And the funny thing is, he didn't really mean it as an insult!
On today's CNN This Morning, in a segment analyzing the results of the Iowa caucuses and looking ahead to New Hampshire, CNN commentator Jamal Simmons, who stuck it out for a year as Vice President Kamala Harris's communications director before bailing, said:
"Trump is like a walking, talking middle finger, right? People think about him like, oh, this guy is the way we get back at the elites. The way we get back at the people who are in charge, who are leaving the rest of us behind while they continue to make more money and divide up the spoils amongst themselves. He does have this persona."
In a sense, Simmons' description of Trump aligns with how Trump has described himself as his supporters' "retribution."
Co-anchor Phil Mattingly was so taken by Simmons' line that he ended the segment by saying, "Jamal Simmons: huge respect. I will never see Donald Trump the same again after you called him a walking, talking, middle finger, which is now going to stick with me forever, which I give you a lot of credit for."
In another highlight, CNN resident wiseacre John Avlon literally laughed out loud at Lee Carter, a Republican strategist, who attributed Trump's success to the fact that he makes it about the people, whereas Haley and DeSantis make it about themselves. Avlon argued that Trump actually makes it all about himself, but that people project themselves onto him.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
1/16/24
6:08 am ETLEE CARTER: Republican voters are looking for a fighter. 82% of voters that voted for Donald Trump voted for him because he was a fighter. He had such a strong ground game. When you heard his, his caucus advocates out there talking about what it was about him, they were talking about, he cares about people like us. He's going to fight for us. That's the message that carried him right, right to victory here.
DeSantis and Haley, I think really struggled to get a a message that was about the people. When you hear what people said about Haley, a lot of people said, well, she's a next generation leader about her. When you hear what people said about DeSantis, he did a good job in Florida. It's about him.
Trump has made it about the people. And as much as a lot of people don't understand how Donald Trump -- and you're laughing.
JOHN AVLON: I am.
CARTER: Donald Trump makes it about everybody else. It's what people feel. And that's what we're seeing in the polls.
. . .
JAMAL SIMMONS: In New Hampshire, you may see people like, oh my gosh, Donald Trump is really coming. We've to to figure something out and so something.
But remember, Donald Trump is like a walking, talking middle finger, right? And so, people are thinking about, people think about him like, oh, this guy is the way we get back at the elites. The way we get back at the people who are in charge, who are leaving the rest of us behind while they continue to make more money and divide up the spoils amongst themselves. So he does have I think what we were talking about earlier from the polls, he does have this, this persona.
. . .
CARTER: I do think that, whatever, at the end of the day, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have made it all about them and not about the American people. And they're going to have to translate their value -- they do have to translate their value to themselves. Hillary Clinton made the same mistake.
AVLON: I agree, but the irony of course being that Donald Trump, it is all about him, in terms of his world view, but people project themselves on him.
PHIL MATTINGLY: I mean, look, we're going to get back to you guys, we've got a lot more to get to in this hour.
Jamal Simmons: huge respect. I will never see Donald Trump the same again after calling him a walking, talking, middle finger, which is now going to stick with me forever, which I give you a lot of credit for.
