# How has Former President Trump pissed you off today? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 20, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640 "2017-01-20T17:21:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 80
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1581 "2017-08-11T03:16:28Z")
“I want to thank him because we’re trying to cut down on payroll, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll. There’s no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we’ve been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We’ll save a lot of money.” -[del]Neville Chamberlain[/del]Donald Trump ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1582 "2017-08-11T05:50:01Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Trump _thanked_ Putin for forcing out U.S. diplomats in Russia because now (wait for it) we have a smaller payroll: [Trump thanks Russia's Putin for slashing US diplomatic staff](https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/08/10/trump-thanks-russias-putin-for-slashing-us-diplomatic-staff/23074145/) Tillerson should be furious. Trump has pissed off the CIA, the FBI, and now the entire fucking State Department. Every last employee must be just steaming. I actually think this is worse than the “fire and fury” comment, which you can write off as stupid bluster. But this has to very seriously tank moral throughout the entire department. Tillers should either resign, or sit Trump down and bitch slap\* the fucker right in front of the Secret Service. No Cabinet Head should take that from a president. \*figurative, of course. Not that we would threaten the president with violence… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1583 "2017-08-11T06:02:58Z")
North Korea: You will suffer something even worse that something the world has never seen before. Russia: Thanks for saving us some money, Vlad. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1584 "2017-08-11T06:08:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Do you ever wish you’d just picked a short name and stuck with it? **Nava Garcia** or \*\*Maria Nava \*\*has a nice ring… > > (says the guy who has only twice had a clerk spell his last name correctly… I even tried to change to my wife’s when we got married, but she was sick of hers and apparently wanted the Drama of Descriptive Dyslexia…) Your wife is a masochist. When my friends in English-speaking countries tried to hook me up with friends of theirs, I always asked “does he have an easy lastname? Brown or Smith, or something like that… it’s not a requirement, but it would be a plus.” > [@Czarcasm](#): > > “I want to thank him because we’re trying to cut down on payroll, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll. There’s no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we’ve been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We’ll save a lot of money.” > -[del]Neville Chamberlain[/del]Donald Trump Oh, I see, so the reason you guys currently don’t have ambassadors to half the planet is cost saving measures. Small government, right? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1585 "2017-08-11T07:05:35Z")
I guess we should be glad Trump didn’t thank Al Qaeda for reducing the military payroll when CPO William Owens was killed last January. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1586 "2017-08-11T22:07:54Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I realize that in the big scheme of things it’s not even “first world problems”, but I’ve received a hook for a job that would involve traveling to the US and this time “I don’t know if they’ll let me back into the country” isn’t a tired old joke, it’s an actual fear. And it’s thanks to the Cheeto and his love of barking. He’d love that tiny handbag dog whose noise is larger than a St. Bernard, so long as the itty bitty misbehaved canine scrap was yapping at someone else. > > Can we take your Deplorables and the ones in my neighborhood and take them on a tour of Atlantis or something? I’m Sicilian, and I know my way around cement, if ya know what I mean. Fahgaddabouddit. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1587 "2017-08-11T22:09:18Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Trump _thanked_ Putin for forcing out U.S. diplomats in Russia because now (wait for it) we have a smaller payroll: [Trump thanks Russia's Putin for slashing US diplomatic staff](https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/08/10/trump-thanks-russias-putin-for-slashing-us-diplomatic-staff/23074145/) We’ve also lost a very (used to be) useful intel source now. Derp. ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1588 "2017-08-11T22:14:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Trump _thanked_ Putin for forcing out U.S. diplomats in Russia because now (wait for it) we have a smaller payroll So Putin can fire workers of US government ? Interesting… ---
