Stop saying Trump is joking when he’s not

Last week, Trump bizarrely told Michigan auto workers: “I’ve done more for you than your parents, OK? Your parents are good. I’m not going to knock your parents, but I have been better to you than your parents.”

The Associated Press ran it this way:

“‘I’ve done more for you than your parents, OK?’ he joked.”

“He joked”? Really? I don’t think Trump was joking. He is, after all, the most narcissistic and megalomaniacal person in American public life.

Here’s why the news media must stop reflexively treating Trump’s comments as “jokes”:

• In 2016, Trump urged Russia to hunt for Hillary Clinton’s emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Trump later claimed the remark was “in jest,” but the Mueller Report stated that “within five hours of Trump’s remark, a Russian intelligence service began targeting email accounts associated with Hillary Clinton for possible hacks.”
• In 2017, Trump encouraged police brutality, telling officers, “Please don’t be too nice” when making arrests. His press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said, “I believe he was making a joke at the time.” What have we seen since? A series of street executions carried out by Trump’s immigration agents.
• In late 2019, while running for re-election, Trump mused about staying in office beyond his allotted time: “5 years, 9 years, 13 years, 17 years, 21 years, 25 years, 29 years.” Pointing to the press, he said, “I’m only doing that to drive them totally crazy. That drives them crazy. Even joking about it.” It wasn’t funny a year later when Trump launched a deadly coup attempt to try to stay in power.
• In 2023, Trump said if he was returned to the White House, he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for Day 1.” He later posted that “it was said in a joking manner.” Now, after all the authoritarian moves of his second term, it’s obvious he wasn’t kidding, except when he said he’d stop after Day 1.
• A CNN headline last December read: “Trump jokes about ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ in remarks during Honors ceremony.” Trump, serving as host, played it off as a slip of the tongue. A few days later, the “joke” became reality: Trump arranged for his name to be officially added to the building – an outrageous action that was later reversed by a federal judge.

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There are more examples of “jokes” that could become serious in the coming months and years:

• In January, Trump said his administration was doing so well that “we shouldn’t even have an election.” Asked whether Trump was serious about the idea of canceling the midterms, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The president was simply joking.” Meanwhile, as polls look bad for Republicans, Trump keeps pushing voter suppression measures. He’s reckless and desperate. Who knows what he may do?
• An AP headline in May read: “Trump jokes that US Navy will take on Cuba on the way home from Iran.” I’m not so sure that’s a joke.
• At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and other events, Trump has talked about running for another term in 2028, even though the Constitution forbids it. Several news outlets – including NBC, C-SPAN, USA Today, Newsweek, The Independent, and The Hill – have said Trump is “joking” about that, but in March 2025, Trump himself said he was not. I think he’s testing the waters.

Trump can also be deeply unfunny and inappropriate when he tries to be a quipster. In March, while hosting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office, he explained why the United States did not give Japan a heads-up that it was planning to attack Iran.

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he said. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?”

Not only are his “jokes” unfunny, they’re hamhanded. If he ever had comedic timing, he’s lost it. That’s why he bombed so badly at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Jon Stewart delivered a brilliant takedown on “The Daily Show” last week of just how incompetently Trump told jokes at the dinner.

Trump’s stand-up comedy act suffers when we don’t know if he’s kidding. But Trump’s political act benefits from that uncertainty. Some people are tempted to think, “He must be joking.” But those of us who remember the outrages of the last decade know enough to get alarmed.

The news media need to get alarmed, too. His regime is a sick joke, but he isn’t kidding.

This week’s media atrocity

CBS News continued to bulldoze its credibility by naming New York Times columnist Ross Douthat a “60 Minutes” correspondent. You may remember Douthat from his column in late 2020 headlined, “There Will Be No Trump Coup.”

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