All cheques and no balance in latest ranty performance
The Independent
|December 19, 2025
He's done it: Donald Trump has found a new low.
The recent mockery of the Hollywood director Rob Reiner, allegedly murdered in his home by his own son, is not even the bottom of the barrel, awful as the taunt that the Hollywood director died of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is.
Alongside that, we can now add insulting and inaccurate captions to the gallery of images of former presidents in the so-called "Walk of Fame". The plaques are Trump's newest installation in the White House, written in Trumpian style. One cites Ronald Reagan as a fan of Trump. Another calls Barack Obama "divisive". One more calls "Sleepy Joe Biden" the "worst President in American history".
Not content with turning the Oval Office into a gaudy mess and demolishing the East Wing, he has also demolished presidential history. In that respect, at least he is a true iconoclast. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, in fact claims Trump is a "student in history". Is there no beginning to Trump's talents?
Clearly not. Even by his own standards, his televised address on Wednesday night was an angry, sour, ranty performance that tells us much more about the state of the mind of the 47th Potus than it does about the state of the nation. "Rattled" is an inadequate word to describe the deep insecurity he must feel about his own record in office.
This story is from the December 19, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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