Not only is Donald Trump arguably the worst president in American history, the number of negative adjectives that reporters, commentators, and columnists have used to describe him and the sycophants who enabled him over the years is stunning and a language tutorial. I’ve made a list of as many of these words that I can remember hearing and reading – if you know of others that I’ve missed, please write them for the record:
“Impeached, unprecedented, unique, lying, dishonest, deceptive, hypocritical, angry, aggressive, rage-filled, outrageous, arrogant, entitled, intolerant, insensitive, uncaring, indecent, hostile, hateful, ruthless, cruel, mean, malevolent, dystopian, base, low, abhorrent, cowardly, unworthy, unfit, manipulative, ignoble, shameful, deplorable, discreditable, reprehensible, sexist, misogynist, racist, white supremacist, Islamophobic, homophobic, poisonous, toxic, evil, bad, amoral, immoral, ignominious, worst, catastrophic, calamitous, ruinous, disastrous, devastating, damaging, decrepit, egoistical, egotistical, narcissistic, unwell, nihilistic, delusional, self-serving, selfish, back-stabbing, double-crossing, unfaithful, faithless, sacrilegious, soulless, disloyal, two-faced, insincere, untrustworthy, duplicitous, corrupt, despicable, unpredictable, fraudulent, rancid, grievous, poisonous, cynical, appalling, destructive, profligate, licentious, reckless, degenerate, debauched, lecherous, imprudent, oppositional, argumentative, controversial, divisive, chaotic, unhinged, dysfunctional, incompetent, ignorant, stupid, clownish, irresponsible, unaccountable, failed, dangerous, criminal, murderous, extremist, seditious, traitorous, treasonous, insurrectionist, illiberal, authoritarian, fascistic, anti-democratic, autocratic, un-American.”
Finally, on Twitter this week someone said he wished no longer to call him “President,” so I suggested that we simply call him “Trump,” for that name will forever embrace the above in history.
This is a powerful list, and yet it still feels like they are getting off too easily. I would add “abject”, as in when John McCain said Trump had “abased himself … abjectly before a tyrant” when he appeared with Putin in Helsinki. Also “diabolical”, which suggest the metaphysical nature of the evil that these people represent.
The very plethora of pejorative adjectives you list actually suggests that no words suffice to describe this person. What a sad commentary!