I think even the word schadenfreude is a funny thing. It’s funny to me that there’s a specific word — even if it is in German — for taking pleasure in the discomfort of others.
I had actually mostly forgotten about that word until the presidency of Donald Trump. Watching his pained expression as he stared into a solar eclipse with naked eyes actually made me smile.
I don’t know if all of that makes me a bad person, but I’m not actually sure I care. I’m too busy being entertained by the fact that Trump is not having fun.
So watching this video of the Clemson marching band at the Palmetto Bowl booing and jeering the former president makes me especially happy. They’re just regular kids who dislike Trump not for political reasons, but because he’s a douchebag. I would be willing to wager that not one of these students knows a single thing about the top marginal tax rate, but they know a sexist, racist idiot when they see one.
When the thumbs-down hand signals come out, it says it all.
This video by Olivia Rinaldi, a campaign reporter for CBS News, says as much in ten seconds as I have been able to come up with since January of 2017.
Members of the Clemson Marching Band loudly booing Trump as he came on the field during halftime at the South Carolina v. Clemson game pic.twitter.com/3wNkgBh2zL [1]
— Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) November 26, 2023 [2]
And the thing is, it doesn’t matter that college kids booing a Republican isn’t necessarily the weirdest thing that’s ever happened. For me, it truly is the schadenfreude. Trump doesn’t care who’s booing, only THAT they’re booing. He has tried so hard to cultivate an image of a universally loved leader, when in fact, plenty of people just think he’s a chump.
Even if the entire rest of the stadium were cheering for him — which they weren’t — it wouldn’t matter. This is what he will hear. This will keep him up at night. This might even make it into a speech or a Truth Social rant.
If it does, you saw it here first and smiled along with me.