Donald Trump's graceless New Hampshire victory speech is just what some US voters like – Scotsman comment

Donald Trump's fondness for personal insults of anyone who stands against him seems to be part of his appeal

Donald Trump’s victory in the New Hampshire primary was no surprise, given he is the runaway favourite for the Republican nomination. Yet still, he was as graceless as always towards his one remaining rival, Nikki Haley, declaring she was “delusional” and an “imposter”.

The late Republican politician John McCain, who served as a pilot in the Vietnam War and spent years in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison after his plane was shot down, was “not a war hero”, Trump once declared, adding: “I like people who weren’t captured.” (Trump avoided being drafted because of a “bone spur” in his foot.) On the Democrats’ side, "Crooked Hillary” has now become “Crooked Joe”. The list of his personal insults is long.

The depressing thing, particularly for those of us in this country who love America, for all its faults, and think we know it, is that this approach to politics appears to resonate with voters, possibly enough to put him in the White House. Come November, a vain, petty man who jokes about becoming a dictator may win power in democracy’s strongest bastion, with profound consequences for the world.