It’s also worth noting that Trump’s trolling of his rivals via personal insults has a tactical purpose beyond just appealing to voters. These insults have an effect on his opponents. It’s like trash talking in sports. It can get in your opponent’s head and put him off balance. Trump is a New Yorker and has that street brawler instinct, and he uses whatever he has available to him to try and gain an edge, in this case a psychological edge, over his opponents.
Remember how the ‘Low Energy’ label he slapped on JEB left JEB frustrated? I just read today that Bloomberg is furious over Trump’s attacks on his height. It could be fake news, but I tend to believe it. Guys like Bloomberg don’t know how to respond to personal attacks like Trump’s. If they don’t respond they look weak. If they respond in kind they look petty and tend to come out the loser because Trump is so much better at the trash talking game than they are, and people have grown used to it from Trump so it doesn’t hurt him as much as his opponents to engage in it.
Our side finally figured out what Alinsky said, “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”