Donald Trump

"Make America Great Again"

- Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign

Donald John Trump is the 45th President of the United States of America. One of the few presidents to be known outside of political circles before his run, he was originally a real estate mogul known for slapping his name on the front of his innumerable hotels, casinos, resorts and golf courses. Prior to transferring his business assets to his children, most of his capital was rooted in New York City, where he owned several million square feet of property, including half of the Empire State Building. Prior to 2015 he held joint-ownership over the Miss Universe pageant, also encompassing Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. This is a secondary achievement to Donald's comb-over, which rivals any architecture he's built. He also hosted The Apprentice, until he got kicked out for his controversial opinions about Mexican immigrants. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...

In The Seventies, Trump inherited his real estate business from his father Fredrick (rechristening it "The Trump Organization", natch). Following a five-year apprenticeship under his dad, Donald relocated to New York City to begin his career in earnest. He went on to gather up Manhattan's most profitable properties like so many vacant Monopoly squares.

His 1987 semi-autobiographical book, The Art of the Deal, sold extremely well as people began to identify him with American entrepreneurship and shrewd power brokering. It was around this time that Trump started to appear As Himself in television Dom Coms and films, including Home Alone 2 and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where the characters invariably treat him with a reverence usually reserved for royalty. His golden boy image took a beating in The Nineties as the result of bankruptcies, a much-publicized extramarital affair, and mounting debt (partly as a result of the 1980s recession), but he managed to bounce back. He even has his officially licensed and voiced video game.

From 2004 to 2015, Trump starred in The Apprentice, his own reality TV series (created by Mark Burnett, the brains behind Survivor) on NBC. The show consists of a selection of candidates competing against each other for an open slot in one of Trump's companies. The program was wildly successful and remains one of the highest-rated reality shows to date. He has since been replaced with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 2011, Trump briefly ran in the Republican presidential nomination primary for the 2012 election, seen by some as a ratings stunt. He was a proponent of the "birther" theory, so his campaign was ended after the birther train was stopped for good by Barack Obama providing his long-form birth certificate. Despite this, Trump maintained that there were still "questions" about Obama's birth certificate until he dropped the issue in 2016.

In June 16, 2015, he again announced his candidacy for president, as a Republican. With his opposition to illegal immigration, and alleged "free-trade agreements" as well as non-interventionist views on foreign policy, among many other things, Trump quickly emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, showing qualities that other candidates in his party lacked. His highly controversial remarks and unorthodox behavior during the campaign gave him a Hatedom and a Fandom as massive as each other. It came to a point where Trump became the only major Republican candidate.

He faced Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election. He campaigned on a platform promising renegotiating several "disastrous" international trade deals, stronger enforcement of immigration laws, reform of veterans' care, repeal and replacement of Obamacare, abolition of Common Core education standards, investments in the country's infrastructure, ending corruption in Washington D.C. and a simplified tax code with lower rates. His primary slogan was "Make America Great Again" with secondary slogans including "Build the Wall", "Drain the Swamp", and "He's With Me" (a jab at his opponent's main slogan "I'm With Her"). Originally predicted by the majority of the media polling to lose in a landslide (born of an incorrect assumption turnout demographics would equal that of the 2008 election), he would up winning several states in the "Rust Belt" previously thought Democrat strongholds such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.

He is the oldest first term president and the only US president who has never held prior political office or military rank and his wife Melania Trump is the second foreign born First Lady.

"And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. *beat* Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."
 * Ad Hominem: Trump has a propensity to attack the man, or the woman, rather than the address the point raised in an argument. Rational people know that this is the second lowest form of rhetoric, one above name-calling, which is Trump's favoured form of 'argument' (see "The Nicknamer below). For example, his reason for disliking the retired Admiral McCraven was because he is a "Hillary Clinton fan."
 * Adam Westing: At one time he seemed to revel in parodies of himself, even appearing in a series of OREO commercials with Darrell Hammond (Hammond was Saturday Night Live ' s longest-running white male cast member and one of the show's best and most frequently-used celebrity impersonators) impersonating him.
