The Atlantic

What Trump Reveals by Calling Terrorists 'Losers'

Why is the president putting ISIS in the same category in which he places Rosie O’Donnell?
Source: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Donald Trump has coined a term to describe terrorists like those who murdered 22 people on Monday in Manchester: “Losers.” White House officials claim he came up with it on his own.

That’s not surprising. As has , “losers” is Trump’s go-to epithet. He’s applied the term to the Standard & Poor’s credit-ratings agency, Rosie O’Donnell, George Will, Cher, , , Karl Rove, Graydon Carter, Marc Cuban, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz,, a Scottish farmer who tried to keep him from building a golf course, and the Republican Party, among others. Maybe the term will prove effective in undermining the aura of rebellious cool that attracts some young Muslims to ISIS, as my colleague Uri Friedman , although I have my doubts about Trump’s ability to arbitrate what young Muslims find hip.

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