​In 2023, María Corina Machado won the opposition party’s primary to be its candidate in Venezuela’s presidential election the following year.  However, she was barred holding public office for 15 years because of violations during her years as a legislator.  She named a “placeholder” to lead her party instead – and when the party won, the Maduro government claimed it was illegal (gee…sound familiar?) and took power.  She went into hiding and subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize.  A prize she dedicated to Trump, which he’s taken as meaning he sort of is a co-winner of it.  Which, of course, he isn’t.
 
When Trump had the military kidnap Maduro, he endorsed Maduro’s second-in-command who is carrying on his dictatorial policies and brutality, rather than getting behind Ms. Machado, being critical of her and ignoring her party's legitimate victory.  (Gee...sound familiar?)  And all the while, still talking of how she had said he deserved to share the Nobel Peace Prize with her.  Which, of course, he didn’t.  But when you’re trying to coddle favor with the malignant narcissist who had dementia in order to take your rightful place leading your country, world leaders have long since learn what you say to Trump to make the infantile happy.
 
Yesterday, Ms. Machado met with Trump and gave him possession of her Nobel Peace Prize.  Shocking no one, he accepted it and tweeted out his utter joy at the supposed honor of someone giving him their prize to keep.  He wrote about the woman who he had previously disparaged –
 
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
 
Which, of course, it isn’t.
 
I completely understand why Venezuela's María Corina Machado "gave" Trump her Nobel medal. But it's pathetic. Pathetic she felt she had to, to get Trump to "like her" -- and pathetic she did so.  And – in stating the blatantly obvious -- no matter how much he now says that he received the Nobel Peace Prize…what he got was a shiny piece of metal.  That sparkles in the sun and is a cool thing to have in his memento box.
 
Of course, as any rational person knows, but Trump in his childish obsessions has never grasped, the Nobel Awards committee has publicly stated:  “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.  The decision is final and stands for all time."

Well, that's pretty clear.  And obvious.
 
What inner-child – and outer-child – of Trump can’t figure out that if you win an Academy Award and give the statuette to you, that doesn’t make you an Oscar-winner.  If someone wins the Most Valuable Player Award in baseball, and gives their trophy to you, that doesn’t make you the best ballplayer in the league.  If someone wins the Super Bowl and gives you their ring, that doesn’t make you the world champion of football.
 
And  yes, I know that I am stating the idiotically obvious.  But it’s not obvious to Trump who does seem to think he received the Nobel Prize (or to those trying to put the best spin on this, even thinks he was presented with an honor of anything to share).  He got a nice, shiny keepsake.  A hand-me-down.

Not only did Trump not "get" the Nobel Peace Prize, he got something below even a grade school participation trophy.  At least when little kids are given that, they actually did play in the game.  Trump, though, was merely given an object that someone else won.  With their name on it.  Which he considers a "Great Honor."  And a "gesture of mutual respect".  Because, yeah, that's what he thinks re-gifting is...
 
And lest anyone thing this is too hyperbolic about Trump – putting aside that you haven’t been paying attention to who Trump is and what a malignant narcissist he is, who has dementia – just a reminder that when he first ran for president, a former solider who had received the Purple Heart gave his to Trump at a campaign rally.  And Trump – who got multiple deferments from the military for supposed “bone spurs” said, “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.”
 
Like any child on Christmas morning, Trump takes getting gifts very seriously.  And thinks he “got” the Purple Heart.  And can show it off to all the adults around him in the room.
 
In fairness, he’s right about one thing:  it was much easier getting a Purple Heart this way.  Risking death, saving others and getting injured is such a bother.
 
As much as María Corina Machado felt it was important to her getting Trump’s support to hopefully become president of Venezuela – and rightly felt that, because Trump is infantile and has dementia -- it’s still pathetic that it came to this and she gave him her treasured medal.  Pathetic because, as much as it's understandable why she felt this was necessary, what does she think Trump can do for her??  He can't install her to power.  But those in power in Venezuela, backed by the military, aren't inclined to go along with that.  He can "endorse" her, if he was inclined to, which he doesn't appear to be since he's already endorsed Delcy Rodriguez, dictator Maduro's #2.  And he's made clear that all he's really interested in is Venezuela's oil.  Not who the rightful elected president is.

