The title of the Thomas Nast cartoon posted above is The Big Brains. It’s Nast’s caricature of Boss Tweed, the greedy 19th Century grand sachem of Tammany Hall. I’m using it ironically. There are NO big brains in Trump 2.0 even though the Insult Comedian claims to have a very good brain. As with everything else with Trump, the opposite is true: He’s a dangerous dumbass doing more harm to the country and the world than during Trump 1.0.
I’m trying something different with this Top Ten list. I’m ending each entry with a relevant and/or evocative song. We’ll see how it goes. The same approach works in my irksome things posts. If it doesn’t here, just tell me you’re irked and I’ll pass your complaints along to management. Oops, I *am* management. Never mind.
Our first Top Ten list of 2025 is ordered from least bad to worst. They all suck but so does Trump 2.0.
I give you the Top Ten Words That Describe Trump 2.0:
NUMBER TEN: PETTY. What’s pettier than targeting individuals in executive orders? Among those singled out are former federal cyber security honcho Chris Krebs, Miles (Anonymous) Taylor, and my main man Andrew Weissmann. It’s particularly petty in the case of Krebs, he’s been targeted for telling the truth about the 2020 election. It wasn’t stolen, Team MAGA just claims it was.
NUMBER NINE: CRAZY. The word describes President Pennywise, his actions, and his bizarre verbiage. What sane person thinks windmills cause cancer or would go out in public with orange skin and a dead nutria pelt atop their head?
NUMBER EIGHT: RECKLESS. Everything about Trump 2.0 is reckless. Allowing a private citizen to run amuck throughout the government epitomizes MAGA recklessness as does starting a trade war then claiming it’s the basis for negotiations.
NUMBER SEVEN: EXTREMIST. Trump 1.0 ended with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and violent extremists knocking on the door. Trump 2.0 has invited them inside.
NUMBER SIX: CRUEL. Adam Serwer coined the phrase “the cruelty is the point” during Trump 1.0. They’re even crueler this time around. The best example is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia who was wrongly deported to El Salvador. Team MAGA says they can’t bring him back to America. They can but they won’t. That would be admitting a mistake. They mistakenly believe they don’t make mistakes.
NUMBER FIVE: INCOMPETENT. It’s a subset of stupidity, which describes most of Team Trump’s policies. I went with incompetent because they’re a bunch of bunglers and I could use the venerable Tull Tune below. They’re more likely to bungle in icy Greenland than in the jungle but that doesn’t scan as well.
NUMBER FOUR: CORRUPT. President Pennywise views the federal government as his piggy bank. What other administration would be suspected of insider trading after Trump’s kinda sorta flip flop on tariffs? The stock market went up, even Tesla stock, which has been in free fall since January. In a word: Suspicious.
NUMBER THREE: DECEITFUL. The Insult Comedian’s lifelong habit of lying is contagious. It permeates Trump 2.0. It’s all part of flooding the zone with shit and causing chaos and confusion. It’s what they do best.
NUMBER TWO: RACIST. White supremacists are embedded throughout the Trump regime. The attack on DEI is based on the bizarre notion that white males suffer the most from discrimination. That is, of course, batshit crazy but so is the Kaiser of Chaos.
NUMBER ONE: EVIL. Say no more.
I can’t top Chester Burnett DBA Howlin’ Wolf singing a Willie Dixon song so he gets the last word.