Bully Trump cut me out — because he couldn't scare me

There’s been a lot of support this week for CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who got berated by the Giant Orange Snowflake Epstein Bestie for simply Doing A Journalism While Female in the Oval Office.

But it’s also a classic example of who Trump has always been, and therefore should be used as an example of how to fight back against him.

The vainglorious, short-fingered vulgarian bloviated loudly, steamrolled Collins’ questions, and even busted out some tired “You should smile more” misogyny that no woman in history has ever enjoyed hearing, especially from someone who’s never given any of us anything to smile about.

Bullies are the weakest people. There’s nothing strong about needing to put another person down, to feel bigger and stronger. They learn soon that no one will respect them, so the next best thing is to instill fear.

At the same time, all bullying is rooted in jealousy. In Trump’s case, it also comes with a whopping dose of self-victimization and the need to assert power over anyone who might expose him as the spineless coward he is.

As kids, we’re taught to stand up to bullies, even if they’re bigger. “Don’t let them push you around like that!” my father barked at me when I was bullied in sixth grade. Imagine if Trump had been a truck driver in New Jersey in the 1970s and '80s — that’s my dad. He bullied me for getting bullied, so I learned how to stand up and push back. That included pushing back at him. Instead of letting my abuser continue to abuse me, I cut him out of my life.

That’s not as easy to do with Trump, but it’s a problem that never should have existed. When he descended that gold escalator to launch his first bid for president in 2015, I knew exactly what he was: a smarmy, slimy, chauvinistic playboy who thought he was better looking and more powerful than he actually was.

Groomed first by Roy Cohn, then by Vladimir Putin, Donny Daddy Issues got all the attention and ego-boosting he thirsted for. The false bravado grew as he created his own legend. He famously pushed back against any woman who interviewed him — like Barbara Walters and Lesley Stahl.

When he hit the campaign trail, his attacks on the media surged. Even the most professional of journalists were taken aback by his attacks — but few were able to prevail over the tactics he learned from Daddy Vladdy: deny, deflect, and distract.

Trump was astute enough to understand how to play to his few strengths. E. Jean Carroll can attest to how he used his physicality to intimidate women, and we’ve all seen him steamroll anyone who asks questions he doesn’t like.

Guess who else asked him questions he didn’t like?

Me, that’s who.

I’m 5ft tall and weigh maybe a buck-five, so I love knowing that huge homunculus of an adjudicated rapist is scared of me.

Such a fearless leader, huh? Yell louder, Tiny. I can’t hear you because you’ve never unblocked me.

MAGA loves the “loudest person is always right” approach, because then they don’t have to hear anything that makes them feel bad. They’ve all taken on Trump’s persona in their pursuit of “owning the Libs,” a goal apparently more important than making sure they can feed their families or afford health care. And that whole Epstein files thing? Just a “Democrat hoax” pushed by the “fake news media.”

I’ve already written about Trump’s favorite way to scapegoat the media and any others who dare challenge him. But that certainly wasn’t the first time I tried to get their attention.

Trump’s abusiveness left the mainstream media (MSM for short) incapable of covering Joe Biden accurately. While he and VP Kamala Harris were undoing the damage of the first illegitimate Trump regime, the MSM was all, “Will Trump run again?”

When Biden pulled us out of Trump’s pandemic depression and lifted all other global economies with us, the MSM breathlessly covered Trump’s FOUR DIFFERENT ARRESTS, simply watching as MAGA turned his mugshot into a badge of honor instead of yet another Hall of Shame moment.

“The MSM has PTSD from TFG,” I wrote in October 2023. Remember when Biden called Trump “The Former Guy”? Dark Brandon should’ve been the media’s darling, not the convicted felon rapist who fomented an insurrection and stole classified documents from the White House. It’s still true. Ironically, I submitted that as an op-ed to the Washington Post, which has now fully capitulated to Putin’s puppet. Its new masthead should read “Trumpism Over Journalism,” as it helps our democracy die, drowned in Dark Money.

But if I can stand up to the bully, so can Kaitlan Collins and anyone else he targets. Trump will continue to abuse anyone who asks him about Epstein, but that can’t mean no one asks him about Epstein.

My advice comes from my GenX experiences and every '80s movie where the bullies finally lose, after a montage where the nerds build a clubhouse or something, all set to “New Song” by Howard Jones.

Just ask Trump why he’s never released the full and unredacted Epstein files, to exonerate himself. When Trump goes after that person — and he will — the next person should ask the same question. And the next. Use your voices together. Be louder than him. Say it’s your job to get the truth to the people. He won’t know what to do with a united front like that, and you’ll be exposing his weakness live on camera.

Give it a try. It’s only our democracy at stake. Use the truth as a shield instead of letting him hurt us with his lies.

• Tara Dublin is a political writer/commentator based in Portland, OR, who has been blocked by Donald Trump on Twitter since August 2015 and can occasionally be heard as a fill-in host on SiriusXM Progress. She is also the author of The Sound of Settling, a rock ‘n’ roll love story available at taradublinrocks.com