed The Post to try new things to expand its audience. At one point, 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 — but Ms. Buzbee preferred to give priority to original journalism. —
Jun 14, 2024
How Jeff Bezos Is Trying to Fix The Washington Post
You describe what would be a best-case scenario for VP Harris at the debate. I'm not sure how it is to be structured, but I think the only chance Harris will have to display her policy chops and prosecutorial fluency is if she gets to speak first. Otherwise, it's going to be the Gish-gallop all the way down. I doubt moderators or fact-checkers will make any difference.
Thank you, Steven, for this insight into tfg’s history of bullying anyone who disagrees with him.
He does it to his employees, too, many people who worked in his casinos were never paid for many hours they worked.
There is no way this incompetent bully should get near the WH again. We need a president who actually wants to accomplish something for the people of this nation.
Good point. He’s done it for decades. Not only employees, renters or anyone in his way. It’s a major part of how he cheated contractors and put businesses out of business. Not paying them or offering pennies in violation of their contracts. Their only option was to go to court which his attorneys (as Michael Cohen and businesses have said) promised would cost more than they would receive.
It's not just Trump—Republicans have been using bullying as a tactic ever since Reagan, who was also a bully, albeit one who masked it with a genial face to the world. (Dennis Quaid's take on Reagan in his hagiography might be more accurate than most people think.) Even that's not entirely accurate, because Republicans have been using bullying ever since Joe McCarthy's infamous anticommunist witch hunts—it's just that it became their primary tactic with Reagan, and Trump metastasized bullying until it became The Whole Party.
So I don't think we can lay the blame for Republican bullying solely at Donald Trump's feet—I just think, after years of pretending to be a Democrat, Trump finally found his "tribe" when he switched parties. Being Trump, he had to give it his own "spin", which even for Republicans has proven unsustainable....
I agree. The groundwork was set a long time ago. Lee Atwater explained / admitted in a 1981 interview ,while he was working in Reagan’s WH, how language and policies were altered in campaigns to win. But the change was to more “abstract” descriptions to reach the same goals. A change in style and minimally in substance. Now the GOP has reverted to the original style and substance.
(Excerpts were published in a book. I think they were mostly ignored. But in 2012 The Nation obtained the full interview. Their “Exclusive” can be found online.)
Two boys raised by the same parents. Bad parents. One a crook racist, the other, an unloving self absorbing woman.Yet, both boys become entirely different people. One tries to get away but ends up destroying his own life. The other becomes a bully at a young age, throwing stones at a neighbor's baby in its playpen, uncontrollable to the point the parents send him away to military school as they can't handle him where he becomes an alpha bully with classmates, and becomes, as an adult, both a narcissist and a sadist who prods violence and enjoys watching it. Ignorant in educated knowledge and behavior, he becomes what he boasts of, a genius, but in inhuman, cruel behavior. A liar extraordinaire, a sexual predator, a fraud, a cheater, a name caller determined to get retribution from those who disagree with him and try to take him down with truth. He does not lack self esteem, he is filled with it. Like boxer Ali, he is the greatest. He has been President, his name is known worldwide, millions follow him, repeat his absurd lies. Powerful leaders of the country attach their stars to his coattails, obey his commands to hold on to power but also, from fear of his retaliation. In his own way, he is America's Bin Laden, seeking to destroy this country and guilty of killing so many by his handling of the pandemic. And he will do it if elected, and now, with an equally but smarter ally, Elon Musk, a complete narcissist who displays his picture on X more than trump's. He into science, trump claiming to be an expert in nuclear science, imagine these two, what they would be capable of, the moron able to push the button.
I think of The Christmas Story where Ralphie is bullied and runs from the taunting bully, Scut. Finally, feeling down from an unexpected bad grade on his essay for a Red Ryder air rifle, then Scut hitting his eye with a snow ball, Ralphie snaps. He tears into Scut , pounding him until his mother has to pull him off, showing that if you are motivated enough, you can stand up to a bully, stop him.
