# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [November 14, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537 "2020-11-14T00:09:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1 "2020-11-14T00:09:51Z")

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On the theory that some enablers of Trump, and Trump himself, may be experiencing some events and occurrences that might, quite understandably, elicit a Nelson Muntz-‘haha’ or two…

…as for example, the compilations of Trump boasting, loudly and frequently, about the “massive landslide victory” of his 306 Electoral College votes in 2016. And about how 306 Electoral College votes constituted a “shellacking” of his opponent.

And then today we learn that Biden’s Electoral College vote total is quite likely to be…you guessed it…306 votes!

So there have been some compilations of Trump’s 2016 (and 2017 and 2018) bragging and boasting making the rounds, as on CNN:

> **[CNN Runs Supercut of Trump Touting '16 'Landslide' After Biden Win](https://www.mediaite.com/election-2020/cnn-runs-supercut-of-trump-celebrating-landslide-2016-victory-after-biden-projected-to-win-electoral-college-by-exact-same-margin/)**
>
> With CNN calling Georgia for Joe Biden, barring some kind of massive 11th-hour twist, the former vice president is projected to win the 2020 election with the same number of electoral college votes as Donald Trump won in 2016 — 306 to 232.

The supercut begins at about 2:05 of the 3:18 video.

Gosh! Do you think we’ll hear Trump congratulate Biden on HIS “massive landslide victory”…???

In the meantime, perhaps we can share other examples of how very sad we are about the way Trump and his crew of anti-democracy activists are reaping what they’ve sown…

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2 "2020-11-14T00:13:59Z")

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CNN article and video.

> **[Trump officials mocked Democrats in 2016 as 'sore losers' for not accepting...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/politics/kfile-trump-officials-2016-election-results/index.html)**
>
> Top Donald Trump campaign and White House officials continue to baselessly assert there was widespread election fraud in the 2020 election and refuse to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's victory, but four years ago, those close to Trump mocked...

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/3 "2020-11-14T00:54:10Z")

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Kellyanne Conway is really going to be unable to come up with a sizzle reel to show prospective employers—unless she’s applying for a job with Lies’R’Us, of course.

It was August when she announced her resignation from the White House. I can’t find any reports of her getting another job, or otherwise being occupied with anything. (Nor can I find anything to suggest her COVID-19-positive status is causing her serious health problems, about which I wouldn’t make jokes if it were the case.)

I suppose she doesn’t need money. George is still getting $$$ from the Lincoln Project, presumably. Not a schadenfreude example, but today George had a funny tweet about the newly-elected Alabama Senator who told us that World War II was all about fighting “socialism”:

> <https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1327374180765949952>

Back on the “schadenfreude” beat: I’m so sorry that the Alabama Senator has had to labor through life with his Potato-Town last name. Certainly no one deserves such a fate. Well, unless they try to claim that WWII GIs were in France to fight ‘socialists,’ anyway.

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/4 "2020-11-14T03:45:09Z")

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Tommy Tuberville ought to have stuck with football. He seems to be kind of… special otherwise. He seems to be the kind of person who when they talk about his state Senator term, they’ll be saying “Bless his heart” a lot also.

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**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/5 "2020-11-14T05:08:12Z")

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I would not be at all surprised if I found out that the Conway family was pitching a reality TV show.

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**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/6 "2020-11-14T16:01:43Z")

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> [@bump](#):
>
> Tommy Tuberville ought to have stuck with football. He seems to be kind of… special otherwise.

That’s kind of the reason he ran for office. He wasn’t going to get another football job. Or at least not a good one at a top program. And it looks like he knew it. From all reports, he was only able to go as long as he did as a big name coach by virtue of an unparalleled ability to kiss ass with university brass. His record at the last two schools he coached at was just bad with most of the success coming early with players his predecessors recruited.

For at least the last 15 years, if not more, he was, at best, an above average coach who had a couple decent seasons. I have no doubt he’d get another coaching job if he wanted, but it wouldn’t be at an Auburn or even a Cincinnati at this point. He’d be supremely lucky to get the gig at a bottom feeder Power 5 school.

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**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/7 "2020-11-14T18:18:43Z")

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> [@bump](#):
>
> Tommy Tuberville ought to have stuck with football. He seems to be kind of… special otherwise. He seems to be the kind of person who when they talk about his state Senator term, they’ll be saying “Bless his heart” a lot also.

As a resident of Mississippi, I have to say it’s kind of nice to see another state get its very own Cindy Hyde-Smith. Maybe they will fall in love and run away together!

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/8 "2020-11-14T19:53:55Z")

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> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> Gosh! Do you think we’ll hear Trump congratulate Biden on HIS “massive landslide victory”…???

More like “massive landslide of fraud”.

[/trumptalk]

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**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/9 "2020-11-14T20:27:49Z")

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Tuberville was the football coach at Texas Tech for a few miserable years, winning barely over half his games. Then [his wife allegedly killed someone in a DWI accident](http://www.dailytoreador.com/news/lubbock-police-unable-to-answer-questions-in-tuberville-case/article_01ecf930-6365-11e1-b6b0-001a4bcf6878.html) and he ran for the hills while the city and administration covered his retreat. Sure would be a shame if people talked about that more often.

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/10 "2020-11-14T23:46:52Z")

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> [@Max\_Torque](#):
>
> Tuberville was the football coach at Texas Tech for a few miserable years, winning barely over half his games. Then [his wife allegedly killed someone in a DWI accident](http://www.dailytoreador.com/news/lubbock-police-unable-to-answer-questions-in-tuberville-case/article_01ecf930-6365-11e1-b6b0-001a4bcf6878.html)

Without wanting to open a whole new can of schadenfreude–isn’t this the Laura Bush story, too? Maybe not in all particulars, but…

Anyway: yes, it would be a shame if all the negative things said about Senator Potato-Town were to be revisited often in the public square.

