Nominations Open For Second Round Of Year-End Awards
We're at the halfway point in awards season, with the first round done and the second still to go. So today I am asking once again for nominations for the second round of our year-end awards.
Cast your mind back over the whole year (which, since Trump was in charge, seemed like a much longer time period than that!) and nominate your own candidates for the following list of categories. There are a bunch of them, as always, so there should be a category that fits for most of the important people and events of the year.
The holiday season has sort of snuck up on us here, so we're still scrambling around trying to get stuff done. I realize many others are in similar situations, but I would like to take the chance to urge everyone to visit our yearly pledge drive page if you haven't already done so, and please give what you can to keep the site up and running (and ad-free!) for all of next year. So far, the pledge drive is off to a good start, so if you can afford it please add to the running total, in the hopes that we meet this year's donations goal. Thanks!
Without further ado, here are the categories for this Friday's column. If you haven't read part one, please check it out to see who has already won some awards. And if there are people or events that got missed, see if you can fit them in to one of the remaining categories.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far, and is ready for 2026 to arrive!
Destined For Political Stardom
Destined For Political Oblivion
Best Political Theater
Worst Political Theater
Worst Political Scandal
Most Underreported Story
Most Overreported Story
Biggest Government Waste
Best Government Dollar Spent
Boldest Political Tactic
Best Idea
Worst Idea
Sorry To See You Go
15 Minutes Of Fame
Best Spin
Worst Spin
Most Honest Person
Biggest Liar
Most Overrated
Most Underrated
Predictions
[Note: As usual, that last category isn't an actual award, but rather a chance for you to make any and all predictions for what's going to happen in 2026.]
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
still working on my nominations. i'm sure kick is too. but i'd really like to see some thoughts from russ, caddy, rusty, mezzo, JFC, John M, Liz, etc.
I'd even be willing to repost some nominations from a certain banned poster, if he's willing to email them to me without the annoying and illogical commentary embedded.
Destined For Political Stardom: Hakeem Jeffries, for obvious reasons. It would be nice to have a Speaker of the House who actually possesses a spinal column and doesn't cower in fear and/or run away whenever he is asked a simple question by a reporter.
Destined For Political Oblivion: Keystone Ka$h Patel and Dan Bongino, two morons atop (but definitely not qualified to run) the FBI. The Department of Justice in general is a hysterical joke and totally FUBAR.
Best Political Theater: Inflatable Protesters! No Kings and/or the Portland inflatable ICE protesters who started the trend. Remember the Republican-led effort to label them as "terrorists" and referring to the peaceful protests as "hate America rallies"? Remember Deceptive Donald repeatedly claiming Portland was a "war zone" and "burning down" during his attempts to abuse power and create a police state? Remember a Court (definitely not for the first time) ruling after conducting findings of fact that the Trump administration's justification for deploying the National Guard to the city was not "conceived in good faith" and was "simply untethered to the facts."
Worst Political Theater: I can't decide which is worse:
* The fake war on fentanyl (that doesn't come from Venezuela) wherein Trump has now claimed to stop the flow of drugs by "96%" that is actually another Republican attempt at regime change except this one is unilateral while the right-wing Castrated Caucus in Congress looks on and does nothing because the only GOP politicians that seem to have any cojones at all are (mostly) female.
* DOGE, Elon Musk's chainsaw and the absolute decimation of lives of thousands of lives both domestically and worldwide. Anyone who thinks Trump and Republicans give a shit about life, you might want to pay better attention.
Worst Political Scandal: The Epstein files and the Trump administration giving a sweetheart deal to a convicted sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell, by transferring her to a "club fed" in Texas. Maxwell, of course, was rewarded by lying for Trump, and the morons in the Trump administration are now acting like they are just bystanders and have no idea how in the world that happened.
Most Underreported Story: ICE hiring private contractors to monitor social media and gather personal information of critics, including their friends, online history, SSN, etc., and government's use of software that can monitor data on a phone by simply sending a text to it (wherein the owner does not even have to respond to the text), obviously in clear violation of privacy rights in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures of your "persons, houses, papers, and effects," which searches require warrants based on probable cause.