The debate is upcoming as is the election. I am counting on Kamala Harris to be our Ralphie.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Let's not forget another aspect of Trump's bullying: His intimidation of almost all the Republicans in the House and most in the Senate. It's hard to picture anyone more cowardly than Trump himself, but all those cowering congresspersons who are afraid to speak out or vote for what's right sure come close.
Re: the "debate" (which will not actually be a debate, but a televised performance) -- I have every confidence that Kamala Harris knows exactly how to handle the bully, and especially one who insists on behaving so badly right out in the open. We know now that a big part of Biden's problem in the last "debate" was that Trump, with mike turned off, was talking at him constantly; the moderators did nothing, and Biden was repeatedly distracted and knocked off his game. The television audience could not hear this bullying, and there was no studio audience to report on it afterwards. Biden tried valiantly but unsuccessfully, to keep to his talking points, but sadly, he fumbled so badly it was unbearable to watch. Kamala Harris will not have this problem -- I predict that the moment Trump tries to distract her with talking over his muted mike, she will stop, turn to give little Donny her best prosecutorial stare, and call him out on his behaviour in front of the live cameras using her live mike so that we can all hear it in real time. Her rebuke of Pence ("Mr. Vice President, I am speaking now") will be mild compared to what she can level at Trump; I then think she will turn to the moderators and respectfully request that they do their jobs, again calling out their behaviour (or lack thereof) for all to see and hear. I think this direct confrontation -- in the calm, firm and masterful voice she has demonstrated so often in Senate hearings -- will drive Trump bonkers. He will not be able to hold it together when an uber-intelligent, strong Black Woman (horrors!!) not only stands her ground, but publicly and repeatedly humiliates him. Bring it, I say!!!
Trump bullies adults. This is a totally different dynamic than childhood bullying. Workplace bullying is something I experienced personally. It's meant to humiliate, demean and ultimately drive the victim out of their job. Trump is a bully of a similar persuasion to that of a boss in that he bullies from a place of power and prestige. Who is going to argue with a former US president? (My bully was a judge, another political office where the bully has no boss to rein him in. When a small, insecure man finds himself in one of the most powerful positions in the world, he is free to totally enjoy intimidating and harassing the people he once feared, and inciting violence against those people is the next step in his enjoyment. Trump is an old man whose own violent behavior is no more threatening than throwing his lunch against a wall, but he excels at incitement.
Trump, it must be emphasized, is not merely a bully. He has an agenda. This behavior is that of an autocrat, someone showing the world's dictators that he is tough and cruel enough to be one of them. He cannot be compared to a playground bully, and doing so is a dangerous mistake.
I think you nailed it with the bully description and Kamala from a very young age has had a special gift for dealing with bullies and protecting everyone from those bullies throughout her life from childhood to the Whitehouse.
Steven, I’d like to add to your adjectives of trump, misogynistic rapist and traitor. I know some people think calling him a traitor is a little harsh. I believe it’s appropriate as he retained classified documents. I have no doubt he shared some with others who have no business seeing or having them.
As far as bullying, let’s not forget his poor business dealings. He bankrupted small businesses that he signed contracts with to build his failed Atlantic City casinos. He forces them to take less than the agreed upon price, claiming flaws in workmanship. If they don’t agree he refuses to pay and says take me to court. Small businesses can’t afford lawyers who can go up against his, so they settle and wind up filing for bankruptcy.
Good additions, Mike. Agree about the egregious stiffing of vendors. So many examples to choose from…
Absolutely right. What he did to those contractors should never be forgotten. He's made a career out of lying, cheating, and stealing.
Calling him a traitor isn’t harsh. It’s the truth.
I don’t think traitor is too harsh. One issue though, he loves to take the most searing descriptions of himself and apply them to others with threats (often couched as suggestions) of tribunals, execution, prosecution …
When everyone is tossing a word like that back & forth he knows it dilutes its impact — except to the kooks who love him and only listen to him. Weirdly he/the GOP has not been able to figure out how to do it with “bully” and “weird.”
