Donald Trump gave a live, televised address to the nation last night. The White House forced all of the networks to give him airtime in primetime. Some people thought that Trump was going to announce a ground invasion into Venezuela. Hold that thought, because I’m sure that’s coming. But instead of announcing a war or some big policy change, Trump basically ranted like he spent hours snorting Adderall. What was the point of all this? Some theories: one, the Epstein files will be released tomorrow and Trump is trying to distract from that. Two, the White House’s in-house economic numbers are terrifyingly bad and they’re worried that the media might actually start reporting about how Trump has frog-marched America into a deep recession. Three, Trump went out there to distract from his chief of staff’s disastrous Vanity Fair interview. Per the Daily Beast:
Donald Trump admitted he was forced to give a bizarre national address by Susie Wiles, his embattled chief of staff who is clinging to her job after a loose-lipped profile in Vanity Fair.
Wednesday night’s 18-minute double-speed diatribe saw the 79-year-old president fire off mistruth after mistruth about how well his administration is doing and attack his predecessor, Joe Biden—but without having anything new to say.
The White House address was carried live by the major networks, with CBS forced to interrupt the live finale of its reality TV show hit Survivor so viewers could catch the presidential speech.
Some of Trump’s key allies could not understand why he had decided to give the last-minute speech ahead of the Christmas holidays and were “surprised” he had done so, especially since there was nothing new to announce, according to a Zeteo report.
But in seemingly unguarded comments made in front of journalists after the address, Trump gave the game away. The president admitted that it had not even been his choice—and that Wiles had made him do it, as she battles to survive the fallout from her embarrassingly candid Vanity Fair article.
This sounds as likely as anything else, that Susie Wiles was like “f–k it, let’s do a primetime speech, it couldn’t hurt.” They wanted to change the newscycle, and it worked – now everyone’s talking about how Trump is a demented a–hole who lies 24-7. The Atlantic’s coverage of Trump’s speech called it what it was: the equivalent of Trump saying “quiet, piggy” to America.
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- Washington, DIST United States President Donald J Trump delivers an address to the Nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 17 DECEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DIST United States President Donald J Trump delivers an address to the Nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 17 DECEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
To remind us of the hellscape we’re living in. As if we could forget.
We can’t replace this administration, quickly, enough.
He is completely deranged and has lost the plot. The more he talks, the more people are forced to look and listen to him the better. He also isn’t grooming a succesor (Vance and Miller were pointedly tossed under the bus during the VF article). The magat movement will crash and burn eventually. We are nearly 23% through this term. Midterms may make him a complete lame duck if the Democrats can take back the Senate and/or House. Everything he is doing is to distract from the Epstein files being released. The hardcore magats seem okay with p#doph#lia, but the weaker mango is made, the more vulnerable he is to Putin releasing whatever he has on him. Only about a third of the county has been mindf#cked by the magat movement. Mango’s policies are hurting the poor magats immensely. The tide is turning.
“Mistruth after mistruth.”
Or, you know, lies
Right?! Drives me nuts. WTF is a “mistruth”? He LIES.
I think a prime time reminder to the US voters that Trump is a raving lunatic is an excellent idea.
Like we need a reminder? I wish I could forget it for 30 seconds.
Same here, but it’s not those of us who didn’t vote for him that need the reminder.
Sorry @Kaye, but that message needs to be driven home regularly (and on volume 11) from now until November. And the next November. And the next.
I think everyone knew this in 2024 and yet he was still elected.
They absolutely knew. Maybe they couldn’t know how bad it would be, but they knew he was degenerating rapidly while on the campaign trail and they voted for him anyway.
Well, some did. But others still believed the fiction that Trump would be a warrior for them and their interests, when the truth is that Trump is only a warrior for himself.
I didn’t watch or listen and won’t……he just wanted attention back on him as he couldn’t bear Rob Reiner tributes taking over the headlines…
His entire admin needs to be imprisoning. That is all.
I haven’t watched live television in years. This is one of the reasons why. I spent last night watching The Big Bang Theory.
I didn’t watch a second of his latest garbage. However, I am super pissed that he delayed all programming by a half hour, forcing me to stay up thirty minutes later to see MVP Harris on Jimmy Kimmel. And, btw, just because the WH schedules a bizarre rant, the networks don’t have to carry it. They blew off much more important speeches by Presidents Obama and Biden. Liberal media my ass. 🤬
I watched a PBS documentary about the Titanic instead. I think the Titanic is a great metaphor for what this regime is doing to this country.