 * All Women Are Lustful: Trump's view of women, according to the Pussygate tape. After implying that Nancy O'Dell, who once rebuffed his advances, became sluttier with "big phony tits", he went on to explain that all women all want it with a star:


 * Arch Enemy: he seems to be only happy when he's engaged in a feud.
 * He's hosted two Wrestlemanias and been an active participant in WWE promos, highlighted by his "feud" with rival CEO Vince McMahon.
 * Not content with prime time, Trump took daytime TV by storm when a tabloid war erupted between himself and Rosie O'Donnell, then-host of the American morning talk show The View.
 * After Rosie, Barack Obama was this to him somewhat briefly.
 * Jeb Bush was one of his main targets in terms of his opponents during the race for the Republican nomination, with the now infamous line about Jeb being "low-energy"
 * Hillary Clinton even beyond the natural result of being presidential nominees from opposite parties, due to her alleged criminal history. Furthermore, while Trump did echo the 'Birther' conspiracy accusations at various points from 2011 to mid-2016 before finally repudiating them, Hillary's accusation that Trump originated the whole thing did not sit well with him due to the whole 'Birtherism' scandal dating back to the 2008 election (and possibly to a member of Hillary's campaign staff, although reports vary), well before Trump ever had a public opinion on the topic.
 * James Comey (former FBI Director): became this to Trump when he refused to drop the FBI probe into former national security advisor Michael Flynn as part of the ongoing Russia investigation. Trump fired Comey. Flynn later plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his ties to Russia.
 * John McCain (late Senator): a feud which began in 2016 after McCain called Trump supporters "crazies" which Trump clearly deemed a serious insult, so much so he declared that he didn't like war heroes who weren't captured, implying that he didn't think McCain was much of a hero. (McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years until his release on March 14, 1973, whereas Trump dodged the draft 5 times, the fifth time due to "bone spurs." )
 * Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III: (justified). Normally, when the Donald declares war on a perceived enemy it is with someone who has little power to defend against his assault. Mueller, however, is not someone Trump chose to have an entertaining feud with because he thought he could humiliate him into oblivion. After he was appointed the head of the investigation formerly headed by Comey, Mueller became a justified arch enemy for the simple reason that he can do serious damage - not just politically, but legally - to Trump. Consequently, Trump expressed his desire to bring an end to the FBI investigation into possible 'collusion' with Russia (conspiracy to work with a foreign government to influence the 2016 election) as if it was discovered that he was the beneficiary of such collusion his Presidency would be shown to be illegitimate and he would likely face legal consequences. Trump seems desperate to bring an end to this investigation, even if it means obstructing justice in the process, something which he arguably did with the firing of Comey, and later AG Jeff Sessions. He seems unable to prevent himself some admitting his corrupt intent to do so.
 * The week starting 13th August 2018 saw Trump make new enemies in:
 * Omarosa Manigault Newman: former White House staffer turned whistleblower, released a tell-all book about her time in the White House. Trump called her a "crazed lowlife" and a "dog".
 * John Brennan: former CIA director who ran afoul of Trump after calling him a "disgraced demagogue" (amongst other things). Trump revoked his security clearance in what he himself has stated (in contradiction to the official White House statement) were politically motivated reasons.
 * And in an odd nod to 12 Angry Men, he drew the ire of 12 former intelligence officials for revoking the security clearance of John Brennan.
 * Admiral William (Bill) McRaven: on November 18th, 2018, the retired admiral and Navy Seal who oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein and the killing of Osama Bin Laden was casually dismissed in typical Ad Hominem fashion as a "Hillary Clinton fan" and "Obama backer". The timing of this attack is odd, given that McRaven's declaration that Trump's "sentiment that the news media is the enemy of the American people...may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime” was made in February 2017. The timing may be a possible distraction from the ongoing Mueller investigation.
 * Possibly averted with Paul Manafort - who while he has 'flipped' on Trump has yet to be savaged by the President's tweets.
