Donald Trump just hosted the leader of China on a state visit, and in the end it turned out to be a total flop. No big announcements happened, no big deals were cut, in fact nothing much of anything took place, other than Trump trying desperately to impress Xi Jinping with his new heliport and all the other laughable modifications he's done to the White House. Xi wasn't notably impressed (of course), but he did promise two more giant pandas would be heading to America soon, so that's something, at the very least.

The truly epic part of this failure at summitry was that none of it was caught on the television cameras. Which must have thoroughly cheesed off Trump, for whom an event that doesn't appear on television simply does not exist.

This was due to the White House press pool being shut down for the season (as it were, just to add an autumnal flavor to the snark). At the end of last week, Trump picked a fight with three media outlets, which reportedly blindsided everyone else inside the White House. Trump (via social media, of course) announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists were all banned from the White House. Their reporters and camera operators wouldn't be allowed in the building any more at all, because Trump was having one of his many toddler tantrums about "fake news."

This backfired rather spectacularly. In less than a week's time, a federal judge issued a temporary order reinstating the journalists' White House credentials and access. This was a pretty easy call, since Trump's petulant actions were so blatantly unconstitutional. But while the reporters were barred, the rest of the White House press pool -- a rotating cast of reporters and photographers from a group of media outlets -- refused to continue reporting on Trump, in solidarity with the banned reporters.

This meant no video feed. Some newspapers even refused to publish still photos. So the thing Trump fears worst -- being ignored by the media -- came to pass. And it happened right when the Chinese leader visited (which must have really cheesed Trump off). All as a direct result of Trump throwing a tantrum -- he had no one to blame for this but himself.

Trump and his trusty band of wannabe authoritarians at the White House quickly came up with their own plan to solve the problem -- state-run media! Yeah, that's the ticket! America joined the ranks of places like North Korea, Russia, and China in having a taxpayer-funded television feed that did absolutely nothing but praise the Dear Leader to the skies, named (you just cannot make this stuff up!): "Trump TV: The Essentials Station."

That was the plan, at any rate, but this also turned into an epic fail. If Trump was expecting high ratings, he must have been sorely disappointed: "By Wednesday, the channel had lost nearly 95 percent of its viewership. Nothing to see there, apparently. The Daily Beast reported that viewers numbered just 427 at one point."

One reporter at the Washington Post actually sat and tried to watch the first 24 hours of our new state-run television feed, and her report just dripped with snark. She noted that the White House had billed the station as: "the Trump Administration's biggest moments all in one place... streaming 24/7 and updated in real time." She eagerly anticipated the dawn of this new era: "I was hoping for a full day of opening numbers. Razzle-dazzle. Put Marco Rubio into the Octagon with Stephen Miller and six tubes of eyeliner. A girl can dream." What she found didn't even come close, of course:

Suddenly, the blue screen disappeared and we were at a "tri-lateral signing event" with President Donald Trump and dignitaries from Denmark and Greenland. Each party made brief remarks and then milled about until the screen abruptly cut away again.

Next, and without preamble, Vice President JD Vance was at a lectern next to Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, railing against medical fraud. He was particularly incensed about something called allografts. (Did you know that skin grafting procedures have gone rampant in recent years? Who is getting all these skin grafts? IT'S A GRAFT GRIFT.) Then it was time to watch a series of clips about undocumented immigrants who allegedly committed crimes. Then some astronauts were getting medals. Then a random citizen identified herself as a native Washingtonian and told a story about her tragically murdered grandson. Then we toured a Ford Motor plant.

Trump TV has no news anchors or reporters. It has no chyrons or voice-overs. There is no host to explain to you what you are seeing, or why you are seeing it. When I nodded off in the middle of the night, the channel was showing a military exercise involving Navy SEALs on dirt bikes; when I jolted awake a few hours later, the total viewership for this landmark project was now about 400 people, and we were all watching five-month-old footage of the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Not content with wasting taxpayer money on such shameless self-promotion (done, as with everything Trump attempts, really badly), the White House also dabbled in some straight-up strongman propaganda this week as well. Think that's an exaggeration? You be the judge: They cut an ad with singers repeating "Love me" in the background, that showed the Dear Leader being resolute against those damn commies. Or something. There was lots of almost subliminal-message style flashing of phrases and words and lots and lots and lots of photos of Trump. There was a disclaimer at the bottom which read "Paid for by the U.S. Government," just to let everyone know that, yes, this was indeed dictator-style propaganda paid for by your tax dollars.

