Donald Trump In Panic Mode

In Trump's shouty, hepped-up "presidential" address, we saw a desperate and delusional man. Public pressure can make him weaker.

Dec 19, 2025

“I inherited a mess,” he falsely whined. (Photo by Doug Mills via Getty Images)

He shouted his speech, barely taking a breath, as if rapid-fire yelling at the American people was going to stop his downward spiral. He used the framing of a presidential address, handed to him by kowtowing broadcast networks, as if he had something serious to tell the nation. He imagined he could convince Americans to believe the economy is really doing great and prices are going down, as if we would all forget what we experience in reality when we go to the grocery store. He assumed viewers would be dazzled by his charisma and power, as if they wouldn’t see his sweaty desperation and his obvious inability to turn things around.

No, none of this is a surprise. But these 18 minutes—in which Donald Trump was framed by two Christmas trees, holiday wreaths on a mantle, an American flag, George Washington’s portrait and the presidential seal—showed us a man that’s digging a hole from which he has no idea how to escape. The holiday setting not only offered no cheer, it was a vivid reminder of how utterly ill-equipped he is to offer even the slightest uplift. To watch this address was to see a frightened White House occupant in panic mode.

In case you had the good fortune to spend your evening more fruitfully, allow me to offer a quick sampling of the nonsense this untethered man was serving:

“I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it.”
“When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country. Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history.”
“I was elected in a landslide.”
“I ended the war in Gaza, bringing for the first time in 3,000 years peace to the Middle East.”
“I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast.”
“I’ve secured a record-breaking $18 trillion of investment into the United States.”
“One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail. Totally fail. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that’s said by every single leader that I’ve spoken to over the last five months.”
“I negotiated to…slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 600 percent.”
“…the steep increase in health insurance premiums being demanded by the Democrats. And they are demanding those increases and it’s their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault.”
“For so long as before my election, the vast majority of good and decent Americans were forced to watch as corrupt politician plundered the halls of power, exploited our taxpayers and pillaged every system that makes civilized society function. But not anymore, and you see that every day, not anymore.”
“We are respected again, like we have never been respected before.”

The self-own, the reaction

But one moment stood apart for its particular madness. While so many of the aforementioned examples seek to blame Joe Biden and the Democrats, deny the reality of a troubled economy, take credit for achievements that do not exist (“for the first time in 3,000 years”… “the hottest country”… “respected again”), the following statement underscores how deeply delusional Trump is about his presidency and how incapable he believes most Americans are of grasping the truth.

“In the end,” he stated, “government either serves the productive, patriotic, hardworking American citizen, or it serves those who break the laws, cheat the system, and seek power and profit at the expense of our nation.”

If that isn’t a self-own, I don’t know what is. He’s surely describing the role of his government to serve his corrupt and criminal interests.

It was encouraging to see that even the pro-Trump MAGA types couldn’t deny what was plain to see. “Confidence fading. Can’t lie through the reality any more,” Owen Shroyer, a former Infowars host, posted on X. “Ego damaged. Swagger lost.” And this winning summation also on X by right-wing commentator Matt Walsh: “That was perhaps the most pointless primetime presidential address ever delivered in American history.”

But here’s the thing: Without divine intervention, it’s hard to see how we avoid three more years of this daily car wreck. This delusional man, this dangerously malignant narcissist, is not going anywhere on his own accord, and this Republican Congress and sycophantic cabinet will do little or nothing to shorten the duration of the daily horrors. (The latest case: The Trump-installed board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board voted yesterday to change the name of this memorial to America’s slain president to the Trump-Kennedy Center, a grotesque change that should require Congressional approval—if we were to have a functioning Congress.)

“Power concedes nothing without a demand”

So, dear friends, it remains up to us. Our challenge is to speak out, engage in public protest and do what we can to ensure massive turnout for the midterms. We must pursue every opportunity to add to the opposition and pressure those around Trump to recognize that the longer they stick with him, the more assuredly he will drag them down. That should become more obvious with the release of the Epstein files.

In the short term, that means being booted out by voters. And, beyond that, being held accountable for their complicity in the extreme corruption and criminality that has defined this dark chapter in American history.

Permit me to conclude with the words of Frederick Douglass from 1857, sober analysis that I have shared before and to which I return periodically to strengthen my resolve:

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

In less than two weeks, we will begin the 250th anniversary year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And as much as I dreaded the idea that Donald Trump would be in the White House for this meaningful year, I now look at it as an opportunity to redouble our commitment to democracy, freedom and independence from despotic rule. This is our chance to prove our desire to continue the democratic project ignited 250 years ago.

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