The New York Times has published a detailed collection of the 282 people, places, and things that Donald Trump has insulted since June 15, 2015, based on his own tweets and sorted by categories such as Democratic presidential candidates, Republican presidential candidates, other politicians, journalists and media figures, organizations, and so on. It makes for truly remarkable skimming. It is also reported that Trump’s campaign staff has wrested his Twitter account away from him to prevent any further self-inflicted damage.

I noticed that journalist Matt Taibbi is not on the list and there may be other notable absences. As someone who has excoriated Trump repeatedly, I wonder how Taibbi feels about this omission. If I were he, I would feel insulted by not being insulted because being on this list could well be seen as a badge of honor.

I recall the time that president Nixon’s infamous secret lists of his enemies were leaked back in 1973, at a time when he was beleaguered by the Watergate crisis that led to his resignation the following year. I recall humorist Art Buchwald writing in his column that he was dismayed to find that he was not on the list and wondering what kind of rotten president Nixon was that he did not even know who his true enemies were. Buchwald said that because of his absence from the enemies lists, he was being shunned by elite Washington society, could not get a decent table at restaurants, and even his wife was ashamed of him. He concluded that Nixon kept him off the list deliberately in order to demean him and make him look like an insignificant player in Washington power politics.

What is remarkable about these insults is how childish they are, lacking in wit and subtlety. The mind boggles to think that so many people in this country think that this petulant man-child should be president.