“Why were we put here only to suffer and die?” asked Kilgore Trout
“Why not?” replied the Creator of the Universe
— Venus on the Halfshell, Kurt Vonnegut
Was it with intentional irony that one of the readers of TB criticized me for coining a derogatory nickname for President Trump? Perhaps the irony was unintended, though unless we hear from him, I guess we won’t know.
Trump has been an enthusiast for pejorative nicknames. I found pages of nicknames used by Trump, and most were insulting (internet search for “Trump nicknames; Wikipedia alone had eleven pages).
Who could forget “Lyin’ Ted” for Sen. Ted Cruz, TX (R). Or former governor Fla. governor “Low Energy Jeb?” “Sleepy Ben” Carson? “Horseface” Carly Fiorina? “Dumb as a Rock” Rex Tillerson? “Little Marco” Rubio?
The term I applied to Trump was “Dirty Donnie.” It has the added appeal of being alliterative.
Why would I associate President Trump with dirtiness? It is meant in the sense of uncouth behavior or speech in the sexual or scatological sense. The most recent rape account, bolstered by witnesses reporting E. Jeanne Carroll’s description of events at Bergdorf’s years ago, and the similarity of those allegations to the reports from twenty plus other women. And Trump’s own description of grabbing women “by the pussy” and getting away with it.
Events, if true, constitute Criminal Sexual Conduct of 1st degree, and 2nd or 4th.
Besides the twenty plus accusers, there are other concerns that support the nickname of Dirty Donnie for Trump. What about affairs alleged with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, during which he reportedly didn’t wear a condom before returning to his wife? Dirty Donnie’s own words boast of wandering through the dressing rooms of the Miss Teen USA contest in order to see teen aged girls in various states of undress. He called having unprotected sex in New York City during the AIDS crisis “his own version of Vietnam.” Such a brave warrior; no wonder he became Commander in Chief.
His first defense for the accusation by E. Jeanne Carroll was, “She’s not my type.” This implies that rape is a crime of out of control libido, rather than assault. It’s the she’s-too-ugly-to-rape-defense. “Dirty Donnie” has tried this strategy before.
Differentiating between sarcasm and satire can be difficult. In my mind, at times I strive for the satirical, but I appreciate some may feel it delves into the sarcastic. Sort of an eye-of-the-beholder kind of thing. But I was chided for two violations of manners; sarcasm and belittling nicknames.
Trump’s use of mean nicknames, employed with unprecedented frequency, does not justify my doing so. Whether irony is or isn’t present does not clear me from the criticism, and I’ll keep that in mind as I go forward (which is not to say you won’t ever see the cute appellation “Dirty Donnie” again).
Basura, you write well of the conundrum faced by liberals in the surreal world of Trump. While the conservatives may indulge in all manner of name-calling and hypocritical behavior, the left must be ever vigilant not to violate the rules that don’t seem to apply to the right.
For that reason I, too, am hyper-careful never to resort to assigning derogatory names. But even when using factual, descriptive adjectives, I find myself criticized for unfair language choices.
This is the age of the double-edged sword for writers. State facts and be accused of verbal bullying. But watch out for the criticism you receive for your deliberate word choices.
Basura
Call him what you want……just acknowledge he is the President of the Umitrd States….hence he is your President.