GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump once famously said he could “shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue” and not suffer any consequences from the act. Trump has been trying to prove the basic truth of that assertion ever since, repeatedly engaging in conduct and hurling vitriolic rhetoric that would likely end the careers of other politicians — only to be rewarded instead by his followers with an ever-increasing allegiance.
[NOTE: The twice-impeached Trump’s role in fomenting a riot at the Capitol, for which even Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Trump “practically and morally responsible,” and his refusal to submit to a peaceful transfer of power are only the most famous of his standards-busting transgressions.]
To the delight of his followers, Trump has willfully and deliberately lowered the level of decorum once expected from national leaders, calling Americans who oppose him “scum” and routinely denigrating his opponents with derisive nicknames.
Portraying himself to his credulous audience as a “truth-teller,” Trump tends to preface these “reveals” about the purported character defects of his opponents by saying “I’m not allowed to say it, but I’ll say it [anyway]” — or some similar phrasing.
Trump has practiced this name-calling since his arrival on the political scene, and much of it has been “normalized,” as the media say.
Yet in the final weeks of his third run for president, Trump has managed to notably increase the level of bile and attack in his rhetoric, frequently calling his opponent Kamala Harris — the Vice President of the United States — “stupid” and “slow” and “lazy” and asking if she is “on drugs.” (Trump also painted a scenario where the anti-Trump Republican Liz Cheney faces a firing squad.)
For a Tucker Carlson talk session this week, Trump went even further in disrespecting Harris. In the segment below, angered by questions Harris has raised about his crowd size, Trump denied Harris the respect of even using her name.
Referring to Harris, Trump said: “When that sleaze bag said, she said during the debate, your rallies aren’t well attended and people leave –they don’t leave.”
Trump: When that sleaze bag said during the debate, your rallies aren’t well attended and people leave, they don’t leave.. nobody leaves early.. nobody leaves… it’s never happened before pic.twitter.com/4z8Cb81imc
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2024
Trump told Carlson that if people did try to leave his rallies, he would say: “Ladies and gentlemen we’re going to make America great again, goodbye everybody, and everybody would be happy. Nobody would leave. But we don’t have to do that.”