From lying about the weather to his new disastrous pizza scam, Donald Trump has not come a long way

Donald Trump, the walking embodiment of a sour supreme pizza topped with scandal and served with a side of alternative facts, has once again proven that he hasn’t evolved much since his tumultuous term as President.

He consistently manages to lower the bar and redefine the meaning of “rock bottom.” His latest stunt? Redelivering already delivered pizzas to the brave men and women of the New York City Fire Department. The former president reportedly had his staff set aside two pizzas from a larger delivery, only to then personally “deliver” these same pizzas (that were set aside for over 20 minutes, getting cold and stale, as they awaited their designated “delivery executive”) to the firefighters for a photo op. One can only imagine the disappointment on the faces of those brave first responders as they bit into a slice of cold, congealed cheese, all for the sake of stroking Trump’s ego.

But this is just the latest in a long line of Trump’s antics. Donald Trump’s showmanship has always been a bit like his relationship with a well-done steak – rare and questionable at best.

Take, for example, his infamous Sharpie-gate scandal, in which he boldly claimed that Hurricane Dorian was headed for Alabama, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. Rather than admitting his error and moving on, Trump doubled down, going so far as to display a crudely altered map of the hurricane’s projected path, complete with a hand-drawn extension that conveniently included Alabama.

It would be easy to dismiss this incident as just another example of Trump’s ego-driven bluster, but the implications are far more serious. When the President of the United States is willing to lie so blatantly about something as trivial as a weather forecast, it undermines the public’s trust in our government and our institutions. If we can’t believe what our leaders tell us about a hurricane, how can we trust them to be honest about matters of national security, economic policy, or public health?

Speaking of brilliant forecasts, who could forget that iconic moment during Trump’s inauguration when he insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the sun was shining and it wasn’t raining? It’s almost as if he believed that by sheer force of will, he could change the weather itself or at least, blind people to the fact that he can’t.

Yes, apparently, Trump seems to believe he’s blessed by the divine because nothing says “I’m a man of God” quite like using the Holy Scripture as a fundraising tool, right? If you didn’t know already, Trump began selling US-themed bibles recently to fund his election campaign and legal troubles. 

But perhaps the most egregious example of Trump’s dangerous deception came when he suggested that injecting disinfectant into the body could be a viable treatment for COVID-19. From the very beginning, he downplayed the severity of the virus, claiming that it was no worse than the flu and that it would magically disappear on its own. And yet, Trump never apologized or admitted that he was wrong. Instead, he doubled down, claiming that he was being “sarcastic” and that the media had taken his words out of context.

The most telling sign that Trump hasn’t evolved one bit is his continued obsession with the 2020 election. He is almost stuck in a time loop, reliving the same fantasy over and over again. Someone should really tell him that Groundhog Day was just a movie.

But let’s give credit where it’s due– he made history as the first president to be impeached twice! Don’t worry, his defense team had a brilliant strategy – blame everyone else for the Capitol riots. It was the Democrats’ fault, the media’s fault, the tooth fairy’s fault – anyone but Trump himself.

This is a pattern that we’ve seen time and time again with Trump – he says or does something outrageous, gets called out on it, and then either denies that it ever happened or claims that everyone else is just too stupid to understand his brilliant mind.

However, long before he descended the golden escalator, Trump had already established himself as a master of deceit and self-aggrandizement. The Big Mac allegedly paid someone to take his SAT exams. This ensured him a spot at the Wharton School of Business. So, if you can’t earn something through hard work and merit, simply cheat your way to the top.

In all seriousness, the presidency is not a game or a reality TV show. It’s a sacred trust, a solemn responsibility to serve the people with integrity. And if we allow ourselves to forget that, if we continue to reward showmanship over substance and spectacle over service, then we risk losing something far more precious than a few slices of cold pizza.