 * And, perhaps most notably, America's former sworn enemy Vladimir Putin.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Might also be interpreted as a Prophetic Name, given his knack for trumpeting himself. His ancestral name was Drumpf, which was changed to Trump sometime in the 17th century.  This trivia piece prompted Last Week Tonight to produce "Make Donald Drumpf Again" hats.
 * Badass: He got a very credible threat to his life a week or two before his presidential election, to the point the Secret Service had to evac him from the speech he was giving, but instead of letting it stick, he simply went right back to the podium a few minutes later and continued speaking. In fact, throughout his entire presidential campaign he's been the target of more than one confirmed assassination attempt and refused to quit appearing in public, even making a point of refusing to be cowed into doing so.
 * Badass Grandpa: The man is over 70 now and is an actual grandfather.
 * Bannon Banned: Quite a bit of strife in the political fandom was caused by Steve Bannon's appointment as a quasi-Chief of Staff.
 * Big Bulky Bomb: He became the first president to deploy a MOAB, the so-called "Mother of All Bombs" (which itself is a Shout-Out to Saddam Hussein's "mother of all wars" boast) in 2017. This bomb is so big it has to be launched out the back of a cargo plane, but it's only a conventional explosive.
 * Blatant Lies: Trump's relationship with the truth is somewhat distant. So much so, The Washington Post began keeping a record of his false or misleading claims (lies), totalling 492 in his first 100 days in office, 3001 in his first 466 days , 4,229 in his first 558 days and 6420 in his first 649 days. His lie count varies, but in the first 466 days of his Presidency, he averaged 6.5 'false or misleading claims' a day, whereas in June and July of 2018, he averaged 16 lies per day. This dramatic uptick seemingly coincided with increased pressure from the Mueller investigation. The exponential lie count continued under the aforementioned pressure, coupled with the run up to the Mid-Term elections on November 6th. According to the graph in the Washington Post, Trump has lied/ made false claims over 1000 times in October.
 * As of the November 1st, 2018, Trump claims to tell the truth "when [he] can" A close reading of his words indicates that he is truthful and then reality changes to make his claims false. Or some other Nonsensical Explanation.
 * Broke Episode: Trump's businesses have filed for bankruptcy six times.
 * Brooklyn Rage: Made efforts to cultivate this image over the years. Trump's persona is that of a straight-talking, tough New Yorker whose face resembles a pit bull in repose.
 * Brutal Honesty: The perception, at least, that he and his public pronouncements possessed this quality is a reason why many supporters voted for him, especially those who opposed what they considered political correctness.
 * Calvin Ball: Trump would ignore many "rules" for running a successful campaign and win anyways.
 * He completely ignored the "rule" that a campaign should "never put a candidate in a hat if you can avoid it" and not only made his "Make America Great Again" hat iconic, but successfully wore a hard hat when accepting an endorsement from West Virginia Coal Association.
 * Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years not to release his income tax return. He claims an ongoing audit prevented him from doing so.
 * Catch Phrase: "You're fired." Inverted regularly in the season finales of The Apprentice, when he announces "You're hired."
 * "Make America Great Again" (MAGA for short) was his election version. It wasn't original: he re-purposed "Let's make America great again" from Reagan's 1980 campaign. He has confirmed "Keep America Great" will be his 2020 version.
 * Trump's 2016 campaign slogans included "Build The Wall", "Lock Her [Hillary Clinton] Up" and "America First".
 * Trump's Twitter feed is populated with tweets filled with the catchphrases, or Stock Phrases, "Witch Hunt!" / "No Collusion!" (regarding the Mueller investigation) and "Fake News" (regarding any and all negative stories about the Donald).
 * Compensating for Something: Trump's resurgence in business which was symbolized by the, erm... erection of a 68-story Trump Tower in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Trump was so happy with the finished product, he sprouted more "Trump Towers" in major cities throughout the U.S., including one which looms directly over the U.N. Headquarters. Now you can't ignore his girth.
