When I was a kid there was an American spin-off of the BBC satire show That Was the Week That Was that ran from 1963-65. I watched with one of my brothers in our bedroom, and though some of the bits, from pundits and actors, went over my head, there were loads of laughs. The first week of 2025—unusually busy for a January—would’ve provided plenty of material for a revival, although I’m not sure there many men or women who could pull it off today. Maybe Bill Burr, Walter Kirn, Laura Linney, Bret Easton Ellis, Matt Welch, Drew Barrymore and Joe Rogan, if an enlightened TV station takes note of today’s political environment.
Not surprisingly, it was Donald Trump in the spotlight, first with the House’s certification of his November victory (liberals crowed—they’ve got little to crow about—that in comparison to January 6, 2020, it went off without a hitch) and then his audacious press conference on Tuesday, with that talk about a reprisal of U.S. Manifest Destiny, which on one level was nuts, and on another very curious and interesting. Not to snub his meaningless quip about “The Gulf of America.” And on Thursday, at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, the video clip of Trump sitting next to Barack Obama, whispering to him, and the 44th president cracking up, was top of the pops comedy.
Never-say-never ultra-liberals like Craig Calcaterra, who writes the ostensibly baseball-centered newsletter “Cup of Coffee” five times a week, were resigned. Calcaterra wrote last Friday: “Gee, I wonder why 100% accurate descriptions of how Trump is such a threat to democracy, ethical governance, the international order, and marginalized people everywhere aren't landing with voters. Maybe it's because very few people truly believe that the leading Democratic spokespeople, Obama included, truly oppose Trump, allowing them to, quite understandably, conclude that ‘they're all the same.’ So they just vote their gut and their prejudices under the belief that it doesn't really matter. Hard to blame them really.
That’s a nuts-stinging towel-snap in the locker room for Craig.
In a fleeting way, the Trump-Obama 10-minute exchange—and George W. Bush cutting up as he saw old friends—leavened the mood on social media, which was consumed by pictures, videos and (worst of all) commentary on the devastating Los Angeles fires. A natural disaster always, always brings out all the online creeps (same as when the financial markets dip, economic-experts-for-a-day weigh in). I can’t stand California Gov. Gavin Newsom, but the abuse he took from conservatives was ridiculous—he didn’t start the fires, just as Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t bring on last year’s hurricanes in Florida. Maybe it’s climate change, maybe it’s another example of bad government in California, but “inappropriate” is far too mild a word to describe the glee some took from the destruction of celebrity homes and neighborhoods. The lazy car-wreck ghouls concentrated their hate on the famous, even though thousands upon thousands of Los Angeles residents were shellshocked, in pain and danger, and it’s hard to comprehend how anyone who doesn’t live in the state would try to make political points while the fires were still destroying so much of the city. Silence may or may not be golden, but the Tourette’s-like behavior of an online mob was disgusting.
Back to Trump’s 19th-century ideas of expansion. A Wall Street Journal editorial, while wondering whether the president-elect was “trolling” with his remarks, took his comments on Canada seriously. The writer, definitely not in tune with the “new politics,” said: “Canadians don’t want to join the U.S., and the country’s political culture is that of a European welfare state. What would it do to Mr. Trump’s GOP majority to acquire another California?... Yet the more Mr. Trump tweaks Canada by calling it America’s next real–estate purchase, the more he’ll force [Conservative Pierre] Poilievre to push back as a nationalist to win [in the happy aftermath of Prime Minister’s Justin Trudeau’s resignation]. Mr. Trump seems never to notice the downside of making fun of allies.”
One never knows, but the likely explanation of Trump’s “trolling” is to cut a better economic deal with Canada. That country isn’t going to become the 51st state any time soon—a very protracted process, as the Journal knows, that would take longer than Trump’s term to accomplish—and become “another California.” Greenland (“Make Greenland Great Again!) and Panama: bellicose on the surface, especially the possible threat of military action, but again, it’s probably Trump throwing out ideas—fascinating ones that haven’t been broached since a fleeting George W. Bush idea, as a candidate in 1999, about buying Russia—and planning for compromises. And what about Cuba? Maybe in Trump’s inaugural speech!
Also in the Journal, Peggy Noonan attempted, and failed, some soaring rhetoric, in her advice to Trump and Biden on their upcoming addresses. I don’t think Noonan (in a “The Way We Were” trance) comprehends the politics of 2025—in fairness, who does?—as shown here. For Trump: “In public appearances you sometimes refer to a ‘golden age.’ Paint it. The country needs a mood shift. Paint a bright future that is achievable—put a name on it, a stamp on it, send it out there.” All which means zip.
The public memory of Biden is nearly erased, but on Wednesday, he’ll be propped up to say so long, Americans it’s been good to know you. Noonan’s tip to Sippy Cup: “Don’t brag and insist on your place. Say something deep and true that we need to hear. It will be good for the country.” Biden’s never, in that hack’s far-too-long career, said anything “deep,” so I don’t think that’s in the cards. But if whatever mischievous streak is inside them bones, I still don’t rule out a Trump pardon.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023