There was a time when it would have been a scandal for the president of the United States to call a journalist “ugly” or a politician “retarded”. Now it’s just another day in America. During a holiday when many Americans were gathering with family and reflecting on what they were grateful for, Trump was crouched over his keyboard slinging insults at his perceived enemies.

On Thanksgiving day, for example, Trump posted a rant on Truth Social about immigration. He called Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, an ableist slur, and then made an Islamophobic jab at “the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab”.

It was a busy Thanksgiving for Trump, who also insulted a female journalist who was asking him about the suspect in Wednesday’s attack on two national guard members in Washington DC. “Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” the president demanded.

You don’t have to be a particularly perceptive person to know that Trump loathes most journalists – particularly women. The misogynist-in-chief has a well-documented history of lashing out at women who dare challenge him. Still, even by his own low standards, the past few weeks have been remarkable. The president seems to be on a rage-filled downward spiral, and is taking much of his aggression out on female members of the media.

On Wednesday, for example, a day before his “are you stupid?” comments, Trump fumed online about the New York Times, which had just published a report on how the 79-year-old is increasingly showing his age. The piece, written by Katie Rogers and Dylan Freedman, noted that the president “keeps a shorter public schedule than he used to” and has been caught dozing off. Trump did not namecheck the male co-author in his Truth Social post, zeroing in on Rogers instead. “The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out,” the president wrote.

Earlier this month, Trump also called Mary Bruce of ABC News “a terrible person” after she had the temerity to ask his pal Mohammed bin Salman, the........

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