By Bob Gaydos

Donald Trump and wife, Melania, stuck on the escalator at the UN.

  By now, you’ve seen, read or heard about Trump’s humiliating address at the United Nations. Humiliating, that is, if you are an American who is not a member of the MAGA cult. It was an utter embarrassment, of course, except for Trump, who is beyond such feelings.

      If you’ve somehow been spared the details, let me sum it up by saying Trump bragged about stopping seven or eight or nine wars, many of which he made up, some of which are still raging and the rest in which participants said he had nothing to do with. He basically told members of the United Nations, an organization formed to promote peace and liberty throughout the world, that they have failed miserably at their mission. On the other hand, he said he has been right about everything. Everything. Some might consider it to be in especially bad taste for the U.N.’s host nation and, indeed, the host city, to be the scene for such an unhinged performance.

    Perfectly encapsulating the absurdity of the moment, the escalator stopped as Trump was ascending into the U.N. building and his teleprompter stopped as he was about to give his “address.” He blamed Democrats. But his personal mental escalator stopped working years ago and he’s never been able to give any kind of speech without rambling off into fantasy, ignoring the teleprompter. Which is exactly what he did.

    Now, Trump being Trump and embarrassing millions of Americans by saying utterly inane things is not new. But consider having to stand behind and support the things Trump says. It might be challenging, especially if it’s your first day on the job, even if you’re a Green Beret. Which is what it was for Mike Waltz, who, by the way, is the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

   Waltz’s nomination was approved by the Senate just five days before the U.N. General Assembly meeting. Until that time, the U.S. had no ambassador to the U.N., just someone acting in that capacity, like the rest of Trump’s cabinet. Waltz, the former national security advisor to Trump, is indeed a Green Beret. Also, an author and former contributor to, yes, Fox News. No background in diplomacy. Nothing surprising here. Except that he probably preferred being the national security advisor, where all the action is, rather than trying to learn diplomacy on the job with the nations of the world after they’ve all been insulted to their faces by his boss. On the other hand, he did volunteer for the mission.

   On the other other hand, consider the plight of Elise Stefanik, congresswoman from upstate New York, who was supposed to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. He nominated her soon after he took office. A reward for loyalty. Then, waiting for her confirmation by the Senate, Republicans put their heads together and figured out that, with the slim margin they held in the House of Representatives, putting Stefanik to work at the U.N. would mean a special election in New York for an open congressional seat and apparently they weren’t so sure a Republican would win. At least they weren’t willing to risk making their margin slimmer.

    So Trump said, sorry Elise, thank you for your loyalty and I’m going to ask you to stay where you are. Where she was was having conducted a farewell tour of her district and having lost her leadership position among House Republicans while awaiting confirmation to be U.N. ambassador. So, no ambassadorship and no leadership position. But at least Stefanik was spared having to deal with Trump’s rambling incoherently the other day, you say.

    Yes, but there’s more. The real story is that she has apparently moved on beyond waiting for her Republican masters in both houses to decide her fate. Stefanik recently put her townhouse in Washington, D.C., up for sale at a little over $2 million. You don’t do that if you’re planning on staying in town.

    Indeed, New York Republican State Chairman Ed Cox said recently that Stefanik will formally launch her campaign for governor soon after November’s elections.

   That would probably put her in a race next year against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to be a favorite to win in usually Democratic New York. But, it will also open Stefanik’s House seat for election of a new member since she can’t run for both offices at the same time. And yes, ironically, with Trump‘s approval rating dropping faster than Disney’s after it clumsily muzzled Jimmy Kimmel, retaining Stefanik‘s House seat, even in conservative upstate New York, will now be even more difficult for nervous Republicans. 

    One could say that’s what you deserve for even getting on the escalator with Donald Trump.

***

PS: The U.N. says  Trump’s White House photographer  stepped on a safety button causing the escalator to stop.  Also, White House staff members were in charge of operating the Teleprompter. But, you know, leftists.

