Published June 17, 2026

Whenever something goes ridiculously askew in U.S. politics these days, our default response seems too often to be, “Wow, what a defeat for Donald Trump. What a failure.”

We almost never anymore seem open to the possibility that whatever the thing is that’s happened, he doesn’t see it as a failure at all. It’s part of the plan, or an unintended consequence that he welcomes.

A feature, not a bug, as they say.

I see people dunking on him on social media. Sure, he’s failing America and much of the world, but who is he pleasing? Putin? Netanyahu? Saudi Arabia? Others closer to home?

Worse, I see major news organizations that should know better failing us, eagerly adopting the language of this criminal enterprise known as the Trump administration, choosing not to even pretend to put editorial distance between themselves and this unreliable monster.

I said it during his first presidential campaign and his subsequent first term: Our political press failed us because it relied on an approach that was no longer appropriate. Trump and his team had figured out the weakness off a “free” press and used it against us. And I’m not sure the media ever fully caught on.

Taking everything at face value has damaged us.

‘Flood the zone with shit’

Remember that photo from his first term where Trump attended a meeting of world leaders, who all scowled as Putin approached? All except Trump, who wore a giddy smile as if Daddy had come to see him.

Putin almost looked embarrassed for Trump.

All of this is designed to leave us confused, disoriented, worse off. We normalize it by pretending it’s just business as usual, with a scoreboard like the ones we’ve always had.

I keep thinking of this.

Even that is an oversimplification that doesn’t cover all of this. It’s based on events 64 years ago.

But maybe you get my point. Remember “flood the zone with shit“?

Much of America doesn’t seem capable of holding more than one thought at a time. Ten thousand thoughts are a tough ask.

A missed shot and a blown assignment in a game look different once you know the outcome was fixed, the product of insider sports gambling. Think of that on a much bigger scale the next time a pundit cites something Trump did as a loss or a failure.

None of this is normal

I’m not seeing where any of these losses or failures cause him regret. I mean, this is a man who said “I love the inflation” while you and I are hurting, struggling to pay bills.

However bad you thought the Iran “deal” might be, this is worse. The US has failed to achieve its goals in conflicts before, but this agreement represents the most humiliating capitulation to a foreign enemy in our history. Which is saying something given Vietnam and Afghanistan.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf.bsky.social) June 17, 2026 at 5:08 AM

I’m just saying, a man who says “I love the inflation” in the U.S. might not find “the most humiliating capitulation to a foreign enemy in our history” to be a bad thing. It might be of great comfort to those who planned his ascension and return to the Oval Office. I won’t profess to know exactly who is telling Trump what to do, what outcomes to achieve, but I know it’s not us.

Do I think it’s eating his psyche to pretend to be for America and to clearly not be in his actions? I do. As Sheldon B. Kopp once wrote, you can wear a mask for so long that when you discard it, you throw away your real face with it.

Sending love. Protect your peace. We have a long way to go to be able to put things right, if we ever do.

Photo by FotoField via Shutterstock.

♥

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