Deadline Poet / January 23, 2024

Trump and the Courts

Calvin Trillin
Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump speaks to guest at a cam
Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump speaks to guest at a campaign event on December 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa. Iowa Republicans were the first to select their party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential race, when they caucused on January 15, 2024. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

As he lumbers from trial to trial,
Exuding great volumes of bile,
He says, “Can’t you see:
They’re picking on me.”
Self-pity was always his style.

Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation’s “deadline poet.”

More from The Nation

The Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City.

Trump Is Making Federal Prison Even More Dangerous for Transgender Inmates Trump Is Making Federal Prison Even More Dangerous for Transgender Inmates

New directives from the Bureau of Prisons amount to government-mandated conversion therapy.

Kali Holloway

Donald Trump attends UFC 327 at Kaseya Center on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida

We Need to Prepare for the Mammoth Task of De-Trumpification We Need to Prepare for the Mammoth Task of De-Trumpification

The damage he and his cronies have wrought could take decades to repair, particularly when it comes to science and public health.

Gregg Gonsalves

President Donald Trump with an AI-generated picture he posted on his Truth Social platform, depicting himself as Jesus Christ, after criticizing Pope Leo XIV.

How Trump Keeps Getting Away With Blasphemy How Trump Keeps Getting Away With Blasphemy

Liberals struggle to understand why the president’s evangelical supporters never seem to mind his sacrilegious tendencies. They’re missing the point.

Chris Lehmann

Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson Is Not Your Anti-War Ally Tucker Carlson Is Not Your Anti-War Ally

Liberals are delighted by the MAGA titan’s opposition to the Iran War. All they’re doing is boosting the credibility of an unrepentant, pathologically dishonest, bad-faith bigot.

Rafi Schwartz

Hasan Piker speaks at the Yale Political Union event.

Inside Yale’s Hasan Piker Spectacle Inside Yale’s Hasan Piker Spectacle

The Twitch streamer’s invitation to debate at the Yale Political Union drew the ire of Laura Loomer, Rick Scott, and Turning Point USA.

StudentNation / Zachary Clifton

Trump media microphones

To My Fellow Journalists: We Need to Do Better To My Fellow Journalists: We Need to Do Better

In an election year under an administration that has wreaked record-setting havoc, journalism is more important than ever—and we need to act like it.

Arnold Isaacs