Donald Trump has debased the office of President more than anyone in modern times. Just one example is his constant use of grade school nicknames for political opponents. "Crooked" Hillary, "Little" Marco, "Liddle" Bob Corker, "Lyin' " Ted, "Pocohantas" Warren,"Crazy" Bernie, "Low-Energy" Jeb, and "Cryin' " Chuck Schumer are just a few cases of Trump's juvenile name calling.
With his moronic insults, Trump has single-handedly opened the floodgates of vile political discourse. But turn-about is fair play. People now feel free to, in turn, call the President himself any one of a number of insulting nicknames. An internet search reveals many lists of funny nicknames for the President. No single one has stuck, but most folks seem to have their favorite.
The most obvious trumpian traits for mockery include his bizarre skin color, his severe comb-over, his lack of morals, his childish temperament, his affinity for dictators, his desire to send others into battle, and his overwhelming stupidity. People seem to avoid other prominent trumpian traits in inventing nicknames for the Donald, including his gross obesity, his multiple marriages, his bigotry, and his constant lying.
The most popular Trump nicknames pertain to his non-human skin color. He seems to think that spray-tanning himself some shade of orange looks natural. "Angry Pumpkin", "Dork a L'Orange", and "The Orange Shit-gibbon" have all been used. "The Angry Creamsicle", "Agent Orange", and "Cheddar Boy" are popular. Others have called Trump "The Orange Slug", "The Tangerine Tornado", "The Talking Yam", and "The Banana Republican". Never one to hold back, Rosie O'Donnell has called called him "The Orange Anus" and a "Human Shit-Stain".
Trump loves him some Putin. And Erdogan . And Xi Jinping. In fact, Trump admires most despots and dictators. His own authoritarian tendencies figure into quite a few of his nicknames, including "Mein Trumph", "Genghis Can't", "Twitler", and "Hillbilly Hitler".
Some of the most popular nicknames combine Trump's artificial skin color with reference to his disturbing hero-worship of dictators, leading to "Minute-Maid Mao" and "Orange Caligula". Combine that with his uncanny resemblance to the Italian dictator and you get "Mango Mussolini", "Cheeto Benito", "Fanta Fascist", and "Il Douche".
Trump goes to great lengths to try to hide his baldness. The pompously-vain man actually thinks the weasel on his head looks good. This has led to nicknames such as "Hair Furor", "The Human-Toupee Hybrid", "Comb-over Con-Artist", "The Comb-over Kid", and "The Bouffant Buffoon."
Another Trump trait is his child-like temper. The leader of the Free World flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. A three-year-old has a steadier disposition. This has led to nicknames such as "Man-Baby", "The 70-Year-Old Toddler", "The Sophomoric Sniveler", "Trumpelthinskin", "Prima-Donald", and "The Bald-Faced Crier".
Multiple medical deferments kept Trump out of Vietnam. Being a veteran should no more be a requirement of our President than experience in law, farming, accounting, or science. However, Trump's infatuation with military parades and his tendency to send soldiers into harm's way on a whim open him up to ridicule. This has led to Trump nicknames like "Cadet Bonespurs" and "4-F5".
Trump is one of the stupidest men to ever occupy the Oval Office. Several clever nicknames reflect that fact, including: "Dolt 45", "IQ45", "Forrest Trump", "The White Kanye", and "Dumb Corleone".
Trump lacks a moral compass. His business record is sleazy. For example, he has been sued 3,500 times for stiffing contractors and non-payment of wages. Many popular trumpian nicknames refer to that fact. He has been cleverly called "Darth tax eVader", "Don the Con", "The Man of Steal", "Donnie Darko", "The Grifter-in-Chief", and "Boss Tweet".
Still other nicknames refer to his sleazy personal life, including "Donnie Tic-Tac", "The Mango Molester", "King Leer", "The Assaulter-in-Chief", and "Jack the Gripper". Making history as the first President with both a fixer and an alias, he has been referred to by some as "President Dennison".
In addition to the multitude of clever insults of Trump, there are several very appropriate anagrams of Trump's name. I especially like: "Adult Porn MD", "Lord Dampnut", and "Dotard n' Lump". But the prize goes to: "Damn Turd Pol".
In the new politics of the Trump Age, personal insults are fair game. Donald Trump loves to call his political opponents names, and he has opened himself up for reciprocation. There are many clever names for the President that play on his spray-tan, his comb-over, his love of authoritarianism, his militarism, his legendary stupidity, and his lack of morals. No single popular nickname has emerged from the pack, but we are still early in Trump's single four-year term. What is your favorite?
House action last week showed us another example of the incredible hypocrisy of this GOP-led Congress. Glenn Grothman (6th CD-WI) and Jim Sensenbrenner (5th CD-WI) voted for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
In a pompous Thursday floor speech, Sensenbrenner declared that "This proposed constitutional amendment will give us the discipline that we have not had as we’ve sat and watched the deficit go up and up and up and away". He admitted, "Congress can’t discipline itself."
Sensenbrenner has been a Congressman since 1979. Based on his long-term record, It is clear that old Jim is one of those without discipline. He voted for the Reagan tax cuts. He voted for the Bush II tax cuts. He and Grothman voted for the Trump tax cuts. They are as responsible for mortgaging America's future as anyone in the House. Showboating with their goofy Balanced Budget Amendment does not disguise that fact.
We don't need a Balanced Budget Amendment to do the right thing. Fiscal responsibility is not rocket science. In order to balance a budget, we must take-in at least as much as we spend. During prosperous times, we should put-away a surplus as a buffer for less prosperous times.
