Trump Can Barely Hide His Thin-Skinned Insecurity Over 'Weird' Insults

The interesting thing about Donald Trump's signature ego is the various forms that it takes. There's the "you really like me" facet, which shows itself when Trump calls himself "your all time favorite president" or brags about the size of the crowds at his rallies. There's Trump's insecurity about his looks, which explains his obsession with his hair and his claim that he's better looking than his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. He also has a savior complex that emerges at moments such as Trump's interview with Dr. Phil McGraw where the divisive candidate opined that God saved him from assassination to ensure his victory in November.

Then there's the side that comes out whenever he's criticized. This thin-skinned portion of Trump's ego was on full display during his August 29 town hall speech in La Crosse, Michigan. Answering an audience member's question, the former president began defending himself against a now-famous comment. Weeks earlier, vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz had told "The Morning Joe Show" that Trump and his running mate JD Vance were "just weird" (per MSNBC). This seems to have bothered the former president quite a bit.

"They picked this guy. He is weird, right? I'm not weird," Trump told the Michigan crowd (via FOX 6 News Milwaukee). "He's — no, he's a weird guy, he's a weird dude. ... See, they come up with sound bites ... and one of the things is that JD [Vance] and I are weird. What, that guy is so straight, JD is, he's doing a great job, smart, top student, great guy, and he's not weird, and I'm not weird. I mean, we're a lot of things, [but] we're not weird. But that guy is weird, don't you think?"

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the former president doth protest too much, we think. Donald Trump's reaction to being called "weird" by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz strikes some as being weird in itself. (If you took a shot every time he said the word, you'd be flat on the floor by the time he stopped.) Commenters on X, formerly Twitter, were amused by Trump's rant. "Triggered much?" chuckled one. "Skippy said 'weird' 11 times in 51 seconds ... mmmkay, that's not weird AT ALL." Another worried about trusting "a man this insecure with the nuclear codes again."

Trump's defensiveness over a rather tame insult might also come across as ironic. In that same town hall, he tossed out such barbs as "Comrade Kamala" and "Tampon Tim." He also called Vice President Harris "not the brightest light in the ceiling" and "a terrible vice president" as he admitted "it's hard to be nice when someone is trying to destroy your country." To top it off, Trump repeated his now-familiar claims about border security and job loss before answering a question about the cost of food. "[S]ome people don't eat bacon anymore, and we are going to get the energy prices down ... you know, this was caused by their horrible energy: Wind. They want wind all over the place, but when it doesn't blow, we have a little problem." (Some might describe Trump's obsession with windmills as weird, but we have no comment.)

A user who voted for Trump in 2016 now feels pity for him. "So sad to see him like this," they posted on X. "I felt the same way for Trump that I did for Biden ... time to retire."