It’s Been a Long Year, and We’re Just Halfway

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I did little to mark the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, except to avoid the heat and occasionally reflect on where we are as a nation. President Orange Skin’s ham-handed takeover of our nation’s celebration only depressed and disgusted me. Seriously, a UFC cage fight on the South Lawn of the White House, dubbed Freedom 250? That grotesque spectacle reportedly cost $60 million, with taxpayers footing much of the tab.

The cage fight prompted me to try to catalog the crimes, corruption, grift, and stupid decisions made by this administration in the first half of this year. This would have been overwhelming without the help of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, an influential humor and satire website that has been around since 1998. Early in the first term of POS, McSweeney’s editors began cataloging “the head-spinning numbers of misdeeds coming from his administration.”

McSweeney’s relies on donations and subscribers to survive while also publishing a print edition and various books. I plan to become a Patreon member forthwith. As corporate media inexorably taints some of our most vaunted outlets (re: CBS-Paramount), I look for independent media companies to support, such as Crooked Media, publisher of Pod Save America and Runaway Country, two podcasts I listen to while mowing or bushhogging. (They also have YouTube channels, but that takes up more of my time than I am willing to give.) McSweeney’s is now on my radar.

So, with the invaluable assistance of McSweeney’s Catalog of Trump’s Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes, what follows is a partial catalog of the horrors committed in the first six months of 2026. To quote McSweeney’s: Lest we forget.

• U.S. military forces kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. This follows deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that amount to cold-blooded murder. Maduro was a horrible leader, no dispute. The administration left the rest of his regime in place, elevating Maduro’s vice president to the top spot. POS in a Truth Social post portrayed himself as “Acting President of Venezuela.”
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth began legal proceedings against U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly in a failed attempt to demote Kelly’s military retirement rank and cut his pension. This was in response to Kelly and other members of Congress who served in the military posting a video reminding service members that they can — and should — refuse illegal military orders.

Hegseth is spectacularly unfit to be defense secretary. Pistol Pete recited a “prayer” during a Pentagon worship service that was actually dialogue from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Along with much of America, I cringe every time he opens his mouth.

• ICE invaded Minneapolis in early January, with an agent killing Renée Nicole Good. Video proved she was attempting to drive away from the agent when shot through the windshield. A few weeks later, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a VA nurse, was shot 10 times in less than five seconds. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others lied, claiming he had “violently resisted officers.” Pretti had a license to carry a gun and had one. However, he never drew or brandished his gun before being killed.

ICE raids continue apace. In Texas, during a one-year period, a plurality of those arrested had no criminal convictions or pending charges. So much for arresting only the “worst of the worst.”

• POS renewed his claim that the United States should own Greenland or take it by force if necessary, prompting Denmark, which “controls” Greenland, to send more soldiers there, along with seven other European members of NATO. Still steamed about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, POS sent a note to the Norwegian Prime Minister, writing in part, “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace… The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

Things to note. Norway is not Denmark. Different countries, geographically close to each other. And the Norwegian government has no say over who wins the Nobel Peace Prize. It is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. (All other Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden under a similar structure. Denmark awards no Nobel Prizes.)

• POS’s name appears thousands of times in the files of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. About half of the files remain unreleased, despite Congress ordering their release. I figure that distracting from this potential time bomb accounts for most of the goofy stuff POS is doing, like bombing Iran and announcing plans to build an Arch de Trump.
• A member of the Emirati family invested $500 million in the POS’s family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Just last week, his annual financial disclosure revealed he earned at least $2.2 billion in 2025, more than half of which came from crypto. Nothing to see here from our Grifter in Chief!
• POS posts a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight. He later posts an AI image depicting him as a Jesus-like figure healing a bearded man who resembles comedy show host Jon Stewart. POS later claims he thought he was being portrayed as a doctor, though he removes the post. Someone needs to take ChatGPT, or whatever he is using — or having an aide use — away from that man.
• At the end of February, POS announced on social media that the U.S. and Israel had attacked Iran. He didn’t bother to inform Congress or the public beyond that, opting instead to attend a high-dollar fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago. To date, the attack has left Iran now controlling the previously free Strait of Hormuz, recovering billions of dollars that had been frozen, and ruled by an even more extreme hard-liner. Thirteen American soldiers have died, and more than 3,000 Iranians — including 175 children when a missile hit a school — have been killed as well. The war has cost anywhere from $29 billion to $40 billion, gas prices have skyrocketed, and Iran still has its uranium “dust.”

I am confident this will go down as the Stupidest F—Ing War in American History.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is fired after the debacle in Minneapolis and spending $220 million for an ad campaign that featured, among other things, her on horseback in front of Mount Rushmore.
• Trump has the East Wing of the White House demolished, essentially without consulting anyone, and plans to build a ballroom. After originally claiming it would be paid for entirely by private donors, the price tag as of March was $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers. A truly “Let them eat cake moment.”
• POS adds his name to the Kennedy Center; performers drop out by the wheelbarrow load; he announces it is closing for renovation; a judge orders his name removed, which is duly done, while a giant tarp and scaffolding continue to cover the façade.
• The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool receives a $15 million restoration under a no-bid contract. POS selects “American flag blue.” After the “restoration,” algae blooms cover the pool, and the “waterproof” lining begins peeling from the bottom. POS blames vandals, and workers pour hydrogen peroxide by the gallon into the pool. A duck dies.

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In our spacious front yard, a huge dead water oak stands, its skeletal branches reaching skyward. An American flag hangs limply from a tall pole about 30 feet away. The tree poses no danger to our house or the flagpole. I am waiting for my tree guy to take down the dead water oak. For now, that dead tree beside the American flag is an apt metaphor for how I feel about the present state of affairs.

But then there’s the World Cup. Seeing tens of thousands of people in our country and in those of our neighbors to the north and south, celebrating by going to Bu-cee’s, Scottish fans drinking Boston pubs dry, people draped in the flags of their native countries, and the sheer joy of it. The World Cup lifts my spirits in this semiquincentennial summer. (POS even tried to mess with my jam by persuading the corrupt leader of FIFA to lift a red card on USA’s Folarin Balogun just before their match against Belgium, which they lost 4-1. He didn’t deserve the red card, but I resent the overt interference.)

I consider Benjamin Franklin one of our greatest Americans, and lately I have been thinking about the quote attributed to him when asked whether this new country was a republic or a monarchy. “A republic if you can keep it,” he replied.

We have managed to do so for 250 years. Most days, I think we will continue to do so. But this republic has been badly damaged by a narcissistic tyrant who cares only about enriching himself, his family, and his cronies.

And we are only halfway through the second year of his term. God help us.

(Note: If you want to read an exhaustive list of the cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes committed by this administration, check out McSweeney’s here.)

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