The hilarious part was the juxtaposition of Trump's "Love me" super-commie-fighter ad and him hosting a state visit by the head of the Chinese Communist Party, whom Trump fawned over and all but kowtowed in front of. We don't have video and audio of all this, but it wouldn't surprise me if Trump sang "Love me" to Xi at some point, since that was his obvious goal.

In other foreign policy idiocy this week, Donald Trump gave an address to the United Nations General Assembly. As could be expected, it didn't exactly go well. HuffPost ran their report of the speech with the headline: "Trump Takes World Stage, Delivers Same Nonsense" (which seems about right, to us):

President Donald Trump on Tuesday regaled leaders from around the world with his false claims about ending eight wars, boasts about murdering people on small boats on the high seas, and fabricated numbers about foreign investment in the United States, using his United Nations forum to repeat the lies and complaints he inflicts on American audiences on a near-daily basis.

"We've secured commitments for $21 trillion in new investments from all over the planet, compared to less than $1 trillion in four years in the previous administration," he said, using figures that have no connection to reality.

Having damaged the world economy with his war of choice against Iran and its resultant high oil prices, Trump yet again threatened to destroy the country entirely, an act that would constitute war crimes.

"I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world, or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?" he said to silence in the General Assembly hall. "Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?"

MS NOW got in on the fun by running the following message while Trump was issuing this threat: "Trump touts being a peacemaker while asking if he should annihilate Iran." That also seems about right.

The most eye-rolling part of Trump going to New York City was a signing ceremony he held with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland that was essentially the exact same agreement that has been in place since 1951. So much for Trump's dreams of having "Complete and Total Control" over the island, eh? The agreement they signed specifically pointed out that both Greenland and Denmark retained sovereignty, and that the U.S. would not be in charge of the island at all. This was a massive defeat for Trump's childish pipe dream, but (of course) he tried to spin it as some sort of great victory (while the rest of the world just laughed at him).

People here at home have noticed, too. Trump's approval ratings on foreign policy are hitting new lows (29 percent approval), along with his polling on gas prices, tariffs, and pretty much everything else. CNN's numbers guru pointed out this week that Trump's number with "pure independents" went from him winning them by 15 points in the race against Kamala Harris to now being 71 points below water. Republicans in general are losing Latino voters in big numbers as well. Democrats are opening up a much bigger lead in the "generic question" pollsters ask ("If the election were held today, would you vote for a Democrat or a Republican?"). Things have gotten so bad that even Donald Trump himself reportedly has now faced the reality that Republicans are going to get their clocks cleaned in the midterms.

Some Republicans (who still want to get re-elected) are jumping ship already. Three GOP Senate candidates (in Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio) have now called for an end to Trump's war of choice with Iran (more about one of them in the talking points). Republican candidates are quietly scrubbing their campaign websites of pictures and mentions of Trump. One Senate Republican even (gasp!) called for an investigation into Donald Trump Junior's private-island wedding party, which was paid for by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Trump is "kryptonite" right now, for other Republicans.

Nowhere is this more evident than Trump and his sidekick JD Vance, out on the hustings. Vance held two recent rallies, in North Carolina and in Iowa. In the former, only 300 people showed up (to a venue that could have held 3,000), and they were visibly bored out of their skulls while Vance spoke. In Iowa, only 100 people showed up and Vance was snubbed by the Republican candidate for Senate there (who obviously had better things to do with her time).

Today, it was announced that Trump will hold at least two rallies next week. He had promised earlier that he was going to hold "at least 30" rallies for Republicans in tough races in the final weeks of the midterm campaign, but he's way behind on that goal (he'd have to hold five or six rallies each and every week to even hope to achieve that). So what battleground purple states is Trump heading for next week? (Are you sitting down?) Oklahoma and Alabama. This should be seen as an indication that Republicans who truly are in tight races simply do not want Trump to show up to "help" them. And who can blame them, really?

