The cruelty is the point.

As Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday night, Donald Trump now has the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. But like a Roman emperor or mob boss, Trump used his victory speech in New Hampshire to humiliate his former opponents – and make sinister threats against his last primary rival.

The former US president had followed up his record win in the Iowa caucuses with victory over Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the UN, with a double-digit triumph in less favourable political territory. As Republican politicians and donors scramble to jump aboard the Trump train, it is clearly game over for the Never Trumpers.

Trump could have been magnanimous in victory and congratulated Haley on a race well run. Instead, he was palpably irked by her refusal to drop out of the race. Petty and vindictive, he became a playground bully punching down for the benefit of an audience that glories in metaphorical violence.

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    Then there was Senator Tim Scott, another ex-rival who has already debased himself with a fawning endorsement of Trump. With his unerring ability to get under people’s skin, [Trump] said to Scott that, since former South Carolina governor Haley appointed him to the Senate, “You must really hate her.”

    There was an awkward silence in the room and a rare grunt of dissent from someone. To rescue the situation, Scott stepped forward to the lectern, looked at Trump and grovelled: “I just love you!” The crowd exhaled in relief.

    WTF?

    • @CobblerScholar
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      355 months ago

      I hope he shat himself just a little bit there, he helped make this fascist cult and now he gets to fear them too

      • @[email protected]
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        15 months ago

        You need a functioning short term memory, and the capacity for self-reflection for that.

        The only things keeping him up at night are probably an enlarged prostate, or constipation/diarrhea from all the fast food.

    • FenrirIII
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      135 months ago

      Calling in a bomb threat is just metaphorical terrorism. /s

  • @[email protected]
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    205 months ago

    She should have thrown his election claims back at him. Claimed they were rigged, refused to accept the outcome etc etc…

    • @Eldritch
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      5 months ago

      She’s a woman and an ashamed ethnic minority. She lacks the male white privilege to play his games.

  • @[email protected]
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    195 months ago

    Wow I didn’t realize that she pulled 43.3% of the vote in New Hampshire. When you take into account how many of her voters said they would not vote for Trump in the general election, that’s gotta be a bad sign for Trump.

    • @whereisk
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      55 months ago

      This is the real news and should be part of every headline - nearly 45% of the Republican party doesn’t want Trump, in fact voted for someone that has very similar foreign policy views as Biden, that’s not good news for Trump at all.

  • Optional
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    175 months ago

    Trump “turns into sinister playground bully” is exactly the sort of corporate news spin that will doom us all.

    Anyone who knows a goddamned thing would have said he’s always been a sinister playground bully - from when he threw rocks at a baby in a crib as a child - but the Grauniad just can’t help but goose the outrage by pretending it’s a “new” thing.

    Corporate News Journalism is a flaming, screaming, unfunny joke.

  • @notannpc
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    155 months ago

    At what point has he ever not behaved like a bully? Thats his entire facade.

  • @RedditReject
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    95 months ago

    I think the media shouldn’t call him by name anymore, he should just be “man currently under 91 felony indictments” or maybe just “fraud” or “rapist”

  • @WraithGear
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    45 months ago

    You know, at this point if he didn’t do that i would think something was up.

  • Rentlar
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    45 months ago

    Truuuump, it’s called a presidential primary, not primary school.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    35 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    But like a Roman emperor or mob boss, Trump used his victory speech in New Hampshire to humiliate his former opponents – and make sinister threats against his last primary rival.

    The former US president had followed up his record win in the Iowa caucuses with victory over Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the UN, with a double-digit triumph in less favourable political territory.

    It was also redolent of Trump’s own vicious attacks on Senator Ted Cruz’s wife and father (whom he baselessly linked to the John F Kennedy assassination) in 2016.

    To rescue the situation, Scott stepped forward to the lectern, looked at Trump and grovelled: “I just love you!” The crowd exhaled in relief.

    Later, in her concession speech, she pushed the electability argument: “The worst-kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump.”

    Sane and moral republicans said their conscience won’t allow them to vote for a chaos-driven maniac who is under 91 criminal counts, a proven sexual predator, and authoritarian wannabe who will shred the constitution and burn this country down.”


    The original article contains 882 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @[email protected]
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    15 months ago

    The literal definition of token friends. Congrats Scott and Ramaswamy, make sure you smile for master.