**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:** [August 11, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1589 "2017-08-11T22:36:29Z")
> [@SaneBill](#): > > So Putin can fire workers of US government ? Interesting… No, he can throw out of the country representatives of another country. It’s Trump who somehow thinks the workers were fired and was happy about it reducing the budget. Or, as he claimed, it was a joke at the expense of government workers. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1590 "2017-08-11T23:38:50Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > No, he can throw out of the country representatives of another country. > > It’s Trump who somehow thinks the workers were fired and was happy about it reducing the budget. > Or, as he claimed, it was a joke at the expense of government workers. Der Trumpster doesn’t seem to realize that they may have been sent home, but they’re still on the payroll. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1591 "2017-08-11T23:47:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Der Trumpster doesn’t seem to realize that they may have been sent home, but they’re still on the payroll. Well, not that I wish to defend the worst person in government office in US history, but if those State Department employees are not overseas, then they no longer draw the station allowances for being overseas. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1592 "2017-08-12T00:02:18Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I’m Sicilian, and I know my way around cement, if ya know what I mean. Fahgaddabouddit. _heavy sigh_ While I’m only 1/2 Sicilian (father’s side), I’m a Queen’s native and live just north of Ozone Park/Howard Beach (Gotti’s stomping ground). Not only do I know about cement, I know how to pronounce “[Fuhgeddaboudit](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5094/5483202296_c8969ab165_b.jpg)”\* 🆒 \*Yes, that _was_ the actual sign one encountered eastbound on the Belt Parkway when crossing from Brooklyn into Queens for most of Mayor Bloomberg’s term. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1593 "2017-08-12T00:43:28Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Well, not that I wish to defend the worst person in government office in US history, but if those State Department employees are not overseas, then they no longer draw the station allowances for being overseas. So you’re saying they aren’t getting paychecks at all anymore? What are 'station allowances for being overseas"? Is that something in addition to a salary? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1594 "2017-08-12T01:16:57Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So you’re saying they aren’t getting paychecks at all anymore? What are 'station allowances for being overseas"? Is that something in addition to a salary? Station [allowances](https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/31361.htm) are any of several types of additional pay for service posted overseas. This would be pay above base salary. There are quite a variety, from housing to danger pay and even just for those positions hard to fill. I suspect that for some reason the State Department just doesn’t have as many applicants for a position in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as one in Paris, France. Go figure. :rolleyes: I’m not sure how fast an employee would lose allowances if they are kicked out in a diplomatic scuffle like those leaving Moscow now. But ostensibly many of those allowances are only payable for time in service while overseas. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1595 "2017-08-12T02:20:48Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > _heavy sigh_ > > While I’m only 1/2 Sicilian (father’s side), I’m a Queen’s native and live just north of Ozone Park/Howard Beach (Gotti’s stomping ground). Not only do I know about cement, I know how to pronounce “[Fuhgeddaboudit](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5094/5483202296_c8969ab165_b.jpg)”\* > > 🆒 > > \*Yes, that _was_ the actual sign one encountered eastbound on the Belt Parkway when crossing from Brooklyn into Queens for most of Mayor Bloomberg’s term. No way!!! I’m from Bayside Queens! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1596 "2017-08-12T03:01:17Z")
There is always a [twitter comment](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/258575681275965440) comment that he once made that is deliciously ironic in retrospect: “Polls are starting to look really bad for Obama. Looks like he’ll have to start a war or major conflict to win. Don’t put it past him!” ---
**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:** [August 12, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1597 "2017-08-12T04:54:34Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So you’re saying they aren’t getting paychecks at all anymore? What are 'station allowances for being overseas"? Is that something in addition to a salary? I said nothing about losing paychecks. > [@Iggy](#): > > Station [allowances](https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/31361.htm) are any of several types of additional pay for service posted overseas. This would be pay above base salary. There are quite a variety, from housing to danger pay and even just for those positions hard to fill. > > I suspect that for some reason the State Department just doesn’t have as many applicants for a position in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as one in Paris, France. Go figure. :rolleyes: > > I’m not sure how fast an employee would lose allowances if they are kicked out in a diplomatic scuffle like those leaving Moscow now. But ostensibly many of those allowances are only payable for time in service while overseas. Station allowances and other special pays are contingent on being on station where those allowances/special pays apply. Some are computed and paid for whole months even if the employee is on station for part of a month; others are computed on a daily basis and paid at the end of the month. The employee would lose eligibility for those allowances/special pays immediately. The bible for these allowances is tbe Joint Federal Travel Regulations. You can search for that online, but be aware that they’re usually posted as PDFs. There are other special pays, depending on the agency, but those are also determined by law. The number of positions available is not dependent on the panache, if you will, of the location, but rather the mission involved. The more extensive the mission, the more positions. What this whole latest debacle shows is that by running off at the mouth, Trump was not and is not joking; he is, as he has always been and always will be, a joke. