The Short-Fingered Vulgarian is Sensitive About His Short Fingers

The "short-fingered vulgarian" insult has pissed Trump off for almost thirty years. The man who coined the insult reflected on it last fall:

Like so many bullies, Trump has skin of gossamer. He thinks nothing of saying the most hurtful thing about someone else, but when he hears a whisper that runs counter to his own vainglorious self-image, he coils like a caged ferret. Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him—generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby. The most recent offering arrived earlier this year, before his decision to go after the Republican presidential nomination. Like the other packages, this one included a circled hand and the words, also written in gold Sharpie: “See, not so short!” I sent the picture back by return mail with a note attached, saying, “Actually, quite short.” Which I can only assume gave him fits.

The New Yorker chimed in:

I have little doubt that if he makes it all the way to the White House, that his first proposed bill will be to make it a felony to joke about the Hands of Der Trumpenfuhrer (or "Drumpfenfuhrer").