Angelino I'm Curious! 25 November 2022

Roll-up, Roll-up! The “Florida Man” Circus is Back in Town!

When Donald Trump – aka the “Florida Man” – announced his candidacy to run for President (again) in 2024, most people just scratched their heads, asking: “This is a joke, right?”

Watch | Listen 5 mins 0 sec Read Story Approx. 7.5 mins

Watch | Listen

Key Points

Does anyone really want this narcissistic egomaniac back in the White House?
America’s three main broadcast networks ignored Trump’s announcement
New York Post buries story with: “Florida Man Makes Announcement – page 26”

Full Story

Does anyone really want this narcissistic egomaniac “Florida Man” back in the White House?

A week after the November 2022 American midterm elections, Donald Trump – aka the Florida Man – aka Trumpty Dumpty – announced he’s running for President (again) in 2024.

I’m guessing most people just scratched their heads, asking:

“This is a joke, right?” Apparently, it’s not a joke but we’ll come back to that later.

First, let’s take a look at how the announcement was covered by the media. America’s three main broadcast networks ignored Trump and didn’t bother to interrupt normal programming to carry the speech. No surprise there. But it was a different situation on cable. We’ll begin with how CNN assessed the coverage – not long after it had become yesterday’s news.

MSNBC didn’t stream the speech live, but Fox News and CNN both aired large portions of it. Newsmax showed Trump’s relatively low-energy, misinformation-peppered announcement in full.

CNN cut away from the Palm Beach spectacle after about 25 minutes when a panel of analysts and the network’s fact-checker dissected and smashed down his various “wildly incorrect” statements.

Trump’s former communications director-turned-CNN-analyst, Alyssa Farah Griffin, explained to viewers the speech contained “outright lies” and that the deluded ex-President was “dabbling into conspiracy theories that she hasn’t even seen in the dark corners of the internet.”

Which brings us to what really caught my attention about this story, gave me a damn good chuckle, and led to the content you’re reading or watching right now. It was the way in which billionaire media mogul; Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post covered the announcement.

Well, to say they covered it is probably an overstatement. Privately, Murdoch – formerly a friend and supporter – expressed dismay over Trump’s “inappropriate conduct since the polls closed.”

Translation:

You pissed in the sand pit and now it stinks. So, I’m taking my toys and I’m going home… And we can’t be besties anymore! Okay, they were never really best mates.

After the 2016 Presidential election, their relationship was clearly one of convenience. A few years later their friendship was characterized as frenemies with benefits.

The bromance (if ever there was one) had cooled – alright, it was pretty much on the way to being frozen. Murdoch’s opinion of the strangely orange-headed whinger had turned to disdain, but he wasn’t quite willing to “throw the crybaby out with the bathwater” just yet. Rupert was loving the big bucks the Whiny Don was helping his Fox News Channel to rake in!

A couple of years on: The White House is finally free of the malodorous stench that had, for four years, desecrated the most prestigious office in the free world.

Murdoch made it clear the show was over, but the “fat lady” was determined to keep singing. Clearly, the relationship in which Rupert used to call the President at will was at an end – as this Yahoo News headline so clearly illustrates:

Publicly Murdoch’s statement about Trump running in 2024 was “We Cannot Back Another Run”.

Privately the real nature of the relationship between the two (at least from Rupert’s side) became apparent. Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury, quotes Murdoch describing Trump as “a fucking idiot!”

And that brings us to the New York Post headline:

For those not familiar with the term Florida Man, it is often used in headlines to refer to the bizarre and outrageous things that happen in the state of Florida. And let’s be real, there’s no one more fitting for that title than Donald Trump.

For us Aussies, I suppose the equivalent to the Florida Man might be some dickhead who’s made it to the front page of Australia’s oldest and most beloved newspaper: the Betoota Advocate. I’m getting off track. Take a look at the headline in small, yellow block letters at the bottom of the front page:

And anyone who bothered flipping to page 26 – I would have been too curious not to – would have spotted a narrow slither of newspaper real estate and minimal ink dedicated to:

Here’s a sampling of the story which completely eviscerates Trump:

Florida Man

The flurry of social media postings, tweets, responses, and retweets was immediate. Most commentators, political analysts, and strategists were clear in their unified belief that, based on the results of the midterm elections, Trump has zero chance of winning the next Presidential election.

But Trumpty Dumpty’s delusional self-belief, as usual, is never assuaged.

In an interview on the day of the elections, he told reporters:

“I should get all the credit if the slew of candidates I endorsed win big in the midterms.” He also said he shouldn’t be blamed if they don’t come out on top. Wow!

From his questionable business dealings to his outrageous behavior on social media, he’s proven time and again that he’s the epitome of a “Florida Man.” Trump’s announcement of his intention to run for president in 2024 is about as surprising as a clown showing up at a circus.

So, as he takes his unique brand of craziness to the campaign trail once again, it’s time to buckle up, because it’s going to be a wild ride. Again!