edited to add this information, since this is going to be a long clean-up
"Donald Trump, as with any other current political figure, should not be a subject of any trope example on the wiki, except:
- When the work in question specifically mentions the RL individual.
- When the entirety of the example has to do with the portrayal of that individual in the work.
- When the work is fictional.
All three of these must apply.
Alternatively:
- When the RL individual has a creative role themselves, such as writing or acting in a work. In this sense we give them no more nor less treatment then we would any other creator.
Additionally, please make sure to take out any examples of "Funny Aneurysm" Moment, Harsher in Hindsight, or Hilarious in Hindsight regarding these political figures. A political event that may be seen positively by some people may be seen negatively by others.
We're starting with the wicks to Donald Trump (There were 751 of them at the starting point of this count.)
Wicks have already been checked and cleared up to
2/14/17 Inherent in the System
Given the current political climate, talking about Donald Trump on this Wiki is a very sensitive topic and pretty much any comment on him could easily end up violating the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment. I talked it over on Ask a Troper and a moderator gave me permission to start this topic. I feel it will be necessary to make sure any mention of him is safe and avoids politically charged or biased opinions. Right now, we need to stick to facts, not opinions.
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Jul 27th 2020 at 2:06:58 AM
themayorofsimpleton
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
from Elsewhere
(Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#877: Jun 17th 2021 at 2:54:48 PM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Thanks, it's gone.
Coolnut
Since: Jan, 2001
#878: Jun 19th 2021 at 1:20:51 PM
Speaking of Values Resonance...
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood has one great example from its very first episode. In the land of make-believe, King Friday XIII built a wall to keep out any outsiders and keep things from ever-changing (he is talked into taking it down, however). Sound similar to a policy that United States Republicans have been advocating for years now? At least one site
drew parallels between the conflict in the Conflict Week episodes and Donald Trump's brinkmanship policy.
This sounds like a shoehorn (and forced Hindsight) to me. Thoughts?
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Done.
Edited by Coolnut on Jun 19th 2021 at 4:42:26 AM
themayorofsimpleton
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
from Elsewhere
(Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#879: Jun 19th 2021 at 1:36:10 PM
ROCEJ violation, cut cut cut.
Master Spy
#880: Jun 21st 2021 at 3:23:51 PM
Is this thread even needed anymore? I feel like it could be merged with the main ROCEJ thread at this point.
Ferot_Dreadnaught
Since: Mar, 2015
#881: Jul 3rd 2021 at 10:20:42 PM
Trump wall of text
- Donald Trump's luck ran out during the 2020 US Presidential Election, and only went downhill from there:
- Early that year in August, Trump's brother Robert died from complications resulting from a fall.
- He unsuccessfully attempted to stop his estranged niece Mary from publishing a tell-all book detailing the Trump family's inner dynamics and how her grandfather's treatment of his children had an impact on Donald as he grew up. The book also revealed that Trump's oldest sister Maryanne was shocked at her brother's immigration policies and his hypocrisy, and that she was the source of Mary's claim that Donald paid a friend to take the SAT college entrance exam for him. The book covers how Mary provided the New York Times with 20 years of tax data from the Trump family, resulting in the Times alleging that her uncle used extensive Loophole Abuse to lower his tax bills. It also revealed that Trump paid a paltry $750 in federal income taxes for both 2016 and 2017, way much less than what his predecessors paid.
- Trump received backlash for his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, accused of among other things, refusing to wear a mask, stirring up Sinophobia by calling the virus "China Flu" and "Kung Flu", repeatedly demanding states end their lockdowns, and infighting with Dr. Anthony Fauci. He, his wife Melania, and his son Don Jr. later tested positive for COVID, but recovered. In a post-election interview, the campaign's former social media manager Brad Parscale stated that Trump's tunnel-minded focus on opening the economy over empathizing with COVID-19 victims ultimately made him look compassionless, and was the key factor in his election loss.
- Despite agreeing to follow the rules, his antics during the first presidential debate made him look like a childish bully and were widely panned, mainly because he repeatedly heckled Joe Biden's attempts to answer the moderator's questions, causing an annoyed Biden to shush him at one point. Trump even refused to condemn the far-right extremist group Proud Boys, instead asking them to "stand back and stand by." The scheduled second debate was canceled when Trump refused to do it virtually. Trump's antics also forced the third debate's format to be modified by allowing the mikes to be muted once the given time for each candidate to speak was over.