 * Also while on the campaign trail, he assured America that despite his small hands, he had "no problems in that department".
 * He also over-compensates in other areas. Notably, he has claimed he "has the best words", is "like a smart person", has "one of the best temperaments" and, the clincher, he is a "very stable genius."
 * Crunchtastic: Trump has a bigly vocabulary of the best words. Even if he does have to make them up. Covfefe.
 * Didn't Think This Through: His first assassination attempt. Michael Steven Sandford, a illegal immigrant from the UK who had only just learned the bare minimum of shooting (having fired a mere 20 rounds, not even two full magazines. Presumably as it is the smallest unit of ammo that can be purchased new) at a Vegas range, attempted to grab a cop's gun and shoot Trump only to be stopped cold because the cop, like almost all of the ones in the country, used a retention holster. This attempt was so poorly thought out the court considered (though rejected) a halfway house over no bail for an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate.
 * Dodgy Toupee: Often when someone wants to make a sketch or joke about Donald Trump they may take the easy angle and mock the obvious toupee. Meet the Spartans did this where he fires Spiderman and cuts his web but he sticks it back onto his head and pulls the wig off.
 * Lisa Lampanelli did this funnier than anyone: "What do you say to a barber to get him to cut your hair like that? I fucked your daughter?"
 * In one Sluggy Freelance strip, his toupee was revealed to be a live squirrel.
 * Eagle Land: Type 2 - the "Ugly American". As a single example, the 2018 G7 Summit: Before showing up and while still under investigation for possible collusion with Russia, Trump publicly suggested Russia be allowed to take part in the summit. He showed up late and left early. While present, he publicly made demands of his host. After he left, he publicly called his host "dishonest & weak" for saying exactly the same evidence-based statements that he'd said previously and refusing to kowtow to Trump. He refused to let US officials support the resolutions reached at the summit. In short, it only took Trump a few hours to undo months of diplomacy and careful negotiation. None of this is unusual behavior for Trump.
 * His political campaigning, both before and after being elected, is generally Type 1 related, emphasizing how he wants Americans to be proud of their country once more ("Make America Great Again").
 * Egopolis: Trump 'brands' his buildings with the Trump name displayed prominently, often placing large gold "T" symbols throughout the interior rooms. He probably has a caped uniform with a "T" on its chest in his closet, too.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: In the 2016 Presidential campaign.
 * Extra-Strength Masquerade: Other than Trump himself, no one seems to remember the thousands of Muslims celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center, despite the fact that he watched it on television.
 * Exaggerated: He calls it "truthful hyperbole" (an oxymoron) in "The Art of The Deal". Otherwise known as stretching the truth.
 * He has, according to himself, the best words, the best brain, is like a smart person, has the best temperament, and knows the "system" better than anyone.
 * Favoritism Flip Flop: it has been pointed out that Trump has a tendency to agree with the last person he spoke with. A good example was after the 2018 Parkland shooting in Florida, when he seemed to favor gun control on the Wednesday (28/2/18), only to backtrack on the Thursday (1/3/18) after a meeting with the NRA.
 * Fountain of Memes: Became a gigantic wellspring of these during his 2016 Presidential campaign.
 * Friendly Enemy: With Bernie Sanders, who attempted to get the Democrat party's nomination in 2016 but lost narrowly to Hillary Clinton. Trump repeatedly encouraged Sanders during the primary. The media universally acknowledged it was a transparent attempt to peel Bernie voters away from Hillary Clinton, though did not necessarily see it as untruthful. With a third party hacking revealing Democrat internal communications always talked as though Hillary would be the nominee the suggestion the primary was rigged wound up very appropriate.
 * Hidden in Plain Sight: he asked Russia to hack his opponents' emails... live on TV... during a news conference.