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1598 "2017-08-12T13:20:05Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I said nothing about losing paychecks. > … The point is that Trump made the remark that Putin saved us a bunch of money by sending these people home. I said, “Trump doesn’t seem to realize that they are still on the payroll.” Ok, they have lost or will lose _extra pay_, but they are still on the payroll, so his comment is the usual Trump stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1599 "2017-08-12T16:30:52Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > With a list of more than 20 “aliases” (most of them rapes of my name) and a complicated name whose spelling in my passport has changed since the last time. Oh, and a cousin who once wasn’t allowed into the US for being Hispanic, female and single. Use this name… hkwjedkjsdhjiewyriwoejk%@!^nwsehy32%#gdfyweuiru3wffhefewriweri% and pronounce it “Smith” Then tell them you’re Welsh 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640/1600 "2017-08-12T20:43:15Z")
_The New Yorker_’s TV critic Emily Nussbaum recently wrote a great [article](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/31/the-tv-that-created-donald-trump) about the media ascendancy of President At-One-Time-Was-The-Best-Ballplayer-In-New-York, and particularly his galumphing his way through _The Apprentice_. tl:dr? Possibly, but also paywalled, which is why I decided to quote extensively from her article (with the odd comment on something bolded), which I thought drew some bang-on parallels between that stupid fucking shit-show which I’ve never bothered to watch a single fucking minute of, and, well, that stupid fucking shit-show that is now his pre…pre…pres…::coughing up a little barf::…presi-::GAG!!!:: ok, I can’t…I just can’t.☹ :o 🙂 > [@](#): > > Many compared [Trump’s fellatial June 12th cabinet meeting] to something out of North Korea. But it was also a near-replica of a production closer to home. It’s become a wearying, ugly observation, a media truism at once superficial and deep: if “The Apprentice” didn’t get Trump elected, it is surely what made him electable. Over fourteen seasons, the television producer Mark Burnett helped turn the Donald Trump of the late nineties—the disgraced huckster who had trashed Atlantic City; a tabloid pariah to whom no bank would lend—into a titan of industry, nationally admired for being, in his own words, “the highest-quality brand.” **And here we were again, at the boardroom table, listening to the compliments to the boss, suspended in that eerie, unstable blend of improvisation and scripting.** It was enough to make a television critic nostalgic. As I amended earlier in the quote - obsequiousness never looked so…winning? > [@](#): > > Then he casts Trump in a fresh light, years before the 2016 campaign. **Trump, Burnett explains, struck him as “a real American maverick tycoon.” Donald “will say whatever he wants.” He “takes no prisoners. If you’re Donald’s friend, he’ll defend you all day long. If you’re not, he’s going to kill you.** And that’s very American. He’s like the guys who built the West. America is the one country that supports the entire world—because of guys like Donald, who create jobs and a tax base that can support the entire planet.” That’s what “The Apprentice” means to him, the producer concludes, with a grin: it’s “a love letter from me to America, and to New York City, because we chose New York City, about what makes America great.” Not sure about the “fresh light” part, considering he’s always been a redonkulous diarraheagibbon more or less from the get-go, however saying whatever he wants certainly hasn’t worked too badly for him so far. Wow wouldn’t it be awesome having reckless carte blanche like that? > [@](#): > > By the turn of this century, in the eyes of New Yorkers, all that remained of the once powerful developer was his logo. This was when he began to reinvent himself as a star in new genres: reality television, pro wrestling, and cable news, particularly Fox News. These combative art forms suited his style—flamboyant and vaudevillian. When Trump first entered TV, the entire medium had been dismissed as junk. Now, even as critics were swooning over the artistry of cable drama, Trump swerved deeper, into stranger regions, straight into the types of television that nobody took seriously, the ones dismissed as guilty pleasures. > [@](#): > > Rewatching “The Apprentice” more than a decade later, it’s easy to see why it struck a chord. **Glossy and upbeat, the show, which débuted after 9/11 but before the economic collapse, introduced itself as a stirring advertisement for Wall Street as a meritocracy.** Each episode opens with the earworm “For the Love of Money,” by the O’Jays, with its “moneymoneymoneymoney” groove: “Talk about cash money! / Dollar bills, y’all . . . For that lean lean lean mean green / Almighty dollar.” The credits feature a dazzling, supersaturated montage of Manhattan, studded with Trump logos, along with cabs, clocks, sped-up clouds. The names of contestants glide by, in neon, formatted as Wall Street tickers. In the voice-over that begins the pilot, **Trump recasts his failures as triumphs: “I fought back and won—big league. I used my brain. I used my negotiating skills.” Now he will teach us to do the same.