Previous “This Week in Trump” posts

This Might Not Actually Mean Very Much 

This is a cheap shot and I don’t care a whit.

ChatGPT is an artificially intelligent chatbot that uses massive language models to appear very knowledgeable about many topics. The general public has had access to it for a couple months now, and the results it’s produced are often impressive, or at least amusing. Recently, I saw the headline “ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor”.

Now, that might sound impressive, but let’s bear in mind that Donald Trump also managed to graduate from Wharton. So, the bar may not be very high.


Update (January 27, 2023): See also “Law school exam” and “Rudy Giuliani”.

The Sore Losers Clubhouse 

It’s a little on the nose, Jair.

Mar-A-lago is becoming the place for losers to hang out and lick their wounds.

Making Attorneys Get Attorneys 

Trump’s really got that Midas touch, except instead of gold it’s shit.

In June, Donald Trump’s legal team provided a sworn statement that Trump no longer had any classified documents in his possession. As an August raid proved, this was false. Now, his attorneys are turning on themselves to avoid prosecution, and it really just couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.

Bobb, who was Trump’s custodian of record at the time, did not draft the statement, according to the three sources who do not want to comment publicly because of the sensitive nature of the sprawling federal investigation.

Instead, Trump’s lead lawyer in the case at the time, Evan Corcoran, drafted it and told her to sign it, Bobb told investigators according to the sources…Before Bobb signed the document, she insisted it be rewritten with a disclaimer that said she was certifying Trump had no more records “based upon the information that has been provided to me,” the sources said of what she told investigators. Bobb identified the person who gave her that “information” as Corcoran, the sources said.

If someone else drafts a statement but refuses to sign it themselves, and if you demand a disclaimer before you’ll sign it, maybe you should just go ahead and not sign it. Just a thought.

There Are a Lot of Regrets, Dave 

It seems like a lot of money for two planes.

In 2018, Boeing signed a deal with then-President Donald Trump’s government to provide new 747-8s to serve as presidential transports. Somehow, this deal was set to pay the corporation an astonishing $4 billion for two Air Force Ones.1. Even more astonishing, Boeing is now projecting that they’ll lose $1.1 billion on it.

I am shocked, shocked to find that a deal with Donald Trump is turning out poorly for everyone involved.


Footnotes:

  1. I suspect many of my readers already know this, but “Air Force One” is not actually a specific plane. While it’s frequently used to refer to the plane most commonly used by the president, “Air Force One” is actually the call sign used for any US Air Force plane when it’s ferrying the president. Likewise, “Marine One” refers to any US Marine Corps aircraft (usually a helicopter) with the president on board. ↩︎

360 Extra Votes 

This was a stellar use of resources and energy.

Last month, I wrote about the ridiculous “audit” being conducted in Arizona. The results are in, and all the audit found was more votes for Biden.

“This is yet the latest in a string of defeats for Donald Trump saying the election was rigged and fraudulent,” longtime Republican election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg said in a press call with the elections group States United. “[This] was their best attempt. This was an audit in which they absolutely cooked the procedures, they took funding from sources that should delegitimatize the findings automatically. This was Donald Trump’s best chance to prove his allegations of elections being rigged and fraudulent and they failed.”

Surely this is the last we’ll hear of this matter.

That Seems About Right 

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch.

The ridiculously named “Cyber Ninjas” have been conducting what has generously been called an “audit” of ballots in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona. There’s no evidence of any chicanery during last year’s election, but they’re still hoping to sow distrust and doubt in the fairly won presidency of Joe Biden. It’s a truly shameful effort, and it’s going to go on at least a little while longer. While a full report of this ludicrous display of dipshittery was due yesterday, it’s been delayed, because three of the five Ninjas have contracted severe cases of COVID-19.

Today Is a Good Day

The battle for the soul of a nation rages on.

The horrific presidency of Donald Trump has ended. America, and the world, survived what I dearly hope will be the worst presidency of my lifetime. President Joe Biden is now the 46th president of the United States.

Small even in his departure, Donald Trump chose not to attend his successor’s inauguration. So much the better. The last minutes of his dishonest, divisive term found him exiled in Florida, while the world watched power transfer to President Biden in Washington, D.C.

There’s an incredible amount of work to be done, but let’s take just a moment to appreciate the end of something wretched, and the beginning of a chance for better. Today is a good day for America. Today is a good day for the world.

It Happened Again

I'm sure he's learned his lesson this time, right Susan Collins?

If you search Wikipedia for “Impeachment of Donald Trump”, you’ll currently get the following results page:

A Wikipedia disambiguation page, linking to Donald Trump's first impeachment, as well as his second.

