Thousands of MAGA supporters listened as Trump referred to the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, as "fat Alvin" ...Also:
The former president said he had been indicted "more than the great Alphonse Capone… on bullshit, too." It prompted members of the crowd to chant "Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" in response....
As Trump continued his typical attacks on the Biden administration, he asked the crowd: "Everything they touch turns to what?"
"Shit!" the crowd chanted in response.
"You can't use the word shit," Trump joked back.
He attacked former New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie, winking at the audience, “you cannot call him a fat pig.”We worry that a second Trump presidency would turn America into an unrecognizable ex-democracy. That's obviously what his most prominent supporters are hoping will happen, and they'll work hard to accomplish that goal. But what if -- apart from making his legal troubles go away, and having new opportunities to shake people down for cash -- this is all Trump himself really wants from the presidency: the opportunity, once again, to be America's unchallenged Insult Comic in Chief, the potty-mouthed toxic-male class clown of his boarding school, a desire he still harbors as he approaches his eightieth birthday?
As I've said before, I believe the awfulness of a second Trump presidency could be limited somewhat because Trump doesn't really care all that much about attaining his advisers' goals. He mostly just wants to be America's most powerful and admired person.
He wants what a Washington Post story says he has at Mar-a-Lago:
At the club ... Donald Trump is seen the way he likes to be seen. In this alternate reality he has built for himself, guests view him as the rightful winner of the 2020 election, still refer to him as “Mr. President” and greet him with standing ovations when he enters the gold-covered rooms....As I said in a recent post, ordinary Republicans are generally happy, according to social science research, and it's probably because many of them live in a culturally conservative bubble where nearly everyone shares their beliefs. If they're angry at all, it's because they don't want there to be any part of America where their racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, toxic masculinity, and gun nuttery are considered unacceptable.
In the eyes of his adoring fans at Mar-a-Lago, he can do no wrong. The club’s menu has “Mr. President’s Wedge Salad,” the hamburger buns at the nearby golf course come emblazoned with his likeness.... There is often a swarm of well-wishers, suck-ups and freelance advisers....
When Trump became president ... there was a noticeable change at the club, according to one regular guest: before the presidency, they couldn’t recall a time Trump received applause just for entering a room.
“There were those that didn’t like Trump,” [Laurence] Leamer wrote in his book about Mar-a-Lago. “But they only whispered this. Publicly they rose and applauded Trump with the rest of his fans.”
One of the great benefits of Mar-a-Lago is that Trump can usually find a crowd eager to shower him with approval.
I think that's what Trump wants most of all: an America where he can call people fat or ugly and everyone will laugh. An America where he can be an unsocialized adolescent and no one can stop him. He wants this much more than he wants, say, the breakup of the administrative state. So I wonder how hard he'll work to achieve his ideologue advisers' most cherished goals.
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