Ugh.
President Trump posted an AI-generated video last week that showed him chasing, tackling and befriending a Siberian tiger, obviously inspired by the horrible incident at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, England where a mentally disturbed young man, William Chapman, entered a tiger enclosure and was mauled to death. Trump posted the fake video, which was accompanied by The Tokens classic, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
That might be excusable for a junior high school student today, but since a man died in the tragedy it should be obvious to anyone at least as mature as Ralph Malph that the video is in terrible taste, and would be even for a sanitation worker. This is the President of the United States posting such junk, however. I don’t care if it’s “trolling,” or if it’s ‘just a joke,” no American can feel secure and confident about the leader of their nation when he acts like that.
What’s wrong with him? Whatever it is, it’s been wrong with him for a long time, and he’s clearly not going to get over it. The same instinct that served Trump well when he did his McDonald’s bit during the campaign undermines his authority, trust and support when he slips down several notches to this, having fun with a the death of a troubled man. I’ve been trying to imagine any previous POTUS who, given the technology, would behave similarly in his most rash and irresponsible moments. There isn’t one. Reagan, Lyndon Johnson and even Calvin Coolidge were known to play practical jokes on friends and staffers. Silent Cal was fond of pressing his desk buzzer to summon Secret Service agents and then hiding under his desk. But none of them would think posting the tiger video was wise, or anything but harmful to both the office and Trump’s policy agenda.
I’ll take this opportunity to comment on the “No Kings” protests yesterday. Several friends posted photos of themselves, family members and others embarrassing themselves, apparently unaware that anyone, like me for example, would conclude that their participating in this foolishness reflects terribly on them all. It does seem that the majority of these protesters are seniors, and I suspect that many of the geezers participate out of boredom. They meet other wokified, Trump Deranged Democrats, and maybe hook up for a canasta date or an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s.
I sure hope that’s the reason, because I care about some of the people participating in these rallies, and I have to fight myself tooth and nail to avoid losing respect for them completely.
Who is writing this column and what have you done with Jack?!Sent from my iPhoneOn Oct 18, 2026,
Jack was so disgusted at that video that he had a psychotic break and is currently wandering around the back yard thinking he is Walt Disney’s brother Roy…his doctor says it should pass…
I ran into a bunch of senior lefties doing a little protest on the access road over ICE or some such. They were part of a nationwide organization called “Indivisible.” It’s creepy how they all take orders from Central Command and do what they’re told.
Maybe we can have an AI generated video of anti-ICE protesters being pursued and mauled by a pride of lions. Or chased by herds of elephants, rhinos, hippos, and cape buffaloes.
Trump is going to the Clemson University(mascot tiger) area Oct, 21 for a mid term rally.
Why is the image obviously related to the mauling. My cell phone has a picture of me playing with a real Siberian tiger in an enclosure in Aruba. Should I eliminate that real world absolutely incredible experience because some idiot wandered into a caged area without permission. The tiger could simply be a metaphor for tackling tough jobs and getting a peaceful resolution. If we see every meme he posts in its most negative light we are no better than the deranged. Unless there was overt linkage between the two I don’t know why we should thing there is such a relationship especially in light of Ohwhatfunitis’ comment above.
Ah, no. The whole video contains shots right out of the video of the actual event. There is no question that there is “overt linkage,” as if the timing wasn’t enough.
I was at the No Kings rally in Kansas City, and I can tell you, it’s not out of boredom. Between grandkids’ baseball and basketball games, two book clubs, hosting guests from out of town and my own reading for pleasure–plus watching the baseball playoffs (go Brewers!), I have plenty to do. This Saturday was especially gratifying, because after a short rally we broke into groups and knocked doors to encourage people to vote and give them information about the ballot here in Missouri, which this year is a long and complicated one. I don’t play canasta and have never been to Ruby Tuesdays. It’s insulting to me and beneath you to make such generalizations. I’m a citizen of the United States who saw this man for what he was in 2016: petty, selfish, narcissistic, and with the psychological makeup of a 7th grader. I do not hate America, but have a different view of how to Make it Great Again. That does not make me stupid, gullible or a traitor.
Well, the No King rallies have been extraordinarily successful. We haven’t had a king for 250 years, still don’t have a king and, when Trump leaves office in two years, we still won’t have a king. Congratulations on a protest well done.
jvb
Jan,
With all due respect to your opinion, I’m going to be blunt, very blunt.
You can dislike Donald Trump as much as you like, heck I dislike the public persona he’s presented since early 2016, and in-spite of that I do like some of the things he’s done as President.
Jan wrote, “I was at the No Kings rally in Kansas City, and I can tell you, it’s not out of boredom.”
Okay, so it wasn’t out of boredom, but I suspect it was out of hate of President Trump that you attended.
I’ve seen and heard what goes on a “No Kings” rallies. The people at the “No Kings” rallies need to realize that just like presidents before him, Donald Trump is not a King, he cannot become a King, he is not a fascist, he is not a racist, he’s not a misogynist, he cannot control the country like a King, he cannot make law all by himself, he cannot operate outside the confines of the constitution, he’s not attacking democracy. You may not like the outcomes of changes that Trump has accomplished but that doesn’t mean that he’s operating outside the Constitution and is now a King. Also the three branches of government are working as they should.
There are no crowns and there are no thrones in the government of the United States. Almost all of the chants yelled by people attending “No Kings” rallies are absurd propaganda nonsense, yelled by those that have swallowed one propaganda lie after another simply because they hate Donald Trump and that bias is their only driving political force.
When hate and pure bigotry is the driving force of a mob of people, they’ll say anything the supports their bias even when it makes them look and sound stupid.
Jan wrote, “That does not make me stupid, gullible or a traitor.”
That Jan is truly a matter of opinion. That’s not me saying you are those things, that me saying that you should openly consider why people might think those things. For instance, traitorous can also mean unfaithful and disloyal against a country. There are people out there that have the opinion that what the extreme political left’s has been doing to undermine to core foundations of the United States of America to be “unfaithful and disloyal to the USA” with the addition of proposing blatantly unconstitutional changes to our form of government.
People that don’t hate the USA don’t vote for anti-USA, socialist, communists, anarchists, or anti-Constitution candidates. If they do vote for these things because they hate President Trump then they’re anti-American morons.
Just because news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, MS-NOW, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc say something does not mean that it’s absolute truth or fact. We as citizens must use critical thinking and do some of our own research to find the truth and the facts because the news in the 21st century has turned into advocacy “journalism” (I use that word loosely) and it’s no longer trustworthy.
Are you the same janpchapman as the one that was here back in 2016 and before? If so, welcome back.
Never mind, you’ve been here every year or so for many years.
Then there’s no excuse at all. That’s depressing.
The protest is historically and institutionally illiterate. The American Presidency was designed to combine the symbolic, unifying persona of the British king with the political, policy=focused position of prime minister. Each supports the other, but they are distinct roles. Trump is the worst at the ‘king” function of any President, and by a wide margin. LBJ, Nixon, both Bushes, Clinton, Carter especially, were lousy at it but all much better than Trump. Reagan, Obama, JFK, FDR of course, they excelled at playing “king.” The nation would be far better off if Trump even tried to play the King component of the Presidency.