What are the most common nicknames and pejoratives used for Donald Trump in mainstream media?
Executive summary
Mainstream outlets and cultural commentators routinely record and repeat a wide range of nicknames for Donald Trump — some originated by Trump himself (e.g., “Crooked Hillary,” “Sleepy Joe”) and many coined by comedians, columnists and opponents (e.g., “The Nodfather,” late‑night lists of scores of jokey names) [1] [2] [3]. Available sources show the most-cited patterns are: [4] partisan pejoratives used in campaign warfare; [5] satirical or comedic nicknames circulated in entertainment media; and [6] reciprocal naming by opponents and politicians — but there is no single canonical list published by “mainstream media” in the provided reporting [7] [2] [3].
1. Nicknames as political weapons — old practice, renewed intensity
Mainstream news coverage documents that Trump popularized the practice of attaching short, memorable epithets to rivals (for example, “Crooked Hillary” and “Sleepy Joe”), and that parrying nicknames have become a staple of modern campaign conflict; reporting about new suggested labels shows the tactic is ongoing and sometimes self‑referential (Trump proposing nicknames and reusing others) [1]. Available sources do not provide a definitive ranked list of the “most common” nicknames used across all mainstream outlets; they instead show examples and episodes where nicknames enter the public record [7] [1].
2. Comedy and late night: proliferation and amplification
Late‑night hosts and comedic outlets produce long, creative lists of derisive nicknames that then spread through broader media: Jimmy Kimmel compiled “Top 78” nicknames on his show, and entertainment writeups republished those lists, demonstrating how comedy amplifies and invents variants beyond strictly political usage [2] [8]. These names are largely satirical and intended for entertainment, but mainstream reporting often covers the segments, making the nicknames more visible [2].
3. Opponents and political rivals: targeted pejoratives and new coinages
Elected officials and partisan figures also coin nicknames as an explicit messaging tactic. For example, California Gov. Gavin Newsom labeled President Trump “The Nodfather” and “Dozy Don” after incidents showing him apparently nodding off — an intentional echo of Trump’s own earlier “Sleepy Joe” label for Biden [3]. Coverage of these exchanges illustrates symmetry: both sides use nicknames to shape voter perceptions [3].
4. Lists, blogs, and opinion pages: quantity over editorial consensus
A large number of web lists and opinion pieces collect hundreds of nicknames (examples include curated lists of 100, 129 or even 400 nicknames), which shows the phenomenon’s scale but also its source variety — from satire sites and opinion pages rather than neutral reporting [9] [10] [11]. Mainstream outlets sometimes cite these compilations, but they are not equivalent to a formal editorial endorsement; they function as cultural sampling rather than definitive media practice [9] [10].
5. Media norms and ethical questions around repeating epithets
Commentators and journalism observers note ethical concerns when news outlets repeat derogatory nicknames: reprinting a pejorative can amplify partisan messaging and coarsen discourse [7] [12]. Poynter and other media‑facing outlets have critiqued such behavior, saying it should not be normalized, especially when it targets journalists or uses sexism or demeaning language [12]. Available sources document criticism of the practice but do not converge on a single “best practice” adopted industry‑wide [12].
6. What counts as “mainstream media” varies; so do the nicknames cited
The sources show that “mainstream” usage spans newsrooms, opinion pages, late‑night TV, and political communications. That breadth explains why there is no single canonical set of nicknames: news outlets report some epithets when they are newsworthy (campaign slogan use, viral comedy bits, or conflicts), while entertainment and opinion venues generate many more [2] [9] [12]. If you want a concise tally of the most frequently used nicknames in news headlines specifically, available sources do not present that metric or a comprehensive frequency analysis (not found in current reporting).
7. Practical takeaway for readers and researchers
If your goal is to catalog the “most common” nicknames in mainstream headlines, the reporting suggests combining three source types: straight news coverage for politically consequential epithets, opinion pieces for partisan coinages, and entertainment reporting for the wide pool of satirical names — then measuring frequency across a defined corpus. The sources above provide examples and episodes — like Kimmel’s lists and Newsom’s coinages — that would likely rank high in any such tally, but there is no single mainstream‑media list published in the provided materials [2] [3] [1].