Donald Trump is great at branding.
No, we don’t mean putting his name on bad steaks and fraudulent “universities” — we’re talking about his grade school bully nicknaming of political opponents.
From “Crooked” Hillary Clinton to “Little” Marco Rubio, these damn things stick. But one stood out as a little weak: “Sleepy Eyes” Chuck Todd.
Related: Trump Lied To Get On Forbes 400!
To the reasonable, non-racist eye, this seems like a whiff of an insult. We mean, what does it even mean?? It isn’t like the NBC News host (above, insert) even has “Bette Davis eyes” or anything.
But Trump has stuck with it, right up through this weekend when he tweeted:
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
Todd told The Wrap last year even Trump had no idea what it meant, explaining:
“I’ve asked him what the sleepy eyes means. He doesn’t know. He said once ├óΓé¼╦£I give someone a nickname I stay with it. Sometimes I give someone a nickname and I can’t remember how I came up with it but I stick with it.'”
But some sources claim it’s about the fact Todd is Jewish — because it’s actually an obscure anti-semitic slur!
We’d never heard of it before either, but according to multiple folks on Twitter — many in Trump’s age range — this used to be a slur for Jews:
Trump’s grandfather ‘kicked out of Germany’ @CNNPolitics https://t.co/zFtFqXKU0P
Trump’s grandfather was a pimp as well as a draft dodger in Germany. His father was arrested at a Klan rally in the 20’s. Sleepy Eyes was no accident by trump!
— Sharpest​ (@Grumpy_Gail) April 23, 2018
One day after a Neo-Nazi rally in Georgia, the @POTUS uses a old school Nazi term for Jew to disparage a reporter. #TrumpIsAWhiteSupremacist https://t.co/yxJXaxfW1T
— Queenie Ω Goldstein (@QueenieG2017) April 22, 2018
Dog whistle for “Jewish.” I hadn├óΓé¼Γäót heard that one in years. Ugh.
— Mar Brad (@postparks) April 22, 2018
I haven’t heard that since I was a kid and I’m now 62. There are no words for what is happening. Well, there is one and that’s another one I haven’t had to worry about in many years.
— Mrs.PicklesPantry (@Mrspickls) April 23, 2018
So this Stonekettle guy (an armed forces vet and popular anti-Trump tweeter whose real name is Jim Wright) looked it up:
The term’s origin comes from a list of criteria used by Nazis to determine who might be a jew. This list includes traits such as a widow’s peak, dark curly hair, attached earlobes, weak or pointed chins, thick lips, head shape, and thick eyelids with “sleepy, wary eyes.”
2/
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Quite an accusation. We had to look for ourselves.
It’s not easy to find without going to some very disreputable areas of the net, but there are multiple disgusting “how to spot a Jew” lists out there on white supremacist websites that describe the eyes this way.
And “sleepy eyes” does seem to be part of the Nazi perception of Jews.
From a Nazi propaganda children’s book archived at Calvin College:
“One can also recognize a Jew by his lips. His lips are usually puffy. The lower lip often protrudes. The eyes are different too. The eyelids are mostly thicker and more fleshy than ours. The Jewish look is wary and piercing. One can tell from his eyes that he is a deceitful person.”
Ugh.
Considering Trump surrounds himself with alt-right folks, is of the age where he might have heard the insult as a child, and notably refused to condemn the Nazis in Charlottesville, saying there were “good people on both sides” — it looks like he knows exactly what he’s doing with that nickname.
What do YOU think??
[Image via Johnny Louis/WENN/NBC News.]
