Donald Trump: Difference between revisions

 

{{creatortropes}}

* [[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,<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem Ad Hominem] ''wikipedia.org''</ref> one step 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."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAZ7jyr3kSs McCraven a "Clinton fan"] ''NBC News'' via ''youtube.com''</ref>

* [[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]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s longest-running white male cast member and one of the show's best and most frequently-used celebrity impersonators) impersonating him.

** 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.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_on_social_media#"Covfefe" Covfefe] ''wikipedia.org''</ref>

* [[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 [[Catch Phrase|he fires]] Spiderman and cuts his web but he sticks it back onto his head and pulls the wig off.

* [[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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html Trump Russia Clinton Emails] ''nytimes.com''</ref>

* [[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, ''[[The Apprentice (TV series)|Celebrity Apprentice]]'' [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|was interrupted]] for the news that Obama had ordered a successful raid and killing on Osama bin Laden.

** Youtube has a [https://youtu.be/zT0Rjc6jKCg highlight reel of the best Trump election skepticism], complete with punchline.

** [[Dilbert|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 Carolina's lieutenant governor, who is more supportive of Trump, the governor.

* [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]]: many examples could be given here, but ''The Washington Post'' does a good job of keeping track of his claims generally (such as the pre-election era circa 2016)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/04/17-issues-that-donald-trump-knows-better-than-anyone-else-according-to-donald-trump/?utm_term=.023786155911 19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump (10/4/16)] ''washingtonpost.com''</ref> and specifically in this interview (27/11/18)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/27/president-trumps-full-washington-post-interview-transcript-annotated/?utm_term=.ee0b33f542cf Trump Interview Transcript (11/27/18)] ''washingtonpost.com''</ref> wherein Trump epitomised this trope:

{{quote|'''Trump''': One of the problems that a lot of people like myself — ''we have very high levels of intelligence'', but we’re not necessarily such believers [in climate change].}}

* [[Metaphorgotten]]: [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/trump-gay-people-should-n_n_856951.html 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.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM7mPl20GhQ Trump In His Own Words] ''youtube.com''</ref>

** 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, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-creepiest-most-unsettling-comments-a-roundup-a7353876.html going back at least to 1997] if not further. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzhcaGrUG8 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,<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-reveals-he-asked-comey-whether-he-was-under-investigation-n757821 Trump/Holt Interview NBC] ''nbcnews.com''</ref> in an interview with The Daily Caller published 11/14/18,<ref>[https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/14/transcript-trump-daily-caller-interview/ Trump Can't Help Himself] ''dailycaller.com''</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/trump-attorney-general-sessions-unconstitutional.html Whitaker Appointment Unconstitutional] ''nytimes.com''</ref> Trump seems unable to prevent himself from admitting his corrupt intent to obstruct justice.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/11/15/trump-cant-stop-blurting-out-his-desire-to-obstruct-justice/?utm_term=.a2961f7aa270 Trump Keeps Admitting Desire To Obstruct Justice] ''washingtonpost.com''</ref>

*** Also with the aid of his various press secretaries and spokeswoman Kelly-Anne Conway, with her evocation of the [[George Orwell|Orwellian]] [[Newspeak|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 [[It's Personal|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.

** Inverted when he became President and skipped both White House Correspondence Dinners (2017 and 2018). Comedians Hasan Minhaj<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDmSZX_zVuQ WHCD 2017] ''youtube.com''</ref> and Michelle Wolf's<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeEiq_C6j3c WHCD 2018] ''youtube.com''</ref> roasts were particularly brutal affairs. After the backlash following Wolf's roast it was announced that a presidential biographer (Ron Chernow) would give a talk in 2019, heavily indicating that comedians were no longer allowed to celebrate the 1st Amendment at these dinners.<ref>[https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/2019-white-house-correspondents-no-comedian.html No Comedians Allowed] ''vulture.com''</ref>

**# 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".<ref>[https://www.yahoo.com/news/many-people-saying-trump-tweet-000000450.html Many people are saying] ''yahoo.com''</ref> He claims "many people have told him" he should fire Robert Mueller.<ref>[http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382378-trump-many-people-have-said-i-should-fire-mueller Many people have said fire Mueller] ''thehill.com''</ref> 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 [[Blatant Lies|disguising your agenda]].<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word Weasel Words] ''wikipedia.org''</ref>

** He even inverts this by accusing the media (''his'' enemy) of making up sources.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/28/trump-fake-news-media-238894 Trump claims media makes up sources] ''politico.com''</ref>

* [[Word Salad]]: Trump's speeches are often rambling, at best, and incoherent at worst.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/02/22/trumps-word-salads-conceal-his-ignorance/?utm_term=.067fcea53e67 Trump Word Salad] ''washingtonpost.com''</ref> His interviews often reveal his ignorance of the subject at hand.<ref>[https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/01/behold-donald-trumps-latest-word-salad-on-climate-change/ Climate Change Word Salad] ''motherjones.com''</ref>

* [[Worst Whatever Ever]]: During the first presidential debate (September 26, 2016), Trump [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fEb5niN8Kg said] on [[w:North American Free Trade Agreement|NAFTA]]: "This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever." The quote later turned into a [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-worst-trade-deal meme].