Pathetic because, as much as it's understandable why she felt this was necessary, she hasn't been paying attention.  Because as Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor for President Obama said yesterday, when you bend your knee to Trump, "He doesn’t respect you.  He comes back at you to take more away from you, including your dignity."
 
By the way, the winner of a Nobel Prize also gets a million dollars.  María Corina Machado did not give this to Trump.  I don’t know if he’s aware of the monetary award – but for Ms. Machado’s sake, I hope he doesn’t because he’ll likely demand half of that to keep liking her.

I’ve enjoyed The Simpsons when I’ve watched it, though I’ve rarely watched it.  Nonetheless, I thought his extended 19-minute interview with the characters’ creator Matt Groening for CBS Sunday Morning is thoroughly entertaining.  He open, charming, thoughtful, funny and interesting.

​This is going to be pretty short, because the concept is extremely basic and easy.
 
Trump says that he wants to own Greenland because it’s necessary for the security of the United States.
 
The United States has military bases in Greenland.  Its treaty with Greenland allows the U.S. to put even more bases in Greenland.
 
Greenland is a territory of Denmark, and Denmark is a member of NATO.
 
The United States is a member of NATO.
 
The treaty between all countries in NATO is that if one country is attacked, then that means all countries are attacked, and all NATO countries will defend the country that was attacked.
 
So, if Greenland is attacked by Russia, or China or any enemies, then all of NATO together will defend it.
 
Therefore, the United States security is fully protected in Greenland.
 
This is a pretty basic and easy concept.
 
Unless, apparently, you have dementia, which is degenerative.

Trump's unrelenting fixation with Greenland is an obsession unattached to reality (as noted above), and it's hard not to suspect that such a deeply obsessive focus is related at least in part to his dementia. While he's mentioned often in the past that he wants the U.S. to somehow take possession of Greenland (keeping in mind that expert psychologists were writing in Trump's first term that he showed signs of dementia), his low-key, easily dismissed  obsession has grown significantly worse in recent weeks, and seemingly now is almost out of control -- reaching the point where Danish and Greenland government officials just yesterday had to rush to Washington for an emergency meeting -- because dementia is degenerative.

I don’t think it will go anywhere, that it’s all neurotic bluster.  Buy Greenland??  How?  Estimates are that it could cost over $1 trillion. The current U.S. budget deficit is $1.8 trillion.  So, where is the money going to come from?  We could certainly just print it, but I suspect Denmark knows it could make more such money by just buying a few boxes of Monopoly.  The fake cash would be worth about the same.  Even more to the point:  Denmark has repeatedly, relentlessly said it is not selling Denmark.  That seems a near-certainty.

Send troops to attack Greenland?  One of our staunchest allies for 80 years?  Defended by the European NATO members?  And with probably negligible support in Congress?  (Not just for national security and defense of NATO reasons, but political ones, being able to read polls and seeing massive public opposition, and so knowing they'd risk losing re-election)  Attack Greenland?  I seriously doubt it. 

BUT – BUT – this is Trump, and I have no idea what he would try to do, even under those improbable conditions.  And even if it’s just dementia-filled bluster, the unhinged rhetoric is damaging bluster that undermines the U.S. credibility on the world stage.
 
I don’t expect MAGOPs in Congress to say anything right now, when it's all just Trump ranting – though a few have.  That might change, though, if it looks like Trump is trying to make military moves.  But in the immediacy, I do hope that as many Democrats as possible say bluntly that they will not stand for this to happen, and that it’s insane.  If I had to guess, they haven’t done so yet because they haven’t expected this to be serious – but still, even if that guess is right, they should do so, to shut it down as soon as they can.  Because every time Trump opens his mouth on Greenland and his dementia pours out, it hurts national credibility, most especially for the next time we want to oppose an ally being attacked.

And not just Taiwan or Ukraine.

Buy Greenland??  Attack Greenland??

You might wonder why.  But why wonder, why wonder -- it's Greenland.  And it'll do fine.  It's beautiful.  And it's where it wants to be.  

