The cruelty is the point.

As Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday night, Donald Trump now has the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. But like a Roman emperor or mob boss, Trump used his victory speech in New Hampshire to humiliate his former opponents – and make sinister threats against his last primary rival.

The former US president had followed up his record win in the Iowa caucuses with victory over Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the UN, with a double-digit triumph in less favourable political territory. As Republican politicians and donors scramble to jump aboard the Trump train, it is clearly game over for the Never Trumpers.

Trump could have been magnanimous in victory and congratulated Haley on a race well run. Instead, he was palpably irked by her refusal to drop out of the race. Petty and vindictive, he became a playground bully punching down for the benefit of an audience that glories in metaphorical violence.

  • @jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    1810 months ago

    Wow I didn’t realize that she pulled 43.3% of the vote in New Hampshire. When you take into account how many of her voters said they would not vote for Trump in the general election, that’s gotta be a bad sign for Trump.

    • @whereisk@lemmy.world
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      510 months ago

      This is the real news and should be part of every headline - nearly 45% of the Republican party doesn’t want Trump, in fact voted for someone that has very similar foreign policy views as Biden, that’s not good news for Trump at all.