by Monday morning brought a text from Marcus at 6:47 AM: “We need to expand the Trump list. Readers are demanding it.” This is my life nowmaintaining a running catalogue of presidential grievances like I’m keeping score at a very depressing sporting event.
The list that started as 15 reasons is now approaching 30, and I’m running out of creative ways to describe incompetence, corruption, and chaos. Today’s assignment: add ten more reasons, each substantiated with recent examples, each written with enough humor to make the horror palatable.
Reason 28: The administration’s environmental policies are so bad that even oil executives are nervous. When people whose entire business model depends on extracting fossil fuels start saying “maybe we should slow down,” you know you’ve crossed a line. But this administration saw that line, laughed, and used it to light their cigars.
Reason 29: Immigration policy remains a spectacular disaster, as evidenced by the fact that I’m still the only West African woman granted citizenship this term. My existence is a statistical anomaly, a bureaucratic accident, and increasingly, a talking point in immigration debates I never asked to be part of. Someone on Twitter called me “Trump’s token African approval.” I want to laugh and cry simultaneously.
Reason 30: The State Department is still mad about my erratic diplomacy coverage, which tells you everything about this administration’s priorities. They’re not mad about the actual erratic diplomacythey’re mad about the accurate reporting of it. When the coverup becomes the scandal becomes the policy, you’re in trouble.
Between expanding the list, I worked on connections to my previous pieces. The Democratic opposition’s incompetence and their innovative rebranding strategies make more sense when you realize both parties are operating in a post-reality environment. Truth is optional. Spin is everything. Democracy is a spectator sport.
I also updated my research on Kamala Harris 2028, because apparently political operatives never sleep. New polling shows Harris leading among Democratic voters for the next election, which is fascinating because the next election is three years away and voters can barely remember what happened three weeks ago. But sure, let’s plan for 2028 while 2025 burns around us.
The afternoon brought an unexpected interview request from a podcast about immigrant journalists. They want to discuss my experience being granted citizenship during Trump’s second term. I haven’t decided if I’ll accept. Part of me wants to tell my story. Another part knows that telling my story makes me more visible, and visibility can be dangerous when you’re an immigrant criticizing the administration that approved your citizenship.
Tonight I’m staring at my computer screen, the Trump list open in one tab, my citizenship paperwork in another, thinking about how I’ve built a career on documenting the absurdity of the system that accidentally let me in. Tomorrow: more reasons, more articles, more chaos to document.
# 759