- Despite losing the election, Trump kept insisting that he was the real winner. Social media companies responded by flagging his posts as misinformation more frequently. Even before the election, Trump whined that it would be "rigged" against him because many states expanded postal voting and/or opened polling sites earlier than before. To counter this, Trump bashed mail-in ballots on right-wing media (despite hypocritically mailing in his absentee ballot), forced the Postal Service to slow down mail deliveries (which provoked widespread outcry when people complained of not getting medical prescriptions in time), actively discouraged GOP voters from using postal ballots, and gave vague statements on whether he would concede the election.
- As states began certifying their election results, Trump berated politicians, judges, and officials in those he lost, particularly Republicans whom he felt owed him fealty. Instead, they stood firm, and some even openly rebuked him. At one point, Trump tried to hijack the news cycle by calling Arizona Governor Doug Ducey while he was certifying his state's votes. As microphones picked up the sound of "Hail to the Chief" playing on Ducey's phone (Ducey having said in interviews that he set the song as a special ringtone just for Trump), Ducey simply ignored the call and continued with his work. During a taped call, Trump even unsuccessfully coerced the Secretary of State for Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, into flipping the state to him like a Mafia extortionist.
- When Fox News Channel called Arizona for Biden and its owner Rupert Murdoch ignored Trump's demands to reverse it, Trump loyalists turned against the news company in the weeks afterward, leading to chants of "Fox News sucks" at protests and its favorability tanking with Republican viewers. At the same time, ratings for competing right-wing outlets One America News Network and Newsmax TV (which presented Trump's false claims of the election being stolen from him as fact) jumped into the millions. In several of his daily Twitter tirades after his loss, Trump declared that "Fox News is dead."
- Trump also sued the swing states that he lost on allegations that their votes were rigged in Biden's favor. Despite filing more than sixty such lawsuits, they were all either withdrawn or rejected as the claims lacked standing, and in some cases, judges even warned of possible sanctions for pursuing them further. The biggest instance was the Texas v. Pennsylvania Supreme Court lawsuit, which was soundly rejected due to its lack of standing — each state has their own voting laws, so Texas wouldn't be harmed by how Pennsylvania (or any other state, for that matter) conducted their voting. Irony abound as some of the biggest rebukes of these lawsuits came from, ironically enough, from conservative judges he personally appointed including three members of the US Supreme Court.
- The #DiaperDon trend emerged on Twitter after a tense news conference in which he fumed at the media for asking that he concede. The hashtag referenced to the small bill-signing desk he sitting atnote , prompting people to mock him for throwing a petty temper tantrum and make memes out of it. It only angered Trump even more, who called Twitter a "threat to national security" and demanded Congress revoke Section 230, the law that shields tech publishers from liability for third-party content.
- Trump's election fraud conspiracy also costed the GOP control of the Senate following the 2021 Georgia Senate run-off elections. Despite throwing his support for the incumbent Republican senators, Trump rehashed his tirades about the election, which inadvertently depressed GOP turnout with Trump supporters boycotting the election that they viewed as rigged, while suburban voters swung to the Democrats. Subsequently, what should've been assured victories for the GOP turned into a fiasco with the Democrats gaining full control of the US Senate.note This would make Trump the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose the Presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate in a single term.
- In a final attempt to stall the Electoral College proceedings, Trump held a rally where he whipped up the crowd into a frenzy, and the whole thing became a national debacle when the mob stormed the Capitol while Congress was certifying the results, resulting in five deaths (one of whom was a police officer who had been mortally wounded) and countless injuries. This event provoked massive backlash against the participants and enablers:
- As the riots went on, many participants proudly shared their actions on social media, resulting in federal agents moving in to quickly arrest several of them. Many others found that they were put on the no-fly list, a.k.a. the Terrorist Watch List, and their tearful reactions were shared widely on social media. Still, others were turned in by their own families. Some off-duty cops who took part in the riot found that the blue wall had its limits, with their own departments and unions turning their backs when the feds probed who joined the riots.
- The actions taken at the Capitol were so horrific, news media stopped using coded language like "demonstration" and "protest" and started using blunter words such as "riot", "insurrection", "sedition", and "coup".
- Senator Josh Hawley, one of the most vocal supporters of overturning the election results, quickly lost supporters with influential donors publicly vowing not to provide funds in the future. He also lost a lucrative book deal, and various student associations and alumni groups from Yale Law School (his alma mater) began circulating petitions calling for him to be disbarred.
