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How to Piss Off Donald Trump

A guide for trolls, pundits, and political adversaries

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Donald Trump’s recent comments that Mexican immigrants are “rapists” and “killers” have led a growing number of his business partners to sever their ties with him. Macy’s, NBC, Univision, ESPN, and now the Professional Golfers Association have all dumped him in recent weeks.

Trump’s response to his critics has been to go on the offensive. He’s threatened to sue many of the businesses who have ended their relationships with him. And the controversy over his comments doesn’t appear to have hurt his presidential prospects. He’s still rising in polls in early primary states.

Who will incur The Donald’s wrath next? Here’s a guide for those seeking to annoy the famously thin-skinned Trump:

Talk about his financial worth: Trump’s net worth has been a point of contention for decades. Forbes dropped him from its list of billionaires in 1990, and he nearly declared personal bankruptcy in 1990. Reports of his wealth have fluctuated wildly, and Trump has countered many of them by suing and threatening to sue for libel. He called suing The View's Rosie O’Donnell “fun.” When he declared his presidential candidacy last month, Trump filed papers claiming he’s worth $9 billion.

Build a wind turbine: Trump had a years-long battle with the Scottish government over plans to build an 11-turbine wind farm near his golf resort, which would spoil the view from the course. He accused officials of having an illegal bias in favor of the project.  When a judicial panel threw out his lawsuit in June, it looked like he lost his case. And yet, Trump still won in the end—not because of his own challenge but because local environmentalists convinced the court that the turbines would hurt a protected species of mussels.

It’s not the only wind turbine project to have caught his eye.

Dump him. Trump has responded to networks dropping his TV programs in classic Trump fashion—by filing lawsuits against them. He's already sued any network that has dropped him, including Univision and NBC for $500 million, insisting to Fox News that the true reason the networks fired him “will come out in litigation.”

Mock him: The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart faced Trump’s wrath when he called him “Fuckface von Clownstick” in 2013. Trump responded to Stewart, who has also referred to Trump as an “antique doll hair thief,” in a series of tweets.

The now-defunct magazine Spy, gave Trump just as vivid a label in 1988: “short-fingered vulgarian.” In response, Trump predicted the magazine’s demise, and told the New York Post, “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.” 

Do journalism: Journalists are terrible creatures, in Trump’s eyes. When a story particularly offends him, he's been known to send handwritten notes back to reporters. Lucky recipients of Trump's editing have included Chris Moody of CNN and Vanity Fair, which he asked, “who is Ben Smith?

Bore him:

Indeed, given how frequently Trump returns the Internet’s invective with his own, it can be difficult to find things that don’t annoy him. But there is one thing he regularly lets slide, it seems: jokes about his hair.