 * Humiliation Conga: Trump was on the receiving end of this from Barack Obama at the end of April 2011. On Wednesday, after Trump jumped on the "birther" issue, Obama released the long sought after "long form birth certificate", making Trump look somewhat foolish (though Trump boasted about how proud he was of getting the certificate released; he probably still didn't believe it). On the Saturday, Trump was the subject of more roasting than the President at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. And finally, on the Sunday night, just to make a bad week worse for Trump, Celebrity Apprentice was interrupted for the news that Obama had ordered a successful raid and killing on Osama bin Laden.
 * A documentary by Frontline has suggested that this was the moment that Trump decided to seriously run for President, in order to prove everyone wrong.
 * Ignorant of His Own Ignorance: his understanding of uranium is unparalleled.
 * Implacable Man: Proclaimed by supporters with the unofficial slogan "Can't Stump the Trump", referencing what they see as an ability to have repeated (political) attacks just glance off of him instead of sticking like most candidates.
 * Even the Democratic party's own analysts will (in hindsight) give him credit for accomplishing the almost impossible feat of being on the opposite end of both the most lavishly-funded and well-connected political campaign team in history and the most consistently unfavorable press coverage ever received by a Presidential candidate in the past century and still triumphing over both on sheer determination.
 * Improbable Hairstyle: Apparently a mixture of a cross-grid combover and three cans of hairspray.
 * Irony inverted: Trump claimed to hire the best people, only to systematically fire them one by one, and for a number of them to end up indicted, pleading guilty and then put on trial (Flynn, Manafort, Gates, Cohen etc).
 * He launched a tirade of abuse at Omarosa Manigault Newman, calling her a "crazed lowlife" and a "dog". He has known and worked with her for 15 years, and has fired her 4 times (3 times on "The Apprentice", once IRL).
 * Even his wife Melania can't escape the iron-y grip of Trumpdom : she advocates for the prevention of cyber-bullying while her husband - the most powerful man in the world - bullies people on the internet. Ouch.
 * see The Nicknamer below: whilst naming Ted Cruz "Lyin' Ted" and Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary", Trump is himself the subject of an ongoing investigation, is arguably one of the biggest liars on the planet, and is very possibly crooked.
 * It Will Never Catch On: Outside of his own campaign team the number of political pundits, analysts, or insiders even remotely willing to entertain the idea that Donald Trump could successfully be elected President could literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. Of course, then he won anyway.
 * Youtube has a highlight reel of the best Trump election skepticism, complete with punchline.
 * Scott Adams got it right, however.
 * Kicked Upstairs: Picking South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a critic of his, as Ambassador to the UN has been described as this. The position would give her a position with no actual power to an organization Trump has repeatedly called a joke and would make South Carlina's lieutenant governor, who is more supportive of Trump, the governor.
 * Metaphorgotten: He opposes gay marriage because of new trends in golf putter preference. See also: "Troll".
 * Mundane Made Awesome: not content with building a wall, it has to be a big, beautiful wall.
 * The Nicknamer: The ability to push nicknames on people and make them stick is considered one of his greatest rhetorical strengths in his 2016 election campaign. The nicknames reflect basic sorting of threat levels, which more minor opponents being called "Little Marco" or "Low Energy Jeb" while his biggest primary opponent was "Lying Ted" and general election opponent dubbed "Crooked Hillary".
 * Inverted with his fans, who generally take the insulting nicknames Trump's opponents have given them and turn them into Insult Backfires. Often after Trump picks up on the insult and calls it out for being such.
 * Never Accepted in His Hometown: Trump joins James K. Polk as the only Presidential candidate to lose both his home state and state of residence while still winning the election. Unlike Polk these are the same state (New York).
 * No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Trump managed to sail through the 2016 Republican primary with minimal spending by ensuring the media never stopped talking about him. Their constant airing hit pieces against him ensured that by the end of the primary everyone knew Trump wanted to build a border wall despite minimal ads on the subject. This continued in the general election where over sixteen major publications redistributed a graphic he posted, claiming its use of a six pointed star (supposedly a Star of David) was supposedly a hidden anti-Semitic agenda at no cost to him.
 * No, You: One gets the feeling that most of the insults lobbed by Trump are things that he himself has been called. There was that time he called Hillary Clinton a bigot, for instance.