- Widely hated within the GOP for his combative and obnoxious personality, Senator Ted Cruz was another vocal supporter for the attempted subversion of the election results. As with Hawley, he is facing growing heat for his complicity in the "big lie" of Trump's bogus claims and the riots, and felt he only did it for political gain. Many in Congress consider him and fellow senator Hawley to be damaged goods. As with Hawley, several mega-donors spurned him, there have been mounting calls for his resignation (or expulsion from the Senate) and disbarment, and staffers have resigned in protest. The backlash against Cruz grew in February 2021 when he was seen flying to Cancun while unexpected snowstorms in Texas pushed the state's power grid to the breaking point, leaving millions of residents without food, heat, and running water for days.
- The Democratic leadership, in no mood to mess around, quickly passed articles of impeachment against Trump, with several members of the Republican Caucus joining in the vote. This makes Trump the only president in American history to be impeached twice.
- Major corporations announced that they would stop political donations entirely or singled out Republicans. Senator Mitch McConnell, who'd tried to hedge his bets on the election's outcome, saw the writing on the wall and announced that he won't defend Trump in the Senate, in a full reversal of his position during the last impeachment.
- As all this was happening, Trump continued making incendiary statements on social media, resulting in Twitter permanently suspending his account, almost immediately followed by almost every other social media company he had a presence on. Reportedly, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was instrumental in preventing Trump from joining fringe social media sites like Parler (which was removed from the Apple and Google app stores before being taken offline by Amazon, its hosting service; not only that, up to 80 terabytes of data was dumped online by hackers before the site went offline, raising serious issues about Parler's web security) and Gab. As this was happening, the last two banks that had been willing to work with him cut off all business ties.
- To cover their rears, right-wing outlets started adding disclaimers stating that the views of the hosts are of their own. But it hasn't stopped election vendors Smartmatic and Dominion Voting from going after them with billion-dollar defamation suits.
- As the riots went on, many participants proudly shared their actions on social media, resulting in federal agents moving in to quickly arrest several of them. Many others found that they were put on the no-fly list
- For his last hours in office, Trump tried to draw attention by trying to arrange a lavish send-off ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. Unfortunately, staff struggled to find anyone willing to publicly associate with him any more, so they started sending out invitations telling people that they could bring up to five other guests with them. These were sent out in bulk, even to his vocal critics, many of whom went on TV to share what they received. The final product ended up being very sparsely attended, mostly by staffers, and subdued. He'd also set his departure to music, with Air Force One taking off as "My Way" by Frank Sinatra played. This caused many reporters to start laughing live on air.
- As his term came to an end, news started coming out that the Proud Boys, some of Trump's loudest supporters, had spurned him. Some of his ex-aides have distanced themselves from him despite a slim chance of landing jobs in corporate America simply because of their past association with Trump. Other news stories detailed the reactions of believers in the QAnon conspiracy, who regard Trump as a Messiah-like figure waging war against a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, pedophile elites. Many of them were left dumbfounded and disillusioned that Trump left office without ever enacting "the Plan" to destroy his enemies for good, with the more sane ones realizing they were conned and that Trump had only been playing along.
- Biden's inauguration ceremonies featured top stars like Tom Hanks, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and many more. This was especially galling for Trump as they were people he tried to court while in office, but none of them would give him the time of day. And to top it off, when the TV ratings (a metric Trump frequently speaks about) for the Biden Inauguration came in, they turned out to be 4% higher than those of the Trump Inauguration.
- As the Biden administration began unraveling many of Trump's policies, it was revealed that Trump attempted to replace acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen with a loyalist to overturn the 2020 election results, and that several top DOJ officials threatened to resign en masse in protest if Rosen were to be fired, forcing Trump to back down when warned of potential backlash had he went ahead with it.
- With mere days left before the impeachment proceedings, Trump suddenly found himself in a hole when his entire impeachment defense team resigned en masse because they felt uneasy with prolonging his sham election claims. Even before this, no attorney was willing to represent him as even Giuliani said he can't represent the president for his involvement in the rally that led to the riots. Not only that, the lawyers at his first impeachment trial last year, Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, are not expected to be a part of the proceedings. While Trump managed to secure two new attorneys since then, even they've told him they won't pursue his election claims during the trial and doing so would convince more Republicans to vote for conviction.
- On day 1 of the impeachment hearings, the Trump attorneys fumbled on their opening statements, something which was expected as the new legal team was hastily assembled after the original team bailed out. They were widely panned on social media, while Trump was angry over their presentation. Many GOP senators who believed the impeachment of an ex-president is unnecessary were confused how clumsily Trump's lawyers rambled on, with Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) even voting to believe the trial is constitutional. While Trump was ultimately acquitted (despite 7 Republican senators crossing party lines to convict him), it hasn't stopped the criminal probes on his conduct during the election, meaning he will be facing major legal headaches sooner than later.