Republicans in Congress have now entered the "grasping at straws" phase of their campaigns. A few of them tried to convince Trump to do a monumentally stupid thing, but so far it hasn't happened yet. They wanted Trump to institute a ban on shipping diesel fuel out of the country. The only problem with this notion is that while it might very temporarily get the price of diesel down in certain parts of the country (mostly the Gulf coast, close to the refineries), it would actually make it more expensive elsewhere -- and as a side effect, gasoline and jet fuel prices would also spike even higher than they are now.

And just to close on an optimistic note... it seems Senator Susan Collins up in Maine is in the midst of a bribery scandal in her office. Although it's not quite October, this could be a very welcome October surprise for the Democrat fighting to win her seat in November.

We're not sure quite how he does it. He seems to have some sort of magic powers, or something.

We are speaking of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who this week continued his bromance with Donald Trump, by inviting him to Gracie Mansion (while Trump was in the city for the U.N. meeting). Trump gushed about how wonderful Mamdani was to the cameras (which only showed up to cover Mamdani, since this was in the midst of the White House pool reporters' boycott of coverage). Mamdani, as usual, looked rather bemused and surprised by Trump's fawning language.

How does he do it? The two men's politics couldn't be further apart. They routinely accuse each other of being not just the worst of the worst in the opposition, but being the personification of everything that has gone wrong or will go wrong in America.

And yet... somehow Mamdani can worm his way past all that ideological hatred and capture Trump's heart. It's downright bizarre to watch, really. It's hard not to picture him with a chair and a whip standing in front of a dangerous beast and calling the shots. Mamdani is a Trump-tamer extraordinaire.

Mamdani isn't giving anything up by cultivating this "strange bedfellows" friendship (or whatever you want to call it). Quite the opposite -- Mamdani gains from the relationship, since Trump hasn't declared war (or open lawfare, from his Justice Department) on the Big Apple (which he easily could have).

Trump is a former New Yorker, of course, and Trump loves anybody who looks great on television and just oozes charisma. That's all obviously why he is so nice to Mamdani, since Mamdani did indeed lead a political movement (to get elected) and has a charming personality.

So for avoiding putting his city in the federal crosshairs by simply being friendly to Donald Trump (without ever compromising his principles), Mayor Zohran Mamdani is our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, sometimes.

[Congratulate New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on his official contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]

We had a few other possibilities this week, but there was late-breaking news that caused us to re-evaluate.

New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell has just resigned his post, after an investigation accused him of sexual harassment of an employee and other ethical violations. Here's the story:

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell (D) has resigned, one day after Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) called on him to do so after an independent investigation found that he sexually harassed a woman and violated state ethics rules.

. . .

A report summarizing the independent investigation said Caldwell had made a romantic advance toward a female staffer's friend and, when rebuffed, told the staffer, "You young women are looking for young sperm." Caldwell's comment caused the staffer to try to distance herself from him at work and "constituted sexual harassment," the report said. Caldwell told investigators he did not make the remark, according to the report.

The report also said there was "credible evidence" that Caldwell violated state ethics rules by bringing personal guests to ticketed events without advance clearance and by trying, on multiple occasions, to secure a promotion for a state employee with whom he had a romantic relationship. Caldwell told investigators that he never asked anyone on a date, "hit on," or romantically pursued anyone while conducting official business, and argued he did not violate ethics rules when advocating for his girlfriend, according to the report.

Nothing really tops that, this week. Kudos for New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, who immediately called for Caldwell's resignation when the investigation's report appeared. She gave him one day to do so, which is pretty fast action indeed.

At least he did so, rather than suffer through an impeachment circus. But that's about the only positive thing you can say about Dale Caldwell's actions, really, which easily merited this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week.

[Dale Caldwell is now (thankfully) a private citizen, since he resigned his post. It is our blanket policy not to provide contact information for such persons, sorry.]

Volume 858 (9/25/26)

Another mixed bag this week, with an emphasis on foreign policy (since there was so much of it in the news). And with one video clip at the end that we just couldn't resist (life imitating art...). Anyway, sit back and enjoy!

   Maybe get some pointers from Xi?

We're going to start with the most embarrassing one, for Trump.

"This week, America launched its first-ever state-run media project. Called 'Trump TV: The Essentials Station,' it was an instant flop. It seems only a few hundred Americans want to tune in to see random clips of Trump and his toadies doing random things, with no introduction or explanation whatsoever. Seems like the whole 'TV station to praise the Dear Leader' thing is tougher than it looks! Maybe Trump spent some of his time while talking to China's Xi Jinping asking for pointers on how autocratic state-run media should be run? Because so far, Trump TV is nothing short of an epic fail, using the measure Trump loves the best: bad ratings."

