Trump’s Sycophants Hit a New Low in New Hampshire — Here Are Their 5 Most Humiliating Moments

AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File.
It’s been a race to the bottom in New Hampshire — as former President Donald Trump’s acolytes appear to be competing with one another to see who can suck up to the GOP frontrunner in the most humiliating fashion. With visions of cabinet posts and perhaps even the vice presidency dancing in their heads, many of Trump’s cronies have spent the past several days in the Granite State embarrassing themselves in an effort to score brownie points with the man who may soon have the Republican nomination locked up.
Here are five of the most absurd moments involving Trump surrogates in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary:
1. Elise Stefanik Refuses to Admit Trump Mixed Up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is enjoying a moment after her “star turn” badgering university presidents over their lack of action on anti-Semitism on campus. And ever since, she’s enjoyed the praise of the former president, whom she’s ardently promoted — even at the expense of the truth. When questioned about Trump confusing the names of fellow candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Stefanik completely defended what was a clear gaffe, saying “That isn’t a mixup.” The congresswoman tried to spin the obvious flub into a slam on Haley attracting moderate and independent voters.
2. Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims Trump Ended ‘Little Rocket Man’s Reign’
Greene: Trump is the one that gave shock and awe to the whole world when he walked across the DMZ line, hand extended, shaking hands with Kim Jong Un, ending Little Rocket Man’s reign pic.twitter.com/pkxCvEXyqo
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 23, 2024
Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, was the butt of many of Trump’s jokes when the latter ran for president the first time. But after Trump took office, he developed an “excellent relationship” with the North Korean dictator whom he called “Little Rocket Man.” He’s even changing his tune on how he would deal with Kim during his second term, signaling that he might let his new friend keep his nuclear weapons.
But to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), one of Trump’s biggest supporters, this is tantamount to besting the dictator as she bellicosely claimed: “Trump is the one that gave shock and awe to the whole world when he walked across the DMZ line, hand extended, shaking hands with Kim Jong Un, ending Little Rocket Man’s reign.”
That’s one way to say he folded to a dictator, sure.
3. Tim Scott Gleefully Takes Rally Stage After Trump Makes Fun of Him for Getting Engaged
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) bowed out of the GOP primary in November and endorsed Trump late last week. He also got engaged to his girlfriend the day after that — which Trump used as fodder to make fun of Scott on what has been a sensitive topic for him. The former president told a Monday night rally crowd, “We never thought this was going to happen!” But despite Trump going after an obvious sore spot, Scott still gleefully took the stage like any good, bullied nerd would, and proclaimed: “If you want four more years of Donald Trump, let me hear you scream!”
4. Vivek Ramaswamy Shares a Super-Close, Awkward Embrace With Trump After Fawning Over Him at Rally
Former GOP president candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had made no secret of his undaunting admiration for Donald Trump, so it was no surprise when he gave his idol a ringing endorsement after ending his own presidential bid. When he wrapped up his lavish speech praising Trump, he leaned close in to say something, not out of the ordinary to do that when there’s a raucous crowd cheering loudly. But it was just a skosh too long. It was normal… and then it was slightly too close for too long. And there was touching, and it kept happening. And while the full interaction was only seconds long, they were very long, intimate seconds. For an interaction that should have lasted four one-thousands, this felt like it lasted one thousand one thousands, and Ramaswamy’s sustained grip on Trump was just straight-up uncomfortable coming from an obvious fanboy.
5. Elise Stefanik Shamelessly Defends Trump Being Held Liable for Sexual Assault in Viral Moment
As one of Trump’s most egregiously shameless supporters, Stefanik makes the list twice — this time for defending the ex-president as NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard asked how she could stand by Trump while a jury was determining his penalty for defaming E. Jean Carroll, whom another jury determined he had sexually abused. Rather than answer the question, Stefanik deflected, claiming the entire case was a “witch hunt” against Trump, with the “media” to blame for painting him as a sexual abuser. But Hillyard quickly pointed out that it was a jury — not the media — which deemed Trump legally liable. Stefanik could do nothing but retreat to the safety of her flatly wrong talking points — a moment so embarrassing that it got Hillyard barred from the Trump campaign press pools for causing it.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
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