It’s that time of year again. The Golden Duke awards are here!
The Golden Dukes, of course, are TPM’s annual recognition of achievement in the field of public corruption, nonsense, reckless abandonment of dignity and betrayal of the public trust.
For myself I would vote repeatedly and continually for only one person. And that person is waaay more than head and shoulders above the rest. He has no equal in outright criminal behavior, sadistic treatment of refugees, public endangerment from the pandemic, and corruption of the political kind both public and private types. There is no one like him in American history. Now, I will participate in the selections for the Annual Duke Award because it is a necessity but there really is only second best considering my choice isn’t in the brackets this year. I give you…
Donald J. Trump
He stands alone … without equal. And by all that is fair justice, he should spend considerable time in prison hopefully rooming with a low brow person whom he can regale with his misdeeds for which he is being most unfairly treated (his point of view).
My money is on Abramoff to take it home. His Indian casino grift was a thing of beauty from conception to execution.
I believe this award needs a general rename, at least at the top of the ticket, so to speak. So how about a Trump Duke category, just for the “great” man? Or to play to his pretentions, the Duke Trump category? Make it happen, TPM!
My only objection to going with Trump is that such recognition may only feed his narcissistic ego further. No matter how he fares in any future prosecutions – and I hope there are many – Trump needs to be smothered into the oblivion he so richly deserves.
Trump in oblivion … I like that immensely. I think a term in stir might accomplish that. Or banishment from media of all types but that’s not practical. Praps just social media for his lies ans incendiary comments that cross the lines of acceptable public conduct.
I have had this recurring dream about trump. At some point he is relieved of all of his wealth. Reduced to pauperism. Scrambling with the window washers assaulting cars for quarters at the exit of the Holland Tunnel. The dream ends with donnie living under a bridge with his possessions in a stolen shopping cart. And it’s raining.
edit
In truth I want trump to be prosecuted for serial child abuse for his caging of refugee children. I live close to the border and this issue has been basically in my front yard as a facility hold some of the many kids was about a mile from our home. It was run by Southwest Key but has since closed. There are still more than 650 kids separated from their families and lost somewhere in our federal system. This is deeply wrong. It must be fixed. And trump must pay for their pain and suffering that he very deliberately intentionally caused. Child abuse… serial child abuse should never be covered by that goddamned DoJ immunity memo. No president should have a stated policy of causing pain and suffering as a deterrent to refugees. For me this cuts to the bone. trump is a sadist he needs to be confronted and held to account for this.
I could not agree more . . . . but I would go a step further, no president, nor any other government official of any stripe should ever have automatic immunity for any criminal offense nor any “crime against humanity.” Period, end of discussion.
So that was hard. I finally chose Mark Sanford when, after consulting with my wife. She said, “hasn’t hiking the Appalachian Trail always meant having an affair?” In short, Sanford wins for changing the language.
How about the Donald Duke Award?
I hereby nominate Infrastructure Weak!
My vote went to Cheney. The best argument for the ridiculousness of his act was given by Lewis Black in his ‘Red, White, and Screwed’ special. Heartily recomended!
I agree with @TPM that it really isn’t fair to Corrupt Scumbags everywhere to pit them against The Donald. None of them are remotely in his Noble League of One. The Donald Duke is very very good - h/t @carpe_diem To be awarded one time only in 2020.
Gold is a relatively rare element of Period 6, but the element Donald (Do) is not only outside the Island of Stability, it is beyond Unobtainium.
Agreed. Shooting someone in the face and having the shooting victim apologize was a thing of wonderment when it happened.
It was a very hard decision with hiking the Appalachian trail. If Sanford was still with his Argentinian cutie, I would have pulled the trigger for him. Very tough call though.
Nothing with trump’s* name on it, period…ever.
Easy one for me, I refuse to vote for Dick Cheney for anything!
D’Souza. If for no other reason than the pleasure of reading Kevin M. Kruse’s 79 straight Twitter windmill dunks on that knob.
I’m peeved that Kash Patel, who is currently doing whatever Pentagon termites do, never made the cut. Not even self-dealer Ryan Zinke. I do agree Trump deserves, eventually, some sort of lifetime achievement award, but no hurry.
The scandal was Foley’s. but it was the tip of the iceberg with respect to Hastert. Hastert slow rolled the response to Foley’s scandal because of his own, worse history. Two news organizations had the story but wouldn’t run it because sources would not go on the record. Hastert was Speaker!
I had a similar fantasy for li’l Donnie’s future–wearing that orange jumpsuit and a reflector vest, walking along the freeway grassy border and picking up trash. Can’t you just see him with a big ol’ trashbag! The whining would be sublime!