Most Overreported Story: Trump is a human shit stain (or pick your own verbiage), and here's what he said this time. It's a most overreported story because it's an indisputable fact based on evidence, and Trump is always proving it because there is demonstrably no bottom to the depths he will slither.
Biggest Government Waste: I'd say the hysterical parade thrown for Trump -- which was a total unnecessary waste of taxpayers' money -- if it wasn't for the "Department of Government Efficiency" a.k.a. DOGE, and the gargantuan waste of taxpayers' money and dismantling of foreign aid programs within USAID which isn't just a matter of dollars and cents but a huge loss of soft power globally and loss of hundreds of thousands of human lives for which you cannot put a price on, in my opinion.
Best Government Dollar Spent: The U.S. National Park System is still, in my opinion, the greatest use of taxpayer money that actually generates billions of dollars in return; although, I believe statistics for this year will suffer due to the Trump administration's DOGE effects wherein they cut funds to the NPS in multiple ways because they are genuinely ignorant.
Boldest Political Tactic: I don't know about "bold" because it seems a rather straightforward move that's fairly basic, but the rank-and-file members of Congress bypassing the House leadership and forcing the bringing of a bill to the floor and forcing a full vote via a discharge petition on the release of the Epstein files and then only one (count them one) Republican voting against it and forcing Trump to do a complete 180... ushering in the beginning of the Lame Duck Donald Era.
Best Idea: The "No Kings" protests... for lots of reasons that I needn't list.
Worst Idea: Unilateral global tariffs that constitute an illegal tax on consumers and a predictable increase to inflation, resultant job losses, rise in un- and underemployment, and obviously retaliatory trade wars. The U.S. Constitution grants the power to impose federal taxes solely to Congress, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1.
Sorry To See You Go: Rob Reiner, just to name one.
15 Minutes Of Fame:
* Politically: Cory Booker had a 15 minutes of fame of sorts politically, but it happened to span two months and take 25 hours and 5 minutes: March 31 to April 1.
* Generally: The tech CEO and his head of HR who were caught cheating on the jumbotron during a Coldplay concert, and I definitely had to look up their names: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron (resigned) and Chief HR Officer Kristin Cabot (filed for divorce). "Woah, look at these two. They're either having an affair or they're just very shy," said Chris Martin, nailing it with the first guess.
Best Spin: "Affordability" is the "best spin" by the Democrats because it isn't spin at all. The Trump tariffs are taxes. Full stop. Trump has literally (unconstitutionally) imposed regressive taxes that primarily impact Americans with lower income.
Worst Spin: Also "Affordability" because Trump claims it's a "hoax" and everything is more affordable except beef. *laughs* Pay no attention to the effects of those unilateral tariffs Trump has imposed that are killing manufacturing, among other things; this is all Joe Biden's fault. Everything is A+++++: It seriously does not get more ignorant than that pathetic spin.
Most Honest Person: I will be interested to see whom you choose because I cannot think of many. Maybe for 2025 it's actually Susie Wiles whose father was a fall-down drunk who had to have a liver transplant in order to survive so she would definitely know "an alcoholic's personality." Trump is a malignant narcissist, a personality not altogether very different than an alcoholic: Trump tells multiple kinds of lies, those lies he uses to scam people out of money and defraud taxing authorities and the lies he tells himself and others as a coping mechanism for his needy and fragile ego.
Biggest Liar: Donald Trump (see above). He's giving a speech tonight, and everyone already knows he will lie like a rug and blame anyone and everyone but himself for the direct effects of his own actions.
Most Overrated: I think Charlie Kirk has been overrated and overhyped by the Righties attempting to score political points and "own the libs." How many millions of Americans had never even heard of him before he was killed? Having said that, no one not named Adolf Hitler should ever be a target for murder or for being cancelled from their jobs -- Jimmy Kimmell -- for stating their political beliefs.
Most Underrated: Hakeem Jeffries.
Predictions: I think the immediate future is all too easy to predict, so much so that it's easier to just predict "SSDD," Democrats will win the House, Trump will become increasingly political poison, etc. It appears to me that Republicans are painting themselves into a corner in multiple ways and seem incapable of stopping themselves because they are (mostly) cowards paralyzed by fear.
nypoet22
1
still working on my nominations.