This is one of the weirder sketches you’re likely to see on a late-night talk show.  Or on any TV show, for that matter.  Or in a bar with three drunk guys making a bet.  It’s Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jimmy Fallon in a Tonight Show sketch titled, “Three Guys from Boston Say Every Twon and City in Massachusetts.”  And that’s exactly what it is.  Nothing more.  And yet they go all out – for a full 4-1/2 minutes. 
 
While I don’t expect everyone will watch this for the entire time, I won’t be surprised if most do – because as weird as it is, it is oddly compelling and builds up its own pace.  Damon and Affleck are the best, and Ben Affleck especially really throws himself into it.  Even if you only watch for a minute, it’s worth checking out just for the audaciousness.

​ 
There is an ongoing story the past week that I think is absolutely stupid.  And while the main part of the story is being covered by the news media, the absolutely stupid part pretty much isn’t. 
 
It’s hard to express just stunning to me how overwhelmingly stupid I think it is.  Actually, it’s really more "hypocrisy" that stupid – but it takes hypocrisy to such a deep level that transcends hypocrisy by so much that it’s morphed from mere, unearthly hypocrisy into sheer, utter, almost-incomprehensible stupidity.
 
What I'm referring to is Trump encouraging protestors in Iran to keep protesting against their government.
 
But it's much more insane than that.  And "that" is pretty full-fledged crazy.  However, it's not only that he has encouraged protestors in Iran and is still encouraging them, but that Trump is ratcheting up his encouragement, and doing it while his ICE agents are brutalizing the residents of Minneapolis and one agent even shot a woman, Renee Good, to death -- for not even protesting at all, but sitting in her car, telling the agent, “Dude, I'm not mad at you," and trying to drive away is all the more what makes this story so deeply hypocritical that it’s turned into monumental stupidity.
 
And the news media is pretty much only reporting Trump’s encouragement to the protestors.  The Iran protestors, that is.  Just to be clear.  Not the protestors in the U.S.  And if any news reports do mention the hypocrisy, it's only been in passing, and not putting it into full context -- which is the whole point -- to shows how profoundly stupid and unaware this is from Trump.  And "this" is not just his support of Iranian protestors, but his brutal, even fatal attacks on Americans, including those not even protesting.

Here is Trump's most recent statement yesterday on his social media site.  The Onion ​couldn't write more ludicrous satire than this.

Trump is the guy who, in his first term, wanted the military to “crack skulls” and “beat the fuck out” of protesters in Washington, D.C., who were marching against police brutality, and then adding "Just shoot them."  Before his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley explained that, no, you can't do that.

And the same guy who in this term insisted that the largely peaceful protestors in Portland were supposedly burning all the stores down and that the city was supposedly in flames -- despite reality being otherwise -- and therefore sent in the National Guard over the governor's wishes, in order to quash the protesting.

And here is Trump now telling Iranians to not only "KEEP PROTESTING"...but telling them that they should "TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!"

And not only that, saying that a list should be kept of all those in the government who are "killers" (!!) and abusers, who will "pay a big price."  It's almost as if the man had dementia and was totally unaware of what was going on around him, completely unaware of the killing and abuses that his own ICE and Border Patrol agents were doing to protestors.

And this guy who campaign on staying out of other countries, and avoiding national building and America First suggests he will be willing to sent the military into Iran!!  To assist protestors against the government!!!

This is just massively nuts, a pure lack of self-awareness, so clueless that it's beyond mere hypocrisy and...and...and you can't help by follow this and not think, "Man, this is just the absolute stupidest thing."

If it's any consolation to Trump, he should know that Democrats are pretty much following at least one of his admonitions -- and are keeping a list of the "killers and abusers" so that they "will pay a big price" when Democrats get back in control of at least the House of Representatives after the Mid-Terms.

Happily, the late night comedians all addressed this.  So, now if the news media could point out the mind-numbing hypocrisy and overwhelmingly stupidity of this, rather than just report it as support of Iran protestors and a bizarre, dangerous hint of a military attack, that would be cool, too!!

If you didn't see Jon Stewart's Monday hosting of The Daily Show, his Main Story was on -- not shockingly -- Trump's monumentally horrible weekend, basically covering the ICE shooting death of Renee Good, the attack on Venezuela, his plans for future attacks on Greenland, meandering aimlessly around during a public meeting, attempting to sue the Fed Chairman, and much more.  It's a furiously angry and wonderfully funny report.