The Worst Thing Trump Did on 2/11/25

Another day where narrowing this down was not easy, but I have to go with the Trump/Musk news conference from the Oval Office.

The whole point of this was to try to dispel growing fear among Republicans that Musk is a threat to the country, so they had Musk bring one of his kids into the meeting to crawl all over him as he talked to the media, in an attempt to present the billionaire as "relatable."

What did become clear was Trump's game plan and mode of attack.  Trump and Musk tried to downplay their stunning lack of transparency by implying Elon posting on Twitter is somehow pulling back the curtain (with CNN's Daniel Dale pointing out the contradiction; that when people have merely posted the names of Musk's employeees who have unfettered access to America's private data, Musk has insisted that even saying their names is a crime.).

Trump and Musk also repeatedly referred to the spending they are targeting as somehow evil, referring to it as corruption and kickbacks, even though they have never produced any evidence that either of those descriptions is accurate.  They don't like this spending, so to try to win over the public as they cut healthcare, agriculture, basic food assistance, and humanitarian funding, they lie and call it something it is not. This is a stunningly effective technique with MAGA voters, even though many of them are the ones no longer getting the checks.

But it was one moment which really stuck out.  When a reporter confronted Musk (with a child draped over his head) on his repeated lie that the US had sent Hamas $50 million in condoms, a lie that Trump exaggerated to $100 million, Musk did not hesitate.  He outright admitted he lied and that his claim was wrong. This was an allegation that was not said once but had been repeated at least 100 times in the first few weeks of the Trump term by various Administration officials.  And Trump sat by, CLEARLY wanting to yell at the jouranlist, "No it's true and you're a nasty reporter!"

Imagine if President Biden had a press conference in the Oval Office and a top advisor with him openly admitted a major talking point for the Administration was a boldfaced lie.  The news media in this country would be going nuts! They'd call for a massive investigation and be running headlines in 'End of WWII' font size: "BIDEN LIES!"

Trump does it, and 95% of them shrug.

The journalism double standard in this country, where Republicans can do no wrong and Democrats can do no right, is one of the main reasons we are on the verge of a Democratic collapse.