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Some weeks are about broad strokes—big policy, momentous decisions, world-shaping events. Then there are weeks like this one, where it’s death by a thousand paper cuts: all the little acts of President Donald Trump’s vanity, incompetence, and cruelty that wear us down.
For example, did Trump really need to stick his ugly mug on our passports?
It’s remarkable that Trump can look at a country facing deep partisan division, economic anxiety, international turmoil, and rising costs and conclude, What America needs is my face on a passport—and me bragging about a new White House helipad.
Add it to his obsession with building a triumphal arch in Washington, redoing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, renovating a D.C. golf course, and whatever fresh hell he’s unleashing on the White House this week (the North Portico is covered in tarps). It’s increasingly obvious that the one thing he doesn’t particularly care about is improving people’s lives.
And that’s not partisan speculation. In his own words:
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”
“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up.”
“You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
Heck, someone told Trump that Walmart was having a holiday sale, and it blew his mind. He’d apparently never encountered the concept of a grocery sale before, so he declared, with the usual lack of evidence, that it was all because of him.
It’s no wonder Republicans’ prospects this November look bleak. It doesn’t help that Trump is spending his campaign war chest attacking fellow Republicans.
So yes, there’s plenty of genuine authoritarianism to worry about. But there’s also this constant stream of petty vanity, incompetence, and absurdity.
None of these stories will define Trump’s presidency. But together, they explain what living through it feels like: death by a thousand paper cuts.
We’ll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.
We continue to be paywall-free. We continue to be supported by our readers, not billionaires or corporations. But we need to bring in more revenue. We are leaning on our community more than ever to help make ends meet.
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