USA TODAY US Edition

Trump’s ‘cool’ miscalcula­tion is pathetic

- Rex Huppke Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/ RexIsAJerk

Donald Trump, according to underoath testimony from Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer, was worried the story of his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels would be “a disaster for the campaign” and make women hate him.

But even as Trump pondered the potential scandal of a tryst with an adult film star, he was oafish and egotistica­l enough to say, according to Cohen: “Guys may think it’s cool.”

That comment, which Trump is welcome to deny if he’d like to take the stand and do so under oath, has little, if anything, to do with the core of the case against the GOP’s presumptiv­e presidenti­al nominee. The case is about election interferen­ce – a hush money payment it is alleged was intended to keep the American people from learning sordid details of a presidenti­al candidate before the election.

But those words – “Guys may think it’s cool” – tell us a hell of a lot about the guy trying to again become president of the United States.

What kind of guy would think Trump’s alleged affair was cool?

I’m a guy – in good standing – and there isn’t an ounce of me that thinks another guy having sex with an adult film star months after his wife gave birth to their child is cool.

If one of my married friends shared a similar story, my response wouldn’t be: “Awesome! Nice work, dude.”

It would be: “You’re an (expletive). What were you thinking?”

How broken does your man-brain have to be to think the average American guy would read about a presidenti­al candidate who had sex with a 27-yearold adult film star when he was 60 – and married! –and think that whole scenario was “cool”?

Was Trump allegedly suggesting his MAGA base is pro-infidelity?

Who, exactly, are the guys Trump was allegedly referring to?

Was he talking about the guys who make up his loyal MAGA base? Does he think they all would jump at the chance to cheat on their wives with a porn star?

Was he talking about the pious guys in his evangelica­l base? Is it Trump’s belief that they’re pro-infidelity? The sanctity-of-marriage guys?

Is it the older wealthy donors who poured money into Trump’s 2016 campaign coffers who the former president thought would get a kick out of his tale of a lurid affair with a much younger woman? Is it only billionair­es who find such loutish behavior “cool”?

Trump could clear things up by taking the stand

We can’t know for sure, and Trump would certainly deny ever making the comment, the same way he denies he lost the 2020 election and anything that makes him look bad.

Cohen is a noted liar, but in this contest of liar vs. liar, my money is on the guy under oath, not the guy who does everything possible to avoid being under oath.

The most likely possibilit­y is that the plural “guys” Trump was referencin­g were, in fact, the singular “him.”

He’s a narcissist, after all. Why would we ever think he believes others can view the world differentl­y than he does?

Maybe Trump thinks cheating on your wife is cool - most of us don’t

It’s not hard for any of us to imagine Trump thinking a married guy having an affair with Stormy Daniels was cool.

So he would naturally assume all other men think the same.

They don’t. And that’s what makes this small and alleged window into Trump’s small mind worth peering through, assuming you care about things like morals or faithfulne­ss or decency.

Trump, it seems, thinks all guys are dirtbags like him.

I’m not a dirtbag.

Are you?

 ?? CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES ?? Stormy Daniels leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after testifying at former President Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarit­al affairs, in New York City, on May 9. The adult film actress returned to the witness stand at Trump’s hush money trial for another round of grilling by attorneys for the former president.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Stormy Daniels leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after testifying at former President Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarit­al affairs, in New York City, on May 9. The adult film actress returned to the witness stand at Trump’s hush money trial for another round of grilling by attorneys for the former president.
 ?? POOL PHOTO BY SETH WENIG/USA TODAY NETWORK ?? Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceeding­s in his trial at Manhattan criminal court on Monday in New York.
POOL PHOTO BY SETH WENIG/USA TODAY NETWORK Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceeding­s in his trial at Manhattan criminal court on Monday in New York.
 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States