1. Geraldo Rivera is an Ethics Dunce (but we knew that). Geraldo actually tweeted this nonsense: “Biden pardoning Trump-the way Ford pardoned Nixon- IS a good idea. This clemency to include inciting the violence of January 6th, the Mar-a-Lago documents case & any other federal allegation. Clemency would require a pledge by Trump that he will no longer seek the presidency.”

Ugh. A quid pro quo pardon is called a “bribe.” This one would be even more direct than when Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive Marc Rich in exchange for Rich’s ex-wife giving a fortune to Bill’s library. In addition, the metaphorical ship has sailed as far as Biden pardoning Trump is concerned. The time to do it—and I once thought that it would be a unifying and wise move by Biden—was before any indictments or court decisions came down. Now, such an action would be widely regarded as government elites agreeing across party lines to place themselves above the law.

But it’s the bribery aspect of Rivera’s recommendation that is shocking. He’s a lawyer, and he can’t see what’s wrong with a President saying, for public consumption, to his main political rival, “I’ll protect you from prosecution if you give me a free ride to re-election”? Geraldo’s an idiot. Such a stupid and ignorant opinion should disqualify him as a pundit or a reporter, and would, if Fox News had standards and integrity.

2. If Teddy Roosevelt was “about 6,” then Donald Trump is about 4. “You must always remember,” a British diplomat once said of Theodore Roosevelt, “that the President is about six.” The childlike quality of Teddy was part of his charm, but also got him in trouble when his emotions overrode his good sense. He was never, however, as consistently and frighteningly as juvenile and petty as Donald Trump.

Of all people to go after, Trump attacked Kayleigh McEnany on Truth Social because she cited 2024 Republican primary poll numbers that Trump didn’t like during a recent appearance on Fox News, where she is now a co-host of “Outnumbered.”

“Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews,” Trump wrote. (He misspelled “milquetoast,” not that the average Trump nut would notice or care) “I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. Fox News should only use REAL Stars!!!”

Trump’s fragile ego has always been absurdly focused on things like TV ratings and poll numbers, which itself is a sign of a trivial nature and warped priorities. But assailing one of his standout staff members while he was President—McEnany was by far the quickest, most articulate and effective of his White House’s paid liars—represents the height of ingratitude and disloyalty from a man who claims to value loyalty highly. Who cares, in May of 2023, whether some poll has him 34 or 25 points ahead of Gov. DeSantis? That’s no justification for denigrating a subordinate who served him well, and doing so is just one more piece in a mountain of evidence demonstrating how irrational and impulsive this jerk is.

Many conservatives and past supporters of the ex-President expressed disgust, including Fox’s Brian Kilmeade, Brit Hume, Chad Prather, former Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis and others. Trump is widely seen as immune from alienating his core supporters, but every episode like this one, major or minor, strips the gauze from the eyes of a few more one-time admirers. Trump’s great strength is that he, as the saying goes, “lets it all hang out”; his greatest weakness is that what he’s hanging out is so often repulsive, revealing a deeply flawed and untrustworthy human being.