Naked City: Trump’s Last Picture Shows (From Abroad)

It’s hard to think of any one international person who has so dominated the 24-hour news cycle in recent years more than Donald Trump. Apart from his saturation coverage in the mainstream media, there are thousands of daily comments on social media including numerous AI-generated photo memes that ridicule his appearance, narcissism and stupidity.

There’s an abundance of Facebook sites like ‘God We Hate Trump’ that loathe him with a passion, as well as the right and ultra right-wing influencers, for whom the messiah can do no wrong. Trump-watchers come from far and wide, with a plethora of opinions. There’s even a new school of literary eloquence from his critics that counters his monosyllabic drivel.

Journalists and commentators now seek to outdo each other with their damnation of Trump, his cronies and their dystopian vision.

Broadcaster Lawrence O’Donnell recently commented that “Donald Trump has a broken brain that leaks ugly poison every day” but writer Oliver Kornetzke gets the current literary gong for:

“Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul—all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair.”

In recent weeks we have seen the scientifically debunked Tylenol scare, prompted by long-time heroin addict Robert Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth’s extraordinary address to an assembly of US ‘war force’ generals.

Hegseth — who has a string of ‘indiscretions’ behind him including secretly paying a financial settlement to a woman who accused him of rape in 2017 — embarked on a rant straight out of a demented Dr Strangelove.

His garbled hotch-potch, which obviously angered the 800-odd gathering of top generals, included endorsing a warrior mentality, an attack on ‘fat troops’ and the combat fitness of women soldiers and even a blitz on beards:

“No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression. We’re going to cut our hair, shape up, shave our beards and adhere to standards, because it’s like the broken windows theory of policing. It’s like, you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes,” he said. “If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave.”

Looks like the US Army won’t be calling up Jason Momoa anytime soon!

The biggest criticism came from the military, i.e. the ‘war’ department itself (albeit anonymously), the media, and politicians like Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost her legs during the Iraq War. Following his speech she called upon Hegseth to resign immediately.

Hegseth has many asking can the Trump regime get any weirder? Well yes it sure can, with the latest presidential decree announcing that a 100 per cent tariff would apply to movies made outside of the USA.

“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing candy from a baby,” Trump recently posted.

The ramifications are enormous of course, particularly on a movie industry that has become totally international in recent years. As Reuters commented:

“Hollywood has increasingly relied on overseas production hubs such as Canada, the UK and Australia, where tax incentives have attracted big-budget shoots for films ranging from superhero blockbusters to streaming dramas.”

Such a tariff would present so many economic, classification and legal problems that it’s highly unlikely – not to mention the opposition that would come within the USA from movie, television and streaming companies, all heavily invested in offshore production.

However, if a tariff on foreign-made movies did eventuate, would Trump then look to other areas of imported culture to slap on his punitive 100 per cent? Visiting rock bands could be the first to feel his fiscal rage followed by any kind of cultural output not produced in the USA. Ballet, theatre, art exhibitions and even books could cop his wretched import duty.

Book wise, Valdimir Nabokov’s Lolita would no doubt be exempt, as would those high quality personally monogrammed diapers, hand sewn with threads of the finest silk in Switzerland. The vile orange gunk that Trump continues to smear across his ugly mug is supposedly made from rare crushed beetles in Turkey and is naturally ‘100 per cent’ duty free!

And finally, if you visit the Trump gift shop in the Trump Tower in New York, you’ll find a huge range of presidential merchandise from whiskey glasses and t-shirts to socks and fridge magnets. Read the fine print and look at the labels inside the $55.00 (US) MAGA caps, as well as many of the other items, and you’ll find ‘MADE IN CHINA’. Enough said!