The author says he is exhausted by what he describes as repeated efforts by the White House and the news media to make the public accept obviously contradictory claims. He acknowledges that electing a president he calls a criminal, while the economy suffers, has more serious consequences, but says the accumulation of what he regards as political absurdity has become difficult to ignore.

One example, he writes, came from the Associated Press. The White House reportedly wants the public to believe that First Lady Melania Trump “brokered an upcoming ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the war-ravaged city of Oleshky” and “initiated the discussions.” The account also said that “helping children in conflict [has been] one of her signature issues.” Oleshky is a city in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, under Russian occupation since the opening months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

At the same time, the author notes, neither Russia nor Ukraine appeared to confirm the claim. The AP reported: “There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian or the Russian governments.” The author questions whether Melania Trump could broker a ceasefire when, in his view, her husband could not, and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would care about her position.

The author also questions Melania Trump’s stated concern for children, pointing to her 2018 visit to a migrant detention center, where 55 children were being held. That visit took place in June 2018, at the height of the controversy over the Trump administration’s separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. During that visit, she wore a jacket bearing the words, “I really don’t care. Do U?” He argues that her primary concern is her public image and that she wants to be seen as compassionate without accepting responsibility for acting on that image. He describes this as an example of “privatized gain and socialized losses.”

The author extends his criticism to the Washington press corps, arguing that the media often treats the public as lacking the authority to judge reality independently. He says the absence of sustained reporting allows events to be treated as though they did not happen unless the news media explicitly confirms them.

Although he says no one knows exactly what is happening with the president, the author argues that the public can see that something is wrong. He calls for sustained, detailed coverage rather than what he describes as silence. In his view, the AP was willing to repeat that Melania Trump “a localized ceasefire” but did not report adequately on what he characterizes as unusual behavior by Donald Trump.

The author then lists what he considers contradictions in the president’s public image. Americans are told that Trump is patriotic, he writes, while he allegedly “sucks up to America’s enemies.” The author says that, last week, Trump switched sides by joining a Russian imperialist who is helping Iran kill Americans, after previously flattering a Chinese imperialist whom the author says is also helping Iran kill Americans. “Last time I checked, ‘patriotic’ did not mean ‘treasonous,’” he writes.

The author also criticizes Trump’s religious rhetoric. Trump said this week that he would “lead us to a period of Christianity that nobody else can do.” The author says some of Trump’s followers are idolaters, quoting one supporter as saying, “I want to see two people: Trump and Jesus.” He also points to a rally soundtrack that played before Trump’s entrance: “God gave us Trump … shepherd to all mankind.” The author says the suggestion that Trump is the second coming of Christ recalls New Testament references to the Antichrist.

The article also challenges the portrayal of Trump as an embodiment of masculine virtue. The author points to Trump’s spray tan, dyed hair and heel lifts, as well as claims that he falls asleep during Cabinet meetings and may be the most vain man who has ever lived. He contrasts Trump’s criticism of LaBron James as “a total disgrace” for warming up during the national anthem with Trump’s inability to win a war that he has claimed to have won more than 100 times as of August.

The author writes that Trump treats good behavior as weakness and bad behavior as strength, treats women like real estate and has been associated with more corruption than anyone else. He also states, without elaboration, that “everyone hates him, especially his kids.”

Despite this criticism, the author argues that Trump’s political moment may be weakening. He writes that, two years into Trump’s term, no president has been more unpopular and that, after another two years, it might become virtually taboo to admit having voted for him. He describes “maga-style populism” — MAGA being the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — as rooted in jingoism, barbarism, conspiracism and hate, and compares its rise and decline to mushrooms in American history.

The author cites the first and second Red Scares — waves of anti-communist panic that followed World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution, and, decades later, the late-1940s and 1950s era of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist investigations — as examples of movements that appeared suddenly, seemed widespread and then receded. Americans, he writes, eventually became tired of being tired of the stupidity. He adds that such politics do not disappear completely: some of it goes underground, while other parts take new forms.

He identifies Democrats Jon Ossoff, a senator from Georgia, and Abdul El-Sayed, a former Detroit health director running for governor of Michigan, as politicians attempting to separate the “maga” from MAGA-style populism. Rather than emphasizing bigotry, conspiracy theories and longing for a mythical past, the author says, they are focusing on egalitarian coalition-building against what he calls “the very obscenely rich.” He concludes that the public may be exhausted, but that the exhaustion will not last.

Trump and the Ohio attack ad

The article then turns to Trump’s defense of an attack ad featuring Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of Amy Acton. Acton, a physician who served as director of the Ohio Department of Health in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is identified as the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, while Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who sought the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is her opponent. The Ohio governor’s office is on the November 2026 ballot, with incumbent Mike DeWine barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive term.

According to the article, in the late 1970s, Donna Arthur accused her daughter of lying about the fact that Arthur’s husband had serially raped Acton beginning when Acton was 12. Arthur lost custody of Acton and her brother, and neither child has been in contact with her since, the article says. The stepfather was charged and faced prosecution but fled the state. Donna Arthur accompanied him and became a fugitive.

The article says Trump argued that the allegations involving the stepfather were unrelated to the attack ad. The exchange reproduced in the article began with Trump defending the ad:

Trump: “A mother is saying ‘don’t put my daughter there, because she’s a terrible person and she’s a liar.’ Why shouldn’t somebody use that?”

Reporter: “But do the sexual abuse allegations mean nothing, sir?”

Trump: “Wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, slow down. Who are you with?”

Reporter: “I'm with NBC, sir.”

Trump: “One of the worst networks you have.”

Reporter: “But there have been very serious sexual abuse allegations, sir.”

Trump: “Quiet!”

Reporter: “They make no difference to you?”

Trump: “Isn't she a fresh person? You’re a horrible little reporter, aren't you? If my mother said bad things about me, you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so. But my mother thought I was wonderful. Thank you, Mom. My mother would never even say, if she thought them. This is a person, a mother, a smart woman, I watched, smart woman. She said her daughter is a disaster. Her daughter is a liar and she felt that she had an obligation and she also said her daughter lied about her opponent, which is Vivek Ramaswamy. If I had that ad, I should be so lucky to have an ad like that. Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother that says that? Why? Why would you, Miss NBC? Why wouldn’t you listen?”

Reporter: “She stayed with the stepfather after raping his stepdaughter in 1978, sir.”

Trump: “Wait a minute, quiet! I don’t know anything about a stepfather. You just keep talking.”

Reporter: “I'm answering you, sir.”

Trump: “I don’t know about any stepfather. That was many, many years ago. I know that recently a mother got on television and said that her daughter should not be governor of Ohio and she said ‘I love my daughter, but my daughter lies all the time and lied about her opponent and I can’t watch it.’ This has nothing to do with the stepfather or anything else. This has to do with the fact that a woman got out, the mother of a person running for governor of one of the greatest states, where I set records, and said that she’s a liar. Her daughter is a liar. She said her daughter lied about the Vivek and the mother couldn’t take it anymore. She basically said her daughter should not – that’s what she said – her daughter should not be the governor of Ohio To me, that's something that's very much fair game.”

The original source is Alternet.

Primary sources referenced by the source material include: