The Pursuit of Happiness, Spiked
WASHINGTON -- The Trump whirling dervish has come and gone to Turkey -- to demand NATO hand over Greenland! -- leaving a city exhausted by his wild Fourth of July displays.
But first, it was so great to see legions of World Cup soccer fans all over the world, at all hours, cheering on their countries, especially the England and Mexico teams playing their hearts out. Cape Verde too. Yes, the pursuit of happiness was not just for us but for all across seams, seas and borders. Donald Trump hated to see so many people truly excited.
The Ugly American president resented the international celebration, so he had to spike the punch with a Trump curse. He interfered with the red card penalty against Folarin Balogun, a strong U.S. player blocked from the Belgium game in the round of 16. So in a reversal, Balogun took the field.
By outraging the FIFA world, Trump practically made the Belgian victory happen before the game began. You could see it in their skills, thrills and funny little Trump dance after they won.
But wait, Trump fell back on his favorite word: "rigged." He says it over and over about his 2020 election loss, but did he have to be such a bad sport in front of the whole world?
Yes. Any game, any election he doesn't win is "rigged." How excruciating.
In fact, I'll go further. For Trump, winning and cheating go hand in hand. He doesn't fight fair.
Even more excruciating, Trump reported making a personal profit of more than $2 billion while in office last year. That is just wrong, staggering to most, but he goes blithely on his way. Nobody told him not to, OK?
Pangs of conscience, a code of conduct, the Constitution framers -- none could prevent Trump's obscene pursuit of wealth. And he pretends to be a populist.
The 250th anniversary of the country's independence was a missed opportunity to reach out, bind the nation's wounds and say "sorry" for mistakes: the Iran war, the affordability crisis, farmers missing fertilizer stranded on the Strait of Hormuz, mass deportations and all. Come clean, Mr. President. (But you never apologize for anything.)
A word of warning: Trump's obsession with the so-called SAVE Act is his scheme to steal the midterm 2026 elections. It would require voter ID rolls to match names, even for women who changed their name since marriage. It's nothing less than disenfranchisement, and the Republican Senate will not pass it, Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) has told Trump many times.
Trump shot back to Thune to get it done anyway. He's threatened to freeze congressional bills and actions, even a bipartisan bill on housing, as hostages. Democrats and Republicans alike were aghast when he canceled the signing ceremony before the Fourth of July recess.
Seldom does a president defy and treat a seasoned party leader so poorly in public. Senate Republicans elected Thune because they respect him for standing up for Senate traditions.
The message Republicans in Congress are getting from the White House: I really don't care if you lose in November. Do you?
It's an extraordinary state of affairs. The Fourth of July week revealed another long-held grudge: Trump still aims to seize Greenland out of Denmark's hands. At a NATO meeting in Ankara, Trump is ready to shock world leaders on a demand (they thought) they buried ages ago.
Lesson learned: Trump never forgets a grudge, a plan for revenge, or a scheme to get his way. Never ever.
Translating Washington into super simple terms: Trump is the bad bully, six Supreme Court members are his gang, and Congress is pretty much a bunch of sissies. So much for our constitutional checks and balances. America has never needed another revolution so badly.
I paid a personal price for the bombastic Trump Fourth of July. First up was his "fair" on the National Mall, broiling under the glare of the midday sun. Very few people came to the empty green. "One hundred degrees in D.C." became the weather chorus for a couple days. Braving the elements, I got sunstroke.
At midnight on the Fourth, I finally slept to the sound of fireworks, more and louder than ever before, miles away. Thank you, President Trump, for going to Turkey -- on the new jumbo jet Qatar built just for you.
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The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.
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