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/11 "2020-11-14T23:51:10Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> I would not be at all surprised if I found out that the Conway family was pitching a reality TV show.

I would not on any account bet against you on that. It’s as though George, Kellyanne, and at least that one daughter (there are four kids altogether) got together and gamed out the question “how can we _guarantee_ a reputation for providing maximum conflict?” Because reality TV, of course, is based on conflict.

George is frequently rather witty on Twitter, but that’s not enough to make me watch any such show. Sorry, Conways!

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**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/12 "2020-11-15T03:14:32Z")

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> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> Kellyanne Conway is really going to be unable to come up with a sizzle reel to show prospective employers—unless she’s applying for a job with Lies’R’Us, of course.

She and Baghdad Barbie can get together and start their own spin factory. Maybe call it Lyin’ Blondes? Though that actually sounds more like a band name …

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/13 "2020-11-15T03:34:23Z")

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> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> Kellyanne Conway is really going to be unable to come up with a sizzle reel to show prospective employers—unless she’s applying for a job with Lies’R’Us, of course.

I can assure you that liars like Kellyanne Conway will have no problem finding prime, well-paid jobs in the inevitable media bullshit-O-sphere that is about to explode on the scene. There is a huge audience of make-believer dupes who are just waiting to make themselves believe whatever bullshit Trump Inc. is going to be shoveling out.

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**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/14 "2020-11-15T08:57:39Z")

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I don’t know. Kellyanne and Baghad Barbie were enabled by Trump. Their only claim to fame was the ridiculous depths of dishonesty to which they were willing to sink. One can only hope that with Trump fading away, so will they. Lying is not a particularly valuable or unique skill, and especially not if you’re really bad at it, which they both are. Having no conscience or basic decency is not the same as being persuasive. But I may be underestimating the stupidity of some audiences.

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/15 "2020-11-15T09:27:15Z")

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Heck, Trump is incredibly bad at lying. He got put in the Oval Office. Maybe they’re still hoping for history to repeat.

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/16 "2020-11-15T09:46:14Z")

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I am not sure this is schadenfreude as the problem affects a lot of other people and not only the swampers, but reading [this](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v1.full.pdf) preprint (not peer reviewed yet) in medRxiv I see on page 8 that patients who have recovered from COVID have 8.5 lower IQs on average, which makes me wonder regarding tanTrump if it is possible to score a negative IQ.

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**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/17 "2020-11-15T11:58:15Z")

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One hopes the IQ loss is proportional, and the 8.5 point loss assumes an average IQ of 100. Trump’s IQ, computed according to historical methods, would be the ratio of his mental age of about 5 to his chronological age of 74, expressed as a percentage, yielding an IQ of not quite 7. If he lost 8.5 points, it would mean that a brick was literally smarter. This is likely false because although it probably applies to his supporters it doesn’t quite apply to him. In the con game that he plays, he is the apex predator and sole beneficiary of the con, while his supporters are the gullible marks. So he appears to still have an edge on them intellectually.

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**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/18 "2020-11-15T13:26:32Z")

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Or possibly people that aren’t that bright are less likely to mitigate their risk by doing stuff like wearing a mask?

Unreviewed preprints are a huge source of misinformation and disinformation, even. It’s easy to make them look good but despite the format, they can be almost meaningless.

Here’s my favorite, someone released it as an unreviewed preprint to prove this point.

> **[Article.pdf](https://www.mimiryudo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Article.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0IPCiYLiS2HQZfSMUWkD6yHMFs1qaWeAQJoV-Kyb0DoyjREMNeq0kuSDA)**
>
> 316.14 KB

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/19 "2020-11-15T13:53:55Z")

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Yes, your thesis about the stupidity as precondition has some merits, but is refuted in the article itself, and while your article is not bad as a satire, you surely must admit that the list of authors:  
Willard Oodendijk1\*, Michaël Rochoy2, Valentin Ruggeri3, Florian Cova4, Didier Lembrouille5, Sylvano Trottinetta6, Otter F. Hantome7, Nemo Macron8 and Manis Javanica9  
1 Belgian Institute of Technology and Education (BITE), Couillet, Belgium. 2 General Practitioner and Independent Seeker of Science, Ankh, Morpork, France. 3 Observatoire of Zététique, Grenoble, France. 4 Institute for Quick and Dirty Science, Neuneuchâtel, Switzerland. 5 Département de Médecine Nucléaire Compliante de la SFR, île de Guyane, France. 6 Collectif Laissons les Vendeurs de Trottinette Prescrire, France. 7 University of Melon, Melon, France. 8  
Palais de l’Élysée, Paris, France. 9 Institute of Chiropteran Studies, East Timor

is not really in the same league as:

Adam Hampshire1\*, William Trender1, Samuel R Chamberlain2,3, Amy Jolly1, Jon E. Grant4, Fiona Patrick5, Ndaba Mazibuko5, Steve Williams5, Joseph M Barnby5, Peter Hellyer1,5, Mitul A Mehta5  
Affiliations:  
1 Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, UK  
2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Southampton, UK  
3 Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK  
4 Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, USA  
5 Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, UK  
\*Corresponding author. Dr Adam Hampshire Computational, Cognitive & Clinical  
Neuroimaging Laboratory, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, E315A  
Burlington Danes Building, Hammersmith Hospital, DuCane Road, London, W120NN UK

with all due respect to Chiropteran Studies performed in East Timor

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/20 "2020-11-15T14:02:42Z")

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I am trying to picture a one trick pony as an apex predator. The effort is making my head spin.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537.md?page=2)
