We began writing this column series lo these many years ago to help tongue-tied Democrats formulate snappy lines to use when being interviewed on television and/or to use in their campaign ads. These days, however, we have to wonder whether we should just pack it in and not even bother. We say this because Donald Trump keeps providing the best talking points Democrats could ever hope for, serving them up on a weekly basis. And this week's was an absolute doozy.

When a reporter asked Trump if Americans' financial situation was motivating him to make a deal with Iran as soon as possible, Trump responded: "Not even a little bit... I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody."

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With less than a month to go before California holds its primary election, it now looks as if the state's Democrats are going to avoid disaster. That is good news for Democratic voters in the state, who outnumber Republican voters by about 3-to-2. But even the fact that we got so close to disaster is going to spur efforts to reform the state's current primary system.

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The U.S. Senate did some interesting things today, including voting on yet another motion to end the war in Iran -- which would have actually passed if John Fetterman had voted with his fellow Democrats, since there are now three Republicans backing the idea. But what caught my eye was a 99-0 vote (!) that is mostly symbolic and merely a baby step, but it is at least a baby step in the right direction.

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As Donald Trump's war of choice stumbles and staggers into its third month, you'll be happy to hear that not everyone has been economically hit hard by the rise in prices it has caused. That's right -- there is one clear winner in all of this disruption. This headline sums it up: "Shell Reports Nearly $7 Billion Profit Amid 'Unprecedented Disruption'." Good to know that somebody's doing well, right?

Well... no. Not really. It's no comfort to everyone who is footing the bill for these monumental windfall profits to know that a whole lot of the money they are paying at the pump isn't because the price per barrel of oil has gone up, but is instead just going to line the pockets of Big Oil. But then, that's the way it has always worked, really.

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Is Donald Trump about to become a lame duck? Well, that's probably optimistic, but the possibility that people will shortly begin using the term about him does actually exist, and tonight's Republican primary election returns in Indiana will give some sort of indication as to the likeliness of it happening.

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The term "shell shock" was initially used to describe what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.). It was created in World War I, to describe how the soldiers engaged in trench warfare felt from being continually bombarded by artillery fire and the sometimes long-lasting mental effects such an experience caused in them. Later, "shell-shocked" morphed into a more hyperbolic use, describing more generically being severely (and negatively) surprised by something. This week, it gained a new and ironically-literal meaning, as the Department of Justice charged James Comey with threatening to assassinate the president because he took a photo of some seashells he saw while walking on the beach. The shells were arranged to spell out "86 47" and what was truly shocking about the whole thing was not the implied message (which most sane people would translate as: "Get rid of the 47th president, Donald Trump") but instead the jaw-dropping ridiculousness of someone being criminally charged over posting a photo of seashells. It wasn't just James Comey who was shell-shocked at that, since it is such a blatant abuse of power and will no doubt get laughed out of court (hopefully sooner rather than later).

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Donald Trump's war of choice with Iran ground to a stalemate this week, and it doesn't seem like progress will be made any time soon. One week ago, Iran announced (as a goodwill gesture, most likely) that the Strait of Hormuz was open once again. Trump then made a slew of sweeping announcements of his own (as a bad-will gesture) and refused to drop his blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump is attempting to define the war the way he usually does, by gaslighting and openly lying, in the hopes that everyone will start believing his lies rather than paying attention to reality. Or just by constantly contradicting himself, showing he doesn't really have a clue as to what is really going on. The Iranians, however, aren't playing his game. They responded with a withering: "The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false. They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either." Iran then promptly closed the Strait back down and attacked two ships (to show they were serious). So the U.S. attacked an Iranian ship and seized it by force. The Iranians responded by seizing a few ships by force in the Strait.

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It was a very busy week in politics and we've got a lot to get to, but let's start out on a happy note for once, shall we? NASA's Artemis II mission is on its way to circle the moon, the first time humans have done so in over 50 years. So check out some awesome photos the astronauts took of Earth, including one that shows some Northern Lights (at the very edge of image). Out of this world! Something America can be proud of (during a time when that is rare indeed)....

Speaking of things quickly rocketing upward, this week the average national price of a gallon of gasoline blew through the "four bucks a gallon" milestone and hit $4.10 today. To which we can only say: "Ouch!"

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California voters were supposed to see a gubernatorial debate this evening (well... early evening -- for some reason it was scheduled to run at 5:00 P.M., when most people aren't even home from work yet, but whatever...), but it has now been cancelled. The University of Southern California announced this morning that it was cancelling the debate due to criticism over who would have been allowed on stage and who would have been excluded.

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I did consider, when contemplating a headline for today, riffing on the Grease song "Beauty School Dropout," but I decided to pay homage to Neil Sedaka instead. Just in case anyone's interested....

I chose this theme because it seems it's been a week of politicians being urged to drop out of their respective races. So far, few have, but the entreaties will likely continue and continue to grow in urgency. But dropping out is indeed hard to do for any politician, since entering into politics as a candidate almost requires you to have an outsized opinion of: yourself, your importance to your party, and your ability to influence the direction of the country. Donald Trump has the biggest ego of any politician I've ever seen, but there are plenty of others whose egos are pretty outsized as well. It's the nature of the business, really.

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