‘New York Daily News’ Skewers Donald Trump With Brutal ‘Dead Clown Walking’ Cover
While there are undoubtedly scores of folks nationwide who are now reveling in Donald Trump’s failure to grab the top spot in last night’s Iowa caucuses, the billionaire’s old foe the New York Daily News put a tone – and a face – to those sentiments this morning with an epic send-up of the GOP candidate. The paper’s cover, featuring the blaring headline “Dead Clown Walking,” depicted clown as a sad-faced clown in the tradition of Emmett Kelly. The paper’s editorial staff also took a shot at the rhetoric – or lack thereof – in the speech Trump delivered to supporters after it had become clear that he came in second to Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
“All the bombastic blather, all the race-baiting proclamations were missing from Donald Trump’s loser speech in Iowa Monday night.”
Today’s front page: @realDonaldTrump beaten out by @TedCruz in Iowa, nearly lands 3rd place https://t.co/f9cq9fQEG1 pic.twitter.com/NcOlypbcnv
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 2, 2016
Indeed, Donald Trump’s quasi-concession speech on Monday night was bereft of many of the hallmarks of his campaign trail fare as he appeared to dial down the rhetoric and look ahead to the New Hampshire primary election. The real estate mogul even congratulated caucus winner Cruz for his strong showing in the Hawkeye State.
“We finished second, and I want to tell you something: I’m just honored. I’m really honored. And I want to congratulate Ted, and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates, including Mike Huckabee, who has become a really good friend of mine,” Trump said in comments transcribed by the Huffington Post.
Evidently, the staff of the New York Daily News was far from moved by Donald Trump’s public display of humility, though, choosing to run the above-discussed cover in what has become a recurring theme for the tabloid during the present election cycle. As noted by the Washington Post, the New York Daily News has depicted the Donald as a painted up jester on a number of other occasions since Trump launched his campaign last year, including memorable headlines such as “Clown Runs For Prez,” “Insane Clown Posse,” and “Sideshow Don.”
For his part, Donald Trump made his feelings about the New York Daily News known early in the election. After the paper’s first clown-theme cover, Trump took to Twitter to air his grievances.
“The dying tabloid owned by dopey clown Mort Zuckerman, puts me on the cover daily because I sell,” Donald Trump.
Somewhat surprisingly, Donald Trump did not immediately respond to the most recent provocative efforts of the New York Daily News when their “Dead Clown Walking” cover started making rounds on social media. But as Politico noted, Trump was largely – and uncharacteristically silent – on Twitter in the hours following the Iowa caucus results.
Caustic critique aside, Donald Trump will roll into New Hampshire as a heavy favorite for the state’s primary elections on February 9. An aggregate of polling data compiled by Real Clear Politcs shows Donald Trump leading Ted Cruz by 22 points. Marco Rubio, who came in third in Iowa, trails Ohio governor John Kaisch by one percentage point in Ohio. Polling data from South Carolina, which will hold its primary election after New Hampshire, indicates Donald Trump is well ahead of the pack in that state, too.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
