President-elect Donald Trump has been credited by his advocates with the destruction of political correctness, a claim easily backed up by any visit to Trump’s TruthSocial account, where his propensity for name-calling never relents.
NOTE: Even as wildfires devastated the citizens of Los Angeles, Trump flung blame and railed against Gov. Gavin Newsom while calling him “Newscum.”
The name-calling — once considered disqualifying (“Have you no sense of decency?“) — has only helped Trump politically, being a critical aspect of his commitment to combat the so-called “woke-ism” in America.
(Those who think ad hominem attacks aren’t liberating but merely divisive, have long asserted that the “cruelty is the point” for many MAGA adherents, who “find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate.”)
With Trump’s election victory, there is a lot of reporting about people feeling unleashed from conventional prohibitions that society generally agreed about — not mocking the mentally disabled, for example. Many people, citing Trump as a trail blazer, claim that they no longer feel inhibited when they speak their minds.
Billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, exhibiting this new freedom, recently copped to wanting more “masculine energy” in the workplace, a desire he had previously kept under wraps in fear of “woke” blowback.
It appears that for many who’ve considered themselves oppressed by conscientiousness, by the feelings of others, and by societal demands for kindness and decorum — they can now, with Trump as an example, just let fly with what they think, and if “retard” or some other slur comes out, that is the prudish listener’s problem.
According to recent article in the Financial Times, this new laxity reveals an unnamed Wall Street “top banker” expressing relief — even joy — that the inhibiting stranglehold of civility has been removed. Liberated, the banker reports being free to again use words like “retard” without recrimination.
Morning pussies! It is a NEW DAWN for this top banker, who is liberated to call us all retards at LAST
— Virginia Heffernan (@virginiaheffernan.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Not everyone agrees that this banker’s “new dawn” is “morning again in America.” Many bemoaned the fact that the banker believed language needn’t be altered to avoid “offending younger colleagues, women, minorities or disabled people.”
LIfe is so rough when you can’t insult the intelligence of people who may have less money than you do but who have way more decency, honesty and intelligence than you do. Glad to know what a piece of filth that “top banker” is.
— quin664.bsky.social (@quin664.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Trump has said specifically that “retarded” — the banker’s choice — is not a phrase he uses, though there have been reports that his denial is not accurate.