These people are morons
There are a number of big stories going on right now, from the Trump regime’s ongoing attempt at refusing to bring Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia home from an El Salvador prison, to the Republican Congress’ ongoing attempt at cutting essential services, to whatever unhinged insanity Elon Musk is up to at any given moment. But today I want to talk about a much smaller thing, because it’s the kind of thing that can end up having more political impact than the things that should move the needle.
During a public ceremony yesterday, Trump’s Vice President JD Vance fumbled a college football championship trophy and ended up breaking it in half. It was no big deal, as the trophy can easily be repaired. And it could have happened to anyone. But it didn’t happen to anyone. It happened to the Trump regime, because of course it did. Why does this matter?
As much as we (correctly) see Trump and his regime as extremist criminal monsters, it’s always going to be difficult to fully make that case to the people in the middle, who always want to believe that both sides are overstating their criticisms about each other (it’s what allows them to safely remain in the middle). But whenever incompetence or stupidity strikes, particularly when it’s right on the nose, it’s a different story. Those are the moments that make it very easy for the people in the middle to take a side – particularly when it happens to play into the existing narrative.
Above all else, Trump and his regime are seen by the general public as incompetent bumblers who keep breaking things that were working just fine. The economy. The stock market. World trade. Social Security. You name it, Trump and his gang of bumblers have found a way to ineptly break it. Everyone knows it. And now Trump and his people are even breaking championship trophies.
Again, it’s just a trophy. It’s not a story of any substance. But neither was Dan Quayle’s misspelling of potato, and that became a story that defined (and ultimately sank) his political career. Gerald Ford was defined by the time he fell down the stairs. These things happen. And maybe, hopefully, this very small story about Trump and his goons not even being able to touch a trophy without breaking it will end up being the kind of superficial story that does real damage to a truly evil regime.
