III. Trump Is Malicious: Part 1
“When someone crosses you, my advice is ‘Get Even!’ That is not typical advice, but it is real life advice. If you do not get even, you are just a schmuck! When people wrong you, go after those people because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. I love getting even. I get screwed all the time. I go after people, and you know what? People do not play around with me as much as they do with others. They know that if they do, they are in for a big fight.” (Source)
These are the words of Donald Trump written in his 1989 book The Art of the Deal, and throughout his life, Trump has stayed true to his code.
An element of this that rings true to many conservatives. When someone hits you, you hit them harder. If an enemy of the United States attacks and kills U.S. citizens, then the U.S. will use the full force of the military to strike our enemies mercilessly until they feel the wrath of God and reach the epiphany that they will never profit when they challenge the resolve of the United States.
Applied to war, Trump perfectly articulates the conservative mindset.
Unfortunately when Trump says he will “get even,” and, “go after people,” he does not refer to a military setting. He means when people are mean to him, he will attack those people on a personal level with everything he possesses, and this is a problem.
We all deal with criticism every day. People disagree with us, challenge us and point out our mistakes, and occasionally, they may even slight us and try to hurt our feelings. People with wisdom and self-control learn from these experiences and grow stronger. People without wisdom and self-control freak out, escalate the hostility and take a pound of flesh from those they deem enemies.
Everybody knows Trump falls into the latter category.
There is nothing wrong with Trump using his voice to defend himself and his views, but Trump immediately makes personal attacks the second anyone opposes him, and he does this by using one of his most powerful weapons, his celebrity influence.
In separate instances conservative editor Bill Kristol, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer and conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg all criticized Trump’s policies. In response, Trump let the defamations fly.
“Bill, your small and slightly failing magazine will be a giant success when you finally back Trump. Country will soar!” (Source)
“One of the worst and most boring political pundits on television is @krauthammer. A totally overrated clown who speaks without knowing facts,” (Source)
“Jonah Goldberg @JonahNRO of the once great @NRO#National Review is truly dumb as a rock. Why does @BretBaier put this dummy on his show?” (Source)
Thus, Trump’s constant barrage of acrimonious tweeting demonstrates that he has the intellectual and emotional maturity of your average YouTube commenter combined with the self-control of an alcoholic on St. Patty’s Day and the hypersensitivity of Tumbler feminist at a meninist rally.
Defending yourself is fine. Trump would earn respect if he would demonstrate his substantive understanding of the issues by defending his positions. Only those who lack the ability to refute criticism devolve into anger, misdirection and ad hominem attacks when challenged, yet consistently, Trump chooses to take the low road when anyone gets on his bad side.
Trump’s diatribes might be more forgivable if he only targeted those who treated him badly, but Trump takes offense at the most trivial of provocations. Perhaps most famously, Trump objected to Megyn Kelly’s when she did her job by asking hard questions in the first FOX debate. Despite the fact that her questions were completely relevant and no more harsh for Trump than for anyone else, Trump still went on a tirade and insinuated that Kelly was just angry because she was on her period. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her…wherever.” Five months later when the second FOX debate took place, Trump was still nursing his hurt feeling, and since he couldn’t convince FOX to block Kelly as moderator, Trump used the only method of revenge he had by blowing off the debate altogether. “Let's see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me.”
There doesn’t even need to be an actual offense for Trump to put you on his enemy list. Perhaps nobody better represents this than Ted Cruz of whom Trump has recently said, “He's a nasty guy. Nobody likes him,” yet this is the same Trump who in 2014 said, “The truth is that he (Cruz) shouldn’t be controversial because what he’s doing is right…He really is a special guy. He’s now a very, very popular and important figure in all of our lives.” Cruz hasn’t changed, but once Cruz become a Presidential rival, Trump stopped treating Cruz with basic human decency.
Trump uses more than mere words to destroy those in his way. Because they would not sell their homes, Trump used his lawyers to try and dislodge property owners so he could take their land and create vacation destinations. Innocent people had to waste their time and money on lawyers just so they could keep their homes from Trump’s greedy clutches.
The takeaway is clear. Trump will use whatever power he has to destroy those he deems his enemies, and anyone who gets in his way is an enemy.
If you enjoyed this article, you'll be happy to know I've written a whole series on Trump. Click Here to Check them Out.
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