I’m sorry, you’ll need to be more specific.

Nevertheless, They Persisted

The single most important outcome from yesterday is that Joe Biden will indeed be America's next president.

Yesterday, a joint session of Congress met to affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election, which determined that Joe Biden would be the 46th President of the United States. What should have been a ceremonial exercise had instead been engulfed in controversy for weeks. Despite a complete and utter lack of evidence of widespread election irregularities, and despite dozens of court rulings condemning the notion, multiple Republicans stated that they would object to the vote from certain states which had gone against Donald Trump.

These politicians intended to carry out a craven, self-interested charade to appease Trump and his followers, all the while knowing it would not change the result, and knowing that it shouldn’t. They were kicking at one of the key foundations of our democracy, the orderly transfer of power following free and fair elections, in the hopes that it would further their future political ambitions. Such fecklessness was despicable, and it should have been the worst news of the day.

Instead, things got worse, in far more visceral fashion. Following a fact-free speech from Donald Trump at his “March to Save America” rally, a small band of insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building. Due to an inexplicable absence of proper security, Congressional members were forced to flee the chamber. In a matter of minutes, thugs were literally able to physically overtake the seat of the legislative branch. It was horrifying to witness, and it was a direct result of Trump’s refusal to accept his loss.

Make no mistake. Donald Trump encouraged this action, as did those who have cynically enabled him in both the past two months, and over the past four years. All that preceded yesterday’s events should be dissected at length, and we should do all we can to avoid ever seeing something like this again. Lies and hypocrisy must be called out, criminals must be prosecuted, and democracy must never be taken as a given. When it comes to Trump specifically, the rhetorical two-step that Donald Trump should be taken “seriously, but not literally” must finally be rejected by all. Time and again, Trump has shown exactly who he is. He is serious and literal, and he would do anything to hold on to power, including tearing down American democracy itself.

There must be a reckoning in the coming weeks, months, and years. Republicans must see that placating and cozying up to lunatics is playing with fire, and eventually, we’ll all get burned. Dangerous conspiracy theories and alternate realities must be quashed, because it is more clear than ever just how much they threaten our society. Let us remember yesterday as a terrible day, but also as a death throe, marking the end of an awful era.

While this is generally a humor site, I simply can’t find a joke anywhere in all of this. Nevertheless, I can still find hope. At present, I hope the following will be the ultimate story of January 6, 2021 (as well as the wee hours of January 7): After a demoralizing day of rioting and mayhem in our nation’s capital, Congress got back to work, and certified Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Despite the noxious lies from Trump and his acolytes, despite the violence perpetrated by a small band of anarchistic thugs, our system once again held. In just over 13 days, the Trump presidency will end. Where we go from there, only time and our actions, will tell.

Things Worthy of Our Love

Honor, decency, courage, beauty, and truth

In a recent Atlantic piece, long-time Republican speechwriter Peter Wehner notes that since losing the election, Donald Trump “has become even more destabilizing and dangerous”. Trump’s recent actions have been so far beyond the pale that it seems impossible to adequately express how unhinged they are. A discussion of martial law taking place in the Oval Office is the stuff of nightmares.

However, the conclusion of this horror film is near, and Wehner discusses where we as a nation might go after.

Beyond that, and more fundamental than that, we have to remind ourselves that we are not powerless to shape the future; that much of what has been broken can be repaired; that though we are many, we can be one; and that fatalism and cynicism are unwarranted and corrosive.

There’s a lovely line in William Wordsworth’s poem “The Prelude”: “What we have loved, Others will love, and we will teach them how.”

There are still things worthy of our love. Honor, decency, courage, beauty, and truth. Tenderness, human empathy, and a sense of duty. A good society. And a commitment to human dignity. We need to teach others—in our individual relationships, in our classrooms and communities, in our book clubs and Bible studies, and in innumerable other settings—why those things are worthy of their attention, their loyalty, their love. One person doing it won’t make much of a difference; a lot of people doing it will create a culture.

It’s my hope that in 2021 and beyond, we can indeed all be better. By our example, we will teach others to be better as well.

Meanwhile, in another piece for the same publication, Tom Nichols opines that engaging with Trump’s die-hard supporters simply isn’t necessary. He states that we can, and should, “tune out the noise” and the antics. I’m very much in favor of that. I’d like to hear a lot less about the lunatic fringe, and a lot more about reality, and things that matter to those of us who dwell therein.

When January 20th finally arrives, we can all stop paying attention to Trump’s latest fact-free statement. It’s been a long time coming. Once we get there, let us resolve to spend our time on more productive things.