 * Nothing to See Here: Trump makes all his wives, alleged mistresses and staffers sign Non-Disclosure Agreements.
 * Nouveau Riche: To a degree. His father was a very successful low income housing developer in NYC, he sent Donald to Fordham, so his family was doing very well before. Donald just took his love of construction and everything else Up to Eleven. Trump has noted his family was not welcome among the "old money" families from different parts of New York.
 * One-Episode Wonder: Anthony Scaramucci, a.k.a The Mooch! With a fast talking Brooklyn accent, this Plucky Comic Relief came in to the Press Secretary job with a vengeance. With a Smug Smiler smirk on a handsome Italian face, he channeled Trump's rage perfectly. In his short term of 10 days, he:
 * Got Sean Spicer to resign by his mere presence in the White House.
 * Publicly told his underling Sarah Huckabee-Sanders that she really needs to try out his make-up guy.
 * Accused Chief of Staff Reince Preibus of a felony on Twitter for releasing public documents.
 * Called The New Yorker to demand the reporter's source in a profanity infused tirade. See under Plucky Comic Relief below.
 * Threatened to fire his entire staff before he was technically hired.
 * Managed to upstage the failure of the failure of the Obamacare repeal by a dramatic 49-51 vote.
 * The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Hillary Clinton cited his children at the debates as her compliment.
 * Pervert Dad: Trump has a documented history of discussing the sexual appeal of his daughter Ivanka, including his own attraction to her, going back at least to 1997 if not further.  And he hasn't been shy about proclaiming any of it in public and on the record.
 * Open Mouth Insert Foot: In a virtual Call Back to famously admitting to obstructing justice in the Lester Holt interview in May 2017, in an interview with The Daily Caller published 11/14/18, Trump openly stated that he thought the Mueller investigation was illegal and shouldn't have been started. The firing of Jeff Sessions (who had recused himself from the investigation) and subsequent appointment of Mike Whitaker (a known critic of the Mueller investigation) as acting AG was, for Trump, an obvious solution, in spite of its apparent unconstitutionality. Trump seems unable to prevent himself from admitting his corrupt intent to obstruct justice.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Press Secretary #2 Anthony Scaramucci. Alternates between Brooklyn Rage and effusive Big Brother Worship (not that kind of Big Brother... well maybe?).  Goes by "The Mooch", though his name also brings to mind Commedia Dell'Arte character Scaramouch (yes, the one from Bohemian Rhapsody) a.k.a. Scaramuccia.  Scaramouch is proud and cowardly, but we have yet to see if it's a Meaningful Name.
 * As an example of the comic relief part, on his 6th day on the job, he called a reporter and demanded for her source on the record, then promised to fire everyone in the department if she didn't reveal the leak's source, then said he knew it was Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, while wrapping up that he wasn't going to "suck his own cock like [Steve] Bannon." All on the record.  The incident that leaked which was "a threat to the American country"?  The fact that he, the president, and Sean Hannity had dinner together.
 * Presenters: For The Apprentice.
 * Public Relations Ad: He's a master of advertisement. It works, obviously… and tricky enough that it's hard to tell where it ends.
 * Even the First Lady Melania Trump's photo. It's impressive, but an "ambiguously dangerous" Glamour Shot, really? Is this merely something she wanted to do for fun, and why not? Is this posturing as a political move? Both? Who can tell?
 * Relationship with reality:
 * Reality Is Out to Lunch: or at least it seems to be with the Trump administration.
 * Reality Warper: Trump attempts to bend reality to his will especially via Twitter.
 * Also with the aid of his various press secretaries and spokeswoman Kelly-Anne Conway, with her evocation of the Orwellian term "alternative facts".
 * Reality Ensues: Trump's constant attacks on truth mean we must wait for the truth to be revealed, and for reality to ensue.
 * Self-Deprecation: You've got to admit he can laugh at himself like at his roast and originally at the White House Correspondent's Dinner before the jokes against him got more scathing, which is unusual for someone so card-carryingly vain. According to Frontline, Obama's jokes about Trump were the turning point that caused Trump to run for president seriously.
