TOI correspondent from Washington: Hell hath no fury like Donald Trump scorned. Norway has suddenly been reduced from a desirable source of immigrants to a “shithouse country”; comedian Bill Maher has received a 1,324-word dressing-down worthy of a bitter divorce petition.
And somewhere in the increasingly tiresome presidential tirades, 11 downed aircraft and 30 million supposedly saved lives in the Indian subcontinent have made another fantasy-fuelled appearance.“Frankly, Norway sucks,” the MAGA boss announced at a Michigan rally on Sunday, before upgrading the insult to “Norway has become a shithouse country, actually.” The U.S President, who has made his not receiving a Nobel grievance a recurring feature of his political repertoire, explained his pique with the wounded dignity of a man who has been dumped by his girlfriend: “So I’m not in love with Norway,” he sniffed.Trump had denied that he had used the term “shithole country” against any nation, let alone Oslo, during his first term, but the gloves were off on Sunday as he put Norway in an expanding list of countries deemed insufficiently grateful, deferential, useful or impressed by him. At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump had asked: “Why do we always have to take people from shithouse countries (like Somalia? Why can't we take people from, like, well, Norway, Sweden?” By Sunday, Norway had been demoted from immigration wish-list material to international pariah.
Trump also invoked the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict for about the 47th time, saying he had stopped the nuclear-armed nations from fighting. “They shot down 11 planes,” he told the Michigan crowd in another rambling speech, without explaining who shot down the planes. The MAGA boss’ recurring habit of reaching for impressive-sounding figures -- planes, lives, wars settled, tariffs, investments -- without providing any material to support them is now eliciting eye-rolls and shrugs both in the U.S and across the world with growing concerns about the fading of gravitas that is normally associated with the U.S Presidency.The Michigan rally also offered a reminder that the U.S President's digressions can go to uncharted territory, including sudden anatomical excursions. Having discussed international conflict and immigration, Trump turned to the Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, a vocal supporter who appeared alongside him, to say, “By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before, Nicki Minaj,” he announced. “That's hard to miss.
Stand up.” Minaj rose and waved to the cheering MAGA audience.For those wondering if he had taken on the job of a casting direction in addition to that of a White House contractor, Trump explained that he was miffed with the “fake news” for misinterpreting his lingering description of Republican Senator Jon Husted’s physique, including his backside, legs, hands and neck, while admiring the former football player's athletic build.
Trump’s admiration for the male anatomy is now the butt of jokes on the comedy circuit, but he apparently regards it as more than a joke of butts, a paean to the human body.The rally's more consequential rhetoric concerned Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, who could become the first Muslim elected to the Senate. Trump repeatedly called him a “jihadist”, invoked the September 11 attacks and portrayed his election as a national-security threat, while also suggesting Jewish Americans should be ashamed if they voted for him.The US President’s campaign rhetoric, regarded as “unhinged” by a growing number of commentators, was compounded on Sunday by a 1,324-word screed – his longest Truth Social post as per tracking databases – attacking the comedian Bill Maher as a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER,” ostensibly because Trump believed they had a good dinner meeting at the White House but Maher dumped on it on his HBO show.The MAGA boss complained about the show, its ratings, jokes and Maher’s supposed dishonesty, while threatening to have Republicans stop appearing on it, sounding less like a presidential critique than a breakup letter from someone who has discovered that a romantic dinner companion has subsequently made jokes at his expense.
He also hinted in the tirade that he was considering moving the White House press corps from its long-established digs to make room for other uses.Numerous commentators worried about the tone, tenor, and digressions in Trump's campaign speeches, at a time the country is facing far more consequential issues than his construction projects, his relationship with a comedian or his not receiving the Nobel Prize, are starting to express concerns over the widening gulf between the gravity of the President's office and the material occupying the his attention. Former President Barack Obama summed it up during a rally over the weekend, saying, "These people are not serious."