Special to Houston-based USAfrica magazine and USAfricaonline.com
Until a few days ago, President Donald Trump was the undisputed king of trash talk.
He was the best at giving unwanted and stereo typical names which diminished any opponent.
If I had to make a list of the top 10 hits by Trump, one of those will be “Crooked Hilary” — for the former First Lady and Secretary of State, the distinguished Hilary Clinton.
There was Marco Rubio who was baptized “Little Marco” for the Republican Senator from Florida.
And who would have forgotten the favorite target of Trumpian coarse put-down for former governor Jeb Bush, son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush and brother to former President George W Bush —for Jeb, Trump had the harsh target name “Low Energy Jeb” . The name tag followed the man like his shadow!
Significantly, for his opponent in the 2020 election, former vice president Joe Biden, he calls “Sleepy Joe”.
Somehow, the Democrats in the United States did not seem to have it in their genes to be able to counter or even pretend to match the jousting and rib cracking labels the combative president of United States easily gave to his opponents.
He seems to have met his match in the person of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Remember that Trump snubbed and refused to shake the outstretched hand of the Grand-dame and chief host of the 2020 State of the Union address. Trump had a name for her. He called her “nasty Nancy.”
In a critical blow in their almost 43 months war of words and snub, the Speaker Pelosi , a Democrat from California, on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 labeled the coronavirus the “Trump virus.”
It seemed like this day would never come.
The soft-spoken but influential power-player and grand mother amplified her comments during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “So what you’re saying is that thousands of Americans have died because of what the president has done or not done. Is that what you’re saying?” Blitzer asked.
“Yeah. Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” Pelosi affirmed.
“I think with the president’s comments today, he has recognized the mistakes that he has made by now embracing mask-wearing and the recognition that this is not a hoax, it is a pandemic that has gotten worse before it gets better because of his inaction and, in fact, clearly, it is the Trump virus,” Pelosi added.
“Well, what do you mean when you say the ‘Trump virus,'” CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked the liberal lioness of the Congress.
“The Trump virus,” Pelosi repeated with serious emphasis. “If he had said months ago ‘Let’s wear a mask, let’s socially-distance’ instead of having rallies or political whatever they were, then more people would have followed his lead. He’s the president of the United States, instead of being a bad example, making it like a manhood thing not to wear a mask.”
On the clash of science and the beliefs of most of President Donald Trump’s supporters, Pelosi insisted that “A briefing on the coronavirus should be about science and that is something that the president has ignored. It should be about governance and now he’s finally embracing saying ‘OK, it’s OK to wear a mask.’ So I think a good deal of what we have suffered is clearly the Trump virus.”
On his part, since March 2020, Trump has always referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus.” But the battle-tested legislator from the San Francisco area seems the first person to have turned the table on teflon Trump.
Twitter was abuzz with excitement and retweets a few minutes after Pelosi delivered the upper cut to the political plexus of the President, Donald Trump.
First, politics benefit from comedic interventions when they are jokes between politicos. A good sense of humor works well for any person; politician or priest; Wealthy or poor!
Without any doubts, there has been a strain of mean spiritedness and outright malice in most of the aggressive comedic decimation of his opponents — be they Republican or Democrats — by Trump. Nancy Pelosi cannot be said to have a clean slate or a clean hand in the throwing of brickbats. She infamously tore, live on national television, the state of the union speech give by Trump in January of 2020.
Second, as a consummate political strategist and hard nosed analyst of the political environment, she has noticed and accurately that Mr. Trump is increasing falling out of favor of not only the majority of Americans but among some of his philosophically reflective supporters. His rally in Oklahoma without protective masks or any form of safety gear to check the Coronavirus reinforced the President’s failure to set the factual and responsible message to all Americans.
Third, the sensible refusal of most of Trump’s supporters to expose themselves to the mortal danger of the fast killing Coronavirus sent a message to Pelosi that it was a perfect time to strike the sleek talking, bombastic, truth distorting and racially divisive President, Donald J. Trump.
Fourth, should Trump lose the 2020 presidential election, it will primarily be as a result of the impact of the pandemic of coronavirus and his evident failures to serve and speak as President for All Americans.
Finally, to make matters worse for his legacy, Nancy Pelosi is determined to re-baptize Trump as the wretched embodiment of the destructive and catastrophic visitation of the evil virus aka “Trump virus.” Will this Label stick on Trump? Or would it wash off like water poured on the back of a duck?
The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind….
—— *Dr. Chido Nwangwu, the author of the November 2020 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity, serves as Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. He is recipient of several public policy and journalism excellence honors, civic engagement and community empowerment awards and has appeared as an analyst on CNN and SKYnews. @Chidö247