   Love me!

This is just pathetic on a certain level, but it is also incredibly dangerous on many others.

"Not content to launch state-run media this week, Trump also spent some taxpayer money producing an ad that simply cannot be described without using the word 'propaganda.' It showed Big Brother... oh, sorry, I meant to say Donald Trump... being manly and staring off into the distance while the text promised that he was the biggest fighter of communism ever seen and the most superior human being to ever trod the Earth. In the background -- you cannot make this stuff up, folks -- singers repeated the line: 'Love me.' And once again, your taxpayer dollars paid for this ad. Trump obviously wants to make America North Korea or Russia. What was truly hilarious is that right after this ad was released, Trump fawned all over the leader of the biggest communist party in the world, and couldn't sing his praises enough. So much for Mr. Tough-Guy Commie Fighter, eh?"

   Trump gets nothing

This happened not just once but twice this week.

"Donald Trump started the week off by signing a document that gave Greenland and Denmark everything they were demanding while Trump got absolutely nothing he wanted. The U.S. is not going to own Greenland, or control it, or take it over militarily -- all the things Trump has been darkly fantasizing about. The agreement was pretty much nothing more than what the U.S. and Denmark had agreed to 75 years ago. Then Trump hosted the leader of China, and at the end of all the meetings and whatnot, there were absolutely no announcements of any change or progress between the two nations whatsoever -- not on artificial intelligence, not on military matters, not on China's aid to Iran while the U.S. is at war with them. What Trump got from all the pageantry was absolutely nothing."

   Fleeing the Trump ship

This will likely build momentum, the closer we get to the midterms.

"Republicans in Congress seem to have decided it is time to flee the Trump ship. They're breaking with Trump on the war, on gas prices, on immigration, and they're scrubbing his name and face from their campaign websites. Trump isn't getting many invitations to come and hold a rally for Republicans in tight races, because they all know having Trump appear would hurt their chances of getting elected, not help them. One Republican senator even called for an investigation into Donald Trump Junior, who had a lavish wedding party thrown for him by a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin. The closer the midterms get, the more Republicans are going to be abandoning the Trump ship, that's my guess."

   Jon Husted is lying to you

Drive this one home as hard as possible.

"Republican Senator Jon Husted wants to get re-elected, but he's trailing Sherrod Brown in the polls in Ohio. So he tried to distance himself from Donald Trump's disastrous war of choice by calling for the war to end, so that gas prices could come down again. But he is nothing short of a stone-cold hypocrite. He is flat-out lying to Ohio voters, plain and simple. You know how I know this? Because this week a measure to end the war in Iran came up for a vote in the Senate. Four Republicans voted for it. If one more Republican had voted for it, it would have passed. And you know what? Jon Husted voted against it. He voted for the war to continue and sky-high gas prices to continue. So take what he says about caring about you and your family's finances with a grain of salt, because Husted is just a lying hypocrite when he says he does."

   Trump did this

This is the Democrats' strongest message heading into the final five weeks of the midterm campaign.

"This isn't rocket science, folks. Every single one of you knows full well why gas prices are sky-high, and why diesel prices are almost seventy cents above their previous all-time high. There is one reason and one reason alone for this mess: Trump's war. Trump's war of choice with Iran. He hasn't achieved any of the goals he set out to and there is no end in sight. Trump's war sent gas prices through the roof. Right now gasoline is $4.50 a gallon and diesel is a crushing $6.50 a gallon. And more and more I am seeing little stickers that have been slapped on gas pumps all over the country. Those stickers are right to point out: 'Trump did this!'"

   Super Genius

We heartily encourage everyone to click on the second link below, in case you have forgotten this seminal scene from American cartoon history.

"Trump decided this week he was going to get the whole rest of the world to use a new name he thought up. He rolled it out to the U.N. this week, and then tried to get the leader of China on board with it too. Everyone ignored him, of course. His idea? To rename 'artificial intelligence' to his new term 'super intelligence.' Well, I don't know about you, but I think that Wyle E. Coyote had the final word on that idiocy, a long time ago."

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground