On February 14 CNN provided a photomontage that included Trump, plus the people whom the media consider potential Republican candidates for president in 2024:
The fact that any of them would consider opposing Trump renders them brave in my opinion:
Brave – because by announcing they’ll seek the GOP’s nomination for president, they’ve invited a nonstop fusillade of Trump denigrations, insults and lies about their character, values, heritage, appearance, and any other facet Trump takes aim at.
So I’ll credit anyone who is considering opposing Trump with being brave.
There are 16 images in the photomontage from CNN – Trump, three women and 12 men.
But only one is the bravest of them all.
This one:
And – if I’m being unfair, so be it – I’m imagining, in the time since Trump announced he was running back in mid-November, at least some of these potential candidates texting each other:
“You announce first.”
“No, YOU announce first.”
“I don’t wanna be the first!”
“Well, I’m not gonna be first!”
The first to announce they’ll oppose Trump – the bravest of them all, braver than any of the men – is a woman:
Nikki Haley.
In a 3½-minute video that aired on February 14 Halley said, “I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president.”
This article:
Noted that Haley…
“…was a rare figure to leave the Trump administration while earning praise from Mr. Trump rather than a parting insult.”
“That the former president has so far not coined an insulting nickname or otherwise attacked Ms. Haley is a sign, perhaps, that he does not perceive her as a major threat.”
But that was then, and this is now.
Now it’s official: Haley is running for president.
And here’s what she’s in for.
Let’s do a refresher of just some of the insults Trump has hurled at women in recent years.
I’ll start with the numerous women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Here’s a story from 2016:
“Donald Trump vowed Saturday to sue the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in recent weeks.
“‘Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign,’ Trump said during remarks in Gettysburg, PA. ‘Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.’”
Trump never sued, of course.
He’d end up in a courtroom under oath, and his keepers would never allow that.
To continue with Trump’s denigrations of women:
“Horseface,” “fat pigs,” “slobs,” “crazed, crying lowlife,” “liar,” “face of a pig,” “bimbo,” “disgusting,” “Miss Piggy,” and “dogs.”
“Wacky and deranged,” “off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess,” “very insecure,” “totally lying,” and “crazy and very dumb.”
“How do the breasts look?”
“She’s certainly not hot.”
“Nasty woman.”
“…that fat, ugly face of hers.”
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
“Sadly, she’s no longer a 10.”
“Extremely unattractive (both inside and out).”
“Look at that face, would anyone vote for that?”
“I’m not allowed to talk about her ugly face or body…”
“An extraordinarily low IQ person.”
“…bleeding badly from a face-lift.”
“Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.”
“…if you like a woman with a bad complexion who is built like a linebacker.”
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
After that list, I need to wash out my eyes – and brain – with soap.
How about you?
And because Nikki Haley is regarded as “nonwhite,” and she herself said (of her early life) “I was a brown girl, in a Black and white world,” well…
That gives Trump even more opportunities for insults.
Trump’s first response to Haley’s announcement apparently was low-key, though he’d hurled pre-announcement insults at Haley on February 2, according to this article:
“Trump said Haley was a ‘very ambitious person’ and that ‘she just couldn’t stay in her seat.’
“‘Nikki suffers from something that’s a very tough thing to suffer from: She’s overly ambitious,’ Trump said later in the interview.”
“Stay in her seat?”
The “seat” Trump designates for her?
In Trumpworld, women should know their place, and stay there.
In Trumpworld, ambition in men = good/ambition in women = bad.
But if Trump’s response to Haley’s February 14 presidential bid was low-key, here’s a Trump toady who didn’t hold back, according to this February 14 article:
“MAGA Inc. executive and former Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich (pictured) released a statement on behalf of the super PAC mocking Haley and her presidential bid.
“‘Nikki Haley is just another career politician,’ Budowich said. ‘She started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin. She then resigned early to go rake in money on corporate boards,’ Budowich wrote.
“‘Now, she’s telling us she represents a ‘new generation.’ Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself,’ Budowich wrote.”
So begin the insults.
OK: It’s unlikely I’ll vote for Haley or any Republican.
But I salute her for being the first to announce – and the bravest.
And when Haley is asked – as she inevitably will be – if she is willing to be Trump’s running mate, I hope she responds…
I Hate Houseguests 