Is this a carefully thought-out electoral strategy or words blurted out during ramblings off the teleprompter? In recent days, Donald Trump has been heaping on vulgarities that are unthinkable for millions of Americans.
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The populist billionaire has never been shy, especially in private, but this succession of vulgarities said in public, in the middle of the campaign for the White House, surprises or dismays.
On Saturday evening, he was at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. His plane displaying “TRUMP” in giant golden letters parked on the tarmac of the regional airport where thousands of his supporters were gathered.
The 78-year-old Republican opened his speech with a surprising digression about local star Arnold Palmer (1929-2016), American golf legend, explaining how other professional golfers were impressed by the champion’s genitals.
“When he was taking a shower with the other pros, they were like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing,’” Mr. Trump said.
“I had to mention it,” added the candidate, who spoke in front of an audience largely made up of members of the white working class, who form his electoral base.
Below the belt
During this same rally, the Republican addressed a barrage of insults to his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.
“You’re a shitty vice president, the worst, you’re fired, get out of here,” he said.
AFP
In a podcast broadcast the day before, Donald Trump had confided his astonishment that former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, convicted and incarcerated for rape and sexual assault, had been “deceived”.
He used the word “schlonged,” an obscene term referring to the penis, which stunned observers.
Kamala Harris is a “failure who has less energy than a rabbit,” he also said last week.
And, even before, he described the Vice-President of the United States as “crazy”, “sloppy” or even “real scum”.
To exploit the vein of baseness, the former business magnate uses several tactics: sometimes he republishes shocking or racist messages on his social network.
He does the same in gatherings, echoing insults thrown at the public. Or he claims not to endorse offenses uttered by people he cites anyway.
On several occasions, he clearly implied that Kamala Harris had benefited from a career boost thanks to her intimate relationship at the time with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.
He even shared a video suggesting that the Democrat had spent part of her life on her knees, performing oral sex.
“Big pig of a husband”
Donald Trump has never been shy about inappropriate language. We remember this old video, unearthed a month before the 2016 presidential election, in which he boasted of using his celebrity to “grab (women) by the pussy”.
AFP
And he always loved to give his opponents degrading nicknames, from “Hillary-the-Scum” for Hillary Clinton to “Horse Face” for Stormy Daniels, the former pornographic actress who was behind his criminal conviction in New York, passing by the word “scum” addressed to the former boss of the FBI, James Comey.
But Donald Trump has generally refrained from using harsh language as president or even candidate. This moderation seems to be over, possibly illustrating his nervousness in an ultra-tight race.
Here is the request he made on Friday to activists who came to listen to him in Detroit: “Tell your fat pig of a husband to get off the couch and go vote for Trump.”
In the Republican’s entourage, some are worried that with these new excesses he is alienating the party’s most moderate voters, while every vote will count for the November 5 presidential election.
Kamala Harris understands this well. This Monday, she will be joined on her campaign platform by Republican Liz Cheney, a figure of the anti-Trump right.
This woman, who has become the bête noire of the septuagenarian, recently called on voters to reject “the depraved cruelty” of Donald Trump.
Liz Cheney is “dumb as a broom,” the former president replied Monday on his social network.
