Sane people on the right say that critics of Donald Trump should calm down. Trump says some crazy stuff, they concede, but he’s just kidding. Look at what he does, not what he says.
Here’s my question: How do we know when Trump’s kidding?
If a Trump supporter can tell me, at the time Trump speaks the words, that certain words are a joke, then that supporter might have a point. But the supporter can never do that. The supporter has to wait for weeks, or months, or for some unspecified future date to know whether Trump was kidding or not.
I never had that problem with Robin Williams.
Consider these examples.
In 2016, Trump said that he’d build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Sane Republicans said Trump was speaking metaphorically; he meant only that we’d be tougher on border enforcement.
But then he built the thing!
It wasn’t a joke, I guess.
Trump also said that Mexico would pay for the wall.
But Mexico didn’t!
I guess he was kidding. What a stitch!
Did you know which was the joke, and which was not? When did you decide — before or after construction began?
During the 2016 campaign, Trump said that Russia, if it was listening, should release Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Ha! What a riot!
And then Russia did.
Was that a joke?
Trump said that only Ted Cruz’s fraud had permitted Cruz to win the 2016 Iowa caucuses. The result of the caucuses, according to Trump, should have been nullified.
Joke, or no?
When Trump says the same thing about the result of the 2020 election, is he again kidding?
That man is such a master of deadpan humor.
Did Trump talk about immigrants from “shithole countries” during his first term? Trump denied speaking those words at the time. He now seemingly admits that it was true.
Which was the joke?
Trump said the he’d negotiate peace in Ukraine on his first day in office. Of course he was exaggerating.
But was he joking? Did he believe he could negotiate peace in a few weeks? A few months? At any time during his second term? With Trump’s steadfast support for the Russian position in the war, is he even trying to negotiate a peace that would be acceptable to the west?
Or is he joking?
But you can’t wait. Tell me now, before Trump’s second term expires.
Trump said that he was going to build a new White House ballroom without costing us a taxpayer dollar. Republicans in Congress may now authorize a billion taxpayer dollars to build the ballroom.
Was Trump joking when he said that he’d build the ballroom at no taxpayer expense? Or is he joking now?
Or was Trump misinformed, or exaggerating, or lying, or insane?
If you don’t know whether it’s a joke, how can you be sure of your defense of Trump? Or do you just plan to see how things play out, and then insist that Trump was brilliant, no matter what he does?
How about Trump’s “Gold Card” program that, in February 2025, was going to offer a pathway to U.S. citizenship in return for a payment of $5 million?
It must have been a joke, because Trump reduced the price to $1 million in his September 2025 executive order.
That Trump! He’s a riot! What will he think of next?
As of late April, apparently one applicant had been approved for the Gold Card program.
What a scream!
When Trump threatens to bomb Iran back into the Stone Age, is it a joke?
But tell me now — before the renewed bombing starts or a peace deal is negotiated. If Trump’s joking, you must know that he’s joking, right?
Along the same lines, did the United States “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear weapons program with its strikes last June? Trump insisted that we did, and he roped other administration officials into repeating that quip. Should I be laughing?
Because we had to bomb Iran again not eight months later when Iran was on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon.
Was that real?
Or is that another joke?
A joke is a pretty serious thing.
Is the war in Iran going to be over two weeks after it started in February? Or was that a joke? Has the United States won that war (and won that war, and won that war), as Trump says? Or is that more hilarity?
I’m ready to concede that a person is a comedian if the person tells a joke and someone — anyone — knows that the words were spoken in jest. But if the joke leaves a roomful of listeners unable to identify the joke until waiting for later events to pass, that isn’t a joke at all.
When Trump says that he’ll run for president again in 2028, is that a joke?
Should America treat it as a joke?
Or must we wait until November 2028 to know?
I think the joke’s on us.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.
The post Calm Down, Sane Republicans Say, He’s Only Joking appeared first on Above the Law.