The traditional Republican modus operandi, as followed by Sensenbrenner and Grothman, flies in the face of common sense. They borrow heavily to cut taxes during good times. They borrow heavily to cut taxes during bad times. They purchase every conceivable weapons system. This long-term fiscal irresponsibility gave us the large Reagan deficits. They took us from the Clinton budget surpluses to the huge Bush II deficits. They are now taking us from the economic restraint of the Obama years into a new economic dumpster fire.
The GOP tax scheme that was jammed through Congress in December will have a devastating effect on our national solvency. The CBO projects a return to trillion-dollar annual deficits. They project a mind-boggling $27 trillion national debt by 2027.
At the end of the GOP's reckless tax-cut-and-spend binge, average Americans will not be better-off. By the time that the full effect of the tax scheme has kicked-in in 2028, fully 80% of the benefit will go to foreigners. By 2027, an estimated 83% of the tax cut will go to the top 1% of earners. You and other average Americans will be forced to clean-up the Republican's economic mess.
After voting for this monstrosity of a tax bill, Grothman and Sensenbrenner have the gall to claim fiscal responsibility. They have the brass to strut around, pretending to be deficit hawks. They were both front and center in promoting the for-show Balanced Budget Amendment. In reality, they are deficit peacocks. While talking a good game, they vote for schemes that will make US deficits far worse.
If a Balanced Budget Amendment were to come to pass, the main effect would be to protect us from the fiscal malfeasance of Congress members like Sensenbrenner and Grothman.
As expected, the proposed Constitutional Amendment went down in defeat on Thursday. Amendments require a 2/3 vote to pass the Congress. This proposal received only a 233-184 vote, with most "ayes" coming from Republicans.
We need more than cynical posturing from our Representatives. If Sensenbrenner and Grothman were were serious about the ballooning national debt, they would reduce the grossly bloated military budget. They would not have axed governmental revenue through their ruinous tax scheme. Their votes last week for a silly Balanced Budget Amendment were a ruse to distract us from their gross fiscal irresponsibility. We are not so stupid as to be fooled by their antics.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin held another election for State Supreme Court. Although non-partisan in name, the election was anything but. Michael Screnock was the hand-picked candidate of Scott Walker, WMC, the NRA, the Bradley Foundation, and the state GOP. He was a point man for defending some of the state GOP's worst abuses of power, including Act 10 and the horrific gerrymandering of legislative districts. He was endorsed by David Prosser, Leah Vukmir, and Wisconsin Right to Life.
Rebecca Dallet was by far the more progressive candidate. For example, she appeared at the 2017 Democratic State Convention, 2017 Fighting BobFest, and last month's Milwaukee March for Our Lives. She was endorsed by Tammy Baldwin, Planned Parenthood, the AFL-CIO, and Shepherd Express.
By any measure, this Supreme Court election was a conservative vs progressive contest. Rebecca Dallet won by a surprising statewide margin of 55.8 to 44.2%. This caused Walker and the state GOP much gnashing of teeth and browning of shorts. These results bode well for future election success for progressive candidates in our state.
How did the election turn-out in the W.O.W. counties? Certainly, the tri-county Ring of Fire lived-up to its reputation as a Republican bastion. Out of all 72 Wisconsin counties, Washington County provided Screnock's largest margin (69.3% of votes went for Screnock). Waukesha was his second-best county (64.5% for Screnock). Ozaukee was his sixth best county (58.7%). Altogether, Screnock harvested 64.5% of the W.O.W. vote.
The three W.O.W. counties constituted 14.2% of the total statewide electorate for the two SC candidates. Because W.O.W. turn-out is generally higher than the state as a whole, this is several percent higher than the 12.4% portion of total statewide registered voters that we represent.
We gave Screnock 20.7 % of his statewide total vote (90,914 of 440,235). On the positive side, we contributed 9.0% of Dallet's statewide vote (50,016 of 555,196). W.O.W. counties are crucially important for Republicans, but Democrats cannot afford to neglect us.
Voter turn-out for Spring elections is generally anemic compared to higher profile partisan elections. What about this year? Statewide, fully 32.5% of registered voters voted in the SC election (995,431 of 3,058,349). This compares with a 36.2% turn-out in Washington Co., 36.5% in Waukesha Co., and a whopping 41.5% in Ozaukee Co.
Both the statewide and W.O.W.-county turn-out this year were high compared to previous Spring Supreme Court races. In 2017, Justice Ziegler was reelected without a challenger. The 2016 election was anomalous because it was held concurrently with the hotly-contested presidential primaries.
In the April 2015 election (Ann Walsh Bradley v. James Daley), W.O.W. turn-out was only 24.5% of pre-registered voters (compared to 23.4% statewide). In the April 2013 SC election (Roggensack/Fallone), W.O.W. turn-out was 28.3% (compared to 23.2% statewide). There was considerably higher interest in this year's Supreme Court election than similar past ones.
But even the turn-out for this year's Court race was low compared to Presidential elections. W.O.W. voter turn-out in the Clinton/Trump election of 2016 was 86.6%.
Did this election give us any indication of a blue wave in W.O.W.-land? The right-winger, Screnock, received 64.5% of W.O.W. vote this year. This compares to 65.2% for the conservative candidate in 2015. Trump garnered 61% of the Presidential vote in the tri-county region. So, there is no clear evidence of a blue shift in the ring of fire.
So what are the take-aways? Washington and Waukesha Counties retain their shameful titles as the reddest and second reddest counties in the state. As shown by statewide turn-out, this Supreme Court election generated much more voter interest than other recent ones. W.O.W. counties still outperform the rest of Wisconsin with respect to voter turn-out and so have a disproportionate influence on state elections. This election gave no indication of a massive shift from red-to-blue in the Milwaukee ring-suburbs. Any positive political shift in this region will require patience, hard work, and investment of resources by progressive organizations and activists.
