If there’s one truth about bullies, which President Zelenskyy reminded us of with precise clarity, it’s that they’re absolutely terrified of resistance.
By John Pavlovitz
They are the greatest kind of fraud this world produces. Bullies are by their very nature, predators. The bully’s tactic is simple: leverage their power to generate fear in someone who possesses less power; to use their physical or situational advantage to terrorize another, all the while masking their own near paralyzing insecurity and self-hatred.
They are small people trying to project themselves as towering.
There has quite possibly never existed a national leader as afflicted with such sickness as the man occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now. Every single move he’s made since stepping back into office has been that of a hollow coward seeking validation through fear:
Refusing refugees who’ve left behind all they know and the place they’ve called home in order to craft a less violent, less terrifying life—and exposing them to violence and terror upon their very arrival.
Manufacturing a phony monster out of the Islamic faith, exposing millions of peace-loving Muslim-Americans, who are already among the most-maligned and persecuted, to further intimidation and ostracism.
Harassing immigrants who are already living lives far more stressful and exhausting than most Americans would ever endure—by creating the false narrative that they are a parasitic danger.
Taking away healthcare from millions of the most vulnerable and financially unstable, ensuring that their already-monumental difficulties will be magnified, and that their daily existence will be made exponentially more painful.
Assailing the rights of women to have autonomy over their own bodies and reinforcing an oppressive misogyny that is already a daily minefield they must navigate.
Removing protections from Transgender students, who are among the absolute most at-risk, most burdened, most endangered Americans, with a suicide rate far beyond any other segment of the population.
And, condescendingly lecturing a true leader of conviction, whose selflessness, courage, and strength are completely foreign to him—while he stands in full pancake makeup, hurricane-proof combover, and platform shoes.
This is the growing legacy of this detestable Bully Messiah, whose tactics are being applauded by similarly insecure cowards who don’t recognize their privilege, and who don’t know they are the entitled, lazy menace draining this country of its greatness.
The thick irony here, is that he and his jittery disciples are not preying upon the weak—no quite the opposite.
War-battered presidents, refugees, people of color, immigrants, the working poor, women, Native Americans, the LGBTQ community: they are the kind of strong and courageous that they will never be or understand. Faced with the absolute most difficult, most dire, most exhausting of days they persevere, they endure, they retain their dignity. Such great character is foreign to internally small men so wishing they were big—and they resent the brave for it.
Meanwhile the Bully Messiah and his cowardly disciples like JD Vance, benefiting from every possible advantage of their whiteness and wealth and circumstance, feel compelled to undermine and attack and further marginalize the already-marginalized. They are driven to prey upon those most in need of advocacy, most deserving of respect, and most specifically illustrating what it is that makes this nation great.
Right now, with every transparently predatory move their spray-tanned savior makes, the bullies around the country are cheering—but they are the only ones.
The rest of us are bearing witness to the premeditated terrorism of a small minority of frightened cowards, and we are pushing back and will continue to pushback. Because if there’s one truth about bullies, which President Zelenskyy reminded us of with precise clarity, it’s that they’re absolutely terrified of resistance. They collapse beneath the pressure of good people who refuse to be denied or silenced—and I do believe the majority of Americans are such people.
So the insecure, hateful few can have their Bully Messiah and his apparent ascension and their moment of perceived vicarious dominion. They can sing his praises and shout on the street corner and rant online. They can hurl slurs and spray paint doorways and knock over head stones and harass in the hallways—but they will not prevail. They, like all bullies will have to face the reality of their inner smallness and acknowledge the true character of those they harass, which they so covet.
And every day this bloated, self-inflated savior of the insecure, reminds us that he is little more than a sad, scared, fraudulent child who hates so many in an effort to feel less hatred for himself—will not prevail either.
We will not allow it.
To those feeling more unsteady, more at risk, more vulnerable than ever, be encouraged. We are proudly and defiantly standing with you, because you are so worth standing alongside.
It’s time for all of us to stand and to push back against the cowards.
America, after all, should be the home of the brave—and not the bully.
