Remember those halcyon days of childhood and elementary school, when the seemingly endless hours of reading, writing and arithmetic were interrupted by a 15-minute break for fresh air and exercise known as “recess”?

I recall games of tag, climbing on the jungle gym, playing kickball . . . and the occasional argument erupting between friends. They rarely involved physical combat; instead, name-calling was the favored weapon. And those names could really hurt.

It might start out with something like, “You can’t be on our team because you’re a lousy player.” At which point, the offended child — knowing he wasn’t much of an athlete but being possessed of a superior vocabulary — would summon up the ultimate retort:

“Oh, yeah? Well, you’re a big, fat, ugly, smelly, stupid jerk . . . and you wet your pants!”

And they wouldn’t speak to each other for a day or two, by which time all would be forgotten and forgiven. No one was scarred for life, and I’m reasonably certain most of us outgrew our childish impulses.

But some kids didn’t. Occasionally, we see the bullied become bullies, with an occasional sociopath thrown in for good measure.

And speaking of bullies . . .

You know him; everyone knows him. He is the Bully-in-Chief; the guy who likes nothing better than to have people kowtowing to him, fearing retribution if they step out of line. And if someone dares to insult him, or even disagree with him on even the most trivial subject, he immediately regresses to become again that kid in the playground; summons up his vast vocabulary of insults; and lets loose . . . only now, he shouts his wrath, not just to the kids on the playground, but to the entire world on social media.

And this week’s victims? None other than the multi-talented Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, neither of whom needs an introduction.

Swift’s sin was publicly endorsing Kamala Harris for president last year. Trump responded at the time — oh, so maturely — “I hate Taylor Swift.”

Wow! That took a lot of thought. And now, months later, he has brought her name up again, since it’s obviously been eating away at the lining of his intestines ever since. His most recent comment, written on social media on Friday, was:

“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” [JD Knapp, The Wrap, May 16, 2025.]

Sorry, but no . . . I hadn’t noticed.

And I wonder what a psychologist would have to say about his frequent use of all upper-case letters. Those, and his bold-Sharpie, mile-high signature. But I digress.

As for Springsteen, he had the audacity to say, during the start of his current European tour, that he considered the Trump administration to be “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous”:

“They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers. They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and moral society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.” [Id.]

And The Boss continued:

“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in dangerous times. In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.

“Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!” [Parul Sharma, Irish Star, May 19, 2025.]

Strong words, indeed . . . but not untrue, and therefore not slanderous. They represent the opinion and the sincere feelings of a loyal, honest, patriotic American — and they contain echoes of the 1960s, when non-violent protests had meaning and effect.

And here is where Trump was at his finest, displaying his literary eloquence, his astonishing self-control, and his uncanny ability to stay on-topic. Again utilizing his very own Truth Social outlet, he offered this to his latest target:

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country.

“If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now! Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!” [The Wrap, op.cit.]

*. *. *

I am, for once, rendered speechless. I do have one question, however:

Did those last two sentences sound like a threat to anyone else?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/19/25