 * Self-Made Man: In the sense that he inherited his business, went broke (bankrupting a casino is, as many have noted, no mean feat), and then rebuilt himself.
 * Spanner in the Works:
 * To a degree at least; few in the mainstream media and among the Beltway circles seriously expected him to win, which caught them by surprise.
 * The news regarding the TPP being dead in the water, which has been attributed to Trump, has effectively torpedoed any hopes of it coming into action before he even enters the White House.
 * Spell My Name with a "The": Nicknamed "The Donald", after his first wife Ivana Trump referred to him as such in an interview.
 * Terrified of Germs: Avoids pressing the call buttons on elevators, or even shaking hands. (Which would make him an interesting head of state.)
 * Troll: As demonstrated during his presidential campaign, he would purposely lure the media into writing hit pieces on him by spewing inflammatory rhetoric so they would give him publicity they otherwise would have denied him. His best troll, even acknowledged by CNN, was when he promised to speak about his views on Barack Obama's national origin, duped the media into airing nearly half an hour of positive press about him, then made a brief comment Obama was born in America just as they were losing patience and abruptly left.
 * In retrospect, "pussygate" shows some of his methods on a small example. It was a Defensive Feint Trap that worked: the more his "mistake" made opponents overconfident, the more crossfire and losses they brought on themselves. Without more efforts from himself, at that.
 * On the face value, it's a trifle. That the opponents didn't look like the stars objecting from experience, but like a crowd of rabid fangirls objecting too much is mildly amusing. The face value matters little here. A big crowd overreacting to something for a less excited observer looks like a common place or a mediocre hyperbole worked more in his favor.
 * He looks like a man who speaks plainly to the point of rudeness - and Brutal Honesty in contrast with "slimy" bureaucrats and/or frothing radicals is a very good image.
 * This also meant the opponents will attack him for something he said, rather than something he did - when the ghost of censorship in general and Political Correctness Gone Mad in particular worries Internet of early XXI century more than the fabled ghost of communism worried Europe of early XX. "Hey, a little reminder: it's their thing. See?"
 * It reminds by association that the American politician most remembered for being actually caught on infidelity is Bill Clinton. A shadow is cast not just on him, but more importantly, on everyone conniving at his shenanigans or being lenient. And not merely by association, but by allowing them to loudly demonstrate hypocrisy. Any return fire hits his main opponent and her supporters.
 * An obvious response would be (and indeed was) to wave the flag of feminism some more. It's also a very slippery and double-edged response, associated not only with affirmative action and Political Correctness, but also the wake of a press corruption scandal (Gamergate). Also, promoting feminism practically means enabling more radical feminism. And in a wave of radical anything not only the loud ones shall drown out the quiet ones, but the worst attention seekers shall compete for the most outlandish stunt. This just as inevitably led to the obviously deranged ones being paraded before public, as more contemptuous memes were born or rejuvenated. The "Trigglypuff" and pussyhats immediately come to mind. There was no way this won't backfire. Lack of caution only managed to make the whole part "how about Bill's girls?" much worse.
 * Volleying Insults: The 2016 Republican party debates generally devolved into this.
 * Weasel Words: In the strict sense of using ambiguous phrases, claims or appeals to vague and unverifiable sources. ie. "a lot of people are saying/many people have said". He claims "many people have told him" he should fire Robert Mueller. His speech patterns are characteristically weaselly in the rhetorical sense of invoking an unsubstantiated mass of people who miraculously agree with your opinion. Without backing it up, this is a way of disguising your agenda.
 * He even inverts this by accusing the media (his enemy) of making up sources.
 * Word Salad: Trump's speeches are often rambling, at best, and incoherent at worst. His interviews often reveal his ignorance of the subject at hand.
 * Worst Whatever Ever: During the first presidential debate (September 26, 2016), Trump said on NAFTA: "This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever." The quote later turned into a meme.