Trump's long weekend of humiliation

[marmar]

Trump’s long weekend of humiliation
The harder he tries to be a dictator, the more he's mocked by both Americans and foreign leaders

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published September 3, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump‘s favorite movie is supposedly “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles’ revolutionary tale about the rise and fall of a wealthy newspaper magnate. Famed documentarian Erroll Morris interviewed Trump about his love of the film in 2002, and watching their conversation now, it seems likely that the president has never even seen the film. Throughout the interview, he employed his usual BS method of pretending he knows what he’s talking about by drawing on half-remembered details he heard from other people. (It’s also his go-to move when asked about the Bible.)

“The word ‘Rosebud,’ for whatever reason, has captivated moviegoers and movie watchers for so many years,” Trump said. “Perhaps if they came up with another word that meant the same thing, it wouldn’t have worked.” Real top-level criticism from a guy who totally saw that movie!

Last weekend, as greatly exaggerated rumors of Trump’s death flew around the internet, this clip floated back into my memory — and not because the president is capable of self-reflection. Instead, there seemed to be an obvious link between Trump’s fictional death and that of Charles Foster Kane’s: No one was sad about it. Liberals online were in a celebratory mood, documenting how the president hadn’t been seen in public for days following recent appearances where he seemed more unwell than usual. But we also heard from Vice President JD Vance, who barely suppressed his glee in claiming, “I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.” It’s a reminder that, if anything, those closest to Trump would also apparently feel mostly relief at his passing. They may back his authoritarian agenda, but surely would welcome the chance to never speak to or smell the man again.

....(snip)....

In case his weekend wasn’t humiliating enough, Trump also got hit with an epic FOMO moment, when Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping got together without him. The three dictators made sure to rub his nose in it with a bunch of images of their happy, Trump-free get-together.

The president did not take well to his weekend of reminders that everybody hates him — at least anyone who sees him clearly. (The zealots at his rallies don’t count, as they seem to deliberately avoid all evidence of his true character, relating only to a silly fantasy sold by right-wing propagandists like Fox News.) Both Trump and White House staff scrambled to conceal his ego injury, but in doing so, they only drew more attention to how much this is all getting under his paper-thin skin. Trump has been turning up the volume on his dictator fantasies lately, but the weekend was a glorious reminder that all his bellowing and threats aren’t accomplishing what he wants more than anything: To make people stop laughing at him. If anything, the contrast between his self-importance and his actual worthlessness is drawing louder scorn all the time. .....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/09/03/trumps-long-weekend-of-humiliation/

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Someone shoulda told him

that ‘rosebud’ was William Randolph Hearst’s nickname for his mistress’ genitalia. That would probably pique his interest.

[Prairie Gates]

2. I laughed!

He sounded exactly like an elderly person struggling to hide dementia, but unfortunately, that’s indistinguishable from his lifelong personality as an incurious person BSing his way through life.