- Out of concern over how he acquired properties, Scottish lawmakers have mulled pushing for an unexplained wealth order to explain the source of Trump's wealth, with the potential of asset seizure if he refuses to explain. While the resolution is non-binding, it can compel the British court system to look into this.
- Trump's attempted comebacks have landed with nothing short of a thud. Besides his personal blog closing after just a month, his Wellington, Ohio rally in June 2021 was a bomb. Most major news outlets declined to cover it, and live footage showed hundreds of his supporters walking out before he finished speaking. The most memorable thing about the rally was Trump's gaffe in which he mistakenly said "[America] sent a brave young man from Ohio to a plant" instead of "sent a brave young man from Ohio to a plant a flag on the moon". The relative apathy towards the rally showed that the media and even some of his supporters have gotten bored of Trump's grievances.
- In July 2021, prosecutors in New York state filed 15 felony charges against his company, the Trump Organization, for tax evasion and fraud. Originally aimed at the company's CFO Allen Weisselberg for failing to disclose taxable benefits, the current charges now include the entire enterprise with additional charges of using hush money and over-pricing real estate property. A grand jury would then indict Weisselberg and the Trump Organization, something that has almost never happened to a major corporation. Although Trump himself hasn't been indicted as of this writing, it's likely that he'll be dragged into court given how he personally approved most decisions, as noted by the numerous financial documents bearing his distinct sharpie signature. Not helping matters was Donald Trump, Jr. posting a video where he, in an attempt to raise public support, further implicated his father in the transactions alleged in the fraud charges. Even if Trump wasn't indicted or convicted, the charges are a PR disaster how closely intwined the company is with his career, and the charges could lead to his company becoming bankrupt or at least saddled with additional debt, thereby depriving Trump of any financial capital needed to self-fund a political comeback.
It also contains a whole bunch of no RL tropes. Cut?
A lot of the examples on the page seem suspect. What to do?
mightymewtron
Lots of coffee
from New New York
Since: Oct, 2012
Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Lots of coffee
#882: Jul 3rd 2021 at 10:23:31 PM
Humiliation Conga is currently defined as a trope about villains, so it probably shouldn't even have RL examples, at least not recent ones.
Edited by mightymewtron on Jul 3rd 2021 at 1:23:38 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Professor Gigachad
#883: Jul 3rd 2021 at 10:30:12 PM
I thought this wouldn't still be a problem 6 months after Trump was kicked out of office but I was so wrong.
CM Sandboxes, MB Sandboxes
Ferot_Dreadnaught
Since: Mar, 2015
#884: Jul 4th 2021 at 2:12:03 PM
It will stop being a problem once it stops being cathartic to write about, not anytime soon.
I also asked No Real Life cleanup about this trope.
Should we cut the Trump stuff or wait? Cleanup says it's due for TRS.
Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jul 4th 2021 at 2:23:50 AM
PlasmaPower
Since: Jan, 2015
#885: Jul 4th 2021 at 5:09:30 PM
Take a knife to it.
PlasmaPower
Since: Jan, 2015
#886: Jul 5th 2021 at 9:43:42 PM
Should we talk about Joe Biden's page now? There's quite a lot of tropes on him, and I don't know how many of them are ROCEJ breaking.
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Nen_desharu
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto
Since: Aug, 2020
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#887: Jul 6th 2021 at 8:56:01 PM
Are the Trump examples in the Real Life folder in Insult to Rocks acceptable?
I personally don't like the man, but we strive for neutrality.
Edited by Nen_desharu on Jul 6th 2021 at 11:56:28 AM
Kirby is awesome.
bwburke94
Friends forevermore
from uǝʌɐǝɥ
Since: May, 2014
Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
Friends forevermore
#888: Jul 6th 2021 at 10:19:13 PM
Dump 'em. And also the Biden/Neanderthals example while you're at it.
Nen_desharu
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto
Since: Aug, 2020
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#889: Jul 8th 2021 at 8:48:27 PM
Removed Trump and Biden examples and added a note prohibiting the addition of current or former heads of government who served office within the past five years.
Edited by Nen_desharu on Jul 8th 2021 at 11:49:49 AM
Kirby is awesome.
mightymewtron
Lots of coffee
from New New York
Since: Oct, 2012
Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Lots of coffee
#890: Jul 8th 2021 at 9:04:35 PM
Uh, did we make a decision to put a NREP clause on that page? I'd rather the Real Life section be cut entirely if it's attracting such issues.
