Donald Trump Isn’t for You. He Hates You
Blue states, the pope, former supporters, disabled people, veterans. In the years since he entered politics, it seems he finds more and more people odious
In the closing weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, an attack ad running near-constantly in swing states claimed: “Kamala (Harris) is for ‘they/them.’ President Trump is for you.”
In addition to being yet another rhetorical assault on the trans community, one of the true lowlights of not just the ‘24 election specifically but right-wing American politics generally over the past several years, the ad was a flat-out lie.
Donald Trump isn’t for you. He hates you.
And you.
And, yes, even you in the ugly red hat. Well, maybe your uncle in the hat. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a fan of Donito Cheetolini, so he hates you by default.
In the 11 years since he descended that tacky escalator, Trump has almost exclusively used bigotry to appeal to voters. To paraphrase Michael Douglas as Andrew Shepard in “The American President,” whatever your problem is, Trump is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in making you afraid of it and telling you who is to blame for it.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”
Foundational Black Americans. Haitians. Somalis. Mexicans. Really, any non-white immigrant. Muslims. A tiny minority of transgender girls who just want to play soccer or run track with teammates.
Those are the people Trump and Republicans want you to be fearful of, whom they want you to blame for your lot in life. Don’t look at the parasitic oligarchs who refuse to pay you higher wages, whine about affirmative action because the Black man with more education and experience than you got the promotion you think you deserved. Pay no mind to the dozens of male coaches charged with grooming and/or molesting girls on their teams, threaten the trans girl on the junior varsity softball team trying to live her life.
But even as he was courting his base in the run-up to the 2016 election, with healthy servings of bluster and fanaticism, the two-thirds of white males and majority of white women who went on to vote for him, Trump let it slip as he was telling them whom to denounce that he didn’t much like many of them either.
And in the years since, particularly since he returned to the White House last year, it seems he finds even more of them odious.
Disabled people? Hates ‘em. In November 2015, he crossed what once was a line too far, signaling his disdain for handicapped individuals. Speaking at a rally, he mocked journalist Serge Kovaleski, who has a condition that affects his joint movements. Referencing an old article Kovaleski had written, Trump began flailing his arms, sharply bending his right wrist the way Kovaleski does.
I still think about that moment and wonder how that wasn’t his last rally; in a different time, a better time, it would have been. But if openly parodying someone with a disability cost him any followers, it wasn’t enough to meaningfully impact his campaign, and we’re all worse off because of it.
Trump’s loathing extends to those with learning disabilities. In March, he called California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has dyslexia, “stupid” and unfit to become president because of it. (There are many, many reasons Newsom should not be president, but his dyslexia is not among them.)
Military members and veterans? Generally can’t stand them.
Even before the event mocking Kovaleski, Trump drew boos when he said Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam for over five years who lived with the effects of injuries from that time for the rest of his life, “wasn’t a war hero” because he’d been captured.
One chief of staff from his first term said Trump believed military members were “suckers” and “losers” and didn’t want to be photographed with amputee veterans. He said the Presidential Medal of Freedom, given to civilians, was “much better” than the Congressional Medal of Honor, because recipients of the latter “were either in bad shape or they’re dead.”
And now he’s sending thousands of troops to the Middle East for the war he incited on Iran, even though we’ve apparently won it like five times already.
Given that this is a short list, it’s particularly confounding that data shows roughly 60 percent of active and retired military members voted for Trump in 2024.
Women? Unless he thinks they’re young and hot, has no use for them.
In the final weeks of 2025 alone, he ridiculed so many female reporters that one outlet published a 1,700-word article recounting them. He further demeans women who have accused him of sexual impropriety by saying they’re not his type. We can’t forget “grab ‘em by the pussy.” And then there’s the Hillary and Kamala of it all, and the many ways he insulted them when they ran against him.
“Blue” states. “Shithole countries.” Anyone who once supported him and now is a critic. Many of the nation’s most respected universities. Judges who don’t decide in his favor.
The actual pope.
Hate, hate, hate.
And now his most fervent supporters — the ones who aren’t lining his pockets in exchange for dismantling regulations, endless corporate welfare, and ludicrous tax breaks — blithely content with his antipathy toward cohorts they were part of, well, he’s turned his back on them as well.
Tariffs that irrevocably harmed family businesses. Masked goons rounding up anyone who might possibly be Hispanic, even in Trump strongholds. Farmers watching their already-scant profits disappear as undocumented workers are terrified to leave their homes and a feud with China means soybeans rot in silos. Bombing and meddling in other countries when he promised he wouldn’t. The illegal attack against Iran leading to skyrocketing gas prices with no end in sight.
It was all good when Trump hated “others.” Now they are finally realizing, far too late, he played them all for fools.
Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.
On a side note, and one that has plagued us for 10 years, his focus on hatred has degraded our civil discourse and ability to live together in peace and harmony. Before Trump, we knew bigots were plentiful, but they had been conditioned to keep on the down-low. Even my racist Missouri grandmother knew not to use the N word in the 1960s. Now, in combination with Trump's assertion to magas that they should be able to do whatever they want because, freedom, all bets are off.
The knowledge of the sheer number of bigots that we live among is depressing. They all have someone to hate, whereas I--and I suspect, you--prefer to live and let live, as long as you don't hurt someone (and that means verbally as well)). They can't do that anymore, because where's the fun in that? Overtly trolling the "others" is their top priority now. As another commenter said, living among them sucks the joy out of life.
And that is something that we were not suffering through on a daily basis prior to 10 years ago. Why couldn't that fckng escalator just have broken that day?
Civility, kindness, thoughtfulness and integrity are sorely missed and needed now. I find myself more and more often slowing down to let the 'other' car merge, holding doors for men and women and saying hello and waving on the walking path. Maybe small gestures are appreciated and passed on. I hope so.