** Nothing like ingratiating oneself as much as disgustingly possible to the moneyed ones - could come in handy down the road! And good to see that the usage of his brain helped facilitate all those negotiation skilzzz! > [@](#): > > **Trump determines who has a “lousy personality” and who “is not very well liked”** —this comes up most often with women, especially in the show’s final rounds. He can be crude. “This suit is really gross,” he says, dangling a skimpy bathing suit, designed by a black gay contestant. Further cementing the template for преЦАРдент Trump’s vileness with grandstanding ostracism/sniping tactics. I’m sure the Mooch took note. Do I really need to get started on his treatment of women and minorities? > [@](#): > > After Season 1, the ratings began to drop. Each year, Trump obsessed over and lied about them, needling reporters who cited them. Even during the 2004 Paley panel, which took place just over a week into the second season, Trump complained that the show’s launch did better because in January “everyone was watching TV,” whereas, in September, “everyone was playing golf.” As cable began its ascent, Trump clung tightly to network values: quality measured only by ad dollars and Nielsen ratings. Already a skewed obsession with numbers, lying about them, and sniping back at reporters, along with the retarded irony of whining about everyone playing golf. > [@](#): > > In the fifth season of “The Apprentice,” Ivanka Trump chastises a contestant for bearing grudges. Trump cuts her off: “Who doesn’t! I do. **Nobody takes things more personally than me. When somebody says something personal about me, I hate them for the rest of my life.** It’s probably wrong, but I hate people.” He pauses. “Do you understand that? I hate ’em. . . . I never recover from it.” Well nooooooooo shit, huh? Thanks, Captain Obvious. (Or, might stop hating them again if they become of use to him again.) > [@](#): > > The sixth season jumped to Los Angeles, where each week’s winning team (the Haves) lived in a mansion and the losers (the Have-nots) in a “tent city.” Each year, the challenges got less creative; often, contestants were simply deputized to promote a sponsor. Trump seemed crankier and nastier. **He more frequently called people “losers,” “quitters,” “pathetic.”** More of those wonderful epithets to come. > [@](#): > > And there was “Lady or a Tramp,” a Fox series in which “rude and crude” party girls were sent to finishing school—a concept that, over two years, morphed into the Britishized show “The Girls of Hedsor Hall.” The host was Tara Conner, a former Miss USA, to whom Trump had given a second chance after she broke pageant rules. The comedian Rosie O’Donnell accused him of hypocrisy—who was the womanizing Trump to judge? **During a press conference for the show, in 2009, Trump spun the incident into a crass rant, speculating about O’Donnell’s motivations:** “Tara, I hate to tell you this, for reasons you don’t want to know about, but Rosie would have given you a second, third, and fourth chance, O.K.? Not _The Apprentice_, but we see his 180 degree spin tactics coming into play. > [@](#): > > Trump might have forged a different path on television, as a libidinous Barnum. Instead, in 2007, just before the economy crashed, NBC revived his old show as “The Celebrity Apprentice.” The reboot was glitzier, more circus-like. The ensemble now comprised C-level celebrities: wrestlers and lesser-known country singers; piggish guys like the rock star Gene Simmons, who bonded with Trump over women; and various others, among them the singer Cyndi Lauper, the athlete Darryl Strawberry, and the disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Getting cruder, crasser…devolving further into the shit-pig we all know and love him for. > [@](#): > > In 2004, the top Emmy winners were “Arrested Development” and “The Sopranos”—two brilliant series that were, coincidentally, about rich criminal families. For television critics, it was a triumphant year. **But Trump had a rougher sense of the medium’s power: he knew that numbers were what counted. He would go on to win an election fuelled by class rage and racial fury; but he also won because he’d starred in a show in which high-school-educated small-town white men cheerfully vied with big-city black female lawyers.** If you can have it both ways, you can have everything. > [@](#): > > In 2015, NBC fired Trump. By that time, he’d been an Obama-baiting birther for four years, but his comments about Mexican rapists went too far. He’d alienated black and Latino viewers. **For others, the spell was cast: many of his biggest fans would continue to see him through the filter of Burnett’s TV hit, no matter what Trump said or did. By 2017, the [leftist, sad] media was his enemy.** That included his old friend Jeff Zucker, who was now the president of CNN. One day, the President tweeted old footage from “The Battle of the Billionaires,” repurposed as a bizarre meme. A CNN logo was superimposed on McMahon’s head as Trump pummelled him Those “others”, of course, are a demographic I’m not too impressed with right now. As someone else said, he could shoot a baby in the face, declare martial law that everyone has to wear their gaunch on the outside, and change the constitution so that he can stay in power until he dies, and his hardcore base would be fine and dandy with it. Hopefully the “media” amendment was noticed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640.md?page=79) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/777640.md?page=81)