I have more choice words than bully, which seems too benign a moniker for this stupid, vain, malign, and nasty man. He is a clear and ever-present danger to us all.
True, but "bully" is like "weird" in that are everyday words people think they know the meaning of. Notice the GOP has objected to "weird", but can't seem to deal with it. I think "bully" will be the same.
All bullies are, at their core, cowards. And all cowards are weak. They are NEVER leaders of character.
Trump is to be pitied—what a sad soul he must be inside. And he must also be soundly defeated in November.
Expectations for Harris in the debate are way too high. It’s impossible to “debate” someone who tells wild lies constantly without consequence. The moderators are not going to call out Trump on his lies because they have been bullied into appearing “even handed” between the candidates. I see little upside and potential downside for Democrats in this debate. Among other risks it legitimizes Trump as an appropriate major party nominee for US President, which Trump is definitely not.
I don’t think it should be viewed as a debate. I hope that Harris treats it as an interview with a protester at the other podium.
Agreed. Debates are a 19th century anachronism that are worthless in the 21st.
Bullies are ridiculous. They're fearful, sad people trying to prop up themselves at the expense of the rest of us. And they act like we don't see them for what they are. Why "weird" is a winner and so is laughter. Onward and upward! 🌊🌊🌊❤️
Bully, amen. I agree 100%. Trump picked Vance as a mini-me bully with less practiced skills, if you will. But why has the main stream media, by and large, sold out to enabling the bully? They report his actions as if they minor personality quirks, not a pathological needs to see people hurt and often succeeding. And always by proxy. The bully must retain the option of deniability. (It is that denying that reveals that Trump does know what he is doing.) How can we the people also hold the media accountable to doing accurate journalism? The media's corporate overlords have failed this test in the name of money. Bullies need enablers and Trump has had them. Thank you for this piece.
I agree. However not all mainstream media is the same. MSNBC has reported on trump’s obvious unfitness and continued decline. Hour after hour in the evening & first thing in the morning, their commentators ask why this is not reported more widely.
Recently perhaps although complaining that it is not reported more widely is not the same as drilling down and reporting his cognitive declines. When Biden was running they were mute except Lawrence O'Donnell. But I am thinking more of the skewed headlines of the NYT and WaPo. I don't have a TV so I don't know about "nightly news." I am still waiting from some journalistic reporting on his bullying. The PA incident Steven reported should have taken over a news cycle.
I’ll try to be more clear. Currently MSNBC — First they report what DJT said. They discuss & then ask why is this not being reported more widely? Why was a group of the richest people in NY applauding this nonsense? And so on. In the past Lawrence O’Donnell was the most blunt, but not the only one pointing out the inordinate amount of attention on Biden’s gaffes and inappropriate / inaccurate reports on Biden while giving DJT a free pass.
I confess to being partial to MSNBC because their commentators (and Chuck Todd) stood up to NBC and beat back the plan by NBC to add Sarah Huckabee Sanders as a paid “analyst”, while the budget for experts & journalism was being cut.
In 2017 and 2018 psychologists were breaking with their ethical code to appear on TV and in print media to give their opinion of DJT’s mental health and cognitive state. It apparently didn’t stick. We got double haters who disliked both candidates.
I think the entertainment conglomerates were not built to deliver news and they keep proving it. Maybe they are getting worried about their own futures. An heir to the Murdoch empire has was among the CEOs who said they are backing Harris.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/06/harris-endorsed-trump-murdoch-yelp-snap-ripple.html
Well, MSM is still LATE to the party with only incremental improvements as Harris has become a source of clicks and money. And they still enable the bully by normalizing his truly outrageous comments either by neglect or insufficient coverage. Right now the drumbeat is that nobody knows what Kamala stands for or has done. And whose fault is that, MSM? She has been an active part of this administration for nearly 4 years. This is malpractice, this investigative laziness. I cannot debate on particular programs or events. Very tight finances mean that I cobble together a variety of perspectives for free and have the cheapest subscriptions possible to NYT and WaPo. I joined America America out in a desperate need to engage with intelligent informed people and discuss the state of the nation, even though I really couldn't afford it. Being here strengthens me so I can stand to look at the media voices.
