The 2016 presidential election is on a lot of people’s minds today.
With the news that the Supreme Court has decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, effectively stripping millions of women of their reproductive rights, it’s impossible not to wonder how the past six years might have played out differently if Hillary Clinton had won the Electoral College.
Donald Trump wouldn’t have been able to appoint three SCOTUS justices, and the majority opinion that was leaked on Monday night probably never would have been written.
In all likelihood, we’ll be feeling the fallout from the Trump administration for many years to come, both in concrete, political ways, and in more nebulous cultural undercurrents.
Sixteen months after Trump very reluctantly left office, tell-all memoirs from former staffers are still hitting the shelves on an almost-weekly basis.
The latest comes from former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who offered an appalling recollection about an instance in which the sitting president proposed the idea of US troops attacking protesting civilians.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Esper recalls Trump asking as protests got underway in Washington, D.C.
It’s the sort of allegation that might be tough to believe if it were directed at any other president in US history.
But this is the Donald we’re talking about.
Hell, we know for a fact that Trump threatened to take military action against protesters — like so many of his dumbest thoughts, he shared that one with his tens of millions of Twitter followers.
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” Trump memorably tweeted in 2020.
“Just spoke to [Minnesota] Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
Yes, we all know how concerned Donald Trump was with honoring the memory of George Floyd.
If ever there was a president who cared about racial inequality, it was the guy who staked his reputation on baseless claims that Barack Obama was not born in the US.
“That’s how you’re supposed to handle these people,” Trump reportedly told military and law enforcement officials, according to a different recent memoir, this one from journalist Mark Bender.
“Crack their skulls!” the president added.
Now, we’re certainly not surprised when we hear this stories like this about 45.
But since Trump is still banned from Twitter, we occasionally forget the frequency with which batsh-t thoughts form in his brain and are then released into the wild without a moment’s reflection.
And folks, if you’d been enjoying your recent respite from the former Apprentice host, then we’re afraid we have some bad news:
You’re in for a lot of Donnie in the months to come.
For starters, the January 6 congressional hearings are set to get underwaynext month, and we’re sure to hear about Trump using burner phones and generally acting shady AF on the day in question.
On top of that, the former president’s business practices are still being investigated by New York state attorney general.
Just last week, Trump was found in contempt of court, and a judge ruled that he’ll be fined $10,000 a day until he complies.
Naturally, he’s still refusing to comply with the court’s requests.
And of course, midterm elections are coming up in November, and GOP candidates will be falling all over themselves to secure endorsements from the leader of the party’s weird personality cult.
Yes, 2022 is sure to be chock-full of Donald.
That’s bad news for America, of course, but at least Melania and Barron will get a break from dude being at home all the time.