Someday there needs to be a Joint Resolution of Congress and signed by whomever is Presidency declaring Mark Burnett Day of Shame. If not for Burnett there would have been no Trump TV show making him famous nationwide. Also, without Burnett either destroying or hiding them so well all the outtakes from The Apprentice that at one time would have ruined Trump would have gotten out and he never would have gotten the GOP nomination even. More than anyone Burnett is the person who begat the Trump we all know all too well. Worse, it finally dawned on Trump he can treat everyone in government like he treated the contestants on his TV show.
There has been more than a little commentary, some in jest and some kind of serious about how Trump has always seen being President like he was still a reality TV host. I’ve never been a fan of the genre. In fact I can honestly say I’ve never seen a full episode of a single “Reality” TV show be it Trump’s or any other. It’s all scripted, or at least there’s an outline. Lots of what would be outtakes from the filming of the typical TV show make it into the cut of what audiences who watch on TV actually see – if it fits the outline/script. Trump clearly did all he could in his first term to be host of The Apprentice. Drop by the set a few times for some short, tightly scripted remarks and get to play “star.” It was bad in lots of ways but we got through it and President Biden was able to repair a lot of the damage from Trump’s “Reality” Presidency.”
As everyone knows the whole point of Trump’s character on NBC was that dramatic moment at the end where for the last time he got to say “You’re Fired.” My oh my how he had to have LOVED that, especially after it became his signature line. One of the bigliest parts of his ‘BRAND.’ Conservatives have for decades wanted to shrink government. I think (I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong) it was Grover Norquist who created the “Small enough to drown it in a bathtub” line, or at least make it into a widely used theme and talking point. There’s no small irony that for all the talk going back to the Reagan years, Democrats have actually shrunk the number of federal employees more than Republican presidents. The same is true of National Debt busting annual federal budgets! However, when it comes to cutting people and programs Democrats took a measured approach. There was none of the wild, willy-nilly crap we are seeing happening now.
It’s gotten me thinking Trumpty-Dumpty who has clearly regressed in his mental capacity (not all that great to begin with) to the point of MISSING his TV show. That thrill when the day came for him to go to the set to film that final “You’re Fired” scene. I’ll bet he knew he’d be so thrilled and full of himself he’d have not one but two “babes” waiting to sate him later on. Trump has been a spoiled and petulant a-hole his entire life. Sadly, tragically even as an adult he had money and power to be a much worse one that the average a-holes we’ve all encountered in our lives.
How much Trump will get away with when it comes to wholesale firings remains to be seen. He’s off to a helluva start though and thinks he can get away with a lot more than he ever has in his miserable, despicable life. And he’s gotten away with a LOT. No wonder he now feels invincible. He’s got a GOP that’s terrified of him. And a media that is almost equally terrified. He’s even got a new Mark Burnett producing his ‘You’re Fired’ scripts. Elon Musk is now the one creating the scripts and handing Trump the pages – fire this group of people and that group of people and that group of people and so on.
Yep. Trump loves making people suffer. HURTING them. He’s cruel and if one is a federal employee, or even works for a federal contractor (Unless they work for one of Musk’s companies) might as well be an immigrant now. Maybe not rounded up and deported (whether they have legal status or not) but out on the street looking for a job, wondering how they will pay their bills. It’s cruel but for Trump THAT is the whole point. He just can’t accept that he’s never been UNIVERSALLY admired, beloved even because he’s an a-hole. His MAGAs have been fooled, so far at least but the majority of people including those who have known him longest and best (New Yorkers) have always seen him for what he is. Instead of trying to change, he has spent his life furiously working to become even more of an a-hole. His “Very fine brain” just can’t process the simple concept that people don’t like a-holes!
So here we are. Trump is treating the entire federal workforce (and as I noted, most contactors too) as contestants on The Apprentice. If a handful of Republicans don’t grow a spine and soon to join with Democrats more damage will be done this time than even someone with Joe Biden’s decades of experience can fix in even two terms. All the while, the free world is looking on with an increasing sense of horror and the worst of the world’s dictators are looking on in glee.
Things will get worse, much worse before we can have the chance to make them better. Yet if things proceed at the current pace what Musk and Trump will have wrought in the months ahead will have this country thoroughly screwed by fall. The majority of MAGAs will swallow his b.s. about it all being Democrat’s fault but even some MAGAs will have fits. We need to be ready because by the end of the year Trump will be at his most vulnerable. IF Democrats handle it right he can be knocked back on his heels and so can the GOP overall heading into 2026 and the midterms.