As I said: I think the entertainment conglomerates were not built to deliver news and they keep proving it. Maybe they are getting worried about their own futures. An heir to the Murdoch empire has was among the CEOs who said they are backing Harris.
I suspect in large part that’s why you, I and thousands of others are seeking out other information and conversations. (Dan Rather’s “Steady” here on Substack has a similar community of readers & does not require a subscription.)
I had subscribed when I could but now I ignore WaPo. I don’t believe Bezos has any interest in ethical journalism. He brought a guy I consider on a real loser lacking in ethics who ran off or dumped quality people. Will Lewis.
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/07/nx-s1-4995105/washington-post-will-lewis-tries-to-kill-story-buzbee
It made the NYT story more believable.
— Bezos was also involved with a Post project to reach out to a broader audience. The Amazon founder had long pushed The Post to try new things to expand its audience. At one point, 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 — but Ms. Buzbee preferred to give priority to original journalism. —
Jun 14, 2024
How Jeff Bezos Is Trying to Fix The Washington Post
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/business/media/jeff-bezos-washington-post.html#:~:text=Bezos%20was%20also%20involved%20with,give%20priority%20to%20original%20journalism.
Glad to hear it.
You describe what would be a best-case scenario for VP Harris at the debate. I'm not sure how it is to be structured, but I think the only chance Harris will have to display her policy chops and prosecutorial fluency is if she gets to speak first. Otherwise, it's going to be the Gish-gallop all the way down. I doubt moderators or fact-checkers will make any difference.
It will be challenging to break through the Gish-gallop. But I’m sure she’s preparing for it—to make him look like a bullying moron.
Thank you, Steven, for this insight into tfg’s history of bullying anyone who disagrees with him.
He does it to his employees, too, many people who worked in his casinos were never paid for many hours they worked.
There is no way this incompetent bully should get near the WH again. We need a president who actually wants to accomplish something for the people of this nation.
Good point. He’s done it for decades. Not only employees, renters or anyone in his way. It’s a major part of how he cheated contractors and put businesses out of business. Not paying them or offering pennies in violation of their contracts. Their only option was to go to court which his attorneys (as Michael Cohen and businesses have said) promised would cost more than they would receive.
It's not just Trump—Republicans have been using bullying as a tactic ever since Reagan, who was also a bully, albeit one who masked it with a genial face to the world. (Dennis Quaid's take on Reagan in his hagiography might be more accurate than most people think.) Even that's not entirely accurate, because Republicans have been using bullying ever since Joe McCarthy's infamous anticommunist witch hunts—it's just that it became their primary tactic with Reagan, and Trump metastasized bullying until it became The Whole Party.
So I don't think we can lay the blame for Republican bullying solely at Donald Trump's feet—I just think, after years of pretending to be a Democrat, Trump finally found his "tribe" when he switched parties. Being Trump, he had to give it his own "spin", which even for Republicans has proven unsustainable....
I agree. The groundwork was set a long time ago. Lee Atwater explained / admitted in a 1981 interview ,while he was working in Reagan’s WH, how language and policies were altered in campaigns to win. But the change was to more “abstract” descriptions to reach the same goals. A change in style and minimally in substance. Now the GOP has reverted to the original style and substance.
(Excerpts were published in a book. I think they were mostly ignored. But in 2012 The Nation obtained the full interview. Their “Exclusive” can be found online.)
How many of us recognize that bully on the playground having his way? No more!