By Bob Gaydos

Aaron Rodgers and Donald Trump, birds of a feather?

     Sometimes you can’t win for trying.

      If you’re a regular reader of my column (and thank you for that), you probably noticed I’ve taken a break from politics the last few posts. It was deliberate. A need to get centered and focused on what’s important in life before engaging, slowly, with the current … umm reality.

      But wouldn’t you know it, just as I decided it was time to tackle the litany of “in your face” spite appointments emanating from Mar-a-Lago, one of the most gratuitous Trump insults to the rule of law and the Constitution decided for himself (maybe) that there’s such a thing as being too cocky. Especially when there’s mounting evidence that you participated in a large sex trafficking ring, which apparently included an underage female and you also happen to be a member of Congress.

    Matt Gaetz will not be the next attorney general of the United States of America. He withdrew his name from consideration for the post, even though Republicans on the House Ethics Committee tried to keep him in the game by refusing to release their report on Gaetz’s activities.

      The stuff will all come out, but Gaetz, thankfully, is gone from Congress, having resigned soon after Trump named him as Attorney General pick. It was probably just a way to kill the report, but, also good news, too many Senate Republicans were having trouble swallowing Gaetz, even for their exalted leader. Checks and balances, anyone?

     So, good riddance to Gaetz and thank you for unintended consequences.

     This, of course, leaves a spoiled fish stew of other appointments and nominations announced by Team Trump to help run the country for four years without running it into bankruptcy or court, like virtually all other activities involving Trump.

       Bubbling to the top of this pot are worm brain, anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be Health Secretary and TV crackpot Dr. Mehmet Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid.

  Close behind is Fox TV personality Pete Hegseth, as Defense Secretary, apparently because he once served in the military and stands accused of doping a woman’s drink to have sex with her (some call this rape), which refers back to the Gaetz qualifications for Trump’s Cabinet.

    Toss in a fracking company exec for Energy Secretary and a drill baby drill guy for Interior and you know where this is going. Lots of back-scratching and little concern for the future of the planet or the people.

      For now, also throw in a choice for Education Secretary who said she was a teacher, but wasn’t, but did run a professional wrestling business and donated millions to Trump’s campaign and a U.N. Ambassador who has no diplomatic experience but totally switched her political philosophy when Trump hijacked the GOP.

      It remains to be seen where Republicans in the Senate draw the line on Trump’s choices, if anywhere, but I’m hopeful that MAGA’s history of incompetence holds true and becomes evident to a lot more Americans.

     As a former sports editor, one of the things I turned to in my brief hiatus was the NFL season, such as it is in New York. If you want a non-political example of MAGA incompetence, take the New York Jets. Please, as Henny Youngman used to say.

      Their owner, Woody Johnson (Johnson & Johnson) is a big Trumper. He was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the United Kingdom in Trump’s first term and is looking for a repeat. Maybe he just wants to get out of town.

      Johnson thought he would improve his football team by insisting on paying big money to hire Aaron Rodgers, a 40-year-old quarterback who refused to be vaccinated against Covid, doubted the Sandy Hook School shootings and 9/11 attacks were truthfully reported and felt strongly both ways on abortion. He was critical of Trump, but questioned the results of the 2020 election and had the same Trumpian tendency to make stuff up. RFK Jr. considered Rodgers as a vice presidential running mate before jumping to Trump.

      Well, Jets fans know how that Rodgers decision worked out. In a disastrous season, Johnson fired the coach and general manager because, well, quarterback Rodgers may have shared some political views with Johnson, but he couldn’t connect often enough with his receivers. Out of touch and out of step. Time for a new quarterback. 

     If that’s a metaphor for MAGA, I hope all the rest of us USA fans can simply survive through a losing season and, like Jets fans, let ‘em know it’s time to draft a new quarterback.

      Heck, maybe everything is politics.