I am beginning to think Susie Wiles secretly has it out for trump. First the recent horrible rally, then the vanity fair hit piece, and now the deranged speech.
I was thinking the same thing. She could be also trying to save face once this mess is over with.
Yeah, what’s this ‘forced the networks’ to run it? Nobody HAD to. Or does trump thoroughly own the networks now, ‘own’ in every sense of the word.
Like Hitler he gets off on hearing himself speak!
He was very “unmasked Scooby-Doo inept villain”. He yelled and pouted and I didn’t know a country could be hot except for weather. What a fukface.
Media is in the gutter…maybe abyss is more apt.
There is more emphasis on opinions than facts. It’s like a gladiator sport now, talking heads sparring to see who can be more gruesome in narrating the crazy battles for survival. Smutty, salacious, ridiculous, conspiratorial, untrustworthy, vindictive – all words to describe the mainstream media landscape since Trump entered the political sphere in 2015 but in 2025 we are witnessing the darkest depths (in my lifetime) of US mainstream media pandering to the whims of an incompetent president instead of holding him accountable to a high standard that others would have been held to – abysmal. 🤦♀️
I wasn’t even aware he was on last night….whatever coverage has been way below the fold, at least in my morning online news spots.
Figure he went on because he’s been peeved he hasn’t gotten attention or been in a headline for a few days between Brown, Bondi and the Reiner’s murder, aside from even his followers being appalled at his remarks about Rob Reiner. Or, of course, there’s something else he’s guilty of so wants to deflect by blaming Biden/Obama/etc. for the very thing he’s done.
Plus he’s in front of a camera every damn day so it’s hard to distinguish when it’s somehow different–particularly when it’s not.
I spent last night answering my 4 year old’s many questions about Santa Claus which was adorable and enjoyable. I can’t even listen to a second of this man’s voice without feeling nauseous.
I raised two kids and I know a tantrum when I see one.
Things came to a head for him this week:
– He received near-universal condemnation for his vile Rob Reiner comment;
– His cabinet of incompetant jackasses was laid bare in Vanity Fair;
– And he doesn’t think Americans are “grateful” enough for his fucking up of every corner of our once great nation.
He’s probably already requested “It was Biden’s fault” be engraved onto his (fake gold plated) headstone.
Couldn’t agree more. This was the equivalent of the 3 year old screaming on the floor, drumming their heels, red-faced and furious because Mom refused to buy them a candy bar at the grocery store. If only we could put this orange-faced brat in timeout. Permanently.
The purpose was to make HIM feel better.
Well, at least we aren’t going to war. Yet.
Not to defend the channels that carried this ME LOOK AT ME speech but I think they, like most of us did expect something substantial. I know I thought it was going to be about Venezuela. I wonder if his handlers realize he made a complete and total fool of himself live on national television, Doubt it.
The whole speech could have just been a truth social post. He literally wasted everyone’s time who watched.
I didn’t watch because I’m not masochistic and I assumed it would be the opposite of FDR’s historic Fireside Chats. We have the Epstein files to look forward to tomorrow. I think the timing is intentional. They’re probably counting on people not wanting to spend the holidays reading about that depravity or getting angry because they came up with an excuse to not release the files.
The problem is his base is suffering. His base seems to be hit worse than the people they thought would suffer but he only cares about how it affects him. He doesn’t care that your insurance is going up; he cares that he is getting blamed not Obama or Biden. He doesn’t care that food is expensive and people are losing their jobs; he’s mad that he’s getting blamed. He doesn’t want proof to come out that he’s a pedophile. He wants people to believe that it’s Clinton but his chief of staff basically said that there is no proof that Clinton was on Epstein’s island. History can say that he’s the only man to bankrupt businesses, casinos and countries. He’s a failure on the world stage while Obama, Clinton, and Biden continue to receive possible recognition. Now everyone can see that they things that he said about Biden’s age are his psychological projections. You can’t tell be that dementia isn’t taking over him like it did his father and his family is using it to fleece as much as they can and the republican party is still scared of him.
‘Mistruth after mistruth’? C’mon, Daily Beast, those were lies. Use the correct term. LIES.