Buffoon of the Week Staff
Some political wounds we earn in battle. Others we inflict ourselves. This past weekend, President Donald Trump seemed to keep stepping on rakes, making unforced errors.
Whether you support or oppose the President, this is significant. You’d be hard-pressed to find a strategic upside in what we can only describe as a series of unforced errors from Trump. In just 48 hours, President Trump managed to hand his critics new talking points on everything from immigration to the economy.
What are Unforced Errors?
Unforced errors in sports refer to avoidable mistakes likely due to lack of execution or concentration.
Similarly, in politics, unforced errors refer to missteps or mistakes made by a politician or campaign due to poor judgment or lack of focus, which can result in harm to their platform or messaging.
As you’ll see below, President Donald Trump’s unforced errors discussed below gave his detractors fresh fodder to use and reinforced attack vectors on issues like his tariffs and the administration’s handling of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Meme Misfires
First, let’s discuss two recent memes posted by The White House and President Trump himself.
President Trump posted a meme on his Truth Social account depicting himself dressed as a pope. The meme seems very ill-timed considering that the Roman Catholic community continues to mourn the recent passing of Pope Francis, and that the conclave of Cardinals is meeting this week to choose a new pontiff. It also comes after Trump quipped to the media that he would “like to be pope,” further saying “that would be my number one choice.” Bad joke, bad timing.
Then there the White House’s post on X depicting Trump with a red lightsaber. The administration intended to note the Star Wars fandom’s annual marking of “May the Fourth,” a reference to the iconic series’ tagline of “May the Force be with you.” There’s only one problem: in Star Wars lore, a red lightsaber signifies an evil Sith lord.
Thus, this second of two visual unforced errors unintentionally played into the hands of Trump haters on social media; they jumped on the administration lack of awareness of the cultural zeitgeist, joking that Trump freely admits to being evil.
Let’s be clear: we’re all about edgy comedy. But when does “edgy” cross a line? No one biiried these memes in a Reddit thread. Trump and his administration directly posted these memes to their respective timelines—proudly. Even if you chalk it up to trolling or online bravado, it raises a bigger question: what exactly is the political utility in embracing this kind buffoonery?
Whose Economy Is It, Anyways?
Let’s now turn to President Trump’s interview on NBC’s Meet the Press (his second national broadcast interview within a week’s time) and Kristen Welker’s interview concerning the economy—an area where Trump typically scores well in polling.
During the interview, Trump initially handled Welker’s economic questions well, crediting his policies for stock market improvements and pushing back on claims of rising prices.
But it was the end of this discussion where we find the first of a few unforced errors. When Welker asked when President Trump would take full ownership of the economy, Trump said:
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” Trump said. “He did a terrible job on everything.”
Now, if one had heard this statement in context of the entire discussion, we believe that the context would soften his overall point – that he’s just gotten started in fixing things, but there remains remnants of the previous administration’s poor decisions. But in this society of TL:DR attention spans, all most will recall is Trump’s sentence which, without context, sounds asinine.
Trump’s Economic Message Mired By… Dolls?
The next of the several unforced errors we must discuss is President Trump doubling-down on a silly economic analogy. Prior to this interview, Trump had made a statement to the press in the context of questions concerning the effects of his tariffs that instead of buying several cheap dolls from China for a child, American may have to buy fewer dolls at slightly higher prices.
Welker seized the moment to jump on this point and got Trump to double-down on his statement:
I‘m just saying they don’t need to have thirty. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.
Oof. Without the context of Trump calling on Americans to stop buying Chinese junk products which Trump provided after his quotable moment, one would be forgiven for thinking that Trump was trying to tell Americans what to do with their money. That, of course, is a big no-no!
Don’t Forget to Vote for This Week’s Buffoon of the Week!
This week’s poll is up and running! Click here to learn about this week’s nominees.
Then, learn more about Buffoonology 101 and the rules behind this wacky competition between Gene and Ross!
Trump Says He Doesn’t Know About Basic Constitutional Protections?
We’ve saved the best of these unforced errors for the last.
While discussing the ongoing legal battle over reputed MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Welker asked the President whether he needed to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president. Trump quizzically responded, “I don’t know” and then demurred to the judgment of Depart of Justice lawyers.
In an age where out-of-context clips shape public perception faster than facts, this line was catnip for critics.
So here’s the context: Welker transitioned her line of questioning from the specific matter of Abrego Garcia to general Constitutional principles. Meanwhile, Trump continued to speak specifically about Abrego Garcia’s matter. There seems like there was some miscommunication.
Nonetheless, average Americans don’t have time for anything but the sound byte. So, this moment went viral on social media.
Get in the Comments
In politics, the toughest hits aren’t always from your opponent. Sometimes, you punch yourself in the face. And this weekend, Trump did exactly that—with a string of avoidable, embarrassing unforced errors.
Let us know what you think about all of this? Do you consider these acts and statements as unforced errors? Or is this more obfuscation from the left? Jump into the comments and let’s unpack it—were these fumbles or part of a bigger play? – we look forward to your thoughts!
