Donald Trump's presidential campaign is one long quest for revenge

Some journalists and other Trump doubters wonder if they played a part in getting him this close to the White House.

(Image credit: Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

published 18 July 2016

Even the famously hotheaded Donald Trump knows that revenge is a dish best served cold. And ah, how sweet it is — by one hater and loser's estimate, Trump's entire presidential campaign can be seen as an act of revenge against the dozens of people who have laughed at him during every step of his journey to the top.

BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins wonders if he, along with all the other vocal Trump doubters, had a hand in fueling the presumptive Republican nominee's determination to make it all the way to the White House. As Spy magazine's co-founding editor and noted Trump lambaster Kurt Andersen observed, "I think on Judgment Day, depending on what happens, we will bear some responsibility at heaven's gate for what we've done."

Coppins, though, has even been called out specifically by Trump during a presidential debate, when the mogul boasted that an article Coppins wrote for BuzzFeed, claiming Trump wouldn't run, was incorrect:

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Re-reading the article later, I would try to determine which detail or anecdote had embarrassed Trump the most. Was it musing about the "journalistic indignity" visited upon political reporters assigned to cover him seriously? Invoking origami to describe his hair? My most generous guess was that he resented how I'd quoted him blowing off his wedding anniversary to fly to Palm Beach — a decision that prompted chuckles from Trump's coterie of yes-men — and then described him leaning in to notify me, "There are a lot of good-looking women here."In fact, [former Trump aide Sam] Nunberg later told me, my cardinal sin had been offhandedly comparing Mar-a-Lago to a "nice, if slightly dated, hotel." As it turned out, Trump's taste in decor was a sore spot here. [BuzzFeed]

But despite proposing the absurd thought that Trump is possibly running for president in part because a BuzzFeed writer criticized his taste in decor, Coppins actually makes you feel pretty sorry for one of New York's biggest bullies. After all, as Coppins writes, Trump has spent his entire life quietly wondering, "Why don't they respect me?" Read it all at BuzzFeed.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.