Edited by mightymewtron on Jul 8th 2021 at 12:04:56 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
#891: Jul 8th 2021 at 9:53:10 PM
No, we didn't NREP it.
Nen_desharu
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto
Since: Aug, 2020
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#892: Jul 8th 2021 at 10:05:37 PM
I am proposing a discussion to make Insult to Rocks NRLEP (with conditions) here:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13350380440A15238800&page=396#comment-9884
Edited by Nen_desharu on Jul 8th 2021 at 1:06:09 PM
Kirby is awesome.
PlasmaPower
Since: Jan, 2015
#893: Jul 9th 2021 at 6:13:34 AM
I'm still wondering what you guys think of Joe Biden's page as it stands.
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Eagal
This is a title.
from This is a location.
Since: Apr, 2012
Relationship Status: Waiting for Prince Charming
This is a title.
#894: Aug 24th 2021 at 6:14:53 AM
From South Park S19E4 You're Not Yelping
- Harsher in Hindsight: Cartman assembles a group of Yelp reviewers and tells them they should assert their power and revolt against the restaurants who have kicked them out due to their rude and demanding behavior which leads to them storming Whistlin' Willy's, completely demolishing it. The scene look almost similar to the January 6, 2021 insurrection in which a pro-Trump mob staged a coup at the U.S. Capitol in protest over President Joe Biden's win based on a lie that the election against Donald Trump was stolen.
Yeah or nay?
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
mightymewtron
Lots of coffee
from New New York
Since: Oct, 2012
Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Lots of coffee
#895: Aug 24th 2021 at 8:01:20 AM
Nothing truly in common except the concept of rioting. Other SP episodes have scenes with much stronger connections to real world politics.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Ferot_Dreadnaught
Since: Mar, 2015
#896: Sep 25th 2021 at 6:25:07 PM
Characters.My Little Pony A New Generation
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Sprout was a nobody who suddenly became quite dangerous during a (perceived) crisis by rousing the fear, anger and hatred of those around him for those not their kind, use his given (temporary) authority to establish a dictatorship and have his subordinates build weapons in preparation for a war with those others they fear and hate out of paranoia that their 'enemies' are plotting to destroy them all, all the while [[DrunkWithPower abusing his authority]] and being an absolute egomaniac. [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Sound]] [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump familiar?]]
On one hand, the movie was written between 2017 and 2018 so the timing and themes of the work (the pony tribes divided by fear and propaganda) could be intentional.
On the other, comparisons to the former individual seem more fitting and valid while the latter seems unnecessary at best, if not suspect enough to bring here.
I'd lean to cut the latter as Trumplica is a trope he's not under (Sprout lacks the business background) and this seems unintentional compared to the former if not inflammatory (if they said it's intentional it would be safe to add). This might fit Applicability or too contentious?
WarJay77
Discarded and Feeling Blue
(Troper Knight)
Discarded and Feeling Blue
#897: Sep 26th 2021 at 10:48:23 AM
I'm not sure if a business background is actually required. Sprout does sort of look like Trump with the yellow, slicked back hair style. He does push Fantastic Racism and a fear of outsiders getting into the town and acts like an immature bully.
I can certainly see some parallels, though I find it hard to believe Hasbro would do something like that intentionally.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
mightymewtron
Lots of coffee
from New New York
Since: Oct, 2012
Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Lots of coffee
#898: Sep 26th 2021 at 11:07:06 AM
The red coloring also has some political connotations. I can believe the MLP franchise would do something like this. Their post-brony material seems willing to reference all sorts of things. But I'm pretty sure an expy trope typically requires the resemblance to be unquestionably there.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
WarJay77
Discarded and Feeling Blue
(Troper Knight)
Discarded and Feeling Blue
#899: Sep 26th 2021 at 11:10:26 AM
Yeah, that's true too. Even if it was intentional, it's not really blatant enough.
Edit: Lol, that took a while to post. I submitted this like three minutes ago.
Edited by WarJay77 on Sep 26th 2021 at 2:11:02 PM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Coolnut
Since: Jan, 2001
#900: Sep 26th 2021 at 11:20:56 AM
x4 That can describe a lot of politicians in power. (One could argue Bush 43 and even Biden could fit as well.) I say cut it, or at least cut the Trump pothole.
It may fit better under Trumplica, though. I'm not too sure if what we have is sufficient.
Edited by Coolnut on Sep 26th 2021 at 2:26:26 PM
Total posts: 953
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]")
Yeah, probably best to just toss it.
SoundCloud