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The Art of the Insult: How Modern Leaders Shut Down Critics

SimpleJoy
8 min readMar 3, 2025

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When words become weapons: The rise of no-filter politics and how humor is our only escape.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks with US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2025. [EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL]. Credit:Euractiv

Like any other late Saturday morning, I was having breakfast — chewing on some bread, listening to instrumental music, scrolling through the news, and then… boom!

Everywhere I looked — Trump, Vance, Zelenskyy. Indonesian media, foreign media, left-wing, right-wing, centrist outlets, mainstream news and social media — everyone was talking about it.

The headlines varied depending on where the media stood: “A Heated Exchange in the Oval Office,” “Zelenskyy Told to Leave the White House,” “Oval Office Spat,” “Zelenskyy Didn’t Read the Room.”

The content was all over the place — Team Trump-Vance, Team Zelenskyy, or neutral observers — all serving up a brand-new genre of international political drama: live, on-camera brawling, with raw (or downright rude?) language, broadcast to the entire world.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the full video. Somewhere between shock, nausea, frustration, and laughter, I kept thinking: How did we even get here? As if the problems in Indonesia weren’t enough, now even foreign news is giving me a stomachache.

If you were lucky enough to miss this story, here’s a quick recap: The meeting between

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SimpleJoy
SimpleJoy

Written by SimpleJoy

Mother & aid practitioner 🌏 | Exploring cultural bridges 🌐, aid industry insights 🔍, and cherishing life's simple pleasures 🌸

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