Stormy Daniels is playing Trump supporters at their own game

It remains unclear exactly what’s happening with Donald Trump and that Stormy Daniels hush money case that took over the headlines last week. Six days ago, the former president was telling us to get ready to see him arrested. Media gathered for the chance of a glimpse at a perp walk through Manhattan. People talked about whether he’d sit in a jail cell, how he’d look in his mug shot, and whether such an arrest would disqualify him from running for president again in 2024 (nope!)

None of that came to fruition. The Donald made his way to a rally in Waco, Texas over the weekend and by Monday he was saying that he thought the case had been dropped entirely (sorry, the “fake case”.) Thus we watched him sing from the same playbook he has all along: Cry martyrdom, rile up his base, motivate the MAGA followers to turn up to one of his big events, and then quietly back away from the martyrdom that never actually came to pass.

That’s not to say that there isn’t something in Number 45’s claims that he could be arrested in relation to the Stormy Daniels case. It’s possible. The case is ongoing, as far as any of us know. And Trump traveled to Waco this weekend with two attorneys, presumably just in case. But the Manhattan DA didn’t act last week and quite possibly won’t act at all. It remains true that most of the hype generated around Trump’s supposed big arrest in New York was unjustified, and worked to his advantage. Surprise! The professional wind-up merchant strikes again!

But there’s someone else who we’re forgetting if we concentrate only on the former pres and his well-worn tactics. Daniels herself, the porn star who alleges that she had an affair with Trump and then was paid hush money, was singled out by MAGA fans for trolling (again) last week as soon as they heard that their hero might be arrested. The righteous fight, as usual, is being fought on Twitter. And Daniels has decided not to take anything lying down.

Is that a pun? Of course it is. And if you’d read Daniels’ replies to the Trump fans attempting to tear her down, you’d know why. Stormy has gone hard on the far-right keyboard warriors, consistently giving better than she’s got. “Sex with Stormy Daniels is traumatic enough. Hasn’t President Trump been punished enough?” wrote one faceless Trumpist. “I think he needs another spanking,” Daniels replied.

Daniels’ brand of unashamed mockery is refreshing to see in a world gone wild. Trump supporters do a lot of mental gymnastics, pretzeling themselves into simultaneously believing that women are whores and idiots (“bleeding from their wherevers” if they criticize their hero on TV; deservedly being “grabbed by the p***y” if they fawn over him) and believing that the women on their side are all hot, blonde housewives who vacillate between pregnancy (to counter the Great Replacement) and swimsuit model competitions. They are both tongue-lolling misogynists who think A Real Man has a high body count and incredible prudes who think sex workers should be strung up and their daughters should stay virgins forever. They have bumper stickers detailing how they plan to shoot their little girls’ boyfriends, but they also think that cheerleaders wearing anything less revealing than a sports bra and a mini-skirt is wokeness gone mad.

Nothing has shown up this ridiculous doublethink in the past week better than Stormy Daniels’ Twitter feed. To a tweeter who calls himself “Super Ultra MAGA” and called Daniels “not a porn star but a woman who gets naked and has sex with strangers for money,” she replied: “You win for stupidest tweet of the day. You can’t seriously think I’m not a porn star? And I don’t have sex with strangers. I have sex with my co-stars (who are all my friends) or I often film with my husband”.

To another anonymous troll who all-capped her with “YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO… LAY ON YOUR BACK AND DO NOTHING,” Daniels replied: “I wish! That actually sounds glorious. Reverse cowgirl is exhausting!” And to another who asked her, “How does it feel to know that the only reason you’re in the spotlight right now is because you had an affair with a married man as a porn star? Just… EWWW!”, she responded: “And then I stood up to that lying married man when he and his minions tried to bully and silence me… feels pretty f**king awesome to be honest.”

Daniels’ steadfast refusal to be ashamed of her career, her looks or her age is gloriously destructive to the worldview of most Trumpist trolls. To one who told her: “You’re almost 50 look at ya,” she replied simply, “And?” To another who called her a “whore,” she asked, referencing her porn star husband, “Are you talking to me or Barrett? Hopefully both.” In between tweeting about affidavits and the intricacies of the legal case, she pointed out to a fan where they could buy her signed photos (plus a calendar.) One second she’s correcting someone accusing her of having had an affair with Michael Cohen, and the next she’s telling people who unironically accuse her of infidelity for sleeping with a married man: “Yep. The sorcery of my magic voodoo vag was too much for that poor little man and it forced him to forget all about his vows, take his clothes off and corner me. It’s ALLL my fault.”

The unabashed juvenility of Daniels’ replies (“President Trump wouldn’t touch you with a 10ft pole,” tweeted one angry supporter; “True. He used a 3 inch one,” she replied) has taken the MAGA crew aback. After all, what so many people admire about Trump is his own performative immaturity. He blithely calls for people who don’t support him to be “locked up” without any care about democratic norms or due process; he comes up with playground names for his detractors — Lyin’ Ted, Pocahontas, Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb. And most of the time, opponents are forced to do as Michelle Obama says and go high when he goes low. They talk seriously about the Constitution, about respect for the law, about respect for congressional colleagues, about respect for America. But Donald Trump doesn’t have respect for anyone or anything. He says the unsayable. He grabs attention by lying and name-calling and loudly stamping his foot and he’s not sorry about it.

Enter Stormy Daniels. She’s a porn star, not a political representative. She doesn’t have to pretend to be the sensible alternative or the candidate with more decorum. She and her husband make films of themselves having sex for money and they’re fine with you knowing about it. In fact, they’ll sell you a calendar.

By simply saying: Yep, I’m seedy, and I’m the one your hero chose, Daniels knows she leaves the red-hats into a full-blown identity crisis. And by responding to their jibes with enthusiastic agreement, she completely disarms them. So, if you want to feel a little better about the prospect of Trump running in 2024, I implore you to spend some time on Stormy Daniels’ Twitter feed. It really is a sight for sore eyes.