I knew it!
i'm sure kick is too.
You knew it! These things definitely take time.
but i'd really like to see some thoughts from russ, caddy, rusty, mezzo, JFC, John M, Liz, etc.
Me too! Maybe if y'all don't have the time it takes to cover all the categories, you can please give your thoughts on a few of them or maybe even one just one of them. There are no rules that obligate anyone to answer them all (I think).
Please let us hear from you. :)
I'd even be willing to repost some nominations from a certain banned poster, if he's willing to email them to me without the annoying and illogical commentary embedded.
EDIT ABOVE
Oops, I did it again. That last paragraph above is poet's and not mine as I generally pretend to know nothing regarding banned posters, and I now feel compelled to respond since I inadvertently didn't delete it. So here goes:
I'd even be willing to repost some nominations from a certain banned poster, if he's willing to email them to me without the annoying and illogical commentary embedded.
Who?
this website only has two, and don harris doesn't have my e-mail.
nypoet22
5
this website only has two, and don harris doesn't have my e-mail.
Unfortunate initials, sounds like a real DH. ;)
"Out of sight, out of mind"... for those times when "absence makes the heart grow fonder" simply does not particularly apply... but admittedly based on one's own personal subjective opinion and also prolific evidence as archived herein.
ah well. here are my nominations for part 2:
Destined For Political Stardom
Adelita Grijalva
Destined For Political Oblivion
Andrew Cuomo (I hope)
Best Political Theater
all the judges and legislators who have freed Kilmar Abrego, over and over after every absurd new legal twist and specious accusation
Worst Political Theater
Trump's North Korean style military birthday parade
Worst Political Scandal
Epstein, obviously.
Most Underreported Story
I'm already on record for Armenia-Azerbaijan
Most Overreported Story
Charlie Kirk’s murder. horrible act of cowardice, but in the grand scheme of things not all that important a person outside the right wing media bubble
Biggest Government Waste
paradoxically - DOGE
Best Government Dollar Spent
New Mexico child care
Boldest Political Tactic
joint campaigns for RCV in NYC
Best Idea
God help us, Europe rearming. it's become necessary, and I think they're ready to be responsible about it and not repeat last century's errors
Worst Idea
There are so many prime candidates. tariffs on penguins. taking citizenship rights away from infants. Using a government shutdown to cut food stamps. trying to permanently shutter the department of education. federal agents wearing masks to hide their identities from critics. Each of these and likely twice that many other ideas from this admin deserve a nomination in their own right.
Sorry To See You Go
Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Roberta Flack, Tom Stoppard, Diane Keaton, Jane Goodall, Robert Redford, Terrence Stamp (Zod from Superman), Peter Greene (Zed from pulp fiction), Bill Moyers, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Tom Lehrer, Dick Cheney, Michael Madsen, Sly Stone, Loretta Swit, George Wendt, Pope Francis, Val Kilmer, George Foreman, Gene Hackman, Bob Uecker, Raul Grijalva, Peter Yarrow, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Kitty Dukakis, Wink Martindale, David Souter, Charles Rangel, Hulk Hogan, Giorgio Armani, Sonny Curtis
15 Minutes Of Fame
Seth Todd, the original Portland protest frog
Best Spin
Canadian tariff ad with Ronald Reagan
Worst Spin
Gulf of America
Most Honest Person
Jimmy Fallon?
Biggest Liar
Who else?
Most Overrated
FIFA
Most Underrated
Zelenskiy
Predictions
Dems take the House but not the Senate
Mamdani governs as a moderate and pisses off his supporters
scotus upholds Trump's attack on birthright citizenship at least until the next Democratic president, leaving millions of infants in undocumented limbo
the ratio of non-criminals deported passes 90%
whoops, i meant jimmy kimmel. wrong jimmy.
Destined For Political Stardom
State Rep. James Talarico who is running for Texas Senate next year. I think of him as the straight Christian counterpart to Mayor Pete (and I love me some Mayor Pete!) I’m sorry he’s going up against Jasmine Crockett, another rising star.