The Memo: Trump betrays irritation after huge 'No Kings' protests |
The organizers of Saturday’s “No Kings” protests succeeded in all their main aims: drawing huge crowds, keeping the events peaceful — and, apparently, getting under President Trump’s skin.
The latter point appears to be borne out by Trump’s reaction. Having noted in advance of the protests that he is not, in fact, a king, the president lurched to the other extreme afterward via a controversial meme he disseminated on social media on Saturday evening.
The AI-generated montage shows Trump wearing a crown in the cockpit of a fighter jet. The AI version of Trump sprays brown liquid — presumably excrement — onto the protesters on the streets below.
It was the latest startling proof of how the sensibility of online trolling has seeped into the Oval Office, even more so in Trump’s second term than it did during his first.
It was also one more reminder of how far the nation has traveled in less than two decades, when former President Obama talking about people “clinging to guns or religion” or Mitt Romney referencing “victims who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them” kicked off several news cycles of outrage.
Back then, the Obama and Romney remarks were widely criticized for showing supposed disdain for regular voters — even though both men argued they were making valid points, if unartfully.
Now, the president posts memes of himself bombarding with feces those citizens........