Two boys raised by the same parents. Bad parents. One a crook racist, the other, an unloving self absorbing woman.Yet, both boys become entirely different people. One tries to get away but ends up destroying his own life. The other becomes a bully at a young age, throwing stones at a neighbor's baby in its playpen, uncontrollable to the point the parents send him away to military school as they can't handle him where he becomes an alpha bully with classmates, and becomes, as an adult, both a narcissist and a sadist who prods violence and enjoys watching it. Ignorant in educated knowledge and behavior, he becomes what he boasts of, a genius, but in inhuman, cruel behavior. A liar extraordinaire, a sexual predator, a fraud, a cheater, a name caller determined to get retribution from those who disagree with him and try to take him down with truth. He does not lack self esteem, he is filled with it. Like boxer Ali, he is the greatest. He has been President, his name is known worldwide, millions follow him, repeat his absurd lies. Powerful leaders of the country attach their stars to his coattails, obey his commands to hold on to power but also, from fear of his retaliation. In his own way, he is America's Bin Laden, seeking to destroy this country and guilty of killing so many by his handling of the pandemic. And he will do it if elected, and now, with an equally but smarter ally, Elon Musk, a complete narcissist who displays his picture on X more than trump's. He into science, trump claiming to be an expert in nuclear science, imagine these two, what they would be capable of, the moron able to push the button.
I think of The Christmas Story where Ralphie is bullied and runs from the taunting bully, Scut. Finally, feeling down from an unexpected bad grade on his essay for a Red Ryder air rifle, then Scut hitting his eye with a snow ball, Ralphie snaps. He tears into Scut , pounding him until his mother has to pull him off, showing that if you are motivated enough, you can stand up to a bully, stop him.
The debate is upcoming as is the election. I am counting on Kamala Harris to be our Ralphie.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Let's not forget another aspect of Trump's bullying: His intimidation of almost all the Republicans in the House and most in the Senate. It's hard to picture anyone more cowardly than Trump himself, but all those cowering congresspersons who are afraid to speak out or vote for what's right sure come close.
Re: the "debate" (which will not actually be a debate, but a televised performance) -- I have every confidence that Kamala Harris knows exactly how to handle the bully, and especially one who insists on behaving so badly right out in the open. We know now that a big part of Biden's problem in the last "debate" was that Trump, with mike turned off, was talking at him constantly; the moderators did nothing, and Biden was repeatedly distracted and knocked off his game. The television audience could not hear this bullying, and there was no studio audience to report on it afterwards. Biden tried valiantly but unsuccessfully, to keep to his talking points, but sadly, he fumbled so badly it was unbearable to watch. Kamala Harris will not have this problem -- I predict that the moment Trump tries to distract her with talking over his muted mike, she will stop, turn to give little Donny her best prosecutorial stare, and call him out on his behaviour in front of the live cameras using her live mike so that we can all hear it in real time. Her rebuke of Pence ("Mr. Vice President, I am speaking now") will be mild compared to what she can level at Trump; I then think she will turn to the moderators and respectfully request that they do their jobs, again calling out their behaviour (or lack thereof) for all to see and hear. I think this direct confrontation -- in the calm, firm and masterful voice she has demonstrated so often in Senate hearings -- will drive Trump bonkers. He will not be able to hold it together when an uber-intelligent, strong Black Woman (horrors!!) not only stands her ground, but publicly and repeatedly humiliates him. Bring it, I say!!!
I agree that we’ve all been held hostage for years now to the bullying.
Trump bullies adults. This is a totally different dynamic than childhood bullying. Workplace bullying is something I experienced personally. It's meant to humiliate, demean and ultimately drive the victim out of their job. Trump is a bully of a similar persuasion to that of a boss in that he bullies from a place of power and prestige. Who is going to argue with a former US president? (My bully was a judge, another political office where the bully has no boss to rein him in. When a small, insecure man finds himself in one of the most powerful positions in the world, he is free to totally enjoy intimidating and harassing the people he once feared, and inciting violence against those people is the next step in his enjoyment. Trump is an old man whose own violent behavior is no more threatening than throwing his lunch against a wall, but he excels at incitement.
Trump, it must be emphasized, is not merely a bully. He has an agenda. This behavior is that of an autocrat, someone showing the world's dictators that he is tough and cruel enough to be one of them. He cannot be compared to a playground bully, and doing so is a dangerous mistake.